Page 77 of The Moment of Letting Go

Sienna

Feeling how hard Luke is through his shorts—I can hardly stand it. My skin is covered in goose bumps, a fluttery sensation swirls around in my chest, and there’s an unrelenting feeling of need tugging between my legs.

“Kiss me,” I tell him in a soft whisper; I can already taste his sweet breath, and I ache to taste the rest of him.

Without hesitation his lips cover mine, both of his hands moving from my wrists to the sides of my face, where he holds on so tight that I wouldn’t be able to move my head if I tried. His tongue is powerful and warm and sweet as he steals my breath away; my eyes flutter blissfully behind the lids. And even though I taste a little mud in our mouths and feel the dirty, watery sensation on my cheeks beneath his firm hands, I don’t care and I never want this kiss to end.

Luke breaks the kiss slowly, letting his delicious lips linger on mine before finally pulling away.

I swallow nervously, looking up at him.

The creaking sound of the hinges on the back screen door shake us both from our passionate stupor.

“Ah shit—bad timing.” Seth stands at the back door with no hair on his head and an apologetic look on his face.

Luke’s chest rises and falls a little deeper than normal, and then he gets to his feet, taking my hand and bringing me up with him. Water drips from us both, down the backs of our bare legs, and for me, in places that make me cringe inwardly, thinking about needing a shower. Stat.

Seth rubs the palm of his hand across the back of his shaved head. “Sorry to barge in on yah like this,” he says. A dark gray T-shirt hugs his muscular form, partially tucked behind a belt holding up a pair of black cargo shorts.

“It’s all right,” Luke says as we’re ascending the back steps. “What’s goin’ on?”

I get the feeling right away that Luke might have something more harsh to say to Seth if I weren’t standing among them. “I thought you were going to hang back for a while?”

“Yeah I know; sorry, man. I had to come over and get some of my gear.” Seth looks us over with curious dark brown eyes, finally taking stock of our drenched and mud-stained clothes. “I’m not even gonna say it.” He shakes his head, laughing under his breath.

“Yeah, please don’t,” Luke warns.

Wringing the water from my shirt and as much as I can manage from my shorts, I do my best not to seem as though I’m interested in their conversation. I’m not, really, but I feel kind of trapped, not wanting to go inside Luke’s house and leave a trail of water and mud across his clean floors in my wake.

“Come on in,” Luke tells me, holding open the screen door. “Don’t worry about all that. I’ll clean it up.”

Our eyes meet in passing, reflecting the moment we just had, and then I go ahead and walk past him into the house. Luke peels off his T-shirt before he comes in and tosses it over the lanai railing. I try not to look at his tanned, muscled upper body as he walks through the kitchen toward me, but that’s not such an easy thing to avoid, I realize quickly. His shorts, weighted down by all the water, reveal a sculpted V-shape between his rigid hips. Oh my God …

Finally I avert my eyes.

Seth stands in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his big arms crossed. It’s apparent to me that he probably came here for more than his gear, and the fact that he’s not saying much tells me they might need some time alone.

“Mind if I get a shower?” I ask Luke.

As if he feels bad for not offering it to me right away, Luke completely ignores Seth and says, “Yeah, babe. Let me show you where the towels are.”

Babe? I’m not going to have a working heart left by the time I leave this island.

I notice from the corner of my eye that Seth seems as surprised to hear something like that coming from Luke as I am.

I grab some clean clothes from my suitcase in his room, and then Luke leads me down the hall to the bathroom after getting a clean towel and washcloth from a hall closet.

“Thanks.”

He smiles, and for a brief moment it seems like he might want to kiss me again, but he doesn’t, and I shut the door and start stripping off my wet clothes. A moment later, I can faintly hear their voices through the thin walls and it seems like they’ve moved into the living room.

“This seems serious, bro,” I hear Seth say, but at first I don’t think he’s talking about me. “You sure about her?”

Is he talking about me?

I listen closer, not making any movement and trying not to breathe so I don’t miss anything. But then suddenly I’m paralyzed by fear and I change my mind, letting out my breath noisily and fumbling my clean clothes on the counter to avoid hearing anything else. What if Luke tells Seth he isn’t sure about me? What does sure even mean exactly? What if Luke says something, anything that I don’t want to hear and that might change everything I’ve come to love and enjoy about Luke and my time here? I turn on the shower quickly and close myself off behind the glass door. And all I can think about is Luke. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and I’m not even sure how it is that I feel. All I know is that I don’t want to leave. I know it’s crazy, but I feel like I want to stay here with him forever. But I can’t. We live worlds apart and long-distance relationships rarely ever work. And I can’t leave my job, or my family. Or Paige.

I’ve been living in a dream world since I’ve been here—reality, my real life, will be here again soon enough, and I should be preparing myself for it.

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