“What if Everleigh’s return changes everything?” I asked, staring longingly into his eyes before placing a kiss on our joined hands. “Something happened that made her leave for eighteen months with Dawson. It affected her so much that we went months without talking. What if we have lost that friendship? What if the gap across the ocean gave her the clarity to realize that being apart from me was the best thing she ever did?”
“Have you listened to yourself?” Luke questioned me as he stood up and moved around to sit next to me. His hand gripped my thigh and traveled up the length of it as his other hand curled around my cheek. “You, Fred, have been a constant for her. It seems Everleigh is as strong-willed as those other two women downstairs and I tell you… If she had an issue, she wouldn’t be scared to tell you.”
“Everleigh is protective,” I chuckled. “She’s probably going to tear me a new one for this party.”
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t. I find it quite comfortable there. The last thing she’d need is a pissed off, horny boyfriend on a rampage.” Luke kissed the corner of my mouth as Robert coughed, holding out the lager and putting it on the table.
“Everleigh has enough of that from Dawson.” I laughed as Robert raised his brow.
“Sorry, lovebirds.” Robert turned to Luke and pointed at me. “Gonna have to steal him if you actually want to get out of here tonight.”
“Go,” Luke mouthed as I slid out of the booth and got to work. “I’m counting the minutes.”
“Me too.” I grabbed the towel off Robert’s shoulder and flicked it towards him, catching his arm and making him jump. I watched Luke’s pupils darken, and I bit my bottom lip as Robert glared at my actions before he smirked at the pair of us.
“Come on then,” Robert said.
“After you.”
Luke was right. I couldn’t fault his logic. He was my boyfriend, after all. Everleigh had a mouth on her and if she had a problem, she’d say it. I just hoped that whatever had upset Luke earlier with his friend Christopher, he could open up and talk to me about it, eventually. I couldn’t help but worry what could be wrong, but at least he hadn’t lied to me. I knew that whatever was wrong, I would be as supportive to Luke with Christopher as he was to me with Everleigh.
Because if someone meant so much to Luke, then they automatically meant a lot to me, too. I just hoped it didn’t hurt him in any way because the moment someone affected Luke’s heart, mine suffered too because right now, I saw that his family fit right next to mine.
Which meant that Luke fit right next to me.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
LUKE
It had been several days since Freddie had begun planning the party for Everleigh’s return. We hadn’t been seeing a lot of each other through the days with work and everything separating us. It had been strange, but I was happy that whenever we did pass during the day, he’d always reach for my hand and squeeze it or he would come into the bar and kiss me before he started his shift.
Each night, though, it would always end the same; with one of us in the other’s bed, wrapped in each other’s arms. It hadn’t all been about sex, either. Sometimes it was just being held by each other, our bodies close together. I had worried before that it was a more physical connection we had than an emotional one, but each time I fell asleep in his arms, I knew that our emotional bond was turning into a stronger force than just our two bodies together moving as one.
The night of the party was finally here and to say Freddie was a wreck would be putting it mildly.
“Hey.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his shoulders as he tied a knot in what had to be the third tie he had tried on. “I’m the one who is supposed to be a nervous wreck when meeting your best friend. You need to calm down.”
He chuckled. “I’m being a drama queen, aren’t I?” He tightened the knot before he turned around to face me. He pulled me closer and placed his arms over my shoulders.
“A little bit,” I teased back. I leaned forward and pecked his lips, moaning when I felt him stroke his fingers through the back of my hair. “That feels good.”
“She is going to love you.” Another kiss. “It’s just that after everything that happened to her and then she took off…”
“It’ll be okay, Freddie.” I placed my hands either side of his hips, pushing him back. I didn’t stop until I was pressing him up against the wall. “If it helps,” I whispered, “just think of my mouth on your cock when we get back here after the party.” I licked my tongue up the side of his neck before I nibbled his earlobe. I sucked it into my mouth, soothing the sting with my tongue. “I want to mark you,” I gritted out. I stepped closer, pushing him firmer against the wall.
Before I could do just that, his fingers tightened in the back of my hair and he pulled my mouth up to his. He thrust his tongue in between my parted lips, making me groan as he sucked my tongue into his mouth.
I rocked my cock against him, wishing we were wearing less clothes. I pulled back, needing to stop this, before I stripped him down and locked him in the bedroom for the rest of the night.
“Don’t do this to me.” I groaned and took a step back while readjusting myself. “I’m not going to score any brownie points if I make the organizer late for the party, will I?” I rhetorically asked.
“I guess not.” He grinned before he grabbed his suit jacket off the back of the sofa. “I could help you out before we go?” He flattened the collar of his jacket as he looked at me, looking sexy as fuck as he did it.
I had never been a huge fan of a man in a suit, but with Freddie… Fuck, he knew how to fill out a suit. He walked toward me slowly.
“It wouldn’t take me long to make you come apart.” He placed his hand on my chest before he began to move it down my body. “Can’t exactly take you to the party with you like this.” He placed his hand on my belt, but before it could go any further, we were disturbed by an insistent knocking on the door.
“Saved by the Isobel,” I teased, having a feeling it may be her.