Had To Be You (Romance/Drama) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 18 - Badly

So I haven't uploaded this story for a while and I'm very sorry for any wait. But here is a new chapter that I hope you enjoy. Please do let me know what you think, and thank you! Also, this story has never been planned to be a long one, meaning it will be ending in less than ten chapters.
____________________

Luke had the track list for his album finalized. Last night he had added the song he wrote and closed the album at the good length of fourteen songs, running a little over the hour. He would call his record company no later than tomorrow, but first, he needed her to hear it.

It was something she needed to hear before the public did.

At around five in the afternoon he showered and dressed into cargo shorts and a black v-neck, taking his keys and the demo with him. He pulled up into her cottage minutes later, and he didn't know why his hands were clammy, or why it seemed that his chest was deliberately closing up so he wouldn't breathe.

He shouldn't feel this nervous, but god, he did, and he wanted her to love it.

He found she wasn't inside when he knocked twice and received no answer, so he rounded the cottage and went to her patio, annoyed that it was so easy for anyone to reach her.

"You really should consider a fence," he said, walking up behind her as she tended to her garden. She jumped and dropped her watering can on the grass beside her, a hand to her chest and a little o of surprise on her lips.

He grinned devilishly, a low laugh escaping his chest.

"Oh, one day I'll hit you, Lucas Forrester," she threatened, but she couldn't keep from smiling.

"You wouldn't. And I'm not kidding about the fence."

Naomi bent down to pick up the can, then stood upright and put her hand on her hip. "Hah. I'll get a dog. No way in hell am I ruining this place with a fence."

Her conviction made him roll his eyes in amusement. He started for her, and her eyes transformed when he did. Luke took the can and placed it aside carefully, then framed her face and kissed her nose. Her eyes were so wonderfully, mercilessly green.

"You don't need the dog. I'll be protection enough."

She rolled her eyes, but her heart jumped. "Don't say those kinds of things."

"Why not?"

"They require commitment."

He brought down his hands and looked at her. "You know just how to hurt me, Naomi Hall."

His blue eyes were so forcefully fixed on hers that she feared moving. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I just... said the truth."

He ignored her comment. "Do you have a CD player?"

She nodded, biting her lip with concern. "I'll go get it."

She went inside, almost running from him, and he stayed on his own looking down at her flowers. They were perfectly tended to, brimming with color and life, yet so delicate.

Like her.

He wanted her to know this was it. There was no turning back now, no leaving each other.

He would just have to show her how final this encounter was to him, and hope she favored it.

She came back moments later with a small black CD player, and standing this far from her he could take in her full appearance. The sweet pink shirt she wore, rolled up to her elbows and unbuttoned at the top swell of her breasts. Her old blue shorts, reaching torturously modestly to mid thigh, and the brown leather flip flops at her small, wide feet. Then her hair, it fell down her shoulder in a rubber band that barely contained her silky dark waves.