Drunk on Love(76)

Damn it, Luke was coming over. Well, no, not damn it; she wanted him to come over, she’d been looking forward to it all day. Maybe she could get her work done before he got there, or after they ate dinner, or something. She didn’t want to tell him to come over late, not after how last night had gone. She texted him when she got in her car.

    MARGOT

Leaving the winery now! Just fyi, I have a little work to get done tonight LUKE

No problem, see you soon. I’ll bring dinner



Okay, great—she could get home in like twenty minutes, and it would probably take Luke twice that to pick up takeout and get over to her house. She’d have time to at least make some headway on the newsletter.

And then, of course, there was an accident on the road, halfway between her house and the winery. At the first opportunity, she turned down a side road and cut over to the other way to get home, but that was the even-more-congested way, so by the time she got home, Luke was waiting outside.

“Sorry,” she said when she got out of her car. “There was an accident and then traffic and today has been . . . Anyway, sorry I’m late.”

He shrugged and followed her up to her door.

“No problem, I figured.” They walked straight to her kitchen, where he set down the bag he was carrying, and she opened a bottle of wine. She took down two glasses and then turned to hand him a glass, to find him looking at her.

“What’s wrong?” Did her hair look that bad? She hadn’t looked at herself in the mirror all day. Maybe this dress was a mistake? It was snug—was it too snug?

He took a step closer to her and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “Except that it’s been a day and a half since I’ve gotten to kiss you, and I don’t think I can last another minute.”

She leaned against him and felt some of the tension from the day seep out of her body. As soon as she felt his lips on hers, she strained to be closer to him, to feel more of him. His hands moved up and down her body, and she kissed him harder. She felt him smile as he moved his hand around the curve of her ass, and then she smiled as she pushed her fingers underneath his shirt. Finally, she dropped her head back onto his chest.

“I missed you,” he said in her ear, his arms still around her.

“I missed you, too,” she said.

She lifted her head and smiled at him.

“Let’s eat,” she said. “I’m sure you’re hungry, and I haven’t eaten since . . .” She thought about that. There had been a muffin that she’d grabbed from the kitchen that morning, and she’d eaten some cheese that afternoon, but . . .

“Okay, if you have to think that hard, it’s a problem,” Luke said. “Let’s eat.”

She poured the wine, he piled food on both of their plates—he’d gotten noodles and dumplings—and they sat down at the counter and ate, and drank wine.

“How was your day?” Luke asked.

She knew talking about it would make her more irritable, so she just shrugged.

“How’s work been this week?” she asked him, instead of answering.

He shrugged.

“Oh, fine. Small plumbing crisis, but luckily we resolved it.” He hesitated for a second. “I found out the other day that my old boss is leaving. At my old job, I mean.”

She laughed.

“Good riddance, right? Didn’t you say they’re doing a whole diversity push? If you were still there, maybe they’d try to make you take that job. Thank God you left.”

He looked down at his wineglass and nodded.

“Yeah. Thank God.”

“What did you do last night?” she asked.

He looked up at her.

“I had a late dinner with Avery,” he said. “She’s still kind of getting over her breakup, so it was good to have time to catch up with her and see how she’s doing.”

So he’d found a replacement for her so quickly, then. When she was working late, and then sitting at home wishing he were here, he was out with Avery. Great.

She was being stupid. She knew that. She made herself smile.

“Oh good. How is she doing?”

They’d both already finished eating, so Margot got up to go into the living room, taking her wineglass with her. Luke followed her.

“Really good. I’m so glad she broke up with that guy. She said she ran into him the other day and she was wearing her good jeans, whatever that means.”

Margot pulled her laptop out of her bag.

“I know just what that means. Good for her.” Something suddenly occurred to her. She turned to Luke. “Are you coming to the party?”

He shrugged.

“Depends. Do I have to pay?”

She couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not.

“No, I’ll put you on the list. But if you have to work, or—”

He laughed.

“Of course I’m coming to the party. Whether I had to pay or not.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Does Elliot—or anyone else at Noble—know about us?”

She was surprised he’d asked that.

“No,” she said. He had a weird look on his face. “It’s only been a few weeks since you quit, and you know things with Elliot are complicated.”