Chapter 12 #2
It would probably be extra silky between my fingers.
So, so silky…
Jett yelled, “Woah, Cammie!”
I jumped in my seat, craning my head over to him.
He was quickly wiping off his royal-blue pants, and my mouth dropped open.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!”
I wanted to hide underneath the table. I literally wanted to crawl under the table and hide for the rest of the night.
I wanted to hide from the guest speaker and all the stares.
I wanted to hide from Luke because of how I wanted to rip his uniform off, and I wanted to hide from Jett because I’d just dumped my wine all over his lap.
If only my dress weren’t so tight, then I’d truly be able to crawl under the table.
And not think twice about it.
“I am so sorry, Jett. I will pay for you to get your pants dry-cleaned.” I placed my glass back on the table and had started to wipe off his pants when he chuckled.
“It’s really okay, Cammie. See, no harm done.” Jett gestured to his pants. Thankfully, I’d been drinking white wine instead of red. Otherwise, I would have just died.
“Oh, good. I’m so sorry. I’m just…off tonight.” I gave him a weak smile. I heard JoJo snicker beside me, so I took my nude left heel and kicked her under the table.
She “umphed” quietly and then whispered, “Here comes trouble…”
I glanced up, and just like that, I felt trapped.
Amused green eyes stared at me from a few yards away, and I had to hide my smile.
When his eyes slid over to Jett, then made their way back to my face, he lifted one eyebrow up and grimaced.
His mouth was drawn into a straight line.
He didn’t fool me, though; his eyes still sparkled with a mischievous glare.
“Hey, Luke!” JoJo yelled over at him, and I almost smacked her.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
She wiggled her perfect eyebrows at me, and I felt my heart catch in my throat when Luke sauntered over to our table, smiling the entire time.
“Hello, JoJo,” he said, then nodded at Ryan.
“Hey, Doc.”
He looked over at me and winked. And now the color of my face matched the color of my dress. Get yourself together, Cammie. Think bad thoughts. He’s ugly… Okay, that’s not gonna work. Let’s think true thoughts. He…has a despicable mouth on him that could do all sorts of naughty things to you. Mmhm.
“Doc?” Jett looked over at me. “You’re a doctor?”
“You don’t even know what her profession is, Broker?” Luke gave Jett a deathly stare, and my head bounced back and forth between the two of them.
“Well…”
“We only just met tonight, Luke. Back off.”
“Ah, so that’s why he doesn’t really know about us.”
My mouth dropped open. Oh my God. Not this again .
“We are not a thing! Stop saying that,” I shrieked.
I glanced over at JoJo and Ryan who were both squeezing their mouths together, keeping their laughter at bay.
“Wait, what? A thing? I didn’t know.”
Jett started to back his chair away from the table, but I smacked my hand on his leg, right on the spot that I’d spilled my wine.
“He and I are not a thing, Jett,” I said, staring daggers into Luke’s forehead.
Luke’s gaze traveled down to my hand on Jett’s leg, and then he snapped his attention back to me. His jaw was clenched, and his gaze narrowed. Hah!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the strongest person in the world, because Jett casually got up anyway, letting my hand fall to my side.
“Thanks, man,” Luke said. “Cammie loves to play tricks on people. Here, go take my seat.”
My mouth was still open as I watched Luke point to his table. He slapped Jett on the back when he walked away, and Jett didn’t even look back in my direction. He couldn’t have gotten away faster if he’d tried.
“I hate you,” I spat when Luke sat down beside me.
He cheeks widened, showcasing that cunning smile. I reached over and pinched his thigh as hard as I could. He only laughed, and then I resorted to pouting like a five-year-old with my arms crossed over my chest, fists clenched.
JoJo and Ryan turned their backs on me to have their own conversation, and I wanted to pinch them, too.
I wanted to pinch (or punch) everyone in this room.
“You know…” Luke’s low voice tickled my bare shoulder when he bent to speak to me .
“Crossing your arms like that makes your boobs look even better…”
I quickly removed my arms and hastily grabbed my wine, downing the entire glass in one large gulp.
I was two seconds away from saying something inappropriate to him when General Siekman cleared his throat over the microphone. I stopped moving instantly, and JoJo quickly put her hand on my lap and gave me a warm smile.
“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered, and I could feel Luke watching us. The entire table was. A few more of our friends, including Daniel, sat down, and they all gave me the same remorseful look, which only made me gulp louder.
I was tough. I always had been. I was once told that to be a nurse, you had to have a thick skin, you had to be strong, and you had to be capable of turning your feelings off.
But tonight, I wasn’t feeling very strong.
In fact, I felt anything but. My fingers started tingling, and my breathing started to pick up its pace with each word that fell out of the general’s mouth.
I couldn’t do this.
I couldn’t sit here and be okay while he talked about my dead brother.
About my dead best friend.
My heart thumped loudly beneath my ribcage, and in spite of the wine, I felt completely jittered and unrelaxed.
My breaths were coming in short spurts, and when the lights went dim to showcase the short video the Marine Corps had put together, I stood up quickly, almost knocking the table off balance.
I knew people were staring, but I didn’t care. I pushed my chair back and squeezed past the few tables that stood between me and the door .
I mumbled a “sorry” here and there, but I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
The second I opened the door, I was blinded by the entry hall’s bright lights shining.
I tried not to focus on the distant sound of the video as I leaned my huffing back against the gold, papered wall.
I thought back to nursing school, where they’d taught us about panic attacks and how to talk someone through one.
I was drawing a blank. I couldn’t remember.
I could remember the fucking Pythagorean theorem, but I couldn’t fucking remember how to calm myself down in a panic attack.
My chest was slowly squeezing the life out of me, and my entire body tingled as a wave of heat coursed throughout.
“Jesus Christ. Get yourself together,” I huffed, shutting my eyes tightly.
Talk about embarrassing. This was embarrassing.
More embarrassing than when I walked in on my ex sleeping with a blow-up doll.
This moment landed right above the blow-up doll incident and right under that time in eighth grade when I’d run right into a revolving door in front of my entire school—that was mortifying.
“Cammie?” a soothing voice came from the left as I took another deep breath, still squeezing my eyes shut.
“What are you doing out here, Luke?” I asked, but my voice was all breathy—and not in the good, sexy way, either.
He ignored my question. “You alright?”
I didn’t answer him right away. I tried my hardest to find every distraction possible to keep my mind off what had just happened in there. And sadly, nothing had even happened. I’d bailed before anything was even said.
Distractions. Think of distractions .
The feeling of the wallpaper along my exposed back. Yes, that’s good. What else? That delicious scent coming from the man beside me. Ah, what is that? I took a big whiff of the air and heard a rumbling chuckle.
My eyes snapped open in an instant.
I just smelled him. I. Just. Smelled. Luke.
“I’m gonna let that slide, since you’re having a difficult time right now…” he teased, and I quietly let out a laugh.
“You smell good,” I whispered.
“I know.”
I finally looked over at his smug smile and couldn’t help but allow my grin to follow.
We stood there, side by side, for a few moments, pretending we didn’t hear the ceremony going on inside the large ballroom. I winced when I heard the speaker say Alex’s name and averted my eyes to stare at the red, carpeted floor.
“Are you going to get in trouble for ditching out on the ceremony?” I asked while still keeping my eyes trained on the floor.
“Nah,” he said, propping himself against the opposite wall.
I narrowed my eyes as I brought them up to his face.
“My commanding officer will understand. I gotta take care of my girl…” His cheek lifted on one side, and I rolled my eyes.
“You’re relentless, Luke. I was totally ready to have a good time with Jett,” I growled.
“Oh, come on, Cammie.” Luke crossed his arms against his chest, and the medals on his uniform jingled.
“Come on, what?” I questioned.
“You and I both know that you would rather be here with me than with Broker. ”
My stomach dipped. “Whatever.”
“Good comeback, Doc.”
I scowled, ready to come up with something else to say to him, but he interrupted me. “At least I can admit it.”
I gave him a dirty look. “Admit what?”
“That I want you.”
Hold the fucking phone. What?
I stuttered, “Wai—what?” I crossed my arms after I pushed off the wall. “Luke, you have a different girl at your house, like, every week. You don’t want me.”
He rolled his eyes dramatically. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t had a girl at my house for quite a while now.”
I repeated myself. “You don’t want me, Luke.” He doesn’t.
He scoffed. “Yeah, just like you don’t want me.”
I grimaced. “I don’t!” Even I could hear the distress in my voice. I couldn’t even fool myself; how could I expect to fool him?
“If that’s what you have to keep telling yourself…”
I ignored him and walked over to an empty chair and slowly sank down in it, literally afraid my tight dress would rip if I made any fast movements. Luke strode over and sat right beside me, placing his arm around the back of my chair.
No words were spoken the entire time we sat there, but the atmosphere was definitely filled with our swirling thoughts. Both of our tense postures clouded the attraction and lust swimming between our bodies, making it evident to us and no one else.
I wanted him.
He wanted me.
Now, which one of us would cave first?