This Can't Be Love (Whispering Bay Romance 5)

“You don’t think he’s happy?” she asked cautiously.

Julie shrugged. “He seems happy tonight.” She took a long sip of her decaf tea. “Forget I said anything. You know better than I do about the state of your relationship.”

It was past midnight when they finally left to head back to the condo. “What did you think?” Luke asked. “About Ethan and Julie? Aren’t they great?”

“Sure! I loved them.” Which wasn’t a lie because, yeah, Luke was right, they were both great. Except, Julie was a bit…delusional in her thinking.

It’s really too bad that the two of you aren’t serious about one another. You’d really be perfect for him.

She wondered what Luke would think if she told him what Julie had said. He’d probably shrug it off, just like she had.

“So, you never told me what Brad wanted to talk to you about last night. Was it about a donation to the high school?”

Luke kept his eyes on the road. “Not exactly.”

She waited for him to continue.

After a few minutes, he said, “Apparently, the feedback from career night was really positive and the science teacher asked if I could come into the classroom a few times a semester to give a talk.”

“Really? That’s fantastic!”

He glanced at her. “You think so?”

“Of course! You forget. I was there that night and I heard you, too. You were awesome. You totally had the kids’ undivided attention.”

He smiled. “Yeah, it was fun.”

“Are you going to do it?” she asked.

“Sure, if my schedule permits.” It was a blatant reminder that his life, or rather, his real life, was made up of traveling for work and long periods spent away from home.

Neither of them said anything for the rest of the drive. When they got back to the condo, Sarah took a quick shower while Luke opened up his computer to catch up on his emails. She had just closed her eyes when she felt him crawl in beside her on the big, king-sized bed.

“Did you have fun today?” he asked, nuzzling the side of her neck.

It felt glorious, but she was utterly and completely wiped out. “I had a blast,” she admitted. “Thank you for showing me Atlanta and introducing me to your friends. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“Luke?”

“Yeah?” His lips were almost up to her earlobe.

“Can we just…sleep tonight?”

He stopped what he was doing with his mouth. “Of course.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to…but—”

“Sarah,” he said, “you don’t have to explain. Go to sleep, baby. You have to be exhausted.”

He put his arm around her and pulled her into his side, the way he did now after every time they made love. She sighed and snuggled against him. Within a few minutes, his arm went slack and his breathing deepened and Sarah smiled to herself. Luke had been as tired as she was.

It occurred to her that since they’d begun sleeping together this was the first day they hadn’t actually had sex. A part of her wanted to wake him up and tell him that she’d changed her mind, but, no. They could make up for it later. Sleeping here in his bed next to him with his arms around her felt perfectly lovely. And completely right.

Maybe, just a little too right.

Chapter Twenty-Two