Page 104 of See You There
A voice whispered he shouldn’t. It broke all sorts of professional rules, but his body ignored his brain. At that moment, Luke didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything but her.
Dahlia smiled up at him, and Luke was lost.
He leaned closer, brushing his lips slowly across hers, giving her every chance to tell him to stop. Dahlia’s touch was so light Luke barely felt when her hand brushed through the wet hair at his temples, her mouth softening under his.
It wasn’t the fiery, passionate kiss they’d shared before. This kiss was almost sweet in its simplicity. The perfect extension of the morning they’d spent together. Luke’s tongue traced the seam of her lips, and they parted, allowing him entry.
Dahlia sighed into his mouth, her other hand coming up to run her nails lightly on his scalp as his tongue stroked inside. Luke’s thumb caressed her jawline as he explored her warm mouth. Dahlia tasted like sunshine. She tasted perfect.
A burst of laughter from the children in the water brought Luke back to reality, and he pulled back an inch, his eyes meeting hers. She smiled softly. The muscles in his stomach clenched as she trailed her hand down his bare chest before planting it on the ground and pushed to sit up straight.
“We should head back before we get burned,” Dahlia said, with a slight rasp in her voice as she got to her feet. She pulled her cutoffs and tank top over her wet bikini.
By tacit agreement, they gathered their things in silence. Luke took the towels from her arm once he’d put his own shirtback on and slipped his fingers through hers. Dahlia looked surprised but didn’t move to pull her hand free. It felt natural, as if they had held hands a hundred times before.
“Can we stop at the store on the way back? I want to get dessert for later.”
They stopped at a small grocery, and Dahlia threw chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows into a basket.
“S’mores?” Luke raised an eyebrow.
“They seem appropriate. We could enjoy them over the fire tonight.” Luke noticed the spray of freckles across her nose had deepened in the sun. She beamed back at him when he leaned forward and gave them a quick kiss.
Something indefinable had shifted between them by the side of the lake. As if they were done denying how they felt about each other. The tiny voice was back, asking what exactlyit washe felt for her.
It was more than just strong physical attraction, though Dahlia drew him like a magnet. It was her strength. Dahlia had survived the terrible things that had happened to her. Even though it was obviously still a raw wound, she did what she could to take care of her family, when she could have easily walked away. He’d never met anyone like her.
“Sounds perfect,” Luke said, keeping her hand in his.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Dahlia tried notto let all the happiness fizzing inside her show on the outside, but she knew she wasn’t successful. When they returned to the cabin, Dahlia showered, rinsing the lake water from her hair and scrubbing at the red dirt still lingering under her nails.
She smiled down at the freckles that had popped out on her hands. Dahlia would have to cover them with makeup for the premiere, but right now the sight made her happy. She waslivingagain!
Today had been a revelation. A part of herself that Dahlia had buried had roared to the surface at the first chance of fun. She wasn’t sorry.
Dahlia had been so careful about how she was perceived over the last ten years that she had worried she’d lost herself forever. But the real Dahlia had been right there… waiting to be let out.
And Luke seemed to like her. Muddy, silly, Dahlia. It felt wonderful!
He hadn’t judged her for what happened with her family. It might be because, in his profession, he’d seen a lot of ugly things, but he seemed to take her past in stride. Then again, your own shame always seems worse than someone else’s. Dahlia felt shehad lifted an enormous weight off her shoulders. As if she might finally break out of the shell of a life she had been living.
Dahlia shut the water off and caught herself grinning in the mirror. She enjoyed being with Luke. He was fun and didn’t care when she was loud, or when she teased him about not being a natural rope swinger. She waswaybetter than him, despite his silly points system.
She thought of the smile he gave her when she first jumped, shouting with happiness. He had looked just as carefree as she was. As scary as the reasons were that forced her to hide, these days away from the real world were good for her. They were good for him, too. Luke had lost the slightly pinched look in his eyes. His smile was more genuine, not the forced good-natured one he seemed to always wear.
Dahlia put on a T-shirt and a loose pair of linen shorts before leaving the bathroom. She wound her mass of wet hair on top of her head, using a large, plastic claw clip to secure it.
That was another thing. Luke didn’t even seem to notice when she was wearing her lazy at home clothes and no makeup. It was refreshing to relax and not worry about how she looked.
Luke stood at the grill, his back to her. Dahlia was around handsome men every day in the entertainment industry, but there was something different about Luke. There had been from the moment she saw him in the parking lot. Something special. It was the same reason she’d had no problem telling him apart from his identical twin, even though they’d just met.
His broad shoulders and lean muscular build spoke to a physical life, but he wasn’t vain in the same way Chandler was. Luke didn’t talk down to her like Victor did… And he called his mother every night. A sharp pang hit her chest.
“You’re a troublemaking tramp just like your mother, and now my son is dead because of you.”
Dahlia banished the memory, and opened the door, catching Luke’s words.
