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

Chapter 7 - Periodically

Naomi desperately wanted a bath. A proper one, with plenty of bubbles that scented the water with lavender, and with water that was as hot as she was comfortable with. She might even light a few of her precious chamomile candles.

She started the water running and left it on as she went to her bedroom to gather her favorite fleece night dress, a fresh pair of panties, and a pair of wool socks that she would wear when she finished with her bath. Then she stripped and dipped her body into the water with an audible sigh of pleasure.

She let her hair sink into the bubbly mass then rested her neck on the rim of the porcelain tub. It was an antique and went well with the olden charm of her cottage. It was one of her favorite things in her small home, and she treasured the days when she could just lie in it with her body soaked up until her collarbones.

Naomi sat for as long as the water remained warm, and until her muscles and bones felt soft from the heat. She felt considerably better when she left the tub, and she took no haste when putting on her nightdress or combing through her wet hair. She went to the kitchen and took a slice of the key lime pie she had baked, stepping outside into her patio to eat it. There was enough breeze that she thought her hair would be able to dry considerably before she finished her dessert, and the view of the ocean as the dimming sun danced over the calm waves was lovely.

It was six in the afternoon and the repairman had not yet been able to make it to her cottage. She would have to leave to the condominium if she was going to get a sane night's rest, because she knew she would be unable to sleep alone in an open house with no sense of security. God, she wished she could muster the strength to endure one night, but she was sure she would sit awake through the hours, paranoid, and with good reason. After she made a call to the repairman and confirmed or denied whether or not he would be coming to her cottage tonight, then she would stay, or leave just as easily. She had everything she needed in the condo, and would only need to take a few essentials that would fit in her purse.

Hell, she laughed, I can't forget to take the pie.

She was done eating and looking through the contacts on her phone when she thought she heard a knock on her door, then realized it had probably been made on any other surface of her house. She took her plate and set it in the sink for later, then cautiously slid a knife out of her knife holder.

"Who's there?" she called, slightly uneasy. She hadn't been expecting any visitors, and her nerves were a little more than dismantled after the course of the past two days' events.

"It's Luke." She heard his steady voice in the distance, and the knife almost slid from her hand before she gripped it anew, and repositioned it into its slot. Her breathing had stilled and her heart had lodged itself in her throat, but she forced herself to fight the sudden weakness in her body and to walk to the dark sheet that protected her from him. His silhouette glowed with the rays of the sun, as did the tones in his hair, but she could not see his coloring through the fabric. Just the strong outlines and slopes of the muscles that weren't clothed, the overbearing height of his body, the broad width of his chest, and the even wider length of his shoulders. He had gotten bigger in the two years since, and all the weight had been in muscle.

But he did not intimidate her with his size, as overbearing as it could be. She was no more than two inches over five feet, and though he was exactly a foot taller than her, Naomi had never cared, nor would she start to tonight.

She tugged the sheets free of the doorway with a sharp movement. "Yes?" she asked, her voice serene.

Luke found no trouble looking at the slopes of her face before settling his gaze on her eyes. "I came to see if you had gotten your door replaced, and do it myself if you hadn't."