Chapter 5
Tongue-tied, Sydney stared up at him. “Um, sure. Okay.” She started to get up and tripped on the chair leg.
Luke reached out to steady her, and their eyes met. A hum of awareness rippled between them.
Sydney had no doubt everyone at her table as well as the entire bar full of people were staring at them as Luke wrapped his hand around hers to lead her to the dance floor.
Naturally, the musical trio picked that moment to switch the tempo to something slow and sultry.
Sydney wondered if Luke had paid them to do that.
She expected they’d be awkward and fumbling with each other, but Luke brought her smoothly into his arms and moved them around like they’d been dancing together forever.
His fingers on her neck sent shivers rippling through her.
Absorbed in the clean scent of soap and citrusy aftershave, Sydney had to remind herself to keep breathing.
She’d forgotten how much bigger than her he was, but she hadn’t forgotten the tenderness he’d always shown her or the gentle way he’d held her.
The way he did now, as if she was the most precious thing in his world.
She fixated on the shark’s tooth hanging from the leather cord around his neck, all the while resisting the urge to reach up and touch it. “Did you find the shark’s tooth or buy it?”
“Found it.” He drew her in even closer to him, and Sydney had no choice but to rest her head on his chest. His heart hammered under her ear, and she was relieved to know she wasn’t the only one affected by this dance.
“So how’ve you been?” he asked.
“I’ve been good. How about you?”
“Great.”
“Oh. Really?”
“No,” he said, laughing softly. “I’ve been crappy.”
Sydney raised her head to look up at him. “You have?”
With his dark eyes fixed on her, he nodded.
“Me too,” Sydney confessed.
“In case you were wondering, I didn’t know you’d be here tonight.”
“I could tell you were surprised to see me.”
“Pleasantly surprised.” His fingers slipped from her neck to her shoulder, laying a path of sensation as they went.
All too soon, the song ended, and Luke drew back from her. “I could use some air,” he said. “Care to join me?”
Even though she knew it would be all over the island by morning that they’d gone off together, Sydney took his outstretched hand and went with him to the hotel’s dark porch.
They stood looking down at the busy street as well as the breakwater that formed the harbor and the ferry landing, where a lone boat waited to make the first trip to the mainland in the morning.
The air coming in off the water was warm, but Sydney’s skin prickled with goose bumps that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the man standing beside her.
“I missed you this week, Syd.”
She turned to him, about to take a step she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for. “I missed you, too.” Running her tongue over her lips, she ventured a glance up at him. “I thought a lot about what you said.”
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he said, “And?”
“I have no idea what I’m doing right now. I’m a bad bet.”
He put his arms around her. “So you’ve said.”
How did he manage to do that so smoothly? How did he manage to make her feel surrounded by him yet totally safe?
Almost as if he couldn’t resist, he dipped his head and kissed her.
“Luke—”
“Hmm?” He kissed her again. “Did I mention how gorgeous you look tonight?”
Sure enough, her knees went weak, and she reached for him.
At first he just pressed his lips softly to hers, letting her know the next move was up to her.
When she realized what he was doing, that he was giving her the power to decide for both of them, she couldn’t resist running her tongue gently over his bottom lip.
That drew a tortured groan from deep inside him.
Encouraged, she did it again, this time letting her tongue venture a little farther into his mouth. Everything about his embrace was familiar, yet new, too. His taste, the texture of his lips, the way he held her so close. She tempted and teased, but still he held back.
“Luke,” she gasped.
“What, honey?”
“Kiss me back. Will you please kiss me back?”
“Gladly.”
While Syd waited breathlessly to see what he would do, he sprinkled soft kisses on her face before returning his attention to her mouth. Once again he began softly, gently, as if he was making sure she was with him before he went any further.
By the time she felt the first tentative brush of his tongue over her sensitized lips, she was on the verge of begging him for more. The tangle of tongues and teeth and breathless passion went on until Sydney wasn’t sure how she remained standing.
“God,” he whispered. “Syd...” He cupped her cheek and went back for more.
As they strained against each other, trying to get closer, her nipples pebbled and brushed against his chest. His free hand slid down her back to align her with his erection.
Approaching voices on the porch startled them apart.
Breathing hard, they stared at each other in the darkness, stunned to discover everything they’d once felt for each other was still there, lying dormant, waiting for the opportunity to remind them of what they’d shared so long ago.
“Will you come to my house for dinner tomorrow night?” he asked.
Overwhelmed by the passionate kiss, Sydney continued to stare at him.
“It’s still your choice, Syd.”
“I ah... I don’t know. I just don’t know.” She recalled the story Maddie and Janey had shared earlier. Janey had done what she thought was best for Joe, which had turned out to be the exact wrong thing for him.
“What don’t you know?” Luke asked. “Talk to me.”
“I’m afraid.”
His fingers spooled through her hair the way they used to when they made love on the beach. “Of what, honey?”
“Hurting you again. I have to go home after Labor Day. After everything that happened between us before—”
“Clean slate, remember?”
“I can’t promise I won’t hurt you again. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
“Remember what I said the other night about being a boy with no options the last time we were together?”
She nodded.
“This time, I’m all grown up with my eyes wide-open to what might happen.”
“Still...”
With just the tip of his index finger to her chin, he compelled her to look at him. “I’ve been warned, Syd.” He kissed her softly, sweetly, with none of the urgency he’d shown earlier. “Come to dinner and bring Buddy. No pressure. No expectations. Just dinner.”
“I—”
He rested a finger on her lips. “Come if you want to. Or not if you don’t feel up to it. Either way, it’s up to you.”
“You can be very charming when you put your mind to it.”
His smile transformed his entire face. Sydney remembered the punch of that discovery the first time around. “Is that so?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’d better get you back inside before we start a five-alarm Gansett scandal.”
“Probably already too late.”
“Sorry about that,” he said with what sounded like genuine regret.
She could tell she caught him off guard when she went up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I’m not. It was well worth it.” Before he could reply to that audacious statement, she left him to rejoin her friends.
Sydney spent the entire next day debating Luke’s invitation. She went through the motions of cleaning the large Victorian house, changing sheets, grocery shopping, walking Buddy. One minute, she was going to Luke’s for dinner. The next minute, she’d talked herself out of it.
By four o’clock, she had worn herself out.
“It’s just dinner,” she told Buddy.
He stared at her, almost as if he was calling her out on her bullshit.
“Did I tell you he kissed me?”
Buddy continued the ruthless stare.
“It was a good kiss. A really good kiss.” She went upstairs with the dog trailing behind her. “If I go over there, it’ll happen again.”
Sydney stretched out on the bed.
Buddy jumped up and settled next to her.
She ran her fingers through his silky hair. “I want to go,” she whispered. “Does that make me a bad person?” Sydney realized she was actually expecting Buddy to answer her. Rather, he let out a deep sigh, as if her pontificating annoyed him. “I know what you mean, Buddy. I’m sick of me, too.”
Sydney watched the ceiling fan for a long time. “All right. I’ll go, but only if you come with me.”
He extended his paw.
Smiling, Sydney took it and gave it a shake. “Deal.”
As the sun dipped low over the pond, she grabbed a bottle of wine and the brownies she’d baked and headed for the car with Buddy tagging along at her heels.
Driving the familiar roads that led to Luke’s house brought back a slew of memories of his old pickup, of late nights and summer breezes, of first love and heart-pounding desire.
Sydney couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so nervous.
At least she hadn’t fretted over what to wear.
She’d chosen a denim skirt with a white T-shirt and sandals.
Luke was the most casual person she’d ever known, so there was no point in dressing up for him.
He’d never been impressed by style or flash.
She pulled onto the long dirt road that led to his house at the end. As she navigated the final turn, the nerves she’d battled all day resurfaced. What am I doing? He didn’t say what time. What if he’s not even home?
His warmly lit house came into view. At least he was home. She turned in next to the dark green pickup truck that was parked behind the house. Before she could chicken out, she opened the car door.
In a move that reminded her of the Buddy she’d once known, he jumped over her and sprinted off into the darkness. “Great,” she muttered, gathering the wine and brownies and starting after him.
“This guy belong to you?” Luke asked, grinning as he waited for her with Buddy panting next to him.
Sydney swallowed hard and tried to ignore the goose bumps that broke out over her skin at the sound of his deep voice.
“He doesn’t get out much,” Sydney said.
“He and I have that in common.”
“Still a homebody?” she asked as he gestured for her to follow him on the lighted pathway to the door.
“Some things never change.”
And that, Sydney decided, was comforting.