15. Luke
FIFTEEN
LUKE
“Heard you’re taking some time off, Chief,” Frank Mercer, former head of Public Works who was now semi-retired, said as he stepped in front of me, nearly blocking my view of Maggie Holland contorting herself on a paddleboard.
Almost. Being tall had its advantages, I supposed.
Not that I’d ever admit I was paying attention to her at all.
Watching her from a distance felt less threatening than being up close. By the time she finished her yoga routine and paddled to shore, I’d be long gone.
We’d never have to talk about last night.
We don’t need to fucking talk at all, a devilish inner voice whispered.
“Mayor Chambers made him,” Opal volunteered when I didn’t answer quickly enough. She flashed me a mischievous smile.
“You catch all the fish and throw me under the bus?” I shook my head, pretending to be hurt. But really, I just loved that giggle. To Frank, I added, “I’m off for a couple of weeks. Officer Hudson’s running the show, so if there’s any issue—”
“No issue, Chief. Just hoping this means we’ll see you at the Legion meeting tomorrow night.”
“That’s tomorrow, huh?”
“Second Monday of every month.” It wasn’t a dig, exactly. I missed most of the monthly meetings because of the job. He’d know; he was responsible for roll call. I stopped by when I could, but it was rare I made an entire meeting without something pulling me away.
“Right.”
As though there was a magnetic pull, my gaze drifted back to Maggie, standing on her wobbly board.
God, those legs went on for days. As soon as I grabbed a quick shower, I was heading to the family farm early, ensuring I avoided any close-up encounters with Miss Mayhem today.
I’m sure Grandpa could keep me busy with some project or another until dinnertime.
“He’ll be there,” Connor said, clapping me on the shoulder hard enough to break my trance. Fuck, was I that distracted that everyone else had to answer for me? “Even if I have to drag him.”
“Good. Glad to hear it. We’ll need all the help we can get with the float,” Frank said. “We’re behind schedule, you see.”
I nodded, keeping my expression neutral as I did so well.
But inside, I was groaning. Every year, the Legion opted to make a float for the annual Golden Days parade.
And every year, it was a disaster. Too many stubborn old men in one place, too few decisions made.
I was usually roped into helping in the eleventh hour, and we were lucky if the float looked finished, much less cohesive.
It would give me something to do, I supposed. Something to keep me occupied and away from stupid decisions that involved long blonde hair.
“We should invite Maggie to the meeting,” Opal suggested.
I looked at my niece in surprise. “Why would we do that?”
“You didn’t know?” Connor asked, as though I missed some major headline. He shook his head, smirking again. “She was in the Army—”
My gaze lifted half a second before Maggie lost her balance and fell off her board.
I didn’t hear the rest of what my brother said.
I didn’t hear my own thoughts.
I just ran.
I wove through the small crowd gathered on the beach.
Some were watching the yoga event while they sipped their morning coffee, others were participating on the safety of land, and some yogis on the water lost their balance on their paddleboards—apparently startled by my charging. Two of them fell in with a splash.
All of them were glaring at me.
I skidded to a stop at the shoreline, hardly a foot from the lapping water hitting my boot.
Alyssa helped Maggie back onto her board and shot me a What gives? look.
“Sorry,” I said, holding up my hands in surrender, though it felt an awful lot like a plea for them to ignore my dumb ass.
Fuck, I’d hear about this for days. Especially since Connor witnessed my idiocy firsthand. I didn’t have to look back to know he was laughing. I could fucking hear him.
“The water’s not that deep here, Chief,” Anita Harris, my former high school English teacher, called from the front row of paddleboarders in the lake.
“First responder habit,” I said.
“If I fall in, will you rescue me?” Lotti Daniels cooed from her yoga mat firmly planted in the sand.
She was one of my sister’s book club ladies, one of the rowdier ones, despite her senior citizen status.
Or maybe because of it. Everyone within earshot—which was most of the crowd because Lotti was not a shy woman by nature—laughed.
“You’re on dry land,” I pointed out.
“Don’t have to be.” She wriggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.
“I apologize for the disturbance,” I said, holding up another hand. Fuck, I needed to get out of here.
And yet, my feet shuffled so slowly I might as well be stuck in a sand trap. My traitorous gaze carried straight to Maggie. Her already snug clothes clung tighter now that they were soaked.
She looked a little shaken, but she was laughing more than spitting out water. Knowing she was safe, the tension I’d been holding uncoiled as I tried to slink away. Disadvantage of being tall—it was hard to disappear in a crowd.
Before I could make my full retreat back to the sidewalk near the road, Maggie’s attention zeroed in on me the same moment she pulled off her long-sleeve T-shirt.
Dear fucking God, I wasn’t prepared for the sight of her in a blue and white striped bikini top.
Or was it a sports bra? Whatever the fuck it was, it wasn’t enough fabric to keep my thoughts in the safe zone.
“Now I know not to run from the cops,” Frank said, cackling as I rejoined my group. “You sprinted out there like there was someone holding a blowtorch to your ass. I’m surprised you were able to stop yourself before you hit water. That’s impressive.”
“What was that about?” Connor wore a cocky smirk that said he was jumping to all kinds of conclusions and enjoying every one of them.
“I thought she hit her head.” It was a bullshit answer—I watched her make a clean fall—but I hoped it’d make them back off just the same. Just to be safe, I added, “It was a precaution. That’s it.”
“Maggie’s okay,” Opal said, grabbing the back of my forearm. She looked up, offering me a simple smile that calmed my racing heart. “She’s just cold.”
It was eerie at times, this feeling that my nine-year-old niece could read my thoughts. She was highly perceptive for her age, much like her own mother had been. She seemed to sense shifts in moods and understand what reassurance people needed.
“Thanks, kiddo.”
“We’re going to grab a bite at The Skillet,” Connor said to me, still grinning like he knew something I didn’t. “Want to join us?”
“I’ll pass. Got a few things to take care of before I head to the farm.”
I didn’t want to admit I was going to wait until Yoga on the Water concluded and Maggie made it safely to shore.
I couldn’t explain why I needed to see her feet touch sand.
Why my heart was still thundering in my ears.
She was a grown-ass woman, capable of handling her own.
Especially if she was military like Connor said.
And besides, she wasn’t alone. Alyssa was with her.
I waited anyway, even after Frank walked away with his wife and left me standing alone. Several townsfolk said hello and a few others made innocent jokes about my quick ability to jump into action.
“I didn’t know landlord duties included water rescues,” Alyssa said as she and Maggie approached me. She flashed me a shit-eating grin that said she’d clocked this entire thing. Fuck, she’d probably call Kira the first chance she got. Family dinner tonight was going to be nothing short of brutal.
“I should be thanking you,” Maggie said, lifting one corner of her mouth in a smile that bordered on flirtatious. Her wavy blonde locks were still half damp, giving her a beachy essence.
“For what?”
“For taking the attention off me. What you did was way more embarrassing.”
Because no one called me out on it the first time, I tried the lie again. “I thought you hit your head.”
“You smell that?” Alyssa said to Maggie, sniffing the air dramatically as she set her tote bag on the nearby picnic table and rummaged through it.
“Smell what?” Maggie played along.
“That distinct smell of bullshit,” Alyssa said. “It’s so strong my eyes are watering.” She pulled a jacket from her bag and offered it to Maggie.
“Thanks, but I’m okay,” Maggie said, waving away the offering despite the way she hugged her arms tightly against her chest. The fight to keep my eyes averted from those pebbled nipples was a fierce one. “I’m only a few blocks from dry clothes. It’ll be a quick walk.”
“You’re walking?” I demanded.
“No, you’re giving her a ride, you jackass,” Alyssa said, and forced my hand.
“I was going to offer—”
But she interrupted with, “Magnolia, I’m so glad you came out. I can give you a ride if you don’t want to be trapped with this caveman, but my car is two blocks in the opposite direction and it’s filled to the brim with”—she flicked her gaze to mine, then back to Maggie’s—“donations.”
“It’s okay, really. I don’t mind walking.”
“You’re not walking,” I insisted.
Alyssa smirked, flashing me a knowing look that promised I’d hear about this later.
Maybe I should call in sick for family dinner.
It wasn’t like any of the rainbow trout were mine anyway.
Connor caught the first one, and Opal snagged the rest. My line never even got a tug.
But the innocent heckling would be far more desirable than Grandma Connie’s wrath should I decide to skip it.
“Let me give you a ride,” I said in a less demanding tone once Alyssa hurried off, leaving us alone on the nearly deserted beach.
Maggie wanted to argue. I could see the war in her eyes, but a full-body shiver shut her right up.
I shrugged my flannel jacket off and draped it over her shoulders, tugging it tightly around her body.
The jacket swallowed her up, and something primal and borderline possessive roared to life inside me at the sight of her in my clothes.
The fuck?
“Were you really going to run into the lake fully dressed?” Maggie asked, that flirtatious half smile directed at me.
“I’m trained to respond in emergencies. Hesitating can be the difference between life and death.”
As much as I wanted to tug her against me, I dropped my hands from the jacket, shoved them into my front pants pockets, and started walking toward my truck. Maggie followed.
“I bet you ran track in high school, didn’t you?” she asked.
“I still hold the school record for the two-hundred-meter dash, if you must know.”
“I can see that.”
“Is your name really Magnolia?”
“Yeah,” she said as I opened the passenger door so I could move a few things off the seat before she got in. “My mom’s obsessed with flowers.”
“Mine, too.”
My heart squeezed, a flash of Mom’s flower garden dancing across my mind. It was her favorite hobby outside of running the bookstore. Dad tried to keep it up these past few years, but he didn’t have the green thumb Mom and Grandma Connie did. And yet, the flowers bloomed despite it.
Maggie slipped around me, climbing into the passenger seat, the hint of a sweet floral scent teasing my senses. It was just a whiff, considering she smelled mostly of lake water. Honestly, I couldn’t decide which I liked better. Both.
Apparently, I was staring off into space, because I wasn’t aware of Maggie’s hand until it rested on my forearm. The skin-to-skin contact instantly warded off any chill I’d been feeling. It was as though a warm current of lava flowed throughout my body.
I lifted my gaze from her hand, and once again it snagged on those lips. What would it be like to kiss Maggie Holland? To slowly tangle my fingers in those damp blonde locks as I brought her mouth to mine? Would her tongue hint of sassiness when it slid against mine?
“Luke?” she said.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
The words were like a shock to my system, and I shuffled backward as if her touch were poison. How the hell did she know about Mom? Did Alyssa tell her? The last fucking thing I wanted was her pity.
“I need to get back,” I said, closing the door, shutting down that conversation before it could start. Guess I’d be braving family dinner after all.