Page 63 of Lost Love on 6th Street

Once the Bimini is down, the sky is open above us, soft purple and twilight blue.

“Okay, now . . .” Luke takes a seat next to me on the bench, extending his arms over the back of the bench, grazing me ever so gently. “Where were we?”

I laugh and tentatively slide my arm over his, resting my hand against his bicep. I resist squeezing to feel the firmness of the muscles. Quietly, I toy with a lock of my hair and keep my eyes away from him. I’m playing coy. Interested to see where he takes this next.

Luke reaches across my lap and places his hand on my thigh, pulling on me until I twist my leg over his lap. “You’re too far away.”

I giggle, relishing the way his hand slides up and down my calf.

“Am I moving too fast?” he asks softly.

I shake my head. “No, this is perfect.”

Luke’s eyes drop to the keyhole cutout on my chest, then lift to meet my gaze.

“I know you’re looking at my boobs.”

He winces, head dropping back. “Sorry, I’m really trying not to.”

“I’m just giving you a hard time,” I say, shimmying closer. “I don’t mind.”

Luke turns his head toward me, continues rubbing my leg.

“In fact, I like it. I’ve been wanting you to look at me like that for over a month, so—”

“So, the truth comes out!” he says through a laugh.

“Oh, come on, it wasn’t that much of a leap. We knew this.”

“I knew nothing. I thought you were way too smart for me.”

I lift an eyebrow. “I mean, if you’re worried about not being able to pull your pretty boy antics on me—”

“No, no, nothing like that,” he says. “What even are ‘pretty boy antics?’”

I flush and gaze out at the water. “I mean, you know how you carry yourself. You’re attractive and you know it and I’m sure you’ve broken a few hearts in your day.”

“I bet you have to.”

I shake my head. “No, actually. I’m the one who ends up heartbroken.”

Luke frowns with puppyish concern.

“No, don’t feel bad for me. I don’t want to feel pathetic.”

“I don’t think you’re pathetic. I think that anyone who would break your heart is a complete idiot and if I ever met them, I’d have a few choice words.”

I observe Luke for a moment. He’s so at peace sitting here next to me. Blue eyes open and vulnerable, his lips poised and ready for whether I speak or go in for a kiss. He’s shaved today, his cheeks clean from stubble. And his golden hair is tousled and begging for my fingers to tousle them some more.

He’s beautiful.

I’m still terrified, though. My ex, Vic, screwed me up in the head. How can someone love you to your face and go against all of that the second your back is turned? And I had known Vic for years by the time we dated.

Luke I’ve known months. I know a first date isn’t a promise of a future, but the way Luke looks at me, speaks to me . . . I have to wonder what he sees in the next week, next month, next year. “You barely know me,” I say.

Luke sits up suddenly. “That’s not true.”

“I mean, it kind of is. You’ve known me for, like, a month,” I say objectively. “For all you know, I could actually be crazy.”

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