Coming home

chapter 22

Claire was reading in her bed when Luke knocked on the door jamb, drawing her attention. She knew they needed to talk about some things, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to do it tonight. Claire knew Luke would wait til she got to a good place to put her book down, but he was such a distraction standing there that she would have to reread it if she continued anyway.

Claire placed her bookmark and laid the book on the nightstand before she looked up at him. The look on his face told her that he was contemplating where or how to start. Claire patiently waited for Luke to gather his thoughts.

“You are good with her,” Luke started. “I didn’t realize how much she needed this.”

“Elizabeth is a smart and kind-hearted child with a big personality,” Claire responded. “ I can’t imagine anyone not being good with her.”

“Well, I obviously haven’t. I realized tonight that I don’t really know her,” Luke emphasized this by plopping down on her bed while covering his face with both hands.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Claire said, placing a hand on his arm. “You are a male and sometimes males are oblivious to these types of things.” Luke looked at Claire with hope that he wasn’t responsible for Elizabeth’s lack of emotional growth.

“Did you notice that she called you Luke tonight and not all the other names she was trying to label you with?”

“She did, didn’t she?” Luke acknowledged with a puzzled look. “Did I do something wrong again without realizing it?”

“No. No. That’s not what is happening,” Claire assured. “She just isn’t trying to place a label on you just because she thinks she has too. She is no longer trying to normalize her life. You are her Luke and she now knows that is her normal but unique thing.”

Luke looked puzzled still, so Claire continued. “Elizabeth’s whole life has been… Chaotic, for lack of a better world. She had developed a cooping technique of trying to calm the chaos with what she viewed as normal from what she saw of her friends' families. It shows growth that she isn’t doing that anymore.”

Claire knew Luke understood when relief washed over his face but was quickly replaced by a look of regret.

“Claire,” he looked sincere. “I need to apologize to you.”

Claire was caught off guard and only offered a “For?”

“I was as unfair to you as I was to Elizabeth. I never took the time to actually know you and show you the attention I should have. And for that I’m sorry,” Luke sheepishly eyed Claire.

“ Phewsh,” said Claire, dismissing the apology with the flick of her hand. We were young and foolish. We didn’t know what we were doing.” If she gave credit to his actions, then she would have to give credit to her role in the misunderstanding and admit that she had been foolish to hold on to anger for that long. She would have to admit that her whole life would have been different if she hadn’t been so hardheaded. Nope, Claire wasn’t ready to go down that rabbit hole of what if’s.

“Don’t dismiss it,” Luke grabbed her hand, as if that stopped it from happening. “There was an us. It did happen. It was real, or it was for me.”

Claire lowered her eyes, her glaze landing on her hand that he was holding. She didn’t quite have the words to say to him. His words had been sincere but they were too late coming. They had been separated by years, ten years to be exact. Were they even the same people that had been in love back then?

Claire’s glaze raised to meet Luke’s head on. The look in his eyes pulls at her heart. She lifted her hand and gently touched the side of his face, wondering if they could put the past hurts behind them. Luke took it as he was forgiven and closed the distance between them.

Claire sighed as Luke brushed his lips lightly on hers, sending electric pulses throughout her body. A pattern of chill bumps was left in the wake of the path his hand took while traveling up her arm, stopping at the nape of her neck as he pulled her deeper into the kiss. It was gentle but needy, mixing emotions deep within her chest before exploding down her nerve endings, leaving her breathless.

Luke breathed in the vanilla sent of her skin. The moan that escaped Luke, sending a vibration through Claire’s mouth, was her undoing. She clung to him like he was the only life presever on a sinking ship. Claire pulled him down with her as she sunk deep within the bed. She had wanted to feel the weight of him covering her body. Claire winced in pain when her goal was met.

Luke cursed under his breath. Her shoulder. He couldn’t believe he was so caught up that he forgot her shoulder. He shifted his weight and went to roll off of her when Claire dug her fingernails into him, stopping him in his tracks. Luke glazed down at Claire with a questioning look.

“Please don’t stop,” she pleaded.

“Give me a second,” Luke said, brushing a light kiss on her forehead before he removed himself from her and her bed. When Luke stood staring down at her, Claire couldn’t help but to blush. He turned and headed for the door. Claire thought he was going to leave her after all, but Luke just peaked out the door before pushing it silently closed and turning the lock.

Within minutes, Luke was at her side once again. “There is no rush,” he muttered. “We have all night.” He hoped he was right. It had been a long time since they had been together. He hoped his stamina was up to the challenge. He slowly ran his hand up her shirt to her breast and felt her shiver. Maybe stamina wouldn’t be a problem after all, Luke thought.

Thank goodness for tie strings, Luke thought as he freed first one shoulder, then the other shoulder, sliding her shirt down to her waist, exposing two perfect mounds. Just Luke’s glaze had hardened the tips, making Claire ache until she pulled his mouth down to them with the one good arm. Claire moaned out in pleasure as he took one peak into his warmness. Claire’s body rocked with shock waves of pure ecstasy when Luke’s hand traveled down to her warm wet center, making her beg for more.

It seemed like a lifetime before Luke gave in and discarded his clothes, displaying his own throbbing pleasure source. Without hesitation, Claire grasped it with her hand, playing teasingly until she guided him into her. Her body exploded with pleasure at Luke’s slow penetration, making them both lose all control simultaneously.

“Well, that was faster than planned,” Luke uttered embarrassingly when he could breathe normally again.

“Well you only said we had all night, not how many times we were going to start again,” Claire grinned mischievously as she slid down teasingly licking, stirring up the inner fire once again. Luke sighed as Claire took the lead.