Page 20 of Luke

“That had to have been hard. I’m sorry.”

She nodded and continued. “I moved here with another girl I had been in foster care with. I didn’t know anyone except her and her friends. When I got here, I lived with her for a little bit until I finally saved enough to get my own place. That was the apartment. For a while, she would come over and sometimes sleep off the night before. It was a weird dynamic, but it worked for us.

“It went that way for a few years. I didn’t try to make friends outside of the few of hers that I knew because all I was doing was working and taking care of her. It was just alcohol in the beginning, or at least I think it was. Then there were the drugs. So many drugs. She’d stay awake for days. I tried to help her. Offered to send her to rehab but she wouldn’t go. Her friends thought I was terrible for suggesting it.”

“People that are down that hole aren’t easy to help out of,” Luke said.

“I helped her as much as I could until I got pregnant with Garrett. She was mad that I was keeping him, and I didn’t want her around if she was doing drugs or drinking. We had a huge fight, and I haven’t seen her since. The first few months, her friends would pop by looking for her, but that stopped, too.”

“Do you know where she went?” Luke asked.

“Mary, her name, hasn’t reached out since that day. I look for her online sometimes, but I’ve never found her. Then the few people that I also considered my friends had the same reaction as she did about Garrett. Apparently, I wasn’t going to be much fun once I had a kid, so they left, too. Then it was just me. I had a neighbor, a single mom, who taught me how to do some of the work from home stuff. That’s how I managed to quit the coffee shop. It meant I didn’t need daycare for Garrett and that was cheaper, but I didn’t want to send him to a stranger anyway.

“She helped me when I went into labor and then when I brought Garrett home—taught me how to change diapers and make bottles and all that. She was great. Her ex-husband came back, though, and she moved with him.” Paisley took a deep breath. “So some of those people might do something for money because they’re desperate. That’s my life in a nutshell, though.”

Luke was silent for a moment until she started to get up. It was making her uncomfortable.

“Baby, I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.” He put his arms around her and lifted her onto his lap. “There’s nothing in that story that makes me think poorly of you. If anything, I think you’re stronger than you let anyone give you credit for.”

Paisley rested her head on his shoulder. It wasn’t bad, but it did leave a decent number of people that would say or do things for money.

“I didn’t grow up with money either, remember? Your past doesn’t define you; it molds us into who we are, but how we come out of it is our choice.” He hugged her tighter. “Do you want us to try to find your friend?”

She thought about it and shook her head. “No. If she gets clean and wants to find me, she will. I don’t want her to be a part of our lives when she’s like that.”

“Let me know if you ever change your mind.”

He held onto her tightly as they both processed their day. Looking back, she knew Catherine was exactly right. She needed to just trust Luke. He’d come through like she knew he would deep down.

What this meant for them as a couple? Well, that part she wasn’t sure of, but she knew that he’d left taking the next step up to her and she was ready for it. She missed the connection that they’d had before, even as short as it was.

Paisley shifted across his lap until she was straddling him.

“What?” Luke got out before she covered his mouth with hers. If he wanted her to take the next step, here it was.

Chapter Nine

Luke

Luke pulled away and stared into her eyes. He wanted this, he knew he wanted it, but he needed to make sure that she did. The last thing he wanted was for her to regret this even though she had started it.

“Paisley, are you sure about this?” he asked, his voice already husky with desire.

She nodded. “I’m sure, Luke. I’ve missed this, us.”

No further words needed. He covered her lips with his own, deepening the kiss. Paisley joined his motions as they made out on the sofa like a couple of teenagers.

Luke slid his left hand up her side from her waist, relishing in the shivers of her body as he did. He was still over her shirt but cupped her breast anyway.

Paisley was the one to break the kiss this time and throw her head back as she sucked in a breath. She had been responsive before too, and he was glad it was still the same.

He released her and reached down for her shirt, wanting to take it off, but she stopped him by grabbing his hand.

“I don’t want to take my shirt off,” she told him.

He thought it was odd, but then they were in the living room, so maybe she didn’t want to get undressed in here. It would be hard to do much more than touch without getting undressed, but he’d take whatever she was interested in at this point, not pushing her limits.

Her hips rocked on his lap as Luke sucked on that spot where her neck met her shoulder. She was the only woman that he’d ever cared what made her tick this much, and this spot had always been what turned her on the most. Her quiet moans were proof of that.

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