He was right when we first met. My existence pre-Luke was boring. He crashed his way into my life and made it fun.
I listen absently as the guide talks over the speakers about the history of the mountain and its significance, but what I’m really focused on is Luke’s hand in mine.
As soon as we sat down, he linked his fingers with mine and hasn’t moved them. I’d grumbled and muttered, but he’d ignored me.
I bite back a smile at the thought.
I will not smile.
“Hey, yeah, I have a question,” Luke says when the guide opens up the floor for questions. “Why don’t these trains have bathrooms? Seems like that might be an issue for some passengers.”
The guide grins softly. I’d smile at him like that, too, if I was someone else. He’s endearing in his own way.
She briefly explains how the train can’t accommodate them, but I’m only half listening. I’m justfeelingLuke next to me. It’s almost like an out-of-body experience.
Luke leans back, satisfied with her response. “Fucking interesting, huh?”
“Yes.” It’s not interesting, yet here I am saying that it is.
The announcer takes a few other questions from passengers and then says, “I just found out that we can’t go any farther up the mountain. The tracks up ahead are frozen. We do apologize and are offering refunds back at the station….”
“Shit,” Luke says, eyeing an older couple across the aisle. “Someone is going to pee their pants. Hope they brought diapers.”
I pinch my lips shut, lest I laugh. “And this is what’s cluttering that brain of yours?”
He nudges me. “Hell yeah. And, you know, thoughts of you.”
“Hm, I rank up there with adult diapers. How very charming.”
Luke pulls our entwined hands up to his mouth, biting down softly on the tip of my thumb.
“You’re so funny, Eli.”
I glance away from him, feeling my heart stutter a little too painfully in my chest. It’s not a medical condition. I’m a doctor, so I know. No, this is far worse.
This is my heart falling a little inlikewith this man. I told myself I wouldn’t ever let myself fall again. I never meant for any of this to happen.
Luke just burst into my life like a four-alarm fire and burned my sheltered hideaway to the ground.
I’m exposed now.
He leans closer to me.“When we get back to the bottom, let’s get dinner downtown, and then,” he presses his lips to my ear and whispers, “we can go back to the room and fuck around.”
I shift in my seat, my hand still clasped in his.
“You could take out that torture kit of yours. Play with me a bit.”
I bite my lip to stifle a smile. “That could be arranged.”
He huffs a laugh and eyes me.
“I’ve got the biggest boner right now,” he mutters, and I peek down and see it. “Stop looking, that just makes it worse.”
I feel my cheeks heat, and I force my gaze out the window. I will not stare at his dick like a dog begging for treats. I have more self-control than that.
But all through dinner at the small, eclectic restaurant downtown, I internally squirm.
“What made you want to go into welding?” I suddenly ask, because I need to focus on something else and prove to myself I can carry on an adult conversation, dammit.