And as was becoming more and more clear, she hadn’t done too terribly for herself, either. Yes, it seemed like the world was ending in the last few years, but she’d survived.

I survived.

She wasn’t magically cured and moving on with her life, but it felt like a step in the right direction. More than that, something shifted between her and Luke back there. She kept catching him shooting unreadable looks in her direction—probably because she was doing her fair share of looking at him. Waiting for him to react to what she’d confessed.

But he didn’t.

When he put forth the idea to come to Salzburg, she doubted he realized he was signing on for a complete emotional breakdown. Except he hadn’t stood back at a safe distance. No, he’d been there to hold her up when she felt like her entire body was about to break apart. He’d held her through the storm and stood as her own personal bastion.

“What do you think about getting some food?”

She responded before her mind caught up with her mouth. “I’m not really hungry.”

“I’ll bet.” He touched the small of her back in a move he’d been using most of the day, steering her toward a little café down a side street she hadn’t noticed. “This isn’t exactly an alley, but try to restrain yourself. I’m just feeding you, not luring you off to steal your virtue.”

Against all reason, she smiled. “That’s probably for the best. You already stole it once today.”

His laughter warmed places she hadn’t even realized were cold in the first place. Luke slipped his arm around her waist. “If you’re lucky, I’ll steal it again before the night is over.”

His joking restored some of the norm to the whole situation—if walking down the street with a man she met less than a week ago after having a hurricane of an emotional meltdown on the Sound of Music bus tour was normal. She kept expecting him to ask questions or something, but he seemed to be just rolling with it. “If I’m lucky? Honey, you were the one pleading earlier.”

His eyebrows rose. “You have a very selective memory. Pretty sure there was some please Luke, oh my God, please going on.”

Heat stole across her cheeks, but she couldn’t stifle her grin. God, I really, really like this guy. “Fine. We’ll call this one a draw.”

“Deal.” He held open the door for her. “Now, food. You might not feel like it, but you need to eat.”

She wasn’t sure what to do with this caring side of him. “You’re very mother-hen right now.” She couldn’t remember the last person she’d let take care of her. Avery bullied her way into it sometimes, but it had become rarer and rarer over the last few years. Alexis always said she didn’t need it—she was more than capable of taking care of herself—but it was kind of nice with Luke.

He surveyed the café and then guided her to an empty table in the corner. “Goes with the territory.”

“What territory is that?”

He opened his mouth, choked off whatever he’d been about to say, and gave her a strained smile. “Marines, you know.”

She got the strangest feeling that he’d just lied to her. But that didn’t make sense. He’d already told her he was a Marine, and the injury to his side was consistent with an IED explosion. So why the tingling on the back of her neck? She shook her head. It must be leftover tension from earlier. That was all. “I thought your lot was more point-and-shoot than caregiver.”

“Yeah. A lot easier to kill than to save a life.”

It was something she’d heard Ryan say more times than she could count. Alexis frowned. “You don’t know a friend of mine—Ryan Flannery—do you?” She held her breath while she waited for his answer.

Luke rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and these Flannery guys? Ex-boyfriends?”

Picturing either of the Flannery brothers as boyfriend material made her cringe, especially since Drew was currently engaged to her little sister. “Ew, no. Family friends. Ryan is a pararescuer.”

He picked up the menu and scanned it. “Ah, that explains it. Those PJs are fucking crazy.”

“It’s been said before.” And still she couldn’t shake the feeling she was missing something. “Luke—”

“When were you diagnosed with cancer?”

All her breath left her in a rush. She’d known this was coming, but for him to ask her so nonchalantly blew her mind. “We’re not talking about me.” There was no reason to talk about it. She didn’t owe him anything…except he’d been there for her when she needed him. Didn’t that earn him the truth? He wasn’t Eric. He was so far from Eric, it was amazing that they both occupied the same planet.

“Sure we are.” He set his menu aside and propped his chin on his fists. “We’ve talked about me. Hell, I’ve told you things I haven’t told anyone else. While I’m not saying that it’s tit for tat, it’d be nice if you trusted me enough to return the favor.”

He was right. She knew he was right. But it was still so hard to talk about that time. The ironic thing was that it wasn’t the cancer that she was most ashamed of. It was that it had cost her both her pending marriage and her grandparents’ approval. “It’s hard to talk about.”

“I can only imagine.” The waitress approached, and he rattled off an order for each of them and then turned back to her without missing a beat. “I’m just trying to understand you. Let me in, darlin’.”

This was the moment when she could open up to him, or she could shut the whole thing down. It wouldn’t take much. One well-placed verbal jab and they’d be back on familiar territory and her heart would be safe. Because opening up to Luke was playing hell on her emotional state. She wished she could blame it on everything else going on, but it wouldn’t be the truth.

The truth was that something settled in her chest when she was in his arms, and she craved it with a violence that was usually reserved for chocolate and Dirty Dancing. If she let him in now, there would be no going back.

Alexis met his sea-green eyes, and the empathy there undid her. How could she stand against a Luke who protected her?

The answer—she couldn’t.

She bit her lip, seeming to waffle, and Luke held perfectly still while he waited. He could be patient when the situation called for it, and he couldn’t put into words how much he wanted to know the full story. Cancer was brutal to even the strongest person, and Alexis was certainly that, but it felt like there was more to the story. Something had put its poison into her heart and twisted, and he needed to know what it was.

As the waitress set two beers in front of them, she gave a defeated sigh. “Do you want the CliffsNotes version or the whole ugly tale?”

This would change everything between them. He was already on the fence about backing off when she went back to the States. If she gave him half a reason, he’d do everything in his power to convince her to give him a chance.

A chance at what?

Luke gritted his teeth. There was no point in fighting the truth—he’d already made a decision when it came to Alexis Yeung. He wasn’t letting her get away without a fight, which meant he needed all the information he could get his hands on, no matter how uncomfortable it made him. “Tell me all of it.”

Her smile wavered a bit around the edges. “I was afraid you’d say that.” She took a sip of her beer. “I’m not asking for pity, okay? I’m just telling you what you asked to know.”

Dread wormed its way into his gut. What the hell did she have to say that she felt the need to preface it with that warning? It doesn’t matter. I need to know the full story. “Look at me, darlin’. Mine is not the face of pity.”

She laughed like he’d wanted her to. “Fair point. Okay, here goes.” Another drink of beer, though this time she was obviously stalling. “When my mom died, there were a lot of changes. Obviously. Like I mentioned before, my grandparents transplanted from China and came to live with us and to make sure we were brought up right.” Her face twisted. “Their version of right, which included yanking me out of dance class because it didn’t meet the requirements of their standard of a good Chinese woman.”