She exhaled slowly. She was being stupid. About Luke Bennett.Again.
“But it was dark,” she said. The words came out sounding bitter. “The street was empty. No one could see us.”
Eli was quiet for a moment.
“Full disclosure,” he said. “I am absolutely the wrong person to ask for relationship advice.”
She huffed out her breath, half a laugh, half a sigh. “No kidding.”
He gestured vaguely at himself. “I am hiding from criminals in my little sister’s house, icing my ribs and reassessing every life choice I’ve ever made.”
That earned a real laugh this time, though it came out thin.
She looked away. “I’m done being pathetic about Luke.”
Eli smiled. “Good.” His mouth curved. “Proud of you, Gracie.”
She stood. “Get some sleep.”
“You too.”
She wouldn’t chase him. Not again. Not after she’d asked and been rejected.
Grace layon her back staring at the ceiling in the dark.
Luke had kissed her.
The first one—inside the house, cut short by Eli—she could explain away. Luke wanting her the way he always had. Wanting her body. Wanting the easy, familiar way she gave herself to him.
That kind of kiss led somewhere. To a bed. To hands and mouths and forgetting.
That kiss made sense.
The porch kiss didn’t.
Grace rolled onto her side and punched the pillow once, hard, then dragged it under her head and pressed her face into it like she could smother the thought.
The porch kiss had been slow. Careful. Almost… tender.
Loving, her traitorous brain supplied.
She groaned softly and flipped onto her other side.
No.
She wasn’t doing this. She wasn’t rewriting history because she wanted something to be true.
Mrs. Bennett’s voice slipped in anyway.
He is absolutely undone over you.
Grace pressed her lips together.
That woman had been so calm. So certain. Like she’d been discussing the weather instead of dismantling Grace’s entire understanding of Luke.
Luke does not rearrange his life for procedure.
Grace squeezed her eyes shut.
