Love, Lies & Blood Ties - Whitby Shadows Series Book 2

Chapter Eighteen

Luke turned into a giant kid. I'd never seen a grown man so excited to do something so...weird. When we pulled up at his farmhouse, something familiar and homely enveloped me. I wanted to stay here as long as possible, it was just so pretty and peaceful.

"I think you look grubby enough," he said, giving me the once over.

"Excuse me?"

"Well your top has a hole in it, you've got paint stains on your jeans, and a spot of ketchup at the corner of your mouth."

My face flushed red. I flipped the sun visor down and looked at my reflection. No ketchup. I glared at Luke. "Really?"

"Gotcha."

With that, he leaped out of the car, throwing the keys into my lap. He ran towards the old wooden barn at the side of the house. How the rickety old thing was still standing baffled me.

"Are you coming?" he shouted.

I grinned. Karma, bitch. I pointed at the door and shrugged my shoulders.

His face fell and he jogged back to the car. "I'm sorry. I got a little over excited."

He opened the door for me and I got out. "Looks like chivalry really is dying."

"I know, I'm sorry." He looked down at my trainers and then at the muddy path leading to the barn. Before I knew it, he scooped me up in his arms.

I shrieked in surprise and laughed. "What are you doing?"

He started marching towards the barn. "Hopefully this will make up for my lapse with the door."

"Don't be ridiculous," I said, looking at his handsome face. I found myself resisting the urge to kiss his cheek. I wanted to put my arms around his neck and cuddle into him, but I couldn't. It wouldn't be appropriate. "Besides, some mud on my trainers would only add to the look, right?"

A wicked glint passed through his eyes. "Good point." He promptly put me down, right in the thick of the mud. The ground actually squelched. "Excellent thinking, Cat."

"Oh my God!" I yelled. "Did you actually just do this?"

He carried on walking and yelled back, "Yep, I think I did."

I let out a scream of frustration. These trainers were only four months old, I'd bought them just before coming back to Whitby. Bright white with streaks of purple and pink, I adored them. Now they were just brown. Even the laces.

Luke opened the barn doors to reveal an old red car. The bottom of the rear bumper had more dents in it than a punchbag and the exhaust was rotten. When he got in it, the car creaked and leaned heavily to one side. I couldn't help but giggle.

When he reversed it out, I had to put my hands over my mouth to stop the giggling. The entire side of it was a mangled mix of rust and red paint. Luke looked absolutely ridiculous in it, like a bear who had been crammed into a sardine tin.

"Get in," he shouted through the window.

I opened the door carefully, in case it fell off its hinges, and sat down.

"Hey, you're getting the carpet muddy," he said, chuckling.

I bent down and scraped some of the still wet mud off the side of one of my trainers. "I wonder why?" I said, smearing his cheek with the mud. At least I wouldn't want to kiss it now.

"You didn't just do that?" he said, looking at himself in the rear-view mirror.

"Yep, I think I did."

He wiped most of the mud off his face leaving a brown smear behind. To my horror, he spread it all over my forehead. I screeched like a mouse and batted his hand away.