A Bond Never Broken

Chapter 10

Caroline's POV

I woke up to the smell of bacon. You could smell the waft of maple syrup drifting my way. It smelled as if the best pig had been cooked, the aromas so sweet of maple syrup, my toes curl, and my mouth waters. I sit up and realize that I'm in nothing but my bra and panties. Seeing as my bag was out there and not wanting to wear my clothes from yesterday, I slipped the blanket that was on the end of the bed around me. By now, the smell was taunting me as if to say "Come here. You must be hungry."

I made my way to the front of the bus to see Luke cooking bacon and eggs. Luke was shirtless and in a pair of sweats. I stared at him, looking him up and down, taking in the sight of him like a drug. Just as he had been a few weeks before, you could see the small outlines on his stomach where abs used to be. He had good sized biceps. Luke's hair was a mess and you could see his Buck Commander ® tattoo. Both of those made him look breathtakingly handsome. No scratch that, damn sexy.

"Damn it," he scowled.

"Need some help, cowboy?" I asked, stepping next to him.

Luke jumped a little. I must've startled him.

"Oh, hey, Caroline. I didn't notice you were there? Have you been watching me?"

I bit my lip, "Maybe..."

Luke raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "I have been told I'm a good looking man. And yes, a little help would be amazing. I've mastered how to make some mean barbecue and fish, but I can't make eggs to save my life."

I laughed back. "I'm sure a lot of the female population would like to have my point of view right now, but I say 'no' because I'm yours. Now, if you could get some clothes out of my bag so I can cook because as of now, I'm half naked under here."

Luke smirked as he went and dug through my bag, pulling out a coral shirt that had white lace on the top and white capree jeans.

"Thank you, Luke," I said as I grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom to get ready.

As I fixed my hair and makeup, I heard Luke.

"Oooh, yeah! I beat your ass eggs!" He whooped.

I almost doubled over right then and there. What the hell was he doing? I really missed this. I forgot how much of a goofball he was. Yes, on stage he was an absolute nut, but offstage he was the same. Always has been, always will be. I smiled as I spread a little bit of lipgloss across my lips. Popping my lips to spread it around, I put the gloss back into my makeup bag and zipped it up. Fluffing my hair in the mirror one more time, I walked back to the front of the bus. I actually felt really gorgeous today and Luke proved that. As I emerged, Luke's jaw dropped.

I just walked past him to put my makeup bag back into the duffel bag I had brought along at last minute. I could feel his eyes on me. I knew they lingered a little longer than normal on every inch of my body. This made me feel a little more self-conscious than usual.

I turned around and found him still gawking at me. "Shut your mouth Luke, I'm not that pretty." I scolded him, blushing.

Luke stood up and made his way over to me. He took my hand in both of his and rubbed it.
He slowly shifted his gaze from my hands to my eyes.

"Oh, but you are Caroline. You haven't changed a bit. You're still as beautiful as you were back then if not more."

I felt my cheeks blaze with pink. I wasn't used to this kind of attention from a man. I was used to the quick "Looking good," or "You're sexy,". I wasn't used to the full out 'you mean something to me, and you're beautiful.'