by Tracy Ellen
Was it too much to ask for reassurance he valued honesty between us when confronted directly?
I don’t think so, either.
I heard his impatient sigh behind me. “Wait a second, Anabel.”
I faced him and waited.
He ran a hand through his hair as he came towards me. “It’s not cool to go to my house tonight. I have an out-of-town friend staying there and he’s not expecting me back until late.”
I remained silent and waited.
He threw his hands out. “Do you have to drag every word out of me? He’s got a woman over and I don’t want to take you there, okay?”
I cocked my head inquisitively to the side, and still I waited.
Luke fixed me with a glare. “You wanted to know, so don’t blame the messenger. It’s your cousin, Candy MacKenzie.”
I nodded encouragingly. “So?”
He sighed in resignation. “When I was at your store this afternoon, my friend was waiting at Rueb’s. He met your cousin there. He informed me later that he’d made plans to hook up tonight and was staying back at my place.” He paused, weighing his next words. “My friend’s not a very nice guy to women. He relentlessly goes after anything on two legs for sex and most girls end up hating his guts.”
I chuckled at his wary look, as if I might haul off and slap him for Candy’s sake at his friend’s predatory sexual practices.
Relaxing, Luke smiled a little. “I don’t claim to know your cousin, but she probably doesn’t deserve John. I love the guy and he’s got my back. I can trust him with my life, but then again,” he made a rueful face, “he doesn’t want to fuck me and run.”
Laughing at the man-whore description of his friend, I took the last two steps to Luke and wrapped my arms around his middle. I snuggled close and ran my hands up and down his strong back. I was blissfully content at this moment in time, even withstanding the fact I was really tired of enduring interrupted make-out sessions.
I grinned up at him. “Oh, believe me; your friend John deserves her. I won’t let Candy near my back. It’s been her life’s work to fuck me and run any chance she gets.”
Luke cupped my shoulders and held me away from him. “I thought your family meant everything to you. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you Candy was with John.”
My smile was huge. “I can’t stand her! He can do anything he wants to her with my blessings.”
Luke seemed a little unnerved by my cheerful declaration. He gave me the squint eye. “Which reminds me, what’s with saying you hated me earlier?” He added dryly, “And calling me a dicklicking whatever?”
“I did say something like that, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did.” He raised his brows. “Do I want to know why?”
“Since you are definitely a man, normally you would not. Tonight is an exception. You will be incredibly pleased why I took your name in vain for a solid twenty-three minutes when I hated on you.”
Luke laughed softly, rubbing his warm hands up and down my bare arms. “I will never be pleased if you hate on me, but go on and tell me why the hell you did.”
“I didn’t call you earlier tonight because I’d asked Tre to drop me off at your house after playing bumper cars with the rapist.” I nodded knowingly at his surprised expression and spreading grin. “Uh huh, see what I meant about you being pleased? Guess what else I did?”
“What?” Luke pulled me close again, his face as lighthearted as I’ve ever seen. For once, there was not a dark look, severe frown, or cruel mouth in sight.
I stood on tiptoes within his arms and kissed his smiling lips, savoring the moment. Knowing me, it wouldn’t be too long before he was ‘disappointed’ again. I was shamelessly taking full advantage of the lull and basking in his affection.
Even though it was against the rules of womanhood to reveal our secrets, I couldn’t resist bragging a little. “I did a classic move tonight. We ninja’d your house. It was so much fun! Up until we saw Candy’s stupid car, that is.” I gave him a stern look when he started laughing at me. “Pay attention here. This is the start of the me-hating-on-you part. Jazy snuck out and investigated. She peeped in your windows and then reported back to us.”
I shook his arms. “Stop laughing. This is why I also called you a disgusting creep. She peeped on some gross sexual action going down in your living room. Jazy told me you were not platonic friends with my cousin. I hated you, but it wasn’t you, and so here we are.”
Luke shook his head while openly smirking. “I’m worried about my manhood. Not only did I follow everything you said with no problems; I’m shaking in my boots thinking what you might have done in revenge to poor, innocent me. I’m relieved the mix-up got cleared up so fast,” his sparkling green eyes narrowed at me, “and that I passed your little test just now.” He snorted. “It had all the makings of a farce.”
I momentarily set aside his bashing of my storytelling abilities. I also set aside his foolish disrespect for the scary depths of my revenge capabilities. The “little test” reference I would wisely disregard permanently. Instead, I looked up at him in amazement.
“Hey, I just said that to Anna this afternoon!”
“Now I feel better. I’m confused again,” Luke murmured.
‘Okay, that was it. Game on. You know me and sarcasm.’
I put on a dreamy smile and patiently explained, “You and I both used the word “farce” today, Luke. How often is that word even used in the world, much less by two people that are dating?” I gushed on, “It must mean we are metaphysically linked and thinking on the same wavelength. Do you suppose we knew each other in a previous life?” I put my hands to my heart. “I’ve always been convinced I was a princess. What do you think you were? Wait a sec, don’t tell me. Hmm, I could see you as a dark prince. You’d be wearing black tights and one of those teeny-tiny codpieces covering your privates. How cute would that be? What’s your sign, anyway?” I gazed at him adoringly, even as I implored, “Whatever you do, please don’t tell me you’re a boring Virgo. I hope you are a Leo. Leo men are so dramatically hot. I’m meant to be with a Leo man or an Aries man. A Gemini could work. Have you ever told me your birthday?” Not waiting for an answer, I asked in a hushed voice brimming with portent, “Luke, do you think you are my spiritual destiny, my soul mate?”
I saw the initial wince of horror flash over Luke’s face that I could be one of those alternative, horoscope-reading females, and this on top of a risk-taking, shit-kicking loose cannon. I barely kept my worshipful expression in place. Then his flash of horror was instantly replaced by a donned mask of careful interest to humor my cute, if nutty, beliefs. I bit my tongue- hard.
“My birthday is August 6th. I haven’t thought about it much, but I guess I believe in spiritual destiny.”
I couldn’t hold back. At my peal of wicked laughter, Luke’s whole body stilled. Then his eyebrows lowered. “Clearly you don’t have a soul, Anabel, so that’s a pointless question.”
“A valid point, my Dark Prince, but I couldn’t resist! Hey, now where are you taking me?”
“Horoscopes aside, we need to talk.” Luke expressionless voice was calm and serious.
Not liking the sound of that, I reluctantly followed as he led me down the hallway by the hand. This time it was back towards the living room. Luke didn’t take me to join the crowd in the smoky dining area, but turned right.
At the front door, he stopped. His face had that detached look again. I didn’t like that look.
“I know how you value keeping your personal life private. I respect you. I wasn’t going to take you openly out to my truck to the only place it seems we can be uninterrupted.”
Opening the door, he checked out the porch and then turned back to me. “But clearly we need to talk about a few things. These issues are too important to ignore. One of them is a deal-breaker. Your privacy and my respect will have to take a back seat because it needs to be addressed immediately.”
“What issues do you mean?” I asked
cautiously, nervous at his serious, cool tone. I wondered if he was still mad at me not calling about The Hammer incident tonight.
Luke held my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes. “I won’t put up with any crap from you about this.” I gasped up at him in surprise. He gave a sharp nod. “You heard me right, Anabel, so listen very carefully. You’ve got me completely confused with some other Prince if you think my codpiece would be ‘teeny-tiny’.”
After a shocked second, I bubbled over with delighted laughter, pushing with both hands at the chest of the devilishly grinning man in front of me.
He shrugged a shoulder, still smiling. “I couldn’t resist, either.”
We didn’t get a chance to take another step before several voices called to us, halting us in our tracks on the threshold of the front door. Startled at our audience of ten, I quickly turned out of Luke’s hands to face them.
“Where are you two going? Bel, shouldn’t you stay here under our protection?” Tre yelled the loudest.
A few of the other men sang this chorus, catcalling and giving Luke good-natured crap to get back to the poker game, instead of chasing after me.
Sam Sheedy’s distinctive voice was starting to slur from too many beers. “Drake, come on, we’ve been waiting. Get your ass in here so I can win my money back.”
Luke and I shared a quick smirk over those ridiculous words. I didn’t feel like smirking any longer when Jazy, with Reg a step behind her, walked into the living room. Their bodies blocked us from view of the rowdy, shouting bunch in the dining room.
Luke’s mouth twitched at hearing my little sigh of frustrated exasperation at being denied our escape when we were so close. His hand behind me privately soothed over the curve of my ass and squeezed lightly. That did not help.
“Tre’s right.” After shooting Luke a dismissive glance, Jazy ignored him and spoke directly to me. “It’s the smart choice to stay here tonight with us to be safe, not off with one man. We’ve all decided the best operating plan is for us to know where you are at all times. No more taking off on your own, okay? We’re not leaving you alone and unprotected until this killer is caught.”
Luke face was expressionless at Jazy’s attitude. His lack of reaction spoke loudly to me. In defense of my sister’s plain speaking, she knew nothing about him. She didn’t assume he could protect me like my own family would. Although, I must admit, even if she knew more about Luke’s abilities she still wouldn’t trust him with my life.
Jasmyn goes through men like tissues. She has no concern if they’re single or married. She doesn’t let the minor detail if a man is involved in committed relationships to get in her way when she set her sights on a man. If she can sway him to cheat, then that’s his lack of character problem, not hers. It is understandable Jaz doesn’t have the highest opinion of a man’s reasoning and reliability capabilities. She causes them too regularly to lose their heads and make poor decisions. It’s one of those vicious circle scenarios.
Plus, we Axelrod’s have a slight tendency to stick together and depend only on ourselves at crunch times.
I didn’t know if Luke planned to respond to Jazy’s implication he was some random idiot that couldn’t find his ass with two hands, or protect me if I was alone with him, but Reggie hurriedly jumped in.
He looked curiously from me to Luke. “Where were you two going?”
I glanced quickly at Luke. His eyes were glowing with malicious amusement against the bronzed skin of his face. His slight arch of an eyebrow told me he was leaving it up to me to tell my family members what I wanted them to know. As an only child, and a grown man in his thirties, it had probably been a long time since Luke had to answer to anybody over his actions. The wicked man was enjoying my predicament.
I sighed again, this time in defeat. The habit was too ingrained in me to keep my private life private. Besides, I shouldn’t take stupid risks. I’d be endangering Luke, too, and not just myself. The measurements needed to settle the dispute of the princely codpiece dimensions would have to wait.
I answered my brother truthfully, “We were not leaving. We were just going out to Luke’s truck to check out a little something.” Luke snorted, and I quickly changed the subject. “I haven’t even had a chance to tell him what happened earlier tonight.”
Reggie cast Luke a quizzical look, as if he was also starting to question Luke’s smarts. “Why don’t you wait for Luke inside and let him go check his truck by himself? You probably don’t even have a coat, do you?” He shook his blonde head in exasperation and held out an arm. “Come into the kitchen and I’ll fix you a drink. Then we can get back to the game.” He brought out the big guns. “I have brownies, Junior. Frosted brownies.”
“What color frosting?” I asked, taking a small step towards my brother.
“Hell, they’re brownies so black, of course.”
Jazy’s relief at my easy capitulation was evident. “See Bel, doesn’t that sound good? You love chocolate frosted brownies. Do you want to play poker, too?” She added snidely, “I know all the boys are waiting for Luke to remember why he came over here tonight.”
Hearing Luke’s low chuckle at our well-intentioned, interfering gatekeepers, I hoped his dark amusement meant he wasn’t too offended at my sibling’s aspersions on his lack of character and choices. Actually, I was plenty offended enough for the both of us. They were treating me like I needed to be talked down from the ledge.
Giving her a warning nudge, Reggie interrupted Jaz again. “Yeah, they do want Luke to come back and play. He’s got all their cash.” He snapped his fingers. “I know, the guys will get started playing cards again and I’ll tell Luke all about what happened earlier tonight. You and Jazy can get everyone drinks.”
“Why would you be the one to tell Luke about what happened tonight when you weren’t even there?” Seeing Jazy’s elaborate eye roll, the truth dawned. I glared at my brother. “You don’t care if I go off anywhere and get killed by a crazy rapist. You only want Luke to get back to playing poker!”
Reggie held up his hands in denial and laughed, dimples flashing. “Now, Junior, that’s just not true. You did tell me the pertinent facts, and I wouldn’t be an Axelrod if I couldn’t easily make up the rest.”
Feeling like a crabby preschooler for the second time in an hour, I irritably suggested to the grinning Luke that he go play freaking cards. I informed them all I needed to use the bathroom- alone. I snatched my purse up. I started walking back past the trio of grinning baboons, but not before I used my gift and had the last word.
I stopped and opened a door in the living room near the hall. “Luke didn’t know this door led upstairs to your big, uncluttered bedroom area. He really wants a tour to see how much privacy you get up there, Reg.”
Walking away down the hall, my bat-like hearing caught my confused brother saying dubiously, “Okay…umm…do you want a tour of my bedroom right now, dude?”
Chuckling soullessly while using the bathroom with the utmost relief, one voice was still doing back flips and high kicks like a deranged cheerleader in my mind.
‘Yippee! Hooray! Luke didn’t betray me! I didn’t misjudge him!’
There was much cheering and rejoicing in this vein until the measured voice of the practical accountant piped in to put a stop to any more emotional nonsense.
This worried voice was saying that while all of the above was accurate, I needed to slow down, add things up, and study the bottom line. Was the farce with Candy a wakeup call I needed to answer?
On the left hand, was I ready for the first time in a decade to make a decision to keep going forward with a man at this level of intensity?
On the right hand, should I use tonight’s misery as a lesson and protect myself by backing up a giant step and ending things between Luke and me on a good note? Before one of us does hurt the other?
Somewhat disheartened I was having a dreaded relationship discussion, if only with myself, I finished my business. Washing my hands, I had a brilliant thought th
at had me grinning at my messy, windblown image in the mirror.
While I teased my hair, fixed my ponytail, and reapplied my lip gloss, I mulled over an amazingly simple concept. I could do all my thinking with that favorite area between my legs. I could keep my interaction with Prince Muscles all about the S-E-X.
After all, that’s an area where our compatibility together requires no calculation and is as combustible as a Fourth of July fireworks finale.
When Fate doesn’t do its best to cock block us, that is.
Chapter XVI
“Giving Him Something He Can Feel” by En Vogue
Sunday, 11/18/12
6:00 AM
Somebody had left the lamp on all night. It sat on the end table in the corner between the two sofas. Except for that soft glow above me, the living room was draped in shadows when I opened my eyes. It was still dark outside. Sunrise wasn’t for another hour.
I’d definitely woken up on the wrong side of the couch. I felt testy and not my usual sunny self. I was finally horizontal with Luke. Too bad it was in my brother’s living room. Tre and Jazy were snoozing away on the other sofa. Their heads were at opposite ends and Jazy appeared to have stolen their shared blankets. She had them clutched up possessively to her chin. She lay on her side, perched precariously close to the edge to accommodate Tre’s larger bulk. It seemed like a fair trade in discomfort.
I was half lying on my back, partially on top of Luke behind me. His arms were loosely around my waist. My legs were in-between his, and my head rested on a small pillow nestled in the crook of his neck and shoulder. It was very comfortable. I still felt snappish.
I peered over the edge of the cushion to figure out what the loud racket was coming from that direction. It was that blasted Sam Sheedy. He was zipped to the neck in a sleeping bag directly along the sofa below me, and snoring up a storm. The noises he made sounded like a wild animal caught in a trap. His wide-open, slack mouth was not the most attractive sight to see at any time, but definitely not before my first cup of coffee. If I had any change on me, it’d be tempting to drop a penny down the well of his gaping maw and wish him to shut the hell up. I laid my head back down in annoyance.
