Luke’s voice is warm and teasing, and Jimmy doesn’t miss a beat before chirping back at the skip of his team.
“You’re one to talk Morgan. You brag about your best friend’s sister as much as I brag about mine. Isn’t she here in Sweden?”
I swear to god the world stops. Luke’s other teammates all stand silent, smirks on their faces as they watch this all unfold.
Luke’s hand, which is still for some unknown reasonresting on my neck, gives a little squeeze causing a very unflattering yelp to escape my mouth.
That was embarrassing.
He finally releases his hold on me and I take a deep breath trying to wrap my head around the bomb his teammate just dropped without even knowing he was doing it.
Luke brags about me?
No one has said a word and Jimmy looks confused as hell at the silence that has converged on the group. He looks back at the rest of the team and then finally looks between me and Luke.
“Oh shit. Did I just stick my foot in my mouth?”
Wyatt steps up to Jimmy and slings his arm over his shoulder. “You sure did. And I am loving every second of it.”
Jimmy shoves Wyatt’s arm off of him and then pushes him back toward Brendan and Zack. “Why don’t we give these two a moment. We’re going to head up to our room.”
I’m afraid to look at Luke, my eyes trained at a spot on the wall near where the men just vacated.
My entire life I’ve been pining after a man who is completely off-limits. A million times I’ve told myself I was crazy for harboring these feelings for someone who may never reciprocate them. But so much has happened in the past twelve hours that I’m beginning to wonder if I've been wrong this whole time.
Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but for the first time I’m feeling like Luke isn’t completely out of reach.
Slowly, I turn to find him staring at me. His arms are resting across his chest and he has a look on his face I can’t quite read.
Unsure of how to approach all of this, I just blurt it out. “You brag about me, huh?”
I sound way more confident than I feel but I keep my chin lifted and steel my spine. Maybe I can fool him and he won’tactually notice my hands shaking inside the pockets of my coat.
Luke grabs at the back of his neck and focuses on his feet. Is this man nervous right now? With me?
I’ll be damned.
After what feels like a lifetime, Luke finally looks up. His eyes don’t leave mine as he says, “You make it easy, Charlie. You’re amazing. Everything you do is amazing.”
His admission combined with the look on his face has my heart in my throat. He looks almost exposed, as if the truth of what he said surprised not only me, but himself. But just as he seems to realize he crossed a line, his expression changes to something earnest, like he meant every word anyway.
His eyes search mine briefly, and then they lock into place. We both stand suspended in this moment, unmoving.
A sound next to us has us both jolting out of our haze. I look over to the hotel check-in table to see a young woman flustered, attempting to pick up all of her belongings from her suitcase that appears to have popped open unexpectedly.
Luke doesn’t even hesitate. He turns and makes his way to the woman, helping her gather her things. He’s always been so kind to me, but seeing him help a stranger like this only amplifies what I’m already feeling.
I crouch down next to Luke and the woman, who is speaking so fast in Spanish, I can hardly catch any words. Two years of high school Spanish has clearly failed me. She’s frazzled and if I had to guess, apologizing or thanking us for helping.
We’ve almost finished gathering her belongings when Luke’s hand lands on top of mine as I reach out to grab a pair of socks that rolled away. We both freeze. Instead of pulling away like I normally would, I keep my hand in place. When I look up at him, he’s wearing a flirtatious smile.
A smartass comment sits at the tip of my tongue, and I try to fight against it, but it slips past my lips. “You gonna moveyour hand so I can give this lady her socks? Or would you like to do the honors?”
“You’re cute when you’re snarky.”
I roll my eyes and hear Luke chuckle as he removes his hand and stands. Handing the woman her socks, she nods at me, “gracias.”
I’m grateful I at least know that means “thank you,” so as we both stand, I nod back at her and respond with “de nada.”
