Three
Laura
Luke confused me. No, that wasn’t right. My feelings for Luke confused me. My brain told me to be wary, that he was just another man who wanted to bend me to his will. The rest of me? Well, it was ready to bend however Luke wanted.
Since I’d blown up at him, he’d been so careful in what he said, and clearly, he was trying hard not to spook me.
The thing was, I didn’t want him to fake who he was for me.
I needed him to be the real Luke. Yet, I needed him not to take over my life…
if that made any sense at all. I needed the big, bad alpha CEO to be himself and give me autonomy.
That was probably an impossibility, but no one had ever claimed I was easy to please.
Though she’d never said as much, my mom had spoiled me since she was fearful of what my later life would be like.
My father mostly ignored me, likely because I wasn’t the boy he’d always wanted.
The only time I’d mattered to him was when some guy, who didn’t even speak English, decided he wanted to pay for the right to marry me.
I was pretty sure I was protected from that happening now that Luke had swept me up.
Judging by the way he watched me, his jaw as rigid as stone, he wasn’t letting any other man near me, if he could help it—unless they were part of his family.
Even then, I wasn’t so sure he’d trust his single brothers with me.
Yes, he was overbearing, though he visibly tried to reel in that tendency, but with Luke, I was safe.
I felt safe, anyway, and I wasn’t afraid for the first time in a long while.
I glanced over at him as we left JFK airport.
He’d spoken to his driver before we’d departed, but I wasn’t sure where we were headed.
A restaurant probably. He’d promised me food.
His hand clamped around mine as if he thought I’d leap from the moving car and bolt. His hold wasn’t too tight, but the steely grip would be inescapable. I waited for panic to rise, but it didn’t. Strange.
“Luke,” I said, breaking the silence between us.
“Yeah, baby?”
My teeth sank into my bottom lip. I drew in a deep breath, absorbing the pet name he’d carelessly tossed out, claiming it.
Be strong, Laura.
“I don’t want to stay with your family or get my own place right now,” I confessed. “Can I just stay with you? Would that be okay?”
His brows drew together. “You’re sure?”
“I mean…if you have the space. If I won’t be cramping your style.”
His eyes narrowed, and he huffed a laugh under breath.
“Cramping my style how?” he asked, clearly amused.
“You’re a single guy. Rich. I’m sure there are women—”
“And I can assure you, you’re wrong,” he interrupted.
“I’m not a playboy or some manwhore. Never have been.
I certainly haven’t even glanced at a woman that way in months.
” His gaze burned into me, conveying a message I wasn’t sure I wanted to receive.
“I’m confident I’ll never get enough of my woman once I have her, but I don’t live to get my dick wet. ”
My eyes widened at his crass words. Okay…
“So, I can assure you, if you’re comfortable with it, you’re welcome at my place,” he said. “Actually, I’d prefer you there. I just didn’t want to push you.”
And there it was, the confession of what I’d sensed. He was holding himself in check. I took another deep breath. One problem solved. Now, for the second.
“Something else, Luke…” I started. Nerves clamped down on my words. Should I even go there? Should I tell him to just be himself with me? But I didn’t know him that well. Maybe, I’d read him wrong before and this was his true personality. Maybe, this was him.
“What?” he asked, his voice concerned.
No. I couldn’t do it. Pulling out a teasing smirk, I detoured away from what I’d planned to say.
“I’m starving. If you don’t feed me soon, I may bite you.”
His rich laugh filled the car, and goosebumps cascaded down my spine, all my awareness pulsing to high alert. This man spiked something in me, and to my surprise, it wasn’t fear.
“Well, then, we better get you something to eat. Since it’s dinner on the weekend, maybe a restaurant isn’t the best idea without reservations. Will you let me cook you something for you at my place—our place?”
“You can cook?”
“Some basic stuff. I hate eating out all the time and hiring a chef for only me seemed a waste.”
“I can see that. If you want, we can go home instead of out. I’m kind of tired anyway. It was…a long day.” To my surprise, being out in the cold for so long, even within the shelter of my car, had really taken it out of me. “How did you find me so fast, anyway? I assume Emerson called you?”
“Fray, actually. He called me while you were on the phone with Em.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows,” he replied quietly, looking down at our hands where his thumb grazed back and forth over my wrist.
“Knows…what?” I asked, hesitant to hear the answer.
Luke’s hand tightened, the only sign he might be worried as his dark eyes met my gaze and held me captive. “I’m not going to bullshit you, Laura.”
“Okay. Good.” My voice seemed to have raised an octave while nerved rattled in my middle.
“I want you. He knows it. Hell, my whole family knows it. The same thing happened when he first saw Em. Don’t worry, though. I won’t pounce on you. I promise you’re safe with me—from me or anyone else. But I want to know you. I want to pursue this…you.”
“Whatever this is,” I added.
“You feel it, too.” His confidence left no room for argument and I wondered if he ruled the boardroom that way. I had no doubt seeing him in action would steal my breath and get me hot with arousal.
My tongue shot across my bottom lip and I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I feel something. And whatever it is, it worries me.”
He turned in his seat and cupped my face with his free hand. His thumb brushed over my cheek. “Baby, you never, ever have to be afraid with me. Ever.”
With a nod, as if to underline his promise, he let go then leaned toward the town car’s driver. “Change of plan, Rick. Back home, instead.”
“Yes, sir,” the man replied.
Luke leaned back and took my hand again.
“Just promise me one thing,” I implored, looking out the window.
“Anything.”
“Don’t trap me.”
I felt him lean in, then his chin rested on my shoulder. His breath warmed my neck. “I want you to be mine. But trapping you? No, babe. Never. I want you of your own free will.”
“Okay,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure if I was acknowledging him or telling myself things would be alright. My life was still a mess, but maybe, with Luke helping me, I could unmuddle it.
* * * *
“Best omelet ever,” I said after a couple bites of my food, which was admittedly more farmer scramble than farmer omelet-shaped eggs. It tasted awesome, and my ravenous belly agreed.
Luke grinned and raised a brow while he chewed a bite of toast.
Once we’d gotten to the building on Park Avenue, he’d ushered me up to his top-floor penthouse then shown me around.
It was three floors, plus a private terrace overhead.
There were four bedrooms, including the primary, and he’d put me in the one closest to his.
I was grateful he hadn’t tried something dumb like dropping my bags in his room, but no, Luke was a gentleman.
The spacious floorplan was beautifully appointed in steel and glass, with plush chairs and couches in the living room.
Overall, though, everything but his bedroom, which I’d only seen on a glance, seemed utterly unlived in. It even smelled brand new.
“Have you been here long?” I asked before I took another bite of my omelet.
We were eating at the marble-topped table in the kitchen that was all matching white marble and starkly white wood.
A huge window behind him showing miles of city lights, while the planked-wood floor gleamed beneath our chairs.
“No. I bought it a little over four months ago. My company procured the place to renovate after the previous owner found it legally judicious to move to a non-extradition country. I liked the floor plan and wanted to move into Manhattan, rather than commute from Tarrytown, so I purchased it.”
I didn’t say anything, but he probably saw the wheels going in my head.
“I made the decision the day after we met at Bradford’s ,” he continued. “We might have had a few minutes together in a club, but it was enough to spur me into making changes.”
I looked around. “It seems…almost like you don’t live here.”
“I haven’t been here a lot. I plan to be much more, though.
It was still under renovation when I purchased it, then when I could move in, I had to hire a decorator to do everything.
I’ve only been in residence since the end of December.
” He followed my gaze around the bare room and grimaced. “It is a little bland—”
“The whole place is nice,” I said quickly. No need to hurt his feelings, even if every bit of the décor in the three-floor penthouse was white, cream, sterling and lifeless .
“Laura, it’s boring. I get that. You can do whatever you want with it. Consider it your canvas.”
I raised an eyebrow, excitement bubbling inside me at the prospect of getting my hands on this place. “You know I studied design in college, right?”
“You did not.”
“I did.”
“Do you know what my family’s business is?”
I shook my head slowly, trying to recall if Emerson had ever told me. “Something, something…big buildings?”
His warm, rich laugh spilled over me again.
“We’re one of the leading construction firms in the whole of New York City and the surrounding areas.
We cover all aspects of development projects from architecture to building to final interior design, including security systems, landscaping and environmental remediation when necessary. ”
“I… Really?” Suddenly, I was pretty sure I’d heard of Cassel Construction . I’d seen some of their signs while we’d traveled through the city tonight.
“Really. So, anything you want to do to make everything homier, you can have at it.”
I looked around the kitchen again, this time, letting ideas bombard me. Since Luke was letting me stay here with him, I could definitely do something less generic in all the rooms and make this penthouse into an actual home.
And if it became a space I wanted to live in forever… Well, I’d deal with that later. In my opinion, it wasn’t the walls that made a home anyway; it was the people. And the current resident was already burrowing deep down into my soul.