Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
His arm slides around my shoulders and I sink against his warm body. The vehicle starts to move and I glance out of my window to watch Savage and Kurt in what appears to be a heated exchange. I’m pretty sure those two are going to come to blows, and I’m not going to try to stop what can’t be stopped. They’re two freight trains with no breaks.
Luke laughs. Adam as well. “Gotta love Savage. He keeps things interesting.”
I barely hear the words. Suddenly, I have nerves dancing in my belly, or perhaps ice skating on unsteady ice is a better description. I’m going to see the place Luke lives, and experience the life he created without me. Somehow that feels incredibly intimidating.
Almost as if Luke reads my mind, he cups my face and tilts my mouth to his, brushing his lips over mine, and then lingering there a moment before he releases me. It’s his way of saying we’re together in all things. It doesn’t wash away the nerves, but it somehow stirs more of a feeling of anticipation than uncertainty.
***
Twenty minutes later, we pull up to a high-rise building, and Luke opens the door, offering me his, “Welcome to your second home, baby.”
My nerves do jumping jacks, and my palm presses to his, heat and tingly sensations sliding up my arm. He guides me to the ground and the chill of the night is damp and wet, so unlike the dry cold of Colorado, driving home the distance that was between us and not so long ago now. We enter the lobby which is all about black shiny tiles. Luke waves to the doorman and his arm is back around my shoulders.
Once we’re in the elevator, Luke punches in a high-level floor, and pulls me close. “I know you, Ana. You’re going to make this like some sign our lives are too separate to be together, but that is so far from the truth.”
My hand settles on his chest, and his heart thunders beneath my touch. He’s nervous, too, and this is really silly. We love each other. Nothing about me going to the place he lived without me changes that. “I know that, Luke.”
“Do you?”
“Yes,” I say firmly. “Yes, over and over.”
The elevator dings and so does my heart, as silly as that would sound to someone. Luke pushes off the wall and takes me with him. “Come on, baby.” He catches my hand and leads me out of the car, and down the hallway.
At the door, he hesitates. “I bought it thinking maybe one day, you’d come here, and want to stay.” He cups my face. “It’s not a ranch with horses, but—”
I push to my toes and kiss him. “It’s already perfect.”
He draws a breath and sets me in front of him, before punching a code into a panel and then opening the door.
Chapter Forty
Ana
I walk inside the apartment to find a massive room with windows, luxurious wood finishes, bookshelves filled with hundreds of books, a stunning kitchen island and so much more. It’s warm and welcoming, and expensive. I turn to face Luke as he shuts the door and locks it. When he rotates to face me as well, the heat between us punches like fire, no ice in sight.
He catches my hand again, and walks into me, his hand on my hip. “I hated every moment I was here without you, Ana.”
“I hate the idea of you here without me,” I reply, and every part of me is alive in ways I was never alive when we were apart. “I don’t want to know what that feels like again.”
His hand slides over my hair and his mouth lowers to mine. “Marry me, Ana.”
I laugh a throaty laugh. “You have already asked that. I already said yes.”
“Say yes again, right here, right now.”
“Yes,” I whisper. “Over and over, yes,” I add, repeating the words I’d used in the elevator.
His lips brush my lips and then he leans in and kisses my neck before he murmurs, “Again.”
My teeth scrape my bottom lip. “Yes.”
He scoops me up, lifts me, and my arms wrap around his neck as he starts walking. I bury my face in his neck and just inhale him, and it’s still not enough. I just can’t even believe we’re together again, and I haven’t even had the time to process the reality of it. I hold onto him, and I vow never to let go again.
At the top of the stairs, Luke enters a room and flips on the light. It’s really only then that I process the fact that it’s dark outside. I don’t even know if I’d know the day of the week if I didn’t stop and think.
Luke sets me down at the foot of a massive king-sized bed with pillars and a heavy wood construct. He doesn’t undress me though. And I don’t undress him. We undress together, and then end up there at the end of that bed, naked and staring at each other, a world of emotions and history between us.