hard love ✰ l.h. | ON HOLD

five.

Over the past few weeks, Luke and I had been spending plenty of time together at work. We were alone at the office at the moment. We were working overtime together, per usual. I was starting to think that the only reason I was working late was because I got to spend the time one on one with Luke. 

At some point we had gotten off topic and I was now using my desktop to search sight seeing in France. I had always wanted to go, but never got the chance. 

"It's a beautiful place, really." Luke said, coming up behind my chair. 

"You've been?" I asked, glancing up at him. He nodded. "I heard that the food is amazing and it's safe. And pretty much everywhere you go in Paris is beautiful."

"People there are beautiful too," he chimed in.

I laughed, "And that."

"You'd fit right in."

My swiveled my chair to face him and looked up at him with confusion written on my face. He was already peering down at me, his arms neatly tucked across his chest. That same, stupid smug smile laid perfectly on his face. I uncrossed my legs to sit more comfortably.

Luke said things like this a lot, and I genuinely liked it. It was never like "nice ass" or something stupid and gross like that. It was always kind and smooth. And I was always confused because it surprised me each time. And I was confused because, holy shit, look at Luke and then look at me. It amazed me he found me relatively attractive. And was vocal about it.

Luke unfolded his arms, placing his hands on either side of my leather chair. I gulped as he shorten the space between us.

"What's next boss?" He asked, his voice deepening. I watched the veins in his forearms protrude as he gripped a little tighter on the leather.

"Well," I cleared my throat. "There's not too much work left here to do." I bit the bullet and stared directly into his eyes. He blinked slowly, peering at me through his light eyelashes.

Without breaking our stare, he reached down and ran his fingers over my right thigh. Goosebumps covered my body. His touch was indescribable. Every. Single. Time.

"Would you like me to find something to do?" He asked quietly. He spread my thighs apart with just one slow motion. My cheeks burned red. Luke smirked at the sight of my bright cheeks. He took his hand off me and put it back on the arm of my chair.

I shook my head, looking down and my heels then back up to him. I tucked my hair behind my ear as I flicked from one eye to the other. His pupils were dilating. 

In the middle of a tense stare down, we both cranked our necks towards the sound of the front door opening. Celine popped her head through the door and waved. We both let out a sigh of relief.

Celine's heels clicked all the way to my door. "Just stopping to get my laptop. Everything going good in here?" She asked with her crooked smile. 

"Everything's great." Luke responded. I smiled at Celine and stayed quiet. It was a little weird having her stand here while Luke was still hovering over me. "We were just finishing up." He added.

We both watched Celine quietly slip back out of my room and into hers. Luke patiently waited for her to exit the office, not keeping his gaze off me for single second. He made me so nervous, I could feel my hands getting clammy and the hair on the back of my neck rising. No one had made me feel like this before, not is such a strong, dare I even say sexual way. And I can't say I didn't like it. 

The door shut behind Celine as she left. Luke took this second to peer over his shoulder to double check she was gone.

He looked deeply into me, as if I was his favorite book and we were at the climax. He extended his hand to my chin and lightly tilted my head up. 

"We're just getting started," Luke whispered. 

-

It was Friday. 

It was typically grey and cloudy in this town, but today was bright and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.  

I got up and headed to the water dispenser right outside the meeting room. I glanced up as I took a sip from my paper cup, spotting  studious Luke. 

He shut his eyes and slowly cracked his neck to the right, then opening his eyes back up to meet mine as he went to the left. He picked his head back to normal and peered down at his hand that tapped the manilla folder in front of him. I shot him a confused look, to which he cleared up by pointing to my office that was on the other side of the wall.

I got the message. I headed back to my office and went straight for the manilla envelope that was the first on my stack. I opened it to reveal a handwritten message.

Dinner at 7 tonight. Care to join me?

I smiled at the curved letters, at his sweet secrecy, at his romantic ability.

Was it wrong to compare him to Michael? He only did things like this at the beginning of our relationship. Was this just going to be a repeat? Was he Michael just with blonde hair and blue eyes?

"Stop." I thought to myself. I took a deep breath, hanging onto the joy this simple letter gave me. Luke could bring me joy without speaking a single word to me. 

I didn't quite know if I was ready to date again. I think I was, because it had been so long. Maybe I was jumping ahead of myself. Maybe I just envisioned Luke to be someone that he wasn't and liked the idea of who he might be. I didn't know who he really was, I'd never seen him outside of work besides once. For a minute.

Who cares? I shook my head, trying to physically shake the thoughts and questions from my head. I was going out with Luke, I was going to have a good time, and if it falls through, who cares? It was just a guy. It was just one night.

-

A/N: OOP short update sorry, but MABEL & LUKE r going on A DATE I'm screaming

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