Chapter Thirty

Reagan

 

As much as I gave Luke a hard time about his old-school mannerisms, it was also adorable and sweet. It also made me wonder if Luke regretted the fact that I’d never meet his father. I knew I did, because I understood. More than once, I’d wished that my grandfather could have met Luke.

Over the next week, both of us were in and out of the house, missing each other more often than not. As a result, every touch was brief and scalding. A quick kiss or hug, a touch on the arm. Each one set off my nerves for at least an hour with zero release.

All through the day, I craved him—his laughter, his lips, his Luke-isms.

Today, I hadn’t seen him at all.

Lying in bed now, my gaze kept going to the flowers he’d given me, and idle daydreams crossed my mind. Luke hugging me from behind, sneaking a kiss on my cheek, or lifting me against him. Luke pulling off his shirt. Luke reclining in his tub or grinning at me in that sexy, intense way…

Flushing, I flipped over and tried to think of something else. Anything else.

The images wouldn’t stop.

Overheated, I kicked back the blankets. That didn’t help, so I got up and went to get water. After, I lingered in the living room, sipping it and tracing my eyes up and down the stairs.

I didn’t think he was home yet, although it was almost ten o’clock. In the last week, it had been hard to sleep if he wasn’t in the house. I couldn’t stop my brain from worrying about him. Or wondering what would happen if I crawled into his bed.

As I walked back into the kitchen, the back door opened, and I almost dropped the glass. A cold blast of wind blew around my ankles, causing me to shiver and break out in goosebumps.

Luke looked giant in the doorway, handsome and wild, with his dirty blond hair in his eyes and his jaw covered in scruff. He smelled like the night, crisp snow and cedar. I shivered harder.

“Waiting for me?” he asked in a voice that thrummed across my heartstrings.

“Oh no, I needed water,” I said and waved the glass, nearly dropping it again. Clutching it close, I went over to the counter and placed it down. “Everything go okay? You good?”

Luke nodded and shut the door. At that moment, the dogs charged into the kitchen and bounced around him. He grinned, ruffling their ears and rubbing their backs, but his gaze kept flicking to me. “I like your pajamas.” There was a trace of laughter in his voice, and I looked down at the skimpy shirt and shorts I was wearing. “Way to make a man feel good at the end of a long day.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, trying not to pull down my shirt or cross my arms. I watched as Luke took off his boots and shrugged off his jacket. He shot me a bemused look, and I looked down, examining the counter. “You, um, well, night.”

“Hey, wait,” Luke said and beckoned me over. He was wearing his typical gear, a tight black shirt that showed off his muscles and camo pants. “I’ve barely seen you the last few days.”

“And here I was beginning to think you’d forgotten what I looked like,” I said.

Luke’s arm snaked around my waist, and a growl reverberated through him. “Impossible.” My knees went watery. “You’re all I’ve been thinkin’ about, Rea, like a burr stuck in the brain.”

“Poor man, sounds painful,” I gasped, when he lifted me off the floor. “I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t,” Luke said, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to steady myself. My feet kicked up as his other arm slid beneath my ass, propping me up. “Good thing I’ve got the cure.”

“Wow, you corny—”

Luke cut me off with a kiss. A delicious, demanding kiss.

I melted against him, warming him up and overheating, for my part. A deep ache flared inside of me, one that had been simmering for days. Now, with the way his lips claimed mine, I held on more tightly, toes curling and brain stem numb.

“I could do that all night,” Luke murmured when we broke apart.

“Prove it,” I teased.

Gently, Luke set me down and then trapped me against the counter, his body pressing into mine. “What,” he asked, his voice warm and brushing against my ear, “did I tell you about flirtin’ with fire?” I arched as he pressed a kiss to the side of my jaw. “I’m tryin’ to be a damn gentleman.”

“Northbane honor,” I said. “Right.”

“Somethin’ like that,” Luke grumbled and kissed my cheek. “Go to bed.”

“Night,” I said and left him in the kitchen.

But when my eyes landed on the stairs, I glanced over my shoulder and bit my lip. Impulse urged me up to the second floor, and, heart pounding, I followed it. Laughing to myself, I snuck into his room and sat on the bed. Giddy from those kisses, I grabbed a pillow and snuggled against it.

My entire body was humming in anticipation. At first.

But, as I lay there, I started to reassess this idea. I mean, there was a good chance that Luke would think I was insane. I sat up. Wait, what was I doing? This wasn’t mature or respectful.

This was insane.

God, I’d turned into some kind of teenage, hormone-driven stalker.

I went to get out of bed when I heard Luke coming down the hall and froze. Eyes wide and face flushing with heat, I watched as Luke strode in and didn’t so much as glance at me. He closed the door, absorbed in thought and tugging at his shirt. I had to stifle a squealing gasp when I saw that magnificent, muscled back.

Finally, Luke turned around, bare-chested and brooding. His jaw dropped.

“Reagan? Wha—how?”

I smiled and hugged the pillow harder, trying to find words.

“How did I not…?” He looked baffled, his broad, muscled chest rising and falling rapidly.

“I wanted to say goodnight again. Guess I’m getting better at sneaking around, too.” I slid off his bed and edged towards the door. “Goodnight again. And sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

Luke inhaled deeply. “Dammit, Reagan, I’m never going to get to sleep now. Not with your scent all over my room.” He prowled towards me, and a shiver of pleasure went over me as I backed up, until my back hit the wall. “What are we gonna do about that?”

“I-I’m not sure. I missed you, and—”

The rest of my words vanished as Luke stopped in front of me, trapping me against the wall. His forearm landed above my head, and he leaned in, his body brushing against mine. He studied me and smiled in a crooked, dangerous way.

“Guess we’ll have to stay up all night.”

For once, my mind was an utter blank, and I pressed my hands against the wall to steady myself as Luke leaned down, smiling, his eyes on my lips. Fingers brushed against the hem of my shirt, and I gasped, then I almost moaned as he circled his thumb on my hipbone.

“Luke, I was too scared to admit it—I came up here because I-I want this,” I said. “I want—”

Luke’s mouth slanted across mine, devouring me, while his fingers dragged across my stomach and back. My breasts brushed against him, nipples going tight, and I found my own hands exploring his ridged sides, the swells of his back, and the lines of his stomach.

When Luke pulled back, gasping and a little unsteady, his forehead rested against mine. “You know, I kinda had a feeling that was the case.”

“We don’t have to rush,” I said. “If that’s what you want…”

“It’s not,” Luke growled. “You think I haven’t wanted you at my mercy from the second you opened that sassy mouth? Or hell, for that matter, been at yours? God, Reagan.” His voice was a low groan of longing. “It’s not only because I’m a red-blooded male who somehow landed a beautiful woman, it’s because I’m—” His words vanished on a shaky exhale. “I’m so in love with you.”

The blue of his eyes was steady and stern, while the green was soft.

I didn’t know what to say or think. My heart was leaping and mixing up my words.

I wanted to cry; I wanted to laugh; I wanted to kiss him.

Suddenly, Luke sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around my thighs, pressing his face into my stomach. I touched his hair, half-alarmed, half-humbled to have an Alpha of the Northbane kneeling at my feet. He looked back up at me and searched my face.

“Stay with me,” he said. “Marry me.”

Though not voiced as questions, but rather as raw, ragged demands, there was an uncertainty in Luke’s voice that broke my heart. Yet the glow suffusing my body went supernova.

I found the words.

“Lukas Swiftlore, you think after finding you, I’d let you go? I’m not going anywhere,” I said and touched his cheek. “Don’t you know? I love you, too. So much.”

He surged up, grinning, and I laughed, even as a sob caught in my throat.

We kissed, our motions instinctive and as choreographed as a dance. One we both knew, and yet the steps were still new somehow. Every time, it was like finding a part of me I didn’t realize had been missing.

“I have something for you,” Luke said, and one hand slid away, fumbling in his pocket. He pulled out a small satin bag, and something clinked musically inside of it. 

My eyes began to tear up. “Luke, you…is this what I think it is?”

“Hold out your hand and find out.”

I watched as Luke nudged open the top and then tipped it onto my palm. Two silver rings tumbled onto my palm, plain silver bands that sparkled.

"Sorry, it's not—"

“Luke,” I almost yelled, and he started, giving me a surprised glance. “They’re perfect,” I interrupted and plucked out the smaller one, then gave him my hand. “Here.”

With a smile, Luke slid it on and then turned over his hand. I slid the bigger ring on his finger, then we interlinked our hands.

“Thought I’d be giving this to you in a year or so,” Luke said.

“I would have found it before then,” I said.

Luke brought our hands up to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “That I believe.”

“What made you buy the rings?” I asked.

I watched the big wolf freeze up, and I bit back a laugh. I had to wonder if anyone else had the effect that I did on Luke Swiftlore. It had taken me a while to realize it, but I drove him as crazy as he drove me. Tantalizing torment wrapped up in tit for tat.

“I didn’t buy them,” Luke said. “These belonged to my parents.”

Holding my hand up to my face, I could make out the design woven into it and feel the sturdiness of the metal. "Wow," I murmured, overcome. “Thank you.”

“Pop had a theory these rings would bring me luck. He said the right girl wouldn’t want a diamond; she’d want this. They had them custom made. Mom wasn’t a fancy girl—she wanted something simple, something that would last a long time. Like them.

“After she passed, Pop sent ’em to me, along with the mandate to wait. Always kept ’em close." Luke's body vibrated under my hand. "I never thought I'd meet a girl who'd want them, never thought I'd meet a girl who could be my lucky one, especially after the Rift."

“I love that these were your parents’,” I said. “Luke, I…were they happy?”

“I mean, Mom kept Pop in line, but yeah, they were happy. Almost forty years.”

I suddenly felt connected to Luke in a way that went past attraction or circumstance, like everything had conspired to bring us together for this moment.

“I would have found you,” I told him. “Or you would have found me.”

I thought Luke would laugh it off or shrug, downplay that idea.

Instead, he grinned. “Not even the end of the world could keep us apart, darlin’.”

“Do you come up with these lines in the mirror and write them down or something?” I teased, and Luke growled. “What? I’m just curious about the creative process—whoa.”

Picking me up, Luke brought me over to the bed and dumped me on it. “Go to sleep.”

“Sleeping together before marriage? How scandalous,” I said and snuggled under his blankets. I watched as Luke walked away, shaking his head, and stripped off his jeans.

His firm ass was hugged by a pair of black briefs, then my jaw dropped as he stripped them off, and I got a good look at his glorious naked backside before he tugged on a pair of boxers.

When Luke turned around, he was fighting back a grin. “Flirtin’ with fire.”

I was speechless as he walked over, hit the light, and crawled in. I was even more speechless when he kept his hands to himself and closed his eyes.

“We’re going to sleep?” I asked, sitting up and looking at him.

“Mm, yeah, you’re gonna need sleep and to build up that endurance more to handle me,” Luke said. “Besides, I like that indignant look on your face. And tormentin’ you. Just a bit.”

Speechless again, I watched as Luke nodded off, and I flopped down on the pillows. Squirming, I tried not to think of why I’d need endurance or of Luke’s bare ass.

How was I supposed to sleep now?