That was another thought that led to places she shouldn't let herself go with Emmy's brother. She had a moment of wondering if she could extract herself from the whole situation, or better yet, if she could possibly arrange for Emmy to only know Luke casually, like as somebody she'd gone to high school with. That would make Sabrina hooking up with him less of an issue.
Of course, that was impossible, and Sabrina snickered at herself for even thinking of it. "Um, look, I really don't want to interrupt your workout, but if you wanted to meet at Kate's later?"
"I haven't actually started my workout," Luke said. "I can skip it, or do it later. When do you leave for Vegas?"
"Six—"
"Tonight?"
Sabrina grimaced. "No, six tomorrow morning, which is at least as bad. Again, Emmy is insane and obviously there's no reason for you to do this?—"
But Luke was turning to his sister, his hands spread. "You're going to have to smooth this over with Mom and Dad, you know that, right? I've been gone for four months and Mom will eviscerate me if I tell her."
Sabrina said, "Oh my God, no—" while Emmy waved it all off casually.
"Yeah, of course. Mom's a homebody, you know she doesn't like it when any of us travel?—"
Luke snorted, and Emmy blushed, although not as badly as he had. "Yeah, Iknow, I'm one to talk. I used to be super agoraphobic," she said to Sabrina. "Or, I could leave the house, so whatever the agoraphobic version of 'terrified to leave town' is. I really only got over it when I met Karl, and even then, really only because he's the most amazing and understanding person who's ever existed."
"You'd mentioned it, but I didn't know it was that bad. Good for you. Good for Karl." Sabrina meant it. She liked Emmy's partner Karl, who was almost as big and handsome as Luke, and as much of an outsider to Virtue as Sabrina herself was. She hadn't realized how integral he'd been in helping Emmy through her fears, though, and gave him another notch on the positive side in the mental 'good guy/bad guy' column she kept for all her friends' boyfriends.
"Anyway, I've got you covered," Emmy said to Luke. "Mom can't kill you if she still wants to see you, so I'll just point that out to her and that you'll be home again on what, Monday?"
Sabrina nodded apologetically. "It's a long weekend. You don't have to come out right away," she said to Luke. "I mean, you don't have to come out at all. That's insane. But the wedding is on Sunday, so if you're sure about coming out you could?—"
"Show up for my girl from the moment she needs me until the moment she doesn't," Luke said firmly, and Sabrina thought,Oh, no. I'm going to fall in love with Emmy's brother.
Luke, who fortunately couldn't hear her thinking things like that, smiled down at her and offered his arm like a gentleman at the opera. "Shall we go to Kate's?"
Sabrina was a little afraid if she let her skin touch Luke's she would burst into flames from the sheer sexy heat of the man, so while she grinned at the offer, she also gestured at her clothes. "I should maybe put on something that isn't hot pink first."
Emmy, not quite under her breath, said, "You wear hot pink all the time."
"I should maybe put on somereal clothesthat are hot pink, then, jeez, Em! And maybe shower. I've been working out."
Luke glanced down at himself. "I guess I could put jeans on, too."
Sabrina wanted to assure him that wasn't necessary, but also thought doing so would be kind of creepy. Like, it would definitely be creepy if he looked over her in her skin-tight workout clothes and said it wasn't necessary forherto change into something else, so she figured it would be equally creepy for her to do it to him. She didn't want to be an equal-opportunity creep. "Meet you at Kate's in half an hour, then?"
"See you there." Luke beamed at her and headed for the men's locker rooms while Sabrina lingered long enough to watch him go before turning toward the women's changing rooms herself.
Or trying to: Emmy seized her arm and grinned at her so widely Sabrina thought it must actually hurt her face. "See? Was I right or was I right?"
Sabrina couldn't stop a giggle. "You're crazy is what you are, but he's g—" Probably Emmy didn't want to hear somebody say her brother was gorgeous. "—Great. And I gotta say, a man who doesn't make a snide comment about how long it'll take me to shower and get ready is a rare find."
Emmy's smile got even wider, although that didn't seem physically possible. "Right? And heisgorgeous," she said, even if Sabrina hadn't said it herself. "Your college friends will be drooling all over themselves, eyeing their own men, and wondering why they married down."
"Yeah they will. I mean, a couple of them are married to hotties, but…" Sabrina glanced after Luke again. "But wow, Emmy. I should've asked you to introduce me to your brothers months ago!"
"I did. Admittedly, it was to the two married ones and the engaged one, because Luke wasn't in town until last night. I'm working as fast as I can here! Now go shower so you can have lunch and figure out your backstory."
Sabrina, feeling chastised, amused, and slightly panicked, did as she was told, and twenty-eight minutes later walked up the steps to Kate's Cafe. It was one of half a dozen businesses along the west side of the town square, all of which were fronted by a raised, roofed porch that allowed people to walk from one end to the other without going back down to the sidewalk. Kate's itself had a few small tables outside, all of which were full, thanks to the late August sunshine. Sabrina went inside, where air conditioning made it feelmuchcooler than outdoors, and smiled as Luke stood up from a table in the back corner.
He was still wearing his workout tank top, but had put jeans on. Jeans shorts, at least, which was reasonable for the weatherandlet her admire his calves again, so she thought that was a win. She went over to put her bag down, and Luke actually held her chair for her. "Wow. You look great."
Sabrina glanced down at her pale pink sundress, which was elasticized through the waist and had a flouncy skirt she was very fond of, and at her sandals, which had open toes that reminded her Mindy was going to want everybody's toenails pedicured and painted even if their bridesmaid shoes weren'topen-toed. "Thanks? I think you're going to make a good fake boyfriend?"
Luke laughed. "I'm going to try. You can decide if me not ordering for you was good boyfriend or bad boyfriend material, but I didn't know what you wanted so I didn't."
