by Lainey Reese
“I know,” Andie agreed. “But I told you—” Then she looked at Jax. “—and now I’m telling you. These two men need to kiss and make up. I’m pregnant, so I get to be selfish, and what I want is for the two of you to make nice and be friends. Jax, you mean a lot to me, and even if we can’t be together, I still refuse to lose your friendship. Luke is the father of my baby. I need you two capable of being in the same room together without committing murder.” She saw he wasn’t happy with her, but he was still here and hadn’t just marched out the door, so she took hope from that.
“I’m not the one who’s going to be the problem here,” Jax said with a glower on his face that belied his claim. “It’s Luke you’ve gotta worry about. Not me.”
“We’ll see in about ten minutes, so until then—” Kiki pushed to her feet and sailed out of the room. “—let’s have some of that wine.”
When Luke arrived right on time, he found the three of them on the sun porch sipping red wine and nibbling on a tray of cheeses and crackers. Andie saw him take in the scene with one glance, and although his eyes squinted when they landed on Jax, he gave no other sign that he was unhappy with the company.
“Glass of wine, Luke?” she offered as she stood and picked up the empty glass that Kierra had thoughtfully provided for him. “I’m having sparkling cider, and it’s a godsend. So far, it is the only thing I can keep down.”
Luke’s eyes cut to her face, his expression softened, showing only concern and, if Andie didn’t miss her guess, affection. “I’ll take a glass, thanks. Glad to hear you found something that works for you.”
“There’s some yummy stuff to nibble on too,” she offered with a wave of her hand, “but dinner should be ready any minute.”
Andie gazed up into his rugged face while he lifted his glass for the first sip, and she was vividly reminded of the first time they met. Looking at him now, it was no wonder to her that she’d fallen for him. He was so classically handsome and masculine that even with all the turmoil they had between them, she still found herself captivated.
“Dinner!” Kiki yelped and bounded off her seat just as Jessica was bringing a large platter to the dining room table.
“Your little artist appears to be starving.” Luke smirked, and Andie nodded with a smirk of her own.
“I’m convinced those legs of hers are actually hollow,” she told him as she followed in her friend’s wake. “There’s no other explanation for the amount of food she can consume without weighing a thousand pounds.”
Both Jax and Luke chuckled then glowered at each other and stopped immediately. Andie wasn’t the least bit surprised when they sat as far from one another as the table would allow.
After dinner was consumed with much deserved praise and exclamations of delight, Luke asked Andie to take a walk with him. Andie hesitated for only a brief moment and looked first at Jax, who was staring a little too hard into his wine glass. She felt a twinge that maybe she was being unfair trying to push them past their old hurts, but she was sure the Jax she knew would give anything to have his childhood best friend back, and she was determined to help him achieve that. She and Kiki talked about it in depth when she first got here, and her bestie agreed; it was time these two buried the hatchet.
So, Andie ignored the twinge, slipped her sandals on her bare feet, and followed Luke out the door. The air smelled of fresh churned soil, fruit blossoms, and sunbaked wood from the pile stacked at the side of the house. It was the aroma of the best of her childhood, and Andie breathed deep, thankful the fertilization was done and over with for now.
“Gorgeous night, huh?” Luke asked as he gazed toward the last dregs of the sunset.
“It is,” she agreed as she took a seat on the porch swing. “I love the sunsets here. I swear the beauty is just unreal.” Pinks, lavenders, oranges, and the deep blue fading to that deeper dark of night took her breath away every evening, and tonight was no exception.
“I don’t stop to enjoy it enough,” he told her as he leaned his elbows on the railing and kept his eyes on the horizon. “Then, times like this when I stop and let it in, I kick myself for getting so caught up in work, life, and bills that I let even one day go by without seeing it.”
Good Lord, did he have to be sensitive as well as handsome? The man was just so rugged that he took her breath away. Andie looked at the father of the child growing within her as he leaned over the railing, and the pure male beauty of him with the sky ablaze in the background simply captivated her. No wonder she leaped at the chance to sleep with him that night. He was everything her heart told her a man should be, in fact so perfectly masculine that she wasn’t the least bit surprised he knocked her up in one try. The man fairly dripped testosterone and virility.
She was so busy daydreaming over all the hotness that was him she almost missed what he said next.
“I’ve decided I’m not going to sit back calmly and let you date that asshole.”
“Excuse me?” she demanded with a half chuckle, sure she’d missed something, considering the way she’d been fantasizing over the curve of his incredible ass.
“I’m not gonna sit back and do nothing.” He looked back at her over his shoulder, and what he saw in her expression must have clued him in on the dangerous line he was walking, because he turned to face her fully and leaned his weight against a beam as he elaborated. “I’ve kept my distance since you moved in, because, to be honest, I was embarrassed at what an asshat I was that night. Then, I was pissed you decided not to sell when I had been promised it was all a done deal.”
Andie opened her mouth to address some of those points, but Luke barreled on without giving her a chance.
“No, let me get this out before the wine wears off.” He barely smiled at his own attempt at humor then went on. “I’m crazy about you. I have been since you walked into the lounge in that mouthwatering dress. You are a beautiful and fascinating woman, and I think I’ve paid my penance for being a dick. I’m not just gonna keep my hands to myself and bow out to that fu—” He stopped whatever he was going to say when he saw her expression tighten. “—guy just because I made one mistake. I acted out of some knee-jerk fears based on old hurts and my own fucked-up baggage. But that’s over, and I can’t see you as the type of person to hold on to grudges and anger.” The look he sent her told her the type of person he thought she was. In his look, she could tell he saw good in her, and it caused a wonderful sort of warm and fuzzy feeling in her gut that she usually only got when she drank.
“The feelings I had for you the first night… the feelings that had me so hot for you I almost fucked you in an elevator and then in the hallway, they are still there. And before you say what I can see you’re thinking, they aren’t lust. Sure, the wanting you is there. Obviously, but it’s deeper than that, and I’ll be dammed if I don’t do everything I can to make sure we get a chance to see if this could be more. Especially now.” He came forward, dropped to one knee in front of her, and placed a large palm on her leg.
“Oh, Luke.” Andie placed her hand over his strong fingers. “I don’t know—”
“I’ve thought about your concerns, and they don’t wash, Andie,” he told her, his grip tightening to emphasize his point. “They just don’t hold up. It’s bullshit that you think I’d wanna stay with you just for a kid. I’ve raised one on my own already, and I know what’s in store for us. I’d never subject myself or you and our child to a forced relationship. If this turns out to be all flash with no real legs to stand on, we will face that bridge when we get to it. We won’t be the first couple in this situation, and we won’t be the last. We’re not irrational people, and we won’t let our kid suffer, right?”
“Of course,” she agreed, “but—”
“No,” Luke interrupted. “No buts. Leave it there and let’s do this. Where’s the harm? After time, if it doesn’t work, then we are in the exact same place we’re in now.” He rose up off his haunches and leaned close so they were almost nose to nose, and Luke brushed a loc
k of hair from her cheek to tuck behind her ear. His fingers lingered there, playing gently with the lobe. “But if this works? If this is a deeper connection than you and I have given it credit for? We could offer our kid a hell of a lot more. We could offer him everything.”
“Luke. That sounds wonderful, really, but—”
“You’d be using the baby to keep us apart,” Luke interrupted once more. “How is that any better than your fear that we’d be using him as an excuse to stay together?”
“Ugh, I give up,” Andie resigned with a sigh. “So? What did you have in mind?”
The look that came over him right then caught Andie’s breath in her throat. A light of challenge filled his eyes, and his smile was more than a little cocky.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven. Dress comfortable, but in case you care—” He stood and dropped a gentle kiss on the crown of her head before stepping back. “—I’m partial to skirts.”
“I’m partial to skirts?” Kiki repeated for the dozenth time the next evening. She was camped out in the middle of Andie’s bed cross-legged and doodling on a sketchpad as Andie frantically hunted through her closet in search of an outfit. “That man is seriously sexy. Are you going for the skirt or putting on jeans to make him work for the goods?”
“Make him work for it?” Andie half laughed and turned toward her BFF. “Kiki, I don’t know if we are going to work out; sex isn’t even on the menu right now.”
Her eyes never left her drawing when she gave that statement the reply it deserved. “You’re pregnant with his spawn, Andie. It’s a little late to take things slow, don’t you think?”
“I’m not playing around here. I just think that with as unsure as we are of each other, well… maybe jumping right back into bed isn’t such a great idea. I mean, look how well that worked out for us last time.”
“Sex is always a great idea,” Kiki said matter-of-factly, still absorbed in her work.
Andie looked down at her as yet unchanged body. “That’s probably true. God, that feels really true. And in a couple months, I’m gonna be all big and fat. Maybe I should take advantage of the time I have now before it’s too late.”
“See?” Kiki pointed a finger her way. “Told you. Sex is always the way to go.” Then. “Nope. Not that.”
Andie looked from the purple knit skirt in her hand to her friend who was still focused on her pad. “What’s wrong with this? You’re not even looking; it’s fabulous.”
Kiki swirled and scribbled with her charcoal pencil then smudged with a fingertip before she finally looked up at Andie. Andie had to smile. Her best friend looked about eight years old slouched on the bed with her unruly rainbow hair up in sloppy pigtails and a smear of black on her nose and cheek. “It doesn’t suit you. It never has. First off, it’s too long and makes your legs look way shorter than they already are. Then, there is the fit. That thing clings in all the wrong places and hangs funky.”
“Funky?” Andie asked, a little panicked, because she loved the color, and although she didn’t feel the greatest in it, she’d worn it a lot when she was working. “How so?”
“It goes all crooked and ends up shorter in the back than it is in the front. I say we burn it.” Then she went back to her doodling.
“I love this skirt,” Andie said, flummoxed. “I’ve worn it a million times.”
“I know. You’re lucky Joan Rivers never caught you in it.” Kiki never even flinched when Andie chucked the skirt at her head. With the reflexes of a cat, she snatched it out of thin air a second before it hit her and threw it behind the bed, all while she kept drawing. Andie stood dumbfounded. Frankly awed at the injustice of it all. “You could have told me sooner. Like when you were with me while I was buying it.”
“You loved it so much I just figured you could pull it off if you added the right layers.” She peeked up at Andie through inky black eyelashes. “You never did.”
“If Luke wasn’t due to be here in less than an hour, I’d so tackle you right now.”
“You’d get your ass kicked.” Kiki laughed. “I always win.”
“I’m mad enough for a rematch, and this time I think I can take you.” She reached without looking into her closet where all her summer dresses hung. “I’m done with this. I can’t waste any more time agonizing over clothes. I’m wearing whatever I pull out.”
“That never works,” Kiki warned.
She was right. Somehow, Andie pulled out a long-sleeved knit dress that would melt her in this heat. “Well. Shit.” It took her another three attempts before she admitted defeat and let Kiki dress her. Kierra always picked a theme when she was given free reign, and tonight’s was apparently retro. She pulled out a red halter dress with white polka dots and low-heeled pumps. Kiki styled her hair in soft waves, and she added a single strand of pearls with matching earrings for a flourish.
“God!” Kiki sighed when she stood back for a final check. “You look like you just stepped right out of How to Marry a Millionaire! I love when you let me play dress up with you.”
“Okay, I’ll be Marilyn, and you can be Bacall,” Andie teased.
“Perfect.” Kiki dropped her shoulder and sent Andie a smoldering look with one arched brow. “How’s my smoker’s rasp?” she asked in her best Lauren Bacall imitation.
“Flawless.” They shared a laugh then Andie felt her stomach plummet to the soles of her feet when she heard the knock on her door.
Luke tucked the chair in behind Andie at the town’s only decent restaurant as she sat and reached for her napkin. He never understood exactly how to help a woman into her chair. It was always an awkward moment of shuffling while the grating of the chair legs on the floor echoed in the room like a shot. More times than not, the woman he was “helping” ended up pulling herself in to the table after he took his seat anyway. But his father had done this for his mother his entire life. His father had also taken him aside when he was fifteen and about to go on his first official date.
“Son,” he started, with one big, weathered hand clamped on his shoulder like a meaty club. “You want to stand apart from the crowd. Be a man. The man you were raised to be. Treat every girl like she’s worth a damn instead of acting like the ninety-nine morons out of a hundred males cropping up these days. Just trust me on this.”
Luke smiled as he remembered the rest of the lecture that went into detail about sex and safety. He’d taken the first part of that talk to heart and lived by those rules to this day. For the first three or so years he was raising a baby all on his own, he had a couple moments where he wished he listened to the second part of his father’s advice better, but even then, he never regretted Logan. Just Logan’s mother.
“It’s all bar food here,” Luke said as he took his seat across from her, “but for bar food, it’s pretty good. They have a great Caesar salad if you want something semi-healthy, but that’s about the extent of their vegetable choices.”
She smiled at him. Impishly, he thought, and though he’d never ascribed that attribute to anyone before, it fit her perfectly in that moment. “What makes you think I need a vegetable selection? I can down shots and scarf grease with the best of them. Don’t let the skirt fool you.”
“Oh yeah?” Charmed. That’s what she did; she just charmed him with every word she spoke.
“Oh. Yeah.” Andie nodded decisively as he took his seat and drank from one of the water glasses their waitress brought to the table. “I draw the line at beer though. Ugh. Kiki drinks it, but I never could understand the appeal of drinking something that looks, smells, and I’m sure tastes like carbonated urine. Not my thing.”
The spray from his sit-com perfect spit-take spewed across the table and—thankfully—just missed her. He choked and laughed while he simultaneously tried to mop up the mess he just made.
“Sorry.” The smirk on her face made the word a lie as she reached across the small table and tried to help by pounding on his back.
“Carbonated urine?” he croaked out when the worst ha
d passed. “God, woman. You damn near killed me with that one.”
“Yeah, well,” she said with a pink tint to her cheeks, “for about the next eight months or so, it’s a moot point anyway.” Then she flashed him a grimace. “Dammit.”
“Tell you what,” Luke said. “I’ll be sober with you. We can both go without booze. I think it will probably take me that long to face a beer again anyway, thanks to your analogy.”
“Really?” Her whole face lit up when she was pleased. It was like there was a light that clicked on under her skin and she glowed at him like a damn angel. “You’d do that for me?” Just then, to keep her looking at him all lit up like that, he couldn’t think of a thing he wouldn’t do for her. All he said was “Sure.” No need to let her know how wrapped around her finger he was this early in the game.
“That’s really great of you. Thank you. I don’t drink a lot, but it is not going to be fun being the only sober one. Now, thanks to you, my misery will have company.”
“You guys ready to order?” Jessica asked then looked up from her pad. “Oh! Hey, what’s up, guys?”
“Hi, Jess,” Andie said with a big smile for her new friend and part-time chef. “What do you recommend? It’s my first time here, and I was gonna ask the big guy here to make a suggestion until I found out he likes beer. Now, I’m doubting his taste buds.”
“I hear you on that.” Jessica laughed and gave a mock shudder. “Gross.”
“You know I’m the one who will be deciding your tip, right?” Luke said with a brow arched at her.
“I meant… Beer. Yum.” She made them all laugh.
Over dinner and well into the night, Luke fell harder and harder for the beautiful woman carrying his child. She was clever and funny and down to earth in a way that he found utterly surprising. In his experience, people who lived in big cities and worked in that mysterious white-collar world were as foreign to him and his way of life as a fish was to a bird. Not Andie though. She just seemed to have shaken off the fancy trappings from her fast-lane life and was as relatable and approachable as the girl next door.
