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“What the hell? I’m not planning on doing a triathlon here. I like my sugar, the hazelnut creamer. All that good stuff. Live a little, Luke. You don’t have to give up everything fun.”
“Oh, trust me, I still know how to have plenty of fun,” he said.
He took a blanket out of his backpack and I eyed it suspiciously.
“I thought we could sit down, and you wouldn’t want to sit in the wet grass,” he said.
“That was thoughtful, thanks,” I said, sitting down and drinking more of the coffee. “And I’m sorry I complained about the coffee. I’m not the most cheerful person in the morning.”
“Maybe this will help,” he said.
Luke put his arm around me and tucked me against his side. I set down the thermos and leaned my knees to the side against his leg, reaching for him with my arms. Luke Maddox was one hell of a good hugger. I may have groaned just from relaxing in his arms. He kissed the top of my head, sending a thrill down my spine.
After a minute, he tipped my chin up so I met his eyes, “Good morning, you,” he said. His eyes had the good crinkles at the corners when he smiled, which made the bottom drop out of my stomach a little. I smiled back.
“Good morning,” I said finally.
Kissing him back felt like the most natural thing in the world to me. His arm around me cradled my head. I felt cared for and shielded, cherished like a bird in a nest. I could have stayed there by the trunk of the tree, the cold of the ground leeching through the old blanket beneath us to chill me, as long as he was kissing me.
He gave a laugh as he pulled away. “I’d like to think I’ve gotten better at that since I was a teenager, but kissing you feels the same as it did then.”
“We’re not the same people we were then,” I said.
“Maybe deep down we are. Maybe we’ve changed less than you think.”
“When I was sixteen, I was hiding out because I was afraid my parents would think that seeing you was inappropriate—you were older than me and Ryan’s friend. Now I’ve got even more reasons to hide. Responsibility to run from, and a brother who’s about four inches from Crazytown already. Was it simpler then?” I said wistfully.
“It was never simple. I wish I could tell you differently,” he said. I knew he was right. Nothing with us had ever been simple.
“I should get to the lumberyard,” I said, which was probably the least romantic thing I could have come up with besides just mentioning my brother again. I sighed right out loud.
Luke scooped me closer to him and kissed me again, deeper and more urgently. I held on to his jacket, maybe clinging a little bit as he took my breath away.
“I really have to go,” I teased, “some things have changed. Because back in the day you would’ve helped me sneak away, not tried to keep me here.”
“Maybe I’m older and know what I want. And I don’t want you to go.”
He kissed me passionately. Heat flooded my body, and I lost all sense of needing to get to work. Hell, my dad hadn’t been that dedicated to the lumberyard when he was well. He’d either left it to the manager or closed early and opened late as it suited him. Twenty minutes one way or another wasn’t going to be the end of the world, I reasoned. Given my choice between kissing Luke Maddox and going to work, there wasn’t much of a contest.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, pulling away reluctantly. At heart, I was still the responsible girl.
“Six-thirty,” he said.
“Six-thirty,” I agreed.
“I’ll bring breakfast,” he said.
14
Luke
A few days into our secret meetings, I invited Sarah Jo over to my place for dinner. I wanted to take her out, go on a real date, but we couldn’t risk it. Not until things settled down with Ryan. I hadn’t seen him since the scene at the bar, but there was no word about him on the police scanner either. I figured that no news was good news in his case. He was showing up to work (I’d checked with his secretary) and functioning, so I assumed all was as well with him as it could be. It didn’t make sense to keep meeting in the same spot. It made discovery more likely. And as much as I enjoyed kissing Sarah Jo by that old ball-field, the danger of being found out by meeting under a tree was not the kind of excitement I liked. A hospitable couch, a roof to keep out rain—my wishes were simple at that point. I wanted to be able to kiss her in the comfort of my own home, since she had no privacy at her dad’s house.
