LUKE: Complete Series (11 page)

I laid the box on the desk, but I made no move to leave. “Are you sure you don’t want to open it now?”

“Brina, it’s from my sister. She sends me something every year. It’s not a big deal.”

I shrugged. “As you wish, Mr. Maxwell.”

As I turned to leave, I heard him sigh. “All right. You can open it.”

I skittered back to the desk and stared at the box. He reached into his pocket and slid his car key across the desk. I punched the key through the tape and slid the key along the seam.

“You are much too eager. My sister does not give me exciting gifts. It’s probably a box of cigars.”

I lifted the flaps on the top of the box and peered inside. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in a soft, red blanket. I slipped my hands inside and lifted it out. It was almost as heavy as a gallon of milk. I set the blanket-wrapped object on the desk and looked to Luke. He nodded for me to proceed and I lifted the blanket away.

It looked like a wooden cigar humidor, but it felt much too heavy to contain cigars.

“Can I open it?”

He nodded again and I lifted the lid. My heart stopped. Nestled into the molded velvet case was a gun. He quickly slammed the lid closed and slid the case to the other side of the desk, away from me.

“It’s not from my sister. Sorry about that.”

“Who is it from?”

He shook his head. “Probably my mom. It’s my dad’s gun. He was a cop for thirty-two years. That’s why he got so pissed when he caught me smoking.”

“Why would she send you your dad’s gun?”

“Brina, can you call Mary Kingman’s secretary and schedule a meeting for next Thursday. I need to discuss some—”

“Please don’t change the subject.”

He leaned back in his chair and glared at the wooden box. “My dad is sick.”

“How sick?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t want me to see him and my mom was pretty far down the path of denial last time I spoke to her. I think this means she might have found her way back to reality.”

“You have to go see them.”

“He doesn’t want me there and that’s about as much time as we’re going to spend talking about this. Schedule that meeting and close the door on your way out.”

I scheduled the meeting then quickly gathered my purse and coat before I left for lunch without telling Luke. I was too upset. After nibbling a slice of pizza in the company cafeteria, I returned to find Luke’s office door open as he leaned against the doorjamb.

“All right. I’ll go visit them.”

I tossed my purse onto my desk and went to him. “I’m proud of you,” I said, as I wrapped my arms around his waist.

“But I’ll only go if you come with me.”

“To San Francisco?”

The image of the bridge flashed in my mind and my arms went limp at my sides.

He cupped my face in his hands. “We can do this together. Come with me.”

Luke didn’t know why I went to San Francisco after my brother’s death. If he knew how many times I drove out to Vista Point and walked along the bridge that week he wouldn’t be asking me to go back there. I sat in my hotel room that week and watched a documentary on Golden Gate jumpers, over and over again, thinking it would give me some kind of insight into what Ryan felt on the way down… thinking it would give me the courage either to fly back to Seattle or fly after him.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

He must have seen the change in my eyes because he didn’t press me. “Okay. I’ll go without you, but the invitation’s still open.”

He kissed my forehead and I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. “Thanks for understanding.”

He brushed the back of his hand across my cheek, sending a chill through me. “You can go home for the day. I’ll pick you up for the party tomorrow at eight.”

He kissed my cheekbone and my breath stuttered. “Are you sure you don’t need me here?”

“I didn’t say that.”

He kissed the corner of my mouth and I gripped the front of his shirt to steady myself.

“Come home with me,” I whispered as his hand slid down the front of my jeans. His finger slid through my folds and I gasped. “What if someone walks in here?”

“If someone walks in you have my permission to slap me in the face and file a sexual harassment lawsuit.”

“Oh, my God.”

He kissed my neck as his fingers stirred me into a frenzy. I was on the edge of a fiery orgasm when he slid his hand out of my jeans.

“What… what’s wrong?”

“Better not risk it. Let’s finish this at your place.”

My mouth dropped as I smoothed down my T-shirt. “You unimaginable tease.”

He grinned as he shut his door. “Come on. No time to waste.”

We arrived at my apartment building twenty minutes later, seven minutes of which were spent trying to convince Luke he couldn’t leave his sports car parked on the street in my neighborhood. I finally gave up and he followed me in through the front gate. We passed the lush garden and the gushing fountain before we reached my front door where Milo was waiting for me.

“Milo?” I said, my voice cracking slightly.

Milo was wearing his usual Armani suit and intense glare, though the glare softened when he saw Luke. “Brina.”

“Luke, this is my friend Milo. We worked together at NeoSys.”

Luke held out his hand without hesitating. “Nice to meet you, Milo. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Milo glanced at me questioningly then back at Luke. “You have?”

“Not from Brina. Your reputation at MIT trickled down to us dropouts many years ago.”

Reputation at MIT?
What the hell was he talking about?

“You heard about that?” Milo said, his eyes widening a bit. “Well, I just have to talk to Brina very quickly and I’ll be out of your hair.”

I unlocked the door to my apartment and Luke eyed me curiously.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You go ahead and I’ll be right in.”

As soon as he closed the door behind him I shot the nastiest scowl I could muster in Milo’s direction. “What the
fuck
are you doing here?” I whispered.

“I didn’t know you were going to bring the guy home with you. Jesus Christ, Brina, are you… are you in
love
with him?”

“Stop wasting my time, Milo. I know what you want and I don’t have the fucking phone.”

“Janice told me you ordered a new phone and that fat-fuck conveniently lost his phone on the boat while you were there. Don’t try to tell me you don’t have the phone, Brina, or I swear to fucking God you will wish you never took this assignment.”

“It’s too late for that.”

Milo squinted his eyes as he looked at me sideways. “You
are
in love with him. Wow…. I never thought you of all people would be this stupid.”

“Fuck you.”

“You have until tomorrow night to get me that phone before I blow the lid on this romance.”

I didn’t linger outside long enough to watch him leave. When I entered the apartment, Luke was staring at me from the sofa with one eyebrow cocked suspiciously.

“How do you know Milo?” I asked, trying to keep my cool as I made my way to the kitchen to fix us some drinks.

He followed me into the kitchen and leaned against the counter as I pulled two glasses out of the cupboard. “He got kicked out of MIT seven years ago for hacking.”

“Hacking what?” I asked, as I pulled a bottle of vodka out of the freezer.

“You seriously don’t know this?”

I poured us each a glass and slid the bottle back into the freezer. “No, I don’t. Should I?”

“He hacked into the NeoSys mainframe and stole the personal and financial information of their executives who were involved in a major lawsuit with employees at the time. He threatened to release the information to the public if they didn’t wire him $10 million.”

I dropped the olive in my fingers and it bounced across the kitchen floor. “Are you kidding me?”

Luke laughed as he scooped up the olive and tossed it into the sink. “Nope. The best part is that instead of pressing charges, when NeoSys found him they offered him a job.”

I handed Luke his martini and took a sip of mine. “Interesting.”

“So you worked at NeoSys over a year ago and you still keep in touch with Milo? You two must be pretty good friends.”

He set his martini on the counter without taking a sip as he waited for my answer.

I resisted the urge to take another sip before I placed my drink next to his. “He has a crush on me. He still tries to get me to go out with him every once in a while.”

This wasn’t a lie. It was a small, insignificant truth teetering atop a mountain of lies.

For fuck’s sake, tell him, Brina!

Ryan’s voice was sharp in my head, like the last time we argued, three days before he died. He found out I had been sending my parents money every month and he laughed at me.

“You are such a fucking sucker,” he said, through tears of laughter. “They can sell the fucking house if they need money.”

“They shouldn’t have to sell the house. And don’t call me a sucker. You’re the loser who still lives with them.”

I did apologize later for calling him a loser, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are some uncomfortable truths that should remain unspoken.

I reached for Luke’s tie and began loosening the knot. His hands found the button of my jeans when my phone vibrated in my pocket.

“I guess I can’t blame Milo for trying,” he whispered, before his lips fell over mine.

I pulled away from him and wrapped his tie around my hand as I slipped my phone out of my pocket. It was Jill.

“Hello?”

“I’m coming over and I’m bringing drinks and that new surfing movie. I’m in the mood to gawk at some hot guys.”

I could hear that she was on the move, probably walking through the parking lot at the travel agency.

“Jill, it’s not a good time for me. Can we do it another night?”

The movement stopped. “Are you with him right now?”

“Yes.”

“At your apartment?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Have you told him yet?”

“No. But I promise we can get shitfaced and ogle some surfers soon. I’ll talk to you later, hun. Love ya. Bye.”

“You’d better tell h—”

I hung up before she could finish. I couldn’t explain to her my reason for not telling Luke when I had the opportunity in Vegas. She wouldn’t understand.

“You didn’t have to turn her away. We could have all hung out,” Luke said, as I laid the phone on the kitchen counter.

“Jill is very understanding.” I dragged him by the tie into the bedroom.

He hooked his finger through my belt loop to stop me from sitting on the bed. “So am I.”

I sighed, as I thought to myself,
I sure hope so.

6

I woke the next morning with Luke’s hand on my breast. I cleared my throat and his eyes fluttered open.

“Excuse me, sir, but I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

“This is mine,” he said, as he took my nipple into his mouth and slid his hand between my legs. “And you make sure to let Milo know that.”

I arched my back as he teased my nipple with his tongue while his fingers teased my clit. I moaned as my body began to tremble. He removed his hand and positioned himself between my legs. He kissed my ribs as he began to move down, but I grabbed his ears to stop him.

“No, I want you inside me. Please.”

He grinned at the sound of my pleading. His chest slid over mine as he entered me. I wrapped my legs around him as he placed his hands on either side of my head. He looked me in the eye as he moved slowly, grinding against me as he sank in and out of me. I looked down to watch and he lifted my chin.

“Look at me.”

He sank down to his elbows so our noses were inches apart, but he never looked away. I could feel myself getting close.

“Oh, Luke.”

“I love you,” he breathed.

“I love you.”

He slipped his finger between my folds without breaking eye contact and I came as soon as he touched me. Within seconds, he collapsed on top of me, shaky and breathless.

“Oh, fuck,” he whispered, his breath hot on my face as he rested his forehead against mine. “See what you do to me.”

I kissed the tip of his nose and looked him in the eye. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“What are you talking about? I’m still inside you.”

“I want to spend the day with you.”

Today was the day. I would accompany Luke to his party, as I had promised, and after the party I would come clean. I couldn’t live like this anymore. If tonight was our last night together, I wanted to at least spend the entire day with him in blissful ignorance.

He smiled. “How about we spend the whole day right here?”

“Inside me?”

“Inside, outside, on top, below… all over you.”

“Ooh, sounds like it’s going to be a very
long
day.”

He finally pulled out of me and laid a soft smack on my hip. “Then we’d better eat a big breakfast. Come on. Let’s go to IHOP.”

I ogled his perfect ass as he climbed out of bed and pulled on his underwear. “You’re going to blow your billions on IHOP?”

“You’d better get dressed or there’ll be no Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity for you today.”