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I laughed. “No need,” I said. “I’ve totally got this.
Except, I totally did not have this.
I was a thirty-year-old woman with an MBA. A great job. Maybe soon a VP. I’d weeded out any negative friends and surrounded myself with people who lifted me up, and vice versa. Was the relationship with my parents, especially my dad, the best? Not necessarily. But otherwise, things were on track. I worked out. Ate healthy, at least three-quarters of the time. And someday I would figure out a way to work art back into my life.
I was a strong, empowered woman. And yet. . .
I’d actually fished out my air-sickness pills, cut one in half, and popped it. So maybe they were for my flight anxiety, and I wasn’t exactly getting on a plane this afternoon. But this was. . . worse. We were talking about a man I’d waited ten years to confront. One who had come back from his time in the military with an edge I didn’t know how to navigate. Or if I even wanted to. He hadn’t treated me the best, to be honest, and wasn’t that what I deserved?
God, this was fucking confusing.
One embarrassing call to Natalie later, after I realized I couldn’t actually drive after taking that pill, I got out of her car at Lucas’s shop. Walking to the front door as if I were walking a gangplank, I reached my hand up to knock.
It opened before my knuckles touched the door.
He wore a Grunt Ink Tattoo T-shirt, with his own ink on full display. The tee was just tight enough that I didn’t have to imagine much, but not obnoxiously tight. I actually shivered at the sight of him.
If you looked up “male” in the dictionary, you would find a picture of Lucas Warner. No doubt.
“Was that Natalie?”
He stepped aside, and I wished I’d held my breath as I walked by him. Lucas smelled too good by far for me to keep my head on straight.
“It was.”
“Something wrong with your car?”
He shut the door and locked it, that click resounding in my ear more ominous than it probably should be.
Lie. Just lie.
“No.”
I couldn’t do it. Actually broke out in hives when I tried. How annoying.
“Charlee?”
He wanted me to turn around. Except, how could I possibly look him in the eye and admit the real reason Natalie had dropped me off?
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”
“No,” I admitted. So much for playing it cool.
He came around to my side, looking at me as if I was supposed to say something profound.
“Why did Natalie drop you off?” he asked finally.
If I was truly not going to play games with him, might as well admit the truth. “I was so nervous waiting to come here that I took a plane pill. Well, half, actually. And belatedly realized I couldn’t drive. Natalie lives in an apartment just down the street, and I knew she was available, so I called her—”
“What,” he asked, his voice definitely huskier than it was ten years ago, “is a plane pill?”
“Anxiety medication,” I clarified. “I’m afraid to fly.”
“You are?” He seemed surprised. And thankfully had missed the whole point.
“Yes.”
