The Upside of Love Read online

  “Lily’s not pregnant.”

  “No, not yet anyway!” He winked.

  As I was about to kick him out of my office, there was a brunette in standing in the doorway.

  “Well, hello, Angel. How may I help you?” Lucky smiled as he took her hand and lightly kissed it.

  “I have an interview with the owner, Luke.”

  “Well, that would be—”

  “Me,” I said as I stepped from behind my desk. “I’m Luke Matthews.”

  “Hi, Mr. Matthews. My name is Cody Chase.”

  “Cody, I love that name and it’s so you.” Lucky smiled.

  “Lucky, get the hell out of here.”

  “I’m going. I’m going,” he said. “Maybe Cody and I can chat later.” He smiled.

  I shut the door and shook my head. “Ignore my friend. He has way too much testosterone.”

  She giggled and sat down in the chair across from me.

  The interview went good and she was very qualified for the job, but I had others I had to interview today and tomorrow, so I told her that I’d get back with her either way. After I walked Cody to the door, I took a seat at the bar.

  “How was she?” Maddie asked.

  “She was good. Very qualified. I liked her. She’s a good candidate.”

  “She’s very pretty,” Maddie said as she wiped a glass.

  “I didn’t notice.”

  “Good answer.” She smiled.

  “The next girl should be here in about five minutes. Just send her to my office.”

  “Will do, boss.”

  5

  Lily

  I couldn’t wait to show Giselle and Gretchen the studio. It was something I’d talked about for a long time. They had no clue about any of this. I wanted it to be a total surprise. Gretchen and I watched as Giselle waddled her way to the car. I couldn’t help but smile at her because she looked so damn cute and she was the last person that I’d thought would have a baby.

  “So, where are you taking us?” she asked as she climbed into the car.

  “It’s a surprise. How are you feeling?”

  “Besides fat and bloated, I’m feeling pretty good. Lucky and I have an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow. We’re going to find out the sex of the baby.”

  “That’s awesome! You better call me the second you find out.”

  “Nope, actually, I’m having all of you over tomorrow night for dinner and then you’ll find out.” Giselle smiled.

  “Hopefully, Luke can make it. He’s been so buried at the bar.”

  I pulled in the parking lot and into the space right in front of the studio.

  “Follow me, ladies.” I smiled as I unlocked the door.

  “Lily, what is this?” Gretchen asked.

  “Welcome to A Day In The Life Photography Studio.”

  “What?! Oh my God!” the both of them exclaimed.

  “This is amazing, Lily. Congratulations!” Giselle said as she hugged me.

  “I can’t believe it. You finally have your own studio and Luke has his bar. You two are so perfect and you’re going to have an incredible future,” Gretchen said as she hugged me.

  “Yeah. Life is really good.” I smiled. I would have to look into hiring a contractor to come in and fix up the inside. I have all kinds of equipment I need to buy. Oh my God, I think I’m freaking out.”

  Giselle and Gretchen laughed. “Don’t stress, and take it one day at a time. We’ll help you as much as we can. Plus, you have that handsome boyfriend of yours to help,” Giselle replied.

  “Luke is so busy with the bar that he needs to hire an assistant. I laid down the ground rules this morning about who he can and can’t hire.”

  “Well, if he hires some hottie, then you’ll have to do the same because you’re going to need help here.”

  “Very true.” I smiled.

  “I may have the name of a contractor for you. He’s the boyfriend of Sierra Adams over at Adams Advertising, the agency that Prim uses to help with the magazine.”

  “Perfect!” I smiled.

  “I’ll text you his number later. Now, can we go grab some lunch? This little one is starving,” Giselle said as she rubbed her tummy.

  Giselle craved Mexican food. In fact, she ate it every day. We sat down in the booth and I pulled out my phone and sent Luke a text message.

  “Hi, baby. How did your interviews go?”

  “Hi, babe. They went really good. What are you doing?”

  “I’m having lunch with Giselle and Gretchen. I hope they were ugly?”

  “They were smokin hot, babe. I can’t help it.”

  “Very funny. You’ll pay for that when you get home.”

  “I know. That’s why I said it.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  After we placed our order, I asked Giselle about Lucky.

  “So what’s going on with you and Lucky?”

  “What do you mean? He’s my baby daddy and that’s about it. We’ve been fighting a lot. Like an old married couple.”

  “I walked in on them the other day having sex on the couch,” Gretchen said as she bit into a chip.

  “When’s he moving out?”

  “As soon as his place is ready. They said probably about another month.”

  “Do you want him to leave? I mean, you are going to need help with the baby.”

  “He’s messy and he doesn’t listen. He leaves the toilet seat up and I almost fell in the other night when I went to go pee because it was dark. He leaves his dishes in the sink and his socks in every room in the house. His shoes are always in the middle of the floor and he leaves glass rings on my tables.”

  Gretchen and I sat there laughing. We both silently thanked God that Sam and Luke weren’t like that.

  “Well, then I guess it’s time for him to leave.” I smiled.

  “I love him but then I hate him. He’s very immature. Anyway, dinner is at seven tomorrow night.”

  “We will be there.” I smiled.

  ****

  I picked up Charley from school because Maddie was tied up at the bar and Adam was in class. As much as I missed teaching, my passion was photography.

  “Hey, baby girl.” I smiled as Charley climbed into the Explorer.

  “Hi, Lily. Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “I got Student of the Week!” She smiled as she showed me her award.

  “Fantastic, Charley! Give me a high five. Wait until your mom and Uncle Luke find out.”

  “Can we go for ice cream?” she asked.

  “We sure can. Let’s go.”

  I drove us to the ice cream parlor and, when I opened the door, Charley walked through and I stopped. I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following or watching me. After looking around and seeing nothing and no one, I joined Charley at the counter and we picked out what kind of ice cream we were going to have. As we were eating our ice cream, I had an idea.

  “Let’s Face Time Uncle Luke and show him what we’re doing.”

  “Yeah! He’ll be so jealous.”

  I pulled out my phone and proceeded to Face Time him. He answered.

  “Hey, babe. What are you doing?” He laughed.

  “Charley and I are sitting in the ice cream parlor having ice cream and we wanted to show you.”

  “Hey, peanut!” Luke said as Charley appeared on the screen.

  “Hi, Uncle Luke. Look; I got your favorite ice cream.” She laughed as she showed him her cone.

  “No fair. I want some.”

  “You can’t because you’re not here.” Charley smiled.

  “You two have all the fun.”

  “I know you’re busy. So I’ll see you later.”

  “I love you, babe.”

  “I love you too.” I smiled as I kissed the screen.

  “That’s gross,” Charley said. “My mom and dad are always kissing on the couch. Yuck!”

  “Someday, when you’re older, you’ll want to kiss the boy you’
re in love with,” I said.

  “No way. I don’t want to get cooties. My mom said that all boys have cooties.”

  I laughed as I tapped her on the nose. Once we finished, I took Charley back to my apartment and she did homework while I went into the bedroom. I looked at the guitar sitting in the corner and picked it up. I began strumming the chords.

  “Lily,” Charley said as she stood in the doorway.

  “Yeah, baby.”

  “Will you teach me how to play?”

  “Of course I will. Come here,” I said as I held out my hand.

  She walked over to me with a smile on her face and sat down next to me. I set the guitar in her lap and positioned her fingers on the strings to form a D chord. As she strummed, I adjusted her fingers so she was playing correctly. I had flashbacks of my father sitting on the edge of his bed, teaching me.

  “What’s going on in here?” Luke smiled as he stood in the doorway.

  “I’m teaching Charley a few chords.”

  “Look, Uncle Luke, I’m playing!” she exclaimed as she strummed the chords.

  “I see that, peanut, and I’m jealous. You never asked me to teach you to play.”

  “You can teach me too.” She smiled.

  I got up from the bed and gave Luke a kiss.

  “How did it go at the studio?” he asked.

  “It went well. Giselle and Gretchen loved it, and they’re excited for me. Giselle has the name of a contractor she’s giving me to get in contact with.”

  “Good. Maddie should be here shortly. She and Adam are taking Charley out to dinner.”

  “What are we doing for dinner? Do you want to stay in and cook?” I asked.

  Luke softly kissed my head. “That sounds like a plan. Do we have anything here?”

  I laughed. “No. We’d have to go to the store and buy something.”

  “Then I think it sounds like a take-out kind of night.” He smiled.

  Maddie arrived a few moments later to pick up Charley. She didn’t want to leave because she wanted to practice playing the one chord I taught her.

  “Have a great dinner, Charley.” I smiled as I kissed her on the cheek. “You can come over and practice anytime you want.”

  “Thanks, Lily. I love you.” She smiled as she hugged me.

  “I love you too, baby.”

  She kissed Luke goodbye and, as the door shut, I had a thought.

  “We need to buy Charley her own guitar,” I said.

  “I was thinking that too. I have an older guitar I can give her to practice on and if she becomes really serious about playing, then we can buy her one.”

  “That’s a good idea.” I smiled as I wrapped my arms around him.

  6

  Luke

  Lily and I sat in bed and shared cartons of Chinese food. It had been a while since we just relaxed and did nothing.

  “Are you going to tell me about the girls or what?” she asked.

  “What girls?” I smiled as I fed her a piece of pork from my chopsticks.

  “The girls you interviewed today?”

  “Oh, them. What about them?”

  “Did you like any of them?”

  “There’s one girl that I think would be good.”

  “Is she ugly?”

  “Lily!”

  “Is she a lesbian?”

  “Lily!”

  “Come on, Luke, give me something here.”

  I grabbed the bottle of wine from the nightstand and asked Lily to hand me her glass. As I poured some in, I began to tell her about Cody.

  “Her name is Cody Chase and she’s very qualified. She has plenty of secretarial experience and she’s great with computers.”

  “What does she look like?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, Lily. To be honest, I didn’t even notice.”

  “Liar.”

  I chuckled. “Babe, you’re killing me here. There’s no reason for you to be acting like this.”

  She turned away, got up from the bed, and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She looked upset, but I didn’t understand what I said to make her feel that way. I lightly knocked on the door.

  “Lily, babe, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I just had to pee.”

  She was lying because she never closed the door when she peed. I turned the knob and opened the door to find her leaning up against the counter with tears streaming down her face.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her.

  “I’m sorry, Luke.”

  “Was it something I said?” I asked as I gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

  She nodded.

  “Babe, talk to me.”

  “You said there’s no reason for me to be acting like this. I have a reason and the reason is what led me to Santa Monica in the first place.”

  I closed my eyes because I felt like a complete bastard. I completely disregarded her fears and what Hunter did to her. I held her face in my hands.

  “Look at me. I love you, Lily Gilmore. You and only you. I don’t know how to make that any clearer to you.”

  “I know you do. This is something I need to work out for myself. It has nothing to do with you, Luke. It’s what Brynn and Hunter did to me. I need to get over it.”

  “Maybe you should call Dr. Blakely and talk to her about it. I don’t want you being upset about this. I need to hire an assistant, babe. I have no choice because I’m drowning.”

  She buried her face into my neck and softly brushed her lips against my skin.

  “I know and I’m sorry. I love you, Luke, and I promise not to say another word about it. I feel like such an idiot.”

  I lightly smiled as I kissed the side of her head. “You are not an idiot.” I moved my hand up her shirt and began to rub her back. She moaned and tilted her head back. My lips lightly brushed against her skin as I leaned in closer to her, pressing my hard cock up against her. Her hands traveled down to the button on my jeans as she unbuttoned it and took the zipper down. I stared into her beautiful eyes as I lifted her shirt over her head and quickly undid her bra, releasing her breasts and taking each one in my mouth. She released my cock, which was throbbing for her, and stroked it up and down in her soft hand. I lifted up her skirt, took down her panties, and grabbed her hips, setting her up on the bathroom counter.

  “I need you inside me now,” she whispered as I kissed her lips.

  My fingers softly rubbed her clit and then found their way inside her, feeling her excitement. She was more than ready.

  “You’re ready for me, babe,” I said in between kisses as I brought her closer to the edge of the counter and pushed deep inside her with one thrust. We both gasped at the same time. She placed her hands on the counter and arched her back as I held on to her hips and moved in and out of her.

  “Luke, oh my God.”

  “Come for me, babe. You’re so wet and I want more. I want to feel you come all over me.”

  Her moans heightened and I felt her tighten around me. She was ready to explode and so was I.

  “Lily, I can’t hold back anymore.”

  She wrapped her arms around me and dug her nails into my back as we both came together. I slowly moved in and out of her as I poured every last drop of pleasure inside her. We smiled at each other as I pushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

  “I’ll never be able to get enough of you. We could make love a million times in our lives and it still wouldn’t be enough,” I said.

  She brought her finger up to my mouth and traced the outline of my lips, then softly brushed hers against them. Her legs were still wrapped tightly around me and I was still inside of her. I picked her up from the counter and carried her into the bedroom, lying her down on the bed and hovering over her.

  “Do you feel that?” I asked as I took her hard nipple in my mouth.

  “Yes.” She laughed.

  “Shall we?”

  “Of course.” She smil
ed.

  7

  Lily

  I started the day off by making pancakes for Luke. I knew he had to get to the bar and I had to get to the studio, so I got up extra early and made sure they were ready when he woke up.

  “It smells delicious in here, babe,” he said as he poured some coffee.

  “Thanks. The pancakes will be done in a second. Go sit down.”

  He walked up behind me and put his hands on my hips and nuzzled his face into my neck.

  “I love it when you’re bossy.”

  I heard my phone beep in the bedroom and I asked Luke if he could grab it for me while I put the pancakes on his plate.

  “Who’s Cameron?” he asked as he held up my phone.

  “Oh. What did he say?”

  “He said that he’ll meet you at the studio at ten o’clock.”

  “Great. I’ll trade you.” I smiled as I held up his plate.

  Luke handed me my phone and stood there, staring at me. “Are you going to tell me who the guy is that’s texting you and meeting you at ten o’clock?”

  “You’re cute when you’re jealous.” I smiled. “He’s the contractor that Giselle set me up with. He’s coming to see what work needs to be done.”

  I sat down at the table with Luke and replied to Cameron’s text message.

  “Sounds great. I’ll be there.”

  I couldn’t believe this was finally happening. I was going to own my own photography studio. The first pictures I would hang on the wall would be of Rory and the girls. I also thought I could go through the pictures that I took on my road trip when I left Seattle. I hadn’t looked at those pictures since I developed them in Portland almost two years ago.

  “Hello. Babe.” Luke waved.

  I snapped out of my daze and looked at him.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Sorry. I was just in la-la land over my new studio. There’s so much to do.”

  “Don’t stress about it. I’ll help you any way I can,” he said.

  “I know you will.”

  Luke finished his coffee and pancakes and got up from the table to finish getting dressed. As I cleaned up, Luke’s phone beeped with a text message that flashed across the screen.

  “Bro, are you hiring that hot babe today? If you are, I’ll be hanging out at the bar more often.”