I walk past a man on the street peddling flowers. He’s dressed in a light winter coat with some holes in it and his shoes look very worn—he must be so cold.
“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl?” He pushes a bouquet of red roses at me.
“How much are they?” I shock myself by answering him. Normally I am a ‘head down, don’t talk to me’ type of person. I don’t get asked much by the homeless people. I think my ‘back the fuck off’ vibe intimidates some.
“Five bucks,” he says, holding an open palm out to me. It’s filthy.
I reach in my pocket—grateful I grabbed some cash, my ID, and my cellphone, and I hand him some money and take the flowers before walking away.
“Miss! Miss! You gave me too much! Way too much,” I hear him calling out to me as. “Come back for your change!”
I turn around and wave at him. I don’t want the change. He waves back at me and yells “Have a blessed day!”
When I stroll into the apartment after my walk, Serena is in the kitchen making something that smells delicious.
“Those are a lovely,” she says eyeing my flowers, “are those from Lukey boy?”
“Lukey boy? Ugh—we are not giving him a nauseatingly cute nickname.” I grab a vase from one of the cabinets and put the roses in some water and then hand the vase off towards her. “No, they’re for you.”
“What? Who are they from?”
“Me silly!” I laugh—my roommate looks like she’s in shock.
“Thank you,” she says, putting the flowers on the kitchen island before walking over to give me a hug—this time without asking me if it was okay.
“Okay, get the fuck off me,” I joke after the hug goes on for much too long. She laughs at me, not even complaining that I swore at her. “What are you making for dinner?” I try moving the conversation away from Serena smothering me with love and affection.
“Pot roast with mashed potatoes, garden salad, and chocolate cake for dessert.” Serena lists off the foods like it’s no big deal she’s cooking a feast, something I could never do. She says it’s because she hung out in the kitchen with her chef and nanny who taught her how to make all these meals. Her parents were too busy building their careers, not raising their own daughter. Her words, not mine. Compared to my parents, hers don’t sound all that bad, but I do not tell her that.
As she pulls the pot roast from the oven, I get a whiff of the scent. My stomach knows what’s coming and lets out a little noise. I’m forever grateful for Serena’s chef abilities in this moment. I take out plates and silverware for two as I set the table—I mean it’s the least I can do.
“Can you set it for two more?”
“Two? Who’s coming over?”
I grab two more sets of everything and walk towards the table. It’s rare that we have anyone eat with us except for Drake on occasion. Serena doesn’t make big sit down dinners often.
“Remember that guy from the other night … Jack?” Her face turns red when saying his name. I’ve never seen this confident girl blush before. What the heck is going on?
“The guy you were making out with and didn’t remember his name? Cutie?”
“Yeah, that’s the one,” she says as she finishes chopping the raw vegetables for the salad. “We’ve been talking almost every day since then.”
This is big news! Serena goes through guys like she does toilet paper, but I keep my opinion to myself because I definitely do not want to get uninvited to this feast.
“Okay … so Jack wants to sit in two spots? What’s the deal with the other plate?”
She turns around quickly to avoid looking at me when I hear her say, “He’s bringing a friend. I’m sorry.”
“Wait, what? What kind of friend and why are you apologizing about it?” I ask, clearly confused by everything that’s taking place since I’ve walked into this Twilight Zone of a kitchen.
“When I invited Jack over for this dinner you were still moping around about Luke. So when Jack offered to bring a friend for you, I said sure. Now I know you are talking to Luke again, but I didn’t know how serious you were. I couldn’t bring myself to ask Jack to tell his friend to fuck off. So just be nice. Okay? We’ll explain when he gets here that it’s not a double date.”
It’s really cute—my friend is trying to set me up with someone but this couldn’t come at a more terrible time. Luke and I are back together, kind of? He still never said he would introduce me to others as his girlfriend, but he did say he was honored to be seen with me. An innocent dinner with some friends isn’t going to break any rules, right? I mean it’s in my own apartment for Christ’s sake, so it’s not like I can ditch out, plus Serena’s cooking is a treat.
I head to the bathroom to freshen up since I went on my walk through the neighborhoods. While throwing my hair up in a quick bun, I hear a knock at our door followed by a loud crash in the kitchen accompanied by a few choice words from Serena. She really wants this to go well. I rush out of the bathroom to get the door so she doesn’t get stressed.
Swinging the door open I come face-to-face with two very handsome preppy looking guys: Jack, who I recognize from our quick encounter the other night, and his friend.
“Come in,” I say, moving to the side gesturing them into the foyer. “I’m Ariana,” I say, extending my hand to Jack who takes it and smiles.
“Nice to meet you again, under much better circumstances,” he laughs as he nods towards his blonde friend. “This is my friend, Paul.”
“Nice to meet you, Ariana,” Paul says, taking my hand in his. I collect their coats, and as I’m putting them in the closet, Serena prances into the living room looking stunning as ever—when did she freshen up?
“Gentlemen! I hope you’re hungry!”
She kisses Jack on the cheek and Paul makes his introduction again. The guys sit down at the table, which I see Serena has transformed into a masterpiece. Her table display could rival the works we see at major high-end functions; it’s like Pinterest exploded in here. She’s a wizard. Little do these guys know we eat off paper plates most days. I highly doubt they’d care either.
Dashing to my friend’s side, I offer to help but she tells me to sit down and chat with the guys, giving me a serious ‘stay out of my kitchen’ stare. I take her orders and do exactly what she says. Taking my seat across from Paul at our four- person table, I learn he’s a banker, like Jack, and they went to college together. They also both played college football.
He’s a nice looking guy—blonde hair, green eyes, and an athletic build—but I still feel weird sitting here knowing he’s thinking of me as a potential date. How do I bring up the fact that I’m not? Or what if he’s looking over at me thinking about how to get out of the double date too? This is extremely weird—especially for a girl who is already awkward around the opposite sex. Serena needs to hurry her ass up and sit down at the table with us before I turn into a complete clown.
And just like that she saves the day, carrying in the pot roast and placing it in the center of the table, next to the salad, garlic mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls. “Dig in, please!” she says, handing a carving fork to Jack to take the first slice of pot roast.
As we bite into our first mouthwatering pieces, Jack, Paul, and I say at the same time with mouths full of food, “This is amazing.” I think all three of us moan a little too—it’s really that good. Serena’s face lights up as she takes her first bite. She really is a great hostess; I should take mental notes on how she does everything.
The conversations flow easily with Serena here directing the topics, along with making lovey dovey eyes at Jack, so it doesn’t feel so much like a double date. It’s more like a few friends catching up over a delicious meal. That is until we hear another knock at the door. It’s rare we have visitors; it’s even rarer that we have unannounced visitors.
Serena excuses herself from the table and comes back in the room, giving me an apologetic glance as a very stern looking Luke trails right behind her. At first
I’m in shock to see him and then I realize how much I’ve truly missed him these last few days. I want to eat him up, staring at his handsome body in yet another finely tailored suit, which only I know holds beneath it sexy works of art.
“Luke!” I jump up from the table and run over to give him a hug. I squeeze him tightly but do not feel the same tight squeeze in return. He just gave me a half-assed hug—what gives?
It’s not until Jack and Paul get up from the table to introduce themselves that I put two and two together. Luke must think he just walked in on what clearly looks like a double date. I need to get him alone for a brief moment to explain.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner. I’ll leave you to it,” Luke says, heading towards the front door.
“You don’t have to go. I made plenty of food,” Serena chimes in, pulling up another chair, but Luke doesn’t budge.
“That’s a very kind offer Serena, but I should be getting home. I wanted to say a quick hello to Ariana now that I’m home from my trip. It was nice meeting all of you,” he waves and turns, high-tailing it out of here, but I’m right behind him. He opens the door, making his way into the hallway, but I cut him off before he can get in the elevator.
“Hey wait,” I say grabbing his arm, “it’s not what it looks like.”
“Tell me how it’s not what it looks like? It looks like the girl who made it very clear she didn’t want me to go to dinners with other women waits for me to leave town for a few days to have a cozy double date with another guy. Is that not what is looks like?”
It’s totally what it looks like, but he’s not giving me a chance to explain myself.
“Luke, come on, you know I didn’t set this up.”
“How do I know that?” He gives me a smoldering glare, and not the hot and steamy kind; instead, it’s the pissed off kind.
“Because you know me!”
“Not really.” Luke spits the words out with a look of fire in his eyes.
“Not really?” I repeat his harsh words—I’m taken back that he’d say them. “I’ve shared more of myself with you than I have any other person and you want to tell me you don’t really know me. Are you fucking kidding me?”
He looks at me with slightly softer eyes now, but he doesn’t say a word. We are at a standoff in the middle of the cramped hallway. Now I’m the one giving the pissed off glare. How could he say that?
“If you would have just listened to me before jumping to conclusions, I could have told you I didn’t even know about this dinner until 20 minutes before it happened. Serena invited her friend Jack over when you and I weren’t speaking. Jack asked if he could bring a friend, and Serena said yes. She didn’t want to tell him to uninvite his friend—we are just friends having dinner. Now stop being a little baby and let me do what I’ve wanted to since I saw you walk into that kitchen.”
I run my hands up Luke’s strong chest, pulling him by his coat jacket in for a hot, passionate kiss—a kiss I’ve wanted to give to him not just since he walked into the kitchen but since I knew he was leaving for a few days. We stand in the hallway kissing each other, letting our hands roam freely over one another’s bodies. I kiss this man so fiercely like I am drowning and he is my air.
That is until we hear a tiny giggle; we both pull apart in a sheer panic.
My neighbor, Ashley, and her adorable little son, Joseph, have just got off the elevator. They need to pass us to get to their apartment. Ashley blushes, saying she’s sorry, but Joseph seems to think he just caught the best show. He’s laughing now as I hear her open their door, “Mommy, mommy, they were kissing. Ew!”
When we are alone in the hallway again, Luke laughs and I lean into his chest, laughing too. “I feel like we are teenagers just caught by our parents making out when we shouldn’t have been,” he says still laughing.
“Me too! Did your parents ever catch you? One time I got caught kissing a boy in his car in my parents’ driveway, I was mortified,” I say, still buried in Luke’s chest, holding him tightly with my arms wrapped around his middle.
“No, my parents never caught me,” he says in a serious tone, holding me to him a little tighter.
“Let me guess, you didn’t make out with girls at your house? You did all the naughty stuff at theirs?” I tease him, looking up to read his expression.
“No—we didn’t invite people over to our house when I was growing up. And making out with girls wasn’t really a concern of mine.”
“Oh come on, I can’t believe that! A stud like you? I bet all the girls were all over you. Your parents didn’t ask you why you didn’t have girlfriends then?”
“No—my parents were dead.”
I gasp, completely caught off guard. Why am I just finding out that the man who I … who I what? Love? Has no parents?
“Oh Luke, I’m so sorry,” I say, trying to pull myself away from his chest to get a good look at him, but instead he pulls me tighter to him. He’s holding on to me like he’s afraid I could break away at any moment. I squeeze him tighter for reassurance that I’m not going anywhere.
“Don’t feel pity for me, Ariana.”
“I don’t feel pity for you. That’s not even close to the right word. I feel sorrow. What happened to you after your parents died?”
“I was in foster care,” he says, squeezing me a little tighter. “My foster parents didn’t give a shit about me. They took in foster kids so they could collect some checks but they didn’t give us kids a penny. They’d leave us alone for days at a time, with no food, and sometimes our utilities would even turn off. That’s when I started to steal from the diner.”
It’s hard to imagine this handsome man with his designer suits all polished and perfect living this life he’s talking about. But my mind remembers the small scars on his face and hands. Who knows what’s under those tattoos? My heart hurts for the man I see as so strong.
“Were you with Lisa and Eric?”
“No, we were all split up at that time, but that wasn’t for long. I worked hard to get my family back together.”
He doesn’t say anymore, and I don’t push him for details, knowing he didn’t push me to tell him about why I wouldn’t let him touch me until I was ready to talk.
We stand in the hallway just holding each other until Serena opens the door, throwing her head back to laugh at something funny Jack or Paul must have just said. Then she spots us and her mouth drops, literally drops open.
“Have you two been out here the whole time?” she asks us while the guys say their goodbyes and walk into the elevator.
“I guess we have.”
She smiles at us then closes the door to give us some privacy.
Luke kisses the top of my head and pulls us apart. How long have we been standing here in each other’s arms?
“I have to go now. I have an early morning ahead of me trying to catch up at work. I’ll call you tomorrow. Want to have dinner?”
“Yes, I’d love that.”
And just like that he finally goes into the elevator. Just a short time before he was trying to fly to get the hell away from me. He waves as the doors shut, closing him in, and I sink down to the floor to catch my breath.
What the hell just happened between us? How many more secrets does he have?
Chapter seventeen
Luke is waiting outside the hospital after my shift; of course, he’s right on time. He drives the Jag up to the curb so I can dash inside and escape the snow and wind. The car feels nice and warm, like I’ve arrived on a tropical island, and in this moment I’m so glad I didn’t have to walk or take freezing public transportation. This is the first winter where I didn’t dread how I’d get home from work.
“You look happy,” Luke says, interrupting my blissed out moment.
Leaning over to grab his face, I kiss his addictive lips. “I am! You know how cold it is? You just saved my ass from freezing off.”
He laughs as he drives towards his place. “That would be a nightmare. I’ll do
anything to keep that ass warm.”
“Anything you say?” Now I laugh and curl into the heated seat. “Even letting me select the music?”
Luke rolls his eyes and nods his head in the direction of the pretty intense looking car stereo system.
“Be my guest.”
He’s made it clear already I listen to “garbage” music, but I couldn’t care less what he says as I take over the radio and play DJ. Luke laughs seeing the little dance party I’m having in my seat, and I laugh too seeing I’m amusing him.
I notice as he turns the steering wheel he drums his fingers along to the beat.
“Are you serious? You like this song!” I dance even harder.
“Calm down woman, just because a song has a catchy beat doesn’t mean I like it.”
He pulls the car into his private spot in the parking garage. We both climb out and dart to the elevator. Standing beside him as we ride up, I take in the distinct look of his profile next to me. His strong jawline, the way his suits lay on his muscular body, and even the faint scars on his tan hands and forehead—it’s all breathtaking.
“You know what that stare of yours does to me. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my hands off you if you don’t knock it off,” Luke growls, catching me checking out his delectable body.
I pull him by his suit jacket into me. “Don’t keep your hands off me, please.” I moan as I push my lips to his.
Luke leans into me until my back hits the wall of the elevator; then he starts unzipping my coat. His tongue darts inside my mouth as I suck on it. Wrapping my hands around the back of his head, I run my fingers through his hair. Pulling on his hair and sucking on his mouth, I can’t help but feel my body heat up.
I unbutton his suit jacket and throw it on the floor when we hear a ding as the elevator door slides open. Damn, I accidently pout at my disappointment that our elevator make-out session has to come to an end so soon.
The Power of Salvation Page 12
