The front of Luke’s jeans suddenly vibrated, causing Carmen to quickly jump back. He hadn’t realized they’d been standing close enough for her to feel it. He fumbled in his pocket before pulling his cell phone out.
Seeing the school’s number on the display brought a familiar moment of panic to his chest and he cleared his throat before answering, expecting the worst. Again.
“Hi, Dad.” The voice on the other end sounded perfectly healthy and not the least bit in trouble.
“Hi, Aiden,” Luke said, noting the worried look in Carmen’s eyes. “Is anything wrong?”
“No. We just told the school secretary that you didn’t pack us our lunch and she let us call you.”
“Hi, Dad,” Caden yelled in the background.
“But I gave you both money to eat at the cafeteria today,” Luke said, and then mouthed to Carmen that everything was okay.
“I know,” Aiden said. “Which means we didn’t really tell a lie because technically you didn’t pack us one.”
“Well, technically, you better have a good reason for calling me during school time.”
“We do. Are you still shopping with Officer Carmen for our party?” Aiden asked, having apparently overheard Luke’s conversation with Kylie last night.
“Yes, I am, but I doubt we’re going to have enough time to buy you two any presents if you keep interrupting us.”
“Well, Hunter said Mrs. Cooper was inviting us over for dinner tonight because the poker game got canceled. So we just wanted to let you know that you don’t need to be back until dinnertime...”
Luke heard some mumbling on the other end of the line before Caden’s voice replaced his brother’s. “What Aiden meant was that there might not be enough dinner for you guys. So you and Officer Carmen should just stay in Boise and have dinner by yourselves...”
There was more mumbling followed by a scuffling sound, which probably meant Aiden had snatched the receiver back. “Anyway, Mrs. Cooper is gonna pick us up after school so you guys can take your time buying us presents and getting the rest of the stuff for our party. Especially the buying-us-presents part.”
“Yeah,” Caden’s voice called out. “Don’t forget that I want the rebel ice fortress. And Aiden wants the pink dream palace! Hey, here comes Nurse Dunn.”
“We gotta go, Dad. Tell Officer Carmen hi.”
“Bye, you two. Get back to class.” Luke disconnected the call.
“What was that all about?” Carmen asked.
He hesitated to tell her because he knew that his children shouldn’t be calling him in the middle of the day from school for no good reason. Luke was used to their random antics and didn’t want Carmen to read anything into it.
He explained that the boys were going over to Maxine and Cooper’s after school, so they could take their time shopping. “Which is a good thing,” he said as they stepped into the Lego aisle. “My wallet doesn’t want me going grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Let’s finish up here and go grab some lunch.”
“Lunch, huh?” She grinned again. “We’ve got a million things to get done today and all you can think about is your stomach?”
“I’m a man. What else am I supposed to think about?”
Certainly, he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about how he was going to have Carmen all to himself for the rest of the afternoon.
Chapter Seven
Carmen used the excuse that she was concerned Luke’s wallet couldn’t handle much more withdrawals today. But the real reason she’d suggested they drive through and pick up fast food was because she didn’t think she could handle sitting across the table from him at lunch. Even the strongest of women knew their limitations.
Hey, maybe Abuela should add that to her list of quotes.
Even if Carmen tried to tell herself that going out to eat with Luke was no different than grabbing a sandwich with Cooper on break, or having breakfast with Scooter and Jonesy at the Cowgirl Up Café, Carmen knew her heart shouldn’t be tested.
It was tempting enough to pretend that this little shopping trip was like a quasi date, but as soon as she let her mind meander in that direction, it would be too difficult to reverse course. She and Luke were barely friends. More like acquaintances.
“Plus,” she argued her point as he steered the Nanamobile out of the Toy Town parking lot, “even with the twins being picked up from school, we still should try and get back to Sugar Falls as soon as we can. Maxine and Cooper are familiar with how long it takes to drive into Boise and stop at a few stores. If we don’t get back by dinner, they’re going to think something’s up.”
“Like we got lost or something?” he asked, draping one arm along the back of the plush bench seat as he pulled into traffic.
Her eyes darted back at his hand resting mere inches from her shoulder. “I was thinking more like you and I were up to...” She pinched her lips together and raised her eyebrows, but he was checking out the review mirror instead of her.
“What could we possibly be up to?” He made a smooth right turn at the intersection and Carmen had to wonder how much practice Luke Gregson had at driving one-handed with a female in his passenger seat.
Did she really have to spell it out for him? “That maybe we’re enjoying spending time together. You know, without the kids.”
“Well, why wouldn’t we? I mean, I love those little monkeys, but unless I’m at work, I don’t get a lot of one-on-one time alone with other adults.”
“But this is kind of different than just playing poker with the guys on Thursday nights.” She looked back at his relaxed hand again.
His eyes followed hers and he pulled his arm away so quickly the sudden movement caused him to swerve into the next lane. Another driver blasted their horn and Luke lifted his fingers out the window in an apologetic wave.
“What? Nah. I don’t think anyone would think that,” he said, then coughed. “But if you’d prefer to grab something to go, there’s a Sonic burger place up ahead.”
If he was using a burger joint as an attempt to divert her attention away from the subject of them being romantically involved, then maybe he wasn’t as smooth as she’d first suspected. Or maybe he wasn’t diverting anything. Maybe it was simply too ridiculous for him to contemplate the possibility that other people might think they were on a secret date.
But she’d already put the suggestion out there and now she was kicking herself for bringing it up, since he was clearly not of the same mind-set. How did they go back to normal—or at least, normal for them—after that?
“Burgers sound good,” she said, leaning her body closer to the door. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and the awkwardness she’d just created.
Luke chose one of the larger parking spots behind the restaurant and maneuvered the car much too close to the menu sign before asking her what she wanted to eat. Because of his huge, muscular, perfect manly body, she had to lean forward to see around him, bringing her into closer contact. The smell of his aftershave was tickling her nose, tickling her nerves, tickling her ability to think rationally altogether. So she just ordered the first item on the menu that she could read. “I’ll take the Coney dog combo with the cheese tots.”
“What do you want to drink?” he asked.
Crap. She had to lean forward again and when she did so, he chose that particular second to look her way. His eyes drifted toward the V in her top and she whipped back against the seat quickly. “Cherry limeade,” she said louder than she intended.
Luke ordered but didn’t look at her again, even after the carhop skated out to deliver their food to them. He handed Carmen the bright red drink and she tried to delicately take the foam cup from his hand without touching his fingers. They might as well be tiptoeing around a crime scene; they were both determined to avoid contact with each other.
; So maybe he was worried that someone else—particularly she—might think their excursion into Boise was a date.
Carmen had done the whole avoidance song and dance with Mark after her surgery and found that it was just better to be direct, cut to the chase and pull the pin out of the conversational grenade once and for all. Then run for cover.
“You know what, Luke,” she finally said. “Let’s just pretend I never said anything about people getting the wrong idea about us. Obviously neither one of us thinks of this as a date or anything. Besides, even if we were attracted to each other, it’s not like anything could ever come of it. We’re not even friends. So let’s just agree that we’re both here for the kids’ sake and try to work together to make sure their birthday party goes well.”
“That’s fine,” he said, pulling her chili dog out of the paper sack, then holding it out of reach as she tried to take it. “Except for one part. I really do want to be friends, Delgado. You’re an important part of Aiden’s and Caden’s lives and I think it’s kind of weird that we can’t act more friendly around each other.”
She didn’t appreciate him holding her lunch hostage, but she did agree with what he was saying. “Fair enough. Friends?”
She held out her hand and he shook it before turning over the chili dog, replacing his warmth with the wrapped gooey mess she’d mistakenly ordered.
“Now that that’s settled,” she said, “next stop, Costco.”
“Actually,” he said, snapping open a plastic container, “I can’t drive and eat my food.”
“What is that? Who orders a chicken salad from a burger joint?”
“The guy who normally lives on a steady diet of Honey Smacks for breakfast and macaroni-based casseroles for dinner. Unless I take the time to cook multiple meals, lunch is the only healthy time of the day for me.” He took his time ripping open his ranch dressing, and his tan fingers made an elaborate work out of stroking and squeezing every last drop from the packet. She was too mesmerized to look away. “But now that we decided we’re just friends, and that there’s nothing more going on, you’re not still in a hurry, are you?”
“No,” she said, settling back with her cherry limeade. “I’m in no hurry.” The only thing she was in was a heap of trouble if she kept looking at him.
Yuck. She hated these sweet artificially flavored drinks, but she’d panicked and ordered the first thing she could think of. But after taking the initiative to confront him on their awkwardness and her attempt to make things seem more normal, she wasn’t going to admit she’d much rather be eating the salad, as well.
“Speaking of food,” he said, after finishing a few bites. “What exactly does my sister-in-law have planned for the birthday dinner?”
Carmen licked some cheese sauce off her finger before consulting the list. “It looks like grilled chicken, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, spinach salad, fresh fruit, that kind of thing.”
“That kind of thing? You make it sound so easy.”
“You have a grill, don’t you?”
“Yeah. The hot dogs are no problem and the chicken might be doable if we buy enough barbecue sauce to cover up the fact that I tend to overcook meat. But I’ve never made a potato salad or any of that other stuff before.”
“That’s why I’m here to help you.” Carmen almost called him friend but didn’t want to patronize him or remind him of the reason for their newly formed relationship.
“Do you know how to cook?” He was lifting an eyebrow at her and she wanted to throw a tater tot at him for doubting her.
“Of course I know how to cook.”
“Well, it’s just that you never really struck me as that type of woman.” Was he making another crack about her just being one of the guys? Before she could respond, he added, “You always seem like you’d be way more comfortable on the shooting range than in the kitchen. But then again, after seeing all those froufrou beauty products in your bathroom, maybe I should’ve known better.”
“Whose products are you calling froufrou?” She threw a tater tot at him, then laughed when he caught it in his mouth.
“Okay, soldier,” he said, shoving his empty salad container into the paper bag. “Break’s over. Time to get back to work.”
She wadded up her napkin and added her half-eaten lunch to the bag before getting out and throwing it all away in the trash bin two spots down from theirs. When she got back in the car, she saw that he’d maneuvered the drinks in the cardboard holder so that his diet soda was now on her side.
He must’ve detected her observation because he put the car in Drive, then commented, “I needed a taste of something sweet, so I switched them. Besides, you weren’t going to drink yours, anyway.”
He was right, but she hated the fact that he’d noticed. She also hated the fact that no matter how quickly he’d been willing to agree to their truce, she was dying to give him a taste of something sweet.
* * *
They were halfway through Costco and Luke was still replaying her words in his mind.
It’s not like anything could ever come of it.
So was she admitting to a mutual attraction between them? Because it kind of sounded like she was. Not that he could be sure. Despite Samantha’s accusations to the contrary, Luke was no expert on women or whether they wanted him. Sure, some of his buddies from his former SEAL team used to tease him about his pretty-boy looks, but he’d never been all that interested in what women were thinking when they looked at him.
He only knew that he wasn’t capable of giving them what they wanted.
“Do you want breasts or thighs?” he heard her ask, and he almost crashed the shopping cart into the refrigerator case.
“What?” he asked, trying to keep his eyes focused straight ahead so they wouldn’t stray below her neck again. As much as he’d appreciated the view when she’d leaned over him to order off the lunch menu, they were in a public place now and his blood pressure didn’t need to be spiking like a launched projectile missile.
She lifted the chicken packages higher and repeated her question. “Oh. Both,” he said, wishing he could make an inappropriate joke. But she’d made it clear that flirtatious teasing wasn’t even an option. Hadn’t she?
He clenched his jaw as he pushed the oversize cart down the wide aisles, following her as she added items to it and then made notes on that damn list of Kylie’s. He could read GPS coordinates in the dark, but he sure as hell couldn’t read the sexy brunette who was walking through the warehouse store like a rear admiral inspecting her crew.
If he didn’t have Carmen’s perfectly curved butt as the charming view in front of him, Luke would’ve been tempted to call his sister-in-law and tell her to forget her stupid list. He could just order a bunch of pizzas from Patrelli’s instead.
But no matter what Carmen had said earlier, the fact of the matter was he did enjoy spending time with her. Especially when she wasn’t in her tough-cop mode.
She stopped by a sample display and took a tiny paper cup filled with part of a beef chimichanga, handing it to him before snagging one for herself and taking a bite. “They’re not as good as Abuela’s, but not too bad for frozen.”
“Abuela means grandma in Spanish, right?” he asked.
“Yes. She’s my dad’s mom and the best cook I know. It drives my mom crazy that any time we had a family party, everyone would always ask Abuela to make most of the food. Luckily for you, I emailed her and asked for her potato salad recipe.”
“You said had.” He took the empty sample cup from her and tossed it in the trash.
“Had what?” She must not have noticed the telling slip.
“Any time you had a family party. Does that mean you don’t have family parties anymore?”
She shrugged, then grabbed a fifty-count package of hot dogs from the case. “I’m sure they still h
ave them. I just haven’t attended one in a long time.”
“Why not?”
“Because most of my family lives in Las Vegas and I’m up here.”
“Don’t you miss them?”
“Sure. Sometimes.” She tugged on the front end of the cart, but he wasn’t going to follow along any more. She’d said they were friends and, as friends, he wanted to learn more about her. He stood still, keeping the cart locked in place until she looked back at him.
“Fine,” she said. “I should probably go visit more often but things are kind of awkward right now. Besides, it’s not like my family isn’t used to the distance. I joined the Marine Corps straight out of high school and was stationed all over, including two deployments to the Middle East.”
He nodded. “I get that. My own parents live in Boise, and after Drew and I joined up, we all just got accustomed to going for long periods without seeing each other.”
“So there you have it,” she said, then walked around the corner to the next aisle without waiting for him to follow.
“But here’s what I don’t understand,” he said, catching up to her. Man, this cart was getting heavier to push by the minute. “You moved back to Vegas after you got out of the military and you became a police officer there, right?”
“Right...” Her tense shoulders suggested she wanted to roll her eyes, but instead she kept her head down, staring at the list. He was getting closer to uncovering something. He could feel it.
“Now, I’m just speaking from personal experience, so bear with me. But now that I’ve moved back to Idaho to be close to my family and my hometown, I can’t imagine ever packing up and leaving again.”
“Is there supposed to be a question in there?”
Whoa. She’d gone from annoyed to defensive in a snap. Reel it back in, Gregson. Luke shifted from one foot to the other.
“Listen.” He shot her a grin and tried to make his voice sound more teasing. “Not all of us can be trained cops and interrogators. Anyway, you said things were awkward with your family now. Plus, out of the blue you recently moved to some nowhere town in Idaho to take a job on a tiny police force even though you don’t know anyone in Sugar Falls. So I’m just wondering if those things go hand in hand.”
The Matchmaking Twins Page 10