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Catie hadn’t heard from Luke for an entire week before he called her on Friday night. Catie was happy and angry at the same time when she got that call. She was starting to believe that Luke’s true intention towards her the night he took her to the Jazz club and the night that they made love like wild animals, was just a hit and quit. But then again, if Luke really felt like that, he wouldn’t have still taken her out after they had sex. Why did Luke go MIA for a whole week?
Luke apologized for the long silence and told Catie that he was very much still interested in her; it was just that he was so busy at work that he barely had enough time to eat or do anything else for that matter. Catie knew that the man had to be incredibly busy, not only was he an Associate Vice President for a marketing firm, but he also owned several businesses with some business partners. Catie could believe his story because Luke didn’t seem the type to lie, but that didn’t make not hearing from him less painful. After what they did, Catie felt that they should at least have a stronger connection because it wasn’t just sex for her.
“But… something’s telling me to be careful around him.” Catie said aloud. Catie had this feeling about Luke for a while now, but it was growing stronger as the days passed her by. Hopefully, it isn’t something that would make Catie regret her decision to make love to him.
Chapter Eight
Luke walked up the front stairs to Catie’s house and paused before knocking on the door. He was nervous. Lucas Curtis, a powerful businessman and the alpha of a pride of shapeshifting lions was terrified of a woman. Well… he wasn’t terrified of Catie; he was terrified about losing her before he had a chance to truly make her his.
“Get your head in the game,” Luke said running his hand through his hair before knocking on the door. Luke already felt a little odd for pretty much giving Catie the cold shoulder for the past week, but he didn’t completely lie when he told her that he was busy. That was true, but the main reason that Luke didn’t call Catie was because after having his way with her, Luke felt bad that he didn’t disclose his true background with her. Luke was just happy that the news reporter was forgiving and even kind enough to offer to cook him dinner when she didn’t have too. Luke’s breath caught in his throat when Catie opened the door.
“Hi Luke,” Catie said blushing slightly when she noticed the look in Luke’s eyes. Catie couldn’t help but to feel a little giddy as Luke gawked at her, it kind of made up for the fact that she was like that with him only a week ago. It was strange because Catie felt like she knew Luke so much longer than that. Catie wore a black dress that had several slits in the sleeve and several just above her breasts. Her back was exposed showing off flawless skin and the dress was so short that if Catie had to bend down, she’d be giving Luke an eyeful. Catie was aware that she was incredibly overdressed just to be having dinner at her home, but she wanted to show Luke what he had missed.
“Wow,” Luke wasn’t embarrassed to admit when a woman left him speechless. Catie was a knockout and Luke was going to let her know that. “You look… wow.” Luke said again unable to get his words out. Catie wasn’t skinny by any means and Luke was sure that the dress that she was wearing was marketed towards slimmer women, but Catie absolutely killed the look. No skinny athletic chick or super model had anything on sexy BBW news reporter Catherine Ziles. Catie grinned pleased by Luke’s compliment and stepped aside.
“Thank you, you look great too,” Catie said as she looked at how professional Luke looked in his tailored suit; then again, Luke was always dressed to kill in her opinion. “You’re a little early, so the food isn’t quite done yet. Can I get you something to drink or to snack on while you wait? Maybe you’d like to watch TV, I heard a basketball game is on tonight.” Luke shook his head and walked through the door.
“I’d like to help you if you don’t mind?” Luke asked finally gaining back most of his smoothness. He might have been wealthy, but that didn’t mean he had maids and butlers on reserve. Luke liked getting down and dirty sometimes and had no problem when it came to cooking food. He hunted for his food as a lion, so he didn’t have a problem cooking as a human.
“Are you sure? I haven’t had enough time to prepare the table. Be gentle with me, Luke. It’s been a while since I’ve treated a man to dinner at my place.” Luke was going to make sure that he was the last man that Catie cooked a home cooked meal for.
“Of course sweetheart, I’d love to help. It’s the least I could do for… well, you know,” Luke said. He had to make up for his actions for the past week. If not calling Catie wasn’t bad enough, Luke made it even worst by not calling her after they had sex.
Catie watched Luke with weary eyes and could tell that a lot on his mind. Luke seemed apologetic for what he did and Catie couldn’t help but to brush the bad vibes that she was feeling under the floorboards. Tonight the two of them will have a proper conversation about what happened, what’s on each other’s mind, and Catie was going to ask Luke flat out where they were heading. They were moving pretty fast, but Catie kind of felt like that didn’t matter anymore.
“My dining room is this way,” Catie said as she led Luke through her house. Luke looked around the house and couldn’t help but to smile. Catie’s house was pretty girly, everything color coordinated and smelled fruity, and Luke was starting to think that maybe Catie would have been happier as an interior designer. “The plates and utensils are on the table, I just been moving back and forth between the kitchen and dining room that I forgot to set the table.” Luke smiled.
“Can I wash my hands? I don’t want to touch your clean dishes with my dirty hands.” Catie looked at Luke and seriously asked herself were there actually times where Luke wasn’t perfect.
“You just want to see what’s going on in my kitchen, but sure.” Catie said and led Luke to the kitchen. The kitchen smelled of seasoning and seafood and Luke started thinking that he was the luckiest man alive. Catie was beautiful and good at cooking.
“Of course,” Luke said smiling as he looked around the modest sized kitchen. Catie walked over to the stove and stirred something while Luke made his way to the sink. “What are you cooking by the way?”
“Lobster tails, shrimp, brown rice, white rice, fried okra and I just made some homemade guacamole to go with some pita chips I picked up from the store.” Catie said without looking over her shoulder. She had to admit that she was feeling nervous, but she was confident when it came to her cooking. She might have been on TV, but that didn’t mean that she never had enough time to learn a thing or two about cooking.
“Dang girl,” Luke said walking up behind her. Luke was so close to Catie that she could feel him breathing. She couldn’t help but to get a little excited about that. “Gorgeous, intelligent, and a great cook. I got to hurry up and scoop you up before some other joker tries to.” Luke said honestly before taking the guacamole off of the counter and walked into the dining room. Catie frowned at that because there were a lot of questions that she wanted to ask Luke, but she didn’t want to spoil their evening. However, Catie felt it was best to just to go ahead and get her questions out of the way. Turning off the stove, Catie turned towards the direction of her dining room.
“Luke,” Catie called out to him as she made her way to the dining room. Luke had already set up the plates and he was busying himself by dumping some chips in a bowl and placing it next to the guacamole dish.
“What’s up? Need help bringing the food in here?” Luke asked and looked into Catie’s eyes. His eyes were that same intense golden hue, but Catie willed herself to not get lost in his beautiful orbs.
“Well… I’m… I’m just going to be blunt,” Catie said and took in a deep breath. Luke gave Catie his full attention at that moment because the way she was acting raised red flags in Luke’s brain. “I know it’s real soon, but… but I like you. If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t have slept with you and god knows that I never sleep with men that I’d just met.” Catie knew that most slutty women said that despite the fact that they might have had several one night stands, but Catie wasn’t that type of woman. “I can tell that you feel something for me, but I felt… used when we slept together and you didn’t contact me for a week. I even called you a few times and you never responded to my messages. So I guess I’m trying to find out exactly what you want from me.” There… she said it.
Luke wore an unreadable expression on his face and after a few moments of just staring into Catie’s eyes, he finally sighed.
“I know. I know that I handled that wrong. I used work as an excuse to why I couldn’t contact you sooner, but that isn’t the full truth.” Catie figured as much, but she didn’t want to call the man out on it.
“Then what is it, Luke?” Catie pushed forward and Luke looked away from Catie’s questioning eyes. Nobody has made him ever break contact in a heated stare off, well nobody until he met Catie.
“I felt bad… for not telling you something that I’m pretty sure you’d like to know about me.” Luke said quietly and Catie frowned. That definitely did not sound good.
“What? You’re seeing someone? Oh god, you’re married aren’t you.” Catie was wondering why she had bad vibes whenever she spoke with or was around Luke, but she wasn’t expecting it to be that.
“Of course not, I’m a one-woman man, and I was hoping that you’d give me a chance to become your man, but I know I need to tell you something first.” Catie’s face went hot when Luke said that he wanted to be her man, she was happy, but she couldn’t be completely happy because of this ‘secret’ Luke was keeping from her. She listened to Luke take deep breaths as he prepared to tell Catie what he was keeping from her. The longer she waited for Luke to speak, the more terrified she got.
“Come on, Luke. Just tell me,” Catie said and Luke brought his golden eyes back to her. It was now or never.
“Catie… I’m a shapeshifter.” Catie’s eyes flew wide open in surprise as she felt all of her sense of dread wash over her.
