Page 58 of Unexpected

I slowly padded through the entryway with Luke next to me. He reached for the door handle before I could, but he paused.

Before he could say anything, I spoke up. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little—”

“Hazel, don’t apologize,” Luke said, removing his hand from the doorknob and lightly gripping my upper arm. “I understand it. All of it, so you don’t have to apologize to me. And I’m going to break you of that habit. You don’t need to constantly apologize.”

He grasped my chin, urging me to look up at him as he stepped forward. I stayed still as he ran his thumb along my lower lip. “We’re on your time line, Angel. But I’d be lying to both of us if I didn’t say that I want to see where this goes. I want to see so fucking bad.” My eyelids closed as his words washed over me. The panic from just a moment ago was easily appeased when he confirmed he was going to follow my time line. I wasn’t sure what my time line looked like since I hadn’t given it much thought but knowing that it could be happening with Luke was exciting.

When I opened my eyes again, I immediately found a spark of hunger behind his own that wasn’t there before. It lit something in me as well, watching him watch my mouth as his thumb traced just below my bottom lip.

I placed my hands on his chest, pushed up on my toes, and let my mind and the thoughts of how crazy fast we were moving take a back seat as I let my body lead. Luke watched me for a moment before he stooped to press his lips to mine.

Unlike our kiss before, this one was soft yet eager as I tilted my head and ran my tongue against his lips. As his hand shifted to grip the back of my neck—what seemed to be his favorite spot—I let mine reach around his midsection, pulling him closer to me.

It took some serious self-control to not deepen the kiss even further as my entire body thrummed with excitement. When I felt his erection press against my stomach, I knew if I didn’t stop then, I would never stop. So reluctantly, and for my own mental health, I pulled away with one last peck on his now wet lips.

He groaned as I planted my feet back on the floor, thus unintentionally sliding myself down his hard-on. I loved the sound so much that it was a miracle I only pressed my face into his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Thankyou for tonight. Thank you for everything.”

“Anytime, Angel,” he murmured against my hair.

And I left. Wrapping my arms around myself in the early morning air and hustled back to my house. Luke watched me with a half smile on his face until I disappeared through the door.

TWENTY-THREE

Hazel

When I steppedup into Luke’s truck and out of the cold, rainy morning, I was ecstatic that he insisted on driving. My butt hit the warm passenger seat and I think I might have audibly moaned.

“I thought when I moved to Texas that it would be warm all year around. This weather is miserable,” I complained as I buckled and curled up onto the seat, my rain jacket draped over my lap.

Luke chuckled and shook his head, flashing me a wide grin that released butterflies in my stomach. “Well, we do have all four seasons. It’s just that they’re usually short lived and happen sometimes in the same day or the same week.”

He backed out of his driveway—after I insisted that he did not need to drive to my driveway to pick me up—and followed the GPS to the first apartment complex. It was the farthest away—still only twenty minutes from our neighborhood—and the cheapest of the three. It was also the lowest on my list; I wanted to save the best for last, which was the one with an updated fitness center, pool and free Starbucks coffee.

“Well, I don’t like this season.”

“You look cute all bundled up, though,” he said as he glanced at me from the corner of his eye before turning onto the main road.

“What did I tell you about calling grown women cute?”

He laughed but didn’t respond.

“I am cozy, but that doesn’t mean I like the weather. I like the clothes, but not how cold it is.” I was wearing dark jeans, a thick, off-white cable-knit sweater, and a beanie. I layered a white long-sleeved shirt under the sweater to ensure that no cold breeze would slip through the tiny holes in the fabric. I wasn’t playing around with being cold.

“I like the hat.” Luke smirked as he playfully flicked the maroon pom-pom on top of my beanie. “Although I prefer the halo, I think.”

I rolled my eyes. He was never going to let me forget about that damn halo. “You’re going to be sorely disappointed when you realize I’m not actually an angel, and the nickname doesn’t fit well at all.”

He chuckled and scooted farther down in his seat. His right arm was slung over the center console, fingers idly tapping the gearshift as his left elbow perched on the window. He only steered with the first two fingers of his left hand.

There was something about the way he drove with the same relaxed confidence he exuded every time I was near him that made me uncross and recross my legs. He was also freshly showered, and I remembered the way the scent of him—his body wash and whatever else he used—clung to me after I got home the night before. I contemplated sleeping in the dress I wore to dinner just to be able to smell him throughout the night but thought better of it. So, I settled for sleeping with my face in my hair which I splayed out across the pillow. His clean, manly scent and the floral shampoo I used complemented each other well.

“Hmm…” he mused. “I don’t think I’d mind at all if you don’t turn out to be an angel.”

My brows shot to my hairline and I jerked my head at the innuendo-laced comment. I expected him to be laughing at either himself or the shocked expression I knew I wore, but he sat perfectly still and stoned face, staring out the windshield.

“Wait, that’s not what I meant.”

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