She turned her head and met Luke’s gaze. The smell of pine and the outdoors hovered around him. Being in such close confines in his truck brought his attributes into sharp focus. He had a strong jawline, nice bone structure, and broad shoulders that a girl could comfortably lay her head on. It was hard not to stare. She felt certain that women must ogle him all the time.
Stella suppressed the urge to reach out and graze her fingers against his warm brown skin. He looked extremely rugged, no doubt due to his military training. She’d heard how rigorous the requirements were, not to mention the actual conditions they faced while being deployed. Luke was the real deal. No question about it. He’d earned his swagger.
“He did what?” Luke’s eyes were bulging, and there was an angry-looking vein on his forehead. She shivered. This was not a man to be messed with. He didn’t strike her as the type of person who would back down to anyone or anything.
“Yep. To add to his other crimes, he’s a thief. I made a list of names for our future children, and he used the one at the top of my girl list. Who does that?” Just thinking about it made her face burn with outrage. “It’s just such a low-down thing to do in addition to everything else he put me through. Of all the names out there in the universe, did he really have to poach mine?”
Luke clenched his jaw. “You won’t get any argument from me on that front. Not to rub salt in the wound, but it seems hard to believe it wasn’t deliberate.”
She let out an indelicate snort. “I’d bet my last dollar it was.” Stella had no idea why Rafe seemed to want to twist the knife in her back. Hadn’t he done enough by calling off their wedding and marrying another woman? Buying the old Victorian they’d talked about and stealing her baby name were acts of aggression.
Luke made a loud sucking sound with his teeth. It felt good to know Luke felt her pain. Or at least understood.
“And then my friend Rosie who owns the bridal shop blindsided me with her nephew, Tucker, who just happened to find his way over to the shop while I was there. I’ve been dodging his calls and texts for months now, so it was awkward to say the least,” she explained. She felt a bit breathless after talking a mile a minute.
“Wouldn’t it just be easier to tell him you’re not interested?” Luke was looking at her with his head cocked to the side as if he couldn’t figure her out. For a millisecond she got lost in his soulful brown eyes. At this close proximity she could see little caramel-colored flecks in his orbs. Stella slowly dragged her gaze away and focused on the sight of the ocean in the distance. Usually it brought her a sense of calm, but at the moment it wasn’t doing anything to bring Stella peace.
She let out a pent-up sigh. “Of course it would be. But that would be the mature thing to do, right? Surely you don’t expect that from a woman who threw herself out of a shop window. That’s why I hate people trying to play matchmaker on my behalf. I have trouble saying no. It’s the same thing with my parents. They’re always trying to set me up on blind dates.” Stella made a face.
“Okay, so it’s not as bad as you might think,” Luke said, his voice calm and sexy. “Just tell the nephew you don’t think the two of you are a good fit. Let him down easy, but firmly. Put some bass in your voice if you have to. And as for your ex, I think avoiding him at all costs is the smart thing to do.” He quirked his mouth. “He sounds pretty awful.”
Stella didn’t know how to explain it, but hearing Luke speak so poorly about Rafe made her feel defensive. For better or worse, she’d loved him like nobody’s business. Sometimes she wondered if she still did. Every now and again, late at night in the hours between darkness and dawn, thoughts of Rafe kept her awake. She wondered when he’d stopped loving her and why. Had there been some pivotal moment that she’d missed? Something she’d done to turn him off?
“He wasn’t always such a complete jerk,” she said quietly, wrapping her arms around her midsection. It felt like Luke’s condemnation of Rafe was a reflection of her and the poor choices she’d made in her romantic life. If he was the world’s biggest tool, why had she planned to marry him? What was wrong with her? Why was she feeling some kind of way about Luke’s description of her ex? Rafe had jerked her around and treated her horribly. He’d left her broken and embarrassed and empty. The entire town of Mistletoe had borne witness to her humiliation. If she lived to be 102, Stella didn’t think she would ever forget how awful it had felt to be unceremoniously dumped.
“When we were together, he was far from perfect…but not a monster.” Her voice was a lot softer now. “Trust me, I have moments where he seems worse than Hannibal Lecter, but he wasn’t always that way.” Otherwise, Stella never would have fallen in love with the handsome charmer.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped. I don’t even know the guy. But the way he treated you…I hope you know you didn’t deserve that.” The intensity radiating from Luke’s eyes made Stella feel comforted and valued. It was amazing how a few words from someone she didn’t even know all that well could lift her up.
“I do,” she said, blinking away tears. And she did. It was just so hard to move past the promise of the life she’d mapped out.Wedding, honeymoon in Fiji, buying the sweet Victorian home, babies.She’d planned on being happy and paired up with a man who was committed to her. And yet, in the end, she’d been left with nothing. Although Stella had chosen not to showcase her heartache to the entire town, she’d been completely shattered by Rafe’s actions. Strangely, folks just expected her to get over it and move on to someone else. She wasn’t built that way.
“Do you know what it’s like being the older sister of someone who’s getting married to Mistletoe’s favorite son? Everyone and their mother wants to pair me up with someone. They seem to think I can just find my soulmate by snapping my fingers.” She let out an indelicate snort. “As if I want all of that. Those dreams went up in smoke a while ago. If another person asks me when I’m getting hitched, I’m going to lose it. And things might get really ugly if anyone tries to set me up with their nephew or brother or the random guy who sells CDs out of the back of his car.”
Luke wasn’t saying anything. He was gazing pretty intensely out the window toward the endless miles of ocean. Stella imagined there were a lot of thoughts running around in his brain, such as wondering how he’d gotten stuck with her inside his vehicle in the first place.
“I’m sorry for ranting. I promise you I’m not usually like this,” she said. She felt deeply ashamed. Luke hadn’t signed up for all of this. All he’d offered her was a ride, not a therapy session. It was just so frustrating to have to suck up her feelings all the time and pretend as if all was right in her world when in reality it seemed like she might be falling apart.
He turned back toward her. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. You’ve really been through it. Believe it or not, we have more in common than you might think.”
“Really?” she asked. What could she and this rugged military hero have in common? It was unlikely that his personal life was as messy as her own unless he had some major skeletons in his closet. And if he did, she would really like to hear all about them so she didn’t feel like such a mess.
“Yeah,” Luke said. He cleared his throat. “It seems I may have captured the attention of a few dozen ladies here in town. They’ve been blowing up Nick’s phone and asking to go out with me.” He raised his fingers and began massaging his temple as if he had the world’s biggest headache. “It’s getting a bit awkward.”
There was absolutely nothing shocking to Stella about Luke being a hot commodity in Mistletoe. She’d predicted it the very first day he’d shown up at her school. Navy SEAL plus tall, dark, and handsome was a no-brainer in these parts. Stella was slightly surprised they weren’t showing up unannounced at Nick’s house to try and woo Luke with cakes, casseroles, and skimpy outfits. Or anything else that might tempt him.
She made a tutting sound. “I hope you realize that these women aren’t playing around. You’ve only been in town for a few days so they’re probably trying to pace themselves. Just wait until they get their bearings.” Stella chuckled. “I can’t say I’m surprised though. Everyone in Mistletoe is eager to be booed up with someone.”
“Everyone except you?” Luke asked with his eyebrows knitted together.
“You got that right. I’m not interested in being someone’s other half,” Stella admitted. “Been there done that. I’m not going down that road again. I mean if it happens that would be good, but I’m not going out of my way looking for it.”
Luke sighed. “I should give you a pep talk and convince you to give romance another try, but considering I’m content being single myself, it would be disingenuous.”
They sat for a few minutes in companionable silence. Stella liked the fact that Luke didn’t make her feel like a lunatic. He really listened to her and responded with sincerity and kindness.Thank you, Mrs. Keegan, for raising Luke right.
“I think I’m ready to head back to the parking lot. I doubt Rafe is still at the shop.” Stella bit her lip. She sure hoped he wasn’t. As it was she would have to dart to her car in case Rosie happened to be looking out her window. The thought of explaining her Houdini disappearing act was cringeworthy.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind hanging out for a bit longer. You’re making a great case for staying single,” he said, the corners of his mouth twitching with merriment. And what a nice mouth he had, Stella thought once again. His lips were full and perfectly shaped. Extremely kissable.
