Page 38 of Christmas at Hart's Ridge

“Kind of.” I reached for it, but he shifted away. His eyes scanned the page and then his eyebrows rose and one corner of his mouth tilted up. I blushed, remembering the second-to-last item on the list.Made out in a car.

“Ride a bike? Eat a burger? It’s not a very ambitious bucket list. You need to aim higher.”

“That’s because it’s not really a bucket list.” I made another grab for my notebook and this time he let me take it. I tucked it safely into my purse. “It’s a first-time list. I started it when my ankle sidelined me from ballet. What are you doing back here, anyway? Don’t we need to get the bar ready?” I sidestepped him but he blocked my path.

“Bethany, baby. You can’t suck your fingers like that in front of me and then just walk away. You had to know I was coming for you.”

I blinked. I hadnotknown that, actually. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I had filthy plans for you, Red, but we’re going to put that aside for now so you can tell me about this list of yours.”

“Oh.” That was disappointing.

“I’m as kerflummoxed as you are, honey. Who would have thought I’d be more interested in what came out of a woman’s mouth than what I could put into it?” He shook his head ruefully. “But here we are. Tell me about your list, Red.”

“I—” My insides felt like an underbaked chocolate chip cookie, straight from the oven. Warm and gooey. Luke actuallylikedme? For more than just kissing?

“Well?” Luke prodded. He cocked an eyebrow and leaned against the wall, crossing one long leg over the other at the ankle, making me swoon even harder. No one leaned like Luke.

Stop acting like such a virgin, I told myself sternly. I cleared my throat. “Right, the list. I started it when I fractured my ankle.”

Luke nodded. “Finding the silver lining?”

“No. Not exactly. I mean, I wasn’t thrilled to be injured, don’t get me wrong. It was pretty devastating at first. But then…it was fine. Better than fine, really. My whole life, there was this one enormous thing taking up all the space. Then suddenly that space shrank, leaving room for other things.Newthings. Things it had never occurred to me to want to try. And I just fell in love with it all. Not necessarily any particular thing. But trying something new and different.” I scrunched my nose. “That probably sounds stupid.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid at all.” Luke’s gaze focused on me with an intensity that made me squirm. “So this list is all the things you want to try?”

I laughed. “No. Oh, my god, I wouldn’t even know where to start with that kind of list. When I tell you ballet was my entire world, I mean it waseverything. And now the world is so big I can’t even fathom it. I have no idea who I am outside of ballet. No idea what I like to eat or watch or do for fun. What I do know is that this…thisfeelingof trying something for the first time is what I want more of. I’m saying yes to everything.”

Luke didn’t move, didn’t blink. For a long time he didn’t say anything. Then he gave a decisive nod and pushed off from the wall. “Well, Red, I’m going to help you with that.”

To say that the customers of Goat’s Tavern got a little rowdy that night was an understatement. The Lady Killers was a popular local folk-rock band made up of three women. They mostly played their original songs, interspersed with guaranteed crowd pleasers from Garth Brooks and Maren Morris. The crowd ate it up, screaming along and dancing. Everyone was having a good time, including me.

Jasmine and Luke were on bar duty while Ethan and I worked the floor. I dodged people of varying levels of sobriety to put in a drink order with Jasmine. “Five tequila shots, please. I’ll get the beers myself.”

“Coming right up.”

I rounded to the other side of the counter and pulled five Budweisers from the cooler. Jasmine lined up five shot glasses, doing a little shimmy as she poured the tequila.

“I love this song!” she shouted over the music.

I nodded even though I didn’t recognize it. Hart’s Ridge tended to prefer country music, but I listened to mostly classical.

Jasmine grabbed my hands and spun me around. “Dance with me!”

I laughed and pulled away. “I don’t know how.”

“What! Yes, you do. You’re a dancer, for heaven’s sake!”

“It’s not that kind of dancing,” I protested.

“Just move your hips, like this.” She demonstrated, looking sexy as hell.

“I hate to tell you this, but that is, like, the opposite of how I was trained for ballet. I—ahh!” I nearly jumped out of my skin as a large, warm hand settled on my hip. I twisted my neck to see Luke smirking down at me.

“A promise is a promise, Red.”

I swallowed hard, my pulse picking up speed. “I have to get these drinks out to my table.”

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