"Mystery Woman – part 9"
* * *
The next morning, Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner for breakfast. They sat down at a table, and soon Luke walked over with two cups of coffee. "Hey."
"Hi Luke," Rory replied.
Lorelai glanced up at him with a sly smile. "Hi. Uh, how are ya?"
"Pretty good, you?"
"I'm fine."
"Good, good." Luke nodded aimlessly for a few seconds as he stared at her, then finally broke out of his daze. He pulled out his order pad and cleared his throat. "Uh, what can I get you?"
"Two eggs, two pancakes, two slices of bacon, and a chocolate donut," Lorelai replied, ticking the things off on her fingers. "And any comments about the nutritional value of that order can be directed to my nutritionist, Ronald McDonald, who has personally assured me that the aforementioned food items are part of a well-balanced breakfast."
Luke eyed her curiously as he wrote it down. "No comment. And you?" he asked Rory.
"Just the pancakes and bacon for me," Rory replied.
Luke scribbled down the order. "I'll be back." He turned and started walking to the counter.
Lorelai giggled, but Rory interrupted, "No, we don't need to hear a Terminator joke."
Lorelai frowned. "Aw, come on!"
"Forget it."
Lorelai sighed. "Fine." She took a sip of her coffee, then gave an impressed moan. "Mm, does this taste especially good today or is it just me?"
Rory tasted her coffee and agreed, "Very delectable. So, tell me, what's the plan for this weekend?"
"Weekend?"
"At the inn," Rory clarified.
"Oh, right. Okay, well, the wedding's on Saturday afternoon, and the convention people are arriving at like eight-thirty the next morning, so as soon as the wedding reception's over, everything's gotta be cleaned and reorganized and decorated right away that night," Lorelai explained.
"That sucks," Rory commented.
"Yeah, but the good news is that it's an older couple getting married. I think they're both in their late thirties, early forties, so they probably have a lot of older friends and relatives. . ."
"Ah, who probably like to go to bed early," Rory pointed out.
"Exactly, so I'm hoping that it'll end a little earlier than a normal wedding reception," Lorelai said.
"Hopefully," Rory added. "Then you can get a jump on the cleaning up."
"Exactly."
Luke walked over and set a small plate on the table. "Here's the donut. The rest of the stuff'll take a few more minutes."
"Thanks," Lorelai replied. As Luke walked away, she eyed the donut and let out a disappointed sigh. "Aw, I forgot to specify my preference for sprinkles."
"Tsk, suck it up and eat one sprinkle-free," Rory said.
Lorelai stood up. "I'm just gonna go check to see if there are any up there with sprinkles first." She picked up the plate and walked up to Luke at the counter. "Hi."
"Hey. Something wrong?" he asked, gesturing to the donut.
"Uh, no. Well, it's just. . .well, I forgot to mention that I'd prefer one with sprinkles," Lorelai said.
"Oh, sorry."
"No, it's my fault, I didn't mention it," Lorelai said. She glanced at the donut display. "Oh, but you don't have any with sprinkles anyway."
He followed her gaze. "No, guess not."
"That's okay. Donuts can be just as satisfying without sprinkles."
"But I might have a container of sprinkles in the kitchen," Luke said. "I could go find it and you could pour them on yourself."
"Oh, no, that's okay," Lorelai said, waving him off. "You have more important things to do than to go on a sprinkle hunt for me."
"It's no problem," Luke said. He glanced down and saw that his hand was just a few inches from hers on the counter. He moved it closer and brushed his thumb against hers. "It'll only take a second."
Lorelai felt that familiar chill – the one that ran through her body with his touch. She slowly pulled her hand away and smiled at him. Luke gestured toward the kitchen. "So. . .uh. . .want me to go find 'em?"
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, sure, give me some." She shook her head slightly and added, "Uh, sprinkles. . .I mean, give me some sprinkles. That'd be good. You don't mind?"
Luke shook his head. "Not at all. I wanna give you some." He stared at her pointedly for a few seconds before he added, "You know, sprinkles."
Lorelai smirked and nodded. "Thanks." She took a few steps backwards. "So. . .I'll be. . ." She gestured to her table.
Luke nodded. "Okay."
Lorelai turned and walked back to the table.
"So, get everything straightened out?" Rory asked.
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, Luke's gonna find some sprinkles."
"He takes good care of us," Rory commented.
Lorelai smiled and glanced toward the counter. "Yes, he does."
* * *
When they'd finished eating, Rory headed to the bus stop while Lorelai walked up to the counter to pay the check. Taylor was sitting near the register, and as she waited for Luke to walk out of the kitchen, she said, "Hey Taylor."
He looked up from the notepad he was writing on. "Oh, Lorelai, hello."
"What's that?" she asked.
He glanced down at the notepad. "Oh, just making a list of things to cover at the next town meeting."
Lorelai glanced at the list. "Seems kind of long."
"Well, it's roughly the same amount of items I cover at every other town meeting," he said.
"Really? It never feels like we cover that much stuff."
"Well, I'd attribute that to the fact that you always come late and miss half of the discussions," Taylor bitingly pointed out.
Lorelai smiled. "Hm, good point."
Luke walked out of the kitchen and saw her at the counter. "Hey. All ready?"
Lorelai turned to him and held out her money. "Yup."
Luke opened the cash register and gave a quick glance toward Taylor before he said to her, "Uh, if you have a few minutes, now's a good time to talk about that thing you wanted to talk about."
Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "What thing?"
He pursed his lips and darted his eyes toward Taylor, who wasn't looking at them but could surely hear the conversation. "Uh, didn't you have something you wanted me to fix?" Luke asked, tilting his head to the side.
Lorelai shrugged in confusion. "What?"
Luke sighed loudly and leaned forward on the counter. "You know, you said you wanted to talk about fixing that thing. . .so maybe you have a minute now to talk about it?"
Lorelai finally caught on and she nodded quickly "Oh, right, right, yeah. The thing in the . . yeah. . .now's a good time to talk about that."
"Good." Luke closed the cash register. "Let's go outside and we can. . .yeah. . ." He walked out from behind the counter, and Lorelai followed him out onto the sidewalk.
"Smooth," Lorelai commented.
"You're the one that didn't catch on," Luke said.
"Sorry, my mind wasn't in 'secret dating' mode," Lorelai said. "It was in 'I just ate too much' mode."
"Talk to your nutritionist about that," Luke said. They started walking toward the gazebo and saw Miss Patty walking toward them. "Dammit, Patty."
"It's okay." As they neared her, Lorelai said loudly, "So I try turning the knob and it turns a little bit, but then it just gets. . ." Her voice trailed off as they reached Patty. "Hi Patty."
"Hello, hello," she replied. "What are you two doing?"
"Oh, I was having some trouble in my bathroom," Lorelai explained. "So I thought I'd get some advice from Mr. Fix-It over here." She patted Luke on the arm.
Luke nodded in agreement. "Yup, that's what we're doing. Just. . .talking about bathroom fixtures."
"Ah, sounds interesting," Patty commented. She walked away calling, "See you later."
Lorelai smiled up at Luke. "See, she's easy to fool sometimes."
Luke glanced warily toward Patty. "Uh huh."
They continued walking toward the gazebo and sat down on the bench. Lorelai rested her purse between them and folded her hands in her lap. "So, what's up?"
Luke leaned forward and stared down at his shoes. "Uh, I was just thinking about something you said last night."
Lorelai winced. "Uh oh. Good or bad?"
He leaned back against the bench and turned to her. "Well, I don't know. I'm not sure."
"Okay, let's clear it up, then," Lorelai said. "When did I say it?"
"In the truck, when we were. . ." His voice trailed off. "Well, you know. . ."
Lorelai smiled. "Yes, I do know."
"Yeah, and you said that – "
"Wait, are you still hung up on that Trishelle reference?" Lorelai asked. "It's this girl on the Real – "
"No, that's not it," he interrupted. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and slowly exhaled. "You said that. . .you didn't want last night to be our first time."
"Yes, I did say that," Lorelai agreed, eyeing him curiously. "So. . ."
"So. . .does that mean that you. . ." He gestured aimlessly with his hands as he searched for the words. ". . . want there to be a first time?"
Lorelai quickly glanced down and fidgeted with the strap of her purse. "Uh, well. . .you know. . . um. . ." she stammered. She brought her gaze up to him and sighed. "Why are you asking me this?"
Luke shrugged. "Just seeing if we're on the same page."
"Are we?"
"Depends on what your answer is."
They stared at each other silently for several seconds before Lorelai nodded. "Yes."
"Me, too," he replied.
They were both quiet until Lorelai finally broke the silence. She smiled and shook her head slightly. "Okay, I don't think I've ever sat down with someone and had a 'do you wanna have sex' conversation before. This is a first. A slightly weird first. And now it's starting to freak me out. Stop looking at me like that." She blocked his eyes with her hand.
He smiled and pushed her hand away. "Look, I'm only bringing it up because, under the circumstances, we should talk about what it means."
"What do you mean?
"We wanted to take time to see if we thought this would work out, you and me," Luke said, gesturing to the two of them. "And obviously, since we both want to. . .well, move on to that level. . .it says that we both want the relationship to go further. Which is exactly what we wanted to figure out with this whole secret plan thing."
Lorelai thought it over. "Makes sense."
"Yeah," Luke said. "I'm just saying that. . .it seems like we're both leaning toward the same direction. And that's good."
"Yeah, that's good," Lorelai agreed with a nod. She glanced down at the ground, pondering something, when Luke stood up and disrupted her thoughts.
"I better get back," he said, gesturing toward the diner.
Lorelai stood up and nodded. "Right. Yeah. I should get to work."
"Yeah. . .so. . .I'll see ya later?"
Lorelai smiled. "Yup."
He walked down the gazebo steps, then looked over his shoulder and called, "And I'll come check out that bathroom when I get a chance."
"Thanks," she called back. She smiled to herself as she picked up her purse and started walking to work.
* * *
On Saturday night, Lorelai, Rory, and Lane walked into the diner. Lorelai took a deep breath when she saw Luke at the counter. She needed to figure out a way to talk to him alone.
Luke looked over at them from the counter. "Wow, you guys look all. . .fancy."
"Hm, I think that was slightly complimentary," Lorelai said to Rory and Lane.
"We'll take what we can get," Rory said.
They walked to the counter and sat down. "There's a wedding at the inn tonight," Lorelai said.
Luke nodded. "Oh, right."
"And we're helping out," Rory added.
"Is it over already? It's kinda early, ain't it?" Luke asked.
"No, it's not over yet," Rory replied. "We just left to get some dinner."
"Then we're going back," Lorelai added.
"Well, they are," Lane said. "I have to be home soon."
"Isn't there food at the wedding?" Luke asked.
Lorelai scoffed. "You don't just sit down at somebody's wedding reception and start eating with them. That's so rude."
Rory rolled her eyes. "She's tried it before."
Lorelai nudged Rory with her elbow. "Shush."
"I'm not surprised," Luke said. "But couldn't Sookie make you something?"
"We asked her, but she kind of yelled at us," Lane said.
"She's a little stressed out about the cake looking perfect," Lorelai said. "You know how she gets."
"Yes, I do," Luke replied. "So, what do you guys want? Burgers?"
"Yes, please. With fries," Rory said.
"And onion rings," Lane added.
"And chocolate milkshakes," Lorelai added.
Luke shook his head slightly as he jotted the order down, then walked into the kitchen.
Lorelai tapped her fingers on the counter as she pondered when she could talk to Luke. Finally, an idea came to her and she turned to the girls. "Uh, hey, maybe instead of us going to get Michel's stuff after dinner, you could run there now and get it. It'll save time."
"Good idea," Rory replied.
"Yeah, we can go," Lane added.
Ah, you're a genius Lorelai. "Great." Lorelai pulled the list and some money out of her purse and handed it to Rory, and the two girls walked out of the diner.
A few minutes later, Luke walked out of the kitchen with the three milkshakes. "Where'd they go?" he asked, gesturing to the two empty stools.
"They had to pick up some things for Michel from the market," Lorelai explained. "He was mad that we were leaving for dinner so we offered to bring him back something. He gave us a shopping list."
Luke nodded. "Ah." He lined the milkshakes up on the counter and dropped three straws next to them. "There ya go."
"Thanks." Lorelai picked up one of the straws, and glanced down at the counter as she fidgeted with it. This is your chance, Lorelai. You're alone with him. Talk to him.
Luke watched her hands for a few seconds before he asked, "Something wrong?"
She looked up at him. "What? Oh, no, I'm just. . .thinking about something."
"I can see that," he replied.
Lorelai cleared her throat and glanced around. No one was nearby, but she lowered her voice anyway. "Listen, um, I wanted to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Well, uh, you see. . . I'm gonna be at the inn pretty late tonight," Lorelai started.
"Yeah, I remember you mentioned that the other day," Luke said.
"Yeah. . . and I was thinking about . . .well, I was thinking that maybe. . ." She exhaled loudly. Are you really gonna do this? Maybe this isn't a good idea.
"Thinking what?" Luke prompted.
She locked her gaze with his. "That you might wanna. . .come by. To the inn. Later tonight. There are some empty rooms and. . .well. . .we could. . . " Her voice trailed off. Oh my God, you just invited Luke to the inn to sleep with you. That sounded so hooker-ish. That sounded like a scene out of a corny late-night movie on Cinemax.
Oh my God, she just propositioned you. His eyes widened and he stammered, "Oh, uh, well. . ."
"I mean, only if you want to," Lorelai quickly added. She leaned toward him and lowered her voice even more. "I was just thinking that, since Jess is usually. . ." She gestured to the ceiling. "And Rory's at my house. . . this would be a good chance for us to be alone."
Luke slowly nodded. "Right, yeah, being alone. . .would be good."
"Only if you want to," she repeated. "I mean, I just brought it up because . . .you know, we were talking about it the other day, and then that made me start thinking about how there's not much opportunity for us to be alone."
"No, there's not," he agreed.
"And then tonight I saw that there were some empty rooms and. . .I was gonna be there late anyway, so I just got this crazy idea," Lorelai said, her voice practically a whisper. "I know this is probably kind of weird, though, me inviting you up to a room to. . . " Her voice suddenly trailed off, and she sighed as she shook her head toward the counter. "God, forget it. It sounded better in my head, but now that I'm hearing it aloud, it's just. . . .I can't believe I just came out and said it like that. Just rewind this conversation back five minutes and – "
"What time?" he interrupted.
Surprised, Lorelai's eyes widened slightly. "What?"
Luke reached across the counter and put his hand on top of hers. "What time should I be there?"
A smile slowly formed on her lips. "Uh, maybe like 11:30-ish. Is that too late?"
Luke shook his head. "It's fine. What room?"
Lorelai reached into her purse and pulled out a room key. "Twenty-two." She slipped it into Luke's hand and he quickly put it in his pocket. "Park in the back lot, go in the back door. There are stairs right when you walk in."
Luke nodded. "Got it."
"I'll meet you up there," she said. "And bring your toolbox."
Luke smirked. "I kinda planned on it."
Lorelai smiled and half-rolled her eyes. "No, I mean, your real toolbox, the one you keep your hammers and other tool-type stuff in."
Luke felt slightly embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. What for?"
"So if someone sees you coming or leaving, you can say it was an emergency situation, that you were just fixing something for me."
Luke gave her an impressed nod. "Always thinking ahead."
Lorelai smiled. "I know." The bell on the door jingled, and she turned around to see Rory and Lane walk into the diner. She glanced at Luke and mouthed, "11:30."
He nodded, then gestured toward the kitchen. "I'll go check on the food."
As he walked away, Lorelai turned back to the girls. "Get everything?"
Lane held up the Doose's Market bag. "Yup."
"Great, good job," Lorelai said. "Uh, you're just in time. I think the food's almost done."
"Oh, good, I'm starved," Rory replied. "Did Luke keep you company while we were gone?"
Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he did."
* * *
Later that night, Lorelai and Rory had both changed into jeans and T-shirts, and were helping the inn workers clean up the dining room. Rory dropped a pile of tablecloths into the large rolling laundry bin, then put her hands on her hips. "Okay, what next?"
Lorelai, who was taking down the wedding decorations, glanced over at her. "Um, could you roll that down to the laundry room for me?"
"Sure." Rory nodded and stifled a yawn.
"Then you can head on home," Lorelai added. "Get some sleep."
"No, it's okay," Rory replied. "I can stay and help you some more."
"Honey, you've been here for like eight hours," Lorelai reminded her. "You're tired, and you know as well as I do that if you go to bed too late tonight, it'll completely throw off your sleep schedule for the week."
"I know, but I don't want you to be here all night cleaning up by yourself," Rory pointed out.
Lorelai gestured around. "There are other people here."
"But – "
"Rory, please," Lorelai said. "There's no need for both of us to be on a crappy sleep schedule. Hell, I'll probably just end up crashing in a room here tonight, so you might as well go home and get comfy in your own bed."
Rory shrugged. "I feel bad, though. There's a lot more work to do."
Lorelai walked over to her. "Honey, these people and I – we have to stay here and clean up and ruin our sleeping patterns. You don't – you're a kid, you need sleep. Go on home. You can take the Jeep, and I'll just walk home tomorrow morning."
Finally convinced, Rory nodded. "Okay, fine, I'll go."
"Good. Go on and take that down to the laundry room and I'll go get the car keys from the office," Lorelai said. As Rory started wheeling the laundry bin out of the room, Lorelai let out a sigh of relief and went to get the keys.
* * *
Up in his apartment, Luke stood in front of the bathroom mirror in his jeans and a T-shirt, towel-drying his hair. He was trying to ignore the slight feeling of nervousness that had been running through his body all night. When he'd woken up that morning, he never imagined that Lorelai Gilmore would be walking into the diner that night and offering him a room key. He still couldn't believe it.
But she had. And he'd accepted it. And now he was getting ready for the night he'd thought about for a very long time.
When his hair was dry, he brushed his teeth, then grabbed the flannel shirt from the back of the door and walked out of the bathroom. He sat down on the bed and started putting his socks on.
"Since when do you take showers at eleven o'clock at night?" a voice asked from behind him.
Startled, Luke jumped and turned around to find Jess standing near the couch. "Jesus. When the hell did you get here?"
"Last year, don't you remember?"
Luke rolled his eyes. "When did you get home?"
"A few minutes ago," Jess replied. "You going out somewhere?" Luke didn't respond. "Well, let's see, you just took a shower and got dressed, and now you're putting your shoes on," Jess observed. "Looks to me like you're going out."
"So what's your point?" Luke grumbled.
"No point. But since Plaid Shirts 'R Us just closed a few minutes ago, I'm wondering where someone like you would be going at this hour."
"I don't have a curfew," Luke reminded him.
"Where you going?"
"None of your business."
Jess walked toward him with a smirk. "Oh, let me guess. . . maybe we're gonna pay the girlfriend a little late night visit?"
"Jess," Luke warned.
"What'd, she call and invite you over for some late-night action, or you just gonna show up and surprise her?" Jess asked.
Luke stood up and pulled his flannel shirt on. "Shut up."
"When you coming back?" Jess asked.
Luke walked over to grab his baseball cap, mumbling, "I don't know."
Jess tilted his head. "Aw, might do a little cuddling afterwards? How cute."
"Once again, I repeat – shut up," Luke said sternly.
Jess walked past him toward the bathroom. "Just remember what they tell you in health class, Uncle Luke, – "
"Don't call me that," Luke interrupted.
"Safety is always the top priority," Jess said with mock seriousness. With that, he smirked and closed the bathroom door.
* * *
When it was almost 11:30, Lorelai sent Michel home, then told the few remaining staff members that they could finish rearranging the tables and chairs first thing in the morning. She grabbed her things from her office, said goodnight to Roger at the front desk, then headed upstairs.
As she approached room 22, she felt a mixed feeling of nervousness and excitement. She pulled out the spare room key she'd taken from the front desk and inserted it into the lock. She slowly pushed open the door, and when she saw that the light was on inside the room, she assumed that Luke was already inside.
Sure enough, when she walked into the room, she saw him standing near the foot of the bed. She smiled as she closed the door behind her. "Hey."
He felt relieved to see her, and a smile formed on his lips. "Hi."
She dropped her stuff near the door and walked over to him. Their lips met in a tender kiss, one that Lorelai quickly pulled back from. "Wait, please tell me you don't think I'm a bimbo."
Luke let out a surprised laugh. "What?"
Lorelai took a step back from him. "All night long, I kept thinking that it was way too forward of me to just invite you up to a room like I did, and I know you must think that I'm some kind of crazy, presumptuous, self-assertive – "
"I don't think anything like that," he interrupted. "Calm down."
"I mean, I only did it because we'd been talking about it and I just thought it'd be a good chance for us to finally be alone," Lorelai explained.
"I know that," he replied.
"I don't normally just go up to guys and ask them back to the inn like this," Lorelai continued.
"Glad to hear it," he said.
"And I don't usually sit down with a guy and plan when we're going to sleep together," Lorelai said. "I mean, it usually just happens naturally. . .but under the circumstances – "
"Lorelai, I get it," Luke interrupted. "Stop worrying about it."
Lorelai sighed loudly and nibbled on her bottom lip. "So you don't think any less of me?"
Luke took a step forward and caressed her shoulders. "Not at all."
Lorelai exhaled softly. "Okay." She kissed him, then wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and hugged him. She glanced over his shoulder and saw his toolbox sitting on the floor. She pulled back and smiled. "You brought Bert."
He raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"
She pointed to the toolbox. "Bert, you brought him."
Luke followed her gaze, and nodded. "Oh, yeah."
Suddenly, her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. "Oh shoot. I forgot to tell you to bring a. . .um, do you have a. . ." She formed a square with her fingers.
Luke quickly caught on and nodded. "Yeah, don't worry." He patted the front pocket of his jeans.
Lorelai let out a small sigh of relief. "Okay, good, good, that's good. Very good – you are very prepared. It's like having my own little Boy Scout."
"Okay, that's kind of a creepy comparison for this particular scenario," Luke commented.
"Right, it is, sorry." Great, now you're acting like a bimbo and a pedophile. Luke walked over and sat on the bed, and she asked, "What are you doing?"
"Taking off my shoes," he replied.
"Oh. Good idea, removing the shoes is always good." She sat next to him, and they both took off their shoes and socks.
They turned to face each other on the bed, both of them smiling uncertainly. Oh my God, is there anyone else in the world who can make a backwards baseball cap look that good? She reached toward him, and he watched as she began undoing the buttons on his shirt.
Luke swallowed hard. Lorelai Gilmore is starting to undress you. Deep breaths, Luke, deep breaths.
When she had finished with the buttons, she started to push the shirt off of him, then pulled back. "Hm."
She stopped. Why did she stop? "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I just wasn't sure how you wanted to do this. I mean, did you wanna take off your shirt yourself or did you want me to take it off for you or. . ." Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.
Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you always. . .uh, talk things out beforehand like this?"
"Only when I'm nervous," she admitted.
He took her hand into his. "Why are you nervous?"
Lorelai gave a half-shrug as she stared down at the comforter. "I don't really know."
He stroked her arm with his fingertips, sending a chill through her body. "Look, we don't have to do this tonight if you're not ready or if you don't want to or whatever. I have no problem with waiting. I've been waiting for years, a little longer won't kill me."
Lorelai smiled at him. "Okay, just a little side note. . .saying that you've been waiting for years kinda just added a whole lot of pressure on my part."
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay." She took a deep breath. "But I'm not nervous about us . . .I swear, I really want this to happen."
"So do I."
"I just have other stuff in the back of my mind," Lorelai said. "I think it's just. . .I've been thinking about our conversation in the gazebo, about how we're both leading in the same direction. . ."
"Uh huh. . ."
"And I think that. . . I'm ready to tell Rory," she declared.
"You are? Really?"
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I really need to tell her. I've never kept something this big from her before and I think that's why I have this little nagging feeling in my gut all the time," she said, rubbing her stomach. "I mean, we can still keep it a secret from the town if you want to."
"You know, it really doesn't matter to me anymore," Luke said with a shrug. "Yeah, I kinda like how it is now, but. . .it doesn't matter. Whoever you wanna tell, tell 'em."
"Okay, good." Lorelai stared off into space for a moment, then smiled at him. "Huh. What do you know, I think the nagging feeling went away already."
"Good." Luke put his hand under her chin and helped lead her lips to his. As she eagerly returned the kiss, she reached up, removed his cap, and dropped it on the floor. They fell sideways onto the bed and Lorelai maneuvered her body so she was on top of him. She ran her fingers through his hair as she kissed him hungrily.
When she finally pulled back, she sat up and straddled his waist. Luke let out a grunt at the realization that the two layers of denim separating them felt as thin as a piece of paper. His hands slipped beneath her shirt and glided over the soft skin of her midsection.
Lorelai let out a soft moan of approval and leaned down to kiss him again. His hands slid to her back, his fingertips tracing circles on her skin as their tongues dueled playfully. She pulled back slightly and said, "So, back to my original question. . ." She leaned down and gave him several short kisses before continuing, "Is there any specific way you want the clothing removed?"
In response, Luke surprised her by pulling her T-shirt up over her head and throwing it across the room. As Lorelai's heart started racing excitedly at the newfound exposure, she noticed Luke's chest was also heaving considerably faster than just moments before.
Lorelai glanced over at the shirt lying on the floor, then brought her gaze back to Luke, who looked like he was ready to rip her bra off at any second. She smiled and raised one eyebrow. "Okay, so basically we're going with the 'remove and toss' method, got it."
* * *
To be continued. . . .
Author's Note:
Wow, I can't thank you guys enough for all the nice comments. I really appreciate the support and encouragement. The next chapter is pretty much finished; I should hopefully have it up in a day or two. :)