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"I'll stay here for a while if you two lovebirds don’t mind," he said and pointed to his cigar. "I'm persona non grata nowadays due to my filthy habit."
I smiled at him. He seemed like a good-natured man who listened intently as Luke talked a bit more about the deal and what his plans were after he returned from his trip around the world.
"Well, I better leave you two alone for a while," Mr. Thorpe said and stood, throwing his cigar into the fire pit. "Mrs. Thorpe will want me there so we can socialize before we hit the sack. We're driving back to the city to do some shopping before the fundraiser tomorrow night but we wanted to come out here for a few days before the real work starts."
"Good talking with you," Luke said and I smiled at Mr. Thorpe. He stood up with difficulty, and then made his way up the boardwalk to the house, leaving Luke and me alone while the chef packed away his tools and an assistant cleaned up after the guests.
"Feel like taking a walk along the beach? Get your toes wet?"
I smiled. "Sounds great."
We left the table and made our way down to the beach, close to the surf. The sky was dark and the surf roared a few feet away as we walked along. A string of lights up and down in front of the property shone down on the sand but beyond on either side was dark. Luke took my hand and I was surprised, because we were alone and there was no need for a performance.
"Never know who might be watching from the house. My father has a telescope, but I've seen him turning it on the neighbors, so I want to be realistic just in case."
I laughed and let him take my hand, even though I didn't believe it.
"Does he have night vision as well?"
"We have to keep in character," Luke said and smiled. "Might as well play the parts as much as possible so it doesn't feel awkward."
We walked along the beach about a mile, talking the entire time about his family and mine, about everything except the main reason I was there – because he didn’t want his family or their meddling friends to try to match him up with anyone, even though I could tell that they were all really attached to him and wanted to see him happy.
When we arrived back at the beach house, we went to the great room where the guests had assembled. The room was huge, filled with comfortable furniture, and had three separate seating areas, where people had gathered.
Luke pulled me over to one set of sofa and chairs and we sat together, side by side. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer and we sat quietly and listened as Mr. Thorpe and Luke's adoptive father talked about the stock market rally.
About nine o'clock, John texted and said he wouldn't be arriving until the next day.
Luke showed me the text.
"That's too bad," I whispered.
"I know. Mrs. B will be so upset."
Luke and I remained seated where we were, his arm around me, and we passed the rest of the evening that way. When the grandfather clock in the hallway chimed eleven thirty, I covered my yawn with my hand, surprised that I was so tired.
"Are you an early bird?" Mrs. Thorpe asked, peering at me with interest.
"I am," I said. "I'm used to getting up early and studying before class."
"Alexa just passed her comprehensive exam for her Master's Degree. She's been under a lot of stress preparing for it." Luke smiled at me, his expression proud.
"Oh, congratulations, dear," Mrs. Thorpe said. She smiled and I wondered what they'd think if they knew all of this was a big performance. That Luke and I had only ever really kissed once.
Of course, it was at that very moment that Luke leaned down and kissed me, catching me by surprise. I recovered quickly enough, and kissed him back, then he met my eyes when the kiss ended, a twinkle in his like he was enjoying it all a bit too much.
"I'm so proud of her," he said and squeezed my shoulder. He kissed me again, this time longer, lingering over it, so that I began to feel a bit embarrassed. We pulled apart and I glanced at Mrs. Thorpe, who was smiling like a Cheshire Cat, her face lit up like she couldn’t get enough of our show of affection.
"It's so good to see you with someone again," she said to Luke. "For a while, your mother and I wondered if you'd ever find someone else."
"No need to worry about me," Luke said and held his chin up, a grin on his face. "I've found someone so you can all just relax."
"It's too bad you’re going away for so long," she said and looked at me, an expression of sympathy on her face. "How will you cope with him being away for all that time? A whole year? I don’t think I could manage."
"We'll manage," Luke said, almost defensively. "We won't be separated the entire time. Like I said, I'll fly her to meet us and we'll see some of the sights together when she has a break from her PhD."
"That's good," she replied, and pressed her lips together. "Relationships and family are the most important thing in life. Everything else is just window dressing. Don't forget that in your quest to make a name for yourself."
