Page 39 of Love… It's Messy
That comment has me taking long breaths and settling the excited feeling that was going through my chest from talking so much.
He takes a breath of a step closer, yet it feels like the warmth of his body is seeping through the air and into me, pulling me closer.
I clear my throat and start walking again. Luke follows suit, those long, easy strides at my side.
“So, you don’t date at all?”
My dating life isn’t his business. While I don’t owe him an explanation, I very well can’t have him believe I work myself to the bone most weekends in order to avoid the dating scene altogether.
“I’ve gone on a few dates since Ainsley was a year old. Nothing that made it past dessert. I don’t have time to waste on a relationship that might go somewhere. The other night, for example, I went out with a very nice doctor.”
He clears his throat. “Will there be a second date?”
“No,” I state simply.
Luke acts like he understands why. “Dull date, huh? Bummer.”
“The opposite. He was really lovely. Please don’t make fun of me. Melissa gave me grief for my adjective oflovelywhen describing my date with Eric. For me, lovely is good.”
Luke pauses. I stop as well and look up into his navy eyes, then at his firm features and the confident set of his shoulders.
“Can I ask you a question?” he asks, and I raise my shoulders with a nod. “When I took you out on the beach …” He broods, and I wonder where this is going. “Would you have considered that night we danced with our toes in the sand and laughed until the tide rolled in lovely?”
I fight the shaky way my breath wants to come out and remain steady. “No.”
“Better than lovely?”
“Luke—”
“Just helping you compare it to something. What would you have said it was?”
Different,I want to say.Sweet. Sexy. Exhilarating.
Absolutely perfect.
“It wasn’t a date, but it was fun.”
“Fun,” he muses. “Okay, I need to know then, if that wasn’t a date, what about the afternoon we spent on a catamaran, laughing our asses off in the sun and drinking in the salty air? You were too scared to do it, but you jumped off that cliff. When you hit the water, I was certain you were going to scream at me for pushing you off. I followed and climbed onto the catamaran, ready for a scolding. Instead, you kissed me, and it was the wildest, most passionate kiss in the world. If that wasn’t a first date, then I don’t know what is.”
I want to punch him for bringing up what was single-handedly the best kiss I’d ever had in my life. I also want to kiss him for remembering it all. I was sure he had forgotten the details.
“Exciting,” I answer. “Too exciting, if I recall.”
The glimmer in his eyes dissipates as he takes in my words.
“Exciting didn’t seem to pan out. Maybe lovely is good for you.” Luke turns away but waits for me to start walking before following in step. “Do I make you uncomfortable when I bring up the past?”
I look up into his eyes. “Yes, but not in a way that you probably think. I don’t need exciting or lovely. I have Ainsley. She’s my everything. If I’m going to give her time with me away to a man, I won’t settle for less than perfect.”
His gaze drops from my eyes to my shoulders and then up to my clavicle.
“So, Mr. Incendio, where has life taken you the past few years?”
He runs his hand over the back of his neck, then slides it back into his pocket. “Same as you, I suppose. I work a lot. Max out my shifts and overtime. I wasn’t caring for a child, but my mom was sick for a long time. I spent my free time taking care of her. She passed away last year.”
“I’m sorry. You’ve mentioned her a few times. You really think Ainsley looks like her?”
He sighs. “So much like her. It sounds corny, but when I met her, I felt like my mom came back to me. Like she sent me this gift. Her name was Annie. I kept thinking Ainsley even sounds like Annie. How did you come up with Ainsley’s name?”