Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) (29 page)

And Luke was knocking at my door.

“Fuck me,” I whispered to my reflection.

He knocked again. Wetting my hands, I ran my palms across the top of my head in an attempt to lessen the frizz. It barely worked.

There was nothing to be done. Clearly Luke was just going to have to see me as I was.

My hands shook as I walked into the hallway. I didn’t even want to wonder what he was doing there. Just asking that question would be straying into dangerous territory.

But still… he was there. He’d made an effort to find out where I lived, and he’d shown up. After six weeks of no contact. So the reason for his appearance had to be pretty big.

I took another deep breath and walked into the living room.

One step…

Two steps…

Three steps…

Four…

One more…

And I was there.

I opened the door.

He looked even better than I remembered and surely I’d been glamorizing my memories of him. The only thing that was different was the giant German Shepard sitting at his feet.

I stared at the dog. Had the animal walked up the hill with him? Did I really have tunnel vision so bad that I hadn’t even noticed the hulking dog walking next to the man of my dreams?

“Grace,” Luke said. “Hi.”

Slowly, I lifted my eyes up to him. “Hi,” I whispered. “How did you find out where I live?”

“I ran into Tracey.”

“Oh.”

More questions whirled around in my head, but I didn’t dare ask any of them.
Are you still mad at me? Why are you here? What’s with the dog?

“How long have you lived here?”

I grinned. “About thirty minutes?”

He grinned in response. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I stepped to the side so he could see the couch in the middle of the floor and the boxes along the wall.

“Wow,” he breathed. “It’s a cute house.”

“Thanks.” I cleared my throat. “Do you wanna come in?”

“Sure.”

I moved to the side and waited while he went to stand in the middle of the room before closing the door.

“Can I get you anything?” I asked. “Wait… I only have water. Sorry.”

He turned to face me. “I’m fine. Junebug might like some water though.”

I laughed. “Junebug?”

“That’s what the shelter named her. They found her roaming around the apartment complex by the interstate. She didn’t have any tags.”

“I like it,” I said. “It’s sweet.”

“She’s a sweet girl.”

I let out a short laugh.

Luke looked at me with interest. “What?”

“You have a dog. That’s just… I mean, it’s kind of a big change.”

“And you have a dog walking service.”

I looked away as the possibility hit me. “So, is that why you’re here? To hire me?”

“No.” His answer was firm.

I’d been semi-joking, but he seemed to take the accusation seriously. My eyes fell on Junebug again.

“Oh!” I said. “Her water. Be right back.”

In the kitchen, I found a plastic container and filled it up to the rim. Walking carefully so as not to spill, I carried it out to the living room.

“Here you go, Junebug,” I told the dog, setting the container in front of her. She lapped happily, a little bit of water splashing over the edges as her tongue went wild.

I straightened up and crossed my arms in front of myself, trying hard to resist the urge to mess with my hair.

“You look good,” Luke said.

I barked out a laugh. “Excuse me?”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Um, maybe because I actually look like shit? I’ve been moving all day. I’m covered in sweat. My hair is a mess. I don’t have any makeup on…”

“I like you with no makeup.”

I pursed my lips. The compliment warmed my heart, but as good as the feeling was, it was still underlined with all of the pain and hurt that came along with his sudden appearance.

“I’ve never seen you without it on,” he went on. “You look beautiful either way.”

My throat closed up. I looked down and cleared it. “Why are you here?” I asked, so low it wasn’t much more than a whisper.

A long silence went by. Junebug finished drinking her water and settled down on the floor with a contented sigh, already at home.

“I think,” Luke began, “that I misjudged you.”

I looked back up and into his bright blue eyes. God, how I wanted to tell him that he was right about that.
Yes,
I wanted to say.
I’m not what you think I am. Take me back!

But I couldn’t lie to him.

“No,” I answered. “You didn’t misjudge me. I used you. Even after I started to feel bad about it, I kept it hidden.” I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Then why did you?”

My throat burned with the emotion I was trying to swallow. “Because I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Lose my money or me?”

At that point, we’d come so far that there really was no point in lying anymore. On top of that, the truth spilling out of me felt good. “Both. At first, it was because of your money, and then it was because of you
and
your money… and then, once I started realizing that I could take care of myself, which surprised the crap out of me, I kept everything hidden because I didn’t want to lose
you.”

My bottom lip trembled, but I went on. “I didn’t want to lose the man I’d fallen in love with.”

Luke sighed and raised his arms to plant his palms on top of his head. He gazed out the window, looking like he was thinking deeply about something.

“I understand it,” he said. “And I get that it’s not so black and white. You needed help.”

“I thought I did,” I corrected him.

He looked at me. Another silence stretched on.

“Would you like to take Junebug for a walk with me? It’ll be our first official walk together.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just got her today.”

“What?” I guffawed. “Seriously?”

He smiled. “I guess it’s a day of firsts for both of us.”

Taking the dog’s leash, Luke led her to the door. I checked to make sure my house key was still in my back pocket and then followed.

The block my house was on didn’t have a sidewalk, but Luke seemed to already know the neighborhood. He walked across the street and then took a left, passing by an old church and a couple more houses. The sidewalk started there, and we hopped up on it.

“You can show me your skills if you want,” Luke said, speaking for the first time since leaving the house.

“I’ll pass. You seem to be doing a pretty good job.”

“Tracey told me you’ve been learning about dog training.”

I shrugged. “I went to a workshop.”

“She also said you’re in school.”

“It’s not too bad.”

“And that you’re practically booked full with clients.”

“We are,” I agreed. “It’s wonderful.”

Junebug stopped to smell a mailbox for a second, but then happily trotted on.

“You’ve been busy,” Luke said.

I shot him a quick glance before turning my attention back to front and center. Of course I’d been busy. If I hadn’t made a concentrated effort to fill every moment of every day with something to do, I would have gone insane.

“You’ve been busy too,” I commented. “You’re opening another pantry.”

“You know about that?”

My cheeks instantly grew warm. “I saw it in the paper,” I explained.

“Ah.”

His arm brushed against mine, and I braced myself, not wanting to feel the things his touch made me experience. I felt him tense up as well before stepping away.

If he can’t bear to touch me, why is he here?

We walked on in silence, taking another left to go around the block.

“So you’re really staying here,” he said after another few minutes.

“I am. Crystal Brook is my home now.”

“Because of your aunt and uncle?”

I licked my dry lips. “Yes. And because of other people…”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been one of those other people,” Luke said, his voice sounding sad.

I looked at him. His face was hardened, but the pain was visible underneath the tough exterior. It crept out of his eyes, revealing that, deep down, he hurt just as much as me.

“Me too,” I answered.

He looked at me, sucking in a deep breath as he did so. “I want to make it up to you, Grace.”

I stopped in my tracks, my knees too weak to take another step. “What are you talking about?”

He stopped too, turning back to face me. “I wish I had given you a fair chance to show me how good of a person you really are.”

I made a sound that was supposed to be a laugh but had too much sadness in it for that. “I’m
not
a good person, Luke. You probably saved yourself by not ending up with me.”

“See, that’s exactly what someone who’s truly good would say.” He took a step closer to me. “You’re not doing the things you do because of how it looks. You’re genuinely driven to make a difference.”

“I was genuinely driven to manipulate you,” I sullenly said, and looked down at my shoes.

“Grace. Just listen. All right?”

I met his eyes. “All right. I’m listening.”

“You and me… we’re alike in a lot of ways.”

Boy, that got me laughing. A real laugh this time. I laughed so hard, my vision blurred from tears in my eyes. Even despite the pain that his sudden appearance had brought back up, I laughed my head off.

Luke stood still, passively watching me.

“We’re nothing alike,” I said once I’d finally stopped giggling. “
You,
Luke Anderson, are one of the most attractive and kindest people who ever walked the face of the earth. God knows you’re certainly the best person I’ve ever run into.”

One side of his mouth lifted. “Then I guess you see in me what I see in you.”

I shut my mouth, pressing my lips tight together. Could he really be getting at what I thought he was?

No.

I couldn’t get my hopes up. I wouldn’t do that to myself again. Luke knew he was better off without me. End of story.

“I grew up a lot like you did,” he said.

“I know.”

“I wouldn’t say my parents gave me everything I wanted, but it came close. I spent more of my years in school partying the weekends away just because we could. My family had two private jets. One for my parents and one for my brothers and me. We could take it anywhere we wanted any time we wanted.”

“Damn,” I breathed, imagining all the trouble Rainy and I would have gotten into had we been in possession of such a marvel.

“I took it all for granted. I knew most of the people in the world didn’t live like us, of course. And I knew a lot of people lived in poverty. But for some reason, those things just didn’t bother me. At least not until I got out in the world and experienced things first hand. And when I did get out it was a big shock. A
big
one.” He trailed off for a second, his eyes getting a faraway look in them.

He turned back to me. “I think you’ve actually adjusted much faster than I did to having your world turned upside down. And now look at you. You’re taking charge of your life… I’m proud of you, Grace.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

His lips twitched, and he started to say something, but a look of pain came over his face.

“What is it?” I asked in a hushed voice. Now that I finally had Luke next to me, I was afraid even speaking too loudly might scare him away.

“Part of the reason why I was so repelled by some of your ways is because you reminded me of myself.” He stared into my eyes. “You reminded me of all the things I’ve had trouble forgiving myself for. I’m sorry for that.”

I pursed my lips and shook my head, feeling close to tears. “You don’t have to forgive me for anything.”

Luke took a step forward, and his hand clasped mine. “That’s because there’s nothing to forgive you for. You’ve only been doing the best you can in each moment. Just like everyone else.”

“Luke,” I said, looking up at him through my eyelashes. “Maybe you’re just trying to believe there are all these great things about me.”

“Correction,” he said, reaching up and cupping my cheek. “Maybe I just happen to see all these great things in you. I’m done, Grace. I’m done fighting. I can see my mistakes and your mistakes clearly, and they don’t define us. We can still be great no matter what we’ve done.”

A shuddering sigh escaped me, and I closed my eyes, letting his words wash over me. With each second they sank in, I believed them more and more.

Each day was a new one. Each moment gave us an opportunity to be better than we ever had before.

And with Luke by my side, I knew striving for the greatest part of me would become second nature.

Junebug whined, interrupting the moment. Luke chuckled, and we both turned to look at her.

“She wants to know what the hold up is,” I said.

Luke turned back to me. His hand was still on my face, and his thumb rubbed gently across my cheek. “Tell her I’m busy asking the girl I’m in love with if she’ll take me back.”

A laugh burst from me.

“What?” Luke asked, coloring slightly. “That wasn’t supposed to be funny.”

“It wasn’t,” I murmured, wrapping my arms around his neck and bringing my face close to his. “It just sounded too good to be true.”

I trailed my lips all the way across his and back before pushing against his mouth. With the gentlest pressure, Luke kissed me back. It was the touch that had been haunting my sleep for weeks, and now that it was actually happening, I had trouble believing I wasn’t in a dream.

“Come on,” Luke said, pulling back. “Let’s walk back. You can show me your new crib.”

I laced my fingers in his. “Maybe you can help me figure out where to put my one photograph.”

“Or maybe I can help you break in the bed.”

His hand tightened on mine and my pulse sped up. My pace slowed down though, Luke’s as well. As eager as I was to get to the next moment with him, as well as all the ones after that, there was also no reason to rush. Everything was as perfect as it could be and taking my time had never felt so good.

After circling the block, I let us back into the living room. Junebug immediately padded over to the spot where her water bowl was and set out, her big head between her paws.