by Taylor Hart
She grabbed it back. “Give it back.”
They squabbled over the menu like they were teenagers again. When they would meet each other’s eyes or look up at the owner, they would laugh harder.
Giving Luke a distasteful look, the owner crossed his arms. “Mr. Freestone.”
Somehow he pulled it together long enough to look a bit remorseful. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Chayond.” He had to work not to laugh. “Can we just order …” He paused.
She waved at him, still laughing.
“We’ll take two Tom Yum Goong and Pad Thai.” He turned to her. “That’s your favorite, right?”
She nodded, putting her face in her hands. “Thank you.”
Mr. Chayond walked away and both of them erupted into giggles again.
Luke watched her, sucking in a huge breath between laughing.
She wiped beneath her eyes. “Oh my gosh. That was uncalled for. I … I’m sorry.”
The sides of his cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. He realized this was one of the things he loved about her—they had fun together. It was easy and natural. “Don’t be sorry. He’ll get over it. I partnered with him on five restaurants in the valley. He’ll be fine.”
Fluttering her eyes, she released a breath, looking startled. “You partnered with him?”
Getting a hold of himself, he wondered if he shouldn’t have told her that. “Uh, yeah. Is there something wrong with investing in Thai food?”
Squeezing her eyes shut for a second, she let out a breath. “I just … sometimes now I’ll forget that you’re this, like, really successful person.” Her face glowed with a soft, slow smile. “I’m proud of you, Luke. You’ve done well for yourself. And today, when I found out you helped baby Lincoln, I couldn’t help think how you act all nonchalant, but you are a good person. Giving to babies is cool.’”
Her words touched something inside of him. It’d been a long time since anyone had told him he was a good person and really meant it. The way she saw him made him want to be even more of that good person. He thought of the talks he had in his mind with his mother. He’d imagined she was proud of him. “I think you help me be a better person.” He said quietly.
A sad look washed over her face. “No.”
He wanted to reach for her hand, but didn’t want to make things weird, and they were kind of getting weird. But he took a chance anyway, because that’s who he was. “It’s like back then, but it’s … now.”
Their eyes connected and all he wanted to do was kiss her. All he wanted was for her to want to kiss him, the now him.
She pulled back her hand. “I’m glad we can still …”
The words hung in the air, and he didn’t know how he would react if she pulled the “I’m glad we can still be friends” card.
“I’m glad we can still laugh,” she finished.
“Me too.” Every part of him wanted to push, but he tried to hold back. His pulse raced. “I …” How did he say it.
“What?”
All he could think about was what had happened between her and Sean. He wanted to bring up what he’d been thinking, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment. “Hmm, I have a question for you, as my friend.”
“Okay.” She smoothed her hair into place.
“Do you want to come with me to Jackson?”
She looked skeptical. “Me? Why?”
“Uh. Well, I was thinking you could expand the profile list for dates and check out women there.”
A dazed expression clouded her face. “I just found you two dates here. Believe me, Freestone, it was a lot of work. I actually had to tell the eyebrow guy I couldn’t take him on as a client.”
“Oh, you pushed me in front of the eyebrow guy, I do feel special.”
Rolling her eyes, she let out a breath. “Here we go, the ego … I really don’t want you checking out other dates until you go on these dates.”
Flabbergasted, but wanting to find a way for her to go with him to Jackson, he said, “Fine, but you could still come with me.” It was funny how he felt nervous asking her.
She frowned. “No.”
“But I have to go to Jackson, because this is, like, the deal. You’ll get to meet Sterling Pennington, Montana Crew …”
“No.”
“Fine.” Trying to cover his disappointment and remind himself he wouldn’t push, he picked up his glass of water and took a sip. “Then it’s a lunch date and a dinner date tomorrow, and I promise I won’t make my creepo face. How’s that?” He asked with an edge to the words. He had never realized how much he didn’t like NOT getting his way.
Rolling her eyes, she let out a breath. “Good.” She pulled out her phone and started texting. “I’m setting it up right this minute.”
23
Driving into Park City, Savannah’s phone buzzed. She pressed her Bluetooth connection. “Hello.”
“Hey, sweetheart.”
“Hey, Mom.” Her mother was great about making dinner every night. It was nice, but the not-so-nice part was that she was offended if you didn’t show up or you were late. She checked the time; she still had ten minutes. “Sorry I’m late, Mom, I’ve been …” She trailed off and turned to look at Luke, who had a hand to his chin and was obnoxiously watching her. “Coaching a client.”
He winked at her and whispered, “Good one.”
“Oh, yes, of course. Good girl, but that’s not what I was calling about.”
“Okay.” Her mind ran a bunch of scenarios she could be calling about, including anything she’d recently told Beth about Luke.
“Well, Clark stopped by tonight. He was just out and about and he wanted to know if he could take you to dinner?”
Clark. She purposefully didn’t look at Luke. “Huh, well, I actually already ate.” The pit of Savannah’s stomach tightened. She did not want to have this discussion in front of Luke. She turned on the road that led to Luke’s house.
“Honey,” her mother insisted, “he doesn’t care if it’s dinner, you could just take a hike with him. He’s still here.”
Savannah hesitated, caught between a rock and a hard spot. She didn’t know what to say.
Luke stared at her, his eyes wide. He gestured for her to speak.
She didn’t know what to say, not with him there. “Ah, not tonight, Mom.”
Her mother sighed. “All right, I’ll tell him to try to catch you another time.”
“Thanks.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, Mom.”
She pressed end.
Silence reigned between them. No longer the casual, comfortable kind of silence.
She cleared her throat. “So tomorrow, you’re meeting Jo, short for Josephine, at noon. Then, at five, you’re meeting Kelsey. I’ll text you the restaurants. I thought I’d make it easier on you to have them come here. But remember, just because a woman is coming to you, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be treated like a queen.”
He stared out the window.
“Luke?”
He didn’t answer.
“Luke.”
“Have you been seeing him?” His voice was soft, but intense.
She frowned. “What?”
“Superman.” He waved a hand into the air. “Whoever.” He still didn’t look at her.
“No, but … would it matter?”
No response.
They drove in silence the rest of the way to his house, up his long driveway. By the time they stopped, Savannah wanted to smack him.
She put the car in park, but he didn’t get out. “You’re acting jealous, and that’s stupid because—”
He cracked a grin. “You’re right. It’s stupid, because we can’t think about that. You know what we need to be focusing on?”
“What?”
He gestured to his house. “Getting me a wife.”
She felt caught. “Okay.”
“Right. And I’m having two dates tomorrow, so it would only seem logical I need to cram before these first two tests, right?”
“And you’re my mentor, my matchmaker, so you can help me, right?”
“R-right,” she said, feeling like she was getting set up for something.
“Right. So I’m going to, I promise you, at some point tomorrow, invite one of them up to my house for a swim.” He put a finger in the air and pointed at her. “Just a swim, mind you, but I probably should be tutored before this happens.”
Suspicious, she cocked an eyebrow. “If memory recalls correctly, you’re a championship swimmer, so I don’t think you’d have problems if one of them starts to drown.”
“Oh, no.” He waved a hand to discount that. “But you want me to be a …”
“Non-weirdo,” she suggested, uncertain how this would relate to swimming.
“Right. And I need your help knowing how to act.” Before she could stop him, he’d run around the car, opened her door, leaned in, and taken her keys out. He pulled back and broadly smiled at her. “I happen to have extra swimsuits in women’s sizes, and I think it would be a good gauge for you to tell me if anything I do is weird. I think it was in the contract.”
Knowing she was getting set up but unable to stop it, she tentatively got out. “Oh, where in the contract?”
“Oh,” he said, lightly taking her arm and pulling her with him toward the house. “In the verbal contract we talked about.”
“I don’t remember talking about that.”
Pressing in numbers to a code pad, the garage door opened. “Oh, it was. Remember, I’m an attorney, I know all about contracts. Section 4, Article 2b: ‘How to Not Act like a Weirdo.’”
“You’re pushing it.”
He opened the garage door and gestured for her to go in. “Well, I appreciate your total dedication to this process for me.”
She glared at him as they walked into his house, but couldn’t stop getting sucked into his momentum.
“I promise I’ll give you a great review on Yelp.”
Letting out a little laugh, she was stunned, again, at the beauty of his house. The floor-to-ceiling windows that opened up and looked over Park City were amazing. For a few moments she stared down at the view, thinking about how it would feel to live here. To look out over this town every day and feel like … like …
“Savannah,” he whispered.
She jumped. He was right next to her. “Don’t do that.” She didn’t look away from the view.
He looked out with her. “I love this spot in my house. Honestly, when I had this home built, it made me feel …” He trailed off.
“What did it make you feel?”
A smile tugged at the edges of his lips. “It made me feel like maybe one day I would stand here with my wife and we could talk about building a life together. Right here.”
Her heart pounded inside her chest and she knew her face was flushed. She hated the thought she’d thought.
“What’s wrong?” He surveyed her face.
Dang, she hated he could tell her thoughts by the look on her face. “Nothing.”
He took her hand. “What? Tell me.”
There was no way she would open that can of worms. “Let’s get on with this little experiment, shall we?”
24
Luke had seen the shadow on her face. Had she wondered if this could be her house? He wouldn’t know. It was like he was locked out of the only door he wanted to get in.
Now, he sat in the hot tub next to the pool, watching the sunset. Waiting.
He’d shown her the closet full of new swimsuits in all sizes. She’d told him it was a bit eccentric to have a closet full of swimsuits for women, but he’d told her he had an assistant pick them all out and offered them to guests who came for parties and then wanted to get into the hot tub.
“I’m not creepy,” he muttered to himself. He had to smile at the fact that Savannah kept him grounded. It wasn’t that Luke lived such a different life. He’d grown up middle class, worked hard, gone to church, had two brothers annoy the snot out of him. He’d always considered himself very grounded. He just expected more of himself. He expected perfection, or close to it. No, he demanded it.
Did that make him a narcissist?
He had to admit, writing the hospital a big, fat check had made him feel amazing today.
And that was because of Savannah.
He knew it was a running joke that he needed lessons, but why hadn’t he gotten married before now? Why had he really not had meaningful relationships? He didn’t have much time to wonder, because she appeared at the top of the deck steps.
She wore a turquoise halter-top swimsuit that set off her complexion perfectly. Not to mention her red hair, which always made her seem … ethereal to him. Unreal. So perfect.
Shyly, she smiled and descended the steps. “Hey.”
He stood awkwardly in the hot tub, like he should have been waiting at the bottom of the steps to usher her in.
She followed his lead and got into the hot tub, closing her eyes as she sank to her neck. “Oh my gosh, I take back everything I’ve ever thought about how vain it was to splurge for a hot tub.”
Feeling satisfied, he sank to his neck. “It’s the best after a hard run or a long day at the office.”
“Or a long date with a needy billionaire.” She gave him a pointed look.
“Ha. Ha.” Why did he always sound like a teenager around her? But he didn’t want to counter that she had said the word date.
She giggled and gave him a little splash. He responded in kind. She pointlessly dodged, then sat back into the water, closing her eyes. “I can’t say I haven’t thought about how nice it is for you to have your pool and hot tub. Since the wedding, all I could think about was you probably swimming to your heart’s content.”
“I’m not gonna lie, it doesn’t hurt my ego to hear you’ve been dreaming about me swimming laps.”
She looked horrified. “Stop it.”
He laughed, loving being here with her, loving the banter between them.
“You always said you’d have a big house with a pool so you could swim laps and hot tub. That’s all I meant.” She settled in.
He closed his eyes. “You’ve been dreaming about me, admit it.”
“You wish,” she said softly.
There would be no way he would admit he did wish for that, because that would make her get all weird. For a while both of them didn’t speak, just gloried in the warm water and the fact she was here with him.
An idea struck him. “Okay, I think I need some role-playing—ya know, for my goal of not being a weirdo.”
Her blue eyes creased in amusement. “Okay, I’ll play along. What does the great Luke Freestone, captain of industry, need help with?”
“Not really industry, more like captain of real estate.”
“Right, humble too. Modest, truly.”
“Yes, all stuff for the profile, now let’s put it into practice.”
“Yes, sir.” She mock saluted.
He laughed. “Okay, I don’t think you’re taking this seriously.”
Cocking an eyebrow, she smiled. “Is this serious?”
“Hey, I got problems.”
“Yes, I’ve heard you have a problem dating too many women.”
He bit his lip. Cautiously, he said, “I don’t date too much.”
“What about the two blondes at your wedding, fawning all over you?”
It embarrassed him. “I helped their family out of a jam, that’s all.”
“Right.”
“Their father almost went to jail, and my firm represented him.”
“Yeah, they looked grateful.”
It bothered him she was kind of right. “I didn’t date them at the same time.”
Now she gave him a disgusted look.
“Hey, I don’t want to just date anymore, remember?”
“Right. You want a wife.”
The way she said it made it sound made up, but the woman he wanted to marry was sitting in front of him. Oh gosh, he did want to
marry her. All sorts of psychotic feelings crashed through him. This was part of the plan, but it hadn’t felt as real to him as it did now. He wanted her. He needed her.
Picking up on his mood, she frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Shaking off his weirdness, he resolved to play it cool. “I just don’t think you are taking this seriously enough.” He tried to look upset.
Her lips pursed and she shrugged. “Okay. Tell me why you think that is.”
“Well, aren’t you the matchmaker? Aren’t you supposed to know what I need to do? Aren’t you supposed to help me figure out what I’ve been doing wrong?”
“Well, take me through what you usually do when you bring a woman to your house to watch you swim laps.” She winked at him.
“Okay, come sit by me.”
She pointed to herself. “You want me to sit by you? Why do I need to sit there to understand your problems?”
He frowned. “Because I paid you forty grand.”
She pursed her lips, but moved next to him. “Pulling rank again, are we?”
He settled next to her, liking her so close to him. “Okay, first, we sit here.”
“Okay,” she said slowly.
“Then I put my arm over their shoulders.” He put his arm over her shoulders.
Glancing at his arm, she frowned. “Okay.”
“Then we look at the beautiful sunset. I mean, if we’re here before sunset, sometimes it’s dark and there’s just, like, a hue over the mountains.”
“I get it.” She rolled her eyes.
He was already caught up in her lemon scent, the way she was close enough to lean over and brush his lips against her forehead.
“Then what?” she asked.
Jolted out of his attraction trance, he frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What then?”
“Hmmm …” Did she want him to tell her he made out with the women?
“C’mon, set the mood. What do you say, what do you talk about? Maybe I can pinpoint at what point there’s a disconnect happening.”
He stared at the curve of her cheekbone, and all he wanted to do was touch her soft skin. “Hmmm, well, we …”
“You don’t talk to them, do you?” It was like she’d solved the mystery in the movie.