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“Shit,” she said, touching her fingers to her lips. She lifted her other hand and pointed at him. “Sorry. We can take it back. Five-second rule. It doesn’t count.”
“That’s about dropping food on the floor.” He wisely chose not to mention that their kiss had dragged on for a lot longer than five seconds.
“We’re not doing anything,” she said. “Stop looking at me like that.”
He couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled free. “Like what?”
“Like you’ve watched me undress in your apartment.”
“I have,” he pointed out.
“No!” She whirled around and marched toward the door. “It doesn’t count!” she yelled over her shoulder. “It was just a slip. A mistake! I’m taking it back.”
“Okay,” he agreed, waiting for his heart to stop racing.
“Good. Wipe it from your memory. I’ll see you on Monday!” She shoved her way out the warehouse door and was gone.
“See you Monday,” Luke muttered, dropping his head back against the wall.What the hell just happened?
Eleven
Lydia
Lydia stood barefoot in front of the dramatic wall of windows in her ridiculously tiny top-floor apartment. The historic 1900s town house came with sixteen-foot ceilings, a beautiful skylight and direct views of Gramercy Park, which totally made up for the lack of square footage.
There was nothing she loved more than moments like this, standing in front of these windows, a cup of coffee in her hand, with the silk of her pajamas whispering over her skin as the August sunrise crept over Manhattan. It was almost six thirty, and though she had training this morning, she’d been drawn to her laptop like a moth to a flame to put more finishing touches on her youth center proposal before she met up with Luke.
Lydia had been playing around with her final draft for a week now, making small changes, and she’d reached the point where she was genuinely worried she was just ruining it. But every time she thought she was satisfied with the project and tried to hand it in, she panicked that something might be wrong—a typo or a crooked angle—and she would start reviewing it all over again. At this rate, she wasn’t sure it was ever going to get submitted.
She sipped from her mug of overly sugary coffee. Luke would have rolled his eyes at the amount of flavored creamer she’d dumped into her cup, but she didn’t care. She needed it today. And the thought of his perturbed face all wrinkled up made her chuckle, which was a nice reprieve from remembering the look of stunned disbelief on his face after she’d kissed him the other week. Lydia knew it hadn’t been her finest moment. She’d just gotten caught up, again, in Luke’s warmth, his passion, his excitement and let herself get carried away.
Lydia massaged the bridge of her nose. In her defense, Luke had just finished telling her to listen to her body, to figure out what it needed. Sure, he’d been talking about running at the time, but clearly there’d been a momentary lapse between her mind and body, and the next thing she knew she was kissing him like a fool. Not that Luke had helped the matter. From what she remembered, he’d responded rather enthusiastically as he deepened the kiss...
Thankfully, Luke had chosen not to mention the kiss since, and Lydia saw no reason to bring it up. But even though she wanted to lock the kiss away in a box and drop the key into the Hudson, it was almost harder to bury the moment than it had been to get over their one night together. A kiss was a prelude. It spoke of things to come, unfinished business.But there’s nothing happening between us, she kept reminding herself. Nothing but today’s short run.
If there was any plus side to the kiss, it was that Lydia and Luke had both hyperfocused on getting her miles down to avoid making things awkward, so at least the slip hadn’t derailed her training. In fact, she was feeling solid about her progress. They were building up to run twelve miles this weekend. If someone had told Lydia she’d be running anywhere but to the coffee shop down the street months ago, she would have laughed in their face. Now, it didn’t sound so impossible. Now she knew it was something her body was capable of. Of course, she had more endurance and more stamina, but mentally the challenge of that many miles didn’t terrify her anymore. Ask her about twenty-six miles and an uneasy feeling still ricocheted through her gut, but twelve? She was almost excited by the challenge, especially because she still wanted to make up the shortened ten-mile run.
Lydia finished her coffee, put her mug in the sink, and popped into her room to change for the gym. She stripped and walked past the full-length mirror that leaned against the wall next to the closet, doing a twirl. Lately, she’d started to notice little changes. She’d slimmed down in areas and was more toned in others. The biggest change was the definition in her legs, and feeling extra confident this morning, she chose a pair of running shorts instead of her usual leggings.
When she got to the gym, Luke was waiting for her by the front desk, like he so often was when they ran these short, early-morning runs. She stowed her things in her locker, then joined him.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded and followed him out the door. They stretched and set off at a steady pace. For a while there was nothing but easy breathing and the sound of footsteps between them. Lydia looked ahead, setting her gaze on the end of the street, watching cars and cyclists flash by them.
“You look stressed,” Luke said, cutting through the silence about halfway through their run.
“What do you mean?” She mentally ran through her running form, dropping her shoulders and relaxing her hands the way he had taught her.
“You have a line between your brows. It’s been there since you walked in the door this morning.”
Lydia laughed. “Telling a woman she has wrinkles is not a wise thing to do before she’s properly caffeinated. I need at least two cups, and I’ve only had one.”
“You’re deflecting.”
Lydia pursed her lips, trying to put her thoughts in order. Trying to settle on the real reason she’d been up with the sun this morning. “I’m not deflecting. I’m just worried about my youth center proposal.”
“I thought you said you were almost done.”
