“What happened to you?”
Alexis looked up and froze, a deer facing off with a hungry wolf. The way Luke’s eyes pinned her in place certainly felt predatory. “What?”
“Give me a little credit here, darlin’. You didn’t just decide to travel by yourself through Europe for no reason. Well-adjusted people don’t feel the need to hike to the top of a cliff and touch the edge. Trust me.” He jerked a thumb at his chest. “It takes one to know one.”
This was the moment. He’d bared his physical scars to her. Now she had the choice between returning the favor with her emotional scars or turning away. She opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. There were too many other voices in her head. Eric’s saying, “You weren’t that much of a catch to begin with, Alexis. And now I’m expected to give up my future children? Absolutely not.” Yé-yé’s saying, “You had one job, and you’ve failed at that, Alexis. You bring shame on our family.” On her dark days, she suspected they both would have been happier if the cancer took her life, instead of her uterus. Even her sister’s saying, “I’m pregnant.” All of them reminders of how she’d dropped the ball as a woman.
She couldn’t stand the thought of seeing the same disappointment reflected in Luke’s sea-green eyes. He might find her aggravating as all get out, but he wanted her. Would he still feel the same way if he knew about the cancer?
I can’t take that chance.
She pushed to her feet. “I need a shower.”
“Ah, hell, princess. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere.”
Shame heated the back of her neck as she slipped into the bathroom and shut the door, but it wasn’t enough to make her stop and turn around and pour out her broken heart to him.
Chapter Ten
Call him a fool, but Luke was actually surprised when Alexis basically dived into the bathroom to escape him. He wished his question had been idle curiosity—it would have made her retreat easier to bear—but his need to know more about her past had taken on a life of its own. She was so damn strong in so many ways. Aggravating as hell sometimes, but strong. She’d looked at his scars and then called him out.
Even his Aunt Rose had reacted at the sight of his knee. She’d gone back to the ball-busting woman he knew almost immediately afterward, but that half a second of horror on her face had been enough to confirm what he’d already known. He was fucked up beyond repair.
And then here came this little woman who seemed to have more stubbornness than common sense to shine a light on him in a way he’d never experienced before. Alexis didn’t look at him and see a broken man, never able to be whole again. She acknowledged his injury the same way she’d acknowledge that he had green eyes or blond hair—just a part of him, no greater or smaller than any other part.
He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do about that.
A scream brought him to his feet before he registered the decision to move. A second one had him hurtling through the bathroom door, ignoring the protest his knee made. He found Alexis huddled in the corner of the shower, but after a quick glance to make sure she wasn’t hurt, he bypassed her to search for the threat.
“What’s wrong? Why’d you scream?” He turned in another circle, wondering what the hell he’d missed. Unlike a lot of the rooms in hostels scattered around Europe, this one had its own private bathroom, which meant there was no way for anyone else to gain access to it without coming into the room itself. Luke might have been distracted, but he sure as hell would have seen someone walk by him.
The room was empty except for her.
She pointed a shaking finger, and he followed the line down to the… He blinked, part of him wondering if this was some kind of joke. “A spider. You screamed bloody murder because of a tiny half-drowned spider.”
Alexis made another frightened noise that was just this side of a shriek. “Kill it. Oh my God, just kill it.”
Even though she was obviously afraid, he couldn’t help a little snark. “Don’t move. I think it can smell fear.” He hurried back into the bedroom and retrieved a boot. One well-placed smash later, the threat was eliminated—and his boot was wet. “He’s gone. You’re safe.”
“Thanks.” She looked around the bathroom as if expecting more spiders to pour from the vents or something.
Luke shook his head, not sure if he should hug her or laugh his ass off. “Princess, you kicked my ass and laughed at me afterward. You scaled a twenty-story cliff. How are you possibly afraid of a little bug?”
Her shiver was so violent, it made the rings on the shower curtain rattle. “You’re a grown man. Grown men do not scuttle.” She shuddered. “Spiders scuttle. It’s freaky and unnatural.”
Holy shit, she was downright precious. He grinned. “The distinction is noted.” And so were the soapsuds sliding down from her hair, between her breasts, and over the long line of her stomach. He wanted to trace that same path with his tongue, and take it one step further to drape her leg over his shoulder so he had nothing stopping his ability to taste her there.
Suddenly, he wasn’t feeling all that tired at all.
“If you could see the way you’re looking at me.”
“Like what?” He already knew. He just wanted to hear her say it. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of hearing filthy words come out of Alexis Yeung’s mouth.
She licked her lips. “Like you want to take me up against this shower wall.”
Christ, but he did. Luke didn’t say anything, though. Not yet. He just let himself look his fill, tracing her body with his gaze, from her pale pink toenails to her long legs, the tempting vee between her thighs, her nipples that practically begged for his mouth, and finally to her challenging hazel eyes. She was the most perfectly shaped woman he’d ever seen, and the fire of her personality only made her more attractive.
“Are you going to stand there and stare or are you going to lose the underwear and join me?” The tone of her voice said she didn’t think it was much of a decision, and she was right.
But there was one thing they needed to cover first. “The conversation isn’t over between us.”
“I’m sorry?”
She knew exactly what he was talking about. He could read the knowledge all over her wide eyes and the way her body shook. “You will tell me about your past, and what happened to you. Eventually.” As much as he wanted to have the information right this second, it wouldn’t mean a damn thing if he forced it out of her. He wanted her to want to tell him. “When you’re ready.”
“And if I’m never ready?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? This thing between them had an expiration date, something he’d do damn well to remember. Luke met her gaze, seeing far more than he knew she’d want him to. Damn, darlin’, you have scars to rival mine, don’t you? “You will be.”
“You seem so sure. I wish I could be that sure.” She glanced away and then back, resolve showing in her expression. “Why are you still wearing underwear?”
He let the previous subject go. Sex was easy, and with how scraped raw he felt right now, it was exactly what he needed—what they both needed.
“Good question.” He shucked off the boxer briefs and paused. Condom. Under no circumstances was he giving either of them a reason to put this thing on pause again. “Five seconds.”
“One.” She held up a finger. “Two.”
Luke practically dived for her pack, riffling through it and dumping things to the side until he came up with a string of condoms. He ripped one open and had it rolled on by the time he stepped back through the bathroom door. Alexis had her eyes closed and head tipped back under the spray of water as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair. He was almost—almost—reluctant to step in and ruin the look of peace on her face.