Goodness and Light (5 page)

“Nice meeting you.” Debbie held out her hand.

Luke put up his hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa—did you hear what I said earlier? Nobody walks alone.”

Here we go.
“Look, Lucas. I’m sure you’re a great guy, but I’m only here for a few weeks and I’ve got a packed schedule with work, shopping, building the crib for Kara’s baby, not to mention all the details we still need to finalize before the big night. I appreciate the attempt, but I’m just not interested.”

Beside her, Al and Debbie exchanged a knowing glance.

The smile—that patently potent source of power—fled. His eyes cooled and his shoulders straightened. “Never said I was interested, Elena. All I said was nobody walks alone.”

She bit her lip. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

He turned his back and strode to the exit.

Uncomfortable, the remaining three followed.

“Damn, it’s friggin’ freezing out here,” Debbie complained. “No gloves again, Luke? Who got them this time? Homeless guy? Some kid on the subway?”

Lucas didn’t respond. Elena glanced up at him, saw the tight expression on his face and didn’t press. The wind was biting so they walked in silence at a fast clip, exchanged terse goodbyes with Al and Debbie at the subway station and said nothing more on their brisk walk back to Kara’s building.

“Goodnight, Luke. Thanks again.” Elena opened the door and turned back to wave.

Big mistake.

In the glare of a streetlight, she instantly saw that Lucas wasn’t quiet because she’d turned him down. No, Lucas was quiet because he was pissed. A slow and steady rage had been bubbling beneath that veneer of his—his jaw was so tightly clenched, she marveled that his teeth hadn’t cracked under the pressure. Guilt burned in her gut. With a resigned sigh, she started her apology. “Luke—”

“’night,” he said. Hard to have been more brief.

“Wait!” She called when he strode away. He halted, but didn’t turn. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean –”

“Don’t sweat it,” he cut in. “Players like me just move on to the next name in the contact list, baby.”

Okay. She had been a bit presumptuous on that point. “I apologize for making—”

“Noted. Goodnight.” He turned, waited for her to enter the building.

His icy tone shot straight through her and all she could think, all she could see, was that she’d made him stop smiling. She wanted to apologize, wanted to throw her arms around him and beg his forgiveness, do whatever it took to put the light back in his eyes, but before she could, he stepped in front of her, shoved open the door to Kara’s building, practically pushed her inside, and was gone.

Elena watched him stalk down the block, unable to deny the terrible feeling deep in her heart that she’d just lost a precious gift.

L
ucas stepped onto the train, found a seat and shifted in annoyance when something stabbed his butt. Someone had left a—a seashell on the PATH train?

He cast his eyes to heaven and sighed heavily. “Really?” He picked up the shell, stared at it for a long moment and finally tucked into his pocket with a small smile.

The ride wasn’t long and soon he was jogging the few blocks to his condo. He unlocked his door and managed not to throw his keys at the wall. The nerve of that woman—all but accusing him of being a player. Hell, he could have stolen half a dozen kisses tonight while they’d stuffed those prize bags but hadn’t attempted one because his mother had taught him to respect women, not play with them. Then, he got insulted anyway.

He was better off, he told himself. She had some serious baggage. And, as she’d so clearly outlined, she wouldn’t be here that long. He locked the door, stripped off his outer gear and hung it in the stingy closet in the hall, slamming the door behind him. He stalked into his bedroom, stripped to his boxers and flung his clothes across the room, which made him feel only marginally better. Okay, so maybe he did have ulterior motives—he liked her, found her attractive and smart and interesting. She seemed like a nice person he might have wanted to spend time with. It was Christmas, after all. He flipped the covers over and flopped into bed, gave the pillow a punch or two and groaned.

The baby’s crib.

The hell with it and her. Let her build it herself. He fell asleep, doing his damndest – and failing miserably – to dream about anything except tiny babies trapped in collapsing cribs. At seven AM on a Saturday morning, he stalked back to his closet, opened the bright red toolbox he kept high on a shelf, and found himself staring at his Allen keys, right on top.

Okay. Fine.

He’d build the damn crib and make a fast retreat before things got weird. He would be pleasant around Elena for Kara’s sake.

He grabbed his phone and sent a text message to Kara, inviting himself over as soon as she was up to it. To his astonishment, she texted back immediately.

Thirty minutes later, Lucas was standing outside the door to Kara Larsen’s building. She’d been volunteering with the SFG for years, but for some reason, he’d never been the one who’d walked her home. He pondered that for a minute. Al would say he obsessed over it, but he preferred
pondered
because it implied a certain detachment. It wasn’t like he really believed it was one of Al’s irritating signs.

She buzzed him inside and he stepped out of the elevator, surprised to find her waiting at the door to her apartment.

“Hey, Kara. How you feeling?”

She rolled big brown eyes so much like Elena’s and shot him a wry grin. “About as good as I look.”

“Well, you must feel amazing then.”

“Sweet talker.” She waved a hand, stood aside to let him in. “What’s this?”

“The firehouse was selling them so I picked one up for you.” He held out the fragrant wreath he’d just bought on his way from the PATH station to her door.

“Lucas! Thank you. I haven’t had the energy to do anything for Christmas.”

Luke propped the wreath against a table, dropped his toolbox beside it, and led Kara to the sofa. “Lie down.” When she had, Luke covered her with the blanket folded over the back of the sofa and grabbed a dog-eared copy of a baby name book. “Wow. You’ve got a lot of potentials here.”

“Yeah, but nothing that sings, you know?”

“Do you know what you’re having?”

Kara shook her head. “No, I want to be surprised. I pick up the phone a dozen times a day to call my doctor and ask, but then I remember how few surprises like that there are in life, you know, where both possible options are equally good?”

Luke thought about that for a moment and nodded. “I never thought about it like that, but you’re right.” He looked around. “So where’s the crib?”

Kara bit her lip. “Um, about that. I was so excited about you building the crib, I forgot that my sister’s sleeping in that room.”

Luke’s mood chilled. Elena. Right.

“What do you think of Stella?”

“Who?”

Kara laughed. “Not a who yet... I mean for the baby.”

“Um, Stella?” Lucas immediately thought of a lifetime of Stanleys shouting that name and shook his head. “No.”

“Crap,” Kara sighed and covered her face with the book. “Why is this so hard?”

Lucas had no answer for her. He pointed to a closed door. “Is it okay if I wake her up?”

She peered out from behind the book and waved a hand. “Yeah, go ahead. She’s got plans today. She promised me Christmas cookies.” Kara rubbed her belly in anticipation.

His lips split into a wicked grin. This was going to be fun. He grabbed his toolbox and headed for the closed door.

“G
ood morning, sunshine! Time to greet the day!”

A cheerful voice cut into the dream she’d been enjoying—the very hot dream about a guy with a brilliant smile wearing nothing but a Santa hat—

Wait.

The voice had
not
been her sister’s.

Elena jack-knifed upright, heart hammering at her ribcage, and found Lucas Adair in her bedroom. “What? What happened? Where’s Kara?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy. I’m here to build the crib so I need you to vacate the room.”

Elena pressed a hand to her chest, tried to quiet her racing heart, and narrowed her eyes. “You want me to leave? At—” she tapped the cell phone she’d left beside the air mattress—“eight o’clock in the freakin’ morning?”

Luke stared down at her, no twinkle in his eyes and no smile on his lips. “Just get up so I can put the damn crib together and get out of your life.”

Elena rubbed sleep from her eyes and sighed. “Lucas, I am so sorry about everything I said last night. If you’ll let me, I’d like to start over.”

He considered that for a minute. “I’ll think about it. If you spend the day with me.”

“Why would you want to do that?” She looked at him sideways.

He crouched down, dropped the toolbox and rubbed his chin. “Damned if I know. Come on, give me a chance.”

She flopped back down on her air mattress. “Fine. I’ll see you in an hour or two.”

“Oh, no you don’t.” Luke punctuated his comment with a rip of the cap on the air mattress and in seconds, Elena’s comfortable bed sagged to the hard floor.

She snapped aside her blanket and stalked around him to the apartment’s single bathroom, across the hall.

“Good morning! How come you didn’t tell me—”

Elena slammed the bathroom door on her sister’s greeting and took care of business behind the locked door. When she emerged a few minutes later, Elena was astonished to find Kara in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

“Good morning to you, too.” Kara put a cup of instant cocoa into Elena’s hands.

“Kara, what is
he
doing here?”

“He texted me this morning about the crib. And look!” She clapped her hands and pointed to a wreath lying against the end table. “He brought a wreath. It’s totally Christmas now.”

Elena smelled the evergreen and her stomach kinked. It
did
smell like Christmas, just the way she remembered it. How could Kara be so damn cheerful about that? Christmas hadn’t been worth celebrating since they were in high school.

“Laney? Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”

Elena blinked, found Kara standing beside her looking all glum, and her guilt levels shot to redline. “No! No, it’s okay. I just got scared, you know? Strange guy in my room, startling me out of a sound sleep—”

“Laney, you met Luke and spent hours working with him. He’s certainly not a stranger. Besides, he told me you
asked
him to do the crib.”

Elena’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, did he?” She moved to the pan her sister had already buttered, and cracked some eggs into it, determined to put some food in her sister’s mouth so she’d stopped talking about Lucas.

Kara didn’t notice her sarcasm. She was still gushing about him. “...and everybody at SFG will tell you he’s a great guy. And, he’s single.”

“So ask him out if he’s so wonderful,” Elena mumbled.

Kara’s jaw dropped. “Not me, you nut. You.”

“Not interested.”

“Oh, Laney. You are
so
interested, it hurts.” Kara shook her head. “Come on! I know he’s the guy who picked up your bags yesterday. Remember that look?”

Elena slammed a drawer shut. “Kara. There was no look. I’m here to help you through this pregnancy, not be on the next episode of The Bachelor, okay? Give it a rest!”

There was silence for a long moment.

“Yeah,” Kara finally whispered. “Yeah, okay.”

Elena didn’t dare look at her sister. She heard Kara shuffle back to her spot on the sofa and cursed silently. She’d promised herself this visit, this Christmas would be different. No flipping out. No angry outbursts. She’d promised she’d be here for Kara and the baby. Here they were, not even twenty-four hours later, and she’d already snapped. She cut the heat under the pan, stalked back to the bathroom. She needed a shower. A hot shower to soothe her frayed nerves and then she’d apologize to her sister. Make things right.

Do what she’d promised her she’d do.