“Cammie?” My teeth clanked together at the sound of Grant’s sleepy voice from behind me. SHIT!
“I’m coming!” I said before I threw my leg up and over the iron balcony ledge. Once both of my legs were over it, in less than a second, I jumped.
It was quick. I didn’t even have time to second-guess, or shit myself, from the free-fall (read as: skydiving) experience.
I landed in Luke’s open arms softly, and he didn’t even so much as let out a grunt. I looked up at his shining face, and his huge smile took my breath away. The way his muscled forearm felt on my exposed back left me speechless. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t even muster up a squeak.
I felt exhilarated, turned-on, and totally overwhelmed.
“That was a fucking brilliant trust exercise, am I right?” he asked, and I busted out laughing. I felt his chest rumble against my body, and then we snapped back into panic mode when Grant yelled from up above, “What the fuck!”
Luke sat me on the ground, swiped up the chocolate chip bag (we’d left our other ammo in the apartment; I guess Grant could think of it as a parting gift), and we took off down the road, running with increased speed.
The second we rounded the corner to our street, we stopped and couldn’t contain our laugher. Luke bent over, placing his hands on his knees, and I was left clutching my stomach and trying to catch my breath.
Once we both calmed down and could stand up straight again, I looked over at Luke.
“I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in at least a year.”
He grinned at me, one cheek lifted. “I don’t think I have, either. I needed that, Cammie.” He chuckled again and looked away, but not before I saw an indecipherable expression on his face.
The question I wanted to ask was on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know more about him, why he said those things to me earlier. I shouldn’t want to know, but I definitely did.
I went to open my mouth to ask him, but my phone started to vibrate in my back pocket. I answered and Becky’s voice boomed over the line, asking me to come into work because one of the new nurses had gotten sick in the middle of doing an IV.
“Well, I hope she got the IV in,” I laughed, and Becky cursed. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
I put my phone back in my pocket and placed my eyes back on Luke. He was standing a few feet away, his body angled slightly towards me. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his mouth was turned down into a tiny frown. I etched the sharp edges of his jaw bone in my mind, all the way up to his skull, like I was making a picture of him in my head. The man had perfect bone structure. He could have been a poster boy for the Marine Corps. No doubt.
“Get called into work?” he asked, without looking over at me. His head was still tilted towards the starry, midnight sky.
“Yeah,” I answered, rocking back on my heels. “One of the nurses puked on a patient…so Becky sent her home.”
Luke chuckled, “Jesus.”
We stayed mostly quiet while walking down the sidewalk towards our homes. The street was completely bare. Every house had darkened windows except for the both of ours. We got to my house first, and I stood awkwardly, unable to move my feet in the right direction to throw my scrubs on. Usually when I’d get called into work, it was welcome. I was never completely thrilled with the idea of getting up off my couch to drive to the hospital, but I was never really bummed about it. So, this reluctance to go in right now…is odd.
I was genuinely disappointed. I didn’t want to leave Luke. I didn’t want to go inside and throw on those damn navy scrubs and trek to the hospital to finish a shift. I wanted to stay right here, in this moment, because it was the first time I had felt alive in a long time.
I don’t think I’d ever felt like this.
“Well, Doc,” Luke said, eyes twinkling. “Thanks for blowing off some steam with me.”
I suppressed a grin. “That was blowing off steam? Surely all those women you parade home is blowing off steam…right?”
His eyes narrowed with a little tilt of his head, and I was praying to the gods, or anyone who would listen, that he wouldn’t realize just how jealous I was. Because that was exactly why I’d said that. I recognized this far-off feeling. I was jealous. I was insanely jealous of all the women he slept with. Lord, have mercy on my soul.
“Nah, this was much more fun. Plus, I kinda got to cop a feel…”
My face burned with heat. He winked at me and started to walk back to his house.
When he reached his top step and looked over at me from several feet away, he very slyly said, “I’m never going to forget the fact that you dated a man who cuddles with a blow-up doll.”
Yep, and now I’m back to wanting to smack him.
Twelve
The long, red, satin dress hung loosely from my closet door. It was just staring at me. Taunting me. Preparing me for a long night of being surrounded by Marines and their loud, free-spirited ways. The dress was preparing me for the dreadful speech that was going to be made in my brother’s honor. I took a deep breath, placed my hands on my hips, and let it out very slowly.