by Harlow Layne
Letting out a small laugh, Luke studied me for a minute. “I swear I’m not saying this to be conceited or because I have a huge ego because I don’t, but you really don’t recognize me?”
“No,” I replied, shaking my head and giving him another once over. How in the world would I ever forget that face if I’d seen it before? “I’m sorry. I don’t watch a lot of TV or movies.”
“To tell you the truth neither do I.”
Feeling bad for not knowing who he was I asked. “What should I know you from?”
Luke made a low hum in the back of his throat. “I’ve done two shows for the H@T network. One was a mini-series about drug addicts and the other is in its second season, about vampires that are taking over the world. I also did a movie last summer that was out in theaters a couple of months ago.”
“Wait, a minute. I watched a show on H@T about addicts. Were you on Fix?”
“Yeah,” Luke answered uneasily as if he was afraid I was going to go all fangirl on him.
“And you’re on another show on H@T that has vampires in it?” His only answer was to nod his head. I was probably scaring him with the way I had perked up as I tried to figure this out. I didn’t watch much TV, but I did normally watch H@T’s Sunday night shows because they were always good and never disappointed. “Are you on Night Shadows?”
“Yeah.” He answered again only this time with a little chuckle.
I watched and knew both those shows, but I couldn’t place the Luke who was sitting across from me on either one.
“I’m sorry for staring, but I’ve watched both those shows. I actually love them, but I can’t place you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“It’s going to drive me crazy!” My eyes traced over his face one last time and slowly my synapsis started firing, connecting the dots on who Luke was on both shows. He didn’t look like either character as he sat across from me. On Fix, Luke’s character, John Connelly, had short, black hair, and he was so skinny he looked emaciated. “Wow,” I exclaimed a little too loudly for inside the restaurant and smiling what probably looked like a Joker smile. “You were John Connelly. I never would’ve guessed that was you.”
“Yeah, the dark hair and the weight I lost throws people.” His shoulder lifted in a half-shrug while his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. It seemed Luke was a little shy talking about his roles for some reason.
“I’m a few episodes behind on Night Shadows, but I can’t place you.” My head shook as I tried to figure out who he was on the show.
“Hmmm, I wasn’t on the first episode of this season and in the first season I wore a wig.”
Laughing, I couldn’t believe I still didn’t know who he was. “Are you going to make me beg for you to tell me your character’s name?”
His mouth curved into a wicked smile and his eyes glinted in the light. “Maybe.”
Was he flirting with me? No. There was no way on this Earth that this fine specimen of a man was flirting with me.
Instead of thinking about how Luke would never find me attractive, I mentally went through all the characters I remembered from Night Shadows. The one problem with H@T was that once the season was over you had to wait another year for it to be on and within that year and having only seen one episode of the new season, I had forgotten many of the characters and what they looked like.
“Oh my God! You’re Nikolai! I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. My mind can’t wrap around the fact that both John and Nikolai are the same person, and it’s you. The hair really threw me.” My words came out too quick with excitement.
Luke only smiled at me and I hoped that I hadn’t made him uncomfortable, but I had to figure out who he was on the shows that I loved.
“I’m sorry. It was really driving me crazy that I couldn’t figure it out. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“I’m glad you figured it out. I know what it’s like when you know you’re supposed to know or remember something it can drive you crazy, but yeah if we could talk about something else that would be great. All I’ve been doing for the last two months in my spare time is talk about myself and my projects. I’d rather hear about you.”
“Is that how you met Cyndi, or did you know her before?”
He moved his head from side to side. “We met once before when I went on her show, but I was a secondary guest then and we didn’t really talk much. When my movie came out, I did her show again,” he shrugged his shoulders. “We seemed to hit it off, but I think she usually does with all her guests. So, when she asked me to join you ladies I said yes.”
I had a feeling there might be other reasons as to why Luke joined us, but either way I was happy. “Well, I’m glad you did.”
“Me, too. Now that you know what I do for a living, what do you do?”
I rolled my eyes at my boring profession. “I’m a web designer. It’s not exciting in the least.”
“I don’t know. I think it's pretty cool. I mean, I have no clue how to do anything like that.”
“It can be cool, but normally I get boring jobs.”
“I’m sorry. Here we’ve been talking, and I don’t even know your name,” Luke gave me a lop-sided smile.
“Oh my gosh, how rude of me. I’m sorry. I heard Cyndi call you Luke, so I already knew your name, and I don’t know where my head was. I’m Alexandra Sloane, but my friends call me Alex.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Lukas Sandström, but everyone calls me Luke.”
Luke and I continued to talk as if we were the only two people in the restaurant. Once I got over his hotness, he was easy to talk to. It wasn’t until Anna put a hand on my arm that I realized that I’d been ignoring everyone else at the table. From the look on her face Anna didn’t mind, in fact she looked amused.
“Honey, we’re getting ready to leave.”
“Oh!” I looked around the table for my bill but found nothing but an empty plate and glass. “Has the waiter came by? I haven’t paid yet.”
Anna smiled, lighting up her whole face. “Don’t worry about it. I already took care of it.”
“I can’t let you do that.” I hadn’t come for her to pay my way.
“Hey! It was my idea for you to come out here, and you wouldn’t let me pay for your plane ticket, so it’s the least I can do. The girls are all going their separate ways and I think I’m going to go home. What do you want to do?” Her eyes darted toward Luke as she smiled.
“Um, I guess I’ll go home with you. I don’t really have any plans except hang out with you and catch my plane tomorrow.”
“If it’s okay with both of you, I can bring her home later,” Luke piped in looking a little unsure.
Anna beamed as she looked back and forth between us. “Of course, I don’t mind. Go and have fun!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. It was like she was my mom giving me permission to go out on a date. The irony was that I’d never once been asked out on a date and my mother hadn’t been in the picture since I was around three.
“Is that okay with you, Alex?” Luke asked, tugging on his shirt collar nervously.
It was sort of like he was asking me out and there was no way in hell that I was going to say no.
“I would love to.” I answered quietly before turning to Anna. “I guess I’ll see you later tonight.”
When her only response was another beaming smile, I bit my bottom lip until I caught what I had done and realized how unattractive it probably made me. Releasing my lip, I licking them and watched as Luke’s eyes followed the movement of my tongue.
2
With Luke’s hand resting on the small of my back, we slipped out the back of the restaurant unnoticed, and he guided me to his car. My body tingled at the contact. Why was he affecting me in a way no one ever had before?
All my life my friends panted after men and went gaga for them, but I’d never felt that way until this moment. After all those years, I’d thought there was something wro
ng with me, but now I knew I just needed to meet the right man. I only hoped I didn’t make a total fool out of myself because all I wanted to do was stare at him.
Luke was perfection.
Clearing his throat, Luke’s lips tipped up slightly in what seemed to be a nervous smile. “So, I know of this park that’s pretty isolated, and I thought we could hang out there for a while. If that’s okay with you?”
“That sounds perfect.”
There was no way I was turning down being somewhere isolated with him.
Once we arrived at the park, we sat on a jacket that Luke had in his car. Well, mostly I sat on it so that my bare legs wouldn’t be on the itchy grass.
Leaning back on his elbows, Luke looked up at the sky. “This is going to sound so cliché, but where are you from? Not to be rude, but you don’t seem like you’re from around here.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “In no way do I think you’re rude. I’m actually from Fairlane, Missouri.”
His brows furrowed, deep in thought. “Never heard of it. How’d you meet Anna Jenson?”
I wasn’t surprised that he’d never heard of my hometown. Only diehard Colton Patrick fans knew of it outside of the Midwest.
“I actually met her at a Halloween party that Becca Matthews was throwing.” Wringing my hands together, I looked out at the green grass and the trees swaying in the wind.
“I sense there’s a story there.”
I snapped my fingers and pointed at him. “You’d be right.”
His lips twitched, but he said nothing waiting for me to continue.
“A girl who used to be a friend of mine, and I won’t go into that because that’s a whole other story, convinced me that I needed to get out and have some fun after the one-year anniversary of my divorce rolled around.”
Luke had sat up and turned to face me as I told my story to how this all came about. I told him of how I met Colt and Ryan in a club and how I sort of started dating Ryan after that. The two trips I made out to LA to visit him, and Becca’s Halloween party we went to where I seemed to have met every A-list celebrity in Hollywood, and my last trip, where we got in a wreck when Ryan lost control both literally and figuratively, and I found out that he’d been cheating on me.
“So, between my ex-husband and him, I haven’t had very good luck with men.” A flush swept across my cheeks at all I’d told him. Luke was practically a stranger, even though it felt as if I’d known him for years. It was strange. Taylor was the only other person I’d ever felt an instant connection to, but this felt like more. I had to remind myself not to let him in because after today I’d likely never see him again.
“Maybe you haven’t met the right man yet.” He countered, after his cerulean blue eyes sparked at their examination of me.
I ran my sweaty palms down my legs and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll stay single and turn into a crazy cat lady.”
“Did you know that a cat will eat you if it’s trapped inside with you and you’re dead?” he screwed his face up in disgust.
My nose scrunched. “Ugh. That’s gross. Okay, how about I become a crazy dog lady?”
We laughed until it died down into a companionable silence. I watched as a father pushed what looked like his three-year-old daughter on a swing. She laughed or smiled with every push.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Luke look over at me. Breaking the silence, he spoke with conviction. “One day you’ll find a man that’ll redeem what they did to you. Not all men are like that. I promise.”
Unfortunately, no matter how much I was drawn to him, Luke wouldn’t be that man.
Luke’s eyes darted around the park before he quickly stood up. “I hate to cut this short, but it seems we’ve been spotted.”
Jumping to my feet, I spotted a man with a camera aimed right at us. Keeping my head down, I made my way to the passenger side of his car and hastily got in.
Luke tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he listened to the directions my phone gave on the way to Anna’s. “I’m sorry about that. If the house I was staying at wasn’t packed, I would’ve taken you back there.” He smiled over at me sheepishly.
“You don’t need to explain yourself to me.”
“I feel like I do. I’d like to see you again.”
Really?
“Unfortunately, I’m leaving tomorrow.” I hoped he didn’t hear my sadness that our time was almost over.
“What time’s your flight? Maybe we could do breakfast or lunch?”
“It’s at 1:20 so I could do probably do breakfast if Anna doesn’t mind me skipping out on her.”
“After you talk to her let me know. I can also take you to the airport afterward.”
“Oh, I don’t want to put you out. I know driving to the airport here is a real pain in the ass.”
“It’s not a problem.” He shrugged while keeping his eyes on the road. “Just let me know.”
When we finally pulled up in front of Anna and Colt’s place, Anna stood outside waiting for me. My mother had never been around, but if she had, I would’ve expected something like this when I came home from a date. Even from the car you could see her eyes sparkling with happiness.
“Do you think she’s been waiting there since the guard called up?” His mouth twitched as we watched her look at some flowers as if she wasn’t waiting for me.
“Probably. I feel like a teenage girl coming home from a date.” I slapped my hand over my mouth. Quickly I tried to rectify the situation. “Not that this was a date.”
“No, worries.” His knee bounced up and down nervously as he looked from Anna to me. “Give me your phone and I’ll put my number in it.”
In awe I handed over my phone in a daze and watched as the most gorgeous man in the world put his phone number in my phone.
“Call me later.” He called as I stepped out of the car.
I leaned down, holding the door. “I will. I hope to see you tomorrow.”
Halfway to the door, I turned back to wave and could have sworn that Luke had been staring at my ass.
The second his car left the driveway, Anna pounced on me. “I want every single detail.” She pulled me inside by the arm. “I’ve got margaritas and guacamole waiting out back.”
“There’s not much to tell.”
“Oh please. First, you were gone for three hours and second, you guys totally ignored the rest of us from the moment he sat down.”
“He did ask to see me again tomorrow before I leave. I told him I had to talk to you to make sure you didn’t mind and that I’d call him later.”
Her eyes went wide, and a smile stretched across her face. “What are you waiting for? Go call him!”
3
Luke’s car sped along the 405 as I watched LA and the traffic out my window. We’d left a little over three hours before I was supposed to catch my one o’clock flight. We knew that we’d be fighting traffic so after saying goodbye to Anna who was practically jumping with joy; we took off.
Inside his car was coffee and chocolate croissants that were still somehow warm in the bag. Even with the wonderful smells coming from the food, Luke’s unique scent of sandalwood and ocean lingered.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t make breakfast work, but these are some of the best croissants in all of LA so at least there’s that.” I nibbled on mine as he drove.
“I’ve never had chocolate before, but I have to agree they’re the best I’ve had.”
This time as I left LA, I was happy and obviously not hurt. My trip had been great and the only way it could’ve gone better was if I’d spent more time with Jenner or got down and dirty with Luke the night before.
My phone chirped from inside my purse and I took a quick look at it before putting it back in its pocket.
“Are you not going to answer back?” Luke asked from beside me with a curious look.
“I will when I get to the airport. I can’t type while in the car for even the shortest of distances without getting car sick, an
d I definitely don’t want to be sick before my flight.”
“Do you get sick on planes?” he glanced at me from the corner of his eye.
“Luckily, no, but I don’t want to chance it. Do you get sick on planes?”
“No,” he answered with a laugh. “That would be horrible in my line of work and with how far away my family is.”
“I never got around to asking you yesterday. Where are you from?”
“I grew up in Visby, Sweden.”
So that’s where that sexy little accent came from.
“Sweden.” I turned in my seat to see him better. “That’s so interesting. That’s where that little accent comes from. Does your family all still live in Visby?”
He smirked and shook his head in amusement. “No, everyone’s moved away and most now live in Stockholm. My brother Leo, we’re the closest in age, lives in England.”
“That must be hard. How long is the flight to Sweden?”
“Hmmm,” he hummed as he thought about it. “If I can get a nonstop flight then about eleven hours, but that doesn’t happen very often. Otherwise, flights normally are between fourteen to sixteen hours depending on the layover from LA.”
“I can’t imagine being on a plane for that long. Do you get bored or are you normally too excited to see your family?”
Instead of answering, Luke only smiled.
Fidgeting in my seat, my hand made its way to my earring where I absentmindedly twirled it around. “What?”
His smile only grew, lighting up the profile of his face. “You’re cute.”
My cheeks flushed from embarrassment. “Why do I feel like you’re making fun of me?”
Luke shook his head while staring out the windshield, his knuckles noticeably going white as his grip increased. I could only stare at him from my side of the car, wondering what was going on in that head of his. “I promise you I’m not making fun of you. I don’t know you well enough yet. You misinterpreted my smile and comment; it’s because normally I try to get as much sleep as possible on the plane before I get to Sweden. Typically, I only get to visit about once a year, so the time change is brutal and once I’m there, I’m too busy visiting with family and friends.”
