She smiled. “I’m sure. Since you don’t acquire or create multimillion-dollar businesses every other day.”
He shrugged, and she loved the feel of his muscular shoulders under her fingertips. “Yeah, but that’s just about money and experimenting with all the ideas in my head. This is …” His voice deepened. “So much more important to me.”
Mar’s stomach filled with unfamiliar heat. She’d kissed different men, sometimes enjoyed it, sometimes not. She couldn’t recall being this invested and hot all over from something as simple as being held close to a tough guy’s body while he teased with her. She didn’t believe for one minute that a kiss from her was more important than acquiring another business. Luke was too powerful, too driven, and too smart to allow himself to become attached to any woman quickly. Just because she’d been thinking about him for the past three months didn’t mean he’d returned the favor. Sometimes she hated her practical side.
“Don’t mess up, then,” she whispered, praying he wouldn’t.
Luke nodded, acting very serious and thoughtful. “My third and final guess is that … you wished to be kissed—”
She pulled in a quick breath of air and felt even more heat fill her body.
“—thoroughly and beautifully—” His voice was so beautiful, she wanted to just tug his head down and kiss him then and there. “—by a man who knows exactly what you want.” He pulled her tighter against him, and his blue eyes sparkled. “If only I knew who that man might be.”
Mar let out a shaky laugh. She was literally panting for air, and his embrace was even better than she’d hoped. She couldn’t feel the cold air around them. A crowd could be watching and she wouldn’t care. Yet he hadn’t completed the wish. Was that on purpose? To tease her further, or because he didn’t want to kiss her? Maybe her desire was written all over her face and he didn’t want to hurt her. Maybe he only kissed women who knew it was only for fun.
She studied him and decided she was worrying for nothing. The look in his eyes made her bolder than she maybe should’ve been. The look in his eyes said he was every bit as invested in her, and in this moment, as she was.
She ran her hands up his shoulders and around his neck, tugging him even closer. Their breath mingled, and she fought hard to control her breathing and not simply press her lips to his like she was aching to do.
“Would you like me to tell you who that man is?” she asked, breathless despite her best efforts.
“Yes, please,” he murmured.
She swallowed, took a quick breath, and blurted it before she chickened out: “You.”
She thought Luke might tease, or give her a sexy look, or grin. He didn’t. His eyes got very serious, and he nodded. “That’s what I was hoping for.”
Then he kissed her, and Mar’s world upended. Luke kissed her as thoroughly and beautifully as he’d said she wanted to be kissed, and he was definitely the man who knew exactly what she wanted. The kiss was intense yet pure and filled with a longing and promise she’d never experienced with any man. Luke’s kiss lit her up and made her feel like she was walking on clouds. He held nothing back, and the kiss felt like the most beautiful pledge. Luke would be there for her, to hold her, to cherish her, and to love her.
As this last thought swirled through her mind, she gasped for air and pulled back. Luke quickly straightened, looking down at her with shock in his blue eyes. Mar pulled in a ragged breath and wished she could kiss him all over again. Yet … love? Had she really gone there? Was she that desperate for love and family that she’d fancy herself in love with a man she hardly knew? It scared her. She’d dated a lot of men, tried her hand with different semi-serious relationships, but never fancied herself in love with any of them.
Pulling completely from his arms, she forced a sassy smile on her face and said, “Thank you for fulfilling my wish.”
Luke cleared his throat and nodded quickly, his blue eyes far too serious. “You’re welcome.”
The moment between them had shattered. Mar wished they could recreate it, but she was too afraid. She’d assumed this would be a shallow, fun, light connection between them. They’d kiss and happily go their separate ways. The incredible power behind that kiss couldn’t simply be ignored, but she had no clue what to do about it. If she alluded to a tenth of what she was feeling, Luke would probably push her into the fountain and run the other direction. If there was any truth to the Internet search she’d done on him, he was a player who had never focused on any one woman. She’d known that going in. Why did it hurt so bad now?
She walked toward the park exit and back to her house. Luke stayed by her side, and they chatted about all the fun things they’d done the past day and a half. It was a comfortable conversation. She shouldn’t notice that he didn’t touch her. She shouldn’t notice that neither of them referenced the kiss again. She shouldn’t be sad that he was leaving her tomorrow.
As he left her on her doorstep with a smile and a thank-you, she noticed all those things and more. Somehow the emptiness inside her was even worse after experiencing a kiss and a connection like that, since she knew she probably wouldn’t feel either again.