His Lover to Protect - Katee Robert Page 0,46

take much. One well-placed verbal jab and they’d be back on familiar territory and her heart would be safe. Because opening up to Luke was playing hell on her emotional state. She wished she could blame it on everything else going on, but it wouldn’t be the truth.

The truth was that something settled in her chest when she was in his arms, and she craved it with a violence that was usually reserved for chocolate and Dirty Dancing. If she let him in now, there would be no going back.

Alexis met his sea-green eyes, and the empathy there undid her. How could she stand against a Luke who protected her?

The answer—she couldn’t.

She bit her lip, seeming to waffle, and Luke held perfectly still while he waited. He could be patient when the situation called for it, and he couldn’t put into words how much he wanted to know the full story. Cancer was brutal to even the strongest person, and Alexis was certainly that, but it felt like there was more to the story. Something had put its poison into her heart and twisted, and he needed to know what it was.

As the waitress set two beers in front of them, she gave a defeated sigh. “Do you want the CliffsNotes version or the whole ugly tale?”

This would change everything between them. He was already on the fence about backing off when she went back to the States. If she gave him half a reason, he’d do everything in his power to convince her to give him a chance.

A chance at what?

Luke gritted his teeth. There was no point in fighting the truth—he’d already made a decision when it came to Alexis Yeung. He wasn’t letting her get away without a fight, which meant he needed all the information he could get his hands on, no matter how uncomfortable it made him. “Tell me all of it.”

Her smile wavered a bit around the edges. “I was afraid you’d say that.” She took a sip of her beer. “I’m not asking for pity, okay? I’m just telling you what you asked to know.”

Dread wormed its way into his gut. What the hell did she have to say that she felt the need to preface it with that warning? It doesn’t matter. I need to know the full story. “Look at me, darlin’. Mine is not the face of pity.”

She laughed like he’d wanted her to. “Fair point. Okay, here goes.” Another drink of beer, though this time she was obviously stalling. “When my mom died, there were a lot of changes. Obviously. Like I mentioned before, my grandparents transplanted from China and came to live with us and to make sure we were brought up right.” Her face twisted. “Their version of right, which included yanking me out of dance class because it didn’t meet the requirements of their standard of a good Chinese woman.”

He decided right then and there that someday he’d take Alexis dancing. He might not be able to keep up, but she obviously missed it. The longing was written all over her face. “They sound better and better, the more I hear.”

“You aren’t the only one to feel that way, but they’re family.” She shrugged. “The thing is, they’re extremely traditional. From the time I was eighteen, they had it drilled into my head that the only way to bring honor to the family was to marry a pure Chinese man and pop out a baby or two.”

The thought of her marrying someone, let alone having children with him, made him want to break something. The sheer violence of his response shocked him. Yeah, he hadn’t been thrilled with her threats to chase down any man who would have her, but those were just empty promises. Marriage… That was different. Permanent. He was so busy fighting his reaction to her story, he almost missed the next part.

“So after I finished college, I ended up engaged to Eric.”

Shock reared up and kicked him right in the chest. “You’re engaged?”

“Not anymore. He broke the engagement a little over a year ago.” She stared into her beer. “You see, when I was twenty-eight, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer—the same cancer that killed my mom. It wasn’t as far gone as hers—not by a long shot—but I still went through a full hysterectomy and a round of chemo.”

The sadness on her face hit him right where it hurt, and it was everything he could do not to reach for her.