“What?” he asked, astonished. “With your mother?”

“Sick, right?”

“And your mother said?”

“She’s a prim and proper princess. She doesn’t do those things.”

Luke sat there a moment, speechless. When he recovered, he turned her so that she faced him, his hands on her knees. “Let’s make a pact right now.”

“What kind of pact?”

“No matter what happens to us, we are friends, and you are a part of the Walker family. Nothing is going to keep you from Lauren, or from us. You understand?”

Her eyes immediately glossed over with tears. “Luke-”

He brushed his lips over hers. “I’m serious, Julie. No matter what, you have me.” He wiped a tear as it escaped down her cheek. “Let’s get Cici and your stuff and go to my place where I know you’re safe.”

“You want to take Cici with us?”

“She’s your family,” he said. “So yes. I want to take Cici.”

“That means a litter box,” she reminded him.

“You mean she isn’t toilet trained?”

She laughed. ”Oh how I wish.”

She wasn’t arguing and that said she was really rattled, or he was getting through to her. Or maybe, just maybe, it was both. Either way, Luke was getting them out of here before she changed her mind. Because not only was he feeling the very male need to have her in his bed, he was far more disturbed by that journal than he’d let on.

***

She’d grocery shopped with Luke.

Julie stood in his kitchen, in soft cotton pink sweats, a Victoria Secrets ‘Pink ’ T-shirt, and fuzzy pink slippers, dicing tomatoes for a salad. She was out of her personal space, her zone, and yet she felt oddly at peace.

Julie cut her gaze to the side and smiled as she watched Luke stirring the spaghetti sauce barely a foot away from her, throwing in various spices here and there as if it were a science. She decided right then that there was something about a man who could handle a gun and a spatula.

Looking down as she heard a soft purr Julie realized that Cici was once again wrapping herself around Luke’s feet, but he didn’t seem to mind so she didn’t say anything. The cat loved Luke. Her chest tightened. Love. God. Was she falling in love with Luke? Had she already?

He tasted the sauce. “Love it.”

“What?” Julie asked, jolted by his words.

“The sauce is exactly the way my mother makes it,” he said.

“Oh,” she said, sighing in relief. “And you only had to call her three times.”

He grinned. He was so handsome when he grinned like that.  “She loves it when I call her.”

“She was in a movie.”

He shrugged. “She didn’t mind.”

She arched a brow. “You mean you didn’t mind interrupting her date.”

“If he can’t take the good with the bad, he shouldn’t be around.”

 “That’s evil, Luke.”

“Testing his patience is part of being sure he’s in this for the long haul.”

She shook her head and resumed chopping. “Dating is hard enough, Luke.”

“Says you?” he asked.

“ Says everyone,” she said flatly. “Which is why I don’t do it.”

“What do you mean exactly by that?”

She flicked him a quick glance, and shrugged. “I just don’t do it.”

“At all?”

She didn’t look at him. “That pretty much sums it up.”

He couldn’t help asking, “What about sex?”

She stopped chopping.  “What about it?”

He gave her a knowing look. “You like it.”

She laughed, but without humor. “So do you.”

“You’re avoiding the question.”

She started chopping again. “What was the question?”

“If you don’t date, what do you do about sex?”

“Not much since you left,” she said, so appalled she’d admitted that that her hand slipped on the knife handle, and she cut her finger. Blood immediately poured from the sliced skin. “Ouch.” She rushed her hand to the sink.

Luke grabbed her wrist and turned on the water. “It looks pretty deep.”

“Fingers bleed a lot and I’m fine, really.”

He turned off the water. “We need to bandage it.” He pulled her gently along until they reached the bathroom and ordered, “Sit and hold the towel snug until I get the supplies.”

She did as he instructed as he rummaged through the medicine chest and pulled out what he wanted. Kneeling at her feet he checked the cut. “A little deeper and you would have needed stitches for sure, but I think you'll manage to skate by without them.”

“Good,” she said. “An evening in the ER would not be fun.” Would he have gone with her? Had she ever had anyone but Lauren who would have? She watched him doctoring her finger, thinking about how different he was or maybe how different she was because of him. When he’d almost finished, she reached out and threaded her fingers through the silky black strands of his hair. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

He stopped working, studying her with such intensity she felt like he could see clear to her soul. She wanted to look away, and yet she didn’t.

“Someone has to,” he said finally.

His words warmed her, thrilled her, and she fought to remember why Luke taking care of her was a bad thing. To say that she felt confused was an understatement.

“I get by on my own pretty well, but still, it’s nice to have you help me tonight.”

“If tonight is all you’ll give me,” he said after a long pause, “it’s a start and I’ll take it.”

A funny feeling fluttered in her chest, an emotion she didn’t want to deal with. She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his. They lingered there until his hand lifted and curled around her neck, his tongue caressing hers. Heat pooled low in her stomach, and that funny feeling in her chest expanded when she’d thought it would go away.

“I want you,” she whispered against his lips. “I want to touch you, Luke.” She tugged on his shirt with her good hand. “And see you.”

He pulled back and regarded her with a heavy-lidded stare so intense she couldn’t breathe. When he moved, she thought he might get up, might refuse her, but instead he tossed his shirt away. Then suddenly this powerful, sexy man was undressing her, and instead of sex making her feel just as powerful, in control, she felt fragile. Only fragile didn’t feel bad. It felt good. It felt like she didn’t have to try, she didn’t have to do anything but just be with him, relax and enjoy every kiss, every taste, every touch. But what if she gave everything she was, and then there was nothing left? Was it already too late? Maybe she already had.

***

After hours of talking, and making love, and making love some more, Julie and Luke were starving, and since he’d burned the sauce, they ordered pizza.

Julie lounged against his headboard, wearing only his t-shirt, while he wore the low-slung jeans he’d pulled on to greet the delivery man. As she was as big a sports fan as Luke, they’d eaten a large pizza while watching SportsCenter and arguing about baseball pitchers.

They were fighting over the last slice when Luke’s cell phone rang by the nightstand. He reached over her and kissed her before snagging it. His brow furrowed at the number, and then he answered, “This is Luke Walker.”

Julie watched his emotionless face as he listened, and then said, “I’m still considering it.” He listened a minute longer and then hung up without saying another word.

“Something wrong?” she asked, fairly certain that answer was ‘yes’. Luke might not have reacted to the call, but his lack of reaction in itself was telling.

“That was Elizabeth’s sister,” he surprised her by saying. “She was following up to see if we’d made a decision about helping or not.”

“That was fast,” Julie said. “It’s barely a full day.”

“And she called me, not you.”

“I noticed that,” she said. “Not that she had my number. Makes me wonder if she was using me to get to you.”

“You know what I wonder?” he asked but didn’t wait for a reply. “I wonder how she got my number when it’s a private line I don’t give out freely.”