“Yeah.” He chuckles softly. “Sorry. I’ll try to behave myself.” His forehead wrinkles with a frown and he reaches into his pocket, pulling out his phone. “Shit, I need to take this. Is that okay?”
I wave a hand, desperate for some space from him. “Go for it.”
He steps away to take the call, and I stare out over the water, replaying his words:I’ll try to behave myself. That’s good, I suppose, though I’m not entirely sure I believe him. And worse, I don’t want him to. It will take a million shower sessions with John Stamos to get this out of my system, and maybe not even then. How are we going to make this situation work with the attraction between us? We still have to finalize all the wedding tasks and my self-control is running out fast.
Luke finishes his call and appears back beside me, leaning down onto his elbows on the railing. His whole face is lit up as he gazes over the water, his cheeks rounded into a grin. I know I should look away—should walk away—but I can’t. There’s something so magnetic about his smile, his energy. And when he turns to me and his smile tugs wider, my insides melt.
“You seem happy,” I say.
“Yeah. I just got some great news.”
I tilt my body towards him, relieved the intensity from before has passed and we’ve returned to the usual ease between us. “What is it?”
He goes to speak again, then spots Henry walking our way. Grinning, he gestures down the bridge. “I’ll tell you later. Come on.”
20
Alex holds up her glass of champagne, her eyes gleaming with pride. “Congratulations to Michael on his latest book deal.”
Luke dropped Henry off at Mel’s place earlier and now we’re at a bar called Deidrick’s in the West Village, celebrating the result from Michael’s meeting with his agent today. It’s a funky little place: low lighting, large bar, and round, wooden tables along one wall. There’s a dance floor off to one side—currently empty—and a DJ playing early 2000s songs in one corner. I bet the dance floor gets packed later.
Michael’s cheeks flush with modesty as we all raise our glasses. I meet Luke’s gaze and tip my glass ever so slightly in his direction. We might be here to celebrate Michael’s book deal, but every time I glance over and see Luke’s broad smile, the way his whole posture looks more relaxed than I’ve ever seen, I can tell something is up with him. Since the bridge he’s been different. Lighter, more playful, just… happy. It’s infectious.
“So how was sightseeing?” Alex asks over her glass. “Where did you go?”
“I took her to the Transit Museum,” Luke says, grinning at me.
Michael groans. “Poor Harriet. I know you and Henry love it, but—”
“No.” I shake my head with a laugh. “It was awesome. And it made me reconsider my fear of the subway.”
“That’s great!” Alex says. “The only way to get comfortable with the subway is to just go on it a lot. After a while, you get used to it.”
Huh, kind of like the trapeze. The only way I got comfortable with it was todoit. No amount of thinking about it and mentally rehearsing helped. I had to throw myself off the platform.
Of course, I’ll need toavoidthrowing myself off the platform in the subway, but you get the point.
We talk about the museum for a while, sipping our champagne. When the bottle is empty, Alex stands and wanders to the bar, returning with another bottle and a tipsy grin.
“The only thing missing from the Transit Museum,” Luke says as he pops open the champagne, “is a Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Nowthatwould be cool.”
Alex holds out her glass, scrunching her nose. “What?”
Luke sends me a secret smile and my heart does a funny little hop. Because thatwouldbe cool, but I’m not thinking about that at all. I’m thinking about the man who would say something like that.
I slide Alex a grin. “It’s aHarry Potterreference.”
“Oh.” She rolls her eyes. “You two are such nerds.”
Luke chuckles as he refills my glass. “That may be the case, but you should have seen Harriet this morning. I took her to that trapeze school in Hudson River Park, and she was totally fearless.”
“Really?” Alex gives me a doubtful look.
“Yeah.” Luke nods, his eyes fixed on me. “She just got up there and went for it. I was actually a little freaked out but I figured if she could do it, then so could I.”
“Wow,” Alex says, impressed. “Harri, you’re inspiring me, doing all these new things. Dyeing your hair, swinging from a trapeze, not to mention…” Her words are swallowed by giggles, her cheeks rosy from the alcohol. “Can I tell the guys, please?” I open my mouth to ask what she means, but she turns her attention to Luke and Michael. “You’llneverguess what Harriet did on the plane ride over here.”
Oh. Shit.
