Page 38 of Falling for the Maverick

“Lucas!”

“That’s my name, babe.”

“You didn’t answer me.”

“The answer is yes. I’m taking you to DJ’s Deluxe in Bronco.”

Her jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you tell me we were going someplace fancy? I would’ve worn something nicer.”

“What you’re wearing is perfect.”

Michelle glanced at the chocolate-brown suede maxi skirt she’d paired with a matching hip-length jacket over a white silk blouse. She wore high-heeled brown suede boots she had impulsively bought in a Missoula boutique. When Lucas had mentioned intimate she didn’t want to go overboard and show a lot of skin, so she’d decided on casual chic.

“If I’m underdressed, then you’re going to hear it from me, Lucas Brandt.”

“You must be serious. You called me by my first and last name.”

“If I knew the middle name, I would’ve included that, too.”

“It’s Phillip.”

“Isn’t your father Phillip?”

“Yes. He wanted to name one of his sons Phillip, but my mother wouldn’t have it. She said all her kids should have their own names so there would be no mistaking who was who. So instead of a junior, I became Lucas Phillip Brandt.”

“When you mentioned an intimate dinner, I thought we were going to have that at your house.”

“There wasn’t enough time to plan the menu and music playlist.”

“Oh, you were really going to go all out with the romantic theme,” she teased.

“I happen to know what women like, Michelle.”

“I suppose you do since you’ve dated a lot of them.”

A beat passed before Lucas said, “Not tonight, Michelle. Please don’t bring up things from the past when we are in the here and now.”

Michelle slowly blinked. “I’m sorry if I hit a nerve by mentioning women from your past. We’re just having fun.” She tried not to let bitterness enter her voice as she realized Aaron’s assertion regarding Lucas’s inability to commit to a relationship was accurate.

“I don’t have any skeletons in my closet when it comes to women. Can you say the same?”

Michelle realized she’d opened Pandora’s box by mentioning his past. “I have one,” she admitted.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Pressing the back of her head against the headrest, she closed her eyes. It had taken months after she came back home to reveal to Aaron what she’d experienced in Missoula, and just the other night she’d felt comfortable enough to tell her grandmother. Aaron and Gram were family, and she knew she could count on their empathy, but it was different with Lucas. Would he think her needy and gullible because an older man had enticed and fooled her?

“He was the reason why I left Missoula and came back to Tenacity.”

* * *

Lucas heard the pain in Michelle’s voice, and he instantly regretted asking her to talk about a man in her past. “You don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want.”

“But I do, because you should know a little something about me.”

“I’m listening,” he said after a swollen silence filled the inside of the vehicle.

“He was another teacher who was in the running to be appointed as an assistant principal,” Michelle began. “As a new second-grade teacher, I went into my classroom three days before the beginning of classes to decorate it. I was on a stepladder putting up a banner when he walked in and said he would help me. I was totally aware that he had a reputation for hitting on new teachers, and apparently he saw me as fresh meat. But I ignored the whispers because there was something about him I couldn’t resist.”