Page 24 of How Good It Was (Excess All Areas 3)

Luke’s eyes, filled with emotion, narrowed. “I didn’t sleep with her. Didn’t even get as far as talking to her. Got about eight feet away from her.”

The air crackled between them. Willow bit her bottom lip. “Then what?” she asked, quietly.

Luke shook his head and let her go. “I don’t know. Some kind of force field kept me away from her, like we were polarised or something. Something spun me away from her.”

“Something?”

“Yeah. Something, flower. I left that nightclub and walked. Couldn’t face the hotel. I walked past the Tate Modern, along the Thames, past London Bridge. Past HMS Belfast, which my great grandad served on during the war. And I got to thinking about him and the sacrifices he made, and it put some things in perspective. But I kept walking. Over Tower Bridge, through St. Katharine Docks ... on and on. All night, until I was back on the bank of the river with the sun setting fire to the Thames as it rose, and a thought that I should be here and not there.”

Fire.

Such a temperamental thing. But it only needed a spark and tinder.

“I went to the hotel, packed, and got on the next train home.” Luke stood from the stool and pinched her chin between his thumb and finger. “We’ll start after I’ve slept and showered, because I’m guessing our reunion photo shouldn’t include tired eyes and unwashed bodies.”

“You’ll do it?”

“Yeah, I’ll do it.”

Relief flooded her. “Thank you.”

His eyes narrowed on hers. “I’m sorry I’ve been behaving like a dick.”

“You have. Do better.”

“Don’t hold back, Will. I’m going to bed for a few hours. Don’t worry about noise, I sleep like the dead. Come get me around two o’clock. We’ll go shopping. For paint and whatever else we need for you to feel comfortable.”

“Thank you, Luke. I’ll try to make this—”

“We’ll talk later, yeah? I’m knackered. See you in a few.”

She watched his broad shoulders disappear down the hallway, heard the toilet flush, and a few minutes later heard the muttered groan as he obviously lay down in bed.

He hadn’t signed the contract.

And what if he’d not been polarised or magnetised, or whatever it was he said had happened in the nightclub? What if he’d stepped up to that woman and kissed her? It would be impossible to spin a happy reunion story if a woman popped up in the media twenty-four hours later saying he tried to hit on her in a nightclub.

Willow stepped over to the sofa and flopped down on the cushions. It felt like they’d made a step. Maybe they had. She just wasn’t sure whether the right thing was to push him to make the next one or let him come to terms with it on his own. Grabbing her phone, she messaged Riley.

He agreed to the deal.

Luke shot awake to the feel of a hand on his skin, and the edges of a dream where he’d been back in the hotel room with Willow.

“Fuck me,” he gasped, his dick harder than tungsten rod.

He took in his surroundings. His room, his duvet cover, and Willow sitting on the edge of his bed. In his dream, he’d been balls deep in her, pushed up on his forearms, looking down into those fucking doe eyes of hers, all wide as she came.

“Sorry,” she said softly. “It’s two o’clock, and you said to wake you if you were still in bed.”

Luke dragged his hand over his face as his pulse beat wildly.

God, how easy would it be to reach for her now, to pull her body to him. To slide his hands to her arse and grind her against his dick, which, given the way it twitched beneath the covers, was thirty seconds away from coming.

She’d been busy while he’d been asleep. Gone was the track pants, messy bun, and clear skin. In its place was a fitted white T-shirt, a calf-length black skirt, and a snug pale-blue denim jacket. Her face was perfectly made-up. Still her. Still stunning.

Her hair fell in soft waves, and he had to beat back the urge to pull on it, to tug her into his chest. Because it would be a pretty spectacular way to spend the afternoon. In his bed, her naked, the two of them exploring their physical chemistry.

But he knew it wouldn’t stop there. And before he knew it, he’d be living in Didsbury Village with her and their kids, and his plans for travel and a more adventurous life would be gone.

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