Julia grinned at him. “I’d say so.”
Luke threw on jeans and a T-shirt he pulled from a dresser drawer and began taking things out in the little kitchen area. In the bathroom, Julia found a washcloth to clean herself then slipped the soft fleece outfit back on. She carried her drink to the kitchen table where she sat watching him broil steaks and slice tomatoes. They kept conversation light as they ate, and after Luke cleaned up, they took their drinks and sat in front of the fire.
“How is it you have a cabin way up here in the middle of nowhere?” she asked.
“It’s a long story. And messy. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
“It’s about you, and I want to know everything I can about you.” She leaned against him, cuddling against his body when he put his arm around her.
He took a long swallow of his drink. “Long story short, my marriage began to fall apart the day after the ceremony and I never quite figured out why. Not even two children could patch the cracks.” He finished the drink. “Then I found out my wife was sleeping with every willing candidate she could find. If it had a pulse, she fucked it.”
“Oh, Luke.” The pain in his voice sliced through her, and she wished she knew what she could do to ease it.
“I wanted to keep things together because of my boys. I have two sons who are very important to me, despite the fact my ex does her best to turn them against me.”
“It’s always hard when kids are caught up in a bad situation.” And didn’t she just know that.
“I changed corporations twice, always moving up. I might be a failure at marriage, but not in business. Somehow, I have a knack for looking at a company and figuring out what it needs to do to remain profitable and increase the bottom line. When Hot Ticket recruited me to be executive vice president, I thought it would give us a fresh start.”
“It didn’t?”
“No, and it was important to do something before everyone in the company knew about it. Even though the boys were only nine and fifteen I couldn’t let things go on one minute longer. So I filed for divorce and sent her back to Alabama with the kids.”
“But you get to see them, right?”
He shrugged. “As often as I can work it out. My ex is not exactly too accommodating,” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I can feel them slipping away from me every time I see them, but there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it. She’s done her best to poison their minds against me.”
“Oh, Luke.” Tears burned her eyelids.
“I bought the cabin shortly after we got here, as a place I could go to hide from everything.” He rose and looked down at her. “No one’s ever been here with me except you. It’s important you know that.”
His words made something pull at her heart. He’d deliberately chosen to share his most private space with her, something she took as a gift.
“I’m glad.” She smiled up at him. “And thank you.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “I sound disgustingly sorry for myself, don’t I?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Just painfully lonely and shortchanged by life.”
He fixed himself another drink and sat down beside her again, staring silently at the fire. Julia waited for him to speak again. When he didn’t, she rested her head on his shoulder and reached down with one hand to link with his.
Luke raised their joined hands and kissed her fingers.
“Whatever you tell me is part of who you are,” she said, breaking the silence. “The person I love is the one you’ve become. People say the past is always with us, but now we have a chance to make a new future.” She leaned over, touched her lips against his, and was rewarded by an answering pressure.
He opened his mouth and eased his tongue inside her, setting her on fire.
“Works for me.” He gave her his crooked smile as they broke apart.
He pulled her with him as he stood up, took their drinks and set them carefully on the coffee table, and led her to the bed. His moves were deliberately precise as he removed the fleece top and bottom, kissing each part of her body as he exposed it, his mouth hot and wet and open. He placed her naked body on the bed, his gaze hungry. He ripped off his jeans and T-shirt, tossed them to the floor and then he was beside her.
This time they made love in ways too numerous to count, their minds inventive. Every joining, every sensation, was wrapped in words of love, of the new feelings surging through them. Finally, sated and exhausted, they spooned together, bodies nestled comfortably.
Julia drifted off to sleep, completely spent by the intensity of their lovemaking, content to feel his body around her. Her last thought was how wonderful it would be if they could do this forever. She was impatient to be free, so they could make the dream a reality.
Chapter 8
Julia was proud of them the next day. Through the entire schedule of intense meetings at the Hot Ticket headquarters, the small conferences, the explanations, she and Luke were very professional. Somehow they managed to act like two businesspeople, keeping the sexual tension under control.
“We could always get jobs as actors,” she teased Luke when they were alone. They sat in the corner booth at the Holiday Inn lounge, the place where they’d spent that first momentous evening. “We played our parts pretty well.”
“You were the consummate professional,” Luke told her with affection.
“What’s wrong?” A feeling of apprehension washed over her. Was he regretting everything? Wondering if he’d made a mistake? Why couldn’t she just quit always second-guessing?
“Nothing.” He reached for her hand, squeezed it gently. “Not a thing. What could possibly be wrong? I’m sitting
