Luke obeyed, resting on his elbows while he watched me with hooded eyes. “Just like that, baby. Nice and slow.”
Under the moon and stars with a fire crackling beside us, we found new ways to bring each other pleasure. And after we had both reached our climax, we lay spooned together under a blanket for a long time, his breathing slow and even as he stroked my hair.
I kept waiting for Luke to ask me to stay, waited for him to ask what was so important about getting to LA.
But he didn’t.
And I didn’t bring it up, even though I felt the weight of my secret pressing down on me with each passing heartbeat. Because now that we’d grown closer, keeping the truth from him this whole time suddenly felt very, very wrong.
“Luke, there’s something I never told you about back home . . . about why I left.”
“Shh.” He stroked my hair. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You wanted a fresh start, right?”
I nodded, my head still nestled against his chest. Tears welled in my eyes at how perfect and sweet this man was. He’d bared his soul to me in just one week’s time, and I hadn’t even been brave enough to return the favor. But for now, I knew he was right. I didn’t want to sully our last night together by talking about Prescott or any of the other stuff in my life. Compared to the man beside me, it was all meaningless.
Tomorrow had the power to change everything, so I kept my mouth shut and simply enjoyed being with him.
But I couldn’t help but wonder, come morning, would he ask me to stay, or would he let me go without a fight?
Chapter Twenty
Luke
Last night had been perfect. Charlotte and I had lain together under the stars until the moon was high, but when the temperature started to drop, we packed up for home, making love once more in my bed.
The day had been filled with sunshine and laughs and the hottest sex of my life, but in the end, it hadn’t really changed anything. Charlotte didn’t mention the future, and though I wondered where her head was at, I didn’t have the balls to bring it up.
If I had, I knew I’d probably end up begging her to stay, and I’d only come to regret it. Just like I had with my mom, and just like I had with Sarah. There were sayings about this exact situation—about being burned, or fool me once, shit like that—and I didn’t care to see history repeat itself.
Charlotte rose early, and I made coffee while she showered. When she was dressed, she came downstairs with her suitcase, her expression unreadable. She hugged Molly good-bye one last time while my sister shot me a questioning scowl.
Leave it, my expression said.
“Ready?” I asked after they exchanged phone numbers and promised to stay in touch.
Charlotte nodded.
I tossed her suitcase in the back of my truck and we got in, the silence hanging around us nearly deafening.
Without a word, Duke got in his truck to follow us over to Wayne’s. He knew without my saying that if she got in that car today, I’d be gutted. He also knew I’d head over to the bar and drink until I couldn’t walk anymore. He’d be there to drive me home, and later, to help me pick up the pieces.
When we pulled up, her shiny black Audi was parked out front. As we climbed out of my truck, Wayne came strolling out of the shop, and an impending sense of doom settled over me.
This was it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Charlotte
We pulled to a stop in the same dusty gravel driveway I’d broken down in ten days ago. It was crazy how fast my life had changed since meeting Luke. It was crazy how deeply he, his family, and this little town had affected me.
I followed Wayne inside the shop to settle my bill and collect my key while Luke and his brother exchanged some tense words in the parking lot. I didn’t know why Duke was here, maybe just to say good-bye one last time, but it felt like something more than that. I tried not to think about it.
After giving my parents’ black credit card a healthy workout, there was no other reason to delay. Inhaling one last deep breath of fresh country air as I walked through the parking lot, I realized this was it.
While Duke helped me load my suitcase into the trunk of the car, Wayne and Luke stood and talked at the edge of the parking lot.
I could barely stand to look at Luke—it hurt too much. The thought that I might be speaking my last words to him cut me to the core. Yesterday had been incredible, probably the best day of my entire life, but that was all it was. One last day to enjoy each other before it all came to an end because he hadn’t asked me to stay, and I certainly wasn’t going to invite myself to.
If he really wanted me here, he would have made that clear. Luke wasn’t a man who minced words.
“You sure you have to go, sweetheart?” Duke asked, drawing me out of my thoughts.
I closed the trunk and turned to face him. Anger and frustration were etched into his features, but I sensed all his anger was directed at his brother, not me.
I gave him a sad smile.
“He’s an idiot to let you go,” Duke said, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. “If you won’t stay for him, stay for me.”
His sensitivity touched me. I’d never seen the softer, more serious side of Duke, but it was obvious there was one.
“It’s not that simple,” I said.
“Why not?”
Shielding my eyes from the sun, I took a deep breath, forcing from my throat the words I didn’t want to say out loud. “First of all, he never asked me to stay.”
“Fucking dipshit,” Duke said under his breath. “You know he bribed Wayne, don’t you? You could’ve gotten out of here yesterday.”
That was news to me, but it felt like too little, too late. “Doesn’t matter. We had fun, and now it’s over.”
Luke knew how I felt. I’d put my heart out there the night of my party, asked him to tell me to stay. He wouldn’t, and now it was too late.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Luke
After handing Wayne his money, I watched as Duke said one last good-bye to Charlotte and then climbed into his truck. Wayne went back inside, and then it was just Charlotte and me.
“The end of the road,” I murmured, and she nodded.
I didn’t know what to say, and it seemed she didn’t either. I folded her into my arms one last time, trying not to notice how perfectly she fit there. There were no tears, no long drawn-out good-bye, and no promises to keep in touch. She had stormed into my life, but it seemed she was leaving without the same flair.
I thought about kissing her good-bye, but in the end, I couldn’t. I simply helped her into her car, shut the door, then watched as she drove off into the distance, my fists clenched at my sides and my stomach tight with despair.
But as that fancy foreign car disappeared over the horizon, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was taking my heart along with it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Charlotte