Only You

by Fontaine, Bella

  Evan was the one that had interrupted. She knew him the most; the others had never really spoken to her, but she’d seen them around.

  Evan rushed up and gave Luke that hug she was going to give him. “Man, I’m so glad you made it. What the hell would we do without you?”

  Luke smiled at him. “Hey bro.”

  “Hey Natalie,” Evan acknowledged her.

  “Hi,” she replied, but felt awkward, like she was the one that intruded on their conversation. “Hi guys,” she said to the others.

  They waved back and quickly started talking to Luke, as was expected. They wanted to know how he was and everything. The conversation basically pushed her out, so she decided to leave them to it.

  She stepped away and thought that maybe this was her cue to go. She saw Luke and did the thing she feared doing for so long. Facing him.

  Before she walked away, she turned and looked back over her shoulder to find Luke looking ahead at her too. Evan was talking to him, and Darnel started talking about his wife and their family, but Luke had his eyes fixed on her.

  The spark rippled through her heart again, just for a second, like it had its own heartbeat. But it was there, and enough to captivate her.

  It was interesting, very interesting indeed, that she could feel it after so long.

  She turned back and continued walking.

  Chapter 2

  Luke

  * * *

  Damn.

  He let her get away.

  Luke had really missed his friends and enjoyed seeing them and feeling the warmth of their friendship, but he really wanted to speak to Natalie. He’d been looking forward to seeing her ever since he got back. He was staying with his parents for the moment and hoped that maybe there was a chance she would have come by to see him last week.

  Everyone had been respectful by allowing him some privacy and time with his family, but she wasn’t everyone.

  Honestly, when he got home he was okay, so there wasn’t really that need for anyone to keep their distance. He’d had weeks of medical attention and therapy, so physically he was fine. It was miraculous considering all he’d been through.

  Mentally…was another story, but being home helped with that.

  Natalie had been on his mind since well before he came home. In fact, she never left that place in his mind where he hung on to the memory of when he last saw her. And that was quite a memory to hang onto.

  No man in his right mind would ever forget a memory like that. He would accept, too, that no man in his right mind would have turned her down the way he had.

  But he had his reasons, and none of them included not wanting her.

  He couldn’t believe it had been nearly ten years since he last saw her.

  How could it have been that long?

  That was too long, and thank God she didn’t seem to harbor any resentment towards him. He would have hoped that after ten years she would have gotten over their little encounter. The fact that he hadn’t seen her for this length of time signaled that she’d taken steps not to see him, but seeing her tonight meant a lot to him.

  Ten years looked good on her.

  He watched her grow from the cute little girl who followed him around with huge doe eyes to the adorable young woman who followed him around with huge doe eyes.

  He’d missed the part where the cute and adorable girl turned into the beautiful woman who’d stood before him tonight. Those doe eyes had become sultry, soulful, alluring and captivating.

  Sexy, with full, thick long lashes that casted shadows on her high, exotic cheekbones. To top it off, she’d done that smoky eye look that looked striking against the smooth surface of her skin.

  And all he’d managed to say was a handful of words to her before his knuckleheaded friends came along interrupting.

  He didn’t even get to say goodbye to her or end the conversation properly. He thought he could catch up with her a little later, but after his friends talked to him for eons and he finally managed to get away, he realized that she’d left.

  It was now nearly midnight.

  “Hey Jess, when did Nat go?” Luke asked his sister.

  Jessica responded with a warm smile and came over to him to link her arm into his.

  “She left early. After she spoke to you. Did you have anything to do with that?” She gave him an accusatory look.

  “I didn’t do anything this time. I swear.” He laughed

  “I hope not. You two haven’t seen each other in forever.”

  “I know. What do you girls get up to on a Sunday?” he asked as they sat together around one of the tables.

  Natalie, Jessica and Laura lived together. He thought that was pretty cool and may have considered doing the same with his friends if they didn’t drive him mad.

  Evan was realistically the only one he could consider living with as Darnel was married and Kenneth was crazy.

  Jessica narrowed her eyes and gave him a suspicious look. “You girls as in me, Laura and Natalie, or Natalie specifically?”

  He straightened up and chuckled. “Jess, it’s a general question.” Although she was completely right in seeing through his tactics.

  “Oh please. I wasn’t born yesterday. Also, you’ve been asking for her all week.”

  “Because you guys are friends. And the past has proven that you guys are inseparable. I was just wondering. Is all.”

  “Uh huh. Why don’t you just ask her out already?” Jessica giggled.

  “What makes you think I want to ask her out?” He inclined his head to the side and regarded her.

  She giggled. “Luke, there’s nothing to make me think otherwise. Besides, she’s beautiful, and perfect, and you’ve known her forever. Don’t worry, you may not have gotten to speak to her properly tonight, but you’ll have plenty of chances to see her.”

  “Okay Jess.” He chuckled.

  He always knew Natalie had a thing for him but brushed it under the rug, because at one point she seemed so much younger than him. Six years was a lot of years’ difference when you were sixteen and you had some ten-year-old with ribbons in her hair looking at you like she was star struck. That was the first time that he noticed her fascination with him.

  Six years was still a massive difference when Natalie turned sixteen and he was twenty-one.

  But damn it, age didn’t even enter his mind nearly ten years ago when the tempting, mouthwateringly beautiful nineteen-year-old Natalie stood before him wearing nothing but that sexy see-through negligee, offering herself to him. He remembered massive, fully rounded breasts and puckered, dark brown nipples, showing how turned on she was. A toned, flat stomach with the jewel in her belly button ring glistening, and that smooth, smooth brown skin looking like velvet as the temptation to touch her screamed at him.

  But he couldn’t do it, and turning her down as she offered him her innocence was the hardest thing he’d ever had to walk away from.

  “I’m being serious, Luke,” she said, breaking into the forbidden thoughts his mind drifted towards. He focused his attention back to her. “You know we share an apartment and she works for the company. You’re more than three quarters of the way there. Our parents love her, dad especially because she’s made him tons of money in the handful of months that she’s been working for him, and she already knows about your unsavory ways.”

  He would have commented more about Natalie working for their family business, but she had him stuck on his supposed unsavory ways.

  “What do you mean unsavory ways?” That sounded so creepy.

  She cleared her throat and did that thing he hated with her neck where she slid her head to the side to show some attitude. “Luke, you are not a nice person. But she knows that. But she would like you more if you were less of a jerk. You know, not so arrogant and assholish. You could try to be nice.” Jessica said that like it was such great advice.

  All he could do was stare at her, and then he couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that how you describe me to people, Jess? Je
rk, arrogant, assholish?”

  “Luke, I don’t need to. I think most people come to that conclusion all on their own.”

  Oh Lord.

  He shook his head, but she was probably right.

  “So if I’m nicer, you’ll pimp me out to your friends?”

  “I’m not pimping you out. And this is one friend. I can’t be blamed for wanting to see you happy. And I can’t be blamed for wanting to see my dearest friend with a good man.”

  He gave her a little smile, softening his expression. That was a real nice thing to say and he appreciated it.

  “Thank you, but I doubt Natalie wants a military man.”

  “Luke, what planet do you live on? What girl wouldn’t want a military man?”

  That one.

  That was the answer. Natalie wasn’t keen at all on him being in the Marines. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

  Natalie was sweet. He imagined her with someone like a banker, or a guy with a regular nine-to-five office job who could come home to her.

  Someone she knew would be safe, and who she wouldn’t have to worry about. Not someone who was at risk of death on a daily basis.

  “I think Natalie is more into the average Joe, as opposed to G.I. Joe.” He chuckled when she gave him a pointed look.

  “So, you won’t even try to be nice?”

  “Nice like your sugar syrup Joshua?” He was trying to change the subject, because unknown to Jessica, Natalie was a subject he’d thought about for years.

  She was that gray area of his life that held uncertainty, but also possibilities.

  Just because he walked away from her and her offer of herself, didn’t stop him from thinking about her. He’d never been more taken with a woman and she fascinated him just as much as his work. That said a lot for him.

  Jessica gave him a bashful look and brought her hands up to her cheeks.

  “Sugar syrup?”

  “Well can you think of anything sweeter?” He put on a voice that sounded like their grandmother, who was over by the buffet talking to her friends. They looked engrossed in conversation, which probably meant someone had a new recipe or had done some amazing cross stitch or whatever it was eighty-year-old women talked about.

  Jessica laughed. “He is sweet.”

  Luke hoped so. He really did, because he could see his sister was very much in love with her soon-to-be husband.

  What had piqued his interest was the look Natalie gave Joshua. It wasn’t a good look, not one bit, and he got the impression that she didn’t like him.

  The other scenario that played out in his mind when he saw the look she gave him was that she’d had some involvement with him and could have been harboring bitter feelings towards him.

  Luke didn’t think so, though, because Joshua wasn’t Natalie’s type, and he doubted very much that Jessica would date, much less marry, anyone that her best friend had been involved with. Jessica and Natalie were more like sisters than friends. Something like that would have been important to them, and they valued each other enough to give up the chance of a relationship if one knew that the other had been involved with the guy.

  That much he knew hands down. So he was willing to bet that Natalie simply didn’t like Joshua. The question was why.

  “As long as he treats you good.”

  “He does, Luke. He really does. So please don’t go all big brother on him. You don’t have to with this one.”

  That wasn’t going to happen. He was her big brother, and as her big brother it was his job to look after his sister. Didn’t matter how old they got or what she said. He would definitely be going all big brother on dear old Joshua.

  “I’ll go easy on him.”

  She tilted her head to the side and gave him a wide-eyed stare. “Luke, honestly, you don’t have to do your standard intimidation. You look intimidating enough as it is.”

  He laughed at that. “Jess, you’re my baby sister. I just met this guy. I promise to go easy on him, but I have to take my own time to get to know him.”

  “You’re going to grill him, aren’t you?”

  Yes. He was, but he wouldn’t tell her that.

  “You leave me to do my job. I—” he was going to continue in the same jovial manner but paused at the memory of all that had happened to him over the last two months.

  Hell.

  That was the best way to describe it. Hell.

  “I almost never got to see you walk down the aisle. So humor me. Let me take care of you in the simple ways that I should.” While he offered a warm smile, she drew in a breath and looked away. When she returned her gaze to him, a tear ran down her cheek.

  “Okay, of course.” She nodded and moved closer to rest her head on his shoulder, like she used to when they were kids. “It’ll be good to have you home for six months.”

  He was on leave for six months.

  It wasn’t everyone who had such allowances. But it was to be expected with someone like him who was considered part of the Recon’s elite.

  His superiors had taken his care in hand and suggested giving him time to heal mentally and physically.

  He was also given a few special conditions. Before the six months ended he would have to confirm if he was returning to service fully or be discharged of his duties. There was also the chance that he could be called back in sooner if they needed him.

  This year would be ten years that he’d served. Six months’ time would be the mark. He would never have thought that he would be in this position at this time.

  The whole Afghanistan incident had left him in a state of confusion. Something Luke had never experienced in his life because he was always sure of himself and what he wanted to do.

  He was proud when he thought back to all he’d done as a Marine. But it was years of it, and the bruise of going on all those crazy-ass missions reared its ugly head weeks ago when everything turned upside down for him.

  So he hoped like hell that he wouldn’t get called away before the six months ended. He’d decided that what he needed was indeed time away. Like a timeout. Time to reflect on what he wanted to do next. Time to find himself.

  “Have you thought about what you’re going to do?” Jessica lifted her head and looked at him.

  It didn’t matter what happened, or that she knew she seriously nearly lost him. He knew she would never ask him to stay. None of his family members would because they knew that he loved being a Marine, and asking him to stay would be telling him that he couldn’t do what he wanted to do.

  That wasn’t their style. It also meant that while they may not have accepted the obvious risks of danger and death that came with his job, they respected it. They respected his wishes.

  His friends did too.

  All except Miss Natalie.

  “No,” he replied with honesty. To which she smiled, because confirming that he didn’t know what he was going to do gave her hope that he just might stay.

  The only person who’d ever asked him to stay was Natalie. Asking him to stay was the driving force behind that night when he last saw her.

  It was strange how being home never crossed his mind until the moment when he faced his darkest hour. That moment of need and desperation when he walked the fine line between life and death.

  It was that moment that propelled his survival and gave him strength. The significance of it being the fact that it was that thought of going home that helped him when he needed it most.

  The thought of seeing his family and friends. And yes…the thought of seeing Natalie.

  Jessica continued to talk to him, mostly about all the wedding arrangements she’d made. While Luke listened, his mind was elsewhere and he zoned out a few times because of the myriad of thoughts that swirled through his mind.

  It was the confusion. He’d found himself drifting off into the dark mass that embodied most of his mind since being home. It was the place that held all the questions he had for himself.

  What was he going to do indeed?

&
nbsp; The answer wasn’t a simple no like he’d given Jessica. It was more like I don’t know. Because he didn’t, and he found that the thoughts kept him awake every night as he battled to come up with an answer. The thoughts, mixed in with the reoccurring nightmares, were a constant reminder of the hell he’d been through.

  He decided that he wanted tonight to be different. He’d had a good day today and he wanted to hold onto it.

  Just for today he wanted to separate his mind from all that had happened and the loss he felt from watching his close friends and comrades die. Men he’d served with for nearly ten years.

  When he got home later that evening, he prolonged the day by distracting himself with some old photo albums and other stuff from the past.

  He found a picture of himself with Jessica and Natalie taken outside the old lake house where they used to play. The picture was about twenty years old. Seeing it kick started his thoughts of Natalie all over again.

  He couldn’t believe that he’d known her for so long.

  Their parents had been lifelong friends from college. Natalie’s family moved to Chicago when she was three and they’d been here ever since. She and Jessica got on right from the word go, as if they were destined to be friends. Add him in the mix and they were like the three musketeers.

  She was sweet.

  That was what he remembered about her. Luke didn’t usually like sweet, but she was of a different category altogether.

  Her sweet side was what she showed the world, but there was a side to her that would make her do things that was outside her character. It was that part of her that showed bravery and resilience.

  It was the most attractive thing about her, even against all that wealth of beauty she displayed that could drive a man crazy just from looking.

  When he got accepted into the Marines he was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to leave.

  Everyone was excited for him because there wasn’t a soul who didn’t know how badly he’d wanted the opportunity.

  Miss Natalie, on the other hand, freaked out, but not in the usual sense of freaking out.