When Stars Collide (Second Chance Romance #2) - Sara Furlong-Burr Page 0,3

me in even closer to him, but I wasn’t entirely certain whether it was to keep me all to himself or because he was legitimately concerned that I may take off after them. “I remember Luke telling me about that night. He’s not usually intimidated by much, but he knew better than to get on your bad side … and that he’d better watch himself around you.”

“Good. That’s what I was going for.”

“He was so struck by how protective you were of Elle. How you had her back and what a good friend you must be to her. Then he proceeded to rattle on about how he felt that was the kind of friendship we had.”

“And what exactly did he say about that?”

“I don’t know, the Titans were playing and I kind of tuned him out. Everything was ‘blah, blah, blah, loyalty, and blah, blah, blah, you’re like a brother to me, Monroe.’”

“Sounds about right.”

My heart rate increased in anticipation with each step Luke and Elle took. Luke had been right in his initial assessment of me. I had been protective of Elle—I still was. Someone had to be. Between her absentee, alcoholic mother and the abuse she’d endured growing up, she’d been something of a lost lamb in a forest of wolves when I met her at Cogsworth. Truth be told, I was, too—I had just been better about hiding it. Together, we’d clicked, traversing the campus jungle and settling into a life away from the small towns from which we were accustomed. And then Luke, the proverbial knight in shining armor, came along and permanently altered the trajectory of all four of our lives.

“Any farther and we’re not going to be able to eavesdrop on them.” I strained against Peter’s arms to try and catch a brief snippet of any conversation that may be going on between them.

“I’m not one hundred percent certain on this, but I think that’s by design,” Peter replied. “My guess is that Luke wants to avoid any chance that we may ruin the moment with our colorful commentary.”

“I prefer to think of it as enhancing the moment, myself.”

“Speaking of said moment …”

Ordinarily relaxed, Peter’s body tensed around me, like he was subconsciously worried that there was a sliver of a chance that things weren’t going to go as anticipated—as if that would ever happen. Still, even I felt my own pulse quickening. With everything Elle and Luke had gone through—a whirlwind relationship, an abrupt breakup, and their reunion after Luke’s accident a decade later—they deserved a chance to be able to exit the roller coaster they’d both been strapped to and calmly walk hand in hand into the sunset.

Luke turned to face Elle, holding both of her hands in his. Hidden by sunglasses and her hair whipping in the wind, I wasn’t able to get a good look at her face, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through her mind at that moment, whether she suspected what was to come. Most of all, I wanted to hear what Luke was saying to her, because I knew damn well that no matter what it was, it would be polished and perfect. Through the beating of my own heart pulsating in my eardrums, I was only able to catch fragments here and there, until the very end, when either my heart rate settled down, or Luke’s nerves had caused him to speak just a smidgen louder.

“Everyone felt sorry for me after the crash because I’d lost a decade of my life, but they were wrong to feel sorry for me—God, Elle, they were so wrong. Because from my perspective, losing those years was a blessing. Elle, I never want to remember a time in my life without you in it, not then, not now, not ever.”

Then in true gentlemanly fashion, Luke knelt down on one knee in front of Elle, whose face had become obscured not by her hair, but by her hands covering her mouth in shock.

“He has got to be in some kind of pain right now,” Peter observed. “His leg isn’t strong enough yet for him to stay in that position for long.”

“What I’d like to know is how he was able to hide that ring box in those shorts he’s wearing,” I observed, watching Luke open the box to reveal a ring so brilliant the sparkle from the diamond could be seen from where we were sitting.

“That’s because I picked it up from the jeweler right before your