Luke's Gift by Kaylie Newell

Author:Kaylie Newell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction
ISBN: 9781949068917
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2018-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Mary sat across from Luke at a small, romantic table at Rocco’s restaurant. They were tucked away in the corner, warm candlelight flickering between them. He wore a blue collared shirt tonight, which was open at the throat. She kept imagining kissing him there, where she knew he’d smell like aftershave and man.

She took a sip of chardonnay, feeling him watch her. Setting the wine down, she looked up and smiled. “What?”

“You just look…I don’t know. Kind of amazing. That dress…”

She’d worn a simple, off the shoulder number that hadn’t seen the light of day for a good two years. It was her official little black dress, and right now she was grateful she’d even remembered she’d had it.

Touching the strand of pearls at her throat, she felt herself heat everywhere. “You don’t think it’s too much? I got excited about dressing up for you.”

His eyes were dark. “I’m getting excited about you dressing up for me, too. But I’d rather have you out of it, to be honest.”

She gazed at him, the wine giving her a certain courage she wouldn’t normally have had. Her belly was warm, her pulse fluttering in her neck. It would be easy to give into him right now, easy to forget about this morning, and how it felt to wake up without him there. Or at least, easy not to ask him about it. She wanted this moment to last, because it felt right and perfect. But at the same time, she knew there was no such thing as perfection. It didn’t exist. And once again, her brain overrode her heart, which broke a little as she took a deep, even breath.

“Luke…” she began, hating the tone of her voice. Like she was getting ready to accuse him of something.

“I know what you’re going to say.”

“You do?”

“About last night. About leaving, right?”

Maybe this wasn’t going to be as terrible as she’d thought. Maybe he’d have a great reason, and he’d put all those suspicions to rest once and for all.

“Nobody says you had to stay. I just feel like there might be something you’re not telling me.”

At that, he sat back and swallowed visibly. “Like what?”

She shrugged, trying to look casual. But he looked pained. It wasn’t just her imagination. This made him nervous. Why?

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe you just didn’t want to stay. And I get that. Or maybe you had something else to do?”

He shook his head and took a drink of his beer. When he put it back down, his gaze settled on her again, and it felt heavy. “I wanted to stay, Mary.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“I don’t want to lie to you, so I’m just going to leave it at that. I guess you’ll have to trust me.”

She laughed softly. “What you’re really asking is for me to put my heart on the line. To ignore my instincts and not ask questions, right?”

“That’s not what I’m asking,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s a pretty hard pill to swallow knowing you think I’d leave because I was slinking around somewhere.

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