Stop 8 Conflict with Luke—wanting him to
take her
Welcome
to the eighth stop in Kallypso Master’s “How it Began” two-day blog tour.
Thanks for having me, Twinsie Talk Book Review.
Now
for another excerpt in the “How it Began” blog tour. Luke discovers something
that makes his pursuing Angelina an impossibility in this scene in Nobody’s Angel. Marc’s trying to figure
out what happened.
Marc’s gaze narrowed on Luke. Something had happened.
Had he talked with the sheriff? Was there news about Martin?
He
looked down at Angelina sleeping soundly and didn’t want to disturb her but
definitely needed to know what was going on.
“Before
you get too far into that bottle, help me get her to bed.”
Luke
looked at him as if he’d asked him to pick up a coiled rattler. What was going
on? Marc managed to swing his legs off the sofa and then lifted Angelina into
his arms before heading down the hallway. He heard Luke following and waited
for him to pull down the comforter and sheet so Marc could lay her in bed and
cover her up. He stayed to make sure she didn’t awaken, but the flickering of
her eyelids told him she was still in a deep sleep.
“Pleasant
dreams only, cara.” He stroked a finger along the side of
her face.
Marc
turned around only to see that Luke had already left. He was going to get to
the bottom of whatever was going on. Leaving her door open, in case she needed
him, he walked down the hall, hitting the head for a much-needed stop after all
the wine before returning to the living room. Luke had returned to the chair
and poured a second glass of wine, which he downed swiftly. Had he even tasted
the expensive Lombardy wine from Marc’s wine cellar? Then he poured another
glass.
Merda. He’d never known his partner to
drink to excess. Was Luke upset with Marc for holding Angelina? What was he
supposed to do? She’d fallen asleep on him. Or was it… His lungs constricted
painfully, reminding him of his recovery from the hemopneumothorax he’d suffered
in Fallujah.
“Have
you heard something?”
Confused,
Luke cocked his head and leaned against the back of the chintz chair.
Marc
was losing patience. “What the hell did the sheriff say?”
Luke
nodded in understanding. “I just checked, hoping they’d arrested the bastard
and we could leave. They found him in the ER—and she did break his nose, by the
way.” Marc smiled, but Luke remained serious. “Served him with the protection
order. Warned him to stay away from her.” Luke shrugged.
For
now, their hands were tied unless and until Asshole violated the order. By
then, it could be too late to protect her.
“She’s
not staying here alone,” Marc said.
Luke
sobered, well, his expression did. “We’re leaving in the morning.”
“She’s
coming with us.” Even if she doesn’t know it yet.
Now
just how did he plan to pull that off?
“No!”
The wine in Luke’s glass sloshed over the edge and onto his fingers and his
jeans. He placed the glass to his lips and drained it, then looked at Marc.
“We’ll call her brothers. They’ll keep an eye on her.”
Like hell they will.
Marc
needed to find out why his friend was trying to get drunk, which was totally
out of character for him. Apparently, he’d started before talking with the
sheriff’s department, so something else had happened.
Marc
crossed the room and sat on the armrest of the sofa, near Luke’s chair. He
hated to see his friend suffering like this. “What’s wrong, Luke? You’re
hitting that stuff pretty hard.” Was this about Angelina? “Look, we agreed to
leave it up to her to decide, but I told you I wouldn’t pursue her if you
wanted her.”
Luke
dangled the now-empty glass between his knees and waved his other hand
dismissively. He shook his head. “No need. She’s all yours.”
What the fuck was he thinking? Luke never walked away from
something he wanted—and Marc had no doubt he wanted Angelina. Marc had admired
his persistence and determination. When he set his mind to something, he damned
well achieved it. Of course, Luke hadn’t gone after a woman since his wife had
died—until now. Maybe he was just scared.
Dio, she scares the hell out of me, too.
But
Luke would have to be blind not to notice that Angelina had feelings for him,
too. “Don’t you think she should have something to say about who she wants?”
“No.
We…aren’t compatible.”
Marc
would have laughed, if his friend didn’t look so fucking miserable. “If you
were any more compatible, she’d have been jumping your bones, as you say.”
Luke
raised his head to meet his gaze. The ache in his eyes squeezed the breath from
his lungs. “That was before.” Marc came close to shaking some sense into him
when he heard him say, “She can’t find out what I did.”
“What
are you talking about?”
Luke
shook his head in defeat and closed his eyes, laying his head in the crook of the
wingback chair. He looked like he’d aged a decade since he’d pleasured Angelina
an hour or so ago.
Marc
stood and reached over to take the glass out of Luke’s hand and set it on the
coffee table, then grabbed the blanket that had been covering Angelina and used
it to cover his friend. Given how much he’d had to drink in such a short time,
it was probably safer if he remained upright, so he’d let him sleep it off in
the chair.
Maybe
Luke would see straighter in the morning—if he wasn’t too hung over to see.
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Giveaway
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At
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Next
Stop!
Tour Schedule
November
26
November
27
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