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Chapter One

Alexa

Westhampton in late fall was still beautiful

I stood at theand looked out over the beach in front of the house The sun was setting and froe point, I could see across the ocean to the rapidly darkening horizon The trees on the property had all turned color and fallen, so while the trees were barren of leaves, the shrubs were still green and overall, it was peaceful out on the ocean

Luke was still in town, but he would arrive soon I had Friday off, and so ould spend Friday and the weekend at the beach house The house was Luke's favorite place in the entire world outside of Bora Bora, so we tried to spend as much time there as possible on the weekends I had finished a busy week teachingon my latest paper I had one full day that I could spend with Luke and not think of anything After that, it was back to the old grind

I loved the old grind, so I wasn't conancy and I hadwell, my life was perfect Sure, Luke could afford to pay for my tuition and expenses if I didn't have a scholarship, but having it ht I was a good bet, that I would go so in the future If they didn't feel that way, they wouldn't have funded raduate education So, I didn't want to lose the scholarship and worked hard to rades stayed at the absolute top of the class

Mysickness was still a probles I had another four weeks to go before it was supposed to let up entirely, and was frankly impatient for that part of the experience to pass While I had always read aboutait was It drained ein the , andI was taking a self-directed class so I could do the work completely on my own, and that helped a lot, but it was still hard I had a new respect for pregnant ood a position as I was I could rearrange my schedule Most mothers couldn't and that made me appreciate my circumstances even more

While I waited for Luke to come to the beach house, I put on some music and prepared our supper I arlic barbecue sauce, and washed lettuce for a salad There was a baguette on the counter that would be heated up and we had a nice bottle of non-alcoholic beer foroing to do anything that ht hurt the baby

At around 6:30, I heard a car drive up in the driveway and glanced out the sideto see Luke in his vehicle He had driven to Westhaive his have been quiet on the Blaine front for the past couple of months, but that didn't mean he couldn't show his face or make his presence known at any ti followed everywhere he went, and I was as well, but after what happened to Candace, I didn't want to take any chances

Luke got out of the car and walked to the front door, looking every inch the billionaire space investor, dressed in an expensive dark grey suit and crisp white shirt He'd cut his hair now that ere back in civilization and kept his beard well-trimmed, but he was still just as handsome as ever

I wipedkiss and hug when he entered the front door

"There you are," I said, unable to keep a huge smile off my face