I share everything I know about Luke and his family with her as she sits in complete silence. It’s unlike Avery not to butt in with questions, but she doesn’t. I think I’ve stunned the shit out of her with this story.
When I finish, she says, “Fuck me. If you weren’t the one telling me that, I’m not sure I’d believe it. That sounds like something off a TV show more than real life.”
“You’re telling me. It’s taken me ages to wrap my head around this. And besides the wife stuff, I was almost speechless when I met his son. Luke never struck me as a father.”
“Me either, but I can see it now. He’s a bossy man. I can imagine him bossing a kid around.”
My phone sounds with a text, interrupting us.
Luke: Are you free for me to call?
Me: Give me a minute. I’ll call you.
Looking up at Avery, I say, “It’s Luke.”
She moves off the couch. “You go, babe. I’m going to take a nap before I have to head over to Helena’s and check on her. Thank you so much for today.”
I hug her goodbye. “Stop thanking me. I’m here whenever you need me.”
We finish up our goodbyes, and I head outside, dialling Luke as I walk. The cold air catches me by surprise, and I pick up my pace so I can shelter in the warmth of my car. This winter has been colder than usual. We’ve also had a lot more rain, and I almost slip on the muddy driveway.
Luke answers just as my foot slides through the mud. He catches me muttering an expletive, and chuckles. “Your day isn’t going so well?”
I unlock the car door and slide in before slamming the cold out. “Bloody mud. I am so sick of this rain! You need to do a sun dance or something. Anything to make it stop!”
“A sun dance?”
“Yeah, to make the sun shine,” I say. “Seriously Luke, how do you not know what a sun dance is?”
His laughter brings a smile to my lips. “Callie, I’ve never heard of a sun dance. You’ll have to demonstrate it for me the next time I see you.” His voice has the sexy cheeky tone to it that I’m growing to love. God, I’ve wasted a whole year arguing with him when I could have been listening to this instead.
“Nuh, uh. You only want to see that so you can imagine sexy times. You’ll have to wait until those sexy times can actually happen before I demonstrate anything.”
He groans. “You have no idea how often I think about you.” The need I hear matches my own, and I squeeze my thighs together and say yet another prayer that his divorce hurries up.
“Okay, we need to move off this topic. What did you call for?”
“Are you free for dinner tonight? It’d just be a quick one during my break, which I know is not perfect, but I need to see you.”
“As in, you need to tell me something? Or, you just really, really want to see me?”
“As in, if you don’t get your ass over here tonight, this friends thing might get thrown out the damn window.”
Oh, boy.
That voice.
So gravelly and demanding.
Bossy Luke has reared his head. I’m starting to really like bossy Luke.
“What time?”
“Seven.”
“I’ll be there. I can stop and pick some dinner up on the way. What’s your favourite takeaway?”
“Chinese.”
“Ooh, I know an awesome Chinese place. I’ll grab their omelette and fried rice—they’re the best I’ve ever had.” I hesitate for a moment. “Unless you want something else.”
“No. I like everything, so whatever you get will be good.”
“Okay, well I’ll see you tonight.”
“Callie?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t be late. I don’t want to waste a minute.”
Luke Hardy is trying to kill me. I know this for sure now. Soon I’ll have no heart left because he’ll own all the pieces.
* * *
My veins flow with lust from the minute I step foot inside Elixir that night, until long after I leave. And I begin to seriously doubt I can last much longer being with Luke without having him completely as mine.
His eyes track me as soon as he sees me. They don’t let go, and I send yet another prayer to the heavens. This one is for help with keeping my hands off him. The man is dressed for the killing season. And it’s not just me he’s killing. He has his own posse of admirers sitting at the bar staring at him with probably the same look I have on my face.
My steps falter a little as I take in the gorgeousness of this man. When I finally reach him, he’s moved from behind the bar to meet me, and his arm slides around my waist so he can pull me close.
“You okay?” he murmurs into my ear.
I can’t think straight. Between his appearance, his warm breath on my skin, his masculine scent and his goddamn hand on my ass, I think I might finally be going batshit crazy.
Pressing my hand against his chest to try to put some space between us, I mutter, “What the fuck are you wearing, anyway?” I nod at his black shirt. “What is that? And why do you feel it necessary to torment me with it?”