Chapter 23

Waking up in the penthouse is something I'm getting more used to. Waking up in Luke's bed is new.

"Hello there."

I turn over, looking at the blond hottie next to me, and I can't help but smile.

"Hello."

His fingers come to my chin, pulling me close for a kiss. As he leans back, I'm still knocked out of the park by what happened.

"I sort of forgot I was here. In your bed, I mean."

Luke laughs. "Well, I certainly didn't. I barely slept a wink because I was trying to keep myself from taking that hot body again."

My cheeks heat, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love his praise.

"I'm only slightly glad you didn't." I break eye contact, looking down at the bed between us. "But my…well, I needed to rest after that."

Luke kisses me again. "Only reason I didn't jump your bones again."

We both laugh before he stretches and sits up.

"How about I go make breakfast, and you can stay there all comfy since you have the day off?"

I hum appreciatively, sinking deeper into the soft pillow.

"Sounds great."

As he leaves, I sit up in the bed, going for my phone. I promised Regina I'd call and check in, and now is as good a time as any.

The phone only rings a few times before my sister answers.

"Hey, C!" I can hear how glad she is that I called, and I smile as I picture my baby sister's round face. "God, I feel like it's been forever since we chatted."

"It's been a few days, Reggie. I last talked to you at work."

Regina scoffs on the other end, and I hear her close a door.

"Ugh, that does not count because you only talked for a few minutes, and seriously, don't call me that."

I just smirk to myself. "As your older sister, I reserve the right to call you whatever I want."

Getting up from the bed, I put the phone on speaker so I can get dressed while we talk.

"So, Beth's surgery is on the fifteenth, right?"

"Yeah." Regina's tone is obviously more serious now, and I go into full protective big sister mode.

"Hey, it's going to be fine. I know the surgeon performing the repair. He's amazing. Beth's going to be just fine."

There's a beat of silence, and then Regina sighs.

"I'm sure you're right, it's just…She's my daughter, C. I love her more than anything in this entire world, and if something happens…"

I'm halfway through pulling on the scrubs from yesterday when I stop and focus entirely on Regina's voice.

"I know, babe. I do. If I had a daughter, I'm sure…" The usual constriction that hits my throat whenever I mention kids crops up, and I have to swallow it down. "Well, anyway, you're an amazing mom, and this is going to help Beth so much."

Regina sniffles on the other line, and I smile even though I know she can't see me.

"You're right, C." She releases a breath, and then I hear that door again. "Well, I'll text you all the info so you can be there on time, but I have to go. Beth is up. Yesterday was a lot for her, and I need to go and get all her meds ready."

If that was Regina just coming out of her bedroom, it means yesterday was rough. My sister doesn't sleep in—ever.

"Oh, okay, hon. Of course. I love you. Talk soon, okay?"

"Love you, too, C. Later."

I hang up the phone, pulling my scrub bottoms the rest of the way up.

"Everything okay?"

Turning around, Luke is at the door, and I offer a tired smile.

"Oh, yeah. Just checking in with my sister about Beth's surgery. I want to be there for it, and it's coming up next month."

He comes over and sits on the bed, the mattress dipping down as he settles into place.

"I remember you talking about it. How's your sister?"

The genuine concern knitted through his brows surprises me. Beyond all the…passion surrounding last night, Luke does seem to actually care.

I'm not sure how to handle that, being the relationship reject that I am.

"She's…" I try to think of some nice way to put it, a gentle way of explaining the way we've all been feeling leading up to this procedure. "Not fucking great."

A sarcastic chuckle leaves me, and I slump into myself.

"When someone you love is sick, even though they may not be your child, it's staggering how much constantly worrying exhausts you."

Luke's hand comes to my shoulder, and I look over at him. There's an interesting mixture there playing out on his face.

I can see understanding, which is rare, and also a familiar level of leftover dread, the kind that haunts you even after the immediate danger has passed.

"I remember when we were on deployment." Luke steadies himself with a breath, and I freeze, not wanting any subtle movement to disrupt this moment of unburdening for him. "My oldest brother, Jay, he was hurrying our unit out of the line of fire, walking in front of me and Dom. Cam was up ahead, flagging us down so we'd know where to reach safety."

His eyes go unfocused, and his tone goes flat.

Luke is just recalling right now. He's not truly here, not in the room.

"Shots came in, and Jay ran in front of a woman who was carrying her child. He blocked the bullets with his damn body. Most of them hit his armor, didn't take him down. But one, one of those fuckers managed to tear straight through his knee. He lost that leg."

Now, I'm the one stroking Luke's shoulder, but I think I know what he's getting at.

"Being in the hospital with him, and I'm sure to a degree how my brothers felt when I was being patched up by you, it was one of the worst feelings of my life. I didn't know if Jay would make it, and there were months of recovery for him. Those were actually worse. He was so messed up after. I'm still not sure the guy really ‘made it.' He's…fuck, he's even more of a grump now than when we went in, which is saying something."

When he looks back at me, I offer a tight smile. It's all sympathy, a nonverbal yeah, it sucks.

"I'm sorry, Luke." I take his hand. "I don't know what war is like, but that, that waiting for someone to be okay and then always wondering if it's going to change at any moment. That, I understand."

We stare at each other for a moment, connected by our mutual understanding of medical trauma.

There's a bit of quiet as we clasp hands in the moment, and just holding that space for the other person is all either of us really need.

"Well." Luke pulls me up to my feet. "Breakfast is ready, and it's getting cold."

I laugh softly. "Okay, let's go."

We walk out to the kitchen, and I see that Luke has set up two plates at the island. There's some scrambled eggs and toast.

A classic.

"Thank you." I give Luke a kiss on the cheek. "Looks great."

He follows me to sit down and raises his brows as he scoffs a little.

"Well, it's hard to fuck up eggs. As long as you don't burn them. And you know, I think I managed to save most of them."

"Ha!" I smile wide; being around his easy sense of humor is wonderfully disarming. "I'm sure it'll be great."

We chat for a little while as we're eating, touching on movies and music, TV, and even memories of school.

We both agree that a good action flick is way better than any rom-com, but I have to put Luke in his place when he says today's alternative songs suck.

"You just haven't heard the right ones! Don't listen to that radio crap."

Luke laughs, his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I'll give it another shot."

"Damn right, you will." I finish my last bite of toast. "So, as for the day, since we have the time and all, what should we do?"

Mischief lights up his eyes, and Luke stands from his chair to wrap his arms around my waist.

"I have a few ideas. Maybe we can?—"

Ring, ring.

The buzz of his phone in his pocket has both of us looking down. It's fairly early and the weekend, but I guess someone from his work or his brothers could be calling.

"Oh, shit. Okay, hold on."

Luke smiles, still tangled around me, smiling until he looks at the caller ID.

"What is it?"

He frowns, stepping back and going to answer. "Building security."

"Hello, this is Mr. Shaw." There's a pause when the person on the other end of the line answers, and I can't hear anything. "What?"

A lead weight settles in my stomach as I watch Luke's expression change.

Something bad has happened.