His Lover to Protect - Katee Robert Page 0,45
day, steering her toward a little café down a side street she hadn’t noticed. “This isn’t exactly an alley, but try to restrain yourself. I’m just feeding you, not luring you off to steal your virtue.”
Against all reason, she smiled. “That’s probably for the best. You already stole it once today.”
His laughter warmed places she hadn’t even realized were cold in the first place. Luke slipped his arm around her waist. “If you’re lucky, I’ll steal it again before the night is over.”
His joking restored some of the norm to the whole situation—if walking down the street with a man she met less than a week ago after having a hurricane of an emotional meltdown on the Sound of Music bus tour was normal. She kept expecting him to ask questions or something, but he seemed to be just rolling with it. “If I’m lucky? Honey, you were the one pleading earlier.”
His eyebrows rose. “You have a very selective memory. Pretty sure there was some please Luke, oh my God, please going on.”
Heat stole across her cheeks, but she couldn’t stifle her grin. God, I really, really like this guy. “Fine. We’ll call this one a draw.”
“Deal.” He held open the door for her. “Now, food. You might not feel like it, but you need to eat.”
She wasn’t sure what to do with this caring side of him. “You’re very mother-hen right now.” She couldn’t remember the last person she’d let take care of her. Avery bullied her way into it sometimes, but it had become rarer and rarer over the last few years. Alexis always said she didn’t need it—she was more than capable of taking care of herself—but it was kind of nice with Luke.
He surveyed the café and then guided her to an empty table in the corner. “Goes with the territory.”
“What territory is that?”
He opened his mouth, choked off whatever he’d been about to say, and gave her a strained smile. “Marines, you know.”
She got the strangest feeling that he’d just lied to her. But that didn’t make sense. He’d already told her he was a Marine, and the injury to his side was consistent with an IED explosion. So why the tingling on the back of her neck? She shook her head. It must be leftover tension from earlier. That was all. “I thought your lot was more point-and-shoot than caregiver.”
“Yeah. A lot easier to kill than to save a life.”
It was something she’d heard Ryan say more times than she could count. Alexis frowned. “You don’t know a friend of mine—Ryan Flannery—do you?” She held her breath while she waited for his answer.
Luke rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and these Flannery guys? Ex-boyfriends?”
Picturing either of the Flannery brothers as boyfriend material made her cringe, especially since Drew was currently engaged to her little sister. “Ew, no. Family friends. Ryan is a pararescuer.”
He picked up the menu and scanned it. “Ah, that explains it. Those PJs are fucking crazy.”
“It’s been said before.” And still she couldn’t shake the feeling she was missing something. “Luke—”
“When were you diagnosed with cancer?”
All her breath left her in a rush. She’d known this was coming, but for him to ask her so nonchalantly blew her mind. “We’re not talking about me.” There was no reason to talk about it. She didn’t owe him anything…except he’d been there for her when she needed him. Didn’t that earn him the truth? He wasn’t Eric. He was so far from Eric, it was amazing that they both occupied the same planet.
“Sure we are.” He set his menu aside and propped his chin on his fists. “We’ve talked about me. Hell, I’ve told you things I haven’t told anyone else. While I’m not saying that it’s tit for tat, it’d be nice if you trusted me enough to return the favor.”
He was right. She knew he was right. But it was still so hard to talk about that time. The ironic thing was that it wasn’t the cancer that she was most ashamed of. It was that it had cost her both her pending marriage and her grandparents’ approval. “It’s hard to talk about.”
“I can only imagine.” The waitress approached, and he rattled off an order for each of them and then turned back to her without missing a beat. “I’m just trying to understand you. Let me in, darlin’.”
This was the moment when she could open up to him, or she could shut the whole thing down. It wouldn’t