Such A Good Guy

5. Luna

CHAPTER 5

Luna

T raveling with Luke O’Neill was always a memorable experience for an introvert like myself.

While I always solo traveled with my head down, my nose in my Kindle, and trying to talk to the fewest amount of people, he was a fucking inexhaustible fount of energy. Chatty, friendly, with a kind word for everyone he passed. He had compliments for everyone, from a big tip to the limo driver for dropping us off at the airport, to praise for the shitty burgers we picked up for $25 apiece, to the flight attendant for our seats in first class. Even the pilot got a hearty handshake, wink, and offer to help.

Even the cheesiest fucking shit was gold when it came from Luke.

And boy, it was fucking easy as shit to walk through an airport with him. That gleaming angel’s smile, his easy, friendly magnetism had every travel agent shepherding him through the process, guiding him to the front of the lines so he wouldn’t be inconvenienced.

He apologized to everyone for cutting in line as they guided us past.

And once they turned around they ate it up, because he gleamed like the absolute sun.

The annoying thing about his perfections was that although Luke was a chatterer, he always seemed to know when I was tired of playing cards or cribbage and just wanted to nap.

“Thank you,” I said sleepily as he stretched his tall form to grab a blanket for me.

“No problem,” he said.

`His T-shirt rode up a bit, showing the dark lines of his tattoos winding in looping spirals up his ribs and side. I tried not to look at his flat tanned stomach, the gleaming lines of muscle, and how he had tattooed himself in so many different languages.

“What do they all say?” I asked, annoyed to realize I was having to repress a desire to reach out and touch them.

Ovulation could go fuck itself because this was Luke we were talking about here.

No one could be less compatible with me than a man who literally stopped at every single mall kiosk and explained earnestly that he could not purchase the product but he wished them well in future endeavors.

“Do you really want to know?” Luke asked. “They are special to me.”

This set off warning bells in my head. I shouldn’t be looking, and this could spiral out of control if I let it.

“Never mind,” I said hastily, ignoring the buzz on my skin. “I’m going to go to sleep now. It’s a long flight.”

He looked perfectly happy and unperturbed at this, and I tried to focus on him through narrowed eyes.

What had been that expression I had seen on his face?

Was I just so sleep-deprived after my flights that I had imagined it?

There was nothing fucking feral about Luke O’Neill.

He didn’t even try to cop a feel as he tucked the blanket around me, his hands always at the appropriate, very friendly level.

My breasts still absolutely ached, throbbingly painful underneath my shirt, and I wanted to rip the fabric off, do anything to relieve their swollen heat, but of course I couldn’t do that.

The next day we flew into Nunavut, my eyes glued to the window as I watched permafrost and rocky tundra with scrubby trees pass by underneath. The capital city of Iqaluit was only a small town really, with a few thousand people, and the airport was a beautiful bright red color.

We collected our bags and I rubbed my eyes sleepily.

“I feel like death has warmed me over and regurgitated me into a deep freezer.”

I piled my loose waves into a messy bun on top of my head.

“Let’s go eat,” Luke said. “I want you to keep up your strength.”

OK, he had always been kind of protective of me, but that was going a little far.

I did need to eat something and then get out of these goddamn jeans. Not only were they tight as fuck and cutting into my belly, but my pussy felt like it was swollen, too.

What on earth could be causing this?

These were not normal ovulation symptoms. My pussy felt overheated, like there was a pulse beating through my pussy lips. I darted a glance over at Ignatius. Maybe having sex with him would cure me.

“Want to come with us?” I asked.

“No, he has to go do work at the hotel,” Luke said sharply. “Too busy.”

I huffed internally but said nothing, since I was too busy trying to pull my jeans down at the knees and relieve some pressure on my aching pussy.

God, it was throbbing, my panties fucking soaked.

“Luna, I have something I want to ask you,” Luke said after we found a little lunch place and ordered. Caribou loin and mashed potatoes for him, and Nunavut arctic char for me.

My stomach twisted nervously.

Fuck. I had been trying to avoid this.

What was this anyway? Why now? Why after my brother had just died?

“Luke, maybe we shouldn’t. . .” I began.

But when I trailed off, he spoke.

“Have you ever thought about. . .you and me?” he asked, his blue eyes fastened on my dark ones.

I stilled a moment, playing nervously with my silverware.

How could I let him down easily without making the whole trip awkward?

“You and me what?”

“You and me together. ”

His blue eyes were bright and magnetic.

Oh my god, and he’d been so nice flying me out here and helping me with all this paperwork. He’d literally already done so much to get my brother’s ashes sent home.

“I’d love to take you out on a real date, Luna,” Luke continued.

Why wouldn’t he look away? Turn those magnetic eyes to someone else?

He paused for a moment as the waitress brought back two steaming cups of coffee.

She was clearly trying to get him to notice her, but he was just looking at me.

“No,” I said firmly. “You’re my brother’s best friend. It would just be weird.”

“It wouldn’t be weird,” Luke said, smiling at me. “Oh, excuse me?” he called back to the waitress. “Can I get some cinnamon? She always likes it in her coffee.”

I gritted my teeth.

I did always take cinnamon in my coffee.

“I’ve known you too long, Luke. You’re practically family.”

“We’re not family,” Luke said, handing me the little jar of cinnamon, his fingers brushing against mine.

“OK, but I’ve never thought about you like that,” I added, shifting my ass so that my thighs weren’t rubbing together and putting pressure on my pussy.

I didn’t want to hurt him, damn it, but he was making it impossible not to.

He wasn’t getting the hints.

“I’m not romantically interested in you.”

I wanted to die when I could have sworn I saw a flash of something untamed and raw in his eyes. Then Luke shifted in his seat, briefly moving his hand over his mouth, and I saw him touch his chest for a moment.

God fucking damnit, Luke O’Neill wasn’t going to have a heart attack right in front of me, was he? Just because I said I didn’t think of him that way.

Then in a second he was himself again, all easy lazy humor and surfer boy vibes. He leaned back in his chair and cocked his head to look at me.

“Try it,” he said pleasantly. “Try thinking of me that way.”

“Oh stop, Luke!” I said impatiently, taking a sip of my hot coffee. “If it’s not there, it’s not there.”

He looked at me for a moment. “But I think it is there, Luna,” he said, smiling.

I felt a stab of irritation. It was not like Luke to contradict me or push anything. And I was usually a patient person but now he was pissing me off.

“ You can’t decide if it’s there or not,” I objected. “I have to agree, too.”

He said nothing for a moment, looking unblinkingly at me a moment longer than felt comfortable.

My heart pounded in my throat at his steady glance and I felt a strange trickle of fear.

There was something pulsing just below the surface. . .

“You’re a nice guy,” I assured him again. “I just don’t think of you that way.”

He leaned forward.

“I thought you wanted a nice guy,” he said.

The statement hung awkwardly between us.

“I do. . .I just. . . not you,” I said. “I don’t think there’s any chemistry between us.”

Luke again looked at me, and this time he held my glance for even longer, and I began to feel that uneasy trickle down my spine again, matched with a squirm in my gut.

What was making me feel uneasy?

Because normal fucking humans should have blinked, shouldn’t they?

Why the fuck wasn’t he blinking?

“Besides, it wouldn’t work,” I added as the silence stretched between us.

“Why not?” he asked, looking at me with those warm blue eyes. Tendrils of his golden blonde hair fell in his face as he leaned forward, one of his knees bumping into me because his legs were so long. There was a heat that seemed to pulse from him, rise from his skin.

Objectively, he was an extremely attractive man, but I just didn’t think of him that way.

Certainly not. Maybe once or twice when I was drunk, but definitely not more than that. It would never work.

“C’mon, Luke,” I said unhappily. “Don’t make me do this. We have nothing in common. You’re like, this, super peppy outgoing golden retriever. I’m more like an introverted black cat.”

“I like it,” he said immediately. “I love your personality. I fucking love how you’re quiet but so smart. How your mind is so damn analytical, too. And you’re interesting. You’re the only interesting person I fucking know. Reading and crystals. I could listen to you all day. I think everything you do is perfect. So tell me again how our personalities don’t go together.”

My face flamed and I wanted to move away, but suddenly his knee split my thighs apart and there he was, his knee hovering just a few inches from my swollen pussy.

I wasn’t sure if he realized how close he was to me, or if he was just manspreading because he had these wildly long legs.

Then he pressed his leg forward and his knee hit my overheated clit with a throb that I felt all the way down the back of my calves.

Just then the waitress arrived to deliver our orders.

I immediately regretted going with the arctic char.

What the absolute fuck had I been thinking to order fish right after getting off a plane? I obviously had developed motion sickness at my advanced age of 27 and should have known better.

I excused myself from the table and raced to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilets before throwing up.

Fucking hell! This was all stupid Luke’s fault for going on a tour of Canada that I just had to accompany him on. I had already filled out the paperwork to get my brother’s ashes released. What else could I possibly need to do?

I felt a little better after I had rinsed out my mouth and I unbuttoned the top button on my black jeans again. I would feel better when I had a shower at the hotel.

Walking back out, I noticed the waitress was still there, talking to Luke.

Good, maybe this would distract him from this ridiculous idea that we should date.

But as soon as I exited the bathroom, rinsed-out mouth, hair up in a messy bun, and my top button secretly undone because I was bursting out of my pants, his eyes zoomed in on me like a laser.

Even though she was literally standing right next to him in a dress so low-cut I could see the tips of her rosy little pink nipples poking out the top of the bodice, the name tag that said Whitney nestling between her perky tits so he couldn’t possibly miss it.

“I’m such a fan,” Whitney said, fingering the low hemline of her dress as she looked at Luke. “I never would’ve dreamed you would come to Nunavut.”

“Thank you,” he said politely, but he wasn’t even glancing over at her.

As I approached, he jumped up and pulled the chair out for me.

“Feeling OK?” he murmured in my ear.

Great, now he was going to gloat that I got motion sickness.

“Fine, I’m fine now,” I said.

“Should I get you some plain porridge?” he asked, his breath rustling curls at the back of my neck.

As I sat down, he put both arms on my chair and scooted me up to the table.

He was really taking the whole protective thing too far now.

“What am I, am invalid?” I said irritably. “I’ll take some oatmeal, though.”

“Got it,” Whitney said, biting her pink lips. “And want about you?” she asked, looking at Luke and putting a hand on her hip. “Want my phone number? I could show you around town. Give you anything you want. I’m very open-minded.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes again. By the way she was practically stroking herself in front of him, it was obvious what she wanted. This was going to be a whole long process, having to wade through everyone who wanted to fuck Luke just to get this paperwork done.

I pushed aside the char.

Why had I thought fish was a good idea?

My stomach roiled again.

Maybe it was just stress from him literally springing this insane idea that we should date on me.

I fished in my bag for the itinerary Luke had sent me.

How long was I going to have to do this? Maybe I could thank him for all his help and politely decline to accompany him on any more tour stops.

My fingers closed in on one of my favorite crystals for clarity—a rust-colored jasper.

Looking idly through my purse, my hands closed over my wallet, but not my passport.

Shit, I had put it right in my wallet. Now where the fuck was it? I needed that if I was going to get back in the US.

I was rifling through my bag when I heard Luke speak.

“I don’t want your number, because that’s Luna,” he said. “And I’ve been in love with her for a long time. Ever since the day I met her. She’s the only woman I have ever wanted.”