CHAPTER SEVEN #2
Luke laughed, the sound warm. “Fair enough. You were always the weaker of the two of us back in high school.”
They watched each other in silence, the chatter in the restaurant filling the space between them as they assessed each other. A hint of a smirk showed faintly on Luke’s mouth and she clenched her jaw, wondering what he had to be smug about.
“Funny, I seem to remember it being the other way around,” she said stiffly as she reached to sip at her water. “Remind me, who did you share valedictorian with? Who beat you out for Debate captain? And led the high school’s first win as girls’ tennis champion? Oh, that’s right. Me.”
April leaned back in her chair, feeling like she’d just let a mic drop, but her frustration only grew when Luke chuckled.
“What about since high school? What have you been doing?”
Food arrived at the table next to theirs and for a second she was distracted by the smell of garlic and tomato, her stomach growling.
“Oh, I get it. I moved to New York but couldn’t make it work, so now I’m back in my hometown after breaking things off with Tyler, and that makes me—what? Less than?”
He raised one brow. “You said that, not me.”
“Well, you live here too,” she huffed, feeling a little childish, like she was grasping at straws to grab hold of the old anger that used to burn between them, only to find it had lowered to a simmer with maturity. “Just because you’re some award-winning property developer—”
“Someone’s done their research,” he said, laughing quietly as he brushed his hair out of his face casually. Their eyes caught and held for a long moment.
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you and high-school me by not making it big in the city,” she said and dragged her eyes away from his, hating how her throat had begun to tighten, emotion trying to spill out from her. A hand touched hers and she jumped at the sudden warmth.
He didn’t say anything for a second and his eyes turned gentle. “I don’t think you’ve disappointed anyone coming back here.” Luke shrugged. “It’s our home. Maybe it just took you a little longer than me to figure that out.”
He managed to make it sound like another competition, but she smiled, the words soothing her somehow. “I wish I hadn’t stayed away for so long. I think my mom needs me.”
“I like being close to my parents too. You saw me, still going back for breakfast every Saturday.” He shrugged. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Jones.”
The silence that fell that time felt softer.
For the second time since returning to Magnolia Springs, April found herself surprised at how easy it was to actually talk with Luke.
Even if she let herself get a little riled up, still feeling the pull of the old rivalry that had always existed between them, there was a larger part of her that couldn’t shake the feeling that something had shifted in the intervening years since high school.
Her musings were interrupted by the arrival of their food.
“So,” he said, breaking the quiet first and filling her with a sense of satisfaction, like she’d won something somehow. “The bar.” He scooped up a forkful of pasta and chewed while he watched her expectantly.
The … bar? “What?”
His brows furrowed. “That is what we’re here to talk about, right? I mean, I’ve tried to talk to your brother about it, but—”
“What about the bar?”
“Well, are you keeping it? Selling it? I have a potential buyer lined up.”
A potential buyer? “God, my dad hasn’t even been gone a year but the vultures are already lining up. What—you thought you’d wine and dine me and I’d hand over the deed?”
Alarm flashed across Luke’s face. “April, no. That’s not at all what I—”
“You told me to come to dinner and talk.” She pushed back from the table and stood.
“As if you actually cared about me as a person.” She scoffed.
“I knew this was a terrible idea. How dare you fake sympathy for me to convince me to come to dinner, just to trick me into a business conversation?” God, she’d known he was an ass, but she hadn’t thought he’d sink this low.
Pretending to ask her out just for a sale?
“If Noah knew about this, he’d kick your ass. ”
For half a second, she debated throwing the remainder of her water over him, but the other diners had already fallen silent to watch the drama unfold between them and the last thing April needed was to give the town more of a reason to stare at her. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked out.
With her angry stride, she’d made it halfway down the street before the heaviness in the air broke, the sky darkened, and the clouds bucketed down the rain that had been building all day.
Like her mind wanted to piss her off further, she suddenly remembered one of her dad’s favorite catchphrases: Never trust a weatherman.
She blinked rapidly before giving in, hoping the rain disguised the tears on her face.
The downpour was thick but warm, creating a fine mist that made the town look unfamiliar, mysterious, as it wrapped around the streetlights and curled between the tree branches.
Lights pierced the sudden dark and a wave of water flew over her as a car sped through a puddle, drenching her from head to toe, even more thoroughly than the rain thundering down like heartbeats against the sidewalk.
“Oh, you absolute—”
The car halted, the brake lights coming on, and then the passenger-side door was flung wide. “Get in, Jones.”
Luke.
“Fuck you, Pointer.”
“I can splash you again, if you prefer.”
“You wouldn’t dare—” She squealed as the car reversed with the door still wide open, braking suddenly to cause a wave of water she didn’t quite manage to avoid.
Wiping water out of her face, she marched over and gripped the doorframe tightly as she glared at the man behind the wheel. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Get in.”
“No.”
“April, it’s pouring down, you’re soaking wet, and your cute little shirt is absolutely see-through. I’m not going to let you walk home looking like that.”
She jumped, folding her arms across her chest when she realized he was right. “Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you”—she pointed her finger in accusation—“sent a wave of water crashing over me. Twice.”
Luke’s eyes dropped when her arms fell away from her chest to gesture at him, and he licked his lips as their blue hue darkened to almost black. A pulse of something shot through April as Luke drank her in, but she quickly pushed it away, focusing on her fury at him.
“I won’t tell you again, April. Get. In.”
Maybe it was the deep timbre of his voice or the sudden wind that kicked up, making her shiver, but she obeyed, scowling the whole time.
The click of the seatbelt was loud even with the rain battering the windscreen and, as soon as it was in place, she refolded her arms and looked away from the man beside her. Luke hit a button on the console and hot air began to stream out from the vents as he pulled away from the curb smoothly.
“Thanks,” she muttered as the shivers that wracked her frame settled, torn between irritation that she was only so wet because of him and the thoughtfulness of the action. A stony silence settled between them and she resolved not to be the first to break it.
“I think we had a miscommunication,” Luke said eventually, his tone soft enough that she had to tilt her head to hear him better.
“When Noah told me you’d asked for my number, I thought it meant he’d spoken to you about my client’s interest in your dad’s bar and that you were ready to discuss it with me.
I didn’t realize that you thought this was a … date.”
April held her breath as her heart beat faster. He sounded sincere. Looked it, too, when she stole a glance. “I just assumed …”
Luke nodded. “Yeah. I get it. I can see why. And it’s not like I wouldn’t go out with you, April, I just didn’t think that was what we were doing here.”
It’s not like I wouldn’t go out with you. For some reason that was the part of the sentence that resonated in her head, its echoes warming her faster than the heater Luke had turned on for her.
She opted to ignore the feeling. “I’m sorry for thinking the worst.”
He laughed quietly. “It’s OK.”
“It’s not.” She swallowed and clenched her hands into fists, irritated when her voice broke anyway.
They rolled to a stop at a red light and she could feel Luke watching her, his eyes tracking every hitch in her breath and tremor of her hands.
The car started moving again but his eyes lingered for a second before returning to the road, making her heart beat even faster, and she licked her suddenly dry lips as her mind flashed back to his words in the restaurant and the way his fingers had felt against her mouth the other day, wiping away the smear of jam.
I don’t think you’ve disappointed anyone … It’s our home.
Before she knew it, the car was pulling up outside of her parents’ house, the creak of the handbrake making her jump.
As he switched off the engine, April undid her seatbelt and turned to Luke. He was slow to look at her, reluctant almost, and she knew why when their eyes met. The heat in his gaze took her breath away.
Want flooded her, stronger than anything she’d felt in years, and when Luke leaned toward her over the center console, she didn’t fight it.
Their lips touched, delicately at first, the kiss deepening before April could think about what she was doing.
It was as though the contact unleashed something in him.
Luke groaned and took control of the kiss, cupping her jaw and nibbling her bottom lip as her hands clutched desperately at the front of his sweater.
Her heart beat wildly, the heat of his hands on her cool, damp skin making her feel like she was on fire. Still, she moved closer.
Luke moved his hands down to April’s waist and lifted her with ease, pulling her up and over the stick shift and into his lap without ever breaking their kiss. Short, hot kisses trailed down her throat as his hands pulled her into him, holding her to his chest by the small of her back.
His mouth was like a drug, muddying her ability to think straight; she rocked against him, feeling desire swell inside of her as his lips returned to hers with a renewed hunger.
It wasn’t until another car drove past in the opposite direction, its headlights briefly lighting up the two of them, that April came back to herself.
“No, no. Stop.” She pushed away from Luke, who didn’t try to stop her as she climbed back into the passenger seat.
The windows had fogged while they’d been parked and when she opened the door she could see herself in his side mirror by the dim light of the streetlamps.
Her hair was mussed, her lips red and swollen, and a glaze shone over her eyes that must have been madness. “This … This didn’t happen. OK?”
She didn’t wait for a response from Luke, who looked as dazed and confused as April felt, before slamming the door behind her and running toward the house without looking back.