Page 95 of Whispers and Wildfire
I pressed my back into the wall, trying to keep space between us. “Okay, noon, then.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “You want the whole ten hours?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I don’t know. You said noon, so I said noon. I see you all day at work. You don’t have to come over that early.”
He placed his hand on the wall and leaned in, lowering his voice. “How about this? I’ll be at your place at six. With dinner.”
My entire body was on fire. It was hard to think. Everything was swirling out of control. His face was so close, all I’d have to do is lift my chin and our lips would touch.
“Dinner is good. But how? You can’t drive.”
“I’ll get a ride.”
“Well, that’s good at least. I paid good money for you. I shouldn’t have to pick you up too.”
He grinned again, his nose almost brushing against mine. “Great. It’s a date.”
My breath caught as he hesitated—not moving away but not moving in either. A second later, he stepped back, still looking at me like he knew all my secrets.
“It’s not a date,” I said. “I bought you.”
“All right, Mel. Not a date. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
It felt like I couldn’t quite catch my breath as I watched him walk away. Why had I let him fluster me like that? It was just Luke. I didn’t have feelings for—
And for the first time, I couldn’t finish my own lie.
CHAPTER 23
Luke
Dark clouds had rolled in overnight, bringing
humidity but not a drop of rain. The gloomy sky added to the ominous sense of foreboding in my gut as Theo drove me to Melanie’s house. His auction “date” was already over. The woman who’d won him had wanted him to play football with her four sons. He’d had a great day.
As for me, how would this go down? Would Melanie and I spend the evening fighting? Or maybe find some common ground? Hard to say. When it came to Melanie Andolini, you could never be quite sure what you were going to get.
There was excitement in that, though. I could feel the tingle of adrenaline flowing through me. I didn’t know why she did that to me, how the anticipation of seeing her lit me up more than a race ever could. But it happened all the time.
I liked it.
It was dangerous. She was dangerous, and I knew it. We’d crashed and burned once, and the fallout had been worse than bruised ribs and a wrecked car. It had taken me years to get over her.
Maybe I never really had.
“How are you feeling?” Theo asked.
The pain from my injuries had mostly receded to a dull ache as long as I didn’t make any sudden movements. “Not too bad. Thanks again for the ride. I could probably drive, but—”
“Don’t,” he said, cutting me off. “You start driving before you’re healed enough, and you’ll just do more damage.”
“Fair enough.”
He hesitated for a moment. “We’re not going to talk about it, are we?”
I knew what he meant. Melanie. “Nope.”
“Okay. But…”
