Chapter Eleven
LUKE
Yesterday was for Mila. I didn’t tell her what I overheard my parents discussing Friday night. Not because I was hiding it—she needed one day that wasn’t about fallout or pressure. One day that was just us.
But that window was closed. I wouldn’t keep her in the dark. We were having that conversation today.
I pulled into her driveway just after ten. I didn’t text. Didn’t honk. I just sat there a second longer than necessary.
The house looked the same as it always did. Quiet. Curtains still drawn in the front window. A normal Sunday.
She stepped out before I could overthink it in a fitted gray sweater and jeans. Her long, dark hair hung in loose waves around her shoulders.
She didn’t rush. She opened the passenger door and got in, bringing the brisk morning air with her.
“Hi.” She leaned over to press a kiss to my cheek.
I turned before I thought about it. Her mouth brushed mine instead, softer and addictive. I lingered a second too long before I pulled back.
“Hi.” It took effort to put space between us before I pulled away from the curb.
She rested her hand on my thigh as we drove, her fingers warm through the denim. She didn’t ask questions, just stayed there, steady, like she understood I’d speak when I was ready.
I didn’t turn on the radio. The road along the ocean stretched empty in front of us, wind pushing small waves against the rocks below. The world felt suspended.
I turned toward the rink and pulled into the empty lot. Privacy.
I grabbed the blanket from the back seat when we climbed out. She didn’t ask where we were going. She fell into step beside me, like she trusted the destination.
Inside, the arena was dark and still. Our footsteps echoed faintly as we crossed the hallway and pushed through the stairwell door. The climb to the roof wasn’t short, but she never complained. Just stayed beside me, her shoulder brushing mine when the space narrowed.
At the top, I pushed open the final door. A rush of briny air greeted us. The ocean stretched wide and endless on the horizon, gray-blue under the late morning sky.
I spread the blanket near the edge where we always sat. She lowered herself first, tucking her legs beneath her before looking up at me. I sat beside her, close enough that our shoulders touched. For a minute, neither of us spoke.
Her hand found mine between us, her fingers threading through like they belonged there. She leaned into my shoulder, resting her head against me. “You wanted to talk yesterday, but I needed a break from everything. Time’s up, isn’t it?”
I exhaled, staring out at the water.
Her thumb moved slowly over the back of my hand. She didn’t push. I turned my head slightly, pressing my mouth to her hair. I loved her so fucking much.
“I overheard something Friday night,” I said.
Her posture shifted slightly, her shoulders tensing.
“My parents. Drew. They were talking about King Enterprise’s board of directors. Money moving. Investors getting restless.”
She didn’t interrupt.
“Funds shifted quickly,” I continued. “Faster than they should have. My dad thinks it’s perception. Drew thinks it’s pressure.”
“And you?” she asked quietly. “Do you think Dunn’s behind whatever’s going on?”
“Possibly. I think it’s connected to something bigger.”
Silence hung between us as she processed it.
“I didn’t want to bring it to you without understanding it first,” I added. “I’m not handing you half a threat.”
Her eyes moved to mine. Soft, steady. “You don’t have to filter the world for me.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t.” Honesty rang through her simple response.
“I’m not keeping it from you,” I said. “I just needed a night.”
“I needed one too,” she admitted.
Something flickered in her expression then disappeared. I almost asked. Almost pressed. But I didn’t.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said.
I lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “Yeah, we will.”
“Do you think this is something we should share with Edwardo and my mom?”
I closed my eyes, shutting out everything I feared could happen.
My family wasn’t clean. But did I think I should highlight more problems so her mom could share them with the FBI?
No, not even a little bit. “Not yet. Let’s keep it between us.
I’m telling you because we don’t keep secrets from each other. ” I wouldn’t risk losing her that way.
There were things I didn’t have all the answers to. Darren’s murder. My family’s cover-up. Who actually pulled the trigger—was it Lorne? Adriana had seen him standing over the body with a gun in his hand—thankfully Lorne hadn’t seen her, or she could’ve been shot too.
I still wrestled with questions around what Mila had told me about that night. Could Dunn or someone he’d hired have done it? And why? What had Darren known that cost him his life?
It kept me up at night. Behind all of it was the fear that I would lose Mila.
So many ways that I could. What if she got caught in the crosshairs?
What if she found out it was someone close to me who’d done it?
I couldn’t lose her. She didn’t know it, but she had more power in the relationship than I did, and that was dangerous.
The thought sat heavy in my chest. I looked at her beside me, and the fear didn’t lessen.
It deepened. Like the only way to quiet it was to remind myself she was here.
That she chose me. My hand moved from hers to her jaw, my thumb brushing just beneath her ear.
I didn’t say anything. I just leaned in, needing to feel her answer without words.
She tipped her chin, brushed her mouth over mine once. Twice. The third time lingered, quiet and endless. And it unraveled me.
I leaned into it, turning fully toward her, drawing her in until her body lined up with mine. Her hands bunched in my shirt, pulling me with her as she shifted beneath me, rolling so my weight settled over her.
Everything else fell away—the warmth between us, the taste of her, the soft catch when my hand slipped beneath her shirt and found smooth, bare skin.
Her mouth opened for me, and I lost myself in the feel and taste of her. “Mila…” The word fractured against her mouth.
She answered by tightening her hold, her legs sliding around mine as her body lifted into me.
We’d had frantic, reckless kisses before, but today, there was no urgency. No sense of time running out. Just us, beneath the open sky, and the steady, grounding truth of her in my arms.
Her hand glided down my chest, slipping under my shirt. My breath faltered. She felt it, and a faint smile curved against my lips before they moved lower.
I steadied myself on one arm, careful with her, but she pulled insistently, drawing me down until there wasn’t space between us.
Above us, the sky stretched wide and endless, the silver pendant at her throat catching the morning light as it shifted. My mouth followed its path, pressing along her neck, her collarbone, breathing her in.
Her fingers tightened in my hair. A quiet sound left her, unguarded and real.
After that, there was nothing holding us back. Her warmth erased everything else.
Her eyes locked on mine, bright in the morning light, the noise of the world distant below. Like she wasn’t afraid of any of it.
I kissed her again, deeper this time, and we stepped past the edge together.
The space between us grew heavy, thick with want that coiled tighter every second. Every part of her pulled me closer. My hands traced her hips. Her breath caught, and she lifted into me like distance was unbearable. Mila was something I couldn’t turn away from—even if I tried.
When her mouth found mine again, there was no slowing down. I sank into the kiss, claiming and giving all at once, losing myself in her until she broke against me with a soft sound.
Her heart pounded against mine, fast and certain, pulling me with it. We peeled our clothes off until nothing was between us.
She said my name again, barely more than breath. I answered against her skin, something low and rough that didn’t need words. I wanted to know every part of her—every shiver, every inhale, every way she responded to me.
The world narrowed until there was nothing beyond us—the heat of her under my hands, the faint rustle of the blanket, the cool air brushing over flushed skin. Every motion blurred into the next, drawing tighter until there was nowhere left to stop.
My hand slid along her, tracing slowly. She trembled beneath me, and I moved carefully, feeling her respond, her body opening to mine. When I deepened the motion, she gasped, her fingers clutching tighter.
“Luke.”
The way she breathed my name wrapped around me, pulling me under.
I reached for my jeans, fingers clumsy as I dug into my pocket.
I tore the foil packet open with my teeth and rolled it on quickly.
Her lips curved, soft and knowing. I guided myself to her, pausing only a second before pressing forward.
Her nails pressed into my shoulders, urging me on. I eased inside her, inch by inch, until restraint broke, and I drove deeper. She held me tight, every movement drawing me further in.
As we moved together, I watched her—every flicker of feeling across her face, every breath she couldn’t quite catch. She was overwhelming in the best way.
She pulled me closer, her legs locking around me, her kisses matching mine. When her teeth caught my lip before soothing it away, control slipped through my fingers. My hand cradled the back of her neck while the other held her firmly as I moved harder. She met me without hesitation.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this mattered more than anything.
I loved the way she answered me, the way she rose to meet every motion. The tension built until she broke apart beneath me, her voice carrying into the night.
A moment later, I followed her, the force of it stealing the air from my lungs. I lowered myself over her, breathing hard, before shifting enough to hold my weight. Cool air passed over my back, the distant sound of waves filling the quiet.
When I pulled away, I felt the loss of her immediately. I ran a hand through my hair, still caught in the hold she had over me. One touch from her could undo everything.
I rested my forehead against hers. When the intensity faded, all that remained was calm and quiet and the distant rhythm of the ocean.
Her heartbeat slowed beneath my palm, steady and real. She exhaled softly, and I caught it with a gentle kiss.
Afterward, we lay tangled together, my shirt twisted beneath her head, her body fitted to mine. The sky stretched endlessly above us. The roof beneath us was unforgiving, the air cool, but none of it mattered. She was here.
Her fingers drifted along my arm, slow and thoughtful, like she was committing me to memory.
I wanted to live inside that memory.
The faint glow from my phone pulled my attention. I didn’t move at first. I thought it would stop. It didn’t. The screen lit again against the concrete, casting a pale square of light across her arm. She didn’t notice.
I shifted carefully, reaching for it without disturbing her. The motion was slow, reluctant. My fingers curled around the phone, turning it just enough to read the display. Drew. Missed call.
The calm inside my chest faltered. He never called twice unless it mattered.
I stared at the screen for a second longer than I should have, the quiet of the rooftop suddenly fragile with whatever waited on the other end.
Mila stirred softly against me. I lowered the phone without answering. But I didn’t turn the screen off. Something told me the peace we’d found up here wasn’t going to last.