Chapter 8
After four hours of driving, Arianna finally convinced Luke to pull off the highway they’d traveled on and eat before searching for a motel to spend the night at. Sitting across from one another in a cozy booth at the Starlight Diner, Arianna devoured her cheeseburger as though it were the first meal she’d eaten in days. In reality, she’d had lunch eight hours ago and had not been in danger of starvation, but the smell of French fries and griddle cooked food had sent her hunger into overdrive.
“Wow,” Luke commented. “The girls I’ve dated just picked at their salad, never scarfed down a whole cheeseburger before I finished mine.”
Squirting ketchup on to her plate, Arianna paused and searched his eyes. As usual, his grey-blue irises shimmered with delight. He was teasing her, and she decided to tease him back.
“Feeling pretty satisfied right about now, Luke? Now that you’ve hurt my feelings,” Arianna said with feigned hurt. “Would you have preferred it if I’d ordered a salad? Or maybe if I didn’t eat at all?”
“No, no. Of course not,” he fumbled. “I love that you, that you’re not like other girls. I meant what I said as a compliment. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” he said and reached out for her hand.
Arianna smiled and said, “Gotcha!”
“That’s just wrong,” he said good-naturedly. “Toying with my feelings like that, you’re bad.”
“What’s the matter, sport, you don’t like when people tease you back?” she said and narrowed her eyes mischievously.
“Oh I can take whatever you dish out, Miss Rose.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Well, I’m fresh out of snappy comebacks,” she said and started to laugh. Luke laughed, too. “And I’d like to get started on my fries.”
“Jeez, you have room left for fries? I’m not even done with my burger and I’m stuffed,” he offered a final zinger.
Arianna narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips at him a second time. But she was not mad. She imagined it would be impossible to stay mad at him on the off chance he’d ever said something hurtful. Even the thought of him saying something to make her angry seemed impossible. He laughed easily, at himself and others. She liked that he could deliver a sharp, perfectly timed remark. He had a knack for it. He was witty and she admired his wittiness. Perhaps someone with a more sensitive nature would have found his jokes critical, or mean spirited. But she was not among them. She was thicker skinned. Life had hardened her enough and made her realize that fretting over minor incidents and analyzing or agonizing over every conversation with friends and loved ones was a waste of time.
“Earth to Arianna,” Luke said.
“Sorry, I zoned out there for a minute.”
“I know. It’s hard to be around me and not get lost in a fantasy,” he started.
“Do you ever take a break?” she asked and giggled before eating her fries.
He smiled sheepishly, and she hoped she hadn’t hit a nerve.
“I think we should stay at the motel across the street,” she said changing the subject. She pointed beyond the window they sat in front of to the Main Street Motor Inn. Few cars were parked in the lot beside it. “What do you think?” she asked him.
“Okay. It looks slow there, so we shouldn’t have trouble getting two rooms.”
“I thought we’d get just one,” Arianna said casually.
Color touched Luke’s cheeks and he glanced at her quickly. “Oh, okay,” he said coolly. But Arianna lowered her gaze to his throat and saw the fitful drumming just below his jaw. His carotid artery gave him away. She swore she could hear the nervous beat of his heart. His body language suggested that spending the night with a girl was no big deal to him, commonplace even. But physiology never lied.
“All right then, it’s settled. We can get the check whenever you’re ready and head over there,” she said.
“What? No dessert?” he kidded, but his smile ended at his lips. His eyes had clouded over and become more serious.
As if she’d heard their desire for the check, the waitress appeared at their table.
“If you’re all set here, I’ll get you your check,” she asked pleasantly.
“We’re all set,” Luke said to her.
The waitress smiled and blushed, obviously thrilled that Luke had spoken to her. She returned moments later and left their bill on the edge of the table. Luke reached for it, but Arianna grabbed it before he could.
“Come on,” he protested. “I’m buying.”
Arianna flipped over the piece of paper and saw that the waitress wrote her name at the bottom of the ticket with a heart beside it. She’d circled the Come Again Soon logo and had added an exclamation point to it. Arianna did not feel threatened by the waitress in the least, yet a possessive sense of annoyance prickled inside her. She’d never been a jealous girlfriend and wasn’t about to start being one now, but a burst of bitterness bubbled inside her. She looked over to where the waitress whispered with a coworker. She focused on them, concentrating. Suddenly, the world around her became quiet. Conversations, music, the whoosh of cars passing outside on Main Street fell silent. All she could hear was the sound of two voices.
“He’s so hot,” she heard the girl say.
“I know,” her friend agreed.
“Think those two are a couple?” their waitress asked.
“I don’t know. They haven’t held hands or anything, so maybe not.”
“Yeah, you’re right. They might not be together. Besides, they look just wrong together. That girl looks like a real bitch,” their waitress concluded.
“Ready to go?” Luke said and stood breaking Arianna’s concentration.
“Yep, I’m ready,” she said and stood.
Luke grabbed the bill from her and said, “Ha! Too slow! I’m paying.”
She did not argue as she would have under ordinary circumstances. She refused to give the girls at the counter the satisfaction of having more speculative garbage to mull over. Instead, she slipped her arm around Luke’s waist. He immediately reciprocated and pulled her close thereby ending any question the girls had about whether or not they were a couple. Luke paid the cashier much to her chagrin and they stepped outside. The temperature had fallen drastically. She wrapped her arms around her body clutching her midsection as an icy breezed gusted. Luke wrapped both arms around her and nuzzled her neck. She stood on her toes and hugged him back pausing only to smirk over his shoulder at the waitresses gawking at her with looks of disgust plastered on their faces. Another gust bit at them and they released each other in favor of running to the truck hand-in-hand.
Once inside, Luke spoke.
“Damn, it got cold out there!”
“I know! I didn’t know I’d need my winter jacket tonight.”
“Listen, before we go to the motel, I want to stop at the gas station market first, okay?”
“Sure. Fine by me. Did you forget something?” she asked.
“No. I just want to pick up a few things for tonight,” he replied casually.
The gas station he referred to was two buildings away from where they had eaten. Luke dashed inside the market while Arianna opted for the warmth of the truck. He returned with a brown paper bag in his arms and settled it between them. She craned her neck to look inside and he quickly folded the top of the bag over.
“Hey, no peeking,” he teased.
“Okay, okay,” Arianna said and put her hands up in mock surrender.
They turned in to the Motel parking lot a few seconds later. Arianna had insisted on paying for the room and this time Luke didn’t argue. She left him in the car and procured their room for the night before returning to the truck with the key.
“Our suite awaits us,” she said and jingled the key at him.
“Let’s go,” he said and climbed out.
They quickly gathered their backpacks and Luke grabbe
d the bag from the market then walked up to the door with the number that matched their keychain.
“A key,” Arianna rolled her eyes. “How old school is that? I bet this place is a dump.”
But to her surprise, when they opened the door, the room was not a dump. It was neat and brightly decorated and smelled as though it had just been cleaned. Two queen-sized beds with a nightstand in between them occupied most of the space and a small table with two chairs was to their immediate left.
“Not bad,” Luke said. “Not bad at all.”
“I know. This room is nicer than my trailer,” she said and was only half joking.
“It’s nicer than my house, too,” he agreed.
“All right, enough chitchat. What’s in the bag?” she asked impatiently.
Luke set the bag on the table and reached one of his hands inside of it. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes first. Then he reached in a second time and pulled out two decks of cards. One was a standard playing card set while the other was an Old Maid set.
“Old Maid!” Arianna squealed. “I haven’t played that game since I was a kid!”
Luke smiled and reached in a third time.
“There’s more?” she asked. “What else could we need besides Old Maid and cigarettes?”
He lifted up a six-pack of beer and smiled, “Beer, of course!”
Arianna clapped and bounced on the balls of her feet. “Yay! This is the best trip ever,” she said and knew she both sounded and acted like a child. But she did not care.
Luke twisted off the cap of one of the beers and handed her the opened bottle. Then he opened one for himself. He raised the bottle and touched it against hers. “To our trip,” he said.
“Cheers,” she said then took a long drink. She picked up the bag and was about to place it on the floor when Luke said quickly, “I’ll get that.”
His voice had an edge of nervousness to it she’d never heard. He took it from her hands hurriedly but not before she spied a small box of condoms at the bottom. She contemplated ribbing him about his lofty expectations, but his nervous reaction had given her pause. She did not want to embarrass him; not about something so serious. Ignoring his purchase as well as his reaction she sat in one of the chairs and began opening the box of Old Maid cards.
After several hands of the game and two beers each, Luke yawned exaggeratedly. “I’m pretty beat,” he said. “I think I’ll shower and hit the sack. Which bed do you want?”
He slid her a glance she was certain she wasn’t meant to catch, one that suggested he was feeling her out, trying to see what the sleeping arrangement was going to be.
“Whichever one you want is fine with me,” she said refusing to take the bait.
“Oh,” he said with the slightest hint of disappointment tinting his words.
He stood and took his backpack then disappeared into the bathroom. When he returned later, he wore nothing but a pair of jersey material athletic shorts and a towel around his neck. His shorts sat low on his hips and the waistband of his boxers peeked out. Arianna had never seen him without his shirt before. She’d felt how hard his chest was through his clothes, had imagined what it would look like bare, but enjoyed the appearance of it far more in reality. Trim and lean, the planes of his muscles were clearly defined. He lifted one arm and his bicep muscle flexed as he dried his hair. Tousled and still wet from his shower, his black hair looked boyish, charming.
“The pressure on that showerhead is phenomenal,” he said and walked past her. He sat on the bed closest to the table she sat at. He smelled of soap and warmth and toothpaste and she had to consciously resist the urge to throw her body atop his. “I may never want to leave this place.”
“Me neither,” she agreed. “Guess I’m up now.” She grabbed her bag and headed to the bathroom.
Luke had been right; the shower pressure was strong, a far cry from that of her trailer. After she’d washed and combed her hair and brushed her teeth, she looked at the clothes she’d hastily grabbed to sleep in. A tank top and yoga pants hardly seemed like seductive attire. She’d seen girls at school walk around wearing less clothing; clothing that had been far more enticing. Regardless, it was all she’d brought so she slipped the outfit on, not bothering to put a bra on. Hers was not from a fancy retailer and didn’t have all of the push-up features men liked. She opened the door and walked to the bed she supposed she’d sleep on, the one closest to the bathroom. She pulled down the duvet and the sheet and slipped beneath them.
“Good night,” she said to Luke.
“Going to sleep now?” he asked.
“Aren’t you?”
“Not right this second.”
“Oh, I thought you were tired. I just assumed you wanted to go to sleep.”
“I’m tired, but I don’t need to go to sleep right this second or anything,” he said.
“Okay, then come on over,” she said and patted the space in front of her.
Luke walked over to her bed and sat. She pulled the coverings off her legs and sat on top of them before folding them like a pretzel. She looked at him for a moment. He looked incredible. His mussed hair was not spiked up as he normally wore it and was free of gel, and his tattoos were plainly visible. She reached out and touched the dragon on his forearm and watched as the hairs on his arm rose. “I like this one a lot,” she said tracing it. “Did it hurt?”
“It wasn’t too bad,” he said and she heard the slightest tremble in his voice.
She allowed her fingertips to glide gently up his arm to his shoulder. He closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation and her fingers skimmed the length of his neck up to the back of his hair before sliding back down his throat past his collarbone and down his chest. His eyes remained closed and she could see the fitful pounding in his neck again. She leaned in and grazed the throbbing pulse point with her lips. When she pulled back, he watched her, his silvery gaze attentive. He reached out and cupped her face with his hands then bent toward her. He kissed her tenderly. She tilted her head and welcomed the warmth of his lips against hers. His mouth was soft and his kiss was sweet. She felt the world fall silent save for the sound of her heart racing in her chest. His tongue traced her lower lip and the feeling sent a shiver through her, raising goose bumps on her skin. She ran her hand up his arm again, over his shoulder and twisted it in his hair. He drew in a breath through his nose and pulled her toward him. She obliged by climbing on to his lap, one leg on either side of his hips. His lips began crushing hers, his kiss deeper, more passionate. She could feel his excitement between her legs, rubbing pleasantly against her.
His mouth left hers and traveled down to her jaw first then her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses in its wake. His hands slid up her back and brushed the sides of her breasts and every part of her ached for his touch. When his hand slipped under the narrow strap of her tank top, it was she who inhaled sharply, the anticipation of his move overwhelming. The band fell off her shoulder and exposed to top of her breast. He lowered his mouth to the soft mound and warmth pooled low in her belly, twisting longingly. His chin lowered the fabric of her top further, revealing more of her willing body. She arched her back toward him, welcoming him. Eager to explore her further, he took a hardened peak between his lips and ran his tongue over it, teasing and tantalizing the sensitive skin. Arianna moaned then pushed him back against the bed, unable to withstand the desire that burned inside her a moment longer. She slid his shorts from his hips and started to push his boxers down as well.
“Arianna,” he said breathlessly. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes, Luke,” she panted. “I’m sure.”
He sat up quickly, unexpectedly and pulled open the drawer of the nightstand. He grabbed a foil covered square.
“Ah, you listened to my mother,” Arianna whispered seeing the condom.
“Please don’t talk about your mother now,” he said and climbed on top of her. ??
?Are you sure you’re sure,” he asked again. “You really want to do this?”
“Shut up and kiss me already,” Arianna said and slipped her yoga pants off.
His eyes roamed her nearly naked body. He kissed her neck and nibbled her ear. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered.
His hands slipped under the hem of her tank top and he lifted the material up over her head. His skin against hers felt blissfully warm. He stared at her exposed chest with appreciation and her nipples hardened with excitement. He lowered his mouth and kissed the valley between them before taking a firm tip into his mouth again. Rippling need wavered through her body. Her hands slid down to the waistband of his boxer shorts and she began pushing them down. His hands left her breasts and found their way down her waist. His fingers slipped underneath her underwear and began drawing them down. He slipped them off her hips and down her thighs then tossed them aside. Once they were off and resting on the nightstand, she parted her legs and felt him enter her.
Arianna clutched the duvet as he drew his body against hers. She wrapped her legs around his thighs and pushed against him, urging him. He moved slowly at first and she closed her eyes reveling in the feel of him. She focused on their bodies moving in sync as one. She glanced up at him briefly, and saw the intensity in the set of his jaw. One side of his mouth curved up, a half smile, and she closed her eyes again.
Behind her lids, however, an imaged flashed, an unwelcome image. Golden hair and fair skin, and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Desmond appeared in her mind. She tried desperately to block the image, intent on not ruining her intimate moment with Luke. But his image persisted. His likeness stood before her bare chested. His broad, muscled body highlighted by bright sunlight, golden light that matched his hair. Suddenly, she was with him, naked. They were both in a grassy clearing. He stared at her hungrily, unwaveringly, and a smiled did not touch his features. He looked upon her, his eyes smoldering pools of tropical water, with pure lust. With his rippling muscles tensed and the desirous look in his eyes, he looked like a warrior about to descend on an adversary, but none were present; only her. Luke’s ragged breathing in her ear warned that he was nearing climax. She wanted to join him, but couldn’t shake Desmond’s nude body from her mind. Perhaps subconsciously, she did not want to. She opened her eyes again for a split second and glimpsed Luke’s face, a mask of concentration before closing them again, and returning to Desmond. Only when she did, it was Desmond atop her, his face confident, his cerulean gaze trained on her. She imagined her hands tracing the swollen peaks and valleys of his powerful chest and shoulders and felt a tremor of pure bliss overtake her. The image of Desmond triggered small bursts of light behind her eyelids as her body contracted around Luke. A quiver of ecstasy caused her to cry out and within seconds, Luke panted in release then collapsed atop her. She could feel his arms trembling as he lifted himself up to kiss her.
“That was amazing,” he breathed in her ear.
“It was, wasn’t it,” she whispered back as a wave of guilt washed over her. She hadn’t planned to picture Desmond as they’d made love. He’d just appeared unexpectedly, uninvited. Yet, the thought of him, undressed, inside of her, had aroused her in a way she’d never experienced. But she had been with Luke, not Desmond. Another wave of guilt swelled, threatened to drown her as Luke lay next to her drifting off to sleep.
The light of the bathroom cast a soft glow on his face, caressing his features, softening them. With his hair in a state of disarray and his countenance completely relaxed, he looked much younger than he was, boyish really. Her heart clenched tightly. She felt as though she’d betrayed him.
Shame clawed at her as she slid beneath the covers beside him. She kissed his forehead lightly and saw his eyelashes flutter. He was asleep already. She rested on her side for several minutes watching him sleep, wondering if he dreamed. He looked peaceful, and vulnerable, and the squeezing in her heart intensified. Exhausted and with another two-hour drive ahead of her, she settled her head against the pillow and inched closer to Luke. Sleep found her immediately, and she floated off into oblivion.