"I care Adelaide. How the hell has that not been obvious to you?"
Luke lifted the tips of his lips up in a reassuring smile, pinching my sides playfully. "Look, I don't know about you, but I'm certainly not going to pretend that that didn't just happen," he admitted. "I mean I sure as hell know what I want but I don't think that it's what's right."
"Bennett," I concluded, already knowing for sure where his train of thought was heading.
"He was such a good friend of mine, I can't overstep the mark like that," he said. "He told me time and time again to be there for you if anything ever happened to him, but this isn't that."
"I understand, I honestly do Luke, but at the same time, it's been what nearly a year since the accident? I know that I can't exactly reach him in my mind and that I only found out about him less than a week ago, but I know that I loved him. I'll always have a space for him in my heart, no matter how little I know about him. And this may be selfish, but he'd want us to be happy. And as much as it pains me to say it, he's not coming back Luke," I trailed off, suddenly feeling very insensitive.
"It may have been a year since his passing, but you were only released four months ago Adelaide," Luke said. At his words I took a step back and removed his grip while murmuring an apology. However, he soon tugged me back, forcing my eyes to catch his gaze again. "It just doesn't feel right."
"It was never going to," I agreed sadly. "But moving on is part of grieving in some sense and as I said, he'll always be in my heart, along with in yours. If there's one thing that I'm certain of, then it's that."
"I know, I know," he repeated, taking a moment or two to simply shuffle through his thoughts. "I can't stay just being friends with you Adelaide, you and I both know that won't work and staying away from you isn't an option that I'd like to consider either."
"Then don't," I said.
Luke didn't give me a chance to continue as a smile began formulating across his features. His eyes remained locked solidly upon my own as his face edged closer toward me, his grin extending with each passing second, but he reached merely within centimetres of kissing me again before he abruptly flung himself backwards.
I had attempted to conceal the disenchantment from my features, though the apologetic glance that Luke sent me forced myself to come to the realization that it hadn't gone unnoticed.
He stood a metre or two away from me, shifting his body language so that his arms were crossed firmly over his chest and his feet planted solidly on the floor at an equal distance apart. Despite the fact that his eyes remained solemnly onto mine, I knew that his mind was elsewhere, something that was confirmed as his gazed flicked momentarily to the right of me.
Titling my head discretely to the side, I caught sight of what I presumed Luke had noticed: one of my father's men roaming along the courtyard at the back of the house.
Luke cleared his throat, causing my neck to twist back his way once again, "We should probably keep this on a low key for the moment," he stated hesitantly.
I smiled, understanding his motives, "No, no, I agree completely."
"I should probably go and see why no-one else was out here on parole in the first place," Luke said, smiling sympathetically. "I'll make sure that I have the afternoon off though, I promise."
He took a step forward with the intention to leave, but instead stilled his movements to vigilantly scan the area before he leaned in to press a simple, lingering kiss to my lips.