*
Cara stood in front of Luke’s door frozen. She wished for the love of God, she knew what the hell was wrong with her. She had changed her outfit four times and now she stood wishing she had gone with the second one. Instead, she stood wearing a pair of black leggings and a cream colored tunic sweater that draped off her shoulder, exposing her bra strap and the tattoo she had there of a butterfly. She paired the outfit with knee high riding boots and wore her leather jacket even though she was freezing and should’ve worn her winter coat. She smoothed down her hair and hoped it wasn’t overdone, she was almost tempted to put it into a ponytail so that it didn’t look like she had done herself up to have dinner with Luke. But she did, she put the extra effort in to look good, to look pretty. Why? She had no idea.
With her free hand that wasn’t holding Benny’s carrier she rang Luke’s doorbell.
“Get a grip Cara.” She whispered to herself. “You’re having dinner with your friend Luke. Jake’s brother. You had dinner every night for a week with him and his daughter, tonight is just another night.”
The door opened and she glanced up at him. Holy Hunky Gorgeous. She whimpered, she actually whimpered. His hair was still wet from a shower and combed back, the ends curling around his neck. She suppressed the urge to run her fingers through his thick hair and hold on for dear life. Whoa! Cara. She closed her eyes briefly before opening them and letting them travel down the length of him. He was wearing jeans and a Henley that hugged every single muscle in his arms and chest. She lost her voice as she stared at his pecks.
“Cara?” He bent his head to be eye level with her.
“Yeah?” She croaked and forced her eyes to meet his.
“You okay?” He asked, concerned and took Benny’s carrier from her hands.
“Me? Yeah, I’m good.” She said and watched him turn and walk inside. She followed him, closing the door behind her. Her eyes found his ass as he bent down and placed Benny into the crate in the living room. She turned around on her heel and stared at the wall, deciding that was the safest place to keep her eyes.
“Ok, you be a good boy Benny.” Luke told the puppy and rose to his full height. He turned around to grab his coat when he noticed Cara staring at the wall as if she had put herself in a time out. He shrugged his coat on and placed a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and turned around, her eyes immediately finding his. “You sure you’re alright? You’re very jumpy.”
“I had too much caffeine. Remind me not to order coffee after dinner.” She offered him a smile, hoping he bought her pathetic excuse.
Luke studied her for a moment, noticing her hair was extra wavy tonight. Cara didn’t wear much makeup, but tonight she did. Tonight when he looked into her hazel eyes they were sultry and told a story. He wasn’t sure what the story was but he’d be willing to spend forever trying to figure it out. Her lips were pouty and slick with a nude colored gloss and it took him a moment to drag his eyes away from those lips.
“You look beautiful.” He said huskily.
Not pretty, like she was shooting for. He thought she looked beautiful. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been called beautiful, but she knew it was Jake who had been the one to call her that. Now his brother. “Thank you.” She said her voice a whisper.
Luke leaned forward and her breath hitched, and much like he did the night they fell asleep tangled in one another he spoke directly into her ear. “Relax, Cara.” He said in his gruff voice.
Did he really expect her to relax when he talked all sexy in her ear? She pressed her hand against his chest, big mistake, because her hand suddenly wanted to explore every ridge in his chest. She stepped backward and looked into his eyes. They were smiling. His eyes were smiling at her.
“I’m starving.” She said quickly.
He laughed slightly. “Then I better feed you.” He reached around her and pulled open the door. He took her hand. “Come on.” He tugged her against him and walked out the door.
*
Cara’s nerves had calmed down on the way to the restaurant and she was even beginning to enjoy herself. Luke had taken her to Bob’s Crab Shack which was in the town neighboring Riverdale. They were seated at a wooden table with a red and white checkered table cloth draped over it. Cara’s sleeves were rolled up to her elbows and she wore a lobster bib. Luke watched her from across the table, taking a swig of his beer to cover the smile he wore. She looked adorable, her face full of determination as she used all her might to crack the shell of an Alaskan King crab leg.