She nervously licked her lips. “What are you telling me, Luke?”
I stepped closer. “I’m drawn to you, Meredith. I can’t help it. When you were here before, we had fun; you got me out of my head. Now, I’m realizing how rare it is for me to feel like I can just be when I’m around someone. I don’t talk about my childhood much or what my art means to me but I told you.”
She bit her lip.
“This thing between us will always be more than physical. I don’t think I could handle it any other way. So I have to know, did you mean the things you said that night? Did sleeping together mean something more to you than just fun?”
Her face softened. “Of course, it did. I know the shop is important to you and you trusted me to save it. Now that it isn’t hanging between us, I think I want to give this a proper try.”
I smiled. I couldn’t keep it in. We still had nothing figured out. She would still need to find a new job when her contract with Think Ink was over. I was still probably overly dependent on my art to keep me sane, but none of that was enough reasonto stay apart. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her long and deep. Her soft lips parted under mine and in the next moment I had her back against the wall and my thigh grinding between her legs. We heard voices down the end of the alley and pulled apart just before a group of people walked by.
The moment ended, but there would be more moments. “Come to my place for dinner tonight. We can pick up where we left off.”
“Can’t wait.” She said breathlessly.
Chapter Sixteen
Meredith
Idrove to Luke’s place after work, not bothering to go home and get cleaned up first. If this was as real as I hoped it was, he wouldn’t care if I wasn’t wearing eyeliner and a cute dress. He would just be happy to see me, and hopefully feed me. It had been way too many hours since lunch and I was ready to gnaw my arm off.
I pulled up in front of his place, memories of the first time we were together flooding my mind again. I looked forward to a repeat. Our time together at the shop had been amazing but we were both tired, in a rush and we didn’t have a bed to get comfy in.
A smile spread over Luke’s face when he opened the door. “Come on in.”
I clutched my purse in my hand, feeling oddly shy. But as memories of my time here with him over the summer combined with the words he’d said to me earlier today, my shouldersrelaxed.
“Now, I’ve been cooking for hours to make you a gourmet dinner. I hope you like it.”
I followed him into the kitchen to find takeout pizza boxes on the table. I laughed. “It’s perfect.” We’d both worked all day and working for the Huxleys, I’d had enough fancy events to last a lifetime.
Once we had decimated a whole pepperoni pizza and the better part of a deluxe, I leaned back in my chair. I was tired and content with a full stomach and the crisis at Think Ink behind us.
“I stink from working in the paint booth. Can I interest you in a shower? I’ll scrub your back if you scrub mine.” Luke wiggled his eyebrows.
I cocked mine at him in return. “Ooh, trapped in an enclosed space with a stinky person. Sign me up.”
He grinned. “I’m a blue-collar man, Mer. You’ll have to like me even when I’m stinky.” He stood up from the table, held out his arms and came towards me.
I jumped up from my chair and backed up. “Get your stinky body away.”
He lunged for me and I ran, giggling all the way. “Come on, it’s not that bad. My manly pheromones should be making you want to ride me, not run away.”
I had forgotten the exact layout of his house and ended up cornered in the bathroom. He pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms around me so my face was buried in his chest. He really didn’t smell like anything but hard-working Luke, but I still had to give him a hard time. “Great, now my clothes stink as much as yours do.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I like you betternaked anyway.”
We separated and stripped, stepping under the warm spray of the water with barely enough room to turn around.
“This is cozy,” I deadpanned.
“I wish you were always this close.” He brought his lips down and gave me a soft kiss. It was so unexpectedly touching from the big goof that I melted a little inside.
I was going to end up falling in love with this guy. Maybe I knew that even when we only had one night together back in the summer. Now at least the circumstances made sense.
He took his time washing my body and my hair, before switching to washing his own while I rinsed the soap off.
Once he was clean, he brought his arms around me and squeezed my ass, his mouth landing on mine in a hungry, desperate kiss.
