Page 17 of Part of Me
“Since when did you meet your boss in a shop doorway? Since when do you jump in a car with your female boss looking shady as hell? And when did she become your boss?”
He never mentioned having a female boss to me. He has only ever mentioned his boss being called Andy. It is only at this moment that I realise that Andy is in fact Andi. Andi with an ‘i’ not a ‘y.’
“I told you that I had a new boss three weeks ago,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I thought your new boss was a man. Excuse me for presuming that Andi was a guy’s name.” I realise how stereotypical I have been in my assumptions, and I start to feel a little stupid, but the way she was with him is still nagging me.
“That’s okay, it’s an easy mistake to make.” His eyes soften but I’m not done with my questions yet.
“So, tell me, do you always chat with your boss in shop doorways and then jump into a flashy black car with them?”
“Charlie,” he says with a sigh. “You are reading far too much into this.”
“Am I?” I say, my voice rising higher than I intended it to. “Tell me, Luke, what would you think if you saw me talking to some guy in a shop doorway, and then I jumped into a car with him? Huh?”
“Okay, I can see why you thought that it looked dodgy, but I promise you that it isn’t.” His hand runs through his hair again and I can see that this conversation is making him nervous. “I simply met Andi there as I was scouting out a construction site. She then called her car service to take us back to the office.”
His explanation is simple enough, and if I hadn’t known him for the last ten years then I may have bought it. But I don’t. I know how his mind works, and I know that he is hiding something more from me.
“Babe,” he says, taking a step closer to me. I stay where I am this time which seems to give him the green light to come even closer. As he stands in front of me, so close that his breath is feathering over my face, I feel myself wanting to give in and accept his explanation. He cups either side of my face with his hands and tilts my head up to look at him.
“I swear that I would never do anything to hurt you. You are it for me.” I feel my eyes fill with tears at his words. “You have to believe me.” I see the sincerity in his eyes, and I know that he is telling me the truth. The only trouble is, is that I know he is hiding something else.
“I do believe you,” I whisper, the words coming out of my mouth before I can stop them. He places his forehead on mine, and I can feel the tension slowly leaving his body. “But are you sure that there is nothing else that you need to tell me?” He pulls back and looks into my eyes.
“No,” he replies.
I bite my bottom lip at his answer. It comes down to this moment. Me choosing to ignore the fact that he is hiding something. Me choosing to let this go. He places a light kiss on my lips and my body reacts in much the same way as it has since the very first time he kissed me.
A tingle runs down my spine. A warm feeling settles between my legs. I respond to his kiss, but I make a promise to myself. I promise to find out what it is that Luke is hiding from me. It would break me to walk away from him, and at this moment in time, I am not prepared to do that. If he won’t tell me, then I will just have to find out for myself.
I didn’t mention the fact that this Andi woman was in Deana’s office this morning as I don’t feel it is relevant. If Andi is Luke’s boss, then it is highly possible that she is working on a project for Deana.
I need to keep my cards close to my chest. I will get to the bottom of why I still feel uneasy. I’m not prepared to let this go. And if I find out that Luke is lying to me, then I will leave. I will let myself be broken, because life is too short to live with regrets.
Chapter Fourteen
I wake up in bed on Saturday morning and I stretch my aching limbs. Luke spent most of the night moving me into various positions, worshiping me, and generally making me feel beyond satisfied. I smile at the way he made love to me through the night. I may still have the niggling feeling of something being off, but I know that he isn’t sleeping with someone else. I am positive that I would be able to tell if he was.
I get out of the bed and make my way to the bathroom to use the facilities. Once done, I wash and dry my hands and I go to the stairs so that I can go and make myself a coffee. I get to the bottom of the stairs, and I pause. I can hear the faint sound of Luke talking in the kitchen. I hold my breath as I lightly tip toe my way along the hall.
As I approach the kitchen door, I shake my head. Never in my life have I tip toed around Luke. I have never felt the need to eavesdrop on his conversations, and I don’t wish to become that type of person now. I roll my eyes at how ridiculous I am being, and I am about to enter the kitchen when I hear him speak again.
“She knows that something is wrong, Andi.”
I freeze, and my heart seems to have jumped into my throat. He’s talking to Andi? About me? My adrenaline skyrockets as I wait for him to speak again.
“I know what I signed up for,” he says with a sigh. Signed up for? What is he talking about?
“Yes, I understand. As long as you understand that I can’t lose her.”
I hear him click his phone shut and he lets out a muffled groan of anger. I jump at the noise, and I try to calm my––now––shaking hands. He can’t see me like this. He will know that something is wrong.
I gather my thoughts and I tip toe my way back upstairs. With my brain in overdrive, I go back to the bedroom and climb back into bed. Why would he be telling Andi that he can’t lose me? What relevance does that have to his work?
I hear Luke making his way along the hall to our bedroom, and I bury myself further under the covers and close my eyes. If I pretend to be asleep then I can calm myself down before he notices that anything is wrong. I feel him stand by the side of the bed and I remain unmoving. Luckily, my back is to him, so all I have to do is stay still.
He seems to stand there forever before I hear him sigh and walk back out of the room. When I hear him descend the stairs, I let out the breath that I wasn’t aware that I was holding. My jumbled mind is trying to dissect the last forty-eight hours and trying to make sense of what is happening.
