“You’re overdressed too,” I whisper and my stomach clenches as I see his pupils dilate.
“So I am.” He unzips the jeans and pulls them and his boxers off in one smooth motion, leaving him gloriously naked before me.
“Come.” He holds his hand out to me so he can help me step into the water. I sink down and sigh as the hot water envelops me.
“Aren’t you going to join me?”
“Yes.” He steps in and sits facing me, his legs on either side of mine, and leans against the opposite side.
“This is nice.” It’s the truth. The water is soothing after the difficult encounter with his sister, and he’s naked, which makes everything nice.
“It is.”
“You’re very monosyllabic tonight, you know.”
He grins at me almost shyly. “I’m sorry. I have a lot going through my head.”
“Spill it.”
He shakes his head.
“Oh no you don’t. What’s going on in that handsome head of yours, Williams?”
“I’m really sorry about the way my sister treated you tonight.”
Oh.
“I’m just sorry for the way I reacted, Luke. I’m sorry that I made you uncomfortable, and for speaking that way to your family.”
“No, don’t apologize. She was way out of line. I had a bad feeling that she’d act like that, that’s why I called her last night.”
“Luke,” I pick up one of his feet and start to rub. His eyes widen and then he closes them and leans his head against the tub with a groan. “I don’t have siblings, but I can understand wanting to protect someone I love. What I don’t understand is, why the blatant hostility?
I don’t get it.”
“Well, something you said tonight hit a little too close to home,” he murmurs, then opens his eyes and sighs, looking everywhere but at me.
“What?”
“The part about me being stupid enough to be with someone I know is using me because I’m rich and famous.”
I gasp and drop his foot. Oh my God, this is mortifying.
“I don’t understand.”
He takes my right foot in his hands and rubs his thumb over my tattoo, frowning.
“My last relationship was with a woman who was with me for all those reasons.”
“Oh.” I do not want to hear this.
“Yeah.”
“How long ago?”
“I broke it off over a year ago.”
“I thought you said that you’ve never introduced anyone to your family.” I lean my head back on the tub. I just can’t look at him when I’m feeling jealous and nervous and unsure.
“I haven’t. They never met her. They knew of her, more so after the fact.”
I’m staring at the ceiling, listening to him, trying to find that zen-like calm I found at this parent’s dining room table.
“Why?” My voice is calmer than I feel.
“Because she went to the tabloids and said that she was pregnant when I decided to break our engagement.”
“What the fuck?” My head snaps up and I hold his gaze. “You’re a father?”
“No!” He tightly closes his eyes and shakes his head in frustration. “She sold the lie to the tabloids to get back at me for breaking up with her.”
“You were going to marry her?” I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach.
“Yes.” He’s watching me warily, no doubt gauging my reaction to all of this.
“And you never introduced her to your family?”
“She never had much interest in meeting them. Whenever I’d arrange it, something would come up.” He shrugs.
“And you didn’t find that odd?”
“I do now.”
“Why did you break it off?”
“Because she wasn’t right for me.”
“That’s a lame answer.”
“It’s the truth.” He shrugs, and then sighs. “I guess I finally realized that had I not been famous or wealthy she wouldn’t have given me the time of day.
She didn’t like it that I’d stopped acting, and hoped that the producing thing was just a phase and I’d miss being the center of attention. She wanted to be a celebrity
wife,
and
that
wasn’t
something I was interested in.”
“Do you still talk to her?”
“No.”
I lean my head back again and look at my now wrinkled fingers. The water is starting to cool. Time flies when you’re trying to hold a calm conversation about your lover’s ex-fiancé.
“I guess that explains a lot.”
“Nat…”
“Hold on.” I hold my hand up to stop him. “Give me a minute.”
“Okay,” he frowns and continues to rub my feet.
Why do I feel so betrayed all over again? And then it hits me.
“I must have looked pretty stupid to your family when I didn’t know about your ex-fiancé.”
He abruptly leans forward and pulls me onto his lap, ignoring the water sloshing onto the floor and wraps his arms around me.
“You were magnificent tonight. I didn’t know if I should be proud or emasculated at the way you jumped to my defense like that.”
“You should have warned me.”
“I know.”
I run my fingers through his hair and sigh. “We still have so much to learn about each other.”
“We’ll get there, baby.”
“It made me crazy when your sister was talking about you like that.”
He shakes his head and laughs ruefully. “Ironically, she was talking about you, baby.”
“I know, but in doing so she made it about you, and I couldn’t stand it.”
“No one has ever jumped to my defense like that. You were so calm and sure of yourself, and so pissed off. Your green eyes were on fire, and you just looked so beautiful. I wanted to fuck you right there at the table.”
“Luke Williams!” I pull back and stare at him, shocked.
“It’s true. You turned me on, big time.”
“I don’t think that would have been appropriate with your parents sitting at that same table.”
“I don’t think I would have cared if the Pope and Elvis were sitting at that table.”
I laugh and snuggle up against him again.
“Oh, baby, what am I going to do with you?”
“Anything you want.”
“Come on.” He stands me up out of the water, and then climbs to his feet behind me. I can’t get over how strong he is. He moves me around like I’m nothing at all.