Chapter 21 #2
“How do you think I’m visiting you? Harriet has to have someone there, remember? Even if she thinks the iPad, a cellphone, and Jester are babysitter enough.”
“If you left Harriet and Jester by themselves in the house, all the junk food would be eaten in thirty minutes and your walls would be decorated in glitter gel pen art.”
“Have you been spying on my house? Because that happened a year ago, one morning when I tried to sleep in. Why do you think the foyer’s a different color than the hallway?”
Their shared laughter cut the tension.
But then again, the sexual tension building between them wasn’t the kind Kylie wanted less of.
On his last bite, Luke finished and stood. “Trash can?”
“Under the sink. How can you eat all that in one sitting?”
He patted his flat stomach. “Metabolism.”
She put the lid on her half-eaten bowl and patted the top. “Saving room for lemon bars.”
“Lemon bars? You didn’t mention anything about dessert!”
“I wasn’t expecting you to show up like a knight in shining sriracha sauce.”
Luke pulled the hem of his shirt up, exposing half an eight-pack of abs. “Hurry up and metabolize,” he ordered his stomach. “Kylie’s got lemon bars. Do they have glitter in them, too?” he asked as she tried not to drool.
Instead, she poured them both glasses of water and pointed to the couch.
“Glitter free.”
“Whew.”
“Not a fan of my edible glitter?”
“Not a fan of being teased at the station non-stop for looking like a fortune teller.”
Palm up, she extended her flat hand. “Want to predict my future?”
The touch of his hot hand holding hers sent instant sparks across her skin.
With a feather-light touch, his fingertip stroked the lines of her palm, his head bent down, staring intently.
Lightning rippled through her, hot and sharp, the taste of a kiss from fifteen years ago instantly on her tongue again.
“I see a glittery future with many fairy muffins, a girl with dark, curly hair, and a dog’s nose in your crotch.”
While his words were funny, the look in his eyes when he stared at her wasn’t. Swallowing hard, she stayed in place, his finger stroking back and forth now, igniting fire in all the right places on her body.
If he took one step forward, she would break her contract.
And, maybe, her heart.
So Kylie smiled and pulled her hand out of his grasp. “Lemon bars!” she exclaimed as Luke let out a long, slow breath, his hand going to the back of his neck, stretching.
“Sure. Sounds good.” His voice was full of something she couldn’t quite name, but there was no way he felt what she felt.
Right?
Because if he did, if he was as attracted to her as she was to him, then this was getting dangerous.
Fast.
The lemon bars would, at a minimum, keep their hands and mouths busy doing something other than what she wanted to do with her hands and her mouth.
Not to mention his hands.
His mouth.
“Mmmmmmm,” he groaned as he took his first bite, closing his eyes, savoring Kylie’s creation. “What is in this?”
“Ground vanilla bean on top. A dash of cayenne.”
“Pepper?”
Pleased with her invention, and thrilled he noticed the unique flavor, she couldn’t help herself. She had to talk about it. “Yep! It cuts through the sweetness of the vanilla and adds a new layer on top of the citrus.”
“Sure does.” His eyebrows knitted as he thought. “Cinnamon?”
“Yes! And a dash of anise.”
“That’s a lot of layers.”
“I enjoy complexity.”
“I can see that.” Luke smiled. “I like it in food. Not so much in people.”
“Then we’re twins.” She offered him a fist bump. He returned it with a laugh.
“I only do that with Harriet.”
“Fist bumps aren’t just for kids.”
He peered at her, then took another lemon bar and ate quietly. Kylie was close to bursting, so she nibbled hers slowly.
Besides, the complexity she was enjoying right now wasn’t on her tongue.
Or at least, not yet.
Stop it, she chided herself in her mind, cursing the little sexually charged devil that lived in her subconscious. That voice just laughed maniacally and shoved an image of Luke in a towel in front of her mind’s eye.
And then without the towel.
“This is nice,” Luke said, cutting her thoughts short.
Thank goodness.
“It is?”
“I don’t spend time alone with adults other than at work or with my family, or maybe helping someone with a home or yard project. Can’t remember the last time I sat alone and had a one-on-one conversation about something other than work, Harriet, or sports.”
She held up the lemon bar. “I’ll talk about baking and fairies any time.”
“What’s the deal with the fairies? I’ve never met a grown-up who’s obsessed with them. You weren’t when you lived here.”
“No. I wasn’t. It’s because of a summer job I had in college. Fairy camp.”
“Fairy camp? You were a camp counselor to fairies?” A teasing glint filled his eyes. “You do realize fairies aren’t real?”
“I know they aren’t, but kids are different. The thin line between real and fantasy isn’t as stark as it is for grown-ups. I love creating a fantasy world. We built a week-long curriculum where we wove folklore, fantasy, and practical skills.”
“Practical skills? With fairies?”
“Sure! Like fairy tracking.”
“Tracking?”
“We teach kids how to track animals when they learn to hunt, right? Or to stay safe in the woods? So for fairy camp, we taught them to track fairies.”
“What kind of signs and marks do fairies leave?”
“Really small ones.”
Luke cracked up.
“Every camper was given a magnifying lens to look for details.”
He made a face that said he was impressed. “You used fairies to trick the kids into learning actual, real lessons.”
“‘Tricked’ is a harsh word, but yes.”
“That’s hard core.”
“It works on Harriet.”
“It does?”
“I convinced her that the messier a room is, the more places the fairies have to hide. So you’re more likely to see a fairy if the house is clean.”
His jaw dropped. “That’s why she keeps saying we have to pick up?”
Joy spiked through her. “She does?”
He turned toward her on the couch, relaxing suddenly. “Yes! I thought she was just going through some phase, but now I see there’s more to it. You devious little nanny, you!”
“Devious? No! I’m leveraging her imagination to teach her a real-world skill.”
“Right. You tricked her.”
Unable to help herself, she gave him a playful smack on the arm. He grabbed her hand, holding it as they laughed, but the air between them changed. Deepened.
Blazed.
This time, Luke was the one who broke away, standing. “More water?” he asked, pointing to Kylie’s empty glass.
She nodded.
As he filled their glasses, she took long, slow breaths. What was happening? Was he here to initiate something? Was this a booty call and she was too clueless to see it?
Or was Luke really just being a friend?
She could use a new friend.
She could definitely use a new friend with benefits.
But Number 14, Part A loomed large.
Don’t bang your boss, Kylie.
“Here,” he said, startling her out of her thoughts as he handed her the glass, then sat down. This time, he sat a bit further away from her on the couch. The moment seemed to have passed, but there was no question that there had been a moment.
Moments.
And there would be more coming, too.
Should she say something? Confront it head on?
“You know, Kylie, the last time I had this much fun just talking to someone was with Amber.”
Hoo boy.
Luke just took this in a totally new direction.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. Everyone says that.”
“Sorry. I don’t want to sound like everyone. You clearly loved her. Love her,” she added quickly.
“I do. Did. All of it. But it’s been two years.” His eyes met hers. “I’m lonely. Colleen and Mom have been yammering at me for a long time that I should own up to that. Now I can.”
“Now?”
A long, sultry silence spread between them.
Until Kylie ruined it by saying, “Loads of women in town would like to make you less lonely.”
He leaned in. “They would?”
“Mindy Maasten made that clear at the bus stop last week.”
He snorted. “Mindy? Nope. Never.”
“She seems nice,” Kylie said, sarcasm giving her words a sharp bite.
Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “Didn’t know you had some mean girl in you.”
“Only when someone else starts it.”
“You’ve tapped into your anger, then?”
“After what Perry did to me? Hell, yes.”
His laugh wasn’t quite all there, a troubled look filling his face.
“I can’t even be angry.”
She was confused. “About Mindy? Or Perry?”
“About Amber.”
“Of course you can.”
“No, Kylie, that’s the problem–I can’t.” Pain walked across his face like it owned the landscape. “Do you know how Amber died?”
“No.”
“That explains it, then. I thought you knew. No offense, but how could you move back here and not Google?”
“You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
“At first, it was because Perry hates the town. He thinks it’s over-the-top, cheesy, schlocky–pick a negative word, and Perry felt it.”
“Hmm. Lots of people think that, but once they’re here, they change their mind. Like Kell’s girlfriend, Rachel.”
“You know that, and I know that, but his family definitely seems immune to Love You’s charms.”
“I see them here, having dinner, occasionally shopping at the jewelry store or visiting the wealth management office.”
“They’ll come here. And Nordicbeth certainly benefits from all the tourists the town brings to the area.
But Perry hates it here. When we moved back, I was busy with my new job, new life with him, and after a while, I started to feel like it would be too painful to go into Luview. I don’t really fit in.”
“You do. You were born here.”
“I was. But we left and Mom never brought us back. Dad didn’t bother. And by the time I was old enough to come myself, I didn’t have friends here anymore, so…”
Self-consciousness kicked in, his eyes so open and focused on her. He had been talking about Amber and the conversation took this turn, and now she was close to telling him the real reason why she didn’t come visit her hometown, even living so close: