Skin Deep (13 page)

“Allie, you don’t understand,” I started
before she interrupted me again.

“You’re right, Em, I don’t understand. And I
think you’re just over thinking everything and letting yourself get
in your own way. What happened yesterday after he carted you
away?”

I sighed, knowing that I probably was gonna
piss her off even more. “He took me to his house, where he and
Brandon live. We talked, he told me about his life, his and
Brandon’s. He opened up to me and we…you know…twice…and then
Brandon came home. They were just standing there, just so out of my
league and I just…I’m a bitch.” There was no way around it. Luke
had opened up to me and I had pushed him away.

“God, Allie, what am I gonna do?” I moaned.
“I don’t know why I panicked, but I did. He was just standing there
and all I kept thinking about was douche bag, and I don’t want to
go through that again! I’m stupid, I’m a moron…I’m a bitch,” I
said, repeating myself from earlier.

Allie didn’t mince words, either. “Yeah,
Emma, you are. So fix it. Brandon told me that Luke has been in a
foul mood since he got back from taking you home yesterday. He said
that Luke hasn’t ever pursued any woman in his life. They’ve always
flung themselves at him, but he’s never been one to let anyone in.
Somehow you’ve gotten under his skin, so fix it. Now, Emma.” And
then she hung up on me.

I stared at my phone for a minute, torn. I
decided to take the coward’s way out and send a text to Luke,
rather than call.

Hey. Its Emma. Can we talk for a
minute?
I hit send.

And got an immediate reply.
Busy. Sorry.
Maybe tomorrow
.

Tears welled up in my eyes, silently coursing
down my cheeks. I felt awful. I slowly got up off the couch and
went to bed, hoping tomorrow would be a better day.

The week dragged by, and I was getting tired
of the horrified and pitying looks I kept getting from everyone. I
had one lady that came in for an appointment with Floyd, took one
look at my face, ran around behind the counter and grabbed me up in
her arms. She kept hugging me and crying, squeezing me tight while
chanting, “He’s not worth it, honey. Get out now, baby, please,
please!” That was awkward.

I’ll admit that it probably did look like
someone had punched me in the face. I had a black eye where the
bruising on my cheek had spread, and a scab where the cut had been.
I tried to cover most of it with makeup, but it was so tender that
it hurt too much to do.

I hadn’t talked to anyone except Jenna. Allie
and even Leah was avoiding me, Calland was off being Calland, and,
because I’m a coward, I hadn’t tried texting Luke again. So why I
found myself standing outside his shop Friday night eluded me. I
took a deep breath before walking in the door, knowing I had to do
this.

I walked through the lobby, heading for the
counter, my eyes on the tall, dark, and gorgeous man standing there
with his back to me. Luke turned around, his expression hardening
as he realized who was standing at the counter, but his face
changed to dismay when he saw my face and he came striding around
the counter.

His hands bit into the flesh of my upper arms
as he grabbed me roughly, growling, “I’ll kill him. Who’s the
fucking asshole who hit you, Emma?”

I shivered at the soft dangerous tone of his
voice and the flash of anger in his eyes. I reached up between us,
as much as I could, and laid my palms on his chest. “Luke, no one
hit me. I’m okay, I promise.”

He took a deep breath in and loosened his
grip on my arms, and I couldn’t help my slight flinch when he let
go. He saw it and narrowed his eyes at me before running his hand
down my arm to grasp my wrist and pull my arm up to look at it. He
pushed the wide, loose sleeve of my sweater up my arm and ran his
fingertips lightly over the slowly darkening marks where his
fingers had bit into me.

He drew in a breath, and his faced looked
pained as he whispered, “Oh God, Emma, I’m so sorry. I hurt you,
sugar…”

I just shook my head at him and told him
quietly, “Its ok, Luke. You didn’t really hurt me, you were just
upset. I’m sorry for just showing up out of the blue like this. I
guess its pretty shocking…” I trailed off.

“Yeah, baby, it is. What happened anyway?” He
brought his hands up to cup my cheeks, running his thumb softly
over the edge of the bruise slowly fading on my cheek.

“I had a bad day on Monday. A really, really
bad day. I tripped and fell at home and hit my cheek on the corner
of the coffee table. But that was just the final straw.” I
swallowed, looking away from his intense gaze before I forced
myself to look back into his eyes. “Luke, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry
for the way I left things with us on Sunday. I mean, you opened
yourself up to me and I basically shrugged in your face, and I cant
take it back, but I am asking that you forgive me.”

I stood in front of him, his hands still
cupping my face, waiting for him to say something. He didn’t.
Instead, he just lowered his head and gently pressed his lips to
mine. He pulled back after a second and said, “Stay here real
quick. Don’t leave, okay?”

I nodded and he walked off to the back of the
shop. After a minute he came back out, grabbed my hand, and pulled
me out the door to his car.

“Wait! Luke, my car!” I cried, pulling back
on his arm to slow him down.

He paused for a second, then said, “Take it
to your house and I’ll follow. But then we’re going to go get some
dinner and you’re staying at my house tonight.”

“But,” I began, but Luke raised his hand, not
letting me finish.

“My house. Tonight, Emma. I want you in my
bed.”

I sighed, giving in and walking to my car. I
drove to my house, Luke right behind me. When I pulled up, Luke
parked behind me and came inside while I got some clothes together.
I didn’t even have my bag zipped before Luke grabbed it and then
me, and pulled me out the door. I managed to get him to stop long
enough to lock my front door and then we were in his car, headed
back into town.

“Where do you want to go to dinner, sugar?”
Luke asked.

“I don’t care, Luke. Whatever sounds good to
you.” I replied.

“Beck’s on Main?”

“Yeah, that’s good.” I replied, already
flipping through their menu in my head. What? I love food!

We went to Beck’s and were seated immediately
because it’s a bar like Griff’s but they’ve got more of a bistro
type menu. I ordered my favorite, loaded baked potato soup with
cheese and bacon, and a turkey bacon club sandwich. Luke ordered a
French dip sub and started to order the French onion soup to go
with it, but changed it to the potato soup as well when he glanced
my way. Hmm…

It didn’t take us long before we were done
eating and headed to Luke’s house. We pulled up and Luke grabbed my
bag off the backseat before I could, and held my hand as we walked
up on the porch. As I was waiting for Luke to unlock the door, I
heard a small chuff behind me. Then the smell hit.

I turned around, surprised to see Doug
standing behind us, his yellow fur hidden under mud and only God
knows what else. I plugged my nose, trying to breathe out of my
mouth, because he smelled like a skunk. I gagged and took a step
back, plowing into Luke who had turned to see what was going on. He
had his shirt up over his nose and was glaring at Doug, who seemed
to be smiling at us.

“You stupid ass dog, Doug!” Luke yelled.
“This is the fifth time this year you’ve been sprayed by a skunk
and its supposed to be Brandon’s turn to deal with it!” He growled
deep in his throat, which made Doug even happier. His whole body
shook with the vicious wagging of his tail.

Luke looked over to me and shook his head in
exasperation. He unlocked the door and stepped back to let me
inside, hollering, “NO!” over his shoulder at Doug. When we got
inside, he put my bag down by the steps and then I heard, “Oh,
shit!” and Luke took off running through the living room towards
the kitchen and the back door off the side of it that opened out
onto a huge back deck with a hot tub sunk into it.

I watched in fascination as the doggie door (
I hadn’t noticed it before) just barely began pushing in when Luke
dove to the floor, jamming his hands against the flap, and
subsequently, Doug’s head. I heard Doug woof once outside the door,
while Luke laid on the kitchen floor, forehead on the tile, hands
extended out in front of him holding the doggie door shut. Luke
very carefully reached up with one hand and released the locking
flap, moving his other hand quickly out of the way as it swung
down, before sliding the lock into place.

He turned his head to look at me, a grin
beginning to grow on his face that could only be described as
devilish, and said, “You’re gonna get dirty tonight, sugar!”

I groaned.

An hour later I was kneeling in a kiddie pool
filled with tomato juice. I was holding onto a hundred and twenty
pounds of wiggling, stinky dog, and I was covered head to toe in
the juice that should have been on the dog instead. Luke was
standing in the pool on the other side of Doug, almost falling over
from laughing so hard. The last pitcher of juice that he had
scooped up to pour over Doug had landed on my head, leaving me
gasping and blinking my eyes while the dog barked and began licking
my face.

I glared up at Luke, and then Doug jerked in
my grasp, so I ended up lying face down in tomato juice with Doug
standing over me. He noticed the ponytail holder in my hair,
apparently, because he suddenly pounced on my back, nipped the
holder between his teeth, and began pulling.

I shrieked, reaching up to try to dislodge
his mouth, and heard Luke, still laughing, breathlessly trying to
call Doug off.

At the end of the ordeal, Luke and I were
wearing just as much juice as Doug, my hair was loose down my back,
and Doug was prancing around, flipping my hair tie up in the air
with his teeth before chasing it.

Later on that night, after we had shampooed
the tomato juice off of Doug and off of each other (that was fun!),
we were cuddled up on the couch together, watching a movie. Brandon
came in about halfway through and sat down on the other end of the
couch by my feet. A few minutes later, I felt him grab my feet and
pull them up in his lap, rubbing them gently with his hands.

I heard Luke take a sharp breath in, and
pulled my feet back away from Brandon, who just laughed, got up,
and slapped Luke’s leg as he walked down the hall to his room.

I glanced up at Luke asking, “What was that
all about?”

He shrugged, not saying anything. I sat up
and asked again.

Luke shook his head a little, before he
sighed and said, “Brandon just let me know that if I didn’t make
things right with you, then…you know.”

I froze. “What do you mean, you know? Are you
saying…?”

“Yeah. He said that he would do what he could
to make me regret losing you.”

“Is he on drugs? I mean, sure he’s hot (Luke
growled when I said this) but so are you and I’ve never even looked
at him like that!” I exclaimed.

“Well, that’s good to know, sugar.” Luke
said, smiling.

“And besides. You didn’t lose me. We weren’t
ever really together-”

Luke cut me off. “Emma, quit while you’re
ahead.”

I shut up. For a second anyway. “Well, since
we’re talking, I just want you to realize that you were being
overbearing. I mean, I felt like you were a caveman, beating his
chest and pulling me around by the hair. You claimed me, Luke! Like
I was a possession!” I winced when I realized I was yelling at
him.

“I’m sorry…again. I’m such a bitch.” I flung
myself backwards on the couch, covering my eyes with my arm.

Luke moved over me, spreading my legs open
and kneeling between them. “Emma, baby, look at me.”

I moved my arm, just barely enough for me to
peek at him.

“Emma, I’m sorry that I’m being that way with
you. Its just, the first time you came into the shop, you were such
a breath of fresh air. You weren’t looking at me like you were
calculating how to get me in bed, or how much money I make.”

I covered my eyes again. “You’re wrong.”

“What?” Luke asked.

“You’re wrong. I was looking at you like I
wanted to get you in bed. I was embarrassing myself staring at you
so much,” I muttered.

He laughed. “I liked you looking at me. And
when I had you in my chair, I wanted nothing more than to rip your
clothes off and fuck you til you screamed for me.”

Whoa. “But why, Luke?” I asked. “I’m not some
gorgeous model type that just walks in a room and guys drool over
her. That’s never been me, its always been Leah, and I just cant
help but feel like this is something that will pass, and then
you’ll be done, over me and moved on to the next. Beautiful women
throw themselves at you, but look at me!”

“I am looking, Emma! Don’t you ever look in a
mirror? You’re beautiful, sugar. You’re curvy, you’ve got this
long, thick, dark hair that makes me want to bury my hands in it,
and gorgeous jade green eyes…you are beautiful,” he whispered.

I closed my eyes, a lump forming in my
throat, and tears threatened behind my lids.

“You’re mine, Emma. And I’m not letting you
go.”

Chapter 10

I woke slowly in the morning, stretching and
yawning loudly. I felt the bed shift behind me and froze for a
second until I realized that I was at Luke’s house, in his bed. I
smiled, rolling over to wrap my eyes around him and came face to
face with…Doug. The lab was panting, tongue lolling out the side of
his mouth, his doggie lips stretched into a doggie grin.

I smiled back at him, reaching out to pat his
head, and Luke walked into the room, holding steaming cups of
coffee.

I sat up, holding the sheet tightly to my
naked breasts, my muscles slightly sore from the activities of the
night before. Luke had staked his claim completely after uttering
the words to me. He had picked me up and carried me (Yes!
Carried
me!) up the stairs to his bed before making love to
me all throughout the night. The last time was just a couple of
hours ago, when he’d stood me up in front of the window, curtains
wide open, my palms to the glass, my leg hooked over his forearm as
he pushed into me from behind as I leaned back into him, just as
the sun slipped up over the horizon. I’ll never look at sunrise the
same again!