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I stepped inside her luxury apartment. “I love your home.”
“Thank you,” she replied. “We’ll be in here.”
I followed her through a foyer and passed one large living area with fresh flowers arranged in a pretty vase and sitting on a coffee table in front of a white leather couch. The apartment was clean and tidy with pictures of her and her husband, Hunter, on display in pretty frames. She opened a set of sliding doors that opened to a den with dark walls.
I stopped short when I spotted Luke sitting on another brown leather couch. I looked at him with shock, then Julia.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
I gave her a wounded look, feeling betrayed and set up. “What’s this?” I asked softly.
“I have to run out,” she said with a sheepish look. “We’ll talk soon.”
She rushed out, sliding the doors closed before I heard her footsteps leading away from the room. Luke got to his feet and approached me with his hands in his pockets. He looked just like the little boy I remembered from so many years earlier.
“What are you doing here?” I asked with a sigh.
“I wanted to talk to you.” He shrugged. “You’ve been doing a hell of a job avoiding me. I’ve been to your place and called you a hundred times.”
I sighed, knowing there was nowhere to run. It was time to face the music.
ChapterFifteen
Luke
Iwas nervous as I walked toward her. It had been two weeks since we kissed, and she had ghosted me ever since. Meeting her again felt like confronting an unknown danger. I had no idea if she was pissed at me or maybe even afraid of me. I couldn’t tolerate the idea she might be afraid of me.
I could feel my heart racing as I approached her. “Can we talk?”
“I guess we should,” she replied.
“I just wanted to ask you about what happened. We kissed and then you disappeared. I don’t understand why you did that.” I was trying to keep my voice calm. Inside, I was panicking a little.
“Nothing happened,” she said nonchalantly.
I knew that was bullshit. “You ran off.”
“I went home,” she defended. “I didn’t want to hang out with my dad any longer than necessary. I didn’t want another confrontation with him.”
I knew she was making shit up. We both knew she ran off because of our kiss. If she wanted to pretend it didn’t happen, I supposed there was nothing I could do about that. ButIdidn’t want to pretend it didn’t happen. I wanted to explore the situation. I wanted to know why she kissed me. I wanted to explain why I kissed her.
“That’s it?” I asked. “You ran out without saying a word to me because you didn’t want to talk to your dad?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I didn’t want to ruin the party with a bunch of drama. I made an appearance. It wasn’t like I had to stay all night.”
She was getting defensive. I wasn’t sure I should push. Should I just let it go? Was it ungentlemanly to bring up something she clearly didn’t want to talk about? But I wanted to talk about it. I wanted to know if it was ever going to happen again.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked.
“No.”
“You’re avoiding me,” I said. “Don’t deny it.”
“I’ve been busy.” She shrugged.
“Emmy, it’s me,” I said. “Come on. I know you a little better than that. Why are you avoiding me?”
“I’m not,” she answered without looking me in the eyes.
