Page 31 of My Forever Soldier

Luke picked up the cake, gave her another wink and headed out into the dining room. Ollie took a moment to compose herself before following him.

She didn’t know what she was more scared of, playing happy families with Luke out there, or worrying about what was going to happen later, when everyone had gone. When they were alone, with no excuses.

10

CHARLIE BLEW THE candles out and Luke made a mental note not to sample any cake. He had a feeling that more spit had made its way to the icing than breath, and the little fingers inching closer to it made it seem all the less appealing.

He watched as Olivia knelt down beside the kids and started slicing pieces.

“‘It’s a pretty good cake, huh?”

Luke turned to see Kelly standing beside him. “Yeah. doesn’t look bad at all.”

Ollie’s friend smiled and moved closer. Luke wasn’t quite sure if she was hitting on him or wanting to keep their voices down. He figured it was the latter, given how frosty she’d been the day before.

“How’s everything going? Olivia hasn’t mentioned how long you’re back for.”

So she was fishing for information. This was one thing he couldn’t be beaten at, even if she tried to torture it out of him.

“It’s great to be home.” He took a sip of lemonade from his paper cup and wished it was something stronger. Something much stronger.

“Luke, I don’t mean to pry, but I care a lot about Liv. She hurts, I hurt kind of thing.”

Luke knew where this was going. He didn’t mind being asked questions, but his wife was the only person he owed answers to. Especially when it was abouttheir marriage.

“Look, Kelly,” he said, turning to face her. “I appreciate your concern, and I appreciate that you’ve been a great friend to her, but this is between me and Olivia.”

The woman smiled, but the angle of her head, the tilt of her chin, showed another emotion altogether. She wasn’t going to let this go, he could tell.

“All I’m saying is that I don’t want to see her hurt again. If you’re not going to hang around, then maybe you should let her move on and find someone who will.” Her words were cool. Clearly she had no problem telling him exactly what she thought of him.

Luke bit back the reply he wanted to give her, refusing to make an enemy of one of Olivia’s closest friends.

“Just think about it, Luke.” The sweet smile was back on her face as she composed herself and turned to walk away. “Nice to see you again.”

He didn’t bother to reply. Where the hell did she get off, approaching him at his son’s birthday party and confronting him like that?

He knew he’d made mistakes. The very fact that he’d left, and in some warped way thought he’d done Charlie a favor, was the biggest of them all. But he’d come home for his son, and now he wanted CharlieandOlivia. The more time he spent here, the more sure he was.

“Luke?”

He turned slightly and saw Olivia standing beside him, a plate of cake in her hand.

He smiled, snapping out of it. “Hey. That for me?”

“If you want it.” She grinned. “It tastes great.”

“If you like spittle and sticky fingers, you mean?”

She waved her free hand in the air. “Being a parent means plenty of spit and germs. Try some. I promise you’ll like it.” Breaking off a piece of cake with her forefinger and thumb she held it out to him. “Go on.”

Luke hesitated. But the waggle of her eyebrows and the look of the icing between her slender fingers made him give in to temptation. Besides, if being a parent meant getting over hygiene rules, then he’d best give it a go now, while he was trying to prove himself.

She leaned closer when he opened his mouth to taste the cake, and Luke fought not to pull her entire body close at the same time. But he stayed still, swallowing the cake, and watching as his wife licked the sticky icing from her fingers.

“Good?” she asked,

He nodded. “Yeah.”

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