Breaking Through (Atlanta #3) (31 page)

"I love you, too, Luke. I think I love you even more now than I did before…because you finally let me be with all of you. Keep your arms around me," she breathed. He carefully pulled her in a little tighter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Both Luke and Jenna slept deeply the entire night. Both were physically spent, but even more the two were drained emotionally. For Luke, confessing to Jenna had been akin to torture. For Jenna, staying strong for him was simple, but her emotions were spinning from his total turn-around. To be honest, she never expected him to share so thoroughly.

She pondered all of this in the early morning of an October Tuesday. The weather was unseasonably chilly and she hadn't yet turned on the heater, so Jenna kept herself snuggled against Luke's muscled chest to keep warm. He was better than a furnace any day. She looked up at his face often, anxious to see the love in his deep green eyes again when he woke up. His face was peaceful as he slept and she realized he didn't have a nightmare.
How beautiful,
she thought yet again since seeing the change in him
.

Shortly after she came to that wonderful realization, Luke began to stir from sleep. The minute he saw Jenna in his arms, he gently tightened his embrace and kissed her hair. "Good morning, baby," he murmured.
 

"Good morning," she whispered back with a soft smile. She couldn't help herself. She tilted her chin up as far as it would go and kissed the scruff of his jaw. "It feels so good to be here with you."

Luke tilted his face down to meet her lips. He kissed her sweetly and rubbed his hands gently up and down her back.
 

"How do you feel this morning?" he asked sweetly.

"I'm ok," she reassured him. "Better than ok, babe. I feel
so
good. I missed you."

He rested on his side to look at her deeply. "I missed you, too. Are you sure you're ok? I don't want you to be in any pain."

"I promise," she smiled.
 

Luke leaned in for a loving kiss and kept his lips there for a long while. His kiss was intimacy in its purest form. When he finally let her lips ease from his, he looked at her with a soft grin.

"We're ok, aren't we," he said as a sweet statement rather than as a question. Jenna was thrilled he understood.

"Yes, we're ok."

Confessing to Jenna represented the purest form of connection Luke ever experienced. And afterward, Jenna slept peacefully in his arms, knowing his darkest secrets. She
loved
him. She loved him even more now, somehow.
 

The concept of 'angel' no longer seemed strong enough to describe her beauty, inside or out. So there he was, lying next to every kind of perfection he could imagine. Love swirled in her warm, brown eyes and a smile rested on her sweet lips. He needed to taste them again. There was no choice.

Luke gently reached for her face and smiled so softly at her without even meaning to. Her own smile sweetened in response. All he wanted was to taste her beauty again.
 

He spent moment after precious moment on her beautiful lips, gently caressing her mouth with his own, feeling the smoothness of her teeth with the tip of his tongue, and feeling her nose brush gently along his. If the act of kissing alone could be considered love making, then this was the defining example which proved the very concept.
 

He had no physical need to take her body; he solely needed this beautiful link between them and to cherish their connection with devout appreciation. Without thought or decision, he simply gave himself over to her completely. She gave herself in equal measure.

Luke had no idea a moment like that could even happen. Before Jenna, he never understood love was an all-encompassing shift of a person's entire self. No longer was he alone and angry and trying to force his problems into submission. Now he was peaceful because he
shared
his demons with the very person he'd worked so hard to shield them from. Her light was stronger than his darkness. Until that exact moment, he never would have believed any of this possible.
 

When he finally brushed two final, sweet kisses against her mouth, he looked her in the eyes. He could only imagine what sort of emotion played out across his scruffy face, but none of that mattered. He could only hope she understood the deep truth in his words.
 

"I love you," he whispered yet again.
 

 
Her smile softened and her eyes drifted closed as if she was absorbing every ounce of weight those words carried. His angel truly understood, and he loved her even more for the look on her face.
 

"I get it," she told him so sweetly like she had so many times before. "And I'm glad you finally get it, too. I love you so much."

And there it was: proof miracles happen. So he had to kiss her again. They spent hours that morning in Jenna's bed together, kissing and touching and whispering their love. Even once he trusted himself to make love to her with all the gentle passion her body deserved. She sighed so beautifully as she allowed him to ease his way in. He carefully wrapped her leg around his hip, wanting her to feel all of him. His movements were driven by a desire to demonstrate his love rather than a hot need to claim her body and conquer his demons.
 

Even as Luke stroked slowly in her body, he had no need for words, only the sweet, pleasured look connecting their eyes. He loved her so much. Even if he didn't have such a hard time finding the right words for the important moments of life, Luke was certain no one's words could properly represent their connection that morning. Their private bubble of perfection transcended reality on every level.

When the time came for reality to return, though, Luke kissed her one final, loving time and gave her a genuine smile. "Come on, baby. Let me get you some breakfast."
 

She grinned widely in return. "Thanks, but I can get my own." She loved how much he wanted to take care of her, but she loved her sense of independence, too. She couldn't resist his sweet smile, though, so she let him help her up.

"Yeah, but I'm here anyway. I'll get it for you then I'll help you change your bandages," he kissed her again and carefully helped her out of bed and to the kitchen.

"Don't you have to work today?" she asked mildly while she watched him pull a box of cereal out of the cupboard. "I just realized it's not Sunday. All my days are so mixed up right now."

"No, I called George yesterday. I'm taking this week off completely and working ten-hour days and Saturdays for the next two weeks to make up for it. Then I'll be back on my regular schedule," he shrugged. "There's a lot I need to do this week."

"Like what?" she asked, watching Luke pour the milk on her cereal and move around her kitchen like it was his own. The thought actually made her smile instead of freak out. This all might work.
 

"Well, for one thing, I need to spend as many minutes with you as I can. I have almost a month to make up for," he said with a sweet grin. "And I know you can't drive yet, so I'm going to haul you in the strawberry to run errands with you to get you out of your apartment for a while tomorrow…and there's a few other things…that, uh, might be a little tougher."

Jenna saw the look on his face get serious and she knew immediately what he was talking about. "When is your appointment?" she asked quietly.

"Friday morning," he spoke with determined resolve. She remained quiet for a moment to let him get through whatever thoughts were filtering through his mind, but then she needed to make sure he really understood what a big deal all of this was.
 

"I'm proud of you," she said with an encouraging smile.
 

Luke only nodded his head as he focused his attention on the cereal box. Jenna almost giggled as she watched his face flash into a sudden smile, dropping his moment of frustration completely.
 

"But I have one thing that's
really
important…" he grinned adorably with a voice full of implication. Jenna grinned at the sudden bright look on his face.

"And that would be…"

"There's another woman in my life, and I think it's high time the two of you had a chance to hang out," he said with a big smile. "I actually got CB to let me have Sophie tomorrow afternoon. What do you say? Feel like a date with a three-year-old?"

"Absolutely," Jenna beamed. She couldn't wait to play with little Sophie and see Luke with her again. Every good part of him was magnified in his little sweetheart's presence. Even the thought of being a part of their connection sent her into a tizzy of happiness.

"Will you take me to the store first? I need some supplies here. I don't have a single highlighter," Jenna said, still unable to stop smiling.
 

"Sure. I'll take you out for a late lunch today and let you stretch your legs a bit," Luke grinned. "We can stop by the store afterward."

After their late breakfast, Jenna took a very long, very bubbly bath for the first time since the accident. She opted for a cucumber-mint scent which always refreshed her. What a great day for clear-headed happiness.
 

"I can't believe you stayed with me the entire time I was unconscious," Jenna spoke with a soft smile as she soaked in her tub.
 

"I couldn't leave," he shook his head, getting quiet for the moment. He paused and looked at the floor deep in thought, and then looked her straight in the eye. "I was scared to death, Jenna. I needed you to be ok, and I needed you to see me when you woke up. I couldn't let my walking out be the last thing you had from me. It made me sick to think about it."

"I knew you still loved me, Luke," she replied quietly. "I was hurt, but mostly I was worried about you."

He looked at her with sad green eyes for a moment. "And now?"

"And now I'm ok, because I know
you're
going to be ok…as long as you don't start shutting me out again."

"I won't," he said with determination.

"Good," she smiled.
 

After a very late lunch, saying an emotional "hi" to her co-workers and walking down a few aisles of the local Target, Jenna was completely exhausted. Simply walking around was more activity than her body had seen in a month. She was completely spent.
 

Still, she took the art supplies and the few simple toys they bought and loaded them into the drawers of the coffee table she bought when out with Cassie when she first furnished her apartment. The corner-pull drawers were a toddler-safe spot to keep Sophie's things. The wooden edges of each drawer were funky and curvy, so there were no hard edges.

"She'll be able to reach all of that," he smiled. "Sophie's going to love it. I seriously can't wait for you two to be together."

Jenna smiled so sweetly through her drowsy eyes. "Me too."

She ate the small snack then gladly let him help her change clothes again. The bed was so inviting when she settled into the sheets with a soft swishing sound. Luke leaned down to kiss her gently.
 

"Luke, will you stay again tonight with me?"

His smile was one of loving happiness. "Of course. And Jen…"

"Hmm?" she asked through half-closed eyes.

"I can't even tell you what it means to me about tomorrow. With Sophie."

Jenna smiled in return. "It means just as much to me."

He kissed her again and promised to come to bed later. Her gentle nod ushered her into a deep, healing sleep. For a little while, Luke watched her. He was thankful all over again…but reminded himself he had a long way yet to go before everything in his life was where he wanted it to be.
 

The thought was again intimidating, and he remembered what Marcus told him. Well, one of the many things Marcus told him. But at that moment, the strongest lesson remained he continue to talk to keep himself from backsliding.
 

At seven o'clock, with Jenna already asleep, Luke had a chance to work through some of his inner-shit, so he texted Marcus one line:
At Jenna's. Could use an ear.

The response was:
On my way.

Jenna woke up too early on Wednesday morning next to a very peaceful, muscly Luke Baylor. What a delightful way to enter consciousness. She snuggled over to his chest and wrapped herself in his arms. He barely stirred before his breathing steadied again. She had been asleep for more than ten hours, but happily drifted off in his arms again. This was going to be a great day, she knew.
 

Another two hours later she awoke to Luke stretching beside her. "Good morning, angel," he mumbled through a sleep-garbled voice.
 

Jenna peacefully giggled. "Good morning."

They held each other for a while before Luke left for his workout. He needed a few groceries of his own and Jenna was happy to spend another hour in her tub simply being thankful she was home and healing.

After lunch, however, was going to be about the best moment ever. Luke was bringing Sophie over at two o'clock to play. She couldn't wait to spend time with them together when she could do more than fill out medical paperwork.
 

Jenna spent her morning cleaning up and getting paper ready for some toddler masterpieces. She absolutely couldn't wait. When two o'clock finally rolled around, a fairly-worn-out-but-excited Jenna was in her comfy chair by the front window watching for Luke's car…which was right on time as usual. She saw his rock-solid, muscled form open the back door of his car. With deliberate care he reached in to unbuckle the little blond sweetheart so he could bring her to spend time with Jenna.

Jenna's heart skipped about six beats seeing him smile so warmly with his little girl. They high-fived each other right before they started up the steps.
Badass teddy bear
, she thought with a smile.
 

The moment Luke walked in with Sophie, Jenna couldn't help but smile her biggest smile since the accident. This moment was the exact moment Luke's whole world was hers, too. He shared his darkest secrets and his brightest connection.