"So how many doyouhave?" I asked, letting my eyes roam across his chest. His tee was tight enough to show every crease of every last muscle.
Luke laughed but shook his head. "None."
"Oh? A good boy?" Heading into the house, I expected him to follow. "Make yourself at home while I find clothes."
I jogged up the stairs without waiting for a reply. Considering the weather, I opted for something a bit more casual. Denim shorts, a lilac tank, and a pair of running shoes didn't take long to pull on. My hair was still wet, so I tossed it into a twist, clipping the color-streaked ends to the back of my head. Makeup could wait. I wasn't trying to impress anyone today.
When I came back down the stairs, Luke was sitting at the bar sucking on a cold bottle of Dr. Pepper from the fridge. He heard me and turned, but couldn't hide the way his eyes roamed across my body.
I paused, letting him. "Not what you expected?"
He leaned back, resting his weight on the counter. "Honestly? No. Yesterday you came in here like some debutante from a big town. Today you look like some punk from Seattle. Tell me, Miss Dawson, which woman is the real one?"
"Neither. I hated L.A. and Seattle made me want to slice my wrists. I swear it does nothing but rain. California was stuck on itself, Paris was too busy, Berlin gets cold in the winter. Tokyo wasn't bad."
He accepted that without doubt. "So where's home?"
I stabbed a finger to the floor. "Right here. Southwind. It's where I grew up."
"Don't remember you."
I walked right to him. "But I remember you. Star running back, even as a junior."
"Puts you at an advantage, then. Granted, I didn't do a whole lot with the football - life kinda happened - but I didn't go to school with anyone named Violet. I think I'd remember."
I chewed on my lower lip, then shook my head. "That wasn't my name back then. It was Dawn Higgs. My middle name and my mother's last name."
"Hm." He took a long drink of Dr. Pepper, then screwed on the lid. "Still not ringing any bells. You went to public school?"
"Yeah, for a few years. Eighth grade was when the popular girls decided I was a pariah and made my life hell. The bullying was more than I could take, so I lashed out - kinda at everyone. When I started acting worse than the students here at Southwind, Gran tossed me in classes with them. For high school, I got shipped off to New York, more or less."
Luke lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug. "Kinda explains why I don't remember you. Can't say I paid much attention to the junior high girls. Maybe I should've." He winked at me then changed the subject. "Shall I show you the grounds?"
That wasn't at all what I'd expected. Thirteen years ago, I'd prayed that this man would notice me. He was the only person from this town who'd ever been nice - but he didn't evenremember?Inside, I was crushed. Outside, I refused to show anything, but one bright light from my childhood was sputtering out. No matter how many times I'd tried to convince myself that I didn't care what happened back then, I did, and thinking that he may have secretly liked me had been the fantasy that kept me going.
"Sure," I said, tilting my head toward the pool. "Show me what I have to look forward to out here."
Grabbing his drink off the counter, he walked out the back door just like I'd walked in: expecting me to follow. I let him. I also took in the view - and not of the farmland. His tight ass was so grabbable in those jeans. As we passed the pool, he pointed at it with the butt end of his bottle.
"Vera had me clean the pool and keep up with the chemicals." He didn't stop, heading to the wrought iron gate at the far end.
On the other side was nothing but grass. In the summer heat, most of it was brittle and brown. The blades broke beneath our feet as we tramped across it to the barn beside the house. In the distance, I could see the cabins where Southwind had changed so many lives, but up here was just the homestead. Yet the closer I got to the barn, the more obvious the disrepair became. White paint peeled away from the wood in some places, cracked in others, and still others were just faded and weather-worn. When he moved to the massive entrance, it took all of Luke's strength to push the rolling doors open.
"She had me close this up when Bea passed." He meant Vera's girlfriend, the woman who'd made their equine therapy into a selling point.
I appreciated the view of his muscles as he heaved the almost two-story doors open, but I had no idea what it would take to make them slide as smoothly as they had when I was a girl. It wasn't like I could manhandle them on my own. Then again, I didn't really have a need to keep anything locked either in or out.
"Can you just leave that open for now?" I asked, moving into the shadows inside.
He grunted, sounding anything but pleased. "I guess. Not like there's any horses."
"And no way I could open them without you." My eyes moved up to the dust-covered cobwebs.
Luke stepped right behind me. "Could always give you my number."
"Oh?" Turning, I realized he was a lot closer than I thought. My breasts damn near touched his chest. "So you can come rescue the little city girl when she can't figure out how to get the shit off her shoes?"
He leaned in, proving I didn't scare him. "Nope. Hun, you're no damsel in distress. I'm not that dumb. Just trying to be a gentleman."
