Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (7 page)

Chapter 11

The first weeks of school were busy. Sierra got used to her class schedule.  She had little time to stop and think about Luke when she saw other couples together around campus.

She wanted to call him, wanted him to call her. But she had little faith in the idea of hearing from him and couldn't bring herself to pick up the phone and call him. As time passed, she still didn’t hear from him.

She was sitting outside underneath a tree on an afternoon in late October, trying to make sense of her English assignment when she looked up.  Her heart felt like it stopped beating in her chest.

A man who looked like Luke was coming her way.

She blinked, thinking that there had to be a guy who went to school here who looked like him. But when she blinked again and took in the familiar hazel eyes, the dark blonde day old stubble on his chin, she knew that it was Luke who was coming towards her and not some guy who looked like him.

She wanted to jump up, throw herself into his arms, though she rarely thought about him anymore.  It hurt too much. She hadn't worn the locket he'd given her since she'd arrived at school, tucking in into the back of her dresser drawer, burying it beneath her underwear.

He stood next to her for a moment, looking at her. Then he reached out a hand to help her to her feet. "Hi."

"Hello, Luke." Her voice sounded strained to her own ears.

"You wanna get out of here for a while? I've got a room."

She stared at him for a moment. "Yeah, let me go tell my roommate that I'm leaving. I was supposed to have dinner with her."

He nodded, leaning against the tree, watching her as she hurried across the campus towards her room.

Ashley wasn't in the room when she got there. Sierra scrawled a note for her, saying that she had met up with an old friend and wouldn't be back for dinner, wasn't sure when she'd be back.

She was glad that she didn't have another class until the next afternoon. She felt helpless with anticipation as to what Luke's visit meant.

He was still leaning against the tree when she got back outside, twirling an unlit cigarette between his fingers.

He tucked it behind his ear when she approached, reaching to take her hand.

He led her to his car, not saying anything. He was still silent as he opened the door for her, only speaking when he had settled himself behind the wheel, lighting his cigarette.

He offered her one and she accepted it, lighting it with the offered lighter. "So how's school going?"

"Good.”  She felt uncomfortable beside him in his car when she had felt so at home there a few short months ago.

He nodded.  The drive was silent then until he pulled up at an almost seedy looking motel a few minutes later.

"I couldn't find anything else," he said apologetically as she stepped out of the car. "There was some kind of convention in town and all the decent rooms were taken."

She nodded at him, not knowing what to say.

He unlocked the door to a room at the corner of the first floor, and held the door for her. Always the gentleman she thought.

She sat uncomfortably in the room on the only chair. She stared at the worn carpet which was a hideous green color.

At least it looked clean she thought offhandedly.  She finally forced herself to look at Luke, perched uncomfortably on the edge of the bed.

Damn he looked good she thought.  Sexy as hell like usual.  But he had bags under his eyes and he looked so tired.

She wanted to put her arms around him. To kiss all the weariness from his face.  See his eyes light up with the fire of sexual want, of need that she knew so well.

Instead she stayed rooted to her chair and looked at him. She watched as he lit another cigarette. He took his time to smoke it and stubbed it out in an already over flowing ashtray before he came to her.  He got on his knees before the chair, laying his head in her lap. She stroked his hair, loving the familiar feel of his soft waves, feeling tears prick her eyes.

"Oh Luke.”  He moved his head to look up at her then. "I've missed you."

"I know baby.”  He took her hand and pulled her towards the bed. "My bed is so empty without you. My whole fuckin’ life is so empty without you."

He held her in his arms for a long time, both of them fully dressed and laying on top of the covers.

She didn't know who made the first move to undress.  But they were both soon nude and making love with such passion, such need that she never wanted the moment to end.

She fell asleep in his arms, sleeping better than she had in weeks, though she hadn't let herself think about it. When she awoke it was dark outside.

He was sitting up in bed smoking.  He handed her a cigarette without a word, moving to light it for her.

There was so much in his eyes.  Pain, need, love and something she couldn't quite decipher. Was it hope, or some kind of resignation Sierra wondered?

She wanted to ask him why he was here when he hadn't bothered to call the whole time she'd been gone.  But she left it alone, not wanting to spoil their time together.  She had a feeling that this might be the last night they spent together for a long time.  Maybe forever.

"You hungry?" he asked. "There's a little diner down the road."

She wasn't really hungry, was unsure that she'd be able to eat her stomach was so tied up in knots.  But she knew he was trying to make some kind of an effort at normalcy and she nodded, reaching for her clothes.

They didn't talk much during dinner, and neither of them ate much. The drive back to the motel was silent.

They tried to watch TV for a while, though the reception was bad and they soon gave up.

Luke reached over with a shaky hand to switch off the lamp. She reached for him in the dark and soon they were making love again. But she found herself sobbing her eyes out in his arms only moments after they'd finished.

She awoke early the next morning to find him seated at the small table, two large Styrofoam cups of coffee in front of him. He handed her a cup of coffee, and offered her a cigarette which she waved off.

"Luke I. . ."  He was rummaging in his bag.  She felt her heart skip a beat when he pulled out a small box, the size that could only hold a ring.

"Sie, I changed my mind baby. I don't want to be without you anymore. I want you to marry me. Maybe not now, it's not fair to ask you to marry me now.  But I wanted to tell that I'll do whatever you want. I'll move today and it can be like it was. I've missed you so much."

He pushed the box toward her.  She opened it was a shaking hand, seeing a beautiful diamond engagement ring nestled inside.

She closed the box.  The small click was overly loud in the otherwise silent room.

"Sie.  Baby, say something. Tell me yes. Tell me no.  Tell me to fuck off."

She looked at the box for a moment and then let it drop to the bed. Hadn't this been what she'd wanted?  What she'd begged him for the night before she left for school she thought?  All of a sudden she wished he hadn't come at all.  As much as it hurt, she knew he'd been right then.  Right that it was fair to neither of them for her to ask him to put his life on hold until she finished school.

She got up on shaky legs, moving over toward the chair. She pulled his head to her chest, much as a mother would do to comfort a small child.

"You know I can't say yes Luke. It's not fair to you."

He nodded silently against her. She held him for a long time, leaning down to give him a kiss when she broke away, trying to put everything she felt into the action.  The love, the hurt; the regret.

When finally she pulled away, she dressed slowly, feeling his eyes on her.

When she had finished and was bending down to tie her shoes she wished irrationally for a hair brush. Oh how could she be worried about what her hair looked like at a time like this she thought?  She caught sight of the ring sitting on the bed and made a move to hand it back to him.

He shook his head at her, pushing it back into her hand. "I bought it for you.  I want you to have it."

They were silent as he led her to the car and silent on the drive back to the college campus.

He opened her door for her, taking her hand.  She found herself in his arms once again.

They stood together like that for a long time, oblivious to the world around them.

He pulled back.  "I'd better let you go. You've probably got class."

She looked at him silently, shoving the ring box into the bottom of her purse. "Yeah."

He kissed her then.  She found herself lost again, in a moment that was over altogether too quickly. "Goodbye Sierra."

"Goodbye Luke." She watched him as he drove away, wanting to cry, to run after him like a mad woman and tell him she'd changed her mind.

But she hadn't, and dragging her feet, she made her way across the campus to her dorm room.

Chapter 12

Ashley was sitting on the bed painting her nails a funky shade of bright blue when Sierra opened the door. Her eyes lit up. "Is that hunk you were with last night your boyfriend? Some girls from the dorm saw you leave with him last night.  They've been talking about nothing else since you left."

"Can we talk about this later Ash? I'm tired and I want to take a nap before class."

"Sure hon." Sierra could see in her roommate’s eyes the dawning of understanding that maybe the night before hadn't gone quite as good as the gossipy girls had thought.

When Sierra awoke from her nap, a half hour before she was due in class, Ashley was already gone. She was glad she didn't have to face the other girl's questions and possible sympathy yet.

Ashley didn’t mention her mysterious boyfriend again. Sierra went back to keeping Luke out of her mind, having shoved the ring into the nether regions of her underwear drawer where it kept the locket company.

She stayed at school over Thanksgiving, as her mom and Timothy were away yet again, though she couldn't remember where it was they had gone or what they were doing.

She had been invited to spend the day at her grandma's house but she had declined, not wanting to face the relatives she hadn't seen in years.

She decided to go home for Christmas break though she spent the first few days at school catching up on her studying and looking for a part time job.

She headed home on December 23rd, not looking forward to the time with her parents. She hoped they wouldn't question her about Luke or raise the question of dealings with the male sex at all.

She'd been asked out a few times by guys. Mostly those who shared various classes with her. But she always declined and got the feeling that she had developed a reputation as either stuck up or a lesbian. She honestly couldn't care less what most people thought of her.

The time she didn't spend studying, she spent mostly with Ashley, who at first tried to drag her to parties. But after constant refusals she, too, stopped asking. So the time she spent with her roommate was mostly spent studying now too.

She dreaded running into Luke around town and made sure that she left the house only when she absolutely had to.

She had tried to cover up the smell of her cigarettes in the house by opening the window as far as it would go, and running the air purifier constantly, but her mother still complained about the smell. So she took to smoking outside, sitting despondently on the front steps.

She didn't like to consider herself unhappy.  She thought of herself as involved in her studies, having little time for a social life.

She was sitting on the steps the afternoon of the day before New Year's Eve and had her nose buried in a book when she heard someone call her name.

She looked up to see Austin and Ilana walking by.  Ilana was pushing a stroller. She wanted to get up and escape into the house, but Austin was waving at her as if he considered her a friend. She got up off the steps reluctantly, making her way towards them. To her surprise Ilana gave her a hug, though they had never really been friends.  Sierra held her embrace for a moment, then pulling back to take a peek at the child sleeping in the stroller.

She was adorable Sierra thought, with Austin's blonde hair and Ilana's curls (though the child's hair looked more manageable, her hair not as thick as her mother's), her long eyelashes touching her cheeks.

"She's so cute." Sierra felt a little pang.

She wasn't ready to be a mother herself, wasn't sure she'd ever really be ready, but watching Austin and Ilana together with their gorgeous little girl, obviously so happy, made her yearn again to have Luke beside her.

"Thanks." Ilana reached down to straighten the blanket that had started to come off as the child moved in her sleep.

"Well," Austin said. "I guess we'd better get her home. Have a nice new year's Sierra. It was good to see you."

He waved as they walked away and she could see the glint of a wedding ring on his finger.

She spent New Year's Eve alone in her room.

Her mother and Timothy were at a party thrown by someone high up in the company that Timothy worked for. She figured they would probably be returning quite late if they returned at all that night. The party was being held at a hotel and several suites had been rented out so that those who became intoxicated didn't have to drive home.

She was tired of reading, reading so much was starting to make her eyes hurt.  She wasn't in the mood to listen to music either.

She went downstairs and out the door a little before midnight, sitting on the steps and digging in her purse for a cigarette.

She could hear the noise from a loud party somewhere down the street and briefly wondered if it was coming from Luke's house.

The thought of him with another woman started to drive her crazy. She turned around intending to go into the house, put her pillow over her head and go to sleep.

Instead of going into the house, she found herself going to her car. She sat in the drivers’ seat for several minutes before she started the car.

What was she doing she thought? If the noise was coming from Luke's, what was she going to do?  Barge in, most likely to find him in the arms of another woman?

She mentally cursed herself as she started the car, driving down the street slowly.

As she neared his block, she noticed that the party noise was coming not from Luke's house but from a house on the other side of the street that had been unoccupied before.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and then glanced at his house. She noticed that it was dark and his car wasn't in the driveway.

As she turned around at the end of the block, she slowed as she drove by the house, finally noticing the for sale sign on the lawn.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.  She reached for a cigarette, not noticing that she had slowed the car almost to a crawl until a car that she hadn't known was behind her honked.

She sped up, so angry she could hardly see straight.

She ended up passing her house the first time by and had to circle the block to get back. She went into the house, shaking with anger and an intense pain that she didn't want to let herself feel.

So what if he'd moved she thought?  It was over between them and he was getting on with his life.

She was angry at herself then, for letting it get to her.  She vowed that she would think of Luke no more.  That she would get on with her own life for once and for all, too.

Chapter 13

Two years later

Kimber

He'd been coming into the bookstore for several weeks now on an almost daily basis.

She had inherited the new/used bookstore/coffee shop from her great aunt who had died when Kimber was in her second year of college, majoring ironically enough in business management. Her aunt had had no children of her own.  Kimber had worked summers for her when she was a
teenager.  Since she was the only one in the family besides her aunt who had any kind of interest in the place, the store had gone to her.

The business was still pretty good even with all the chain bookstores and coffee shops. She enjoyed running the place, only hiring employees on a temporary basis at times of the year that were especially busy.

The store would never make her a millionaire, but business was good enough that she was able to live comfortably, especially considering she had also inherited her aunt's house.

He'd come in for coffee, browsing the shelves afterwards, sometimes buying a book or two, sometimes not.

It was a Thursday and business was slow, as it had been raining off and on all day. A lot of her regular customers that came in for their coffee and paperbacks didn't like to venture out into the rain.

He shook himself when he entered the store, wiping his shoes on the mat by the door and brushing the water off of his jacket.

Kimber had tried to ignore how good looking he was. She wanted nothing to do with men at this point in her life as she'd recently walked in on her fiancé in a rather compromising position in their bed with not one, but two women.

She'd walked out on him that day, dropping the cheap engagement ring that he'd given her down the garbage disposal. She hadn’t bothered to return for any of the clothes she'd left there and had moved into her aunt's house then, deciding not to sell it after all.

He walked up to the counter.  She couldn't help but find him to be completely adorable at that moment.  He was soaked from the rain, with his dark, wavy blonde hair falling into a gorgeous pair of hazel eyes.

She could tell he was built.  His t shirt was clinging to his chest accentuating the muscles.

He draped his jacket over the back of a chair and sat down. "Can I get a coffee please?"

She nodded at him, moving to the pot, pouring him the strong Columbian blend that she knew he favored.

She placed the mug in front of him, and had started to move towards the cash register to ring up the coffee when he stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Do you know anything about poetry?"

"Not really. Why?"

He sighed. "I write songs, and have been asked to write a love song for someone. And having no love in my life to speak of, I have hit a wall.  The one that they so casually call writer's block."

She wondered for a moment if this was some kind of cheap come on, thinking that there was no way that a guy that looked like him could be short of female attention.  Then she decided that he seemed pretty sincere.

She moved out from behind the counter. "I don't know a lot about poetry but I suppose I can help you find a book since business in here today isn't exactly booming."

He followed her over to the shelves. She found herself pulling several books off the shelf at random, not really looking at them, uncomfortable with his closeness.

She handed them to him, stepping back out into the wider aisle at the center of the store. She almost breathed a sigh of relief as some distance was put back between them.

She'd caught the scent of his cologne as he looked over her shoulder at the books and it had been threatening to drive her crazy.

He paged through a couple of the books, nodding at them, seemingly satisfied. "I think these will do. Thank you. I don't think I caught your name."

"Kimber."

"I'm Luke. It's nice to finally know your name. That's a pretty name. Kimber."

"Thanks."

She rang up the books and the coffee, bagging the books.

"I suppose I'll have to venture back out into the lovely weather now. Have a nice day Kimber."

"You, too."

He was almost to the door when he turned. "This might seem kind of forward, since we just officially met and all.  But would you like to go out to dinner sometime?"

She wanted to tell him she had a boyfriend, thinking that maybe he would stop coming into the store.  She thought that she would be able to go back to her peaceful existence of not thinking about men then.  But she found herself unable to get the words out.

He was attractive and she'd certainly found herself attracted to him today, almost aroused.  She surprised herself by blurting out "Okay."

"Great. I've got to get some work done on this song.  It's the first time somebody asked me to write a song for them. It's really a wonderful feeling since I'm not exactly well known, but I wished they hadn't asked me to write a love song. I suppose your number would be helpful so that I could call you."

She pulled a scrap of paper from beside the cash register, a little relieved that he was busy for the time being and wouldn't be expecting to take her out soon.  Maybe he would end up not calling at all, though she felt a little disappointment mixed with her relief at that thought.  But it wasn't like he didn't know where she worked, she thought. She suppressed a nervous giggle as she scrawled her cell phone number on the paper.

"I will definitely be giving you a call." He took the paper and gave her an almost cocky grin as he headed out the door.

The rest of the day was spent straightening shelves, and checking her inventory as the rain continued its deluge.  She had few customers.

Luckily though, it let up the next day and business was back to usual.  She was soon caught up in the day to day business of running the store.

Several days passed.  She tried not to think about Luke.  Tried not to hope that he would call, but it wasn't completely working. She was a little annoyed with herself for wanting to become involved with another man.

But, she told herself, he only wanted to take her dinner.  It's not like he'd proposed marriage, she added to herself with a shudder, marriage no.

She couldn't believe she'd accepted Orlando's proposal months before. Marriage had never seemed like something to look forward to to her.  Her parents had divorced when Kimber and her brothers were quite young.  By then it was a relief, the fighting in the house was so constant.

Her dad was on his third wife, though they had been together for several years now, and seemed happy.  But her mother was on her fourth husband and that was threatening to crack.  Upon finding out that her husband was screwing around with his young secretary at work, she was determined to get back at him, and had chosen to prove her continued desirability by taking up with a good looking but rather simple minded guy who was younger than Kimber.