‘Who raised you?’ That thoughtful crease appeared between his brows. ‘Your grandmother?’
‘I wish. I only stayed a summer with her, when I was eleven, but it was the happiest time of my life.’
‘Then where did you grow up?’
‘Nowhere. Everywhere. My mom never stayed in the same place for more than a few months, sometimes a few weeks. She’d get a job in a local diner or something, enrol me in school and find a deadbeat boyfriend. When he started stealing her money or knocking her around, she’d move on, dragging me with her.’
‘That’s terrible,’ Luke said quietly, and Aurelie shrugged.
‘I got over it.’
‘Julia Schmidt,’ he said after a moment. ‘Your mother. You bought the house from her, didn’t you?’
She nodded. ‘When my grandmother died she left it to my mom. I was only seventeen, and I think she hoped it would help my mom settle down.’
‘But?’
Aurelie sighed. ‘My mom didn’t want to settle down. So I bought the house from her for far more than it was worth. I was famous by then, so I had the money.’
‘And you finally had a home.’
She blinked hard, amazed at how quickly and easily he understood her. How in this moment it felt good and right and safe, rather than scary.
‘It must have been a huge loss when your grandmother died,’ he said after a moment, and she nodded.
‘I still miss her.’
‘And your mother?’
A shrug. ‘Around. Who knows? She used to appear every so often asking for money, but now that I’m not in the spotlight any more—at least not for any good reason—she’s disappeared.’ She sighed and stretched out her legs. ‘She’ll surface one day, I’m sure.’
‘So you really are alone.’
So alone. Although she didn’t feel alone right now. She wanted to tell him that, confess just a little of the happiness in her heart that he’d helped to create, but fear held her back. Rejection was still a distinct and awful possibility. There was still so much Luke didn’t know.
‘What about your parents? Are they around?’
He shook his head. ‘Both dead.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Aurelie gazed at him, saw how he’d carefully schooled his features into a completely neutral mask. ‘How did they die?’
‘My father of a heart attack when I’d just finished college.’ A pause, a telling hesitation. ‘My mother developed breast cancer when I was thirteen.’
‘I’m sorry. That’s terrible.’
He jerked his head in a semblance of a nod, his face still so very neutral. He was holding something back, Aurelie suspected, some pain that he didn’t want to share with her. She decided not to press.
‘So you’re alone too,’ she said quietly and after a taut moment of silence Luke reached for her hand.
‘Not right now,’ he said, and as Aurelie’s heart turned right over he tugged her to her feet. ‘Let’s swim.’
‘Swim?’ Aurelie eyed the deep, tranquil pool below the falls with a dubious wariness. ‘What about the giant barracudas?’
‘You mean the medium-sized ones? They’re friendly.’
‘I didn’t bring a swimsuit.’
‘I’m sure we can improvise.’ She hesitated and Luke added quietly, ‘Unless you don’t want to.’
Was this another trust exercise? she wondered. She was so used to men seeing her as an object. A trophy. She’d encouraged it, after all. And yet she knew Luke was different, knew he saw her differently.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it.’
Luke led her down a narrow path to the pool. Aurelie tilted her head up to watch the waterfall cascade down the rock, churning foam that emptied into a surprisingly placid pool.
‘Good thing you’re not shy any more,’ she said as Luke tugged his shirt over his head. Then her mouth dried, for the sight of his bare chest was glorious enough to start her heart thumping. His shoulders were broad, his chest powerful and browned and perfectly taut. Washboard abs, trim hips. She was gaping like a fool, and realised it when Luke gave her a knowing grin and dropped his shorts.
He wore boxers, and Aurelie could not draw her gaze away from his powerful thighs. As for what was hidden beneath the boxers …
‘Look at me like that much longer and I’m going to embarrass myself,’ Luke said, a thread of humour in his voice although she caught the ragged note of desire too. And it thrilled her.
She wasn’t sure how it could feel so different from before, when she’d wielded his desire for her like a weapon. Now it felt like a joy. She glanced up and smiled right into his eyes.
‘I don’t think that would necessarily be a bad thing.’
He nodded towards her pale pink sundress. ‘Your turn.’
He’d already seen her naked. He’d seen her in her skimpy Aurelie underwear several times. Yet this felt different too, more honest, more bare. She slid the straps from her shoulders and shrugged out of the dress.
‘Sorry. I’m wearing boring underwear.’ Just a plain cotton bra and boy shorts. Really, incredibly modest. Yet she felt nearly naked, and her body responded to Luke’s heated gaze, an answering heat flaring within her, stirring up all sorts of wants. As well as just a tiny little needle of fear. No, not fear, but uncertainty. Memory.
Luke smiled and turned towards the pool. ‘Last one in,’ he called, and dived neatly into the water below. Aurelie watched him surface, sluicing the water from his face, clearly enjoying himself. He glanced up at her. ‘Is a rotten egg,’ he finished solemnly and she laughed. Still didn’t move.
‘Are you chicken?’
‘I prefer the word cautious.’ She hadn’t swum in anything but a lap pool in years.
‘Didn’t you swim in a lake or watering hole that summer you spent in Vermont?’ Luke called up to her. ‘This is no different. In fact, it’s nicer because the bottom is sand and rock rather than squishy mud.’
She stared at him, amazed at how much he guessed. Knew. She had swum in a lake in Vermont, a muddy-bottomed pond that she’d spent hours in.
‘Come on,’ Luke called. ‘I’m right here. I promise you can scramble onto my shoulders if a medium-sized barracuda happens by.’
More trust. Funny, how trusting in these silly little things made her start to unbend to the notion of trusting him with the bigger things. Like the truth. No, she’d been honest enough about her past for one afternoon. But this she could do.
Taking a deep breath, she took a running jump into the pool. The water closed over her head and for a moment she remained below the surface, treading water and enjoying the complete stillness and silence until she felt Luke’s hands close around her shoulders and he hauled her upwards.
‘What—’
‘You want to scare me to death?’ he demanded, but she saw that telltale glint in his dark eyes. ‘I thought you were drowning.’
‘I can swim, you know.’
‘Maybe one of those barracudas had got you.’
She