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Once outside, the night air was refreshing. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. Maybe party scenes were behind me . . . or maybe I just needed to go home and sleep. I felt Luc’s warmth as he came to stand beside me, and I let myself enjoy his scent for a second before opening my eyes.
I gave a short gasp at the sight of him. His eyes were piercing and staring right into mine, filled with longing. He seemed tense, as if he wanted something he couldn’t get. My eyes went down to his chest, where I could see his shirt moving up and down with each breath. It was all I could do to not reach out and touch him.
“Shall we go?” he rasped, breaking the taut silence.
“Yes, let’s.”Anything to take my mind off whatever is going on here.
I followed him to his car, where he opened the door for me to get in. This small gesture wasn’t lost on me, because I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had opened a door for me and actually meant it. Rich only did it when we were in public, and only when he was talking with someone else, so the gesture meant nothing.
We drove in silence for a bit. The whole time I was aware of how close Luc was to me. I watched his hands grip the steering wheel. The knuckles were white, as if he needed to hold onto something or he’d fall apart.
I dared to turn my head and peek at his profile. My first thought was how long his eyelashes were. So not fair. But my eyes quickly moved down to his nose and then his lips, which were pinched together as tight as his fingers.
“What are you looking at?” he asked teasingly.
I snapped my face back to looking straight ahead, feeling a sudden onrush of blood to my cheeks and neck. I heard a chuckle and snapped back to face Luc again, then felt a sharp twinge in my neck. “Ow!”
Before I could reach up to rub it, his hand was on the spot, massaging it loose. I almost melted into a puddle. His hands felt rough but warm, and even with all his muscles, his touch was gentle as it worked around my neck, loosening the knot before it got worse.
“Got to be careful there when you’re looking,” he said, chuckling again.
“I wasn’t looking.” A big fat lie, and we both knew it. To his credit, he didn’t laugh again.
His hand left my neck, and I swallowed a sigh. Why couldn’t he have left his hand there a little longer?
“Feeling better?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, thanks.”
We got to the first traffic light, and I realized I didn’t want to go home and be done with the night. Ice cream might not be a bad idea. I cleared my throat. “Luc?”
“Yeah?”
I just had to say it. It was no big deal. He was just my neighbor and we were stopping for a snack on the way home. “Would you like to have some ice cream before dropping me off?”
I held my breath while I waited on his response, ready to start putting my walls up again if he denied me, but he responded, “I’d love to. I know just the place.”
The smile that broke across his face was tantalizing. I could have stared at him forever.
A few blocks away, we stopped at Mama’s Homemade Ice Cream. This was my kind of place!
I got out of the car and was already walking toward the window before Luc could come around to open my door. They had a huge whiteboard nailed to the side of the building that listed close to a hundred different flavors. Oh, they had soft-serve too! I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.
“I’ve never seen anyone so happy to see ice cream,” Luc said.
I turned to see him standing only a foot away. My breath caught at the smell of him. He smelt fresh, like the woods and the clean air of this town. “Well, you’ve never met me,” I said with a smile.
“That’s true,” he said. “But I’m glad I have.”
Thank goodness we were next in line because I could feel my cheeks warming up. I ordered a chocolate peanut butter scoop on a waffle cone and smothered it in fudge for good measure, while Luc ordered a banana split sundae with three scoops of ice cream, a mountain of whipped cream, and a cherry on top.
“You’re going to eat all that?” I gasped.
“I missed dinner tonight with planning the party and all.”
I nodded. “Okay, that makes sense.”
But I couldn’t help thinking if he ate like that, how did he keep such a sexy physique?Oh right, he actually exercises, while you’ve been locked away in your own home for two years.The pain of having to deal with what I’d suffered at the hands of Rich overwhelmed my senses for a moment. It wasn’t for long, but it was long enough that Luc noticed something was amiss.
