Page 113 of Just Trouble

“So much craziness, but it’s getting sorted,” Luke growls. He steps past Justin, who is clearly gobsmacked, gives him a survey. “Nice car,” he says, then smiles at me. “Sorry I’m late, Daph. Missed you every minute.” I smile back at him, heart thundering, and he catches me close for a kiss that is entirely too long and too passionate for public consumption.

I don’t care. I love it. He swings me off my feet and carries me into the house on one hip, while Justin gapes after us like a fish. There is something very satisfying about being carried off like plunder, especially when you really want the ravishing that comes next. Luke waves farewell to my unwelcome visitor, then flicks the door shut with his fingertips. I reach out to turn the deadbolt and we grin at each other.

“Where am I going to stay?” Justin shouts.

“There’s a Travelodge in Havelock,” Luke calls, his eyes dancing wickedly, then kisses me to silence again.

It’s a good thing he does because otherwise Justin might have heard my laughter.

30

LUKE

What kind of an asshole assumes that a woman will take him back, after three years of silence, after he screws around on her while they were engaged?

I’ll tell you. The particular kind of asshole who drives a silver Porsche like the one in Daph’s driveway. I was seriously tempted to drag my keys along the side of that car, just because it would break Jerk Justin’s heart in a way no woman ever could. Having Daph wrapped around me is a thousand times better, so much better that I barely notice the sound of the car’s engine fading into the night.

I do notice it, though, and it brings me joy.

I feel the simmer in Daph, and I know she has to let it out before we can get down to business. I seat her on the counter and brace myself between her legs, touching my nose to hers. “Go ahead,” I invite. “Tell me.” I’m ready to be anything she wants me to be, even the consolation prize if she loves this loser forever. That’s how far gone I am.

It's a bad time to remember that tear when she told me about the wedding dress.

I would have to be a lot dumber than I am not to see that she and JJ come from the same world, that theirs might be a predictable match—as ours would never be.

Her gaze simmers. “He only came because he saw Rafe’s pictures.”

“That’s what it took for him to realize he’d abandoned the most beautiful woman on the planet? He couldn’t see it when you were planning the wedding?”

She gives me a poke. “That’s not all of what I’m about.”

“Of course not. You’re smart and sweet and sometimes funny.”

“Sometimes?”

I steal a kiss. “And other times you’re so perceptive that you terrify me.”

“As if.”

“Honest and true, Daph. I have no secrets from you. It’s not even possible.”

She sobers, studying me and I hope she sees whatever she wants in me. “He had a secret from me.”

“And he is an asshole for that, although it might have been worse if he’d told you all about it. His keeping it secret means he knew you would have an issue with his choice.”

“Of course, I did!”

“You weren’t playing by the same rules, Daph, and as much as it annoys me that he treated you so badly, I’m kind of glad that you did break up, because that meant you were single when I got here.”

She doesn’t smile. “Areweplaying by the same rules?” Her gaze is searching.

“I’m hoping so.”

“Not the most reassuring reply possible.”

I lift a brow. “Youcriedabout your wedding dress, like you regretted not marrying him. Like maybe you still love him.”

She looks so shocked that I’m mollified. “If I cried, it was because shopping for that dress was the last thing my mom and I did together.”

---