23. Scarlett
Scarlett
Andy Manchester was at the visitors’ window, waiting for Chief Williams. He scratched at his clean jaw, ducking his head as he asked, “What are you doing later? Do you want to grab drinks or something?”
He was a cute guy with a round baby face and dirty-blond hair. I couldn’t imagine it helped to look so young when he was standing in front of a judge, trying to defend someone.
“Oh, um, thanks, but…” I trailed off when I saw his gaze shift over my shoulder, and a look of panic crossed his face. Luke was standing behind me. My skin prickled with awareness whenever he was close by.
We were finally both working first shift after spending days circling around each other. He moved to stand at my back, and I could feel the restraint holding him back from touching me.
“I’m seeing someone,” I finished.
“Yeah. Right. Of course. I didn’t mean any offense,” Andy stuttered.
He was looking at Luke when he spoke, which irritated me. I stopped myself from asking him if he didn’t mean to offend Luke or me.
“None taken, Andy.” I smiled. “Chief Williams will be right out if you want to take a seat.”
I turned around, intending to level a stare at Luke for scaring the poor guy when I could take care of it myself, but when I faced him, there was a look of pure heat in his eyes that caught in my chest.
“You’re seeing someone?” he asked, the corner of his lips turned up in a smirk.
We had only hooked up once, and sure, we talked every day, but we had always talked a lot. That wasn’t anything new. I knew we weren’t done exploring where this could go though. And for as long as we were figuring things out between us, there wasn’t going to be any room for anyone else.
“Yes. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing him tonight, although he never asked. For all I know, he might have another date tonight.”
His smirk dropped, and he grabbed my hands.
“There’s no one else, Letty.” The sincerity in his eyes burned into me. “I promise.”
“You should ask me to hang out later because I really want to kiss you again, but work is probably not the right setting.”
His green eyes darkened. I wasn’t usually that bold, but with Luke, there was no reason to hold back.
“I’m not asking you to hang out because there is no way in hell I can go one more day without you. But I will ask you if you want to hang at my place or yours?”
“Come by my house after work? We can figure the rest out from there,” I said.
“Sounds good.”
I extricated myself from around him and went back to my workstation. I could feel his eyes on me the entire way, lighting me up, my skin tingling beneath his gaze.
He hadn’t said anything about the case file since last night when I texted him.
I pulled my bottom desk drawer open. The manila envelope that held the case file was still there, a sticky note with Luke’s name on it stuck to the front of it.
The twenty or so steps from my desk to Luke’s were weirdly nerve-racking.
I dropped it on his desk without a word, tapping it twice with my finger and then continuing on to the breakroom.
By the time I came back with a fresh cup of coffee, Luke’s desk was empty—of Luke and the case file.
He strolled back into the building a minute later and shot me a quick wink. The phone trilled in my headset, and I was pulled back into work, trying not to think about Luke Wilder and his stupidly handsome face.
* * *
Music was blasting from my phone’s speaker, as loud as it could go so I could hear it over the noise of the blow dryer. What I wouldn’t give to have easy, straight hair some days. Usually, I would just put it up when I didn’t feel like dealing with it, but I was putting in extra effort tonight.
October was starting out unseasonably warm, so I took the opportunity to wear a pair of jean cutoff shorts and paired it with an oversized white sweater tucked in the front and my cute, short brown boots.
My makeup was done, which focused more on my eyes and lips than my face.
I knew I had a lot of freckles that I could cover up, but I kind of liked them.
They were a part of what I looked like, and I think Luke liked them too.
I flipped my head back up from blow-drying my hair upside down and screamed at the top of my lungs. It wasn’t just my face in the mirror looking back at me; Luke was standing in the bathroom doorway now as well.
The scowl on his face morphed into a heated glance when he caught sight of me.
I shut off the blow dryer and yelled at him, still trying to catch my breath. “You scared the crap out of me. Did you let yourself in?”
He closed the distance between us in two steps.
His hand cupped my jaw as he looked at me.
“I knocked first, a couple of times, but I could hear you making all kinds of noise, so I figured you couldn’t hear me,” he said.
He scratched his teeth across his bottom lip, stealing my attention.
“I had every intention of lecturing you about your safety when I tried the handle and realized it was unlocked.”
“You were going to, but you’re not now?” My voice was breathy, but it wasn’t because of the jump scare anymore.
He shook his head slowly. “How upset will you be if I ruin these pretty pink lips you’ve painted on?”
“It’s just lip gloss. I can reapply it,” I told him with a shrug.
His lips crashed into mine in an instant. My fingers dragged down his chest as he devoured me. I pulled at the hem of his shirt and snaked my hands up his body. Without breaking our kiss, Luke hooked his arm behind my knees and lifted me to the bathroom vanity.
He settled himself between my thighs, and I moaned into his mouth when his already hard cock thrust against my core .
“Christ. You. Taste. So. Fucking. Good.” Luke trailed kisses down my neck, tugging the neckline of my sweater down so he could nip at the sensitive spot on my collarbone.
I was well on my way to humping him right here in my bathroom, but he pulled away.
My face followed his for a moment, not ready to end the kiss.
He leaned in for one more, and I felt him adjust himself before pulling back with a groan.
For the first time since he arrived, I got a good, full look at him. He was wearing an olive-green cotton button-down and dark gray shorts. His short hair was neatly combed, and the smell of his cologne was strong enough to have been freshly applied but subtle enough to not be overwhelming.
“You look really nice,” I told him.
I didn’t know why—it made no sense, especially considering I’d known Luke for years and had seen him in dress clothes, uniforms, casual wear, and sweats—but the fact that he’d clearly put effort into his look tonight, to spend time with me, made me feel special.
“Thank you. You’re gorgeous, as usual, but tonight, you look especially stunning.”
My heart was beating so hard I could feel it all the way down to my toes.
“So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?” I asked.
“Anything you want.” He stepped back and helped me down from the vanity.
I fixed my outfit back into place, Luke’s gaze tracking my every movement.
He cursed under his breath, dragged his hand along his jaw.
“Something out of the house. You look too good to stay inside. And…” He paused, taking another breath.
I waited for him to continue, too transfixed by him to speak anyway.
“I don’t want us to rush things, Letty. If I have you all to myself in this quiet apartment, there is no chance of me keeping my hands off you. ”
A smile stretched across my face at his admission.
Luke Wilder was truly the best of men. The fact that he wanted me was mind-boggling.
I had wanted it for so long, never really believing it would be a possibility.
But here he was in front of me, telling me I looked stunning.
Wanting to put his hands on my skin. It was making my insides feel warm and gooey.
“Don’t look at me like that, Letty. Otherwise, we’re never making it out of here.” The deep tremble of his voice resonated low in my belly.
I pulled him out of the bathroom with me and grabbed my purse from the kitchen counter. “I’m ready.”
“You don’t want to fix your lip gloss?” he asked.
“Is there a point? I was kind of hoping it would just get ruined again.”
He growled, but his smile told me he liked when I talked like that. He wrapped his arm around my waist and hauled me to him, causing me to squeal in surprise. His lips met mine, our tongues tangling together. I would have sighed with contentment if I had any breath left.
We finally made it out the door, and I followed Luke out of the building to his SUV. He opened my door for me, waiting until I was seated before he shut me in and rounded the car.
“How do you feel about tacos for dinner?” I asked.
“I love tacos, but we can do better than that. The last asshat took you to Millie’s. I’m pretty sure a taco stand is a step down from that.”
I frowned a little. I really did want tacos. “Last time, I wasn’t with you. But it doesn’t matter to me where we go.”
“If my lady wants tacos, then we’ll get tacos,” he said. His warm palm rubbed softly on my bare thigh, causing goose bumps to dot across my skin.
Luke ordered our food from the Mexican food truck while I saved us seats at one of their picnic tables. The owners had adorned their space with decorative tin lanterns, casting a starry glow in the diminishing light of day.
Everything with Luke was so easy. Our friendship was a solid base for us to lean on.
But every once in a while, an attack of nervousness hit me, like it was all a dream that I was going to wake up from, or one wrong move would end the tenuous relationship we were building beyond our friendship.
Then what would happen to our friendship?