Chasing His Kickass Luna Back Chapter 375

Abby

I step out of the fragrant bath, tendrils of hot steam curling up around me. My skin is flushed pink from the hot water, but I feel more relaxed than I have in a long time.

Except, there’s the fact that Reginald’s proposal is still whirling around my head.

Karl rises up out of the water after me and wraps a towel around his waist. He hasn’t said much about it yet, and I think he’s been processing since Reginald made the offer for us to come here, but I can’t hold it in any longer.

“What’s going through your head?” I ask, meeting his gaze in the bathroom mirror as I begin to comb out my damp hair and run a fragrant cream through the strands.

Karl pauses, chewing the inside of his cheek, before he answers. “I, uh… I don’t know.”

“There has to be more than that.” I shoot him a somewhat stern look, prodding him to tell me more.

Finally, he sighs. “It’s tempting,” he admits slowly. “But I’m not sure… I’ve got the pack, you’ve got the restaurant, we’re already trying to figure out the living situation, and with the baby and everything else…”

His words make my heart clench a bit. He’s right; we’ve both got our own responsibilities. Some of them aren’t exactly negotiable right now.

We’re not even living under the same roof yet, and neither of us is very keen on leaving behind our lives to join the other. I don’t want to leave my restaurant and the city behind to live in our old mansion, and Karl doesn’t want to leave the pack and his brother behind to live in the city.

“But we have to make a choice,” I say softly. “You have to make a choice.”

Karl’s eyes soften. He walks toward me and presses his warm hand against my belly, his fingers soft and spread wide on my skin. “All I know is that I don’t want to leave you,” he whispers.

I lean forward to loop my arms around his neck and kiss him. He kisses me back fervently, pressing me into the vanity behind me. I can feel his fingers work their way down, slip beneath my towel and begin rubbing me in circles. A soft moan escapes my lips.

But then I gently push him away and meet his husky gaze squarely.

“You’re trying to distract both of us,” I whisper. “You know you shouldn’t be doing that.”

Karl looks at me for a moment, then sighs when he realizes that my gaze brooks no argument. He gently extricates himself and crosses over to the large bedroom, where the moon is now streaming in through the sheer curtains.

“There’s just so much to consider,” he says. “I mean, could you see yourself living here? This far away from everything we’ve ever known?”

I swallow, considering his words for a moment. Truthfully, it is stunningly beautiful here. Today was magical; everything from the palace itself to the meals to the sunset horse ride on the beach.

But Karl is right; it’s so different from everything either of us has ever known. And especially considering how Karl only just got the pack situated and how my restaurant only just opened up a few weeks ago, it all feels so… unattainable.

“I would have to run my restaurant from afar,” I muse softly. “Right after I got back into the kitchen and regained my confidence.”

As I speak, I think back to Logan’s words about how I needed to stop doing all of the managerial duties and get back to my roots. But how can I possibly do that if I’m in an entirely different timezone from my restaurant?

“And I would have to give up the pack to Ethan,” Karl muses as well. “He’s capable, of course, and it is his birthright, but after everything…”

I sink down onto the edge of the bed and sigh. “Maybe, no matter what we choose, we’ll be missing out on something,” I say. “I guess there is no ‘right’ answer here. But Karl…”

Karl lifts his gaze to meet mine, and it’s clear that he knows what I’m about to say before I can even say it.

“I do feel like this is my fate,” he murmurs. “Like all my life, I’ve been running, reaching for something, trying to fill some kind of void. And being here feels like… like I’m whole again.”

There’s a long silence as both of us try to grapple with this revelation. I can’t pull Karl away from his fate, but we’re also fated to each other.

And that’s an enormous thing to consider.

“Karl,” I suddenly say, feeling tears begin to mist over my eyes. “What if… What if we wind up having to split up again? With the baby, and…”

Suddenly, Karl rushes over to me and takes me into his arms. He pulls me close, and in this moment, I allow myself to relax into him and inhale his sweet scent. Not long ago, I thought I might never see him again; so now, the thought of having to part ways is terrifying.

“That won’t happen, Abby,” he whispers into my ear. “No matter what, I’m staying by your side. We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

…

When I wake in the morning, the sun is just barely rising over the horizon. There’s a dim blue glow coming in through the windows, and a slight, damp chill in the room. I shiver a bit beneath the blankets and reach for Karl’s warm body, but he’s not there.

“Karl?” I call out groggily.

A moment later, his familiar voice responds. “I’m right here.”

I sit up to find him sitting beside one of the far windows, typing furiously on his laptop; no down relaying the information he learned to his brother. I sit there for a moment, watching him with the covers drawn up to my chest, before he lifts his head.

“Morning.”

“Morning,” he says, then nods toward an envelope on the table. “One of the servants brought a letter this morning.”

“A letter?” I furrow my brow and slip out of bed, walking over to first plant a kiss on Karl’s warm temple before picking up the folded piece of paper next to him.

I unfold it, and my eyes widen slightly as they scan the words on the page. A few pictures of a stucco-walled building with tall, stained glass windows stare up at me. There is a simple note attached: ‘For you and Abby to look at. Viewing reservation is at ten. No pressure. -R”

“What is this?” I ask.

Karl shuts his laptop and sighs softly. “It’s a reservation to visit a local business front that’s up for sale,” he says, turning to take my hands in his. He presses a few kisses to my fingers, his brown eyes almost puppylike as they gaze up at me.

“Did you make the reservation?” I ask, my voice shaking slightly. “What’s it for?”

Karl shakes his head. “My father made it; said it’s a surprise. For you, actually. For… a restaurant.”

I feel my heart skip. “What do you…”

“Look,” Karl says, rising. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. But what if… what if we could both have what we want? What if there’s more out there that could be pulling our fate in the same direction, instead of opposite ones?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, although I already know the answer.

“What if,” Karl continues softly, taking my chin in his hand, “you could open a second restaurant—here—and we could…”

“We could start over fresh,” I whisper. “Together.”