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He could just ignore her and that was what he was going to do.
What he couldn’t figure out was why there was part of him that just couldn’t make that final cut yet tortured himself by keeping it there.
“Maybe your mother will ease up some,” he said.
“I hope. They are talking about coming back to see me soon. I’m putting it off. I just can’t. I’m trying to catch up on work. I can’t do as much and though I’m working, it’s at a slower pace. And to be honest, I just want us to have time together.”
He liked she was saying that but wondered if there was part of her that didn’t want her family to know about him.
If her parents came, she might have to introduce them. This way, out of sight, out of mind.
“And we are,” he said. “You have to tell me if I’m not giving you enough.”
Her hand went out and landed on this bare thigh where his shorts had risen when he sat next to her. She was always reaching out to touch him and he was at his limit more than he thought he’d been before.
“You’re good,” she said. “I know you’re working and so am I.”
“I appreciate your willingness to come to dinner or go to dinner if I get out of work early enough,” he said.
Some nights he was out on time, home and showered, picking her up by seven. He never cared when he ate and the sun didn’t go down until close to nine in the summer so it’s not like he was going to go to bed anyway.
“It’s not so much a willingness as I want to. I never ate until close to six half the time if I was cooking. Or if Daisy was. We’d wait for the other.”
He wasn’t used to sit-down meals other than when he was in the service. He found he did enjoy his time with Heather and craved more of it. The thought he still wasn’t able to give her what she might want was a burden he’d have to carry along with the rest of the skeletons in his closet.
“And now you’re waiting for me,” he said.
“Seems like waiting for you is becoming a habit.”
There was a tongue in cheek tone to her voice. “Does it bother you?”
She leaned in close. “Only when I’m horny and trying to figure out what is going through your mind.”
He leaned back and looked at her face. His eyes moving over it. The last thing he expected was she’d say that especially when there were other people around.
Before he could respond, Ivy moved over and sat next to them. “I hate being the odd one out.”
He didn’t know how to take Jasmine’s younger sister. She was nice and friendly and all but not his type. Kind of flighty from what he’d seen or heard.
“You’ll find someone,” Heather said.
“Got any friends for me, Luke?” Ivy asked. “Any fellow troopers?”
“I don’t know too many that well,” he said. Nor would he set anyone up. That wasn’t his thing.
“I’m open to anything,” Ivy said.
“No, you’re not,” Heather said.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Ivy said, waving her hand. “I meant I’ve had such bad luck dating lately that I’m open to going on a date with just about anyone. Got to keep my options open is all.”
“You don’t need to work so hard,” Jasmine said, coming over by herself. He’d looked and seen Wesley with his daughter in his hands feeding her a bottle.
Luke had never seen himself as a family man. Not as a father either.
Being around Zane’s kids might have changed his mind.
He just figured he didn’t want to pass anything in him onto someone else.
