Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (36 page)

Janie didn’t smile and mirrored Luke’s body language, crossing her arms and leaning back.   She turned back to Luke.

“What’s on my mind is that you’re a fucking liar who can’t keep his pants zipped.”  And just like that she was done with the conversation and began to stand up.

“Whoa.  Oh, this is gettin’ good,” Mike said rubbing his hands. 

Both Luke and Janie turned to him.  “Fuck off, Mike,” growled Luke, just as Janie said, “Keep out of it, Mike!”

Janie began to leave and Luke stood immediately and stepped in her path.  “We’re
both
leaving.”  His eyes flashed at hers, darkening in anger.

“Come on, don’t leave yet,” Mike whined from the table.

“Yeah,” Jem added.  “Come on, Janie.  I’ve never seen a woman do this to Luke before.  Last time I saw a woman take down a man with such ease was when Emily kicked Mike’s ass.”

Mike smiled at that and J
em folded his hands in his lap, and leaned forward with an excited look on his face.

Both Janie and Luke turned to both of them and said, “Shut. Up.”  Then Luke said to Janie, “You and I need to talk.”  He glanced back at the two idiots at the table and said, “Privately.”

“I have nothing to say to you, Luke.  Let’s not make a scene.  Just sit down and have your drinks with Larry and Curly over there, and have a good night,” Janie groused.

“Larry and Curly?  But I want to be Moe,” Mike frowned and turned to Jem.

“
I’m
Moe.  Isn’t he the one who smacks everyone?” Jem asked Mike.  “If anyone needs to be on the receiving end of a smack, it’s you, Mikey.  Of course, it appears that Luke may need one as well, which means due to process of elimination, I’m Moe.” 

“
Cristo
,” Luke muttered, then to Janie said, “I said we’re leaving.”  He shot a dirty look to the boys then took her elbow. 

“No,
I’m
leaving.  You,” she pointed to Luke, “are staying.” Janie tried to remove her arm from Luke’s gentle but unbreakable grasp.  Mike was rubbing his hands together and giggling with glee. 
Giggling.

“What kind of family members are you?” she growled.  “Luke’s manhandling me over here and you sit there and laugh?”

“Well, first of all, you do need a man to handle you, Janie, and Luke is definitely qualified,” Mike began.  “But more importantly, he’d handle you with care.  Not like the asshole who just left,” he said pointedly.  “I’d still like to talk about that.”

“Tough.  We’re not talking about it.  And I just told you he was a liar,” Janie said referring to Luke, trying to keep the hurt from her voice.

“We heard you,” Jem said, “but keep in mind we know him better than you do.  Is he arrogant?  Most definitely.  A pain in the ass?  Yup.  A determined, tenacious mover and shaker who goes after what he wants?  Absolutely.  But a liar?  A liar is one thing he is not.”

Janie stared at Mike and Jem.  They had both turned serious and were looking at her with love in their eyes.  She inwardly sighed and looked up at Luke who was giving her that expressionless look.  But his jaw was clenched.  That told her something. 

She still didn’t want to talk to him.  She wasn’t ready. 

“Please let go of my arm,” she whispered.  He didn’t.  “I’m leaving,” she said more forcefully.  “We can talk another time.”

“I’ll get you home,” Luke said, loosening his grip on her elbow and turning to the guys.  “I’m taking her home.”

“Fine by me.  Have fun,” Mike wiggled his eyebrows and swigged his wine.  Then he turned to Jem.  “I need a beer.”

At this point, Janie decided she’d almost prefer Luke’s company to the men sitting at the table.  Jerks. “Well it’s not fine by me,” Janie began.  “I’ll take a cab.”

“I’m taking you home,” Luke insisted.

“I’ll take a cab,” she repeated with force.  “And don’t follow me home because I won’t let you in.”

There was a beat of silence while Mike and Luke exchanged looks.  “You have the key?” Mike asked Luke. 

“What key?” Janie asked looking between the two of them.  The other night flashed into her memory bank and she nearly screeched.  “Is that how you were able to lock my door the other night?!” she looked at Luke.  “You have my
key
?!”

“Calm down.  I gave Luke the spare key I had to your place.  I figured it made more sense for him to have it since he only lives a couple of blocks away from you and can get to you faster if you needed anything.  I don’t know why we didn’t give it to him in the first place,” Mike mused aloud with an innocent look on his face.

“You gave him my
key
?” she repeated, practically yelling, wondering at her brother’s action which was basically the equivalence of Mike giving Luke his blessing.  She was both shocked and warmed at the thought.  It didn’t stop her from feeling disgruntled though.  “And you didn’t think to ask me first?”

“Nope,” Mike said sweetly then added, “And I thought you were leaving.”

She frowned.  “I am.”  Then she looked up at Luke with a pointed glare then down at his hand still on her elbow.  He released it and put his hand out for her to precede him to the exit.  She leaned around him and sent one last evil eye to the men who shared her DNA.  “Thanks a lot, guys,” she said sarcastically.

“Not a problem,” Jem beamed.

“Yeah, no worries,” Mike said.  Then waggling his fingers in a cute wave, he said, “Have fun you two.”

She fumed as Luke remained silent, then he turned and led them out the door.  When they were out on the sidewalk, she kept walking. 

“Wait,” Luke growled, but she kept going.  “Kenneth, would you follow, please?” she heard him yell.  A moment later, he was at her side.  “I want to talk to you,” he began.

“I’m sure you do.  But I’m not in the mood to talk tonight.”  She kept walking toward the subway, not wanting to wait for a cab.

This time, he stopped her and put both hands on her upper arms forcing her to stop and look up at him.  “Janie.”

There was a moment between them filled with unspoken words and bubbling emotions.

“I’m driving you home.  Got that?”  He took advantage of the moment of silence after his demand and led her quickly to the limo which was waiting at the curb.  She got in and he followed after, closing the door behind him.  Once he gave Kenneth instructions to drive them to Janie’s, he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. 

She turned away from him and stared out the window, hearing him sigh.  She didn’t respond and basically gave him the cold shoulder the entire ride to her place.  When Kenneth pulled up to the curb, she got out and Luke quickly followed.  As she was entering the foyer, she saw his reflection in the glass in front of her while he spoke to Kenneth who then got back in the limo and drove away.

“Don’t bother following me in, Luke.  You can just turn around and walk home.  And don’t you dare use that key.  In fact, I want it back.”

“I’m done with this attitude, Janie,” he said with authority while taking her arm, walking her through the foyer, then up the short flight of stairs to her door. 

“Yeah, well, I’m done with
you
,” she growled at him, trying to remove her arm from his grasp.  He took his own key out and opened the door, pushing her gently inside.  She continued walking, hit the foyer light switch, and didn’t look back.  “Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.”

Two seconds later, she heard the door slide shut with a slam and whipped around to see Luke standing inside her living room in front of the closed door.

He clicked the lock.

“Technically this kind of door can’t hit me on the ass.  You know, because it slides,” Luke said sardonically when Janie met his eyes.

“You don’t have the right to just come in, Luke.”  Janie tore off her coat and tossed it on her chair.  “This is my place, not yours,” she said, turning on a lamp by the sofa.

“I seem to remember an agreement we had, that I was to know about any dates you had on the books.  So you can imagine the questions I have swirling around in my head,” he said sarcastically.  “Like first, why the hell you would even go out with a guy like that.  Or why this date had to happen tonight of all nights.”

She shot him a dirty look.

He continued, deadly calm, looking like he was trying to figure it all out.  “He’s the guy from high school who treated you like shit, isn’t he?”

“It’s none of your business who I go out with.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said quietly and walked toward her, unbuttoning his coat while he did.  When he reached her, he peeled it off along with his scarf, tossing it on top of hers.  “That man doesn’t even deserve to breathe the same air as you.  Why the hell did you go out with him?”

She let go of an annoyed sigh.

He tipped her head back so her gaze could reach his eyes.  “He doesn’t deserve one iota of your time.  Not one.  He didn’t deserve it when you were a teenager and he most certainly doesn’t deserve it now.”

She fought the warm feeling as he stared into her eyes. 

Instead, she looked away, embarrassed with herself that she’d even agreed to see Chaz.  “It really is none of your business,” she muttered.  “I want you to leave.”

He made her look at him again.  “It
is
my business. Why did you go out with him? Tonight of all nights?”

Her temper finally snapped.  “Fine, so let’s talk about that, shall we?”  She pulled away from his hand on her chin.  “Apparently
I
need to honor our agreement,” she said emphatically, pressing her hand to heart, “but Luke Daniels can do whatever the hell he wants, is that it?  I don’t think so.”  Before she could turn away he stopped her with his hand.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked vehemently. 

“Did you have a nice fuck on your birthday, Luke?”  She was spitting mad and put her hands on her hips, facing off with him.  “Apparently you couldn’t make it one more week?  You really are something, you know that?”  She was on a roll.  “So much for trying to find a woman you can come home to, huh?  Unless that’s what you want to come home to, and if that’s the case, then have at it.  I don’t even fucking care anymore.  It’s not like you owe me anything,” she mumbled as she stomped away toward the kitchen, taking out her dangly earrings.  Everything was just pissing her off, even the sweep of metal at her ears. “No, sir. 
I
can’t have sex, but Luke Daniels, he can’t even keep his pants zipped for seven more days.”

She chucked her earrings onto the counter just as she was about to enter the kitchen area.  He caught up to her and whipped her around.

“What the fuck are you
talking
about?”  His hands clamped onto her upper arms, stopping her.  “What the hell happened between last night when you dropped off my present, and this morning when you refused to return my calls?  What happened that hurt you?  I don’t underst –” Then, just like that, his eyes blinked as if a realization had blindsided him.  His mouth formed a frown and he looked off over her shoulder, thinking.

When he looked back at her, he cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing her with his gaze.  Holding up his finger, he commanded, “Don’t.  You.  Dare.  Move.”

He reached for his phone in his pocket and began typing things on it.  Within seconds he was shaking his head and pressing his lips together in annoyance, muttering a curse.  Eventually he made eye contact with her again, this time in full understanding and held up the phone to show her the screen. 

“By any chance, does this have anything to do with why you’re pissed at me?”

She looked at his phone screen where the pictures of him and Vanessa taken from the night before continued to mock her.  She crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

“Does it?” he demanded.

She continued her defiant stance and he let out a whoosh of breath.

“Have I ever lied to you? 
Ever
?”  He was getting pissed.

“How am I supposed to know?”  She sounded whiny even to her own ears.

He swore.  “Answer this:  do you think I would lie to you?”

She remained quiet, biting her lip.  The emotion began to rise in her chest and she fought hard to control it.  She didn’t want to cry even though she was on the cusp of it at the moment.  “I don’t
want
to believe you would ever lie to me.  Not you.”

“You don’t have to
want
to believe it.  Just
believe
it,” he said, exasperated.  He shook his phone to bring her attention back to it.  “She was waiting for me when I got home last night from my meetings.  She was wishing me a happy birthday and,” he paused and ran his hand through his hair, “wanted to hang out last night.  She’s been having problems getting some modeling gigs since we’ve broken up and wanted to rekindle the romance, if you know what I mean.  This is a picture of me reiterating to her that it’s over and then me putting her in the car so Kenneth could take her home.”

She swallowed. 
Believe him.  Believe him.