“You should have—What?Why are you here? What are you doing in my place?” Riley did not seem to be experiencing the same tractor beam effect. He stepped back from Lucas. Shields up.
Lucas did not miss that scowling retreat. He swallowed hard. “I came to-to deliver a letter.”
“D-Deliver a letter? I see. You don’t have enough to do? Now you’re moonlighting for the postal service?”
Lucas spluttered a laugh. Which was unfortunate, because the situation was not comical, though he did, even now, find Riley genuinely funny. That scathing tone? That indignant expression?
Riley was not amused, however. He hauled off and slugged Lucas.
“Owww.” Lucas recoiled, putting his hand to his chest.
It was not a real punch, or at least not the punch Riley would’ve thrown if he’d been serious about doing damage, but it was not a love tap either. It landed squarely but high in Lucas’ shoulder.
“What the hell was that for?” Lucas protested.
“What the hell were you doing sneaking around my bedroom?”
“Looking to see if you were in California!”
Riley opened his mouth, but seemed at a loss for words.
“I was afraid…” Lucas tried again. “I wanted to try to explain.”
Riley’s expression changed, and he looked suddenly older and a lot wearier.
Lucas rushed to cut off whatever words were about to follow that expression. “Riley, listen. I know this is my fault. I want to fix it. I’mtryingto fix it. But everything I do seems to make it worse. I thought if I could write it all out, then maybe we could—”
“Lucas.”
Stubbornly, Lucas kept talking. “Because I don’t believe we can’t work this out. The fact that we love each other has to count for something—”
“Luc.”
Lucas stopped, asked gruffly, “Are you transferring back to California?”
Riley’s left eyebrow shot up. “How would I make that happen? Wishful thinking?”
Lucas flinched, and Riley grimaced. “No. Of course not.”
Lucas nearly sagged with relief. He’d all but convinced himself Riley had one foot on the next plane to LAX.
He tried to cover by saying, “I-I had the idea that maybe you decided to fly home to see your folks.”
“My folks are on cruise in the Bahamas, remember?”
“Oh. That’s right,” Lucas said sheepishly. “You did mention that.”
“Yep. I did.” Riley considered him for a long moment. “I went to see Hayley Corbin’s parents.”
“You… Okay.” Not what Lucas had expected.
“This time of year is… I wanted to let them know that we haven’t forgotten.”
That was very Riley. It would never have occurred to Lucas, but he found it unexpectedly touching.
He said carefully, “That was kind. But…”
Riley’s gaze held his. “I know you disagree, but I think there are still a couple of loose ends to pull on.”
