Page 50 of Loyally, Luke
“Go sledding.” She looked over at him. “The kind with an actual sled, not the horse and sleigh type.”
The horse and sleigh type? He never would have thought of that one. Must be common in Skymar. Horse and sleigh?
“Build a fire. I’ve never learned how to do that and think it would be a rather important thing to know.” If his body temperature counted, she already had a winning skill. “Sleep under the stars.” Another picture that didn’t help his man-brain. “Go fishing.”
“Fishing is a great pastime.” He cleared his throat, their steps seeming to grow slower the closer they came to the castle. “It’s one of those quiet things in life that calms your mind and somehow makes life a little sweeter.”
The lights of the castle blazed into the growing dusk in the distance, but she stopped just within the tree line and turned toward him. For a moment, she didn’t say anything, just looked up at him, a crinkle on her brow.
“I’ve never met anyone like you.” She breathed out the words. They didn’t sound as if she thought he was crazy. No, her voice was tinged with a teensy bit of... wonder? Naw, that couldn’t be right. He never inspired wonder, except when it was with people below the age of ten and he pretended to take off his thumb. “You pretend to be gruff, but anyone who is looking can tell there’s a big heart beneath”—she waved a palm toward his chest, her smile brimming wider—“all the flannel.”
He chuckled. He could fall for her so easily. Without one bit of trouble. He was already on the edge, ready to trip over the cliff, barely hanging on by his boot strings.
“Didn’t you know? Flannel is heroic.” Which made him think of Penelope for some reason, and nearly had him backing up to break whatever magnetic pull and stupid-inducing connection Ellie inspired, but Ellie’s expression clouded, so he stayed close.
“After all the ways I’ve messed up and been hurt, I never imagined someone like you still existed. So... good.”
“Flannel or not, we all mess up, Ellie. We make stupid decisions that impact us in immediate and long-term ways. But we also have the choice to grow from our mistakes.” She stared up at him, her eyes softening with something that drew him even closer. “Sounds to me like your past and your mistakes have only made you a stronger and better person.” He tilted his head, holding her gaze. “Certainly from what I can see.”
He wasn’t sure who moved first. He felt her grip his jacket at the same time his palms framed her cheeks, but at the moment, it didn’t matter. Oh no—all that mattered was the way her lips felt against his. The scent of oranges wrapping around him with the same possessionas the tightening of her grasp on his jacket. The taste of cake on her lips. The sense of coming home to a place he’d never even imagined, right here, in front of a castle, kissing Grace Kelly.
He pulled Ellie into his arms, accepting this strange and wonderful sense of belonging. She made a soft purr of a sound, encouraging him to continue investigating the contours of her lips, to drown in the scent of her hair. Have mercy, he’d never wanted to kiss someone as much as he wanted to kiss her... and didn’t even know it until it happened.
Whatever her mistakes, he didn’t care.
And whoever those hurtful men had been? A sense of protectiveness swelled through him with the force of a storm. They’d have to get through him first.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought he heard a... chime?
He almost stepped back, but she had such a nice hold on his lips, he decided to stay a bit longer.
And then the chime sounded again?
“What?” Ellie pulled back, her eyes wide, her breath fast, and her lips deliciously swollen. “What was that?”
Luke decided not to even mention his initial thought because there was no way he was proving Penelope—or Hallmark—right. And was she talking about the chimes or the kiss, because the kiss seemed pretty self-explanatory.
The chime happened again, coming from down below in the village.
“It’s... it’s the church bells?” She stumbled back from him, her palms to her cheeks. “Is it seven o’clock already?”
Bells! Not chimes. At least it wasn’t chimes! Though, after that kiss, he might not mind a few Hallmark chimes here and there. Or explosions. Explosions sounded much more like what was happening inside his chest.
“We... we need to go.” She stared back at him for a momentlonger, as if trying to decide whether she wanted to vault back into kissing mode or take off like a terrified squirrel.
The squirrel idea won. Off she skittered up the hill.
He wasn’t sure whether she was running away from his kiss or toward shelter, but one thing was for certain: he was already ready to kiss Ellie St.Clare one more time.
***
Text from Ellie to Maeve:I can’t return to the orphanage for the next two months.
Maeve:Are the renovations that bad? I thought what’s his name—Luke?—was a good carpenter.
Ellie:He’s a great carpenter. And a good man.
Ellie:And... an excellent kisser.
