Page 20 of Christmas at Hart's Ridge

“Sure, honey.” Mom brightened. “How about I go with you? It’s been a while, but I’m sure I can dig up my old hiking boots somewhere. As long as we’re only going a mile or two…” She looked at me hopefully.

I had the feeling her offer had more to do with keeping me safe than spending time with me. Still, I felt bad about shaking my head. “Sorry, Mom. I already have my backpack ready to go. I have Nutcracker rehearsals this afternoon, so I don’t have time to wait. Next time, okay?”

She nodded reluctantly. “You’ll be home for dinner? I’m making chicken and vegetables.”

For my benefit. I knew, too, that the chicken would be skinless breast meat and that the vegetables would be steamed and seasoned without butter. It was my standard dinner growing up. Mom never put pressure on me to be thin—I was fortunate there—but she wasn’t a stupid woman. She knew what the world of ballet was like. So she did her best to provide healthy food that I could and would actually eat. Judging from the contents of their fridge, their meals were different when I wasn’t home. Much more red meat and dairy.

Just another thing they sacrificed to make my life better. Easier.

“Thanks, Mom.” I kissed her cheek. “I’ll text when I’m at the top of Roan, and again when I’m at the car.”

It was the least I could do, when they had given me so much.

The parking lot at the trailhead was empty when I arrived. Probably normal for a December weekday. When I first started hiking, the solitude would have made me nervous. Not anymore. I didn’t mind a crowded trail, and I didn’t mind being all alone, but when it was just me and one other car, that gave me pause. Fortunately, the trails I most often frequented in New York were almost always busy, because I had figured out pretty quickly I would rather take my chances with the bears and bobcats than a creepy dude asking where my boyfriend was.

So when a red pickup truck rolled into the gravel lot and pulled up one space from me, I narrowed my eyes with a hint of trepidation.

And then Luke Fucking Buchanan unfolded from the driver’s seat and my wariness turned to annoyance. What the hell was he doing here? I’d come here to escape him, and now here he was. Looking too damn sexy in a blue knit hat that matched the color of his eyes and hiking pants that clung lovingly to his muscular thighs.

He leaned a hip against the hood of his truck. “Hey,” he said, all casual-like, as though he hadn’t just last night given me the hottest kiss of my life and followed that up with saying really terrible things to me.

“No,” I snarled. I was not going to make polite conversation with him after all that. Absolutely not. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and stomped across the parking lot to the wooden sign that announced the start of the trail.

“Bethany Albright, get your ass back here so I can apologize,” he hollered.

That stopped me in my tracks. For one, he hadn’t called melittleBethany Albright, so that was an improvement right there. Good thing, too, because if he had I would have had no choice but to push him off the mountain.

For another, I was absolute trash at holding grudges. I simply couldn’t do it. Life was too short, blah blah blah, but also…eh. Isn’t everyone trying their best? And Luke…well, it was especially hard to stay mad at him. Every time I thought about our kiss, my thighs clenched together.

But he didn’t need to know that.

“This better be good,” I warned.

“I don’t know about good, but it will be honest.”

I shuffled back to him, lured in by the sincerity in his voice and his stupidly gorgeous face. I stopped a couple feet away. He reached out, snagged my wrist, and tugged me gently closer. Maybe I should have put up more of a fight, made him work for it, but the truth was I forgave him already, and he hadn’t even actually apologized yet.Sucker.

“I was an asshole last night and I’m sorry,” he said.

“Okay,” I agreed readily.

“I had no business setting a double standard like that. You know what your risks are, as a woman. You sure as hell don’t need me explaining it to you. I take women home all the time. Some of them I know. Some of them I don’t. There are risks with that, too. Not the same, of course. But I wouldn’t take kindly to someone lecturing me on it.”

“Oh.” I swallowed hard. “Right.”

“Anyway, I’m sorry.”

“For…the double standard.” My gaze searched his face. Just to be sure I had this right. He couldn’t really think that’s why I was mad, could he?

He cocked his head and squinted at me. “Yes?”

That’s what I was afraid of. I sighed. “Well, Luke, you’re still a dumbass.”

“I know,” he said contritely.

“That’s not even why I’m mad.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Oh, no?” I couldn’t read his eyes behind his sunglasses. “How about you explain it to me, then. I’m a good listener.”

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