Page 143 of Unexpected

I presumed he was thinking of the small amount of time from that party at his house to us standing beside his truck and what a whirlwind it had been. But I wouldn’t change it for anything, and when a soft smile pulled at the corner of his lips, I knew he felt the same.

“You’re my sunshine, Angel. A bright light when everything feels dark.”

With emotion thick in my throat, I pressed to my toes and kissed him with all the emotion his words made me feel. I hoped my kiss conveyed what my words would miss because what I was feeling was bigger than words.

“I don’t know if I can top that. But I don’t mind being yours, as you so eloquently stated. And I’ll be your light the best I can.”

His smile was bright, and he took my face in both of his hands to kiss me once again, but his lips didn’t get a chance to meet mine. The back door to the building swung open behind him, and a blonde I remember oh so well stepped into the parking lot.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, stopping dead in her tracks. “I didn’t mean to umm…” Her eyes dragged up and down Luke’s back, obviously ogling the ass I had been checking out before, as he spun around to face her.

Luke chuckled, placed his hand on the back of my neck and led us to the door Crystal had just exited.

“Crystal, you remember my girlfriend Hazel, right?” Luke said, reintroducing me as his girlfriend like it was something he did all the time.

“Yes, of course. Nice to see you again.” She half smiled. “I was just heading out for the day. I’ll see you tomorrow, Luke.”

And with that, she was gone quicker than we could manage another word.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Do you ever get tired of women checking you out and so obviously throwing themselves at you?” I asked as he opened the metal door and motioned for me to enter.

“Yes,” he said simply with a slight tilt to his lips.

“Liar.”

FIFTY

Hazel

Luke stolea rolly chair for me from one of the other desks around the back room before he set up at a computer in the far corner.

It was only a minute or two before he had files and papers spread out before him and was immersed in whatever he was doing. He’d asked me if I wanted to use one of the computers to continue writing, but in the same breath, he’d also said it wouldn’t be too long.

So, instead, I spun around in my chair, high off Luke’s declaration.

“You’re making me dizzy just watching you spin around in that thing,” Luke said, barely glancing up from the computer. His hands were flying over the keys as he flipped through papers.

“Then stop watching me,” I said, sticking my foot out and hitting the edge of a desk to stop the spinning. I was making myself dizzy, too.

“You look happy.” He leaned back in his chair and turned to me. His eyes blazed a trail over my body as the room stopped spinning.

“I am happy,” I responded confidently.

His eyes lingered on me for another moment, and I was happy we were alone otherwise, anyone else would be able to see that he was so obviously undressing me. I didn’t want to share that look in his deep-green eyes with anyone.

“Now, stop distracting me, so I can hurry up and finish this.”

I pulled out the book I had in my purse—a romantic thriller I couldn’t get enough of—and flipped to the page with my floral bookmark. The clicking of the keys as Luke typed along with the brush of paper against paper was decent background noise, but I hadn’t read more than ten pages when my phone buzzed in my back pocket.

Ever since Luke began receiving incessant text messages from Valerie, any time one of our phones buzzed or rang, I tensed instinctively.

I set my book down on the desk and dragged my phone out of my back pocket. It was a text from a number I didn’t recognize.

Hi, Hazel, this is Blakely. I was hoping we could have lunch tomorrow. I feel so bad about the way we left things, and I just wanted a chance to talk.

“Can I see your phone, please?” I asked Luke. Without looking up, he pulled it from his jacket pocket and handed it to me.

“What’s your passcode?”

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