Lukas (Ashes & Embers 3)

“Lindsay . . . this isn’t a strip club. Have some class,” Sam warns.

She takes a long sip of her wine, continuing to eye Lukas like a piece of meat. If she wasn’t my best friend, I’d be annoyed, but she’s harmless so I just playfully smack her and take a seat across from them at the table.

“Last week, we all had dinner at that new place. It’s kinda overrated. The food wasn’t that great,” Sam says, trying to divert his wife’s attention.

“The new place in town? I went there with some guy at work a while back. It was mobbed,” I reply.

“It was mobbed the night we went, too. We had to wait forever for a table big enough for all of us,” Lindsay adds.

“For all of you?” I repeat.

“Yeah . . . you know . . . all of us,” she says awkwardly.

‘All of us’ used to be Paul and me, Lindsay and Sam, and two other couples that we have been friends with since our early twenties.

“Paul and Charlene were there?” I ask, my chest tightening. Why would they want to be with them and not me? They’re my friends.

“Nice going,” Sam says, nudging Lindsay, who smiles weakly at me.

“I’m sorry, Ivy. We thought it would be awkward, inviting you and Lukas, too.”

“I don’t understand why you’d invite Paul over me, though.”

“I’m still friends with Paul,” Sam says. “We golf together, with the other guys. Lukas doesn’t exactly fit into our group.” He leans closer to me, lowering his voice, like we’re talking about something taboo.

“So?” I shoot back. “He still eats dinner.”

They blink at me, and I continue, my annoyance growing. “So now you guys hang out with Paul and Charlene? She fits in? She’s younger than Lukas.”

Lindsay touches my arm. “Don’t get upset. It doesn’t matter. You hated those group dinners, anyway.”

That’s true, but I still hate that Charlene is now hanging out with my friends.

“It just feels kinda like betrayal to me,” I say. “We’ve been friends forever, all of us.”

Lindsay attempts to soothe me. “Ivy, it’s just because he’s . . . different. He’s not going to want to sit around with these guys and talk about boring business meetings and golf. Don’t worry about it. Have fun and enjoy him. It’s not like you’re gonna marry the guy.”

“I know, but I would still like to keep my friends,” I mutter.

“We’re still your friends. We love you,” Lindsay says. “Everyone thinks Paul is a douche for what he did to you. We’re on your side. That’s why we’re here.”

I shake my head at them. “I didn’t know we had to pick sides. What are we, twelve?”

“Stop being so dramatic, Ivy. You’re happy. That’s all that matters. He’s exactly what you needed to get out of the slump you were in.”

Shaking my head at her, I go to the kitchen to help Lukas with the serving dishes. I still feel strange when Lukas comes to the house, and I cannot wait until the divorce details are finalized, so I can sell this house and move away from the memories that linger here.

Lukas is unusually quiet over dinner, which is delicious as always. I wait until Lindsay and Sam leave and I have Tommy settled in bed before I approach him about his sudden distance.

“Are you okay?” I ask him when I come back downstairs and find him sitting at the table in the dim kitchen. I wonder if he feels weird being in this house, but since I’m still living here, he has to come here if he wants to see me when I have the kids.

He spins a quarter around on the table. “I heard what you said,” he says.

I look at him, confused. “What did I say?”

“When Lindsay said, ‘it’s not like you’re gonna marry the guy’, you agreed with her.”

Shit. I did.

“Lukas, you saw how they are. I don’t want to get into my feelings with them about you. As you can see, my friends seem to be Team Paul.”

He scowls at me and turns his stare back to his quarter. “They don’t even know me. I’m not the one that fucked someone behind your back and left you and your kids. But he’s the acceptable one?”

“They’re idiots. And you’re right. They have no idea how amazing you are. It’s their loss.”

He spins the quarter some more and eyes me. “Did you mean that?”

“Mean what?”

“That you wouldn’t marry me.”

I feel trapped by this loaded question. We’ve never talked marriage. We’ve talked love and soul mates. We’ve talked about commitment. We’ve talked about our amazing sensual connection. But marriage?

Now that he’s brought it up, my mind and heart are going round and round like a Ferris wheel.

“I’m not even legally divorced yet. How can I think about marriage again?” I say defensively, which probably isn’t the best answer, but now it’s out there.

He raises an eyebrow at me. “We’re sleeping together, and you’re still legally married.”

“We’ve never talked about anything like marriage, though,” I say, nervously. Could he actually want to marry me?

He shakes his hair and stands up, shoving his quarter in his pocket. “I wouldn’t be dating you if I didn’t want it to eventually lead to that,” he says. “But now, I want to know if you think that way, too.” He stands in front of me and backs me up against the kitchen island.

“Yes,” I answer.

He leans down into me and kisses my neck. “Yes, what?”

My eyes flutter closed, and I lean into his kisses. “Yes, I’d marry you.” I run my hands up his muscled arms as the butterflies manifest in my stomach again.

“Is this a proposal?” I ask him.

He pulls away a little. “Hell no,” he says, and my hopes quickly dash. Why did he even bring it up then? Disappointment seeps through me, my brief flash of hope distinguished quickly.

“When I propose to you,” he says, lifting me up and carrying me over to the kitchen table, sitting me down on top of it. “It’s going to be romantic, and not in this house, of all places.”

“Oh,” I say as he pulls my shirt off. In the middle of the kitchen!

“Where are the kids?” he whispers.

“Tommy is asleep, and Macy is staying at a friend’s house.”

He unhooks my bra and places it on the table next to me. “Good, because I’m going to fuck your still legally-married-ass on your ex-husband’s table, and hopefully ram some sense into you.”

He unbuttons my jeans and pulls them and my panties down. I open my mouth to protest, but he puts his finger over my lips.

“Shh . . . I have another question,” he says. I watch as he pulls his shirt off. Seeing him half-naked in my kitchen makes him look even more sexy, because I know he’s so out of place here. “I want to know if you’re going to say yes first,” he continues, unbuttoning his jeans.

“To what?” I’m so enthralled with watching him undress that I can’t remember what he’s asking me.

“When I propose. I don’t want to go through all that, get my hopes up, and have you say no. So I’m going to cheat and ask for your answer first.”

Hot damn, he’s adorable. “Yes,” I say breathlessly as he kisses my breasts, leaning me back against the table. “I would say yes a thousand times.”

“Once is enough.” His kisses move back up to my neck, then to my lips. “What’s your ring size?”

I smile against his lips. “The same as my shoe,” I tease.

He grins impishly and picks my shoe up off the floor. “Six?” he says, and I nod, rubbing my foot up his leg.

“That will make my life easier, for when I want to buy you shoes and rings.”

He scoops me up into his arms. “I have a better idea for this room, though.” He sits me down on one of the breakfast stools.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting from you for a while now,” he says, moving my hair away from my face and staring down into my eyes. His cock is huge and hard, level with my face whi

le I’m sitting on the stool, and I know what he wants.

“What’s that?” I ask softly, reaching up to stroke him. He sucks in a breath and closes his eyes for a few moments as I run my fingers along the length of him.

“Your mouth . . . on me,” he says. “You can’t use a fork for this one, Ivy. I’m sorry.”

I try not to laugh, but I can’t help it.

“Can you do that for me, or is it too hard for you with your weird mouth aversion?”

“That question is so full of innuendoes,” I tease, continuing to stroke him.

“I know, and none of them were even intentional.”