Chapter 16 Luke #2
“Back so soon!” bellowed the enthusiastic man, who Luke—with a certain amount of nervousness—assumed was her dad. “We all knew you were fine, but it’s great to know for sure.” He finally set her down, and Luke realized her feet had literally been off the ground. “Where’s the boat?”
“Long story, tell you later.” Inga paused for a moment, catching her breath, then turned to Luke. “Dad, this is Luke. He’s a hiker with nowhere to stay, and I figured he could spend the night at our place, but I thought you were going to be—”
“Ah, a guest!” Her dad engulfed Luke’s hand in his massive one. He had a grip like a steel vice. “I’m Stieg. Luke, eh? Good name! Solid name. From away, eh?”
“Er, yeah.” Luke had figured out enough to know that meant from the mainland. “I don’t mean to impose on your hospitality—”
“Nonsense. And whose’s this fine fellow?
” Rogue bounded ashore, and Stieg ruffled the big dog’s ears.
“Fine beautiful fellow. And there’s Miss Westerly.
Is that the lovely little girl?” He cooed over Jo-Jo a bit, while Inga and Luke helped get the rest of their stuff onshore. There wasn’t that much of it.
The griffins had settled down on the ride. Other than having to step over them as they came and went from the boat, it seemed easiest to just leave them there. Nobody said anything about the feathered heap that occasionally squawked.
“Here, what’s the heaviest thing? Give it.” Stieg shouldered a cooler effortlessly. As the group straggled up the shore toward the town, he said cheerily, “So let’s hear your story, lad! Hiker, eh? Hiking where?”
It seemed safest to go with the broad strokes of the version Inga had told Nita. “I was hiking the coast in my shift form,” Luke said, and Stieg gave him an impressed look, shaggy eyebrows raised. “I’m a bear.”
He faltered, and Inga waved goodbye to Nita before picking up the story, sensing perhaps how much Luke hated lying about it.
“It was just him and Rogue, his dog. They were living off the land. Pretty impressive, huh? Just like the old days. I met him out there and we both decided he’d maybe take a break for a while.
I invited him back here to see the town.
He’s wearing some of Tor’s old clothes because he didn’t have anything else with him. ”
Stieg slapped Luke on the back, making him stagger. “Now that’s what I call a man after my own heart! You can tell us all your adventures over a few beers and a good hearty supper.”
Luke gave Inga a wordless, wide-eyed look.
“Dad,” Inga said, taking her dad’s elbow. “We’ve just motored down from the cabin, and we’re all tired and need showers. Let’s take Luke up to the house, I can show him around and get him settled in, and if he feels like it, we can talk over dinner. Are Tor and Bernie still staying at the house?”
Stieg shook his head. “They’re back up at the lighthouse for now. Said they missed their own bed, and running up and down to feed the cat was too much trouble. I told ‘em they could bring the cat down if they wanted to.”
“Oh, Dad, you don’t want that cat in your house. Trust me on this.”
The house was nice inside, a large open-plan living room/kitchen with exposed wood and big, comfortable furniture and huge windows looking out on the bay.
Stieg showed Luke to a guest bedroom that also had a view of the water, and left him with some clean clothes, towels, and a packaged razor and toothbrush.
In Luke’s opinion, the following long, hot shower was right up there with the best showers of his entire life.
The only thing that would have made it better was having Inga in it with him.
He kept thinking about last night, and their quick, furtive mutual masturbation session.
They were now in her dad’s house, and he wasn’t sure what, exactly, she’d be up for.
But his entire body was telling him that he wanted whatever she was ready to give.
The awkwardness that he had feared at dinner never materialized.
They had a simple, hearty meal of pot roast that had apparently been simmering all afternoon, fresh bread, and a salad.
(Rogue enjoyed his share of the first two in a bowl on the floor.) Luke found that he got along well with Inga’s dad.
He was able to brush off most of Stieg’s questions with brief anecdotes or half-truths, and for the most part, he let Stieg carry the conversation, which the old fisherman was more than happy to do.
Luke found himself crashing early, and excused himself after helping wash the dishes.
But then he lay awake in the guest bed, listening to the sounds of Inga and her dad going through their evening routine.
The shower ran for a while. And then there were soft, furtive steps in the hall, and the door opened.
“Are you awake?” Inga called softly.
Luke rolled over and sat up. “I definitely am now.”
Inga came in, and slipped into his bed wearing nothing but a bathrobe, which she shed on the floor as she climbed in with him.
She had showered the salt and grime out of her hair, and she smelled delicious, like strawberries and vanilla.
It must be some kind of shampoo, but it made her smell good enough to eat.
Which was, in a way, exactly what he did, and a lot more.
She hadn’t neglected to bring condoms this time.