Free Falling Read Online Free Page B

usual?” I’d done a lot of these initiations. Usually I
just got the new people settled, ate lunch with them for a couple of days until
they found their feet, and then they went off to do their own thing with friends
they’d made.
    She smiled. “That’d be swell. Thanks again.”
    I headed out of the office, folding the papers and pushing
them into my bag, heading to class quickly.
     
    The next couple of days passed quickly; luckily Luke didn’t
get caught staying over that night. The only ones we really had to worry about
catching us were my parents, because his were hardly ever home. He actually had
a better relationship with his housekeeper than he did with his parents. The
Hannigans had their own pharmaceutical company that they were both CEOs of, so
they travelled a lot. Luke was, therefore, very lonely, though he never
admitted it. He liked to spend as much time at mine and around my family as
possible. If he had the chance, I had the feeling that he would move into mine
permanently.
    Saturday finally came around, though not soon enough in my
opinion. I finished packing up my camping things excitedly. Luke came by just
after lunch to pick me up. He had the whole range of camping gear, so it wasn’t
like we were going to be living in squalor tonight. He had a six man tent with
different sections for bedrooms, a little area in the middle for sitting in,
and it even had a canopy outside so you could sit under cover if you wanted to.
Luke liked to camp. Apparently it was something he did with his dad when he was
little, that was, of course, before Mr Hannigan started to get too busy to
spend time with his son.
    “Hey there, baby, are you all packed?” he asked as I walked
down the stairs with my rucksack on my back.
    I nodded and smiled, looking him over. He looked extremely
handsome today in loose fitted jeans and a plain fitted white T-shirt. Today
was going to be a good day, but tonight would be even better because I’d get to
lounge around a camp fire eating Luke’s perfectly cooked s’mores. “Yeah, you
got everything? We’ll stop at the store and buy food, right?” I asked, mentally
checking off what I was supposed to bring. The only things I had to bring,
according to Luke, were my clothes and my flirty smile.
    “Yeah, we’ll stop on the way. Come on then, let’s get going
before your brother or dad start to lecture me about looking after you again,”
he suggested, laughing quietly to himself.
    As if on cue, my dad walked out of the lounge and frowned.
“You guys all done? Luke, can I have a quick word?”
    “Too late for a discreet exit,” I whispered, squeezing his
hand gently.
    He laughed and kissed my forehead before following my dad
into the kitchen. I felt so sorry for Luke; he undoubtedly loved me a lot
because he put up with the overprotective guys in my family and never once
complained. I flopped down next to my mom on the sofa. “Can’t you rein dad in a
little? Surely he knows Luke well enough by now that he doesn’t have to give
him the talk every time we’re staying out for the night?” I asked, resting my
head on her shoulder.
    She stroked the side of my head. “You know what your dad’s
like. Overprotective. Drives me crazy sometimes too, but it’s part of his
personality, Alex has it too, so I’m afraid you and Luke and done for,” she
replied, laughing to herself.
    I sighed and nodded. “Lucky Luke’s so awesome that he
doesn’t mind.”
    My mom laughed. “Yeah, Luke’s great,” she agreed. “And as
much as your dad makes a show out of teasing him and stuff, he likes him too.”
    A few minutes later and they both walked in, laughing
together, so whatever talk they had obviously went well. “Are we ready to go
now?” I asked, looking at Luke pleadingly. I really wanted to leave already, it
would take us two hours to drive up to the place he wanted to camp near the
lake, and we needed to stop for food, then it would take him a little while to
set up the tent. I