And now she was here—finally, devastatingly here—and it was all wrong.
He pressed his forehead into his palm.
Fucking dumbass.
Tomorrow, he'd drive her to work. He'd bring her home. He'd prove he could show up, that he could be relied on, that he wasn't going to disappear when things got hard.
But tonight?
Tonight he'd sit in his too-big house with the woman he wanted sleeping upstairs in a guest room, and he'd live with the consequences of his own cowardice.
It was exactly what he deserved.
CHAPTER 25
Grace
Grace woke to quiet.
For a few seconds, she didn’t move.
The ceiling above her was unfamiliar. The air smelled different too—clean, faintly woody, something like coffee and soap.
Luke’s house.
Grace lay there, wrapped in his blankets. She felt… safe. No danger pressing at the edges of her thoughts.
Just quiet.
She turned her head slightly. The guest room was spare and neat. Her bag sat where she’d left it. Shoes tucked neatly beside it.
She pushed herself up slowly, sitting on the edge of the bed, feet finding cool carpet. For a moment, she simply breathed—testing the feeling of being here, in his space, under his roof.
It was strange. Intimate in a way that had nothing to do with bodies or beds.
She’d known the weight of him in the dark, the feel of him pushing inside her. But she’d never known this—the way his house held light in the mornings.
Noises drifted faintly from downstairs.
Luke. Making coffee. Checking locks. Keeping her safe.
She crossed to the door, opening it just enough to peer into the hallway.
The smell of coffee was stronger outside the bedroom.
Grace rested her forehead briefly against the doorframe and closed her eyes.
Luke hadn’t suddenly become the man who wanted her.
She couldn’t afford to forget that.
The bathroom was as impersonal as the guest room. White tile. Gray towels.
Grace turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat.
Steam began to fill the space, softening the sharp edges of everything.
She stripped and stepped under the spray, closing her eyes as hot water hit her shoulders.
