Learn to Fly (64 page)

“
I
want you,” Luke said plainly. Lenny’s eyes flashed up to
his and her face flushed with his choice of words. He chuckled as he
realized how that sounded. “I mean, I want you with me.”
His face growing more serious. “I want you back in my life.”

Another verse went
by as he waited for her response. When she spoke, her words came out
stiffly, like it was hard for her to say them.

“
Luke…”
She began slowly, “You’re a rock star…and with
that comes certain…complications.”

Luke frowned down at
her face but he didn’t interrupt.

“
I
don't know how I can be…okay, knowing that the moment we’re
not together for a few days, you’ll have women standing in line
to fill that void for you.”

“
It’s
not like that.” Luke protested. “I made a really bad
choice-”

“
Luke,
we had only been apart for a little while and you…”
Lenny swallowed again. “You-”

“
I
know.” Luke began to plead. “I really screwed up, but
it won't ever happen again.”

Lenny's eyebrows
pushed together with confusion. “But, Luke, when you love
someone, it doesn’t matter if you’re on a break. That
person should still be the only one…”

Luke’s heart
froze in his chest as he realized what she was telling him. He
couldn’t undo what he had done. She was right. He had been in
love with her and had allowed himself to look into…other
options. If she had been out kissing other guys he would have felt
completely betrayed. He had never put himself in her position. The
idea of Lenny with someone else…kissing him, holding
him…loving him. His pulse began to quicken with the rising
panic of losing Lenny forever.

“
It’s
hard to…start over.” Her words were tiny slices in his
heart, stripping away the hope he had left. “I can’t
forget-”

“
I
know, you can’t forget. But maybe you could forgive.”
Luke’s grip around her tightened, like he was afraid she would
walk away from him any minute. “I’m so madly in love
with you I can’t think straight. You’re all I want. I
can give up the band, the music, Boston. All of it. Anything. Just
not you.” Luke’s words were pouring out, he couldn’t
stop them if he wanted to. “I know I messed up. I hate what I
did. I never wanted to hurt you. Ever. I should have fought for
you from the beginning. I should’ve never let you walk away…I
need you in my life. You’re…” Luke’s voice
cracked. “…you’re my best friend, Lenny.”

***

“
Try
to think about the future, Luke.” Lenny’s voice sounded
small, even to her but she needed to get it out. “What happens
when we’re separated? When I’m competing, maybe, and
you’re around the world? And you get lonely? You’re the
sexy lead singer of a major band, in case you’ve forgotten…you
wouldn’t be lonely for long…and I don’t think, no,
I
know
I can’t compete with that. I’m just…”
Lenny searched for the right explanation. “…a regular
person.” Her eyes settled on his chin as she said the words.

“
You
are
not
a
regular person.
”
Luke's firm voice brought her eyes back up to his. His jaw clenched
in seriousness. “You are a hell of a woman.” His eyes
shone with emotion. “You’re it.” He brought one
hand up to rest on her cheek. “There is no competition. You
have my heart.”

Lenny had no words
left. She couldn’t deny that her heart still ached to be near
Luke. That the only time she’d felt any kind of peace in the
past couple of weeks was when he had shown up in Valdez. She
couldn’t refute that even the simple act of him holding her in
his arms on the deserted dance floor made her whole body tremble with
excitement.

“
I
have never known anyone like you, Lenny. You are brave and strong
and beautiful. You make me think I can be a better person. More
importantly, you make me
want
to be a better person.” He took a careful breath. “I
know we don’t have it all figured out. I know I’m
probably gonna screw up a few more times and make you mad at me. But
I also know that you’re the one I want to be with to figure
these things out. I don’t want to do this life without you, my
best friend. I'm crazy in love with you.”

Luke pulled her
closer, holding her tight. He touched his forehead to hers so he
could look her directly in the eye.

“
Please,
Lenny. Please,” Luke whispered, his deep voice raspy. “Forgive
me…I should have told you every day that I loved you. You’re
the most amazing woman…I…you’re…everything
to me…you deserve better than me but, dammit! I’m not
gonna ever stop trying to show you how incredible you are and how
incredible
we
are when we're together.”

In that moment Lenny
knew her heart had been misleading her the whole time. She had been
so afraid of following it blindly that she had made all of her
decisions based on fear. And they had been the wrong ones. Luke in
her life was the only thing that made sense.

She closed her eyes,
and licked her lips slowly. “Okay.” She whispered.

Before she could
open her eyes to see his reaction his lips crashed into hers. His
hands pressed into her back drawing her body flush against his. She
tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his head in, deepening
their kiss. Her body reacted forcefully, feeling like it would never
be close enough to him.

Lenny surrendered
her heart fully to him. No more second guessing or hesitation in her
thoughts. This was it. No matter what happened in the future, she
knew that Luke’s arms would forever be her home. She could
never go back to a life without them.

The room broke out
into applause and Lenny disrupted her kiss with Luke, laughing. She
had forgotten that they were surrounded by a bunch of people. Luke
still didn’t seem to notice or maybe he just didn’t care.
He continued kissing her face and neck. He finally stepped back and
addressed the onlookers.

“
Thank
you, thank you.” Luke bowed and Lenny shook her head at him, a
smile still on her lips. Always the entertainer. He grabbed her
hand and kissed it affectionately and tugged her in the direction of
the bar.

“
You
finally get all that figured out?” Shane asked with a grin.

“
Not
all of it…” Lenny looked over at Luke who was beaming
at her and he slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her to his
side. “But the rest is just details.” She finished with
a content smile.

“
Good.”
Shane handed them each a beer and then toasted them.

Lenny wasn’t
sure what was going to happen next but as she looked up at Luke and
he pulled her tighter against him, she knew…they would get
through it together.

***

Luke couldn't
believe the peace that had descended over him. He looked down at
Lenny's laughing face and he knew...everything was going to okay now.
He wasn't going to screw this up again.

She caught him
looking at her and her face took on a puzzled expression.

“
What?”
He nuzzled her neck. Staying away from her was going to be even
more difficult now.

“
Why
me, Luke?”

He pulled away,
unable to hide the shock on his face. “Why you? Are you
serious?”

Lenny smiled shyly
and bit her bottom lip. “Yeah, why me?”

“
Because
you’re smart and funny and a good kisser.” He grinned
when she smiled. “Because, you make me feel like I’m
worth a damn. Because when the rest of the world doesn’t make
sense, you do. Because when we’re together, we’re
unstoppable.” He rested his forehead against hers and looked
her in the eyes. “Because you’re my very best friend in
the whole world and I’m never gonna let you go.”

“
All
I’m saying is I think four weeks is more than enough time for a
Honeymoon.”

Sway
was bitching again. Harrison rolled his eyes and continued to
pretend he was reading…
What
magazine is this again?

“
We
have to be in L.A. in two weeks and we don’t have anything good
to work with yet and he’s ‘unreachable.’” He
put his fingers in the air to symbolize the air quotes while making a
snotty expression.

“
Dude,
shut up,” Mike looked at Sway with his eyebrows raised. “Blake
and I have written some kick ass stuff so stop insulting us.”
He got up from the couch and moved to the fridge. “Besides,
Luke gave us everything he had before he left.”

Sway made a
disgruntled noise in the back of his throat and flopped himself into
a chair, looking dejected.

***

“
Let
the man enjoy his honeymoon, for Pete’s sake.” Mike said
from Blake’s kitchen. He pulled out some leftover pizza still
in the box from the fridge, opened the lid and gave it a cautious
smell.
Nope,
no should eat that, they’ll die.
He left it on the counter.

“
Is
Sway still bitching?” Blake asked as he reentered the room.
He picked up a slice of the cold pizza off the counter and took a
bite. Mike eyed him warily but didn’t say anything.

“
We
should be able to call him.” Sway grumbled.

“
No
man.” Mike frowned severely at him. “Let him enjoy his
wife.”

“
What
could possibly be so important that they needed to disappear for a
whole month?” Sway asked like he had a point.

Mike stared at him
incredulous. “Are you really that thick?” He asked
honestly.

Sway frowned back,
looking like a belligerent teenager.

***

“
They’re
probably having sex!” Harrison finally snapped.

“
So,
I’ve had lot’s of sex.” Sway almost grinned at his
own words.

“
Yeah,
well, they’re not you.” Harrison tossed the magazine
aside and looked at Sway seriously. “Luke and Lenny waited to
get married. And Lenny was a virgin.” Harrison felt his face
heating up. “I really can’t believe I have to explain
this to you.”

Sway stared at him
for a few minutes as he processed his words. Suddenly the proper
synapses in Sway’s brain fired and understanding dawned on him.
His eyes grew wide.

“
Ooohhh.”
He drew out the word making Blake chuckle and Mike and Harrison roll
their eyes.

“
You’re
such a dumbass.” Blake laughed again.

Harrison ran both
hands through his thick, dark hair and addressed Mike. “You
suppose they’ll get their own bus?”

“
I
hope so.” Mike sniffed, “I really don’t want to
share a bus with newlyweds.” He picked up the phone to dial
for fresh pizza.

“
Where
do you think they’ll live?” Harrison asked Blake.

Blake chewed
thoughtfully and swallowed before answering. “I don’t
know. Luke is technically still homeless.”

“
Yeah,
he ruined all my towels.” Sway spoke up.

“
Maybe
he’ll move to Wyoming.” Blake pointed out.

“
Yeah,
maybe.” Harrison grew quiet. He was really happy for his
friends but he also hated change. “Do you think they might get
a place here?” He asked hopefully.

“
Maybe.”
Blake nodded and started on another piece of cold pizza.

“
I
bet Lenny is gonna be super hot when they get back.” Sway said
with a wistful expression. “She’ll be all tan from
spending a month in Hawaii.” He made a clicking noise with his
tongue.