Just a Little Embrace Read Online Free Page A

of his breath dancing across my face. I detected the strong scent of alcohol laced within , and reminded myself t hat anything he d id or said in this moment was compromised by the enormous amount of liquid courage he’d consumed in the past hours.
    “Why are you sorry?”
    “Because I know,” he said. “I know how much it hurts, and I’m sorry you have to go through this —”
    “ Go t hrough what?”
    “Loving me,” he said. “Needing me. Wanting me —”
    “I don’t love you, Luke . ”
    I didn’t know if my words even mattered, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking he had the upper hand … not when he continued to turn a blind eye to everything I’d put forward up to this point.
    “What?” he asked, scrunching his brow as if he didn’t understand.
    “I don’t love you,” I said again.
    “Well, I do,” he said, wrapping his arms around me. “I do, Julie.”
    “You love you?” I teased. “Believe me, I already knew that —”
    “No, no, no, no, no,” he covered my lips with a single finger. “I meant you .”
    My stomach churned in knots . I looked into his dark eyes as they shined back at me with hazy uncertainty.
    “Why don’t you love me?” he asked. “Have I done something wrong?”
    I restrained a small laugh and shook my head.
    “ Luke , you treat me like a child —”
    “You act like a child —”
    “And you only acknowledge me when it suits you —”
    “Chief would kill me if he knew how I felt —”
    “And y ou’re so damn stubborn that you never tell me what’s on your mind. I never know what you’re thinking , or how you feel —”
    “I’m telling you now —”
    “Because you’re drunk, Luke,” I said. “And I can’t even know that anything you’re saying has a shred of validity to it —”
    “It does, Jules,” he said. “I promise. I’m crazy about you —”
    “Look,” I said, watching an Oakland taxi cab pull up to the curb. “Your ride ’ s here—“
    “Please don’t make me leave like this,” he said, cupping my elbows in his palms. “ T ell me you’re lying , Jules. Tell me you love me —”
    “Luke,” I said, pulling out of his grip. “Come on.”
    I walked with him to the cab and saw that he was settled in the back. When I shut the door, he rolled do wn the window and called out, “Y ou’re lying, Julie Little. You love me and you know you do —”
    “Good night, Luke,” I said. “I’ll see you Monday morning.”
    And as the cab pulled away, I sunk back on the step and closed my eyes, hating myself for lying to him.
    Monday September 17
    “Up!”
    The blankets flew off the bed and I rolled over to find Luke standing over me, glaring down as though I’d done something wrong.
    This morning I wasn’t as groggy as I had been in the past days . No, ever since Luke’s drunken proclamation of love on Saturday night, I’d gotten used to sleepless nights.
    I hadn’t even been asleep when he busted in my room this morning, which explains my quickness to get out of bed and on with today’s run.
    Luke watched me from the door as I made my way through the room, gathering the essentials for our morning run.
    “Hurry up, Little,” he said. “We’re putting in an extra two miles this morning .”
    “What?” I asked, but he disappeared into the hallway.
    I slid into my shoes without untying the laces and followed him down th e stairs.
    Why was he acting like nothing had changed?
    I surveyed the kitchen and determined that Charlie had already left for the day, so as Luke moved through the house , I reached forward to grab his arm.
    He stopped in his tracks and turned back to me. “Yes?”
    “Can we talk?” I asked, keeping my voice low so as not to wake up Matt.
    Luke shrugged. “Sure, what’s up?”
    I struggled to find the right words. What would he say?
    “Julie?” he asked. “What’s up?”
    “I just wanted to talk about… what happened… the other night,” I said, nearly in a