Page 52 of Rebel Without a Claus
Luke’s shoulders drop just slightly and he cuts me off before I can finish my thought. “Then why didn’t you tell me about the job offer?” he asks, voice low and rough like it hurts to speak the words.
My pulse spikes. “What?”
He steps closer. “The job back in LA, Eve. Why didn’t you tell me you were offered a position back there? Not just any ol’ job either. Your dream job.”
Oh.
My stomach drops. Hedoesknow. “Who told you?”
His laugh is dry, humorless. “Pick someone. Mrs. Garcia at the Jolly Bean. Gemma, of all people. Feels like half the town knew before I did.”
“I wasn’t hiding it,” I say quickly, but even I hear the defensiveness in my voice.
“No?” he asks, arms crossing. “You just conveniently didn’t mention it after we spent the night together? After we started acting like—what? Like this was something?”
I feel like he’s just punched the air out of my lungs. “I only just got the call this morning. I swear. I… I would have told you. Eventually. But there wasn’t anything to tell. Not really. I’m not taking the job.”
“Then why didn’t you just say that?!”
“Because I didn’t want to feel like I was giving up everything for a guy who might not even want me to!”
The silence after that is deafening.
Luke stares at me like I’ve just confirmed his worst fear. Or maybe I’ve just exposed mine.
“You think I don’t want you?” he says, voice flat.
“I don’t know what you want!” I shout back. “One second you’re kissing me like I’m the only woman you’ve ever wanted and the next you’re pushing me away like I’m a problem you never asked for.”
His jaw tightens. “You think I’m pushing you away because I don’t care? I’m trying not to screw this up. I’m trying not to trap you in some tiny town when you have this whole other life somewhere else. You think that’s easy?”
“No,” I whisper. “But it’s not your decision to make.”
We stand there, both of us breathing hard, red-cheeked and furious and way too close.
“I wanted to stay,” I say, quieter now. “For my parents. For the inn. For Christmas. For you.”
Luke shakes his head slowly, his expression unreadable. “Then why didn’t you just tell me?”
“I was going to tell you. I only got the call this morning. But also… I didn’t want it to be about you,” I admit, the words scraping my throat raw. “I didn’t want to make it seem like I was giving up this huge opportunity just to follow a guy?—”
He cuts in, voice firm but quiet. “And what happens two years from now when you wake up and realize you made a mistake giving up on your dreams? I don’t want to be the reason you give something up. Not your career. Not your dreams. Not a life you might still want out there.”
With that bomb, he looks away, his expression unreadable.
“Who says I’m giving up on anything? Maybe I have new dreams now. Maybe Iwantto be here with my parents. Maybe I want to take over the inn! Maybe I want to help you with the farm and the reindeer and Princess Sparkles —”
His eyes snap to mine and when he really looks at me—I see it. The fear. The conflict. The heartbreak that matches the one swelling in my own chest.. “That’s an awful lot ofmaybesfor a girl who’s about to turn down the offer of a lifetime.”
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “I thought… I thought you’d be happy. I thought you wanted me to stay.” I stand there, still clutching the Christmas lights, my knuckles white around the green wires.
Luke steps closer, closing the space between us. His voice is gentler now as he cups my jaw tenderly. “I do want you to stay,” he says. “More than I should, probably. But not if it’s because you’re running away from something else. Not if one day you’ll wake up and resent me for it.”
Vulnerability shines in his eyes—raw and unguarded, no flannel or sarcasm to hide behind. “I’ve seen what that kind of regret looks like. I’ve lived it,” he continues. “And I love Holly Ridge, but I also know it’s not for everyone. It’s an acquired taste… much like me. So you need to figure out if this place—and me—are for you.”
The wordloveechoes in my ears, even though he didn’t say it about me—not exactly. But it’s there, buried in the way he’s looking at me like I already hold too many pieces of him.
He draws in a breath, his voice thick now. “If staying is your dream, Eve—yourdream—then I’ll be the happiest damn man in this town. But don’t stay because of me. Not if you’re going to wake up a year from now wondering what you missed out on.”
