Page 55 of Christmas at Hart's Ridge

Luke groaned. “Now I do.”

“Did you just wake up?” Ethan craned his neck, trying to see into the room, but Luke shifted. “You got a girl in there?”

“Yes,” Luke said, his words dripping in sarcasm. “The love of my life. She’s in my bed right now, so if you’ll excuse me—”

The love of his life?He was joking. He didn’t want to lie to his brother, so he made a joke instead. I knew that. But still, my heart kicked in my chest.

“Yeah, right.” Ethan laughed. “I made coffee. Get yourself together.”

“I’m going to take a quick shower. I’ll meet you at North Star, okay?”

“Sure, no problem.”

The second the door closed I threw the covers off my head. “The love of your life?” I repeated, laughing so he couldn’t hurt me. Because even though Iknewhe was joking, if he felt the need to explain that to me like I was some naïve, heartsick, recently de-virginized idiot, it would kill me.

He smirked. “Well, I couldn’t exactly say I had his best friend in my bed, could I?”

“Why couldn’t you?” I searched his face for clues. Some hint that he was in this as deeply as I was.

He rolled under the covers with me, stretching his long body next to mine. “Is that really how you want him to find out about us? By discovering you in bed with me?”

I shuddered. “No, not really.”

“Yeah. Me, either. Anyway, I figured you would tell him when the time was right.”

“Me? Why me?” I poked his shoulder. “You’re his brother.”

“Because if I tell him, there’s a fifty-fifty chance he’ll punch me in the face. I put your odds more at zero.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ethan is not going to punch you in the face. He’s never punched anyone in his life.”

“So tell him, then.” Luke rolled on his back, arms crossed behind his head, the picture of nonchalance. Like it was no big deal.

When it was averybig deal. To me, anyway.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “Tell him what, exactly?”

“Whatever you want. I mean, he probably doesn’t want to hear all the dirty details. But other than that, just tell him the truth.”

“What is the truth?” I pressed.

Luke squinted at me. “What do you mean?”

“Like, give me the terminology. Is this a vacation fling? Are we just sleeping together or are we dating? How can we be dating when we’ve never gone on a date?”

“We’re together,” he said. With conviction.

My belly fluttered. “Together,” I mused. “I like the sound of that. Does that make you my boyfriend?”

He blinked, stunned, then laughed ruefully. “I guess so. Shit, I don’t think anyone’s ever called me their boyfriend before.”

I stared at him, astonished. “That can’t be right. I remember you in high school. You always had girlfriends.”

He shook his head. “I had girls I fooled around with. Girls I hung out with. I never had a girlfriend. How could I? Half the time, I was watching Ethan. I didn’t have time to be anyone’s boyfriend.”

I hated that for him. For Ethan, too. It was amazing that nothing truly terrible had happened to them while their parents were out adventuring.

“But you have time now?” I asked.

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