“Luke!” I gasped, but Neil chuckled.
“I’m no one you need to worry about, man. She’s been talkingabout you for an hour.”
I had? Or did he mean Annie? Things were confusing.
Luke held out his hand to me, and without thinking, I took it. I made a face at Annie as we left the bar, but she was engrossed in something that Neil had said, and was laughing hard, her hand on his arm. We walked out into the parking lot and I shivered a little in the cold night air. Luke shrugged off his coat and put it around my shoulders, then took my hand again. “Let’s go for a walk on the beach, so you can clear your head,” he said.
I kicked off my shoes and carried them. It felt so, so nice to be close to him again. The wind off the lake seemed to blow some of the gin cobwebs out of my thoughts.
He stopped and looked at me. “I’ve missed you this week. A lot.”
I nodded, and my eyes filled with tears. “Me too.”
“Emmy, I’m sorry about what I said. I was just lashing out at you. I’m sorry. It was hard to hear that you don’t trust me. Yet.” I started to speak, but he held up his hand. “Wait, I’m trying to say that I understand. I know just a little bit of what you’ve gone through in your life, and it makes sense that it will take you some time.” He grimaced. “Even though it’s not really my nature, I’m going to be patient. All right? No pressure from me. We can go any pace you want.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry, too. I do trust you. I let you take Charlie in an airplane. I left my brush at your house. We…did it.” I didn’t want to have to spell it out. Luke cracked a smile. “I just got a little freaked out.”
“A little?” He raised an eyebrow.
“You told me you love me! And Annie wanted me to decorate your house, and you were talking about us renovating it, and then the car, and I…ok, I really freaked out.” I took a deep breath. This was hard. “Sometimes it feels like the only person that I’m sure will never let me down is Charlie.” Luke started to interrupt and now I held up my hand. “And I know you, Luke. In my mind, I know that you wouldn’t let me down either. And thank you for saying that you’ll be patient with me, because I’ll need it.” I rubbed the ache in my chest. “But I have a hard time accepting this, sometimes. Me and you, all of this. Because I’m really, really scared,” deep breath, “because I love you, too.” He put his forehead down to mine, looking into my eyes. I had said it.
“Can we make up?” he asked, pulling me to him, sliding his hands down my back.
“Yes, please,” I said, and then he kissed me, lifting me against him and plunging his tongue into my mouth.
We managed to make it back to the parking lot, stopping every few steps to kiss and grope each other, so that by the time we got to his car I was untucking his shirt and trying to reach down into his pants.
“Emmy, I’m not going to be able to drive, hang on,” he panted.
“How about the back seat? You have a big car.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Get in,” he ordered, then sat in the pitch-black parking lot with me in his lap, my knees straddling his hips. He unzipped his pants and his shaft sprang free of his boxers, and he literally tore off my underwear. I had no idea that would be such a turn-on.
“Rub against me,” he told me, holding himself upright.
I moved my hips in circles, working him through my folds. Oh, he felt so good. I moved faster, up and down and stopping with my legs splayed wide to massage my clit against him. “Luke,” I gasped, “I think—” He pushed his fingers inside me from behind, grasping my ass and holding me tightly to him, and the orgasm shook through me. I leaned my head into the crook of his neck and struggled for breath. Then, carefully, I climbed off him, knelt down, and took him in my mouth, licking along his hard length. I sucked him in as far as I could, swirling my tongue and moaning as he reached down my dress and grasped my breasts. When I tongued along the ridge under the head, Luke pumped his hips then came in my mouth, groaning my name and holding the back of my head. I rested my cheek against his thigh.
“I think we should go back to your house. I want to run my hair all over your naked body.” I told him.
He was already zipping his pants and getting into the front seat.
“Let’s go.Now.”
Chapter 12
At swim practice on Monday, I thought I was glowing. Charlie was ok at school, not a totally perfect situation, but that nasty Rivers had been warned and was keeping his distance. Mrs. Ferber seemed to have it under control. For the first time since Cassie’s death, Charlie had felt ready to leave Danny Bob at home for the rather than hiding him in his bookbag. That was a good sign.
And Luke…well, that was wonderful. The hair/naked thing had really worked out great, and he was definitely going to need to soundproof his bedroom.
He had shown me the room where he had put his old childhood twin bed. “I thought this would work for Charlie,” he said, watching me intently.
“I think it’s perfect,” I told him. “I love you.” It seemed like saying it once had broken a dam, or something. I couldn’t seem to stop telling him. But he lapped it up, and said it right back.
I had called Annie on Sunday to thank her for her intervention, and she invited us to come over and “discuss décor.” We had hung out at her house the whole morning. The only dark patch had been when her dad had been driven over after lunch. His presence was like a pall; he obviously disliked me, and Charlie too. It made Annie anxious, and Luke incensed, and Charlie and I had taken our leave.
But Luke had left with us and driven us home. And worked on the fort with Charlie, while I attempted chicken pot pie. Interesting how thick and lumpy flour could get in a sauce. We ended up having scrambled eggs. Tara emailed me a bunch of recipes with the subject line, “EVEN YOU CAN’T MESS THESE UP”, but I was hoping she wouldn’t hold me to that.
I had driven Darby and Charlie over to practice on Monday, and was supposed to go run with Annie. I waited for her for a while by the track, but she didn’t show, so I ran some laps and then went back to check on the swimming. Charlie and his group were doing catch-up stroke and practice was almost over when Annie came in. She was wearing her giant sunglasses, but I could see her wet cheeks below them. She had been crying.
