Page 36 of Back To You

I sigh as we turn into the parking lot of our—my—apartment complex.. “I regret a lot of things.” It’s the truth, but I know that’s not the answer she was looking for.

“Luke,” she urges, but I don’t answer until we’re parked.

“Yes.”

I kill the engine, but neither of us make a move to get out of the car.

“I hate the thought of you giving up your life for a man who didn’t see yours as more than an inconvenience.”

I let my head fall back on the headrest of the driver’s seat, and close my eyes. “Me too.”

“So stop,” she says, surprising me. My eyes open as I turn my head to face her. Her expression is tight, hereyebrows are furrowed, and she looks mad. But for once, it feels like the anger isn’t at me.

“You don’t have to protect me, Annie girl.”

“Someone has to.”

I reach out to her, stretching my arm over the center console.

She looks down at my hand before carefully putting her hand in mine, and I let go of a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

“Is this just a ploy to steal my apartment?” I joke, breaking some of the tension in the air because it’s like second nature to me.

It makes her chuckle, and I squeeze her hand. “No,” she replies, staring at our interlocked fingers. “It turns out I actually don’t completely hate spending time with you.”

“Good,” I answer quickly, maybe too quickly because her head snaps up, her eyes finding mine. “Because you're stuck with me for two more months.”

She shakes her head, letting out an exhale, but she doesn’t let go of my hand. “I only have two moreweeksin your apartment, Luke. Mine should be ready by then.”

“You said you didn’t want to move back there,” I tell her, “and your new apartment will be available starting October 15th. So, technically we’re both right. About two months and two weeks from today.”

A small gasp escapes her lips. “There’s a unit available? Here?”

I nod. One of the benefits of being Daniel Owens’ bastard son is the hush money and trust fund he set me up with, money—thankfully—never being a problem for me. But I know Annie would hate me if I told her I already put the deposit and first month of rent down for her to reserve the place, so I keep that to myself. “Andit’s yours, if you want it.”Or you can just stay with me forever,I want to add. But I don’t want to scare her away when I’ve already gotten this close.

“I—” she starts, “I don’t know what to say.”

“‘Thank you, Luke. You’re my knight in shining armor’ is a good place to start,” I tease, but the joke doesn’t land. Her hand pulls from mine, taking all the warmth with it.

“That is thelastthing you are to me,” she snaps, her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed. I have whiplash from how fast she flipped on me.

What the hell did I do?”

“Annie, I was just kid—”

I can’t even finish my sentence because she’s reaching across the car, pulling her keys out of where I left them in the ignition, and slamming the car door behind her.

Chapter 15

Annie

I can’t stay here for two more weeks.

Being here is severely fucking with my head.

My head, my body, my heart, it’s all reverting back to what I worked so hard to put behind me.

When did I turn back into the scared, shy little girl that needs Luke—of all people—to come fix everything and make it all better?

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