Grace sniggered. ‘Yeah, like that’s such a big deal. Loads of women think he’s hot. Sometimes when he lets me help out at the bar I have to look away ’cos it’s just too embarrassing, watching them trying to get his attention.’ She glanced at Mia. ‘You’re different though.’
‘Yeah? Not the first time I’ve been told that.’ She tugged at her blue-highlighted hair. ‘Your dad called me a Smurf when I had this dyed.’
Grace groaned and put her head in her hands. ‘He thinks he’s funny but some of his jokes are like, so bad.’
Mia smiled, enjoying not just the interaction with Luke’s daughter, but the glimpse of the other side of him. The embarrassing dad. It made him feel normal, a man she could see herself having a real relationship with. The hot bartender who had women fawning over him was too much of a stretch from who she was, but the man Grace was talking about. The one who told bad jokes and had such a grounded, loving relationship with his daughter. He was someone she could relate to.
‘Mum used to find him funny,’ Grace added, and immediately Mia felt a tightening across her chest at the mention of Freya. ‘But then she got too stressed with her job and started getting annoyed instead. She’d be like, not everything’s a joke. I mean it’s true, but he was only trying to cheer her up, you know?’
Mia wasn’t sure how to respond. Freya was Grace’s mum, but equally to Mia she’d been less than friendly. And damn it, there was the bite of jealousy too, the knowledge that Freya was the one woman Luke had really cared about. The woman he’d loved enough to ask to marry him. ‘I’m sure she realised that later.’
‘Maybe. I guess I always thought Mum and Dad would end up together at some point. She’s never really dated anyone else and I know Dad’s had girlfriends but none that he’s ever introduced me to.’ She slid Mia a sidelong glance. ‘Until now.’
Mia’s heart thumped, her brain frazzled by the two seemingly opposing statements. If Grace believed they might get back together, were Luke and Freya closer than she’d thought? But did that matter, because of all the women Luke had dated, she was the only one he’d wanted to meet his daughter.
Thankfully she didn’t need a reply because Luke and his entourage were heading back. Caitlin had her hands in his hair, tugging, spewing out words that didn’t all make sense. Luke was replying though, clearly uncaring of the way his hair was being pulled, and her parents were laughing.
‘Did you find some ducks?’ Dave asked, reaching up to lift Caitlin off Luke’s shoulders. Quite a task considering Luke was a fair bit taller than Dave. And Caitlin clearly wasn’t ready to come down yet.
‘What do you reckon, Squirt?’ Luke tucked her under the chin, the motion enough to grab her attention and stop the tantrum that had been about to blow. ‘How many ducks did you see?’
She held out her fingers. ‘One, two, three, four…’ She pulled out her other hand and grinned. ‘Ten ducks.’
He chuckled. ‘Exactly. More ducks than an England score sheet.’ He lifted his eyes to Mia’s, laughter creasing them at the edges. ‘That’s a cricket joke, in case you missed it.’
God, this man with his sexy, twinkling eyes. Was he really hers, or was he only on loan? ‘That’s a sexist remark, in case you missed it.’
‘Didn’t mean it to be.’ He gazed at her, his expression both amused and, she thought with another heart bump, adoring. ‘It’s just, you once told me City were better than United, so I wasn’t sure whether you understood sport enough to get the joke.’
Everyone laughed and the connection between her and Luke was broken, yet as they cleared up Mia felt a bubble of happiness. It had only been three months, yet she felt settled up here. As if she’d never lived anywhere else. The only small dent to that happiness was the worry that Luke was the cause of it. When he decided he’d had enough of dating the nerdy Smurfette, where did it leave her?
Chapter Thirty-One
Luke watched the man enter the bar, his gaze skimming over the faces of the customers, clearly looking for someone.
There was something about him – was it was the way his eyes constantly shifted? The fancy leather jacket that looked too designer, too pretentious in a Manchester bar, even on a Saturday night? Luke couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but he felt a prick of unease.
Hell, maybe he was being paranoid. His life was going so bloody perfectly right now, perhaps too perfectly. His mind was making things up to disrupt it.
He exhaled, turning away from the fair-haired stranger. Nope, he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of how he was feeling right now. He had a bar that was starting to pick up, a daughter who was settled in college and starting her A Levels. And a girlfriend he’d seen four times already this week, but who’d still promised to drop by later.
A girlfriend he couldn’t ever imagine not being with.
Next to him, Mateo groaned. ‘For God’s sake lose the dopey expression. It’s making me ill.’
Luke grinned. ‘Jealousy isn’t pretty.’
‘Neither is bragging,’ Mateo grumbled. ‘Still don’t know why she chose you over me. I thought she was smarter than that.’
‘She’s far too smart for either of us.’ Luke let the words drift round his mind but where he’d usually feel a bite of inferiority, now it was more of a nibble. Mia saw things in him others didn’t. She admired how he’d brought up Grace, and how he ran the bar. Hell, she even thought he was a genius at making cocktails.
‘Excuse me.’
He was shaken out of his happy buzz by a posh-sounding voice in a southern accent. When he turned he found himself face to face with the guy in the posh leather jacket.
‘What can I get you?’
The man shook his head. ‘Thanks, but I’m not here for a drink. I’m looking for someone. Female, blonde and blue eyes, about five foot three. Might have coloured streaks in her hair.’
His pulse kicked but Luke worked hard to keep his expression bland. ‘We get a lot of women through this door, many of them short with blonde hair. Have you got a name for her?’
‘Mia Abbott.’
Okay then. ‘Is she a friend of yours?’
‘You could say that. We used to date, but then we lost touch when she moved up here.’
Luke reached for another glass to dry so he had something to do with his hands. ‘You can’t just give her a call?’ And yes, he was aware of the irony of that statement, given he was pretty sure the lowlife was Mia’s ex, Pete.
‘I lost her number.’
At least you had it once. Luke shrugged off the bitterness and instead directed his anger at the man in front of him. He was the reason Mia was now scared to trust people – trust him – with her new number. ‘But you know where she lives?’
The man looked uncomfortable. ‘I used to know, obviously. I mean, I used to almost live there, but I don’t have her new address, no. I only know she must come to this bar because she liked it on Facebook.’
Shit. Looks like Sandy’s social media campaign had had an unintended consequence. And if this guy was as tenacious as Mia had implied, he was going to keep coming back until he saw her here.