Page 30 of Christmas at Hart's Ridge

“There’s plenty of coffee. Sit down.” Mom ushered him into the kitchen, where I stood awkwardly next to the table. Dad folded up his newspaper and set it aside. “Cream? Sugar?”

“Black is fine, thank you.” Luke sat down next to me. He raised his eyebrows at me. I sighed and took my seat.

Mom poured a mug of steaming coffee and set it in front of Luke before taking her seat. “It’s kind of you to drive Bethany to theNutcrackerrehearsals.”

“Although it wouldn’t be necessary if she had just told us about the car in the first place,” Dad cut in. “The dent is cosmetic. We would have told you to leave it alone.”

“I don’t mind driving her.” Luke sipped his coffee.

Mom shook her head. “It’s a waste of money. Every cent you get should be put in your savings account, Bethany.” She gave me a look full of fond exasperation. “Although I do appreciate your generosity.”

“It’s not generosity, Mom,” I said patiently, though I shouldn’t have bothered. “It’s fairness. I dented your car. I’m paying to fix it.”

I had said all this to them yesterday, when I finally came clean about driving Mom’s car into a ditch. As I had expected, they had tried to convince me it didn’t matter. Fortunately, the car was already at the shop and repairs were underway, so there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it.

“She shouldn’t be working at the bar, regardless.” Dad narrowed his eyes at Luke like he was daring him to contradict him. “Bethany is a prima ballerina. She has no business carrying heavy trays and standing on her feet for hours on end for customers who probably don’t even tip her properly for her troubles.”

I squirmed in my chair, feeling Luke’s eyes on me. Oh, lord, he was going to think my parents were absolute snobs. Which was so untrue. Mostly. They weren’t snobby about anything…except me.

“I like working at Goat’s Tavern, Dad. It gives me a chance to catch up with people I haven’t talked to in years. People I went to school with, some of them are married with babies now. Most of them don’t even remember me.” Outside of Ethan, I had never had much of a social life. Just a ballet life. “But now they know who I am. It’s nice to feel like I’m a part of this town.”

I chanced a furtive glance at Luke from beneath my lashes and found him watching me, his blue eyes glimmering with warmth and a hint of mischief.

“Not to mention the attack goat,” he murmured.

“Attack goat?” Mom asked sharply.

I sent a reproving glare to Luke. “Don’t worry, Mom. He’s…” Harmless wasn’t entirely truthful, even if I was making inroads. “Never killed anyone,” I finished.

Mom’s eyes widened at Dad. “David—”

“Nothing is going to hurt Bethany,” Luke cut in. “Not while I’m around. As long as she’s in my bar, I’ll be right there. I’ll wrap her up in bubble wrap if I have to.”

I side-eyed him, unable to tell if he was joking. He was smiling like the whole thing was no big deal, but there had been a steeliness to his voice that made my whole body hum. A part of me got off on the idea of Luke being protective of me, even if the only thing I needed protection from was his pet goat.

On the other hand, I didn’t want to be protected.

I pushed back my chair and stood. “We should get going.”

Luke nodded and got to his feet. “Thank you for the coffee.”

I stalked out of the house to his truck with Luke on my heels. I reached for the handle of the passenger side door, but his arm snaked around me, his hand making contact with the handle before I could.

“I’ve got it,” he said.

When I could have just done it myself. I knew it was useless to argue with a Hart’s Ridge boy over paternalistic tokens of chivalry, but I was already worked up. It pushed me over the edge.

I whirled around to face him. “I don’t want to be wrapped in bubble wrap.”

With one hand still on the door handle behind me, he placed his other hand on the frame next to my shoulder, forming a cage around me with his arms. He looked down at me, a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth and a very Luke-like glimmer in his eyes. My stomach whooshed.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice a low, deep murmur that made my thighs clench together. “It could be a lot of fun to pop.”

I wanted to say something devastatingly witty and sexy. Something like what I imagined a woman experienced with men would say. Unfortunately, I was not that woman. I was a twenty-five-year-old virgin whose every last brain cell melted into goo whenever Luke smiled. So instead I stared up at him with wide eyes. My lips parted, but only a sigh emerged. I could feel heat spread over my cheeks.

My face probably matched my hair. Fabulous.

There was a sharp click and then the door pushed against my back. Caught off guard, I fell forward…right into Luke’s arms. They banded around my waist almost like that had been his plan all along.

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