Cara stirred in her sleep, rolling into something hard. She moaned softly as she slid her hands along the hardness she was curled up against and then heard a groan. Her eyes snapped open at the throaty sound, that wasn’t hers. She took in her surroundings. The TV was on and the credits were rolling on the movie they had fallen asleep watching. She looked at her legs and how they were tangled with Luke’s long ones. His arm wrapped around her, his palm splayed across her stomach underneath her shirt. Skin to skin. She opened her fist releasing the fabric of his shirt. Her eyes widened as she noticed the wet spot on his shirt, where she no doubt had drooled on him. Way to go Cara she chastised, but then her eyes found his face. He looked so peaceful when he slept. She reached up and brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead.
She had no idea how they wound up laying on the couch tangled in each other. They were sitting on opposite ends of the couch watching a movie and now her leg was wrapped around his, his palm lay dangerously close to her waistband of her yoga pants and she couldn’t stop staring at his face forgetting all about her drooling escapade.
For the first time since remembering that they had slept together, she wondered how it felt. She remembered going through the motions, she replayed them in her head a few times. But she didn’t remember his touch. Luke’s touch. She gasped slightly as she allowed herself to wonder how it felt to have his mouth on hers, his hand not just on her stomach, but traveling the length of her body. Startled that her mind went down that path to begin with she struggled to detangle herself from him without waking him.
She threw one leg over his body and was trying to pull the other one out and over his when she noticed she was now straddling him. She hung her head and whimpered. Fine mess you’re in now Cara. She took a deep breath and reigned herself in. It was Luke. No big deal. She just needed to get her leg off of him and stop sitting on his stomach. She lifted her leg as he squirmed beneath her and wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to him so that her torso pressed against his.
“Luke.” She whispered, having no choice but to wake him.
“Hmm?” He said sleepily and let his hand travel down the small of her back. She reached around and grabbed his hand.
“Luke.” She said a little bit louder and when she moved his hand to the side he opened his eyes. Her hair fell around her face wildly, and her hazel eyes stared into his.
“I have to go.” She whispered and swallowed, trying to find her natural voice.
He dropped his hands to the side and looked up at her.
“You’re not exactly trapped.” He pointed out as he yawned.
“Right.” She said and crawled off of him, nearly falling onto the floor in her attempt to put some space between them.
He sat up and stretched his back out, his shirt lifting to reveal part of the six pack she had assumed was there. “What time is it?”
She looked away quickly toward the cable box as she shoved her feet into her boots. “It’s a quarter after twelve.” She said bending to tie her laces.
His eyes skimmed over her ass as she tied her shoes and he grunted. “You too tired to drive home?”
“No.” She said immediately. She needed to get out of there. She needed to get a hold on her thoughts. And while she was at it, she needed to get a hold on her body which had decided to awaken from its sexless slumber.
He stood up and followed her as she moved quickly to his door. “Cara…” He said to her back.
“Hmm?” She replied as she grabbed her coat off the hook and opened the door. She shrugged her coat on and turned around to face him. His face was still groggy with sleep and his arms were stretched over his head, his hands clutching the door jamb as he casually stared at her.
“Be careful.” He said evenly.
“Sure.” She said quickly and then turned to leave.
His arm reached out and clamped onto the hood of her coat, causing her to step backward towards him. She didn’t turn around, she didn’t have a chance. He stepped close to her, his hard body against her back. He bent his head and spoke gently into her ear.
“Thanks for dinner.” He said and let go of her hood.
“No problem.” She mumbled halfway down the walkway, scurrying away as quickly as possible. Once she was in her car she risked a glance at the door and found him still staring after her. Holy shit. Luke Lanza was hot.
Chapter Thirteen
Cara kneeled before Jake’s headstone and brushed away some of the snow that dusted the ground before it. She placed the metal cone firmly into the ground and once it was secure she placed the bouquet of flowers inside of it. She leaned back, sitting on the heels of her boots that were tucked underneath her and stared at his name engraved into the stone. It was the first time since he was buried, that she had come to his final resting place and been completely straight.