Ready to Run

by Lauren Layne

  “I left my hometown because it stopped feeling like home.”

  “Okay…” he said slowly, knowing there was more. Not sure he wanted to hear it.

  Her eyes were locked on Winston, who seemed to sense her distress, because he let out a mournful sigh and wiggled closer.

  Jordan looked at Luke, and her eyes were clear of tears but full of pain. “When I was a senior in high school, a tornado ripped through Keaton. Tornadoes weren’t unusual, but this was a big one. The high school escaped it. My house didn’t.”

  Luke’s throat hurt. “Ah hell, City—Jordan.”

  She gave the slightest of sad smiles and lifted her shoulders. “My little brother had stayed home from school sick that day. My mom was a homemaker; Dad was off from work because he’d thrown out his back. My whole family, gone in one awful afternoon.”

  Winston was damn good at giving comfort, but Luke was better.

  He stood, nudging the dog out of the way so he could haul Jordan to her feet. He didn’t know if she wanted a hug, but he needed to give her one. She was rigid for a moment before collapsing against him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “Probably not the answer you were expecting.”

  He ran a hand over her messy hair. “No. And not the one I wanted, but I’m glad you told me.”

  “I don’t hate small-town life,” she said, her words partially muffled against his shirt. “I just…” Her shoulders lifted and fell. “It brings back memories, you know? It’s much easier to be someone else in New York. I don’t think so much about the life I might have had if they were still alive.”

  “Have you been back?”

  She bit her lip. “No. I haven’t wanted to, and yet being here, it’s made me…remember. And I can’t help wondering if I need closure, you know? If maybe I need to go back there to say goodbye, so that I can…I don’t know. I don’t know what I need.”

  He held her closer. “I think maybe closure,” he said quietly. “You can only run from pain for so long before it catches you.”

  “Spoken from experience?” Jordan asked.

  “Nah, we’re not talking about me right now,” he said, keeping his tone light.

  “You think I should go back?” she asked. “To Keaton?”

  Luke was silent for a moment. “My first thought was to tell you that it’s not about what I think, but…these past few weeks have taught me that sometimes the people who care about us maybe know a thing or two that we can’t see for ourselves.”

  “I don’t suppose that means you’re going to do the show.”

  He smiled against her hair. “Don’t push your luck, City. But about you going back to Kansas: Maybe. Don’t do it alone. Take a friend. Let it be more of a celebration of what was rather than a mourning of what was lost.”

  She inhaled, held her breath, and then let it out. “A celebration. I like that.”

  They were quiet for several moments, until she pulled back slightly, her blue eyes searching his face. “Do you ever think about what kind of life you want? I mean really sit and think?”

  “Sure, all the time. Usually while I journal and sip herbal tea.”

  Jordan laughed. “I get it. I pushed the girl talk too far.”

  “What kind of life do you want?” he asked.

  She smiled up at him. “Still trying to figure that out. Aren’t you?”

  No. No, Luke already knew the life he wanted. The wife. The kids. The dog.

  He had the last one but none of the former, and not for lack of trying. He’d been telling himself for years that he didn’t mind, that maybe it wasn’t in the cards for him.

  Suddenly that answer didn’t feel nearly good enough.

  “How about we start with something easy?” he murmured, planting a kiss on her forehead and giving her hand a squeeze. “What do you feel like for breakfast?”

  He sensed her relief at the change in topic. “How do you feel about pancakes?” she asked.

  “I feel good about pancakes. I feel even better about pancakes after sex—”

  “Oh, but I don’t think—” Her hand lifted self-consciously to her messy hair.

  “Don’t worry, I thought for us,” Luke said, bending his knees to lift her, throwing her lean weight over his shoulder.

  “What the heck is happening right now?” she shrieked, banging a palm against his back.

  He smacked her ass. “This, City, is what you get for starting a fling with a firefighter.”

  Then he carried her to the living room couch and proceeded to show her exactly how hot that fling was going to be.

  Chapter 20

  “Is lover boy going to be here?” Simon asked, as they approached Tucker’s.

  “Yeah, we are not calling him that,” Jordan muttered as she swiped on pink lip gloss and dropped the tube back in her purse.

  “All I’m saying is that the night with Firefighter Hunk has given you a nice bounce in your step. The glow and whatnot.”

  “I hope I don’t act this weird after you hook up with someone,” Jordan muttered.

  Simon gave a long sigh. “I can’t even remember. It’s been so long.”

  “No luck with your baker?” she asked as they walked up the steps to the front door.

  “I think I scare him,” Simon said glumly.

  Jordan opened the door and gestured him inside. “Then he doesn’t deserve you.”

  Simon grinned down at her, kissing her cheek before entering the noisy bar. “I like you all sexed-up. You’re happy.”

  She paused a moment before following him, the truth of his words settling around her. She was happy.

  When Luke had dropped her off at her house that morning, they hadn’t talked about what came next. And ever since, she’d been telling herself that the fact that she couldn’t stop smiling was due to the rather fabulous orgasms and not something more.

  But the way her body was buzzing in anticipation of seeing him again made her worry that she might seriously be in over her head.

  The fact that she’d screened two of her boss’s calls that afternoon confirmed it. The clock was ticking down, her time in Lucky Hollow increasingly limited.

  And though Jordan knew her career reputation was on seriously shaky ground, she couldn’t seem to think about anything but the fact that Luke had said he’d be at Tucker’s tonight….

  She spotted him almost immediately, with that sort of feminine awareness that came with knowing another person.

  Luke hadn’t seen her yet. He was with Charlie and Ryan at the pool table in the back, dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt, and the usual backward cap, beer in hand. He laughed at something Charlie said, looking as easygoing as she’d ever seen him, and Jordan’s stomach clenched with something that felt like an odd combination of want and…

  Yeah, just want. She’d go with that, no matter what her beating heart said.

  He turned at precisely that moment, his hazel eyes finding hers across the crowded, noisy bar.

  His laugh stalled, but unlike their previous encounters, where his face went wary at the sight of her, he gave her a slow, private smile, followed by a quick wink.

  “Oh, honey. I know that look.”

  Jordan turned toward the feminine voice and met the playful gaze of Hailey. “Yes, I’ve recently learned that you probably know that look firsthand.”

  The pretty brunette gave a delighted laugh as she handed over a glass of wine. “He told you.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jordan said, taking the wine. “Because you didn’t. What happened to girl power? Sisters before misters?”

  Hailey linked arms with Jordan and dragged her to the bar, where Simon was deep in conversation with a group of older women. The way he was gesturing constantly toward his face told Jordan he was deep in the throes of his favorite topic—his skin-care regimen.

  “Don’t be mad,” Hailey pleaded.

  “I’m not mad,” Jordan said. “More…curious?”

  Hailey flicked the shoulder of a lanky kid at the bar. “Move it, Jimmy. Being twent
y-one means you get to be here and drink, but it also means you act like a man and move for ladies.”

  “Ladies, you say. I only see one lady and my cranky aunt Hailey,” he said, winking at Jordan as he stooped to give the much-shorter Hailey a peck on the cheek. “All yours, Auntie.”

  “Why, thank you, darling nephew,” Hailey said as she settled on the seat. “I just can’t figure out why your parents are always telling everyone how terrible you are.”

  “PTSD from when I was going through puberty,” Jimmy said, lifting his drink in farewell before wandering off to join a group so young it made Jordan feel decidedly ancient.

  “My sister’s kid,” Hailey said by way of explanation, patting the second stool. “Sit.”

  Jordan did as instructed, her butt barely hitting the cracked leather before Hailey started talking.

  “Okay, so it’s like this. Yes, I was bride number one, and, yes, I kept it from you, and others did too, but only because, well…Gosh, I don’t know how to explain this.”

  “Hailey, you don’t have to—”

  “I got tired of it defining me,” Hailey blurted out, then looking a little sheepish at the outburst. “I love Luke. Not like I love Tim, obviously, but I adore that guy; I think our story’s so freaking cute. But after Stacey and Eva, he became sort of this urban legend, and we women were merely the accessories, and…I don’t know, it got old, being bride number one. That sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?”

  “Not at all,” Jordan said, touching Hailey’s arm in reassurance. “I’m sorry I didn’t consider that element when I came barging into town.”

  “Oh, please, your coming here is the most exciting thing Lucky Hollow’s seen since Eva left town.”

  Jordan twirled her wineglass. “Don’t suppose you’re going to tell me that story?”

  “Honestly? I don’t know it. Truly,” Hailey said. “Only Stacey and I know what happened with our respective stories, and that only happened after lots of wine one stupid night. But Eva didn’t exactly make an effort to get to know anyone in Lucky Hollow outside of Luke and maybe a couple of the firehouse guys. Whatever happened there, it’s all locked up in Luke.”

  “Damn,” Jordan breathed. “My boss is going to be pissed.”

  “Because Luke won’t agree to do the show?”

  “Well, that, I’ve prepared them for,” Jordan said, taking a sip of wine. “But…okay, don’t freak out, but they sort of had it in their mind that even if Luke wouldn’t do the show as the runaway groom, one of his ex-brides would potentially make a good candidate.”

  “Oh, damn, I’ve never been so disappointed to be married!” Hailey exclaimed.

  Jordan saw Tim Withers before Hailey did, and she laughed when Tim moved into his wife’s line of sight and lifted his eyebrows. “Ahem.”

  “Oh, hi, honey,” Hailey said, pulling his head down for a quick kiss. “I was just telling Jordie how marrying you ruined my life.”

  “Sounds about right,” Tim said, smiling in greeting at Jordan.

  He wasn’t nearly as handsome as Luke, to Jordan’s slightly biased way of thinking, but Tim was instantly likable, with friendly brown eyes, wavy brown hair, and freckles that had probably pissed him off as a kid but now gave him a perpetual young-at-heart vibe.

  “I could have been on TV,” Hailey said in a loud whisper. “As Luke’s bimbo castoff, searching for my one true love.”

  “Do it,” Tim said jokingly. “The kids and I will pretend not to know you. Come back to us when you’re rich and famous.”

  Hailey sighed. “Sadly, I love you all too much.”

  Tim took a sip of his beer. “Sucks for Eva that she didn’t stick around. Being on camera seems like something she’d jump at.”

  His tone held the faintest note of distaste, and Hailey’s wrinkled nose echoed the sentiment.

  “So Luke’s for sure a no, huh?” Tim asked Jordan sympathetically.

  “Oh, please,” Hailey said with a snort. “Like anyone thought that was ever actually going to happen.”

  “Really,” came a sarcastic reply from behind Jordan. “Could have fooled me with the way the entire damn town’s been telling Jordan to keep hounding me.”

  Jordan’s body went on high alert at the sound of Luke’s voice, even more at his proximity as he came to stand beside her.

  She carefully arranged her face into a neutral expression before looking up at him. “Hi.”

  His eyes were warm as he gazed down at her. “Hey.”

  “Well, well, would you look at that—it worked,” Hailey murmured to her husband.

  Jordan tore her eyes away from Luke’s. “What worked?”

  “The town’s plan,” Hailey said, glancing innocently at her pale-pink nails.

  “What plan?”

  Hailey pursed her lips and said nothing.

  “Hailey,” Luke said in a warning tone.

  Tim snickered. “Told you he’d be pissed.”

  Luke shifted his attention to Hailey’s husband. “What plan?”

  Tim grinned at Jordan and Luke, waving his drink between them. “The women-folk had it in their heads that if they gave Jordan the impression that Luke could be coaxed into the show, she’d stick around for a while.”

  “Tim!” Hailey exclaimed.

  He merely shrugged and sipped his beer. “It worked. Look at them.”

  It took Jordan a moment to absorb the full extent of this plan. “Wait…are you telling me the entire town was in on some sort of matchmaking scheme?”

  “Oh, City,” Luke said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You’ve been away from small-town life too long if you’re surprised to hear this.”

  Jordan glanced up. “How are you not mad? Did you know?”

  “No,” he admitted. “Although I realize now I should have. Small population means limited number of eligible men and women. Anytime there’s fresh blood, the sharks circle.”

  “Not anytime,” Hailey pointed out.

  Luke’s gaze was sharp, and Hailey looked away from his warning glare.

  Eva again, Jordan suspected. It always seemed to be about Eva.

  “But it did work, didn’t it?” Hailey said, forcing brightness into her voice. “You guys are…”

  “Not answering a single question,” Luke said, squeezing Jordan’s shoulder fully before nodding at her wine. “You done?”

  Jordan glanced at the nearly full glass. “Well, I mean—”

  “Good,” he interrupted, reaching down and taking her hand, tugging her off the stool. “Hailey, drinks are on you as punishment for meddling.”

  His ex laughed. “Fine, but, really, you should be thanking me!”

  Luke didn’t respond; he was too busy dragging Jordan across the bar, past dozens of grinning, knowing faces, until they made it into the cool evening air.

  “So, wait,” Jordan said, as his fingers remained looped around her wrist, pulling her toward his truck. “Just because I wore the boots, you assumed I wanted to be herded like a barn animal?”

  “Nah,” he said, pulling her around and backing her against the door of his truck. “I saw the boots and thought, Now, that is a girl who needs to be kissed.”

  Luke’s head dropped to steal her mouth in a playful, possessive kiss that both caught her by surprise and felt entirely inevitable. As though they’d both been made for this moment.

  His fingers spread wide over her waist as his mouth opened over hers, and Jordan’s fingers gripped his shirt, holding him close.

  It was a bit like being a teenager again, where you thought you’d die of the frantic want, where you didn’t care that you were in a parking lot, pressed against a car, probably getting dirt on your blouse, because all that mattered was the boy.

  Except this was not a boy.

  The guy pinning her to the truck was all man, and his hands and mouth absolutely knew what they were doing.

  Someone whistled as he walked by, and Jordan broke away with a gasping laugh. “Is this how you got three women to agr
ee to marry you? Kissing them against your truck?”

  He reached over her head, thumped the top of the pickup with his palm. “Chicks dig it.”

  “Oh, do we?”

  He tilted his hips forward, pressing his erection against her, and she groaned. “You tell me.”

  Jordan bit back the moan and pushed him away. “I don’t know what your plan is, sir, but I’m a lady. I came here with one man; I don’t intend to leave with another.”

  “Hmm.” Luke brushed the pad of his thumb against her cheek. “Simon’s very lucky he has a lack of heterosexual urges right now.”

  She laughed. “Seriously, though, we can’t just…”

  He lifted his eyebrows, looking deliciously boyish. “Make out against the side of my car? Make out inside my car? Don’t pretend you’re not tempted….”

  It was tempting. Very, very tempting. But Jordan’s days in Lucky Hollow were numbered, and, oddly, she found that though she wanted nothing more than to spend every last moment with Luke, she wanted the rest of it too. The homey bar, the country music, the people who’d welcomed her, even if it had been with matchmaking intentions…

  Luke sighed and brushed a kiss against her lips before stepping back. “Fine. If I buy you chicken tenders and a glass of that crappy white wine they insist on serving, you promise to put out later?”

  She laughed. “You do know how to woo a girl.”

  He moved in again, pinning her still. “I need a yes, City.”

  She smiled up at him, happier than she could remember being in…well, a really, really long time.

  “Take me on a date, Country.”

  Chapter 21

  Luke had been on a four-day streak of waking up with a beautiful woman beside him, and he had zero complaints.

  He really didn’t complain about the way she’d taken to waking him up—slow, hot kisses on his chest, her slim hand stroking his cock to readiness before she’d climb on top for dream-like woman-on-top sex.

  This morning, though, he woke up first. Jordan was the first woman he’d slept with who wasn’t a cuddler and, as was her usual, had wiggled her way over to the far side of the bed, messy hair splayed across his pillow.