“Emily seemed scared.”
“Henry doesn’t understand kids and thinks they should be little adults, and Emily’s tender heart doesn’t understand.”
“He has no business having custody,” Luke snarls and starts the engine. “I’m starving, how about Mexican?”
“We don’t need to go out. I’ll eat the leftovers and I need a nap. I don’t want to mess up my sleep schedule.”
“Let me feed you, then we can take a nap,” Luke says, turning down Main Street, going in the opposite direction of our house.
“I’m not napping with you.” I slit my eyes at him.
“I’m great at cuddling. Just ask Emily.”
“Not happening.”
“Food it is. You can fill up on chips and salsa, and I’ll eat the rest of your shrimp quesadillas you can’t finish.”
“Who says I can’t finish them?”
“Experience.” Luke chuckles, shooting a wink at me.
“Yeah, well, a lot has changed since we last had Mexican food together,” I grumble, not entirely happy about sharing a meal alone with Luke Colson. It’s bad enough we live under the same roof where he doesn’t mind walking around without a shirt, making all my lady parts light up and my defenses falter, but now I have to share a meal with him, without the kids as a buffer.
“Someday you’re going to have to tell me all about those changes,” Luke says with a wolfish grin.
“Never going to happen.” I try to sound firm, but his playfulness always breaks through my barriers. He could always get people to relax with his playful banter. Turn a foe into a best friend and has been working that charm on me.
“C’mon, I want to know. I want to know everything about you. Leave nothing out.”
“Well, I don’t want you to know any more than you need to know,” I groan, closing my eyes as I let my head fall back onto the headrest.
“As your roommate, I think it’s my right to know about your past. For all I know, you could have become a professional pen thief. Nurses are always needing pens . . .. Tell me, Amber, are you stealing other nurses’ pens?”
“No, I’m not stealing anyone’s pens! Ugh! You are driving me nuts.”
“You’re grumpy when you’re tired.” Luke yawns. “Come on, quick lunch, then you can nap.” Luke puts his truck in park outside the local Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda.
“Fine, a quick bite but no monkey business,” I grumble and climb out of his truck.
“Where is the fun in that?”
We enter the restaurant and Luke tells the hostess lunch for two. She promptly pulls two menus and leads us to a booth in the back. There are several people I know here, and all of them watch us.
I have no doubt news has spread far and wide of our new living arrangement, but it’s the assumptions everyone is making that concerns me.
“Your waitress will be here shortly with your chips and to take your drink orders.” The hostess smiles, puts our menus down, and walks away.
“Everyone is looking at us,” I whisper to Luke.
“Let them. I want everyone to know you are off limits.” He smiles, not looking at me but reading through the menu.
“I’m off limits because I choose to be off limits . . . not because I’m with you.” I narrow my eyes at him.
“For now.” He shrugs then puts the menu down. “I’m getting the fajitas. Shrimp quesadillas?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It was a question. Are you getting shrimp quesadillas?” He cocks his head at me, biting back a chuckle.
“No, the ‘for now’ part,” I hiss and before I can tell him we will never get back together, the waitress arrives.
She sets down the chips and salsa, and then takes our drink and lunch order before rushing off almost as quickly as she came.
“Do you think we can go shopping for living room furniture tomorrow, or will it mess with your sleep?”
“Why do you ignore everything I tell you?” I lean in and mutter at him. “It’s annoying.”
“I don’t ignore everything, I just disregard most of it.” He chuckles, shoving a chip into his mouth.
“Can you please be serious for one moment?”
“Absolutely. I think we should go on a date,” he says, then shoves another chip into his mouth.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t date,” I huff and lean back in the booth seat, but only for a second. Luke’s eating all the chips and salsa, and they are my favorite.
“Fine, we can just skip the dating and go straight into a relationship.”
“I hate you,” I say around the chip in my mouth.
“You don’t. You want to hate me, but you can’t.” My heart skips a beat. There is more truth in his words than I care to admit.
Luke watches me, a smile plays across his face. He’s doing that thing where he reads my thoughts as if I’m an open book, but I’m not an open book. I’m closed up tight, yet he keeps prying me open and taking peeks inside. He won’t stop until he’s written our ending.
“Furniture shopping tomorrow afternoon will work. I can sleep most of the day while the kids hang out with my parents.”
“Who is ignoring who now?” He smirks but continues before I can comment, “Let me watch the kids. I want to get to know them better.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I say nibbling on a chip.
“Come on, it’ll be fun. I want to help. This way you can sleep and not worry about getting them ready and lugging them to your parents. It’s a win-win situation.”
“For who?” I scoff and he chuckles. “What’s so funny?”
“You are adorable when you are riled up.”
My stomach flutters and I look away so he can’t see my cheeks flush, but nothing gets past Luke.
“Sexy and beautiful,” he whispers, leaning in close. “I bet you taste better than I remember.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Stop messing with me.”
“I’m not messing with you. I mean every word. You’re the one who is being stubborn.”
“I’m not being stubborn.”
“Really?” He arches a skeptical brow at me. “Give me one good reason why you won’t go on a date with me.”
“I . . . I don’t have too.”
“See, stubborn.”
“You want a reason.” I lace my fingers over the table and stare at him. “Because I don’t trust you.”
“Fair enough.” He nods but doesn’t look away. “I’ve got some explaining to do.”
“I don’t need you to explain anything to me. Let’s just be friends and leave it at that.” I did not mean for the conversation to lead us here, and I’m not sure I’m ready for an explanation.
Fortunately for me, our food arrives and Luke digs in. We sit mostly in silence while we eat and despite all my efforts, I can’t eat all of my quesadillas. Luke gobbles it up with an I told you so smirk.
When the check is dropped off, Luke swipes it and refuses to let me see it or pay half, claiming he ate the majority of the food so he should pay.