by Jaci Burton
Inside was all wood floors, and nicely furnished, with a great kitchen. The place smelled of recent polish. “Did you come up here recently to clean?”
“No, but we have people to take care of it routinely, so the place doesn’t get musty.”
People. Must be nice to have “people.”
They let the dogs out back, and there were no neighbors, so the dogs could run free. They walked for a bit while the dogs stretched their legs.
“I don’t know how you don’t come here every weekend,” she said as they walked a worn path parallel to the lake. The dogs stayed nearby. “It’s beautiful and so peaceful.”
“Yeah, it is nice. I come out here from time to time. I came here a lot after my divorce, to get away and work on things in my head.”
“Some alone time is never a bad thing. Especially after going through a breakup.”
“Back then it wasn’t. Now coming here alone just makes me feel . . . I don’t know.”
She lifted her gaze to his. “More alone?”
His lips curved. “Maybe.”
“But you like your bachelor lifestyle.”
“I do. Doesn’t mean I always like being alone.”
Interesting. She’d enjoyed her freedom so much since she’d escaped from her relationship with Vaughn. She’d felt like a prisoner for so long, she’d vowed back then she’d never be tied to a man again.
But that had been a very long time ago. School and work had kept her so busy she’d never felt anything was missing in her life.
Until very recently.
“How was work today?” Luke asked.
“Easy. We took in a few dogs and a cat for boarding. I had one emergency, a dog that had gotten into a fight and needed some stitches. Otherwise, very routine.”
“Easy days are good. Seems like you’re settling in.”
“It does. I’ve been very lucky so far. Folks have been friendly and have been referring their friends and family, so my business is increasing.”
“Hope’s a friendly kind of town, you know. If you do right by people, they have no problem recommending you to others. They like to see good people succeed.”
“You sound like a politician now.”
He laughed. “Believe me, I’m not. I just know how it works in Hope, since I’ve spent my whole life here, other than a few years away for college.”
“Any thoughts about living somewhere else?”
“I’ve thought about it, especially if the chance to work in a bigger city police force ever comes around.”
“So you see what you’re doing now as a stopover point, something temporary?”
Luke studied the earnest expression on Emma’s face. He’d never considered the question, at least not in depth. He’d always thought of his job with the Hope police force as something he was doing right now, never giving much thought to whether it was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Sure, he’d often thought about working for a larger police force in a bigger city, but working for Hope satisfied him.
Did it satisfy enough, long term?
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
Her gaze held his. “Are you happy? With your job, I mean?”
“Yeah.”
“Then maybe you don’t need to look for that spot over the rainbow, to borrow from Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. A lot of people are so miserable in their jobs their whole lives, and no matter where they go, they’re never going to be happy. You are happy. Isn’t that enough?”
The wind had started to pick up, grabbing a strand of her hair and whipping it across her cheek. He reached out and tucked it behind her ear. “Maybe it is.”
She offered up a smile, and he wanted to pull her close, put his mouth on hers to see if she tasted as good as she looked.
She tempted him, made him want things he never thought he’d ever want again.
And that was the temptation of Emma.
Boomer barked, and Emma took a step back.
“Come here, Annie.” She crouched down and the pup came running. She scooped her up in her arms.
“She’s growing fast.”
“I know,” she said with a laugh. “Soon I won’t be able to hold her. Which is why I’m doing it now. She may grow fast, but she’ll be a baby for a while.”
He grasped Annie under her chin and stared into her dark eyes. “She’s a cutie.”
“I wasn’t intending on adopting another dog, not right now, anyway. I just started the new practice, and that’s keeping me plenty busy.”
“It’s like having kids. I don’t think there’s ever a perfect time for that, either.”
She laughed. “I guess not. Annie just showed up, and when no one adopted her, what was I supposed to do? Take her to the shelter? I was afraid no one would take her, and she’d bonded with Daisy, so she became part of the family.”
“Admit it. You’re a softy. Just hope you don’t adopt every stray that shows up at your clinic.”
“My house isn’t big enough for that.”
They continued walking. “You might have to get a bigger house.”
“Or better resolve. I’m not one to let animals go unclaimed. If I hadn’t been living in an apartment when I was working at the clinic in South Carolina, I’d likely have brought a few dogs and cats along with me when I came back home. Someone was always dropping off an animal they’d found.”
“There are shelters for that.”
“True. But people often take animals they find to their veterinarian because they figure the vet’s office will feed them, give them their shots, and do a better job of finding a home for them. If we have the space, we’ll give them a few days and put up a sign, hoping someone will adopt the animal. But if no one wants them, we have to take them to the shelter.”
“Then hope for the best.”
She nodded, her expression pained. “Yes.”
They made it back to the house. The dogs bounded up the stairs, even Annie, though she was a little slower than the other two.
“I’ll take you upstairs so you can stow your gear.”
She grabbed her bag and followed him up the stairs.
“There are two bedrooms up here. One bathroom.”
He was giving her the choice. He wouldn’t push her. Even though they’d been together once, he would never assume.
“Which one’s your room?” she asked.
“I usually stay in this one.” He inclined his head to the right.
She pondered for a few seconds. “Okay if I stay with you?”
He felt the jolt of awareness all the way down to his balls and let her know by giving her a heated smile. “Very okay.”
He led her into the bedroom where they dropped their bags and unpacked. After that, they went downstairs.
“You ready to head to the store and stock up for the weekend?”
“Sure. Do you want to make a list first?”
He leaned a hip against the counter and studied her. “So you’re a list maker, huh?”
She cocked a brow. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“I’m more of a shop-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy.”
“You forget important things that way.” She went over and looked into the fridge, then grabbed the pad of paper and pen on the counter and started writing. “Like ketchup, mustard, and mayo. We’ll also need hamburger and hot dogs.”
She looked up at him. “I assume hamburger and hot dogs are okay? And how about some lunchmeat? What’s your favorite?”
He laughed. “You’re doing fine, and I’m not a picky eater. You throw it in front of me, and I’ll eat it.”
“Thank God. Me, too. Picky eaters annoy the crap out of me.”
“Me, too.”
“Chips. What kind of—oh, never mind. I’ll just put the general items on the list. We’ll figure out specifics when we get to the store.”
“Beer.”
She looked up at him, then smiled. “Definitely beer. And pop.”
Luke dr
ove them to a grocery store in Grove, even though it took a while to get there.
“We’ll have a bigger selection this way. If we stayed in the lake area, all you’re going to get is mostly convenience stores.”
“This’ll work fine.” She grabbed a cart and her list, and in a very efficient manner went up and down the aisles, grabbing what they needed and moving on.
She was a fast shopper, didn’t dawdle, and stayed on list. That is, until they got to the bakery, where she pondered the cupcakes.
“These look good. If I’d had more time, I’d have made some myself.”
“You bake?”
She cast him a look. “Yes, I bake. When there’s time. I love to cook.”
“I’m going to keep that in mind and make you show me your skills.”
“You’re on.”
They finished a lot faster than he thought they would. He’d been grocery shopping with women before. Becca used to dawdle, read labels, randomly pick up stuff that wasn’t on her list. It would take hours to finish grocery shopping. It used to drive him crazy.
He and Emma were out of the store in twenty minutes.
As they finished loading the groceries in the truck, he turned to her. “I could kiss you right now.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because you made this so much more bearable than I thought it would be.”
She laughed. “You have some shopping nightmares you’d like to share?”
“No. It’s bad enough I endured them. The last thing I want to do is relive them.”
“You poor baby. Traumatized in the produce aisle.”
He grimaced, remembering how Becca would stare at tomatoes for what seemed like hours. To him, a tomato was a tomato. “You have no idea.”
“I’m going to have to make you a drink tonight and probe this past horror out of you.”
He walked over to his side of the truck. “You can try.”
“Oh, but I am going to ask you to stop at the liquor store next. And I intend to buy whiskey.”
As they climbed into the truck and he started it up, he looked over at her and grinned. “Whiskey, huh? I like the sound of that.”
“Thought you might.”
He stopped at the liquor store, and true to her word, Emma came out with a bottle of Jack Daniels.
“A woman after my heart.”
“Hey, go get your own bottle. This one’s mine.”
“You wouldn’t share?”
She stared down at the bottle. “Well, it is a pretty big bottle. So . . . maybe. It depends on whether I can pry any secrets out of you with whiskey.”
He laughed as he pulled out onto the main road. “Darlin’, I’m a big keeper of secrets. Not much for revealing any.”
“Too bad. This is really good whiskey.”
The more time he spent with Emma, the more he liked her.
Every time he was with her, he drew one step closer to her. And protecting his heart lost the battle a little more.
He didn’t want a relationship, but damned if he didn’t feel like he was smack in the middle of one with Emma. Out of control and going down for the count.
He wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or not.
Chapter 17
BY THE TIME they got back from the store it was getting late, so they unpacked groceries, let the dogs out for a short run, then came back in and fixed sandwiches and chips for dinner.
Emma couldn’t recall having a more relaxed night. Luke was fun, had a great sense of humor, and she no longer felt skittish or uncomfortable.
He knew all her secrets, hadn’t run, hadn’t judged her, and for some reason he liked being around her. He didn’t tell her what to do, and he seemed to enjoy her independence.
This was a refreshing, new relation—
No . . . it was just a right-now kind of thing. But whatever it was, she intended to enjoy it.
“Do you like to water-ski?” Luke asked as they were cleaning up the dishes.
Emma paused, her hands shoved in the soapy water. “I don’t know. I’ve never done it before.”
“You grew up around all these lakes and you never water-skied?”
“I know. I lived such a sheltered life. I guess I was too busy hitting the books to have a social life.”
He tilted his head down and gave her a look. “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“You’re too pretty not to have had a social life.”
“I’ll accept the compliment, thank you, but in high school my hair was frizzy, I had bad acne, and I wore braces until I was seventeen. It wasn’t a pretty picture, and boys weren’t interested.”
“Obviously they were morons not to see through the hair, pimples, and braces to the beautiful young girl you were underneath.”
She looked at him. “Do you always say just the right thing?”
He laughed. “No. Usually never.”
“Well, you just did. Thank you.”
“And tomorrow you water-ski. We’ll head out early in the morning on the boat.”
Water-skiing sounded exciting. Another new adventure.
“How about a look at the night view on the back deck upstairs?” Luke asked.
“Sure.” She grabbed two glasses and the bottle of whiskey.
Luke gave her that mysterious but oh-so-sexy smile that sent her nerve endings skittering in all those questioning directions. This weekend, she decided she wasn’t going to question anything. She’d just let things develop and see where they went.
The deck was located at the end of the hall, nice because it wasn’t outside either of the bedrooms.
The sun had barely set, which meant a dusky glow still lingered over the lake. The wind had died down. Emma couldn’t hear a thing except the sounds of nature. Tall trees blanketed her on all sides, their scents cool and fragrant.
She set the bottle and glasses down on the table between their two chairs and stared out over the water. No one was boating right now, so the lake was a mirror. She felt like she could walk right out and slide across it.
“This is beautiful. So serene, so quiet.” She leaned her head against the back of the chair and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the crickets.
“Easy to lose your sense of time and place out here,” Luke said, his voice lowering.
“Understandable. The real world is so far removed. All the stress is gone. No bills to pay, no work to do, nothing but utter relaxation. It’s a fantasy.”
She opened her eyes to find Luke’s gaze fixed on the lake. For some reason, she liked that he wasn’t looking at her.
“How about that whiskey?”
He turned to face her.
“What? You’re not going to pry secrets out of me first?”
She opened the bottle, poured two shots. “I think if you want to divulge any secrets to me, you’ll do that in your own time.”
“I might just do that. Eventually.”
She handed him a glass. “To a good weekend.”
He lifted his glass and tipped it against hers. “I’ll definitely drink to that.”
He downed his shot, and she downed hers, too, the fiery liquid burning its way down her throat. “Whoa. That’s good.”
Luke laid his glass down. “You surprise the hell out of me, Emma.”
“I do? In what way?”
“Sometimes you seem so quiet and shy. Almost as if you’re afraid of me. Other times, you’re like a saucy little flirt. I just can’t figure you out.”
She leaned back in the chair. “Good. I’d hate to be boring and predictable.”
“You’re definitely not either of those things.” He poured another shot and handed it to her.
She took it and downed the shot, then placed the glass on the table.
“Like this.”
She turned to him again. “Like what?”
“You. Doing whiskey shots. I would never have guessed you to be a whiskey drinker. More like the fine-wine type.”
She laughed. “I don’t know whether to be complimented or insulted. But I do like wine, too. Both out of the box and the kind you use a corkscrew to open.”
“See? Again . . . unpredictable.”
Her lips curved.
“You like being mysterious?” he asked.
“Not really. I just don’t want to be . . .”
“Want to be what?” he asked when she didn’t finish her sentence.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just who I am, Luke. I don’t try to be anything else.” She got up and went to the balcony, looking out over the water, her emotions jumbled up inside.
She finally turned so she could face him. “We’re all a product of our pasts. That’s what shapes the choices we make, for good or bad.”
“Is that how you ended up back in Hope? Your past?”
“Partly. I can’t say it wasn’t nice to be back with my family again. I liked working for the veterinary practice in South Carolina, but when the opportunity came up to buy Doc Weston’s practice here, it seemed like kismet. I could be home again and near my family. I’d missed so much time with them because of Vaughn—because of the choices I’d made. I wanted to be home again.”
“Home is good.”
“Yes, it is. After all the mistakes I’d made, plus all the choices I’d had taken away from me, it felt good to make this decision.”
“You made the right one this time.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you, Luke.” It felt good to be validated instead of criticized for a change. He was so . . . different. With him, she felt relaxed, like she could be herself for the first time in a very long time. She didn’t have to try to live up to an image someone had created of her, or be afraid that every step she took or every word she said would be the wrong one.
It was quite the revelation. She had Luke to thank for it, too, because he’d given her the freedom to admit the mistakes she’d made, and hadn’t judged her for them. He accepted her—past and all—and he still wanted to be with her.
He looked damn hot sitting there in the moonlight, his hair so dark and thick she itched to run her fingers through it, his mouth so tempting it physically hurt to know how it felt to brush her lips against his.
