“I noticed.” His knuckles stroke along my cheekbone. “Why?”
“I thought I’d messed it all up. Our friendship. Our working together.” This next part is harder for me to admit, but I have to do it. I’ve been hurt in these ways before, and it’s done some damage to me.
It feels scary to be so honest about it with Luke.
“I thought,” I say, looking down at my feet, “that maybe you’d lose interest, now that the chase was over. Lose respect for me. Especially after doing it in your truck, of all places.”
“I’d have to lose respect for myself too, in that case.”
“You know it doesn’t work that way for guys.”
He cups my cheek in his hand, making me look into his eyes. “Let’s geta few things straight, Madison. We’re still friends. We’re still gonna work together just fine. There’s no loss of respect—for you or for me,” he adds with a teasing smile. It fades as he says the next words. “And as far as losing interest…”
He slowly shakes his head. “I thought I was losing my mind before, thinking about how good it would feel to be with you. Turns out my fantasies didn’t even hold a candle to the real thing. I spent all night replaying it in my head. What we did, how incredible you felt.” His thumb drags across my lower lip. “I still can’t stop thinking about it. Can’t stop thinking about you.”
It’s pretty much impossible not to kiss a man after he tells you something like that.
I pull him down to me and his lips find mine. The first brush is soft but scorching, and then we’re all in. Tongues tangling together, bodies pressed tight. His hand slides up under the hem of my shirt, fingertips skimming my waist, sending a full-body rush of pleasure racing through me.
“There’s something else I needed to talk to you about,” he says when we finally pull up for air again. “Don’t freak out, but?—”
My body goes tense. “That’s another scary word combo. As soon as you say it, I start freaking out.”
His hand are still resting on my waist. They tighten a little as he says, very calmly, “The condom broke.”
CHAPTER 11
Together
For a moment, I’m in a state of pure shock. All I can do is choke out, “What?”
“You ran off so quick last night, I didn’t get the chance to tell you.”
The bottom drops out from my stomach. “Are you serious?”
He nods. “Look, I’m healthy.”
“Same,” I interject.
His tropical blue-green eyes are steady on mine. “Are you on any birth control?”
I shake my head. “I couldn’t take the side effects of the pill anymore. I went off it a few months ago. But condoms are supposed to be reliable.”
Except last night’s condom broke.
And now Luke is gazing at me, unreadable, and I feel like my knees are going to give out from underneath me.
I lean against the fence and try to take in enough oxygen to make this dizzy feeling go away.
Suddenly Luke pulls me to him again.A warm hand lands on my back, rubbing soothing circles there. “Hey, it’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
“It might not.” I look at him, stricken. “This is my fault. That condom was probably old, and I should have?—”
“Nothing is your fault,” he says firmly. “We were both there last night. We both participated. And condoms, well… this stuff can happen. Hell, I tore that thing open in a frenzy. Probably ripped a hole in it myself.”
His reasonable words and calm tone pull me back from the brink of panic.
Until I remember the underlying truth of the situation we’re now in.
