Luke cracked an eye open. “No.”
Sophia grabbed a pillow and smacked him in the head with it. “Thanks a lot, Luke. That’s really sensitive!”
She saw his chest moving; saw the corner of his upper lip lift. The man was actually chuckling. Amazing. Rare. She hit him again.
Luke glanced over at her. “When has anyone ever accused me of being sensitive?”
Sophia raised an eyebrow at him. “Good point.”
After a minute, exasperated, she said. “Luke! Aren’t you going to say ‘you don’t look like you swallowed a basketball’?”
Luke pushed himself up so suddenly that it caught her off guard. He leaned forward and turned his head toward her. He had a hard, exasperated look on his face. “You don’t look like you swallowed a basketball, Sophia,” Luke said in a clipped manner; his hand sliced the air as he spoke. “And, honestly, I don’t like to hear you say sh...stuff like that about yourself. You’re a beautiful woman who looks better eight months pregnant than most women I know who aren’t pregnant. If you need to put yourself down, don’t do it around me anymore.”
Sophia was taken aback by Luke’s words. Shocked, actually. Just when she thought he was a total jerk, Luke would throw her a curve ball and prove her wrong.
She saluted him. “Aye, aye, el Capitan.”
Luke shook his head slightly at her sarcasm before he leaned back into the couch once again. “Can we enjoy the fire now?”
Sophia didn’t agree because she had an agenda, but Luke didn’t seem to require her consent. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
She wasn’t completely heartless; she would give him a few moments of quiet before she approached him about the main issue on her mind. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood; no time like the present was a personal motto.
After a couple minutes, Sophia pushed herself up into a more upright position and turned her body so she could look at Luke’s profile.
“Luke?”
“Hmm.”
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
It took several long seconds for Luke to respond. No doubt he didn’t like the phrase, “I have something to talk to you about.”
“This isn’t what I meant by ‘enjoying the fire.’”
“It’s important to me.” She tapped her finger to her chest, not deterred by the abrasive tone of his voice.
With a sigh, Luke rubbed his hands over his face several times. “What’s on your mind?”
Sophia had been mulling over in her mind how she should bring up the subject. There didn’t really seem to be any diplomatic way to broach it. Honestly, the direct approach seemed to be her only real option. Besides, Luke was a more “in your face” kind of guy. He was a marine. He’d probably appreciate her not beating around the bush.
“Well, it’s like this.” She held out her hand. “And I really hope you don’t take offense, Luke, because I’m not trying to hurt your feelings...”
“Before I’m ninety, Soph.”
“Quit rushing me!” she replied, “I want to make sure that when I’ve said what I have to say that you’re not going to feel bad....”
“Sophia...”
“Fine. Here goes.” Sophia paused, took in a deep breath, then let the deep breath out, before she said, “Luke... I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but your face really bothers me.”
Chapter Four
After the words popped out of her mouth, Sophia felt immediately relieved. Unloaded. It felt really good to get that off her chest.
There, she thought proudly. It’s good for relationship growth to get things out in the open.
She had absolutely no doubt that this would be good for both of them. They would have an open and honest dialogue about their feelings; about Daniel. About being together without him. Of course, she had never had a serious discussion with Luke before, but after all, Luke and Daniel were twins, right? There had to be some similarities in the way they resolved problems.
Daniel was great when it came to hashing things out.And he always had something relevant to say that let her know that he’d really listened to her and that he’d thought about his answer. He never dismissed her. It was one of the many things that she had truly admired about her husband.
Just like Daniel, Luke was taking his time before he responded. He hadn’t moved; his eyes were still closed, his head was still resting on the cushion. No doubt he was trying to think of the perfect thing to say....
Sophia sank back into the couch, rested her head in her hand and, for the first time she could remember, she really looked at Luke. Her eyes roamed his profile and naturally took an inventory of all of the little Daniel details she loved.
Those were Daniel’s ears. One of her favorites spots to nibble on when they made love. So sensitive. It made her wonder, irrationally, if Luke’s ears were sensitive, too.
Silly thought.
Of course, the dent in the middle of Luke’s nose, which made him look like a prizefighter, didn’t mirror Daniel’s nose. Daniel’s nose had been unaltered from the original design.
By the time her eyes landed on the faint, long scar that ran the length of Luke’s jawline, it hit her that Luke was taking an excessive amount of time to respond to her statement.
Sophia opened her mouth to say his name, but clamped it back shut when she heard Luke take in a deep breath through his nose that sounded suspiciously like a snore.
Sophia reached over and poked him in the arm with her finger. “Luke!”
“Hmm?”
“Did you just fall asleep?”
After a long pause. “No.”
“Yes, you did!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!” she snapped. Typical Luke behavior! Once again, she had given him more credit than he deserved. She had opened her heart, revealed something very personal to her, and he was snoring!
She would have thought at this point the man would have the decency to open his eyes. He didn’t. Luke didn’t move, but Ranger did. The kitten used his back leg to scratch an itch underneath his chin before he moved over to sit on Luke’s chest. Ranger plopped down and curled up into a tight ball. Luke didn’t bother to move.
“Luke!” she said forcefully.
“What?” Now he sounded irritated.
“You fell asleep!”
After a few ticks of the grandfather clock and a few loud Ranger purrs, Luke cracked an eye open and looked at her. “Then, why’d you wake me up?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”
“You bet.”
He used that abrasive tone that always rubbed her the wrong way, and she felt her blood pressure soar. She wasn’t here to play naughty “recruit” to his bad boy “drill sergeant”! She felt like punching him and she wished, at the moment, that she had a violent streak.
Was this some sort of bizarre pregnancy rage, or was Luke just that infuriating to her?
“Luke.” Her tone was snappy and she didn’t try to curb it. “We were in the middle of a conversation.”
Luke stretched, yawned and then stretched again. Finally, his eyes were open. He turned his full attention to Sophia,