The Upside of Love (4 page)

Luke

Lily and I sat in bed and shared cartons of Chinese food. It had been a while since we just relaxed and did nothing.

“Are you going to tell me about the girls or what?” she asked.

“What girls?” I smiled as I fed her a piece of pork from my chopsticks.

“The girls you interviewed today?”

“Oh, them. What about them?”

“Did you like any of them?”

“There’s one girl that I think would be good.”

“Is she ugly?”

“Lily!”

“Is she a lesbian?”

“Lily!”

“Come on, Luke, give me something here.”

I grabbed the bottle of wine from the nightstand and asked Lily to hand me her glass. As I poured some in, I began to tell her about Cody.

“Her name is Cody Chase and she’s very qualified. She has plenty of secretarial experience and she’s great with computers.”

“What does she look like?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Lily. To be honest, I didn’t even notice.”

“Liar.”

I chuckled. “Babe, you’re killing me here. There’s no reason for you to be acting like this.”

She turned away, got up from the bed, and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She looked upset, but I didn’t understand what I said to make her feel that way. I lightly knocked on the door.

“Lily, babe, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just had to pee.”

She was lying because she never closed the door when she peed. I turned the knob and opened the door to find her leaning up against the counter with tears streaming down her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her.

“I’m sorry, Luke.”

“Was it something I said?” I asked as I gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

She nodded.

“Babe, talk to me.”

“You said there’s no reason for me to be acting like this. I have a reason and the reason is what led me to Santa Monica in the first place.”

I closed my eyes because I felt like a complete bastard. I completely disregarded her fears and what Hunter did to her. I held her face in my hands.

“Look at me. I love you, Lily Gilmore. You and only you. I don’t know how to make that any clearer to you.”

“I know you do. This is something I need to work out for myself. It has nothing to do with you, Luke. It’s what Brynn and Hunter did to me. I need to get over it.”

“Maybe you should call Dr. Blakely and talk to her about it. I don’t want you being upset about this. I need to hire an assistant, babe. I have no choice because I’m drowning.”

She buried her face into my neck and softly brushed her lips against my skin.

“I know and I’m sorry. I love you, Luke, and I promise not to say another word about it. I feel like such an idiot.”

I lightly smiled as I kissed the side of her head. “You are not an idiot.” I moved my hand up her shirt and began to rub her back. She moaned and tilted her head back. My lips lightly brushed against her skin as I leaned in closer to her, pressing my hard cock up against her. Her hands traveled down to the button on my jeans as she unbuttoned it and took the zipper down. I stared into her beautiful eyes as I lifted her shirt over her head and quickly undid her bra, releasing her breasts and taking each one in my mouth. She released my cock, which was throbbing for her, and stroked it up and down in her soft hand. I lifted up her skirt, took down her panties, and grabbed her hips, setting her up on the bathroom counter.

“I need you inside me now,” she whispered as I kissed her lips.

My fingers softly rubbed her clit and then found their way inside her, feeling her excitement. She was more than ready.

“You’re ready for me, babe,” I said in between kisses as I brought her closer to the edge of the counter and pushed deep inside her with one thrust. We both gasped at the same time. She placed her hands on the counter and arched her back as I held on to her hips and moved in and out of her.

“Luke, oh my God.”

“Come for me, babe. You’re so wet and I want more. I want to feel you come all over me.”

Her moans heightened and I felt her tighten around me. She was ready to explode and so was I.

“Lily, I can’t hold back anymore.”

She wrapped her arms around me and dug her nails into my back as we both came together. I slowly moved in and out of her as I poured every last drop of pleasure inside her. We smiled at each other as I pushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

“I’ll never be able to get enough of you. We could make love a million times in our lives and it still wouldn’t be enough,” I said.

She brought her finger up to my mouth and traced the outline of my lips, then softly brushed hers against them. Her legs were still wrapped tightly around me and I was still inside of her. I picked her up from the counter and carried her into the bedroom, lying her down on the bed and hovering over her.

“Do you feel that?” I asked as I took her hard nipple in my mouth.

“Yes.” She laughed.

“Shall we?”

“Of course.” She smiled.

Lily

I started the day off by making pancakes for Luke. I knew he had to get to the bar and I had to get to the studio, so I got up extra early and made sure they were ready when he woke up.

“It smells delicious in here, babe,” he said as he poured some coffee.

“Thanks. The pancakes will be done in a second. Go sit down.”

He walked up behind me and put his hands on my hips and nuzzled his face into my neck.

“I love it when you’re bossy.”

I heard my phone beep in the bedroom and I asked Luke if he could grab it for me while I put the pancakes on his plate.

“Who’s Cameron?” he asked as he held up my phone.

“Oh. What did he say?”

“He said that he’ll meet you at the studio at ten o’clock.”

“Great. I’ll trade you.” I smiled as I held up his plate.

Luke handed me my phone and stood there, staring at me. “Are you going to tell me who the guy is that’s texting you and meeting you at ten o’clock?”

“You’re cute when you’re jealous.” I smiled. “He’s the contractor that Giselle set me up with. He’s coming to see what work needs to be done.”

I sat down at the table with Luke and replied to Cameron’s text message.

“Sounds great. I’ll be there.”

I couldn’t believe this was finally happening. I was going to own my own photography studio. The first pictures I would hang on the wall would be of Rory and the girls. I also thought I could go through the pictures that I took on my road trip when I left Seattle. I hadn’t looked at those pictures since I developed them in Portland almost two years ago.

“Hello. Babe.” Luke waved.

I snapped out of my daze and looked at him.

“Are you okay?”

“Sorry. I was just in la-la land over my new studio. There’s so much to do.”

“Don’t stress about it. I’ll help you any way I can,” he said.

“I know you will.”

Luke finished his coffee and pancakes and got up from the table to finish getting dressed. As I cleaned up, Luke’s phone beeped with a text message that flashed across the screen.

“Bro, are you hiring that hot babe today? If you are, I’ll be hanging out at the bar more often.”

I felt sick, but I couldn’t let Luke know I read it. I needed to get my insecurities under control and maybe talking to Dr. Blakely wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Okay, babe. I’m off,” Luke said as he kissed me goodbye and grabbed his phone from the counter. “Have a great day at the studio and I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said as he walked out the door.

****

I stepped into the studio, turned on the lights, and took in a deep breath. The door opened and, when I turned around, there was a hot guy standing there.

“Hi, you must be Lily. I’m Cameron Cole.” He smiled as he held out his hand.

“Hi, Cameron, it’s nice to meet you. Thank you for meeting me here today.”

“No problem. Thank you for getting in contact with me. So, this is going to be a photography studio?” he asked.

“Yes, and if you’ll follow me, I’ll explain my vision to you.”

We talked for almost two hours and then he took measurements. I told him my ideas. He gave me some of his, which were great, and things I didn’t think of, and then he told me he could start tomorrow.

“Thank you again, Cameron. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You’re welcome, Lily. Enjoy the rest of your day.” He smiled.

I had so much to do and many supplies to order. Cameron said it would only take about a week to do what he needed to get done, so I got online and ordered the equipment and supplies I needed for the studio. I looked at the clock and it was lunchtime. I decided to go by the bar and tell Luke that Cameron was going to start tomorrow. When I walked in, I saw Luke sitting at a table, eating lunch with a woman sitting across from him. I instantly felt sick.

“Hey, Lily.” Maddie smiled.

“Hi, Maddie.”

“Luke is right over there.”

“Yeah, I saw him.”

I walked over to the table, and as soon as Luke saw me, he stood up and gave me a kiss.

“Lily. What are you doing here, babe?”

“I thought maybe we could have lunch together, but I see you’re already eating.”

“Cody, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Lily. Lily, this is Cody, my new assistant.”

She was pretty. Too pretty. The kind of pretty that would make any woman extremely jealous having her working so closely with their husbands or boyfriends. Her short, brown hair looked perfect on her and she had piercing green eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lily.” She smiled as she held out her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I smiled with such a fakeness I thought my face was going to fall off. “I don’t want to interrupt you. So I’m just going to get going.”

“No, babe, stay. Have lunch with us,” Luke pleaded.

“No. That’s okay. You two have a lot to discuss. I should have called you first,” I said as I walked towards the door.

I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It felt like my airways were constricted and I was unable to breathe. I pushed the door open and as soon as I stepped outside, Luke took hold of my arm.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Please, Lily, stay and have lunch with us.”

“I don’t want to. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“It’s because of Cody. Isn’t it?”

I put my hand on his chest and stared into his eyes as I softly spoke. “Listen to me. You go finish your lunch and show Cody the ropes. That way, you’ll be able to get back home to me quicker.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“More than sure.” I smiled.

He softly kissed my lips and then walked back inside. I pulled out my phone and dialed Dr. Blakely.

“Dr. Blakely’s office. This is Camille. How can I help you?”

“Hi, Camille. It’s Lily Gilmore. I need to see Dr. Blakely as soon as possible.”

“Okay, Miss Gilmore, let me see what her schedule looks like. She has an opening at one o’clock.”

“I’ll take it and I’ll see you then.”
Click.

I looked at my watch and saw it was twelve fifteen, so I decided to walk down the street to Starbucks. As I was standing in line, I heard someone call my name.

“Hey, Adam.” I waved.

I took my sandwich and coffee over to his table and sat down. “Are you studying?” I asked.

“Yeah. For some weird reason, I study better in a Starbucks setting.”

I laughed. “How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m good. How are you?”

I shifted in my seat as I bit into my sandwich. “I’m okay.” I smiled. “The contractor is going to start work on the studio tomorrow morning. So I can’t complain.”

He sat there and stared at me, knowing I wasn’t telling him something.

“Anything else? I can tell something’s bothering you.”

“It must be your counselor instincts, right?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“It’s just me being stupid about something. Luke hired this beautiful girl to be his assistant and I’m having some issues with it. I just walked in on them having lunch at the bar and nearly had a panic attack and had to get out of there. I have an appointment with my therapist at one o’clock.”

“It’s understandable for you to have certain fears about that, considering what you’ve been through, but Luke is a great guy and I have a lot of respect for him. He would never cheat on you.”

“I know he wouldn’t. That’s why I don’t understand why I feel the way I do.”

“You’ll figure it out, Lily. Just take things one day at a time. You’re going to be so busy with your new studio that you’re not going to have time to give that girl a second thought.”

“You’re right.” I smiled as I looked at my watch. “I better get going and you better get back to studying. Thanks for the talk.”

“You’re welcome, Lily.”

I got up from my seat and walked back to the bar parking lot to get my car. As I approached, I saw Luke around the front, showing off his motorcycle to Cody. I already hated her. Knots began to form in my stomach. I turned down another street that led to the back of his parking lot because I didn’t want him to see me. I hopped in the Explorer and drove to Dr. Blakely’s office.