“What?” I tip my chin up, so I’m looking into his dark eyes. My heart is beatinglike crazy, my breath coming fast, but I can’t stop now. I’m in too deep. “You can’t let me what?”
He squeezes his eyes shut. Just for a moment, but when he opens them again, there’s indecision and something else I can’t quite read in his expression.
“I can’t let you do that.” His voice is rough and raw. “I can’t let you give away your…no. Not like this. Not to a…no.”
“Fine.” My throat tightens, but I force the words out anyway. “Then you do it.”
The words come out before I can stop them, but once they’re past my lips, I don’t regret them.
“What?” Luke’s brow furrows. “You want me to?—”
“Do it.” I hold his gaze. He swallows hard, but I can’t back down. Not now. Not when every cell in my body is screamingyes.This is exactly what I want. What I’ve wanted from the moment I saw him standing on his porch with those big, strong, very capable hands. “If it matters so much to you…you be the one.”
Chapter Eight
Luke
You be the one.
The words reverberate in my skull.
For a moment, I don’t react. I can’t. My brain works overtime trying to process what she just said and fails completely to wrap my head around it, because every part of my body is reacting all at once.
She can’t be serious.
But she is.
I can see it in her eyes. The set of her jaw. The way her muscles are coiled and ready to go the second I move my hand away from the door. It isn’t a bluff. It’s not a throwaway comment she’ll take back in a few seconds.
She means it.
I haven’t known Lilly long. But I’ve known her long enough to see she’s a woman of her word. More than that, not once has she struck me as a brat who will use manipulation to get what she wants.
She says something, she means it.
Despite her bravado, I see the cracks. Her breath is coming fast. Her shoulders are squared, but they shake a little.
She’s terrified. But determined nonetheless.
“Lilly…” My voice comes out rough, dragged from low in my belly. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Don’t insult me.” There’s the slightest tremor in her voice. “I know exactly what I’m asking, Luke.”
No.
She doesn’t.
Because if she did, there’s no way she’d be standing here looking at me like I was thesafeoption.
“You don’t need to do this to prove a point.”
“Who exactly would I be proving that point to?” She lifts her chin definitely. “This is about me. And about moving on.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“But you don’t know.” She takes the slightest step back against the door, but we’re still standing so close I can feel the heat of her.
“No,” I admit. “I don’t know.”
