Page 39 of Show Me How to Heal
“Dumbass! I don’t want you to walk home. I’m offering you a ride. Well… not offering. I’m ordering you to ride home with me,” he said, nodding firmly. His voice left no room for discussion, and honestly? I didn’t have it in me to fight him on this.
I didn’t want to fight him on this. I was tired of fighting against him.
“You do realize that I’m the boss in this scenario and you’re the employee, right? I’m supposed to boss you around,” I said, but without any heat in my voice.
“Oh, you can boss me around anytime.” Luke waggled his eyebrows before scrunching up his face. “I mean, you can boss me around anytime as soon as you’re awake. I’m pretty sure your consent means shit if you’re barely conscious while giving it.”
I chuckled weakly. “I might take you up on that offer… After I had a goodnight of sleep.” Not what I’d wanted to say. No, that was a lie. It was exactly what I wanted to say, it just wasn’t what Ishouldsay. What I should have done was tell him that I wasn’t in a place to enter a relationship. That I felt flattered, but our one-nightstand had to stay exactly that.
“Well, if I’m dropping you at your home, anyway, I might as well stay and sleep over. That way it’ll be a lot easier for you to make good on your promise tomorrow morning, and since I’m taking you home, you’ll need a ride back to the store… I can be that ride.”
Arguing with him was pointless, right? English wasn’t even his first language. He shouldn’t be able to twist my words like that!
“Okay,” I said, my shoulders sagging in relief. As much as I hated to admit it, it was the right decision not to drive home.
“Great!” Luke smiled. “Come on, my truck’s outside, and unfortunately, I can’t carry you out, so you need to stay awake until you’re inside the car.”
I shook my head and followed him outside.
A couple of minutes later, he parked Raphael’s — well, now his — old truck in my driveway, killed the engine, and turned to me, hisfaceoddly serious, all the laughter gone. He looked years older, just the way he did whenever he talked about his previous career.
My gut twisted, anxiety spiking.He’s going to quit. You’re not even open yet, and he’s already going to quit, a voice inside my head screamed in panic. But I knew it was being ridiculous.
“You do know that you’re under no obligation to actually let me sleep in your bed, right?” he asked, biting his lip. His voice was weirdly quiet, lacking his usual conviction. “I’m capable of driving home. It’s not that far.”
Warmth unfurled in my chest.
“I should tell you to go home,” I told him because honesty was important. “There are a thousand reasons why I’m not in a position to get into a relationship at the moment.”
“But?” he asked, his eyes wide, glimmering with hope.
“I don’t want to. And that’s selfish and unfair. You’re being all perfect and incredibly nice, and I don’t want to take advantage of that. So I’m going to be honest with you. Give you the chance to decide for yourself.” Yeah, I was doing this while sitting in his car in my driveway, feeling dead on my feet. “I don’t have time for date nights. Hell, I don’t know if I have time for dates. I’m working a ton of hours a week. I do have a plan to take a step back and implement something close to a work-life-balance in my life, but that’s a six-month-plan. Involving you. Working for me. I can’t risk that.”
“Zayne.” Luke shook his head, a half-smile on his lips. He looked a little sad and oh so gentle. He cupped my cheek with his rough hand, searching my eyes. “I like you. I really do. I want to see if there could be more between us. But I do understand what it means to build a business. I know it takes a lot out of you. But I’m willing to work around it. I’m used to very, very demanding and weird schedules. I can work with that, okay? Trust me.”
His words were so sincere, his eyes showing nothing but honesty, that I found myself nodding before I’d even processed what he’d said. Demanding schedule… for a second I wanted to ask him about it, but I wasn’t willing to ruin this moment by reminding him of a painful past.
Instead, I nuzzled his hand and closed my eyes.
“I do,” I murmured. “Trust you, I mean.”
“Good.” He smiled, but it looked almost… forced. I blinked a couple of times, and when my vision cleared, the expression was gone. “Let’s get you inside. I’m still not able to carry you.”
“You could give me a piggyback ride,” I suggested jokingly.
Luke laughed. “I think you’re overestimating what I can do.”
“Nah. You’re underestimating yourself.”
“I wish,” Luke whispered so low I almost missed it. “I really wish.”
I woke with a start, blinking a couple of times while trying to figure out why my pillow was suddenly so fucking hard and warm. And… moving…
Oh.
Ohh.
Shit.
