“So stop being so beautiful.”
I guffawed.
Luke reached up and ran the back of his fingers down my cheek. “And now you’re blushing,” he said so low only I could hear it. “Which makes you even more beautiful.”
I reached up and pressed my hand against the one still on my cheek, conscious of my uncle nearby but not able to even find embarrassment enough of a reason to pull away from Luke’s touch.
“I left something in the car,” Luke said. “Want to walk with me to get it?”
“Sure.” I looked over his shoulder. “We’ll be right back, Uncle Joe.”
He had turned back to the grill by then and waved an acknowledgment over his shoulder. I followed Luke around the side of the house, along the area my bedroom looked out on.
“What did you leave in the car?” I asked.
Instead of answering, he stopped walking and slipped his arm around my waist. Before I could even stop my own feet from moving, or before I could properly process what was going on, Luke spun me around and pressed my back up against the house.
His mouth met mine, gentle and tender. It was the sweetest kiss we’d shared yet and in it, I felt everything I hadn’t yet said but hoped to one day.
We’re in love, I realized with a jolt. This is what it’s like to be in love.
I’d never known. I’d wondered before, with other people, if maybe it was happening. But the truth was that falling in love wasn’t something you wondered about. You couldn’t question whether it was real or not because when it did come, it hit you like a ton of bricks, taking not only your breath away but all the things in life you only thought were getting to you. The worries, the problems. Suddenly nothing else mattered, and, at the same time, everything became perfect. Everything became holy. You saw, so clearly for the first time, how each and every moment was full of grace… and how there really were circumstances that were meant to be.
Like Luke and me.
“Luke,” I gasped into his mouth.
“Yes?” he whispered before going back to kissing me.
I broke off again. “Did you really leave something in the car?”
I felt his grin stretch across my cheek. “Of course not.”
His fingers ran across the bottom of my shirt, grazing the strip of skin right above my shorts. A tremor rippled through me and I let out a quiet groan of pleasure.
“I can’t wait to get you alone later,” he said.
“What?” I responded, trying to be coy. “This isn’t being alone?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You want me to do to you right now what I was planning to do later?”
I bit my bottom lip, trying to be as seductive as possible in an attempt to tease him. “Sure.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“Try me and see.”
His hand went up to my waist line again, then trailed down, pressing delicately over the top of my jeans. I sucked in a ragged breath.
“That’s all?” I asked.
Luke smirked. “You’re going to drive me crazy. Don’t ask me to take you out of here just yet. That would be extremely rude.”
“Then how about a quickie inside? I think I left my bedroom window unlocked. We could just climb through there.”
I was being half serious. The fire raging in me was growing with each second, Luke’s mere presence being enough to feed the inferno.
“Don’t tempt me,” he growled, stepping away. “One more look from you and I’m in danger of bending you over that picnic table.”
“Just make sure to move the pickles out of the way first. I drove all the way to the store today just to get them.”
He smiled and shook his head. “You’re dangerous.”
It was probably meant to turn me on, but it did the opposite. His proclamation reminded me of what he said when we kissed in his kitchen. He’d whispered it into my ear then, and it had been a woeful statement. He’d really believed I was bad news.
And now he seemed not to.
I licked my lips, a sudden chill coming over me. Nothing like the good kind that Luke’s touch elicited, it was cold and damp. It felt like having a bucket of well water dumped on top of my head. Could Luke really change his mind about me so quickly? And, better yet, could he be justified in doing so?
No. I’m still that person he saw when I had a meltdown about being in Crystal Brook.
Was he just suddenly okay with that?
Instead of walking away, like I thought he was about to, Luke stayed planted and looked at me.
“I want to talk to you later about something,” he said. “Even before I peel those shorts off of you.”
A maelstrom of emotions took me over, the lust, pain, and love all mixing up together into a muddy mess.
“Luke,” I whispered. “There are some things I want to talk about too.”
He blinked rapidly and looked at me, catching onto my serious tone.
“Grace!” Aunt Ginger called. “Luke!”
“Later,” Luke told me. “We’ll go back to my place.”
I nodded, my throat feeling like it had closed up.
Luke went back into the yard, and I followed. Uncle Joe set a platter of shish kebabs laden with veggies and chicken on the table while Aunt Ginger put the finishing touches on the four place settings.
I took the spot closest to me, and Luke settled down across the table. The paper lanterns danced behind his head, and smoke from the grill filled the air. Everything about the moment was festive and fun, but I suddenly felt awful.
Would I be able to go through with what I planned for later? Would I be able to admit to Luke that I was an even worse person than he thought I was? That I’d purposefully sought him out, lied to him about my actions? All for the sole reason of landing a rich husband who would carry all my problems away so I could lay by his pool and shop four times a week.
A tiny voice in my head told me that he already knew and that he certainly didn’t care, but I knew that wasn’t true. Just like I hadn’t changed much since we’d met, neither had Luke Anderson. He was still the amazing human being he’d been on the very first day we’d bumped into each other.
“Oh!” Aunt Ginger said, throwing her hands up. “I forgot the salad.”
Luke stood up. “I’ll get it.”
“Thank you, honey,” she smiled, sitting down next to me. “I left it on the kitchen table.”
“Anything else I should grab?”
“No, that’s all,” she answered, practically glowing at him.
As soon as the back door closed behind Luke Uncle Joe spoke. “That Luke is a catch.”
“Absolutely,” Aunt Ginger agreed.
I sighed. “Yeah. I know.”
Uncle Joe started shucking the platter of corn, shaking his fingers to cool them off when he touched a cob that was too hot. “I talked to your father this morning.”
I stared at him, having to take a couple extra seconds to absorb what he said. I couldn’t get my mind off Luke, and my fear and anxiety about out talk later clouded my mind.
“How is he?” I asked after another beat.
Uncle Joe made a rasping noise. “He’s still not having any luck. Things aren’t going too good. I’m sorry to say it looks like you won’t be going back to Los Angeles any time soon.”
“That’s all right,” I said. “I really like it here.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Aunt Ginger beamed at me.
“It’s not just because of a boy, is it?” Uncle Joe asked. “Luke is great, but—”
“No,” I interrupted him. “It’s not just because of him. It’s nice here. People are more… real, as cliché as that sounds.”
Aunt Ginger nodded softly, the bobbing of her head like the movement of a butterfly’s wings. “We know what you mean. It’s why we moved to Crystal Brook. The community is strong here.”
“It is,” I replied, thinking more of individual people than of the whole community.
Luke. Brie. Tracey. They were all so d
ifferent from Rainy, Madi, Eli, and all my old friends back in Cali.
“Luke,” Uncle Joe said, looking past my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
I whipped my head around. Luke stood behind me, the salad bowl in his hands. His face was blank as he stared at my uncle.
“Nothing,” he said.
Luke would have made a poor actor. Just from that one shaky word, I knew something was up.
He went to the end of the table and set the salad bowl down. “Uh, Grace. Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked, not looking at me.
“Sure.” I slowly stood on legs made out of jello. Clearly something had happened in the short amount of time Luke was inside.
Had someone been hurt? Perhaps something had happened to Community First? The pantry wasn’t exactly in the safest part of town. Could it have been broken into? Burned down?
The blood pounded in my hands as I followed him into the house. Unlike earlier, when my senses had become extremely aware of everything around them, now everything seemed to blur and fade away. The edges of the living room became soft and disappeared as Luke stopped at the couch and turned around to face me.
“What is it?” I asked, desperate to hear the answer but also terrified.
He ran a hand through his hair and stared into my face. Now that I could see his eyes, I noticed just how cold his expression was.
“I saw a text on your phone,” he began, then held his palm up as if to silence any objections. “I wasn’t trying to read it. I’m sorry about that. It was just sitting on the table, right next to the salad bowl. And I guess you got it right when I went in there because the phone lit up and the text started scrolling.”
My heart pounded away. Yes, this was awful, but it was the last thing I’d expected.
“A text,” I slowly said. From Rainy? Or from someone else?
Maybe Eli had finally decided to get in touch with me, thinking I might send him a little dirty pic or something. If I were Luke, seeing that would make me furious.
“It was from your friend Rainy.”
I bit my bottom lip. All right then.
Luke knew about Rainy. I’d mentioned her to him before, and so he knew all about the debacle with her and Eli. I swallowed hard and forced myself to keep looking at the man in front of me.
“What did the message say?”
Luke crossed his arms in front of his chest. “It said that she was going to tell everyone you’re not at NYU and that you’re in North Carolina trying to marry a billionaire in order to save your ass. By the way, those were her words, not mine.”
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t even breathe. For days I’d agonized over how I was going to tell Luke about my despicable plan — supposing I eventually decided to tell him at all — and now all options were taken away from me. He knew.
Not only did he know, he’d found out in the worst way possible. From a second source. From that point on, no matter what I said, I wouldn’t look good. Any attempts to explain would just look like I was trying to cover my ass.
And so I didn’t say anything. I just stood there, sinking into a deep pit of pain, letting it pull me down like the quicksand it was.
“Grace,” he said, shaking his head. “Well?”
I exhaled, the simple action agonizing in a way breathing should never be. “It’s true,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “At least at—”
Luke looked like I’d hit him. His arms fell, and he took a step backwards, shock all over his face. The sight made my heart hurt even more.
He thought there was a chance it wasn’t true. He really still believed in me.
His throat bobbed up and down. “What did she mean about NYU,” he asked, his voice cracking and harsh.
I blinked my eyes fast, trying to keep the tears at bay. My eyes were growing hot though. The imminent sobbing had already collected in my chest, and it sat there, just waiting for its opportunity to break free.
“I told…” I began, then took in another painful breath so I could go on. “I told Rainy to tell everyone that I moved back to New York to finish up at NYU.”
I half expected him to ask me why I would have done such a crazy thing, but I also wasn’t surprised when he didn’t probe deeper. Out of anyone in Crystal Brook, of course Luke would get it. He was from the same world as I was — actually, he was from an even more affluent land, the place the people who were on my social tier dreamed of getting to one day. He knew how important appearances were. He knew how I’d be shamed and shunned if everyone knew I was running away to a little southern town in order to escape facing the repercussions of my family’s downfall.
Luke again ran a hand through his hair. I shut my eyes briefly, afraid to look at his face any longer. Would I never taste his mouth again? Would his eyes never gaze down at me the way they had in the backyard — like I was his reason for being? Like I was his way to everything good in life?
“And what about the second part?”
I opened my heavy eyelids to look at him. Even though it hurt, I had to do him justice and have an honest, direct conversation with him.
“That part was true,” I rasped out, then swallowed. “At least it was at first.”
He gazed at me with a frozen expression. If he was hurting as badly as I was, at that point it was impossible to tell. He had closed up; shut me out.
I went on. There was nothing left to do but tell the whole story.
“When I first met you, I was attracted to you. I really was. Even before I met you. On my way here from the airport, Uncle Joe drove past your house, and I saw just the side of your face. That’s all I saw, but I couldn’t get you off my mind. And then when we talked for the first time I was into you. I really was, Luke. I was already falling. And then… then…” I stumbled over my words, but I picked them back up and charged on.
“Then I did a foolish thing and found out more about you without just asking you. I found out about your past and who you were. I was scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me. I didn’t finish my degree. I got kicked out of school because all I cared about was partying. I thought I was too good to get a job. Getting married seemed like the best option. So yes, that was my plan. I came up with it all on my own. I was terrified, and I was stupid.”
The tears came, spilling from my eyes and splashing onto my cheeks. I was ashamed to cry so forcefully in front of Luke, but I knew I deserved the shame. I had asked for it, so I might as well commit to feeling it in its entirety.
“But that’s no longer my plan,” I said. “I know how wrong it was. You’ve made me see things I never could before, Luke. You’ve changed me. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for keeping it from you.”
Still he gazed down at me, his face rigid. “Since when?”
I blinked fast to try and dry my eyes. “Since when what?”
“Since when is it no longer your plan?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
“Since very recently,” he stated. “It had to have been, seeing as we’ve only known each other since recently.”
No, I wanted to say. No, you’ve got it all wrong.
But I couldn’t protest. Really, truly, Luke had it all right.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
Luke blinked, his expression harsh. His eyes were red but other than that nothing about his face had changed. “I am too. Today I was going to tell you that I loved you, Grace.”
The words cracked my whole being in two. I’d thought I knew pain before, but now all the suffering in the world came flooding down on me, filling up the jagged crater in the middle of my being.
Pain. Pain.
At least I’ll never know a feeling worse than this, was all I could think. My world was crumbling down around me, and there I was, looking on the bright side.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Is that all you can say?” His face twisted — a real show of emotion.
“Yes.” The word was a sob. “Because it’s
true.”
His hands clenched into fists. Hands which I now knew for sure would never touch mine again.
“So you woke up this morning and what? You still had it in your mind to marry me?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It really seems like it is.”
“Luke…” I wanted to tell him I loved him, but even that seemed unfair. Expressing that truth would be salt on our wounds. And, sure, I deserved it. But he sure as hell didn’t.
His eyes moved over my shoulder, looking at something beyond me. “I need to go.”
I frantically searched my mind, looking for something to say other than No or I’m sorry.
A floorboard creaked behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder. Both Uncle Joe and Aunt Ginger were there, standing at the entrance to the kitchen. How long had they been there? And how much of mine and Luke’s conversation had they hear from outside in the yard?
“Sorry,” Uncle Joe said, clearing his throat. He started to turn around, but Luke spoke up.
“That’s all right. I think I should be going. Joe. Aunt Ginger. Thank you very much for inviting me here, but I need to spend some time alone.”
He nodded and turned away, walking out the door and out of my life.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Luke
“I don’t know man,” Mark said.
I looked away from him and down the street, at the intersection less than a half block away from Pit Stop. The light turned green and the cars moved forward. I studied each blurred face in the vehicles, thinking I recognized a few of them from around town. Sooner or later, I knew, I would see Grace.
Or maybe not. It had been less than twenty-four hours since I stormed out of her aunt and uncle’s house and Grace was likely already making plans to ditch Crystal Brook. Perhaps she’d already bought her one-way ticket back to L.A.
Mark went on. “The way you talked about her doesn’t make it sound like she could be that bad.”
“Well, I was wrong,” I dryly responded. “Obviously.”
He sullenly studied my face.
“Please don’t,” I told him.
“Don’t what?”
“Make that face that says you’re sad about this. You don’t even know her.” I took another drink of beer, but it turned sour in my stomach, and I pushed the pint glass away.
Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) Page 20
