"Mr. Snyder?"
Luke looked up. Their waiter was nervously standing over them.
"You are Mr. Snyder?"
"Yes."
"I have a message from the hotel. Apparently your car is being towed away?"
"I'm sorry?"
The waiter was clearly embarrassed. "Your car, Sir. Your assistant asked me to let you know."
For a moment Luke was at a loss. He'd deliberately made the effort to keep up the payments on the car as he knew he'd be needing it.
"I'm sorry," he said to Noah. "I have to deal with this."
He scrambled to his feet. Noah stood too, a frown creasing his forehead.
Luke felt a sinking sensation deep within. He wanted Noah...so damn bad. But it would never work. For a moment, he'd allowed himself to forget the mess that was his life.
Without considering the consequences, only knowing he'd regret it if he didn't, Luke stepped up to Noah, put his hand gently to the man's jaw and drew him into a kiss. He inhaled the man; felt the heat of his chest and the gentleness of his mouth.
Noah's body surged suddenly against Luke's, his hand spreading across the back of Luke's head. Luke tasted him fully; taking in a memory of him while at the same time feeling sick over the opportunity lost.
But Luke was already pulling away. He'd allowed himself to believe there could be a future with this amazing person. All the while his problems were still mounting just outside the restaurant doorway. He had to leave and face the chaos that was his life. He wasn't about to burden Noah with it all.
He took off through the restaurant, ignoring Noah as the stunned man called his name. He was at the crosswalk when a hand swung him around.
"Let me go," he demanded. "I have to save my car."
..
There was a scraping of metal. Across the four lanes of busy traffic, a tow-truck was backing up to the convertible.
Luke whirled around and, before Noah could grab him, took off across the street.
Of all the suicidal. . .
Car horns blared.
Tires screeched.
Yet, somehow, Luke made it across all the lanes unharmed, leaving a trail of screeching brakes and swerving vehicles.
Noah's heart beat slowly returned to normal. From across the street, Luke's angry voice could be clearly heard.
"Get away from my car!" he yelled. "What the hell is this?"
Noah was left flabbergasted. The reckless wild man from that morning was back in full swing and clearly close to being out of control.
Adrenaline levels spiking, Noah crossed the roadway with decidingly more care than Luke. All the while Luke stormed up to the guy supervising the removal of his car. He was waving his hands about as he demonstrated with him in a tirade typical of Italian men.
But the service man, who had dealt with hundreds of irate drivers, simply ignored Luke.
Just as Noah had neared them, Luke made a crazy move for the guy; trying to prevent him from hooking up the convertible. The other serviceman was quicker. He held Luke back with a strong arm across the blonde's chest; pinning Luke's arms to his sides. The original guy swore at something Luke said and headed for him. Luke's widening eyes followed the man's fist as it was raised to strike; all the while struggling to free himself from the man's partner.
Noah made a direct line for them, collaring the man so fast the guy didn't see it coming. Noah slammed him hard up against the side of the truck.
"You looking to lay into someone?" he demanded with dead seriousness. "Try me!"
The man's shocked face was slowly turning red as Noah's forearm cut off his air supply.
"You listen to me," Luke, somehow having freed himself, was yelling and pointing his forefinger at the man from over Noah's shoulder. "You son of a bitch! I want my car back now!"
Noah growled. "Luke!"
"What?"
"Get my keys out of my back pocket and get the fuck in my car. NOW!"
"But-"
"Do it!"
The authority in his voice seemed to work on Luke. He grabbed the keys, swallowed as he surveyed the large crowd of people who had gathered with interest; and guiltily retreated to Noah's Porsche parked nearby.
What had he done?
As the anger and anxiety lifted, Luke realized the awful position he'd just placed Noah in... a sea of camera phones all aimed at him.
Sitting in Noah's car, Luke cast a longing look at Noah and then at his convertible. Noah seemed to calm the two servicemen down; spending time talking to them both before allowing them to tow the convertible away. Luke watched as Noah made a phone call.
Luke wouldn't have been surprised if the call was to the nearest mental hospital.
"I wanna report a crazy person! Come pick him up!" Luke mouthed to himself.
Luke knew he'd once again made a massive fool of himself in front of Noah. He'd once again allowed the man to see the high-octave crazy level he was able to achieve at any given moment. Enough to put anybody off!
As Noah made his way toward the Porsche, Luke forced himself to sit upright in the seat rather than slouched down and hiding like some scolded puppy. He'd been doing enough of that lately.
He was also well aware that he'd just behaved like a stark-raving lunatic. But it was his car! It was the only thing he hadn't sold off to pay the creditors.
Noah slid in alongside Luke, slamming the door and starting up the engine.
Luke pulled his phone out his jacket pocket.
"You don't need to call anybody," Noah advised.
Luke forced himself to look at Noah. Stupidly, his eyes went to Noah's mouth and his mind raced with the memory of what it felt like to kiss those lips. "I need to get my car back. They'll impound it. Last time it took me two weeks to get it back."
"Last time?" Noah's eyes flicked over Luke.
Luke felt weary. "It's happened before."
Noah didn't respond.
"I'm busy," Luke tried to explain. "And sometimes I find it hard to park."
"You were parked in a loading zone."
Luke cleared his throat. Of course, at the time he'd been distracted by the sight of the Porsche. But he wasn't about to let Noah know that.
"I guess I didn't see the sign."
"Yeah," he replied dryly. "I get the impression that happens alot."
"Bored yet?" Luke hopefully joked.
But it was clear Noah was in no mood for it. Without a reply, he swung the sports car out into the traffic with such quickness, Luke felt his innards leap into his throat and grabbed the sides of his passenger seat with a death grip.
After a few blocks, Noah spoke, eyes remaining glued to the road ahead. "You'll have your car back in the morning."
Luke stared at him.
"It's not being impounded." Noah continued. "A mechanic is going to have a look at that stop-start engine of yours. They'll run it up to you tomorrow."
A stunned Luke muttered an inadequate "Thank you." It had been a long time since somebody other than Holden had done something nice for him.
What does it mean?
Noah had just done this amazing thing for him that Luke didn't deserve. But Luke couldn't even enjoy the feeling of being taken care of because he knew he'd truly screwed things up. And of late, those screw ups came in waves.
As if sensing his disquiet, Noah turned those stunning eyes momentarily in his direction. "I'll take you home."