Page 122 of Light My Fire

She snuggles back against me. “I want to stay right here.”

I pull her in tighter, unable to help myself.

We stay like that for a few more minutes. I watch the people around us and am acutely aware of how many couples there are. People walking hand in hand or men with their arms around women. People kissing.

People in love.

“Let’s go eat,” I finally say.

“Okay.”

She steps out of my arms and I miss the warmth of her body, but tamp that down.

I do take her hand again though as we walk toward one of my favorite breweries. I don’t come here often, but they’ve got a great selection, and it’s got a classy, but laid-back feel.

We’re seated immediately at a high table in the middle of the room. I tell myself taking the seat right next to her will make it easier to talk, though I know it’s also because I want to be close to her. I love studying the different colors in her hair, the swirls of blue in her eyes, and the various tilts to her lips as she talks and smiles. I’m so pathetically into her I nearly roll my eyes at myself.

I order a local microbrew and Brooke orders a margarita and we peruse the menu quietly, the sounds of conversation and the televisions above the bar filling in the silence.

After our drinks are delivered and we order, she takes a sip and then turns those eyes on me.

“Tell me about your ex.”

I nearly choke on my drink of beer. I swallow hard. Then I shake my head. “Nah. We don’t need to go there.”

She leans in and covers my knee with her hand. “I want to know. I want to knowyouand that’s a huge part of who you are. Please.”

I study her. Fuck. She’s right, of course, but hell, maybe she does need to know. It’s the main reason I’m resistant to this thing betweenus. Yes, it’s also her age, and her innocence, and the fact that my two best friends are falling for her—a big fucking complication, of course—but Marci is a huge part of my reservations.

“It’s not pretty,” I say after taking another draw of my beer, then setting the glass down.

“I assumed that was the case. That’s okay.” She moves her hand from my knee to my hand. She runs her thumb over the back of my knuckles. “So… try to scare me off.”

CHAPTER 31

Luke

I lookfrom our hands to her face. She’s smiling lightly, her eyes open and trusting. Interested.

Fuck, she’s so beautiful.

I want her.

Not just physically. I want to be close to her. There’s a warmth there, a goodness that keeps reaching out and trying to wrap itself around me. It feels as if I really let it, I’d feel…lighter. Happy. Whole. She could fill in these gaps and cracks that have developed in my heart and my life.

And damn, that’s all really woo-woo for a guy like me.

I take a breath. “Marci and I fell in love fast. I met her while I was going through fire school. She was—is—a nurse. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we didn’t care. We had a simple life that was full of family and friends. We were happy. Or so I thought.”

Brooke keeps running her finger over the back of my hand, tracing the veins and tendons. It’s strangely comforting.

“We talked about starting a family and I’d envisioned us with three or four kids.”

Brooke just watches me, listening to every word, not saying anything.

“So when she told me she was pregnant, I was thrilled.” My grip tightens on my glass of beer. I’d been over the moon. “I went to ultrasound appointments with her, we picked out names, I repainted a room for the nursery, assembled a crib, the whole thing.”

Brooke leans closer, her finger still moving on my hand. I don’t know if she even realizes that she moves further into my space, but it’s comforting not only to have her there, but that she’s coming closer rather than shifting away.

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