Part 10 (2/2)
Dropping his chin to his chest, he pondered her request before lifting his head back to hold her gaze. ”Okay,” he agreed, but nodded to her wine gla.s.s. ”Give me a minute 'cause I think I'll join you in that.”
She smiled as he walked into the kitchen to pour a gla.s.s of wine for himself. Admiring the way his draw-string pajama bottoms hung on his tight a.s.s, she was startled as he headed back to her, his naked chest and abs creating just as stunning a view.
Lifting an eyebrow, he said, ”What on earth are you thinking?”
”Just admiring the view,” she said with a grin. Patting the sofa next to her, she offered the silent invitation to join her.
After an appreciative sip of the wine, he said, ”I don't think there's much to tell, to be honest. My parents were scholars. Loving, but a bit absent-minded. I was the typical nerd boy, picked on in school until I finally hit a growth spurt in middle school, and that helped.”
”Helped?” she queried.
”It's hard...for a boy,” Luke explained. ”If you're big, you have a better chance of being more popular...or at least not being picked on. But if you're not, and especially if you are different in any way, then you're much more likely to be bullied.”
Her heart automatically ached for the bullied child he had been, understanding in her eyes. ”What happened?”
”I was lucky. We had these great neighbors-he's the one I told you taught me about karate. With his help, I learned to defend myself and work out. With my pre-adolescent growth spurt, I was more confident.”
”I heard about you when I went to MIT,” she confessed.
”What'd you hear?”
”You were kind of a legend in the Engineering program. You had just graduated and were super smart...even by MIT standards. I used to look at your picture on the wall as the past Engineering Society president and have to admit...I was smitten.”
”Smitten?” he laughed.
Giving his arm a playful slap, she admonished, ”Don't make fun of me.” Hesitating for a moment, she added, ”We met...once.”
His brows lowered as his mouth opened slightly, surprise on his face. ”When?”
”When you came back after you graduated to give the speech. I was the girl who tripped going into the building.”
A flash of memory flew through Luke as his confusion melted into a smile. ”That was you? I was so nervous thinking about giving a speech to an auditorium full of people that I rushed away too quickly.”
”I was just a dorky freshman and you had been such a campus hottie.”
Leaning over to place a soft kiss on her wine-flavored lips, he whispered, ”I like being your hottie.”
Licking her lips, she stared at him, not believing that the man she used to drool over years before was now kissing her. Blinking rapidly to keep from being overwhelmed by his presence, she ordered, ”Keep going. Tell me all about you.”
Offering a self-deprecating shrug, he said, ”I took a job with the CIA out of college.”
At that, her eyes bugged. ”Really. The CIA?”
”You don't have to be impressed,” he added. ”I thought it would be exciting and, while I turned down some very lucrative private offers, working for the government seemed the right thing to do. But I was stuck in a cubicle writing security code all day.”
”Why did you leave?”
”Just when I thought I would make a difference the bureaucracy would get in the way. Security didn't want to clear a new program that I wanted to use. The higher ups said they wanted cutting edge programs but then the security nixed everything. I felt like I was always. .h.i.tting a brick wall.”
”Then what?”
”I met Marc on an a.s.signment. He was a pilot for Homeland Security and then for the CIA. I was actually given a field a.s.signment and he was the pilot. We became friends and he was just in the process of interviewing with Jack, having served with him overseas.” Chuckling, he said, ”We couldn't have been more different, but we bonded.”
c.o.c.king her head to the side, she asked, ”Different? How? All of you Saints seem sort-of alike.”
Eyes wide, he shook his head, incredulously. ”Alike?”
Giggling, she said, ”You know. Tall. Big. Muscular. Kind of larger-than-life. And definitely alpha.”
Hearing her giggle, Luke decided it was the sound he loved the best. And knowing she was now relaxed enough to actually find something amusing was an even better reward.
”Luke, do you remember the night at the bar...when the fight broke out?” Gaining his nod, she continued, ”Well, as soon as the first punch was thrown, all the Saints jumped up and immediately created a wall of muscle in front of the women.”
”Oh, no,” he protested. ”Are you going to tell me that we shouldn't have done that? Or that the move was too alpha?”
”No, no,” she a.s.sured. ”Quite the contrary. I thought it was...nice. Every one of those women I have met so far has been smart and strong. And yet, you all created a safe haven for them in the middle of that chaos. I...guess I felt envious.”
”I never told you that I saw what you did to the man in the suit that night. Gotta admit, it was the s.e.xiest thing I've ever seen.” He smiled as she laughed out loud again. ”I've been telling you about me, but you've got to tell me about the karate.”
”A couple of years ago, I took a self-defense cla.s.s at a local YMCA.” Her face scrunched at the memory. ”It was actually Eli that suggested I take lessons.”
”Eli?” Luke asked, unable to hide his surprise.
”Yeah. He knew I wasn't living in the best apartment building at the time and he said he wanted me safe.” Her eyes searched Luke's as she added, ”As odd as Eli could be, he really was a friend.” Heaving a sigh, she said, ”I discovered I was good at it and the instructor gave me private lessons after that.”
A strange bolt of jealousy shot through Luke at the thought of Charlie's private lessons and what all that might have entailed. A punch on his shoulder jerked his attention back to her.
”What was that look for?” she asked, her eyebrows drawn together.
”Nothing. Well...actually I wondered how private these lessons were?” He cringed at how possessive he sounded, the unfamiliar emotion rocking him.
”Hmmm, would it make you feel better to know that the lessons included his teenage daughter and wife?”
Releasing a held breath, Luke dropped his head. ”Okay...busted. Yes, it would make me feel better.”
”I'd never done anything like it before,” Charlie admitted. ”I was the proverbial nose-in-a-book girl. I know you said it was hard for guys, but being the dorky nerd girl wasn't a piece of cake either. And college was no better. I dated rarely, just enjoying friends. And then working for myself, I really found out what lonely can be.”
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping their wine as the shadows pa.s.sed over the room.
”You know what's crazy?” she finally asked. Seeing his curious face turn back toward her, she said, ”Being on the run for the past five months has been lonely. Scary. And the nightmares of remembering his murder have been horrifying.” Running her finger around the rim of her gla.s.s, she paused, sucking in her lips.
”Go on,” he whispered.
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