Luke's #1 Rule (12 page)

Luke took a chair next to her.

They were both quiet for a while, just gazing out at the lake, breathing in the good air, gazing at the hundreds of stars in the sky.

Chloe wondered why Luke was here. She didn’t think he’d really come to watch baseball with her boys at all. “Did your mom send you over here at my mom’s request?”

“No, why would you think that?”

To talk her out of Seattle. But she didn’t say that. She was just happy that her mother had kept her promise and had not said anything to Wanda about her move.

“I can’t imagine why else you’d be here.” Her voice caught, and her throat burned with the words. Wow. She was surprised that she was this emotional about him still. She had to get over that.

“I wanted to see you. And the boys.”

“You don’t date single moms. Remember?”

“For a long time I had a rule a about single moms. Then I met you. And Josh and Tommy.”

Chloe held her breath. Was he—did he—he couldn’t be—

“I’m ready to break that rule,” Luke said.

Chloe exhaled. For thousands of minutes, she’d waited to hear those words. She had called herself every kind of fool for wishing and hoping he’d say them. And now, he had.

“If you’re okay with that?” He started to get up from his chair. Chloe couldn’t think straight. Her thoughts swirled around. She was more than okay with Luke wanting to date her, but in the mix, Seattle waited. She should tell him.

“What’re you guys talking about?” Luke sank back into his seat as Finn, one of the locals she’d met last night, came around the corner from the bonfire onto the porch. He made himself at home on another rocker on the other side of Chloe. “Hey, I’m Finn.”

“Yeah, we met last night. Chloe.”

“Luke and I also saw you with Eva Bryman at Fast Eddie’s last night. Before the bonfire.”

“Oh.” Chloe’s heart missed a beat. Luke had been watching her when she hadn’t known it. Is that when he’d decided to break his rule for her?

“Nice night,” Finn said.

Luke made a disgusted noise.

“How long you up here for, Chloe?”

“My boys and I are just here for a week.” But Chloe wondered now if everything had changed. Would she stay here if Luke asked? What about the job? She fought an internal battle while Finn continued to talk and Luke continued to glower at Finn. What was happening here? Luke? Jealous?

“Oh, that’s right. You have kids. Where are they?”

“Staying with their grandma tonight.”

“Chloe’s mom has a cottage on Sparrow Street,” Luke said.

Finn ignored Luke and kept talking to Chloe. “I should bring my nephew by tomorrow to meet them. He’s seven.”

“That would be great.” Chloe said. “They get bored when it’s just the two of them all the time.”

“We could go for a spin in my boat,” Finn said.

“They’d love that,” Chloe said, although she hated boating. It made her seasick.

“Great. Let’s say noon?”

“That sounds fine.” She’d do anything she could to make this last week in Blue Lake special for her boys.

“Finn’s got a speed boat. The lake gets pretty choppy,” Luke said.

Chloe felt out of her depth. There were too many undercurrents, and she wasn’t even in the boat yet. She made idle polite conversation and hoped Finn would leave soon so she could find out exactly how Luke wanted to break his rule. She asked Finn how he got the day off in the middle of the week.

“I’m on vacation. The best part of living in Blue Lake is that when you get a week off, you don’t have to go anywhere.”

“More like six months,” Luke said.

By the light of the porch, Chloe saw a shadow of regret flit across Luke’s face right after the words came out of his mouth. He glanced at Finn.

Finn looked pained. “Actually, I’m laid off right now. I’m a construction electrician, and there’s just no work in the state for us right now, construction being at a total standstill.”

“You’ll find something, buddy,” Luke said, clearly trying to make up for dissing his friend.

“I recently had a bout of unemployment myself,” Chloe said.

“Did you find something?” Luke asked.

Chloe knew this was the time to tell Luke about Seattle, or it would be, except she couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t risk him talking her out of leaving.

“Don’t you have to go now?” Luke asked Finn.

“No.” He shook Luke’s hand off his shoulder.

Chloe watched Luke lay claim to her. At least that’s what it felt like and also sweetly delicious to be wanted by him, by Luke.

She missed whatever the guys said to each other, their tones low. But Finn got up and said good-bye, promising to bring his nephew by with the boat tomorrow for a day of fishing.

“What should I get for my boys? Fishing poles? Life jackets? Bait?”

“Not a thing,” Finn said. Then he regarded Luke. “You’re welcome to come along, Luke.”

“Great. I’ll take you up on that.”

Chloe’s body relaxed. She hadn’t known she’d been tense, but she hated boating. With Luke there, the boys would be safe. She somehow knew this in her heart.

“This is embarrassing.” Chloe spoke lower than usual so both men had to lean in to hear her. “I am afraid of boating. But my boys love it.”

“What’s to fear?” Finn swore he’d handle the boat with care.

“It’s not that. I trust you.” She said the words to Finn, but her eyes were locked on Luke’s. “I get seasick and also have a panic issue.” It took everything she had to admit that she’d have to take medication to get on a silly little fishing boat.

“I’ll take good care of your boys. You can check out the town. There’s a lady place.” Luke furrowed his brow. “Spa. And shopping. That kind of stuff.”

“Thank you!” She wanted to kiss Luke. Her boys would be safe with him, and she could go into town and have a girly day.

Luke loved the way the moonglow touched Chloe’s face, giving her face a pretty sheen that reminded him of pearls. Even without the moonlight, she had a lovely face. And of course her awesome body, which naturally Finn had picked up on.

“Your friend seems nice,” she said.

“He’s not,” Luke replied before thinking. “I mean, yeah, he’s a nice guy, but he loves the summer women. Loves to get what he can, if you know what I mean.”

Chloe didn’t say anything, but he could tell she was thinking about what he’d said.

“I’m not like that,” Luke clarified.

“I’m glad you’re going fishing with them,” Chloe said. “I would not have done a spa day if it was just Finn and his nephew, because Josh and Tommy don’t know them. But the boys will feel comfortable with you there. You’re a big deal to them, you know.”

The noises of the bonfire party breaking up reached them. Luke knew his mother or Eva would lock up the office at midnight so that guests wouldn’t take the party upstairs into the social area right above her quarters.

So, it must be getting close to midnight, Luke thought. All was calm. Except his heart, which beat so loud he figured Chloe could hear it.

“It’s late,” Chloe said, standing.

“And we’re here alone.” Luke stood and took a step toward her. She seemed a little nervous, but she didn’t back away from him, so he took another step forward, then another. Then he kissed her.

What was she doing? Chloe kissed Luke, hungry for his taste, a taste she remembered like it was yesterday. Mint toothpaste and moonlight. She heard the waves rushing against the shore, and she rushed like the waves, crashing against him, diving deeper into the kiss.

Then she stopped thinking.

After one long kiss lead to the next, Luke took her hand and opened the front door that led directly into the living room.

She pulled him past the sofa, into the bedroom she’d slept alone in last night, wishing he was there with her. She admitted it. She wanted him. That simple. He obviously wanted her, too. Was this love? She loved him, she must, or maybe it was only lust. Because lust overwhelmed her at the moment.

She’d be gone in a week, and this might be her only chance to find out if her love for Luke was real. She wouldn’t risk sleeping in the same room with Luke when the boys were here. But now, the moon had conspired with the sun to get the two of them here, alone, together. And she would not say no to that fortunate alignment of the stars. Her heart wouldn’t let her. She’d tell Luke about Seattle later. Once he knew he couldn’t live without her. They’d deal with it then. Lots of people worked out long-distance relationships. Or he could move with her. People needed yard work in Seattle, too.

He moved her hair aside and kissed her softly on her neck. The new sensation made her moan. She pushed all thought away. This was just for her. She needed to feel loved. And Luke made her feel loved right now, with his tender kisses and possessive embrace.

She shed any inhibition she’d felt with their easily discarded summer clothes. She lay open to his hungry gaze. So good to be cared for in this way, to be loved, to be worshipped for who she was, underneath the masks and layers she put on in public.

Luke, not a man of many words on a normal day, but now, here, he didn’t have to talk to send her body the signal that he wanted her with a deeply thrilling passion. His hardness against her thigh told her, and she moved her hand to wrap him with greedy fingers. She breathed in his scent, the fresh water smell mixed with newly mown lawn that clung to his body even when his clothes were off.

He sighed when she touched him, taking her invitation to cup her breasts and kiss her lips. She lost herself in a dizzy whirl of emotion she couldn’t name or trace. Almost breathless, she broke the kiss to press her lips against his neck, letting her tongue feel the deliciousness of his suntanned skin.

If she could bury herself in the crook of his neck forever, she’d be happy to die there, so beloved, so cared for. Luke had broken his rule for her. Somehow they would bring their love into the light of day, just by the things they did with each other now, with a silent moonlight promise.

She closed her eyes as they melted into each other. She could follow him anywhere, like they were dancing an ancient dance, and each movement brought them closer and closer together. They could be making a baby together. That thought made her eyes pop open. Her body stilled under him.

As attuned as he was to her every movement, she froze, and he opened his eyes right into hers. He knew what they’d done, too. He stopped, still inside her. Skin to skin. She’d discovered that she could make him lose himself so completely that he forgot all common sense. And the same could be said of her.

She grabbed him with her hands, one on each cheek. “No. Don’t go. It’s fine.”

He laughed a low, wicked laugh, kissing her neck again just under her ear, reestablishing a smooth rhythm, stroking against her, enflaming her beyond the point of holding back anymore. So she didn’t. She let the rich waves move through her body as a sound rose from her belly, a sound of pleasure fulfilled as lap after lap of primal emotion engulfed her.

Her own throbbing set him free. She squeezed her pelvic muscles to hug him tightly and wrapped her arms around his waist. He lowered himself and cradled her as they rolled side to side and looked at each other.

“You’re dangerous.” His whisper in her ear thrilled her. Nobody had ever called her dangerous before. She liked it. “Are you on the pill?”

“No.” Her laugh escaped before she could catch it. “I have no need to be. Or I didn’t. For a long time. Until tonight.” She moved even closer, so that their bodies touched all the way to their toes. “It’s not the right time of the month.”

She rested there, her head on his shoulder. He kept his arm around her as he reached on the floor for his jeans. He pulled out a foil wrapped condom. Wow. Spence had never been able to go twice in one night. Not even on their honeymoon. She peeked down. Stone hard and already rolling on the condom. “Let’s not tempt Mother Nature too much,” he said.

Chapter Eleven

Spence woke up in an unfamiliar bed. His head ached, his teeth hurt, his body, cold with sweat, didn’t make sense, except…except when he was in detox. His queasy stomach made him turn over and open his eyes. A twin bed. Painted white cement walls. Not a jail cell, but might as well be. Back in rehab. Again.

After dry heaving over the toilet bowl for what seemed like hours, he struggled to recall what had brought him here, but it was all black. No memories, just a sense of sickening dread and his dark familiar friend, depression.

“He’s up!” a nurse in a uniform of kitten pants and top informed the room.

“Where’s my wife? Why am I here? What happened to me?”

His boys were gone. He’d see them again, maybe once a year if he was lucky. The baby! God help him. He had to get better for the baby. And for Bettina. But as the nurse took his vital signs and he fought off nausea, he knew it wouldn’t work if he got sober for anyone except himself.

The nurse hadn’t answered any of his questions, but he heard his wife’s voice and struggled to his feet. He wore a horrible hospital johnny, but it hardly mattered. Clearly something much worse than showing his ass was happening here.

It stayed like that. Hot, then cold. Burning and shivering and itching. Shit and dry heaves. More than once he wished he’d died. This seemed to go on forever. No day or night, no soothing sleep, only nightmares. He was still being given medication, but it didn’t help. He’d heard Bettina’s voice that one time but didn’t see her until they had a meeting with an addiction specialist.

Dr. Michaels would keep Bettina off his back. He hoped. It was all he could do to walk down the hall supported by an attendant. He still couldn’t remember why he was here. The attendant opened Dr. Michaels’s door, and Bettina sat there, shredded tissue in hand, eyes red of rim.
Oh God, give me the strength to deal with this woman
, he prayed. He had never been a big fan of Jesus, but when things got this bad, praying helped. Apparently God didn’t hold it against you if you didn’t quite believe in him.

He took his seat. Stole a look at his wife.

“Hi, honey.”

She wouldn’t turn her face to his.

“I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure what he was sorry for. Clearly he’d ODed. But why? How? When? He might as well get his all-inclusive apologies out of the way. He felt so sick and tired he wanted most of all to go back to his cot and four walls, curl into a ball, and breathe. Or not.