With Me in Seattle Bundle One (24 page)

I smile at him, and one corner of his mouth curls up, and his eyes soften.

I glance to my left and find Lucy’s gaze also trained on me thoughtfully.  A slow smile spreads across her face, and she winks at me.

Sophie makes a mewling sound, and I look down at her.  I grab her pacifier and plug it into her mouth, and she sucks greedily as I run my fingertips down her soft hair.

“Natalie!”

“Huh?” 

Jules is laughing.  “I asked you if you brought your camera.”

“Of course.  I’m holding my newest model now. Maybe we can get some family shots after dinner?”

“Absolutely.  Now give me back the baby.”

“No.”

“You’re so selfish.”  Jules scowls at me, and Stacy laughs.

“Yes.  Sophie and I are going for a walk.”  I stand with her and wander down one of the paths to a shady garden.

“Aren’t the flowers pretty, Sophie?”  I croon to the sleepy baby and rock her back and forth.

“You’re good with her.” Luke has joined us, and I smile lazily at him.

“I love babies.  I never had siblings, so I’m living vicariously through Jules.”  I shrug and kiss Sophie’s head.

He reaches out and runs the back of his finger down Sophie’s cheek, and I feel my heart flip.  His finger looks so big on her tiny little cheek.

“She’s sweet,” I murmur.

“You’re sweet.”  He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear and runs his thumb down my jaw before slipping his hand back in his pocket.

I gaze down at the sleeping baby, and for the first time in my life, I imagine that I might have this one day.  A husband and a baby, and when I picture it in my head, it’s this man before me by my side.

I’ve got it bad.  Stop this.  Get rid of the baby.

“Hey!  Dinner’s ready, and I want that baby back!”  Jules is standing at the edge of the patio yelling toward us, and I smile at Luke.

“I’m gonna have to arm wrestle her later to get this baby back.”

Luke laughs and escorts us to the patio for dinner.

***

This has been the best birthday dinner of my life.  The Montgomerys have seamlessly folded Luke’s family into their own, engaging them in lively conversation and enjoying their company.  Neil and Lucy seem relaxed and happy, laughing with Steven and Gail, sharing stories about when their children were young.

All of the brothers—Isaac, Will, Caleb and Matt—have teased Luke mercilessly about being a famous actor, asked questions about pretty actresses, and done a lot of talking about football since Will is currently playing with the Seahawks, and they’re men.

What is it about boys and football?

Luke has laughed more than I’ve ever seen him, and I’ve fallen even more in love with him while watching him with my family.  He’s been attentive to me, refilling my drink, holding my hand and keeping tabs on where I am all evening.  I suspect I would have felt smothered by anyone else, but he makes me feel loved.

Because he loves me.

Baby Sophie has been passed around all evening and is currently lying quietly in Lucy’s arms.  Lucy is cooing at her.

“Aren’t grandkids the best?” Gail smiles softly at her beautiful granddaughter.

“We don’t have any yet, but I can’t wait.”  Lucy grins at Gail and then over at Luke, and he squirms in his seat.

I can’t help but laugh out loud at him.

“Do you find me funny, baby?”  Luke narrows his eyes at me, but I see the humor in them.

“Yes, that was funny.”

“Okay, cake time!”  Jules comes out of the house carrying a beautiful chocolate cake with twenty-six candles lit on it.

“You’re going to burn the house down with that, Jules.”

She smirks and sets it in front of me. 

“Make a wish,” Luke whispers in my ear.

I blow all the candles out in one breath.

Gail cuts the cake and passes it around.  It smells heavenly.  Gail makes the most delicious cakes.

“Thank you for making my favorite cake, Gail.”  I lean over and kiss her cheek.

“You’re welcome, darling.  I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Okay, now presents!”  Jules hops up, and I frown.

“No presents.  How many times do I have to tell you people? No presents!”

Everyone just laughs at me.

“We don’t listen to you, brat.”  Isaac smirks at me, and I glare at him.

“I don’t like you.”

“You love me.”

“You guys do too much for me already.”  I glance at Luke nervously.  “It embarrasses me when you buy me stuff.”

“It’s not your birthday unless you have presents.”  Jules sets a red gift bag in front of me.  “Open mine first.”  She’s hopping in her seat in excitement, and my mood lifts.

She’s bought me my favorite perfume and a beautiful silver bracelet.  “Oh, thank you!  I love it!”

“Can I borrow it?”  Jules asks.

We all laugh, and I’m relaxed again, enjoying my family.

As usual, they’ve gone a bit overboard.  The brothers all pitched in on a gift card. 

“More shopping!”  Jules and I exclaim in unison, and we break out into giggles.

Luke laughs next to me and kisses my temple, and I smile shyly at him. 

Lucy and Neil give me a very generous gift card to use at the Microsoft Store in Bellevue.  Wow.

“Thank you so much.” 

“Our pleasure, dear.” Lucy smiles and kisses Sophie’s sweet head.

“Ours next.”  Gail hands me a purple gift bag with purple paper. 

“This party is more than enough!”

“You will not sass us.” Steven shakes his finger at me and tries to look stern, but I’ve heard this before, and I giggle.  “I will take you over my knee.”

“Yes, sir.”  I open the bag to find a pair of earrings that I recognize, and I gasp, searching their faces.

They are both smiling tenderly at me.

“These are yours.”  I look back down at the beautiful diamond drop earrings and run my finger over them.  They’ve been recently cleaned and sparkle in the soft evening light.

“We want you to have them.” Gail has tears in her eyes, and I’m about to join her.

“They were your mother’s.  They should go to Jules.”  My voice is thick with tears.

“I have plenty of jewelry.  They should be yours.  Nana loved you.”  Jules is running her hand down my hair, and I just know that if I move I will cry.  I’m so overwhelmed by the love this family has for me.

I shake my head but scoot my chair back and round the table to hug Gail and Steven tightly.  Gail dabs at her eyes, and Steven cups my face in his hands and grins at me. 

“We love you, baby girl.”

“I love you, too.  Thank you.”

I take my seat and look up into Luke’s beautiful face.  He smiles and kisses my fingers.

“Last but not least.”  Luke sets a manila envelope before me.

“No, honey, you’ve done way too much already.” I shake my head and scoot it back across the table toward him.

“Open it,” he says, exasperated, and pushes it back toward me.

“Just open it already!”  Will yells from across the table, and I glare at him.  “I can’t take the damn suspense!”

We all laugh, and I open the envelope.  I pull out two passports and an itinerary.  I read the itinerary and feel the blood leave my face and my jaw drop.

“We’re going to Tahiti?!”

The table erupts with whoops and whistles and shouts of joy.  The brothers applaud, giving Luke a standing ovation, and he laughs.

“Yes, tomorrow, for a week.”

“But, we have work.”

“My current project just wrapped, and I’m hoping you’ll reschedule your appointments.”  He’s gazing down at me with love shining from his blue eyes.

“Wow.  Tahiti?”

He laughs and kisses me, square on the mouth, in front of my whole family.

“Get a room!” Matthew yells.

I clear my throat and look around the patio.  “I just want to say,” I begin and blink the tears from my eyes,  “all the people I love the most in this world are here, and I can’t tell you how thankful I am to have you.  Thank you for all you’ve done for me, and not just these gifts, though they are wonderful.  I am blessed.  Even the boys have their good moments.”  I smile at them, and they salute me with their drinks and throw winks at me.

I take a deep breath.  “Thank you for making me a part of your family.  I love you very much.”

I look up at Luke and around the patio into each face that is so dear to me.

“Now, give me that baby.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“I enjoyed them.”  Luke links his fingers with mine and kisses my knuckles as he drives us back toward Alki Beach.

“They enjoyed you, too.  Thank you for coming, and inviting your parents.  I had a great time.”  I can’t hide my delighted smile. 

“I’m glad.  Are you excited about our trip?”  His grin is wide.

“I have a lot to do tonight to get ready.  Maybe I should stay home tonight so I can pack and make calls and stuff.”

Luke frowns.  “It won’t take me long to pack.  I can drop you off at home, go pack, and come back to your place.”  He swallows and glances at me.

“What’s wrong?”  Why does he suddenly look nervous?

“I don’t want you to bail on me.”

“Bail on you?”

“Yeah, decide you don’t want to go.”

Where is this vulnerability coming from?  “I do want to go.”

“Good.”  He smiles at me.

I find it doesn’t take me long to pack either.  A whole week in Tahiti entails a few bikinis, sarongs, pullovers and flip-flops.  I also add one nice tank dress, in case we have dinner, and a pair of heels, some shorts and tank tops.

I’ll throw my toiletries together in the morning before our nine a.m. flight. 

I sit at the kitchen table and begin calling next week’s clients to reschedule when I hear Luke come in through the front door.

“Baby?”

“In the kitchen!”

“Hey.” He leans down and kisses me sweetly, and I sigh.

“Hi.  Gonna make some calls.  Make yourself at home.”

“Okay.”  He saunters into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge.

Half an hour later, all my calls are made, appointments rescheduled, and I’m officially on vacation.

Imagine that!

I have a huge, cat-ate-the-canary grin on my face as I crawl into Luke’s lap where he sits on my couch.  He’s been reading a script.

“Well, hello, happy girl.”  He nuzzles my neck.

“Hi, obsessively generous boyfriend.”  He laughs and wraps his arms gently around me.

“I am looking forward to lying on a sandy beach with you, baby.” 

“Hmm…me, too.  And snorkeling!”

“You snorkel?”  He continues to nuzzle my neck and nips at my ear, and I squirm.

“Yeah, I have.  It’s been awhile.”

“You smell so good.  What else do you want to do?”

“Well, for one whole day…” I run my fingers through his hair and lean back so I can look at the pretty.

“Yes?”

“I want to stay naked and in bed with you.”

“That’s going to be my favorite day on this whole vacation.”  He runs his hand gently up and down my back, and I grin.

“Me, too.  Are we staying in one of those huts that sits over the water?”

“Yes.”

“Cool.  We can skinny-dip.”

He laughs delightedly.  “Aren’t you just the exhibitionist?”

“No, we’ll do it at night.”  I lay my head on his shoulder and sigh deeply, suddenly tired but completely relaxed. “Can I bring my camera?” 

“I assumed you would.”

“I won’t if it makes you uncomfortable.” I made sure to be careful not to capture his photo tonight after dinner while I was taking photos of little Sophie and the rest of our families.

“I trust you completely.  You can take my picture.”

I sit upright in his lap, my jaw dropped and eyes wide.  “I can?”

“Well, we’re going to want pictures from our vacation, aren’t we?  Natalie, after everything that we’ve done, how can I not trust you to take my picture?  We should have memories together.” 

I feel my smile grow, and I’m just so…happy.  “I’m dying to take your picture, and before you freak out on me…”

“I’m not going to freak out on you,” he says with a laugh.

“I want to take your photo because it’s what I do, and you are so beautiful, Luke.  There have been so many moments that I wish I could capture.  I would never share any of our images with anyone unless I had your permission, but I want photos of you.  I want photos of us together.”

“I want photos of us, too.” 

I hug him tightly and then lay my head on his shoulder again.

“Are you sleepy?” he murmurs as he rhythmically runs his fingers through my hair.

“A little.”  I gaze up into his beautiful blue eyes.  “Thank you.”

“Baby, I told you, I enjoy spoiling you.”

“No, not that.”  I shake my head and look down.  “Although, yes, thank you for that, too.  I just…”

“What?”  He tilts my chin back up so he can see me.

“I love you.”

His eyes flare, and he inhales deeply.  “I love you, baby.”

“Let’s go to bed.”

“My pleasure.”  He lifts me effortlessly in his arms and carries me upstairs.

***

“It’s going to be a long flight.”  My voice is strong, but my stomach is in knots.  Luke has hired a driver to take us to the airport, and we are in the back seat.  I’m clutching on to his strong hand and worrying my lip with my teeth.

“We’ll be fine.”  He pulls me over into his lap and nuzzles my neck.  I recognize the distraction tactic, but it doesn’t help.

“Do we have a layover in LA?” I ask.

“No.”

“Oh.”  I frown and catch my breath when his lips graze the sensitive spot below my ear.  “I didn’t know there were direct flights from Seattle to Tahiti.”

“I don’t know if there are.  A friend of mine is lending us his jet.”

“Oh.”  Holy shit.

“Nat, have you flown since your parents passed?”  He tilts my chin and looks into my eyes, and he looks nervous and worried about me. 

I cup his cheek in my hand. “No.”

“Baby, are you okay with this?”  He kisses my palm.

“I’ll be fine.  It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. I just have to do it.”

“If it makes you feel better, I plan to keep you fully occupied for most of the flight.  You won’t have time to be scared.”  He grins mischievously at me, and I giggle.