Chapter Twenty-Nine
Luke
Knowing she was sitting in those woods made me feel all kinds of things. Did I believe her? I knew what kind of man Chris was—he was liar. But I also knew that she hadn’t admitted that she was wrong about him and still didn’t realize what he was up to. I needed to get myself under control.
I walked back to the RV and climbed in. Ryan had laughed at me when I told him I was going to pull it out here for some peace and quiet. He said I was hiding, and maybe he was right. I needed space and time to figure this out. My heart felt like it had been shredded and then put back together only to be ripped apart again. There was nothing I wanted more than to be able to be with Emmy, but I didn't know if I could trust her.
“Luke!” I heard from outside of the RV. I stood and walked over and pushed the door open to see Ryan walking toward me.
“Ryan.”
“So, are you done being a baby?”
I flipped him off and closed the door.
“You can't stay out here forever, and I find it funny that you can see the meadow from here and, hmmm. You have to walk past here to get to it.” He said as he climbed into the small space.
“Your point?” I shrugged and leaned against the counter and cross my arms.
“You knew good and damn well this was the first place she would go when she got back, and I would bet my left nut that her little ass is sitting out there right now.”
“She is.” I watched as Ryan looked from the window and caught my line of vision.
“And you're in here?”
“We spoke briefly.” My coffee cup seemed to want my attention, but Ryan was vying for it.
“And?”
“We talked briefly, and that's it. I told her I needed a little more time.”
“You are a jackass,” Ryan enunciated each word like I didn't understand English. “Wait. Word substitution. Dumbass.”
“Why are you out here?” I asked.
“Because I need your help. You've been MIA for days, and I'm not used to that. You know I’m co-dependent.”
“That I do.” I shook my head, gulped down my coffee, and rinsed the cup. “Fine.”
“Great. I'll go get the truck, and we can move back to the house.”
***
Once the blocks were behind the wheels, we unhooked the RV, and Ryan moved my truck back to its parking place.
“God forbid you to scratch yours.” I pointed over to his truck.
“Mine is not for driving in the woods.” He pointed at it. “It's for driving.”
“Yup, you get a truck to drive it, not to haul things or move things,” I said sarcastically.
“That's what your truck is for,” he said and looked up and over my shoulder. A grin crossed his face as he walked past me toward the tree line. When I turned, Emmy was coming out of the woods. I was a little jealous of how easy their friendship was. She looked over Ryan’s shoulder and smiled at me when he hugged her. I turned and walked over to the shop door. I pushed my key into the padlock and pulled it free. Once I was in there, I turned on lights and started working.
As night fell, I decided to grab some dinner and go to bed. I walked out and made my way around to close the doors and lock up for the night.
“It's a little early, don't you think?” Emmy said from her perch on my steps, her device on her lap, illuminating her face.
“Maybe a little.” I turned back and finished what I was doing. I was tempted to walk around to the front of the house just to avoid her. She must have seen me change direction and stood, laying her tablet on the steps.
“Don't, please.” She walked toward me. “I know you said you needed time, and I agree that maybe we need to really talk about a lot of things, but I don't want you to continue thinking this isn't something I want. I have trust issues, Luke. I’ll admit that. And apparently you do as well, but I know in my heart you’re the man I should chose, and I also know this will be full of challenges if we decide to try. When I look forward, I always end up with you here and me in Portland; that’s what scares me. I don't want to fall in love with you and then be heartbroken because our lives are going to different places.”
“Do you want to date Chris? Because I don't know that us being together is a good idea if you think you may want to date Chris at some point.”
She groaned and then tilted her head back and sighed loudly. “I don't want to date Chris.”
“Well, he wants to date you and has said on multiple occasions that he has dated you.”
“I haven't dated Chris, ever. I haven't kissed him, well he kissed me once in high school, but it wasn’t reciprocated. I pushed him away because it was never like that. And I know it was high school, but I want you to know everything. I don't want to lie to you. I'm not going to stand here and say that I haven't had lunches with him and dinner. I just want you to understand that I could have dinner with him every night, and it still wouldn't change how I feel about you. I could never be with Chris and be happy knowing that you were out there.”
I stepped closer to her. “I'm a jealous man for many reasons, Emmy, and I don't like the thought of you being with him even just for dinner. It puts you in a bad situation and I won't ever be okay with it. I don’t trust him.” I took another step, and she met me in the middle.
Her hand reached out and cupped the side of my face, and I leaned into it.
“I know we’ll have challenges ahead, Luke, but if I've learned anything in the past few weeks, it's to live in the present because the future isn't guaranteed and the past is already gone.”
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “There was a time in my life that being cheated on was the norm. Maybe that has made me a little weird about my woman being around another man.”
She traced a finger down my face and then slinked her arm around my neck pulling my mouth down to hers. “I wouldn't do that to you.”
When our lips met, I knew in my gut that everything was right about this and that I would have to get over my insecurities.
“Let's start with a clean slate. My insecurities and yours wiped clean,” I suggested and pulled her against me. There was no doubt my heart wanted her; my mind would just have to catch up.
“That sounds like an amazing plan.”
I took that moment to kiss her slowly, deeply. When she pulled back, a smile spread across her lips.
“I need another one of those,” she whispered and leaned back into me. I pulled her closer and kissed her with everything I had. Before I realized what was happening she was pulling me toward my back door.
“We don't have to,” I said but was silenced when her hand ran down my chest and stopped just short of my waist.
“I want to. I want to so much.” She moved to kiss me again, but I moved and lifted her carrying her into my house. Her legs wrapped around me, and I walked steadily up the stairs, laying her across my bed. I looked down at her and smiled. She blushed and moved to sit up, but I crawled over her and stopped her movements.
“I have thought about this for a long time.” I ran my hand over the side of her face and pulled at her hair, moving her head to the side. I lowered myself and ran my lips over neck and down across her shoulder. Her hands ran over my back and pulled at my hair. I groaned against her skin and kissed my way back to her mouth. Her hands traveled down my back and pulled my shirt up and over my head. I didn't want to pull away, but I didn't have a choice. I leaned up and removed my shirt, tossing it to the floor. I traced my fingers over her shirt, stopping to circle over her nipple before tugging her shirt up and out of the way. She sat up and pushed the straps of her bra down, exposing herself to me. The curve of her breasts bounced slightly as she moved, and I drew her to me until we were skin to skin.
A fire burned between us that I knew would be a full-fledged inferno before this was over. I laid her back across the bed.
“Luke,” she whispered over my skin. My knee pressed between her thighs, and she opened them for me. Her legs splayed out, and my eyes traveled her body.
“Please.” She said against my hand as she ran her tongue over my palm.
A shiver passed down my spine, and my dick expanded to the point it hurt. Her fingers went to my waist line and then journeyed over my zipper, tracing the outline of my bulge. My body pushed against her touch, and when she started to unzip my pants, I had to move away from her. I leaned over and kissed her neck and down her chest, stopping and taking her nipple into my mouth. It pebbled up, and I rolled my tongue over it. Her chest lifted to me, her back arching off the bed.
Being in this moment was everything I had thought it would be. As my lips traveled downward to her navel, I kept one of her breasts in my hand and trailed kisses down her soft skin. With a swift motion, I undid her pants and pushed them down over her hips. Her white cotton underwear went with them, and then she was bared to me. My mouth traced the line of her leg and moved toward her center.