Trust An Even Hand

by Chloe Cox

  He pointed without looking. He knew where the paved area stood. It was permanently tattooed upon his soul—the rusted basketball hoop, the weeds busting through the pavement, the sight of his father, bloodied, broken, on the ground at his feet.

  “I told him if he ever came back, I’d kill him,” Luke said tonelessly. “And I damn well meant it. I used to think that was why she couldn’t bear to look at me anymore, but that wasn’t it. She couldn’t look at me without seeing him, and without seeing what he’d done to me, and what she’d let happen. And what I might become.”

  He turned and drank in the sight of Charlene’s face. It was better than that crummy little basketball court. Her lips parting as she inhaled hard filled him with life, and he could almost feel her fluttering eyelashes against his cheek.

  Luke took a folded, crumpled paper out of his back pocket and gave it to Charlene. Her eyebrow knitted as she read.

  “This is a list of things I don’t talk about,” he said. “And why I don’t talk about them.”

  “Luke,” she whispered.

  “I’m going to talk about them with you, Charlene. I’m not going to hide anything from you ever again. I’ll keep talking as long as it takes to convince you that you can trust me.”

  He finally grinned, letting himself show how he really felt—in the places even deeper and more hidden than any pain from the past. The place where he kept his feelings for Charlene. He shoved it all out for her to see. “Settle in, sweetheart, because I’m not going anywhere.”

  She blinked a few times, tears balancing on her long lashes, and then she smiled like the sun.

  He liked the look on her.

  “‘Course, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you get away with ordering me around,” he said. “We’ll talk about discipline later.”

  He liked that look even better.

  Charlene would never describe the atmosphere at the Logan family dinner as relaxed, but it was comfortable—a lot more comfortable than she expected. That was due in no small part to Rosie’s effusive warmth. And she could see the start of a new relationship begin to sprout between Luke and his mother, however tentatively. She loved that.

  Even more, she loved the occasional searing connection of her gaze with Luke’s across the checkered tablecloth.

  What was he thinking when he stared at her like that? It gave her chills every time it happened, and she kept thinking about what he’d said about discipline. Had he meant it?

  She kept watching him, trying to figure him out. He seemed lighter in some ways. Unburdened. In other ways, he seemed like he’d only grown more intense, and it was all directed towards her.

  The night darkened fast and conversations dragged out long. By the time the moon hung over their table in a swollen yellow crescent, Charlene had heard all about Rosie’s hobbies and children. And she was getting close to prying cute Luke stories out of her, too.

  “I have photos of us in the bath as toddlers,” Rosie said in a stage whisper.

  But Luke was only looking at Charlene.

  “Enough,” he said, standing from the table. “It’s late.”

  “But this was just getting good,” Charlene teased.

  She wanted baby-Luke pictures, goddammit. But Luke’s hard stare was impossible to push back against.

  And truthfully, Charlene didn’t even want to.

  “I’ll show you to your room,” Rosie said when Charlene tried to start grabbing plates. “Don’t worry about any of that.”

  “I’ve got it,” Bella said encouragingly.

  Her hand swept down Luke’s arm briefly. And Charlene caught a glimpse of Luke momentarily placing his hand over his mother’s.

  Just an instant, and a tiny moment.

  But the gesture was enormous.

  Forgiveness.

  The creaky staircase up to the guest room was narrow enough that they had to walk up single-file. At the top, Rosie pushed a door open and let them pass her.

  Charlene felt a smile creeping over her lips. “Only one bedroom?”

  “Is that a problem?” Poor Rosie looked aghast as she stared between them. “I was so excited when I realized Luke was bringing someone home for the first time that I—”

  “It’s not a problem,” Charlene said firmly. She didn’t want to give Luke’s little sister a heart attack.

  But she was the first person he’d brought home.

  Charlene’s head was still spinning from that when Rosie closed the door softly. The tiny room was tinier still with the enormity of Luke’s broad shoulders trapped inside. The bed’s overstuffed pillows and quilt dominated the rest of the space.

  Charlene almost swore she could hear Luke’s beating heart. Slow. Steady. Powerful.

  She could hear her own choppy breathing as she stared at the quilt on that one cozy little bed, so far from a St. Andrew’s Cross and the exotic leather comforts of Club Volare.

  “Thanks for coming,” Luke said gruffly. “In case I didn’t say it earlier.”

  She licked her lips, and his eyes dropped to the motion. “You didn’t need to.”

  “I’ll sleep on the floor,” he said.

  She caught his hand when he reached for pillows. “No,” Charlene said softly, “you won’t.”

  Luke smoldered down at her, eyebrows pressed into a line. “Are you sure? If you start, Charlene…I’m not going to be able to stop.”

  “I was kinda hoping you’d say that,” she whispered.

  His mouth lowered toward hers.

  And he took her.

  They crashed together desperately, shattering their endless hours of separation in an instant. Charlene’s whole body reacted as if they hadn’t missed a day without one another’s touch, her reactions to him as instinctive as breathing. Her nipples puckered into peaks just from brushing against his chest. Her hair stood on end, and her heart was instantly pounding.

  Charlene let him lower her to the bed. The pillow-top was as soft against her back as Luke’s muscular chest was hard against hers. She inhaled the masculine taste of him as he kissed her, plundering her mouth with a probing tongue that left no room for secrets.

  He kneeled over her, body rearing high so that she could gaze at his muscles flexing underneath his shirt. It looked like he might be about to tear the cloth at the seams just from breathing so hard.

  Luke took the shirt off over his head and loosened his belt. Metal jingled.

  Charlene’s mouth went dry. “Wait for me.”

  She tried to sit up to undress too, but he pinned her down.

  “Wait,” Luke said gently.

  He cradled her upper body in his hands, sliding the zipper from the nape of her neck down to the hollow of her spine. Luke’s hand slipped between the parted cloth to cup the curve of her hip, the swell of her butt. Cloth slithered away.

  His eyes flashed when he realized she wasn’t wearing underwear.

  Charlene’s smile was a little too self-satisfied to be properly embarrassed. “Well?” she asked.

  “Good girl,” Luke growled.

  He bent her back with a hard kiss before standing to shed his jeans.

  And then Luke stood in front of her like that—naked and in his childhood home. He held his rock-solid cock in front of him and his abs had clenched into ridges as though he were fighting to hold himself back.

  While she stared at him, he stared at her. He stared at her like he needed to memorize every inch of her.

  She’d never felt more beautiful.

  Luke caught himself on his arms coming down, letting the rest of his body press fully against hers, heavy and hard. He pushed his hand between them, cupping her wetness.

  At last he was touching her again. She was swollen for him, aching with need, and she cried out at the touch.

  “Charlie,” he groaned into her mouth.

  Her knees seized to either side of him. She bucked her hips, trying to grind out her own pleasure, but Luke only held tighter. The pressure was gentle but firm. Charlene wasn’t going anywhe
re.

  He would do this for her.

  A finger dipped between her nether lips. He stroked inside of her.

  Charlene’s tiny gasp was consumed by Luke’s lips.

  “Thin walls,” he reminded her.

  She chuckled breathily. “Then maybe…you shouldn’t feel…so damn good.” Her fingers flexed, digging into the meat of his shoulders.

  A second finger joined the first.

  “Like this?” he asked, stroking slowly.

  She wasn’t sure if she giggled or groaned. Charlene felt dizzy. Like she was going to fall, even though she was horizontal and safely trapped underneath Luke’s comforting weight.

  Orgasm edged nearer.

  “Wait,” she said. “Not like this.”

  Luke’s hand withdrew. He shifted. “How about this?” His hungry cock pressed against the edge of her. She widened her knees until her inner thighs ached, trying to make room for Luke, trying to urge him inside of her.

  But for a moment, he remained suspended.

  He gazed deeply into her eyes.

  Luke saw through her.

  And she saw through him.

  They didn’t break eye contact as he slid into her, inch by powerful inch. He stretched her inner walls to her maximum. Charlene wanted to lose herself in the sensation but couldn’t—she was on Luke Logan’s wild ride and she wasn’t allowed to fade away from the moment.

  He bottomed out with their pelvises pressed hard to each other. She was flattened, filled, consumed.

  Luke began to move. And he never looked away, not once, not even when Charlene felt her muscles seizing and toes curling and her back arching to tilt her hips just right. The ridge of his pelvic bone grinded against her hot, needy core with every long thrust. White heat erupted from the point their bodies met. It whited out her mind until there was nothing.

  Nothing but Luke.

  She couldn’t hold back any longer.

  “Don’t,” he said, fingers curling with hers. He braced her arms to either side of her head. “Don’t hold back.”

  Charlene’s mouth opened in a helpless, silent cry. Luke’s jaw clenched. His shoulders turned to ropes of rigid muscle as his spine bowed.

  And when they came, it was together, in one endless instant that stretched into eternity.

  Epilogue

  Luke was at someone else’s wedding, but he was pretty sure he was the happiest person there. No, he was damn sure.

  His mother was happy and safe and no longer hated him, and she was currently in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico on a honeymoon cruise with a decent man. His best friend, Gavin, had just gotten married to the love of his life, Olivia.

  And Charlene Bastien was his.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Didn’t want to, even if he could. Seeing her happy, in the middle of all this love, in the middle of the house and yard that he’d rebuilt with his own two hands while their friends celebrated their marriage, just seeing her smile…that was the most beautiful thing in the world to him.

  And he’d almost lost it all. First, when he was stupid enough to let her walk away. And then when Jimmy tried to burn her house down.

  Never again.

  Luke looked at his sub—girlfriend—laughing in her peach bridesmaid dress, her skin glowing, her cleavage showing just enough to drive him wild all night long, and pulled her chair closer to his.

  She looked at him as she moved with her chair, and laughed.

  “Getting a little possessive?” she teased.

  “You have no idea,” he growled.

  The instant blush on her cheeks was very, very motivating. If he didn’t have to give a speech in a few minutes, Charlene would already be halfway to her bedroom, damn propriety.

  But he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight, not tonight. And not for a long time. He still remembered what had almost happened the last time he’d made that mistake.

  And he still couldn’t believe how brave his woman really was.

  In the few weeks after the fire, Charlene never gave in to fear. She’d just been sad that her ex had sunk so low. Luke would never forget what she’d said about it—that it broke her heart that she was going to have to testify and make Jimmy do his time, but some things just needed to be done. She’d hoped that Jimmy could use his time in prison to become a better man.

  Luke had expressed his doubts about that—forcefully—but Charlene had just smiled and said not everybody was as strong as Luke.

  And then had come the letter.

  That son of a bitch had sent Charlene a letter from jail after trying to burn down her house. Luke was ready to go on the warpath, but Charlene had called him back. The letter hadn’t been about excuses; Jimmy had apologized, and promised to stay out of her life. He’d promised a bunch of other things, too—that this was the wake-up call he needed, that he expected to do his time and put it to good use, that he was going to turn his life around.

  Luke wasn’t fooled by any of that, but neither was Charlene. She was just nicer. But that was ok—Charlene could pray for Jimmy all she wanted, and while she did that Luke would make sure to keep one eye open.

  He wasn’t going to let anything hurt her ever again.

  Which, now that he was watching Charlene watch Simone and Holt on the other side of the table, might include cracking a certain young Dom’s head until he got his act together. Luke couldn’t help but wonder if he had been this obvious about Charlene—probably not. But the way Simone and Holt kept looking at each other, trying to pretend they didn’t care, was painful.

  Besides, Luke owed Simone for what she’d done. He knew it must have been hard for her to show up at a strange Dom’s apartment at four o’clock in the morning in order to yell at him, but she’d done it anyway, and she’d done it because she wanted Charlene to be happy. Simone deserved that, too.

  Luke made a note of it. He’d get that taken care of, too.

  Besides, making Charlene happy had quickly become one of his favorite things to do. And he was looking forward to doing things for her—and to her—for a long, long time. The rest of his life, if he had his way.

  But before he could take his beautiful sub inside and rip that dress off of her, there was one more thing he had to do.

  “Quiet down, folks,” Luke said, standing to his full, huge height while clinking his fork on a champagne glass as delicately as he could. “I’ve been told I’ve got to make some sort of speech.”

  Gavin laughed while the wedding party settled down. He knew Luke hated speeches and ceremony, and that was half the reason he’d asked him to be his best man. The groom was enjoying himself.

  Luke glared at him, then grinned. Olivia laughed. Those two seemed as happy as he and Charlene felt, which Luke had otherwise thought impossible.

  He had a lot to thank them for. Might as well get started.

  “Some of you know that Gavin and I go way back,” he said. “And we always agreed on one thing: no commitment. No relationships, no rings, none of that stuff. It worked for us. We thought we were smarter than the rest of you fools, to tell the truth.”

  Blue’s laugh could be heard all down the table. Olivia and Charlene were barely holding theirs back.

  He’d remember that, and he bet Gavin would too.

  Luke grinned at the thought.

  And then he looked at Charlene. His Charlene. Her eyes were sparkling and bright and held so much damn promise. Not for the last time, he locked his gaze with hers, and showed her his heart.

  “We thought we had pretty good reasons,” he said. “I know I did. I just didn’t buy it. I didn’t think there was any way for a grown man to grow any more just because he met a woman who challenged him. I didn’t think that one person could come along and open up parts of your heart you didn’t even know were there. I didn’t understand how the whole world could change.”

  Charlene had stopped breathing, her eyes wide and her fingers touching her lips as he looked at her, into her. He wondered if she’d ever know what she’d
done for him. He didn’t think so. But he knew he would spend the rest of his life trying to show her.

  “I was wrong,” he said. “I was more wrong than I’ve ever been about anything. All of those things are possible. And they are the best things that life has to offer, and if you get ‘em, you better grab on to them and don’t ever let go. Because you’ll never know what kind of person you can be until you do.”

  Charlene had tears in her eyes, and Luke wanted to do was kiss her. It would have to wait just one more minute.

  “And I’m damn glad,” he said, turning to look at Gavin and Olivia, who were looking at him and Charlene with a new, happy understanding, “that Gavin was smart enough to take them before Olivia lost her patience and went and married someone else.”

  Gavin glared while Olivia laughed. “Don’t get all growly,” she said, and smiled as Gavin pulled her in just a little bit closer.

  Luke grinned. “To the bride, the groom, and the baby!”

  He kept grinning as everyone raised their glasses and toasted the happy couple, kept on smiling while people all laughed and talked amongst each other and the next person to speak got up. He just couldn’t stop. He kept looking at Charlene.

  And he kept thinking about the surprise he had planned for his sub for after the wedding.

  He couldn’t wait to see her face.

  The End.

  Sort of…

  Thank you so much for sharing Charlene and Luke’s journey with me! Each one of these books has a special meaning for me, but this one is especially close to my heart. I hope anyone who’s ever found themselves in a damaging relationship can find something in this story to help ease that pain, even a little bit. And know that wherever you are, I have a virtual hug for you.

  And Charlene and Luke will be back in the next book, when Simone and Holt finally get it together and fall in love! If you want to know as soon as that book is ready, you can sign up for my new releases list here and I’ll shoot you an email as soon as it’s out. : )