The Reluctant Bachelorette (26 page)

As soon as the sound of Miles’s engine faded into the
distance, Taycee yanked open her door and escaped to the darkness of the night.

“Thanks for the fun night, Luke,” Liza said, leaning against
the door of her duplex. “Maybe we can do it again sometime.”

“Yeah, that would be great.” It was the polite response, but
Luke didn’t really mean it. Liza could be nice and even funny at times, but
he’d really only asked her out as a distraction—a way to keep his mind from
going somewhere else.

Liza gave him a flirtatious smile, expectation written all
over her face.

Luke cleared his throat and took a step back. “I guess I’ll
see you around.”

“What, no promise of a phone call?” she teased, only there was
too much hope in her voice for it to really be teasing.

Normally, Luke wouldn’t have any qualms about making such a
promise and not following through. Polite, but insincere promises were how you
played the dating game. But now he knew better than to do that. Taycee had
taught him better. So he gave Liza a half-smile instead. “I like to surprise
people.”

“Oh.” Liza’s smile faded a bit, looking more forced. “I do love
surprises.”

Luke gave her one last wave, and then turned and jogged to his
truck. Moments later he drove away, regret tapping on the door of his
conscience. He shouldn’t have asked her out. It was a dumb move. But after
watching all those kissing scenes with Taycee and the bachelors this past
week—especially her date with Jake—Luke had made a rash decision to ask out the
one girl in town Taycee liked the least. Why? Because he was completely
immature.

He’d basically used Liza—something he never set out to do. But
looking back, that was exactly what he’d done. Shame on him.

Turning the corner, Luke hit the brakes when he saw a slim
figure cross the street in front of him. Taycee. Wasn’t she supposed to be on a
date with one of her bachelors tonight? Luke tapped the horn.

Her head twisted around, and she squinted into his headlights.
Then she nodded and continued to cross the street, picking up her pace.

Luke unrolled his window. “Hey, you’re on my road.”

“Forgive me for getting in your way,” Taycee called over her
shoulder, sounding less than happy.

“What’s the matter? Bad date tonight?”

Taycee didn’t answer, just kept on walking, so Luke drove to
the wrong side of the road and drove next to her slowly, hanging his elbow out
of the open window. “If it’s any consolation, my date didn’t go that well
either.”

She stopped and hesitated before turning to face him. “Too
bad, because you and Liza seem so perfect for each other.” Wincing, she clamped
a hand over her mouth and stomped her foot. With a shake of her head, her hand
fell back to her side, revealing an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I really
didn’t mean that. You’re just . . . just . . .”

“In the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“Something like that.” She glanced down as her foot scuffed against
the sidewalk.

Luke had never seen her look so vulnerable before. So . . .
down. He didn’t like it. “Want to go for a drive with me?” he asked casually,
hoping she’d say yes. All of a sudden it didn’t matter that she kissed four
different guys this past week. Nothing mattered if she would just climb into
his truck and take a drive with him.

Her eyes flickered to his. “It’s late. I really should head
back.”

“No, what you should do is come and check out some stars with
me. It’s a perfect night. Not a cloud in the sky.”

Taycee let out a breath and gazed up the road to where his
headlights highlighted the street. “Star gazing, huh?”

“That’s what they call it.”

She hesitated a moment longer before shrugging. “Okay. Sure,
why not?”

Luke couldn’t hide his smile as he leaned over and opened the
passenger door for her. When she hopped inside, he resisted the urge to pull
her next to him and kiss that sad vulnerability away.

Luke’s hands clutched the wheel as he drove out of town and up
a windy mountain road. Thirty minutes later, he pulled into an open meadow and
stopped near the middle of the clearing. From behind the seat, he lifted a
heavy blanket. “Ready?”

Taycee eyed the blanket with a raised eyebrow. “Is this the
second time you’ve star-gazed tonight, or do you always keep that in your
truck?”

“Third time, actually.”

Both eyebrows shot up.

“Joking,” Luke said. “One of my clients gave me this as a jpgt
the other day, and I keep forgetting to take it inside. So, no, this isn’t a
repeat.”

She reached for the handle. “Okay then.”

Luke followed her to an area away from the truck and spread
the blanket across the grassy meadow. Taycee laid down first and folded her
arms across her stomach as she gazed toward the starry sky above. The moonlight
made her skin glow and her eyes look dark and mysterious. Beautiful.

“Coming?” she asked.

Luke didn’t need to be asked twice. He dropped down next to
her and scooted close enough that their shoulders touched. Then, to distract
her from his fairly obvious move, he lifted his finger and pointed at the
stars. “Look, there’s me.”

“Where?”

He maneuvered even closer, bending his head toward hers. “See
those four stars that make up a trapezoid and all those stars coming away from
it, sort of like the legs of a spider?”

“You mean Hercules?”

“Exactly,” Luke said. “Me.”

Taycee’s quiet laugh seemed to fill the night with something
better than happiness. “Aren’t you cocky.”

“Hey, sometimes you just have to brag—especially when there’s
someone around you want to impress.”

A pause. “I’m sorry. Did I hear that you’re trying to impress
me?”

Luke’s heartbeat quickened as she turned her head to glance at
him. He’d arrived at a crossroads that could go one of two ways: He could brush
aside her question with a “Now why would I want to impress you?” or answer
honestly and risk breaking whatever connection they’d managed to form lately.

Luke swallowed, picking at the blanket between them. “Well, I
did compare myself to Hercules.” It was as honest as he could get at the
moment.

Taycee let out a breath. “I never liked Hercules. Way too conceited.”

“Oh.” So much for her seeing the honesty in that. Strike one
for him. Luke pointed toward the sky once more. “What about Draco then? It
symbolizes a dragon that once guarded the pole star. No one could attribute
that to conceit.”

“Sorry, but no,” Taycee said. “The name makes me think of the
evil kid in Harry Potter.”

Strike two. “Forget Draco and think dragon then.”

“As in ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon?’”

Strike three and Luke was out. This wasn’t going very well at
all. He gave up. “Whoever came up with the name Puff, anyway?” he grumbled.
“Talk about a sissy name.”

“Unlike Luke, right?”

Now they were getting somewhere. “My point exactly. I’m as far
from sissy as you can get.”

“So it should be Luke, the Magic Dragon?”

“Even you have to admit it’s better than Puff.”

A moment of silence until Taycee finally conceded. “True. Luke
is definitely not a sissy name.”

Luke grinned at the night sky, feeling like he’d won
something—whatever it was. “Thanks, Taycee Lynne. That only took about ten
minutes to get you to say.”

She laughed, and once again the sound filled something inside
Luke, making him feel better somehow.

“Thanks for convincing me to come,” Taycee said. “I needed
this.”

“It didn’t take much convincing.”

“True,” she said. “Were you on your way here when you saw me?”

“No. I was headed home.”

“Well, thanks for changing your plans.”

Luke hesitated, feeling like he’d stumbled upon another chance
at coming clean. Who knew how many more chances he’d have? He cleared his
throat, his heart hammering. “Anything to get some time with you.”

The silence that followed made him feel exposed, as if he’d
put his heart on a platter for her to take or wave away. A few more seconds
came and went without a word. Not good. Was she trying to think of a nice way
of letting him down, or was she scared too—like Luke? Hopefully the latter. He
should reach for her hand, touch her, something. Only a few inches and his hand
would brush against hers. Still, Luke hesitated.

Coward. Hold her hand already, you pathetic excuse for
someone named Luke.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Luke’s fingers laced
through hers. At first her hand hung limply in his, but then her fingers
tightened. Luke let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Her
fingers were soft and cold, but her hand fit perfectly in his. Probably the
same way she’d feel in his arms or the same way her lips would feel against
his.

Luke stared at the starlit sky, feeling that his world had
suddenly aligned. As though all the dots had been connected, creating an
awesome picture, way better than Hercules or Draco or any of the other
constellations out there. He felt something good. Something real. Something
he’d never expected to find with his old friend from Shelter Springs, Colorado.

“So Liza? Really?” Taycee blurted. “You had to go and ask out
the one person in town who hates me the most, didn’t you? I blame you for my
ruined date, you know.”

A smile came to Luke’s face. He could ruin her night. He liked
that. Really liked that. “Jealous?” he asked, not daring to hope that she
actually was.

“Maybe.”

He chuckled, loving the slightly snide way she’d admitted to
it. He brought her hand to his face and smoothed it over his cheek before
letting it rest against his lips for a moment. Who would have thought that such
a bad day could end so well? Not him. It almost felt undeserved. Like doing
something as petty as asking a girl out to make another girl jealous shouldn’t
have paid off. But it had.

“It never hurts to date the diner girl,” he said. “You know,
free food and all that.”

Taycee pulled her hand from his and slugged Luke in the arm.
“Not funny.”

Luke rolled on his side, facing her. His entire body pulsed
with a kind of need he’d never felt before—not even with his former fiancée, a
girl he thought he’d once loved. It took every ounce of willpower Luke had not
to lean in and kiss her.

He swallowed as he stared into her hazel eyes that were as
expressive as they were beautiful. He smoothed her brown hair away and ran his
fingers down her neck. He didn’t think he could take watching her date or kiss
one more guy. He wanted to be the only one in her life. The only one she
touched. The only one she looked at the way she looked at him now. He didn’t
want to share that look. He didn’t want to share her.

“What’s happening?” Taycee whispered.

“I don’t know, but I like it.”

Taycee scooted over and snuggled into him, laying her head
against his chest. “Me too.”

He held her close, locking her against him as if it would keep
her from ever slipping away, from going out with Jake or Miles or the scumbag
Alec ever again. But the reality was he couldn’t.

They stayed that way for what seemed like hours, until the air
turned chilly and she shivered in his arms. Only then did Luke reluctantly let
her go. He helped her up and drove back as slowly as he could, wanting to
extend their time together as long as possible. All too soon he was at her
apartment, walking her to the door.

He gave her one last lingering hug, wishing it could last
forever. Everything felt too new, too fragile. As if the dawning of a new day
could somehow ruin it all. His lips lingered near her ear, brushing against it
as he whispered, “Why did you have to go and get me voted off?”

Taycee chuckled as her arms tightened around him. “Not the
smartest thing I’ve ever done, was it?”

“You said it.” Luke drew back, and his eyes met hers in a look
that made the air crackle between them. All he could do was stare and think
about how badly he wanted to kiss her. But that’s what all the other bachelors
did at the end of their dates. Luke wanted to be different somehow. Stand out.

He took a step back and let his hands trail down her arms.
“I’ll call you.”

“Promise?” Although she tried to make it sound teasing, there
was an underlying hint of concern. A distrust. Luke hated that he’d been the
cause of it.

“Promise.” It was easy to say. The second she walked through
that door, Luke knew he’d want to do just that. Call. Text. Be back bright and
early in the morning so he could see her wild morning hair and somehow convince
her to spend the rest of the day with him.

If only he didn’t have animals to see and she didn’t have
flowers to arrange. If only he didn’t have mountains of paperwork to deal with
and she didn’t have another date with another guy who wasn’t him.

Life really sucked sometimes.