31. Luke
Luke
“Where are we going?”
Scarlett’s brow furrowed as I turned onto the highway.
“I told you, it’s a surprise.” I cocked a grin at her. She was absolutely stunning. The weak November sunlight shined through the windshield, highlighting her copper strands. The curls gathered on her head gave her a halo effect.
She had been acting strange the last two days, which she tended to do when she got antsy and restless.
I called in to Chief Williams this morning and asked to change my shift on Wednesday so that I could have two days off back-to-back.
Scarlett wasn’t due back at Daisy’s until Thursday, so for the next two days, it was just going to be me and her.
I’d planned an impromptu adventure that I figured she would enjoy. The campsites were pretty empty this time of year, but with unseasonably warm temperatures—and making the best use of our body heat—we would be fine to tent it for one night. The camping wasn’t the adventure though.
I drove the couple of hours south into Connecticut. About one hour into the drive, I caved and told Scarlett where we were headed, but not what we were doing.
“I’ve got the tent in the back, multiple sleeping bags and blankets, food for us to cook. The site has a firepit. I made sure of that before I booked it.”
“You’re taking me camping?” Scarlett smiled. “I love it. I haven’t been camping in forever. What made you want to pack it all up for two days?”
“It seemed like you were getting anxious, and I know how you hate to sit still for too long. I thought we could get out into nature and just relax under the stars.”
I squeezed her thigh, sliding my hand further up the inside of her leg. I couldn’t make sense of the look she was giving me. It wasn’t upset, but there was something not right in her sky-blue eyes. “Is that okay? I wanted to surprise you, but…”
“Luke,” she stopped me. “Yes, it is absolutely okay. Thank you.” She threaded her fingers through mine where it rested on her thigh. “This is perfect. Just the two of us, away from everyone and everything happening back at home.”
I had told her about the fallout from Tyler’s arrest, how Daisy had given a statement on Saturday and then come in to retract it on Sunday, telling me it was all a misunderstanding. She was drunk. She didn’t realize he was trying to help her get back to her friends.
Nothing I said would convince her to press charges.
I was there. I saw him with his hands on her throat, pressing her against the wall while he tried to shove his tongue into her mouth.
In the meantime, I hadn’t heard back from Redmond’s lawyer about the report. Everything seemed to be falling apart back at the station. The only positive was that Monroe and I were no longer eyeing each other with suspicion.
This getaway was just as much for me as it was for her. Or at least the camping part. Tomorrow was all for her.
“Oh, this is beautiful. Good job.” Scarlett leaned across the center console, placing a kiss to my lips. The site was in a clearing, backing up to the woods on one side and a lookout to a lake on the other. A firepit and a picnic table were on-site, but everything else was up to us.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, getting out of the SUV to start unpacking the supplies. “Or do you want to get the tent set up first and eat later?”
“I’m starving. I can gather us some firewood from the woods if you want to start getting everything set up.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” I pulled her to me for another quick kiss. She really did look radiant today, not that she wasn’t a vision every day.
Her tongue slipped past my lips, and my hold on her tightened. The soft skin on her back warmed my hand as I trailed it up the back of her sweater. Her fingers scraped through my cropped hair, dragging down the back of my neck.
Fuck. She had me hard so fast I felt light-headed. The round globes of her ass squished beneath my fingers.
Scarlett held on to my shoulders, lifting herself to wrap her legs around my waist.
“Tent first,” she said through ragged breath. “Screw the food.”
I backed us up to the car. “Open the door, Scarlett.”
I nipped at her neck as she gyrated her hips against my dick.
“If you think I can put you down and get a tent erected, you sorely mistake the effect you have on me, Letty.” Her head fell back against the car, my hips seeking friction through our clothes. “Door, Letty. Now.”
She searched wildly for the door handle for a second before pulling it open.
I laid her across the back seat, covering her with my body in the confined space.
Arms and legs tangled together as I worked to free her of her pants while her fingers popped open the button of my jeans.
She slipped her hand beneath my briefs, holding my cock in her tight fist.
Each of her strokes was like fireworks. As much as I didn’t want her to stop, I needed to be inside of her even more. I yanked her pants and panties down her legs with absolutely no finesse.
“Luke,” she called. “I need to talk to you.”
My heart stopped beating, my eyes searching hers.
“Right now?” My voice was strained from holding myself back.
Her laughter eased the tightening in my chest, barely, but a little.
“No. It can wait. But later, I need to talk to you.”
“Are you sure, baby?” I asked.
“Fuck me, Luke. Please.”
She certainly didn’t need to beg for it, but I had to admit I liked the sound of that. I slipped my finger through her center, finding her wet and ready for me.
“Christ, Letty. You’re so wet. That is so fucking sexy,” I groaned, inserting two fingers into her heat.
Her whimpered moans, her hips thrusting my fingers deeper and deeper—she was going to make me lose it before I started. With my free hand, I pulled her hair loose from the hair elastic, sinking my fingers into her wild curls. She grabbed my face in both hands, her lips demanding and insistent.
Shit. I couldn’t wait any longer. I pulled my fingers out and flipped her around. Her ass lifted into the air, and her hands struggled to find purchase on the car door. I lined us up, sinking my cock into her warm, tight pussy on a single thrust.
My jaw locked, my teeth nearly cracking with the force, as I rammed into her like an animal in the back seat. She had one hand on the window, steam fogging up the glass around it. The thought of that mark left behind like a brand, a reminder of this moment, made me smile.
I could feel her getting close. I rubbed her clit in a steady, circular motion.
Incoherent words escaped her mouth. It sounded a lot like yes , more , and don’t stop .
She squeezed my cock as her spasms rocketed through her.
My vision blurred. My thrusts picked up speed as I soared toward release.
Pressure built in the base of my spine, my heavy balls slamming as I drove into her.
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her back against my chest, the force of my orgasm blinding my vision.
“Ahh.” Her languid, satisfied moan sent a shot of pride through me. “Kiss me, you magnificent man,” she said.
I gripped her chin, tilting her head to the side so I could capture her lips, her whimpered sigh, in mine.
I positioned myself behind her, spooning her on the back seat, while I caught my breath.
“What did you want to talk about?” I asked, my hands raking through her hair.
“Later, babe. Just hold me, okay?”
I tightened my grip around her waist, doing as she asked. “Is everything okay? ”
“Mhm.”
It passed through my mind to forget the tent altogether and stay just like this for the night, but that wasn’t what I’d promised Scarlett. I lay with her until she was ready to get up, and then I fixed my pants in the small space before getting out to get to work.
Scarlett spent a few minutes walking through the perimeter of the woods, gathering brush and firewood for our campfire.
I hadn’t put up a tent in… God, I couldn’t even remember how long.
Juliet wasn’t keen on camping. Every once in a while, my brothers and I would hit the trails, but even that had been a while.
I wasn’t about to make an ass of myself though, so I got to work connecting and reconnecting the pieces until the damn thing was standing.
“Look at that. You got it.” Scarlett beamed at me.
“Have you been watching me this whole time?” I shook my head, but it was really my shoulders that were shaking, trying to hold back my laugh.
“You seemed so determined. I didn’t want to interrupt you.” Her body pressed close to mine, and her lips brushed against my ear, the velvety touch of her tongue dancing along my skin.
“You want to tell me what you wanted to talk to me about?” I asked.
“We need to get this fire going before the sun goes down. I’m even more hungry now than I was before.”
She spun around with a smile, crouching down to start building the perfect campfire. That was the second time she’d blown off my question. I didn’t want to push her, but she did tell me that she wanted to talk. A nervous energy crackled over my skin .
If that fucking punk was still harassing her now that he was back on the streets, I was going to be pissed.
Scarlett and I cooked dinner over the open flame of the fire, then cuddled together under a blanket with the canopy of stars overhead. The weather turned out to be perfect for a cool camping night.
Back in the tent, we applied the age-old science of body heat and physical activity to keep warm.
Scarlett never mentioned whatever it was that she wanted to talk to me about, but more than once, I caught her watching me, the gears in her mind whirling a hundred miles an hour behind her eyes.
What was going on in that pretty little head of hers?
* * *
“Are you ready for your surprise today?” I asked Scarlett over our hot cups of instant coffee. The fire from this morning was almost out, the tent and sleeping bags already packed away.
“I thought this was the surprise,” Scarlett said, excitement dancing in her eyes.
“I booked us something fun for this morning. I think you’ll like it,” I told her.
“Yay. I love fun things. What is it?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
Forty-five minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot for the TreeTop Canopy Climbing Adventure Park.
Ropes and wires floated high above the ground.
Strategically placed platforms were placed around various trees.
Rope walks, rope swings, zip-lining, a tightrope.
This was right up Scarlett’s alley, if not a little amateur for her tastes.
I sneaked a glance at her, her head tilting to look out the windshield at the massive obstacle course.
“This is great, Luke! This is going to be so much fun.” She beamed that heart-stopping smile at me.
We checked in at the front desk and collected our paperwork and gear. I quickly read through the rules and waiver, signing my name on the bottom.
“I can’t do this,” Scarlett said.
My gaze scanned her face, her entire body from head to toe.
“What do you mean? You don’t want to do this?”
“I can’t.”
I looked at the people on the obstacle course, fully harnessed and helmeted up. The little girl going across the rope bridge couldn’t be more than eleven years old; her brother was maybe thirteen.
“Letty, you’ve done things a lot riskier than this. If you don’t want to do it, we won’t do it, that’s fine. But what’s up, baby?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to do it. I said I can’t,” she said. “I can’t sign this waiver, Luke.”
I looked down at the paperwork, reading through it again to see what clause was prohibiting her from participating.
“Bullet number three,” she said quietly, tapping the pen on the bullet in question. Her chin quivered. Her eyes glistened with tears.
I read it again. “Letty…”
“I’m pregnant.” She blurted out the words so fast it took a second for me to process what she said .
“You’re what?”
“Pregnant.” Her whispered words were almost timid-sounding.
“Is this a joke?” My heart was beating wildly inside my chest. I think I was sweating. I wasn’t even sure anymore.
She shook her head, her hands picking at her nails nervously.
“Are you sure?”
“That it isn’t a joke? Yes, I’m sure. That I’m pregnant. I’m ninety-nine percent sure. Four tests all said that I am.”
I dropped my clipboard on the ground, the pen clattering right along with it. I needed Scarlett in my arms immediately. I held her tightly to me, tears prickling behind my eyes.
“You’re pregnant,” I said reverently. “We’re having a baby.”
“Seems like it. If you need a little while to process, I completely understand.”
I held her face in my hands, my lips crashing into hers. “How long have you known?”
“About two days. Full disclosure, Maeve and Claire know too. They were with me when I did the first test. But I swore them to secrecy so I could tell you before your brothers found out.”
“Baby, I don’t give a fuck who knows. This is amazing.
We’re having a baby.” I kissed her again tenderly, the mother of my child, my entire world.
The anxiety I had been feeling from her, the wanting to talk, it all made sense.
“Oh fuck, I fucked you like an animal yesterday. I should have been gentle. Shit.”
“No. That was phenomenal. The baby will be fine. I’m almost positive.”
“Have you been to the doctor yet? Do you have vitamins? ”
“Not yet. I made an appointment yesterday, if you want to come with me.”
“Fuck yes, I do. Holy hell.” I still couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I was going to be a dad. “I love you, Scarlett Ruth Hart. I love you so fucking much. I love this baby already. I hope he or she is just like you.” I kissed her again. “I love you.”
“I love you, Luke.” Tears trailed down her cheeks, and I kissed them all away. “We’re doing this, then?”
“No question, baby. We’re doing this. All of this. Move in with me. I know it isn’t technically my house, but fuck it, Wyatt won’t care. Move in with me today. I want to be there for all of it, Letty. The morning sickness, the weird cravings, the belly kicks. Please.”
She searched my eyes, her blue irises wet with emotion. “Okay. Yeah, okay. Let’s go all in,” she laughed.
I wrapped my arms around her, spinning her around with me. This was the best day of my entire life. I never wanted to let her go.