The Best Man

by Carol Hutchens

  “Miss what?”

  Kate rushed to him and perched on the arm of his chair. “Attract attention…don’t you see? The director didn’t mean a word she said. She’s trying to get my attention. Send me a message.”

  “Kate—” Luke’s voice sounded uneven against the thumping roar coming from the pizza parlor.

  Kate stared down at his handsome face and remembered the warmth of his arms. He was so close she could see the color of his hazel eyes. The dark lashes lining his eyes were long enough to make any female weep. She tore her thoughts of Luke away and sighed. “What if it was a signal, Luke? What if she needs help and was trying to send a message? What time is it?”

  Kate grabbed his wrist. His skin was warm under her fingers. Dark hair made the skin of his arm look tanned. But the energy surging up her arm made her recoil and drop his wrist. “I-I can’t read your watch.”

  Blood roared in her ears. Heat pooled low in her abdomen. His scent filled the air she inhaled and clogged her brain of thoughts of their night together.

  “It’s ten-thirty.”

  Kate jumped up and darted toward her bedroom. “I’ve wasted an hour and a half! She’ll think I deserted her! I’ve got to get dressed, and get back there.”

  “Kate—”

  “Not now, Luke,” she called over her shoulder as she slammed the door. “I can’t do anything while I’m naked.”

  Luke tried to breath around the boulder sitting on his chest. Naked? He could think of several things Kate could do while she was naked. If his memory served him right, she was very efficient at making him feel helpless when she didn’t have clothes on. He swallowed.

  This wasn’t the time…or the place. But blood sizzling in his veins took control. Luke wanted to take Kate in his arms, feel her body under his, responding...

  He gulped. He wanted Kate more than he had ever wanted another woman in his whole life. It was time to tell her how he felt about her. He paced in front of the sofa. When this was over, when Kate got this current bee out of her bonnet and realized the director hadn’t been sending her a coded message, he was going to put his feeling on the table.

  The sound of her bedroom door opening had him turning to face her. “Kate—”

  “I’ve got a plan!” Kate hurried out, buttoning her blouse. “I’ll say I forgot something, that I have to get back in the Center to search—”

  “You can’t go back in there.”

  “Why not?” She stopped mid-step and stared at him.

  Luke snorted. “Why? You said there’s something odd going on in there. You can’t take the risk of stepping into a dangerous situation.”

  “Luke…I’ll pretend I forgot my cell phone. Everybody on the planet knows we go ballistic if we lose our phone.” She gasped air. “When I get in, I’ll take a quick peep around to check on things. How serious can that be?”

  “You can’t do this! It’s dangerous! I-I forbid you—”

  Chapter 11

  “You. Forbid. Me?” Kate’s gaping mouth, and the ringing of her words in the silence of the room brought Luke up sharp.

  Chin lifted, he held her furious gaze. He had blown it now. Kate wasn’t some weak female willing to take orders. Since returning from the tsunami, she had been unstoppable. Her strength and determination thrilled and frightened him. He loved seeing the strong confident side of her in action. But dealing with her fearless attitude on this issue had him shaking in his shoes.

  He could handle it was fine when Kate challenged Joel in the office. He gloated when she forced her former husband to back down on issues involving the firm. But this situation was different.

  Kate could get hurt. Worse, she could be putting other lives in danger. He knew her well enough to know she couldn’t live with herself if someone got hurt because of her actions.

  Then it hit him…

  Luke filled his lungs with air. “I didn’t mean it like that—”

  “I should hope not!” Kate flung her purse over her shoulder as she sent him a freezing look.

  “Kate, I—”

  “Give it up, Luke. I’m going. I have to help those women.” She pushed past him and headed for the door.

  Luke’s fists clenched as he struggled for an even tone. It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to stop him from grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking some sense into her. But that would make him little better than the men her clients feared.

  He didn’t have a dangerous bone in his body, but feelings for Kate sent him spinning. His fear for her safety made him ready to do something drastic. Anything that would keep her out of danger, and that thought brought him to his senses.

  He wasn’t like the men her clients feared. He controlled his emotions. Right? He gulped for a breath of air. For the first time in his life, he felt like a loose cannon, and suddenly, all the reasons for keeping his emotions in control fell away.

  For once, something mattered more to him than being in control of the situation. Kate’s safety meant more to him than keeping his head or doing the sensible thing. And in that instant, he faced the danger he’d battled against all his life.

  He fought to prevent the rush of memories threatening to escape the secured lock he’d placed on them. He wouldn’t open himself up to the pain of reliving those memories.

  He couldn’t let Kate risk her life, either.

  Didn’t she realize there was more at stake here than her need to help others? Couldn’t she understand that the very victims she worked so hard to help could suffer, yet again, if she made a mistake?

  “I know what you’re feeling, but let me call for back-up—”

  Kate’s head whipped around. “And alert the person inside so they can do more damage?” Kate scrambled in her handbag. Pulled out her cell phone. Laid it on the table by the door. “No, Luke. It will be safer this way. No warning. No threat.”

  Lungs starved fir air, he said. “You can’t go in there without a phone.”

  Without a way to call for help.

  Kate sent him a doubtful look over her shoulder. For a second, Luke thought he had gotten through to her, but then she shook her head.

  “It’s too risky. If he searched me and found I was carrying a phone, after claiming I had lost it, he would know I was lying. I can’t risk his reaction because I was careless.”

  Luke followed her out the door. “Kate, look, I—”

  She turned to look at him as she twisted the knob to make sure she’d locked the door. In the dim light from the parking lot below, her eyes were soft dark pools of light. He could drown in those eyes. He wanted to hit another button, switch on all the lights in her apartment and make love turn her eyes into pools of need...and passion.

  Shoving away the pain in his chest, he found the sanity to admire her beauty and strength. Under his stare, her eyes took on a misty look. He was still trying to decide if mist was in her eyes, or his own, when Kate reached up on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips.

  Luke’s heart thumped like a well-oiled engine.

  Heat warmed his blood under her touch. The kiss had lasted for only a few seconds. More like the brush of butterfly wings than a real kiss. But the affect on him was intense. Instinct sounded an alert. His need to protect the woman filling his head, day and night, almost brought him to his knees.

  Or, was it his reaction to Kate? He r breath tickled his cheek. His senses filled with the scent her, a mixture of soap, shampoo, and something floral that teased his memory when she wasn’t around.

  He managed to swallow, despite his dry mouth. This was it…decision time. Everything was on the line. If he tried to stop her now, he would lose the foundation he worked so hard to build between them over the past weeks. If he let her go, he could lose her forever.

  Kate stepped back and sent him a confused look pleading for understanding. Her tongue flicked out to moisten her lips. Voice raspy, she pushed past him and said. “I have to go.”

  Luke almost fell to his knees. Didn’t she realize what that look was doi
ng to him? One glance of her pink tongue reminded him of another night and had his body over-heating like a teenager on his first date. He wanted to beg her not to go.

  But if he stopped her now, regardless of the reason, he would destroy every assurance he’d uttered in the past weeks. He wasn’t ready to let her go. Every cell of his body cried out for her softness, the curves that made his mouth water at the memory of running his hands over them.

  But his brain registered the determined look in her eye, and despite the need almost overwhelming him, he admired the courage she showed.

  In that moment, he realized he didn’t have a choice. He could lose Kate either way.

  And he made his choice. Whether he lost Kate from danger or from his objection to her actions, he would not…could not…cheat her out of her chance to help others.

  She had come too near death. Suffered untold horrors and her only hope had come from the helping hands of strangers. He could not deny her desperate need to pay that kindness forward. He could not cheat Kate as her father and Joel had.

  Luke expelled a ragged breath. His gaze dropped from hers. For split second, his glance settled on the fullness of her lips. He blinked. Thoughts of all he stood to lose filled his head for an instant. He lifted his head. Stared at millions of stars and remembered another dark night when all hope was lost.

  He’d wished on the stars that night and prayed. Kate stood before him now, his prayers answered. He couldn’t let her down. But he could pray. “Come on, I’ll drive you over.”

  Startled, Kate blinked. “I have to go alone.”

  Luke took her arm. “You have to go that building alone, but there is no way in hell I’m letting you go inside without me being in the parking lot, waiting for you.”

  Chin high, she started down the metal stairs, but two steps down, she admitted defeat and looked down to see where she was going. If she stumbled on the dark stairs and broke her neck, she couldn’t help anyone. “You can go. But promise you’ll stay out of sight.”

  Emotions built in the back of her throat as if she was going to cry. Forcing her breath to come evenly, she fought back tears. What? She didn’t want to do this. Of course, she wanted to help.

  Returning to the Center on this trumped up excuse was the only why to learn if her suspicions were true. Maybe she was imagining the whole thing. The director could have been stating facts. But Kate didn’t think so. No one with that attitude would spend eighteen hours a day helping the less fortunate like the director.

  No, something was wrong at the Center.

  She could feel it in her bones, and she intended to find out what if it killed her. As the dramatic words echoed in her head, Kate snorted in disgust. Yes, she wanted to check that things were okay at the Center.

  She wouldn’t sleep a wink until she made sure. But she wouldn’t sleep, if things were okay, either. Luke’s agreement for her to venture into a potentially dangerous situation destroyed her hopes of building a relationship with him.

  If he cared about her, he would stop her. Wouldn’t he?

  It was all she could do to keep from bawling like a baby while he drove to the Center. His offer to help dashed all her hopes of a relationship with Luke. Two more blocks until they reached the Center. Two blocks and she must do the best acting she’d done since she entered the church to interrupt Joel’s second wedding.

  But when things at the Center were sorted out, she would confront Luke. She would need to do an encore performance, but somehow, she had to find enough strength to pretend Luke’s agreement for her to go inside hadn’t torn her heart right out of her chest.

  If he cared for her, he want her to face danger.

  After the tsunami, when she learned of Joel’s betrayal, she kept her sanity by thinking Luke would never have left her. And yet, here he was, driving her to a potentially hazardous situation.

  Had she been kidding herself about his feelings for her all along? Had she read his signals wrong from the start? Maybe he wasn’t interested in relationship with her. What had their night of love making meant to him?

  Questions and more questions raced around in her head.

  Then, the Center appeared in the darkness like a huge boulder between tiny islands of light from neighboring houses, and she felt her heart stop. Luke eased past and parked the car down the block from the center, and she almost passed out.

  If he care about her at all, wouldn’t he just keep on driving? Was he like Joel, willing to put on a show for the public, but never willing to invest his emotions in a true relationship?

  “Ready?”

  Kate swallowed a startled squawk as his low voice echoed in the dark car, but she nodded and reached for the door handle.

  They walked through the shadows cast by trees lining the street as they made their way toward the Center. Nothing looked out of place. Even the large shadows, appearing to hug tree trunks, remained unmoving as they eased closer. When nothing jumped out of the bushes to stop their progress, Kate straightened her spine, preparing to go in the Center.

  So, was Luke like all the other men she’d invested in emotionally? Her father. Joel. Now Luke? Three men and neither of them had loved her as she loved them. What was wrong with her? Had she been born with some deficient gene? Did her DNA carried the rejection trait?

  See Kate. Reject Kate.

  Her breath shuddered past her lips. Her unease had nothing to do with the risk she faced by entering the Center. After all, she had no proof anything was wrong. This was all just supposition. But still...

  What put her emotions on edge was Luke’s willingness for her to take this risk. If he cared so little for her, why had he insisted she stay with the firm? Why pretend he cared for her, more than as a friend? Did he routinely sleep with women friends?

  She didn’t think so. Luke kept his emotion in control. So, where did that leave her?

  She was just ten yards away from the front door of the Center. Blood roared in her ears. Chills raced through her veins. Her knees were trembling, but rejection was eating a hole in her gut, not fear.

  She had let her guard down. Opened her heart to Luke.

  He seemed safe, a part of her past worth keeping. A relationship with him seemed worth risking her bruised heart. She had slept in his arms, exchanged kisses with him that curled her toes, and wanted more.

  But Luke couldn’t give her more. She understood that now. So, why was he here?

  She gave Luke one last penetrating glance. “When this is over, we need to talk.”

  “I know,” his shadow whispered back.

  She watched as he merged with the shadows hugging the trees along the walk. Then, holding her head high, eyes straight ahead, she filled her lungs with air and marched forward with new resolve. So what if Luke didn’t want her, she’d lived through rejection before and come out stronger. She could do it again.

  she blinked rapidly, clearing the mist from her eyes. At least, she had the comfort of knowing Luke couldn’t see the evidence of her distress in the dark. After they had their little talk, she intended making yet another new start in her life. One with her rules.

  Heart racing, her thoughts on how she would say goodbye to Luke, when she finished this, Kate punched the doorbell.

  After what seemed like a lifetime…with thoughts of starting over without Luke in her life filling her head, She heard the sound of shuffling on the other side of the door. Then a wobbling voice called. “Who’s there?”

  The director? Kate thought of the tension in the muffled voice and frowned. The director was one of the strongest women she’d ever met. Her voice wouldn’t tremble just because someone knocked on the door after dark. Unless...

  “Director? It’s Kate Sommers. Can you let me in?” Kate pounded on the door.

  “It’s late, Ms. Sommers. We’ve already secured the building for the night.”

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but I lost my phone. I think I left it here when I met with a client.”

  Silence followed.

 
; “I’ve got to find it.” Kate gulped, trying to calm her nerves. Had she been too obvious? Had the Director sounded tense, or just tired? Was she imagining this whole thing?

  “I’ll search in the morning and call you, Ms. Sommers.”

  “No, please! Help me. I need my phone.” Kate’s panic sounded clearly. She swallowed back fear convinced her instinct had been on target. Something wasn’t right. “I really need it tonight. I had a fight with my boyfriend. My cell phone is the only way he can call to make-up. I won’t be a minute, I promise.”

  Silence followed.

  But not the same silence she’d heard first. She heard a sliver of sound, similar to the leaves rustling behind her. She visualized the strong male hidden there. Luke was close. Instant comfort flooded over her.

  But thoughts of Luke were followed by what she must do when this was over and her sense of comfort waned. How could she say good-bye to the man she loved?

  Noise sounded inside the Center, and her nerves tensed. She heard whispers through the heavy door, hushed voices in a hurried conversation. Something thumped against the door. A body? A boot?

  Oh, help. Was she doing the right thing? Would Luke miss her if anything happened to her?

  The door creaked open as far as the security chain allowed. “Tell me where you were sitting, and I’ll look for your phone.”

  Kate stared in the one eye showing in the cracked door, and tried to conceal her tension. Then she realized if her story was true. She was about to end her connections with Luke and when that happened, she would be frantic to get hold of her phone.

  Impulse sent her closer to the door. So close, she heard the director’s gasp. Kate threw herself into the role she had created. If this was a hostage situation, she needed to get inside. What could she do? Not much, but if she didn’t come out, Luke would call for help. She was confident of that.

  “Please! I know this sounds silly to you. But I live alone. I don’t have a landline. I-I need my phone in case my boyfriend calls or I won’t sleep a wink.”

  The director’s one-eyed stare looked like the shark on a recent television special as it held Kate captive for long seconds before the woman said. “Just one minute.”