Without saying another word, I scooted closer to him and reached out to rest my hand on his hip. He responded immediately, curling into my side and tucking his face into my shoulder, all tension draining from his body with a contented sigh.
Within minutes, we were both asleep.
Today we managed to actually sleep in, and I woke first to find Luke curled in front of me, my arms around his waist, and my morning wood nestled in the crease of his ass. We spent the morning in the hot tub at the hotel just relaxing, and we’ll head to my parents’ house to say goodbye today. We fly out early tomorrow morning, and he doesn’t know it yet, but I managed to set up the perfect surprise date night for us tonight.
I pack up our bags while Luke is in the shower. He falters and does a double take when he notices my bag is ready to go, and his is open on the bed, packed up except for his grooming kit. “Did I miss something?” he asks, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head as he towel dries his hair. He’s still shirtless with a perfectly tailored pair of jeans slung low on his hips, showing off that delicious Adonis belt, feet bare. I can’t help but bite my lip at thesight of him. The combination of his confusion and his perfectly sculpted torso is, frankly, lethal.
I scowl at him in mock annoyance. “How are you the cutest AND the hottest? You have to pick one. Stop being so selfish.”
He huffs a little and rolls his eyes at that. “No, seriously, where are we going?”
“Don’t ruin the surprise,” I chide. “I’ll tell you after we leave my parents’ house. But we’re staying the night somewhere else, and I promise you’ll love it.”
“Are you sure? I’m the one driving, you know, how long am I gonna have to be in the car later?” He crosses his arms and does his best to glower at me, but I bat my eyelashes innocently, and his surly act is up. He breaks into a laugh and lifts his arms, and I take the invitation and step into them, reveling in the feel of his bare skin and the added warmth from his hot shower. He dips his head and places a kiss in my hair. “Thanks for this trip…I didn’t know I needed this.”
I tilt my chin back to look at him. “I did,” I whisper. “I’m glad you agreed to come. It was better with you here.” He smiles wide at that, and I force myself to pull away. “Now hurry up, the quicker we get to my parents’ house, the quicker we can leave, and you can find out what your surprise is.”
That gets him moving. He pulls on a gray T-shirt and shoes, then checks and double-checks the entire hotel room to make sure we aren’t leaving anything behind. We make quick work of checking out and loading up the car, and he pesters me on the whole drive to my parents’ place for hints about the surprise: “Is it something I’ve done before? Is it something that’s in LA, too, or just here? Is it an activity or a place?” He’s like an excited kid, and I love when this side of him comes out, but I manage to stand my ground. I’m saved when we arrive at my parents’ house, and he grudgingly lets it go. For now.
Mom greets us both with a giant hug. You’d think she’d be tired after cooking and entertaining all day yesterday, but I swear she’s like a character from a video game who gains energy points from being around people. I love going out and socializing, but it’s another level with this woman.
“Mandy had to work today, of course,” Nancy says with a roll of her eyes as we make our way inside. “She says she’s sorry she can’t be here to say goodbye, but she wants to come visit soon. She said she and her rummy rival need to have another match to determine the true champion soon.”
Luke just shrugs, a smug grin playing across his lips. “She’s just mad she lost. We all know who the true winner was.”
Nancy laughs at that. “Oh, Luke, dear, Whit is out back and asked me to send you out. He was going to show you the solar lights he got for the patio and show you how he hung them. He mentioned you wanted something like that for your place?”
“Yeah, we were talking about that last night.” Luke nods, heading toward the back door like he’s the one who grew up here, and I’m hit with a wave of emotion at seeing him so comfortable after just a couple of days. My family tends to have that effect on people, but if you’re not used to it, they can be a lot, and I wasn’t sure how he would take it.
He disappears out back, and my mom turns to me with a knowing smile. “That boy is something special, Ry. I know you said you’re just friends, and I’m not gonna pry if you don’t want to share, but I think it’s more than just friends for him.”
My cheeks heat, and I give up trying to play it cool. “I think it is for me, too,” I admit. “I like him a lot, Mom.”
She pulls me in for a hug. “Well, maybe that’s why you were supposed to move to LA—to meet Luke. God always has a plan, you know.”
I smile and squeeze her a little tighter. “I know, Mom. Thanks.”
The back door opens, and Dad and Luke emerge from the backyard deep in conversation about lighting. I shake my head and smile. I’m just happy they’ve found some common ground. They can’t exactly talk shop, although Dad did give Luke some advice about his retirement plan and insisted he could call anytime with questions.
We pick at the leftovers Mom puts out and make comfortable small talk for a while, but I’m checking the time and getting antsy to get going. We still have a few hours before we need to be at our destination, but I want to get there plenty early so we have time to eat and get settled in.
Goodbyes are always an event with this family, especially when we won’t be seeing each other for a while, so I start doing the pre-goodbye ritual well before we actually need to be out the door. I have to explain to my mom twice why we can’t take leftovers with us, but she manages to send us off with a slice of pie anyway. My dad gets into another conversation with Luke about upgrades Luke wants to make to the patio, and Dad offers to help with any projects when they inevitably come visit.
We make it to the front door and another round of goodbyes when Mom throws her arms around Luke in a crushing hug. “It was so great to have you here, sweetie. You’re welcome back any time at all, okay? Don’t be a stranger now.”
He blinks a couple of times in surprise before rubbing at his eyes and hugging her back. “Thanks, Nancy. That means more to me than you know.”
My heart swells watching them. Luke hasn’t told me much about his childhood, but it obviously wasn’t great. He deserves this.
Once we’ve done another round of hugs and said goodbye twice more, we’re finally on the road. I’ve got my phone GPS navigating us, and my excitement is building. I can’t wait toshare one of my favorite pastimes with Luke, and the way the timing worked out was meant to be, I’m sure of it.
“So do I get to know where we’re going yet?” Luke asks over the radio. He’s got his right arm draped casually over the steering wheel and his left elbow propped on the door, tapping his fingers distractedly to the beat. He’s wearing a pair of shield sunglasses with polarized hot pink lenses that do something to my dick, and I fear that if I look directly at him for too long, we’ll have to pull over on the side of the highway and do something about it.
Looking back, our chemistry was instant and undeniable, but I didn’t know any better yet. After this weekend with him, seeing this vulnerable side of him and being able to spend time with him without talking or planning work, there’s no doubt left in my mind that I want to be with this man. And not just for collabs. I’m not sure how a relationship would look with our line of work, but I want to give it a try.
He glances over at me when I don’t answer right away, an adorable, quizzical expression on his face. I want to kiss it off. “Well, I got lucky because normally we wouldn’t be able to do this at this time of year. It’s a summer kind of activity. Any guesses?”
Humming thoughtfully, he chews his lower lip for a moment, and I bounce my knee excitedly. “I assume it’s too cold for the lake still, and it doesn’t look like we’re heading anywhere we could hike…so I give up.”
