Mr. Imperfect

chapter 3



Sensing a drop in altitude, Rori glanced out the plane window as was rewarded with the top view of mountain ranges as far as she could see. It was nice to know that her new fiancé, Luke, hadn’t lied about wilderness access when he talked her into visiting his home.

Her fiancé.

Rori wasn’t sure which was the bigger surprise, that Luke had asked her to marry him, or that she’d agreed. Two weeks ago, they hadn’t even known the other was alive. And now? There was a wedding to plan.

Next to her, Luke was peering out the first-class window. “Home, sweet home.”

Rori studied the man who had impulsively dropped to one knee in the Chiang Mai airport. Luke Foster. The guy was pretty much an open book with the guile of a puppy and the bank account of a tycoon. A man who routinely flew business class then spent half the time on the plane peering out the window like a kid who had never flown before. Luke was a rare combination to find in a man, and very refreshing one. But that wasn’t the only reason she’d said yes when he’d proposed.

The world Rori had been raised in was ruled by propriety and protocol, while Luke was so blessedly… unrefined. From his loud, chatty mouth down to his Nikes, Luke was a hybrid between what Rori wanted for herself and what her mother wanted for her. So of course she had to jump on the chance to see what could be between them. The fact that he had just saved her the six figures she’d been about to pay out in order to be matched up with someone just like him only sweetened the pot. Clearly their “chance” meeting in Thailand had been fate.

Next to her, Luke turned to Rori, his smile too pure to belong to a millionaire in his mid-twenties. “You’re going to love the Cannons. They’re awesome. More like my family than my real family. They live two doors down—well, Mike is my roommate, like I said, but the rest of them live two doors down.”

He chatted like a girl. It wasn’t something Rori was sure she liked yet, but she had to confess it was better than being silent and cold. “I look forward to meeting them.”

His grin widened. “They’re totally going to grill you. It’s how we roll. It’s our job to make sure none of the others get into serious relationships with psychos.”

“Ah,” Rori said wisely. “So psychos are reserved for casual relationships only?”

Luke nodded, not hearing the sarcasm. “Totally. They can be fun for a while, but long term?” He pulled a face, shaking his head quickly. “Psychos are expensive!”

That got a laugh out of her as she again assessed her potential future husband.

“Anyway, just know that’s what they’re doing if you feel like they’re poking around. They’re just making sure you’re not bonkers.”

“Got it,” she said, giving his hand a little squeeze.

“Say it again,” he whispered in Rori’s ear, confusing her.

“Say what?”

Luke smiled at her, a finger coming up to toy with one of her long, spiraling curls. “Anything, really. I just love your accent.”

Ah, yes. Americans and their love of accents. “Well, I’m glad you like it, because it’s part of the package deal.”

“I’ll take it,” he said, just before pressing his lips to hers. The contact was light. Respectful. Maybe even a little brotherly, but Rori attributed that to the plane. The time and place certainly wasn’t appropriate for them to start exploring what kind of chemistry they would have together.

It was all very Victorian, really, to be engaged to a man who hadn’t kissed her until after he proposed. Rori wasn’t expecting that aspect of their relationship to stay quaint for very long, though. Men were men and sex was sex. He’d want it soon enough.

But for now, the polite pecks were pleasant.

“Man, they’re going to freak,” Luke said, eyes glazing over and seeing something only in his mind.

“The Cannons?” she guessed.

“Totally,” he said, smiling. “I’ve thrown some crazy stuff their way, but this kind of takes the cake. I’ve always just dated someone and then moved on when things started getting all serious or the m-word came up.”

Rori raised an eyebrow. “The m-word?”

Luke laughed at himself. “I know, right? I’ve always been so phobic before. They’re going to freak when I say we’re getting married. And they’re probably going to insist that we stick it out for six months before we tie the knot, since that’s my record for my longest relationship.”

“I’m sure we can pull that off,” Rori agreed. “If we can’t make it through six months of engagement, we certainly have no business getting married.”

He looked relieved to hear her say that. “For sure. Man, you’re cool. Like seriously unbelievable. You just roll with things. I’m used to Kris. She’s a total control freak—always planning things and creating action items. She’d have her calendar out right now and be forcing me to pick a date before we landed.”

“Maybe we should let her pick the date for us,” Rori teased, surprised when Luke jumped on the idea.

“Totally! She and Mike would be the best wedding planners ever. Mike’s filmed so many proposals and weddings, I’m pretty sure he could arrange for a wedding in his sleep. And he and Kris basically read each other’s minds. Sometimes they seem more like twins or something.”

“They sound… handy,” Rori said, still somewhat baffled with Luke’s obsession with the Cannon family. Lucky for her, she’d be meeting them all that night. Maybe then she’d see what all the rapturing was about.

“Way handy,” Luke agreed, his mind slipping away to some happy place that had him grinning and leaning across her to see how close they were to landing. “Man, Mike is going to freak.”

“Why just Mike?”

“Oh, he’s picking us up,” he said excitedly. “You’ll meet him in like twenty minutes. You’re going to love him.”

“I’m sure I will,” she said, just as the pilot came over the speakers announcing their descent into the Salt Lake City International airport.