Chapter 14 #2
“Did someone call?” Luke’s voice sounds from behind me, and I spin around. He’s standing there with his phone in his hand. “Sorry, I was just—”
“I know you had a work call,” I say sharply, and he flinches slightly.
“Sorry, it was important. The deal I’m in, there’s another company that—”
“I get it. I get it. It was important.”
“Yeah, I was just trying to explain.”
“It’s nighttime, and we’re trying to have fun, Luke. You know what that is? F-U-N?”
“I think so.”
“We’re going to play Twister. Do you want to join us?” Juniper says, trying to break the awkwardness between us.
“If Mia wants me to play …”
“If you don’t have to take another work call.”
“I don’t have to take another work call.”
“Then let’s play.”
We all head down to the beach and join a group of four others. Luke and I stand to the side as the game gets set up. I watch as Josie spins the dial and then puts her hand on red.
“Are you really mad at me?” Luke whispers.
“I just think it’s weird that you’re taking work calls when we’re at the bar, and we’re trying to show everyone that we are in love and having a good time, and you’re not even around.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think a quick twenty-minute call would—”
“You didn’t even tell me,” I cut him off. “Plus, that was far longer than twenty minutes.”
“You’re mad.”
“I’m not mad. I’m just saying.”
“Are we going to play Twister, or are we going to argue?” He reaches over and brushes some loose tendrils of hair away from my face. “Your hair’s grown really long. I like it like this,” he says softly.
I look around and frown when I don’t see Rex, Talia, Andi, or Rafe.
“Who are you looking for?” He looks around as well.
“I was just wondering why you were saying that.”
“What do you mean, you were wondering why I was saying that?”
“You don’t normally compliment me.”
“I always compliment you, Mia.”
“I guess.” I shake my head.
He grabs my hands and pulls me closer to him. “You think I don’t compliment you?” His tone is low, and my heart skips a beat.
“Do you want the truth? I haven’t seen you in a while, so I guess I can’t really remember.”
“I tell you all the time when we have phone calls that I’m proud of you for starting your business and that you and Juniper are really killing it.”
“Yeah, you tell me lots of things on the phone.”
“Do you not enjoy our phone calls?”
“They’re fine. I love speaking on the phone.” I pause. “All the time.”
“Why do I feel like you are trying to tell me that you don’t like speaking on the phone?”
“Maybe, sometimes, it would be nice to see each other in person.”
“You can come to New York, you know? You’ve never visited me. You’ve never been to my place. You’ve never seen the Empire State Building. You’ve never seen the Statue of Liberty. I haven’t taken you out to the bar I love in Greenwich Village. I haven’t taken you to the Upper West Side to grab—”
“You’ve never invited me,” I say softly.
His expression changes. “What do you mean by that?”
“Really Luke, you’ve never invited me to come visit you.”
“I didn’t think I needed to invite you, Mia. Since when have I needed to invite you? That’s so formal.”
“Maybe because that’s the polite thing to do.”
“But we’re best friends,” he says, shaking his head. “Since when are we polite with each other?”
“You don’t have to take our friendship for granted.”
“Wait, what?”
“It would have been nice if you had said to me, I’d love for you to come to New York and see my place.”
“Is that why you’ve never been to visit me?”
“Maybe, but what’s your excuse?”
“What do you mean?” He frowns.
“Why haven’t you been back home?”
“You know I’ve been busy with work. You—”
“Yeah,” I say, my voice trailing off.
I’m starting to feel annoyed and upset, and I don’t want to. I don’t want to have this out with him now, and I don’t want to seem insecure because as much as I love Luke and our friendship, I’ve been dissatisfied in ways that I haven’t even expressed to myself.
“You guys playing?” Josie calls out. “It’s your turn, Mia.”
“Okay, I’m coming.”
I head over and spin the dial and put my hand on blue.
I see Luke standing there, just staring at me, his face illuminated by the moon.
He looks thoughtful, handsome, worried. He looks like the Luke I’ve always known, the guy I’ve depended on my entire life, and yet he also looks like a stranger.
My heart pounds as he spins the dial, and he stands next to me on the board.
“Don’t be mad at me,” he whispers.
“I’m not,” I say.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.” I give him a warm smile because the truth is, I could never be mad at him for long. He’s Luke, and Luke is just someone who fills a part of me that can never be filled by anyone else.
“Oh boy,” Luke says as he spins again, and he comes up behind me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get in your space.”
“It’s okay,” I say as I realize that my ass is now up in the air, right in front of his crotch. “I think you planned this.”
“This could be dangerous,” he says as he shifts slightly, his eyes laughing at me.
There’s a twinkle in his eyes that makes me flush. He reaches down and lightly taps me on the ass, and I shake it back and forth. I laugh as I see his expression widen. He didn’t think I knew how to twerk.
“Like what you see?” I say, teasing him.
He doesn’t answer. Instead, his eyes darken, and he licks his lips, and suddenly, I’m taken back to the previous night and the way he touched me, the way his fingers gently and easily caressed me.
Shit. I’m lusting over Luke. I want him to touch me again. I want to feel him.
“Oops,” Josie says suddenly as she goes falling and takes all of us down with her.
I fall to the ground, and Luke falls to the side of me.
He rolls over and grabs me and pulls me on top of him.
I straddle his lap and laugh as I look down at him.
My skirt rides up slightly, and he grabs my hips to steady me.
I slowly grind back and forth, my panties gliding across the top of his pants.
As I continue to move, I feel his cock stiffening, and heat radiates into my increasingly wet panties.
Finally, he pushes me back into the ground and kisses the side of my face.
I am unable to look at anyone as we lay there because I’m sure everyone is wondering what is going on. No-one is used to PDA by Luke and I.
“I’ve been waiting to do that all night.” His voice is a growl.
“What? Kiss the side of my face?”
“No, just touch you.”
He runs his fingers down the side of my face and through my hair, down my arm, and then along the inside of my thigh. My breath catches as he trails his soft touch up my dress toward my hidden spot. My breath catches as I debate allowing him to caress me here and now.
“We’re on the beach, Luke,” I hiss at him, and he throws his head back and laughs. “And other people are here.”
“So, you’re saying if we weren’t on the beach, it would be a yes?”
I stare at him and just shake my head, but he knows that if we were in private … I don’t know what would happen.
“Stop thinking,” he says suddenly. “You’re always in your head, Mia. Get out of your head.”
“I’m not in my head. I’m just—”
“You are,” he says. He leans over and gives me a kiss on the lips and then pulls me up. “Come on. Let’s go back to the hotel. I think we both could do with some sleep tonight.” He grins. “And when I say sleep, I mean just sleep.”
“Pillow fort again?” I ask him.
“If you think you need it, handsy Mia.”
“Ha-ha, very funny, Luke.”
“I’m just saying, you might not be able to keep your hands off of me.”
“Well, you might not be able to keep your tongue off of me.”
“No, I think what you meant to say is, I might not be able to keep my tongue from being inside of you.”
I gasp as I look over at him.
His eyes are dancing with merriment. “Got you.”
“You’re so bad, Luke. That’s not a funny joke.”
“Who says I was joking?” He’s teasing me, and yet the air between us is filled with tension.
The jokes and the touches are confusing me. I’m having a hard time deciphering what’s real and what’s not.