Page 70 of The Mechanics of Lust

“Keep out.”

Jojo flew in a wide circle to cut off Luke’s escape, while Nina continued to slowly walk forward, her booming bark echoing the length of the canal.

Luke immediately switched direction and Jojo cut him off again while Nina kept walking forward. He tried the other way and got the same result.

“Come bye,” I called. The trap was closing, and I couldn’t help but laugh at Luke’s increasingly desperate attempts to solve his predicament. “Any last requests?” I asked cheekily.

“Fuck off,” he griped before shooting me a wide smile, his complexion beet red in the frosty air.

My heart did a little stutter.

A few minutes later, it was all over. Between Nina’s relentless pursuit and Jojo’s effortless switchbacks, they had Luke’s number and soon had him backed against the canal.

“Hey!” he shouted, standing a metre from the edge. “You wouldn’t dare.”

All I did was waggle my brows and call, “Move on.”

Luke cast an anxious look my way as Jojo crept forward on her belly and Nina gave another booming bark. Luke took one more step back, then checked nervously over his shoulder. “Any time now would be good.”

I chuckled and called, “Get in behind.”

The two dogs immediately circled away and back to where I sat.

Luke reached me in a dozen strides and straddled my lap on the bench. “You’re a cheeky little fucker.” He cradled my face, crushed his mouth to mine, and I drowned in everything Luke. All my concerns, my determination to walk away, everything lost to the sweet taste of his mouth and his deep rumbling laugh. “I guess I asked for that.” He planted kisses all over my face.

“You did.” I pushed him away so I could see those beautiful blue eyes. “I doubt they would’ve backed you in, though.”

He cocked a brow. “You doubt?”

I shrugged. “You never know. Theyarevery obedient, after all.”

He stared at me until I laughed. “I’m just kidding.” Although since I’d never actually tested them, I couldn’t be entirely sure. They did have absolute trust in me, so maybe next time the team swam at the lake...

“Come on.” Luke scrambled back onto his feet and held out his gloved hand for me to take. “Let’s take a walk so the girls can stretch their legs a little more.”

I stared at his hand for precisely 0.1 seconds before my fingers wrapped around his and he tugged me to my feet and threw an arm around my shoulder. I snuggled into his side like the space had been carved just for me, and as I glanced sideways at his arm hanging down around my shoulder, I couldn’t erase the smile from my face.

Oh yeah, I’m clearly acing this creating-a-little-distance lark.

* * *

With the morning sun slowly thawing our bones one lick at a time, we took our time strolling along the canal, watching the dogs play silly buggers. We laughed at their antics, threw the occasional stick, and got regularly mobbed by wet feet and wetter tongues. The whole experience felt warm, domestic, and scary as hell.

“Can I ask what you did after you and Gil split?” I asked the question I’d often wondered about.

“You mean after I walked out?” Luke corrected and I rolled my eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

His blue eyes softened, and he pressed his lips to my beanie. “Pretty much nothing, except fall apart, that is. I stayed with my parents for a while, pulled the curtains in my old bedroom and didn’t come out for what felt like months.”

Since his arm was still around my shoulders, I reached up and grabbed onto his hand.

“Mum and Dad eventually dragged me to the doctor who told me to go back to my therapist, which I did. He put me on some kind of anti-depressant, which I didn’t like, but it helped me to at least get out of bed in the morning, so that was a win. After a few months, I rented an apartment, chucked in my job, pulled the curtains in mynewbedroom, and cried my way through the next few months.” He shot me a look. “Do you want me to keep going?”

“Yes.” I squeezed his hand and he gave a resigned sigh.

“My,ourfriends didn’t know how to take me leaving Gil, so mostly they simply stopped calling. Gil didn’t respond to any of my attempts to get in touch, the new apartment grew smaller and lonelier by the day, and I started becoming overly familiar with the top shelf of my bar.”

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