Page 32 of Legends Luke

“Nope. There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Luke had a date with a girl he met at the bar.”

Luke glared at Easton, who met his glower with a self-satisfied smirk. “What do you know about it?”

“You had Chum cover for you at the garage Saturday. He told me about it when he came by the bar. I figured you took Melody on a date. I didn’t know for sure but looks like I guessed right.”

Luke slammed his laptop shut a bit harder than he should have, but it felt good to release his annoyance in some way.

“Wait, she’s the one from the hardware store. She’s hot.” Ben’s voice carried over Jax’s fussing.

Luke scowled, but his brothers didn’t notice. Jackson appeared with a warmed bottle. He reached for his son, but Easton beat him to the punch. Slipping the bottle from his brother’s grasp, Easton held it in one hand after easing Jax into the cradle of his other arm. He settled on the closest armchair and started feeding his nephew. Jax sucked on the bottle with gusto, and Luke’s anger at his brothers lost some of its heat at the sight. The Legends had taken on foes who defined evil and never backed down, but the presence of the infant could bring them to their knees. And none of them cared to admit it.

“So how was it?” Easton asked.

“Mind your business.” Luke opened his laptop again to bring their focus back to the case.

“Stop it.” Jackson’s command of the situation reminded Luke of English. Whenever his boys were fighting or being rowdy, he had a way of bringing them in line with only a word or a stare.

Jackson sat on the couch next to Luke, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. “Is this girl the reason you can’t concentrate or not?”

“I’m not talking about this with you.”

Jackson linked his hands. “You are if it means getting your head back in the game. No distractions, man, and if this girl’s a distraction, the only way around it is to get it out. Whatever’s bothering you could be something we could help with.”

“Damn, you sound like a shrink.”

“I always knew you guys sat around and gossiped when you were hanging out. It’s cute.” Reagan leaned against the doorway leading from the back bedroom to the living room. Her long hair cascaded behind her in a wavy ponytail. Her arms crossed over her chest, bunching up the material of her oversized T-shirt. With no makeup on her face and carrying a little extra weight from her recent pregnancy, Reagan was stunning.

She moved to sit on the arm of the couch next to her husband and smiled at the sight of her son eating. Then she turned her direct gaze to Luke.

“You might as well talk. We’re not letting this go, you know. I, myself, have been waiting a long time for a woman to turn oneof you Legends inside out. I just didn’t expect you to be the first to fall.”

“You’ve got it wrong.” He didn’t know why he was denying his feelings for Melody except he was still trying to figure out why they were so strong after one date. He didn’t need his family’s help to work it out. He simply needed space.

Reagan narrowed her eyes knowingly. “Do we?”

His scowl was back. He might have been the one distracted from the case before, but they were the ones holding up their work. They weren’t letting this go until he talked or left, and leaving wasn’t an option. They had work to do.

“I told her.” The admission slipped from his lips easier than he expected. He’d concluded it wasn’t romantic feelings which had him twisted in a knot. It was the trust he had in her. Letting his guard down with someone was foreign to him.

“You told her about the Legends?” Jackson demanded.

“No!” Luke’s harsh tone disturbed Jax, so he lowered his voice. “We don’t tell anybody. Except Reagan, and we kind of had to in her case.”

Ben sat down in the recliner to Luke’s right. “So, what did you tell her?”

“About my parents. How I came to stay with English. I told her all of it.”

He’d managed to stun his brothers into silence, something he never thought he’d see happen. Reagan, however, never missed a beat.

“How long have you known her, and why am I just hearing about her now?”

Luke shrugged. “I met her at the bar the day Jax was born. I’d seen her a couple of times since then, including at the hardware store. Our first date was two days ago.”

“And you opened up to her about your childhood?” Reagan was surprised, but she didn’t seem as shocked as he expected. Hell, he felt shellshocked every time he thought about it, and his brothers certainly looked it after hearing about it.

“Yeah.”

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