CHAPTER SEVEN

MADDY

"Hey, babe." 

Luke's smile always filled me up with warmth. He was so genuine, so good for me. 

But it barely registered in the flaming inferno churning inside my body.

Ignacio left twenty minutes ago and I just stood there the whole time like a robot, trying to figure out what was going on with me. How could he know what was going on inside my body, inside my brain, with just a look? Not even Luke knew me that well.

I smiled back weakly at my handsome, loving boyfriend as the inferno within me still churned. 

"Hey," I replied. 

"Closing up soon?" 

He came around the counter, wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and placed a kiss on my forehead. I tried to lean into him, to melt against his warm, strong body but I was already molten.

"Uh, yeah," I said absently, moving away from his embrace. "Just need to shut off the lights."  

My whole body already throbbed with heat like lava from a volcano. 

And it was because of another man. 

Why was this happening?

"Long day, babe?" Luke asked as he browsed a windowsill of potted succulents. "You seem tired." 

"Yeah, I am a little," I said, eager for any excuse for how weird I knew I was acting. 

I slung my purse over my shoulder and dug out my keys while I waited anxiously for him to join me at the door. Normally the flower shop felt like a small paradise but I was dying to get out of there right then. Ignacio's presence hung in the air like a seductive, dirty whisper, which felt especially weird with Luke being there.

"Ready to go?" I asked him. 

He nodded at the sales counter. 

"Is that your paycheck?"

The envelope sat there taunting me. I had been too stunned to open it. If I was being honest, I feared what was inside.

"Uh, no. It's something a customer brought in," I stammered, walking over and shoving it in my bag. "Probably selling something but I promised I'd look at it." 

If I looked guilty or suspicious of anything, Luke didn't seem to notice. 

"Cool. Ready when you are, babe." 

I locked up the shop behind us and Luke drove us home. He talked about his day with his hand on my thigh, fingers clasped in mine, like any other day. I tried to listen and respond normally, but couldn't seem to shake Ignacio's presence this time. 

I was so disconnected from Luke in that moment, I felt like an outsider observing two people go about their day. 

What the hell have you done to my relationship? I wondered in despair. What do you want?

The entire drive to my apartment, including getting out and putting my key in the door, felt like an odd body and mind disconnect. 

"You got a package in your mailbox, babe," Luke murmured, nuzzling into my neck. 

"Huh. I haven't ordered anything," I mused, reaching for the thin rectangular box. 

My heart stopped when I saw the top and I nearly dropped it. 

There was no mailing label on the box. Just my name hand-written in pen. No return address or sender name. 

"That's fuckin' weird," Luke muttered. "Kind of creepy too." 

"What should I do?" I asked, barely above a whisper. "You think I should open it?"

He took the box from me and gave it a gentle shake. 

"It's pretty light. Doesn't seem like it's anything dangerous," he said before returning it to me.

We went inside and I set it on the living room coffee table, stepping away like it would bite me. 

"Who do you think it's from?" Luke asked, eyeing me cautiously. "You seem pretty spooked, babe." 

"I don't know," I breathed. 

But I did know. I knew exactly who.

"Might as well open it," he suggested. "Maybe there's a note inside."

I paused, taking deep breaths before reaching out with shaking hands to pull apart the box flaps.

Luke glued himself to my side and rubbed my back soothingly as I revealed soft tissue paper held together by a sticker that read NEIMAN MARCUS. 

We exchanged a confused glance before I pulled back the tissue paper and exposed soft, luxurious fabric with an elegant rose pattern. I lifted it out to see that it was a dress. A gorgeous maxi dress not unlike the one I wore at the wine cellar. Where he first saw me. 

This one was much more elegant than my lightweight, halter top one from Target. The material was thick and rich. It nipped in at the waist and the neckline plunged down in a steep triangle.

Nothing else in my apartment was as nice or cost as much money, I was sure of that. I never held anything so fine in my hands before and I was mesmerized.

While I mentally oohed and ahhed over the dress, Luke was fuming next to me. 

“Who the fuck would give you a dress?” he spat, digging in the box for any other information. “I really hope it’s from your mom because this is otherwise really-”

His voice dropped abruptly as he held up a card. My stomach tied into knots as I read it over his shoulder. 

Wear this out with the dinner vouchers I gave you. Luke will be sure to enjoy it and so will I. 

“Maddy,” Luke said in a clipped tone. A vein bulged in his forehead and his hands holding the card began to shake and clench into fists. “Babe, I’m not trying to accuse you of anything but what is this?” 

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, taking hold of his forearm. “I didn’t want you to worry. I thought he was harmless.”

In a hushed, trembling voice I told him everything that happened. How Ignacio approached me in the wine cellar and again today in the flower shop. It all tumbled out of me like a waterfall.

I told him everything except for what I feeling, what I had been tying myself in knots all week to figure out. The hot, electric buzzing in the air and in my body whenever I felt Ignacio’s presence. 

Right then with Luke’s hand on my thigh and his growing, protective anger, mixed with Ignacio’s scent around the box and the sensation of his lips lingering on my face, I never felt more turned on.

“That fucker was at the gym yesterday,” Luke hissed through gritted teeth. “We sparred each other. He even saw your picture when you called me and told me I was a lucky man.”

"You met him?" I asked in a bewildered daze. 

The space between my legs pulsed with deep, hungry need. I squeezed my legs shut and rubbed my thighs together to ease the mounting pressure within me. 

Picturing Luke and Ignacio facing each other off in the gym made me shudder with desire. My brain spun with confusion, but my body was too busy feeling and reacting to notice. 

Luke's hand on my thigh was close to my clit, yet so far away. Never before had I so badly wanted him to touch me there, to cum under his hand with Ignacio's scent in my nose. 

Wait, what?

"What dinner vouchers is he talking about?" Luke's voice came through my lusty brain fog. 

I turned and dug through my purse. 

"It must have been this," I said, handing him the unopened envelope Ignacio gave me at the flower shop. 

He took it from me and opened it, scanning the thick cardstock within before his eyes widened in shock.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, glancing up at me. "These dinner vouchers are for French Laundry."

I never heard of it. 

"What's that?"

"It's a really fancy French restaurant in Napa," he explained. "You need reservations months in advance. This voucher even includes a bottle of wine valued up to eight hundred dollars!"  

He looked at me with an expression I couldn't read and that scared me. I grew up seeing Luke's face and learned his many expressions since we were toddlers. But I couldn't even begin to guess what he was thinking in that moment. 

"He must have been really taken by you," he said in a quiet, dry voice. "Can't say I blame him." 

"That doesn't matter," I insisted, cupping my hands around his neck. "I don't give a shit what he wants. I'm with you and no one is getting between us." 

The words were a struggle coming out of my mouth like I was trying to convince myself they were true. It shouldn't have felt like I was lying, but for some reason it did.

Luke lowered his forehead to mine and released a small smile since he spotted the box. He wrapped his arms around me in a loving embrace and sighed. 

"Thank you, baby," he whispered. "I trust you." 

My heart ached with guilt. At that moment I couldn't even trust myself. I wanted to only want him. Why was my body betraying me? 

"What should we do?" I asked after a moment of silence. 

"Don't worry," he said, dropping a kiss to my nose.

His eyes flashed dangerously and his jaw clenched tight. 

"I'll handle this guy."