Anything but Love

was intense. “I don’t mean to push,” she said, “but I need some sort of guidelines. I need to know how to plan. How to … act. What to say when someone asks about us—and you know they will.”

Luke nodded toward his cell and said, “It’s already started,” then poured their coffee. “I checked my messages late last night after you’d fallen asleep. So far I’ve heard from Gram, Dev, Rocky, Nash, and Adam. All wanting to know what’s up with the rumor. Either Sam spilled the beans or someone from the Cupcake Lovers overheard our conversation.”

“Or maybe the CLs pushed Sam to spill,” Rae said. “You did say that they were watching you two argue through the window.”

“Either way, the word’s out.” Luke watched as Rae chose the skim milk and committed that to memory just as he’d noted her preference for sleeping on the left side of the bed. “I don’t know about long term, Rae,” he said honestly. “I can’t think that far ahead. I can’t predict.…”

“Either we’re compatible or we’re not. Something like that?” she asked while forking a generous helping of scrambled eggs.

“Something like.” She likes eggs, he thought, and wheat toast over white—no butter. “I don’t want you to see other men. Not the way I feel right now. Don’t ask me to explain. I can’t. Yet.”

She eyed him over the brim of her glass.

“I wouldn’t ask you to be faithful if I wasn’t willing to do the same.” The words sounded foreign to his ears and incited a short burst of panic. As Sam had pointed out, Luke had never been in a monogamous relationship for more than three days. What if he slipped? What if the Kelly twins tempted him with a menage or what if he grew bored with Rae after a short couple of weeks?

“I’d feel flattered if you didn’t look so miserable,” Rae said with a soft smile.

“Unchartered territory, is all.”

“Same here. What I mean,” she elaborated after a sip, “is that I’ve never been in a serious relationship, a committed relationship. Especially of a romantic nature.”

“Never?”

She shook her head then reached for the pancakes.

Hearty appetite, Luke noted then scrunched his brow. “Not to be shallow,” he said plainly, “but you’re rich, beautiful, and smart. How is it you haven’t had men dogging after you since you were, I don’t know, fourteen?”

“Plenty of dogs,” Rae said, looking uncomfortable now.

“But no suitable contenders? No pledges of love? No marriage proposals?”

“None that I took seriously.”

He weighed her words, starting to feel uncomfortable himself. “Are you saying you haven’t met a man who met your standards?”

“I’m saying I haven’t met a man who loved me for me.” She set aside her fork, the pancakes untouched. “Can we get back to us, please?”

He felt a little blindsided. “Sure.” He chugged his coffee and poured more. This was a three-cup morning, at least. “Except … hell. I feel awkward asking now, because—”

“You don’t love me.”

“I don’t know you.”

“Ask your question, Luke.”

He dragged his hands though his hair, centered his thoughts then met her gaze. “I want to see you, Rae. Exclusively. I want to date you. I want to sleep with you. I want to learn what makes you tick, what makes you smile. I want to be with you the next time you visit a doctor. I want to talk about our baby’s future and explore the possibility of a future for us. You can’t deny there’s a connection.”

“What if the connection is the baby? Period?”

Luke didn’t answer. It was possible. Sure. But he’d wager not something Rae wanted to hear. He reached across the table and gently grasped her hand. “Will you be my girl, Rae?” The question was so freaking old- fashioned, he half expected her to laugh.

Instead, she brushed her thumb over the back of his hand. “One stipulation.”

The first time he’d ever offered a woman an exclusive commitment and she had a stipulation? “Shoot.”

“If it’s not working, if we’re not compatible, we call it off. Before we start resenting one another, before it gets ugly. If nothing else, I want us to be friends for the sake of our daughter.”

“Or son.”

“I’m serious, Luke. If even one of us is unhappy in this exclusive relationship … It only takes one to end it.”

“Not sure I like the sound of that.”

“It’s the only thing I feel comfortable with.”

Huh. He should’ve been dancing on air. She’d just offered him the perfect out. It bugged the hell out of him. He squeezed her hand. “Okay.”

“Okay.” She smiled a little even though he sensed the tension in her body. “You’re not going to ask me to wear your class ring, are you?” she teased in light of his adolescent proposal. “Proof to the men of Sugar Creek that I’m off-limits?”

“Lucky for you, I lost that ring years ago. But no worries,” he teased back. “I’ll make it clear you’re my girl.”

She narrowed her beautiful albeit suspicious eyes. “Should I be worried?”

Luke’s brain buzzed with everything he’d learned about Rae so far, which wasn’t much, but enough to know she hadn’t been treated well by the men in her life, that she had a shitty relationship with her family, few friends, and few, if any, brushes with genuine affection. The mother of his child deserved better. Any woman deserved better. “Let’s just say you’ve been warned.”

NINETEEN

“In addition to toddler and preschool programs, I’m toying with the idea of enrichment programs for ages five through ten,” Rae said. “Supplemental educational opportunities that complement the elementary school’s core curriculum. Most classrooms are overcrowded these days and some children need extra help. I could—”

“You could what?”

Rae looked away from the locked doors of Sugar Tots to the man sitting next to her. On their way to J. T. Monroe’s Department Store, Luke had pulled into the small parking lot of Sugar Tots. He’d invited her to share her plans for reopening the day care center. He’d been the first to ask and apparently she was dying to voice her aspirations because, she realized now, she’d been rambling nonstop for several minutes. “I could help.” A flush crept up her neck to her cheeks. “I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I have a gift with children and head for education. Special techniques to make learning fun. I have all these ideas—”

“What kind of ideas?”

Rae fussed with her seat belt, angled away the heating vent, and checked her watch. They’d been idling in Luke’s car, in front of Sugar Tots for twenty minutes. It felt like a blip and a lifetime rolled into one.

“Why are you so shy about sharing your vision?” Luke asked.

“I’m not shy. I could talk about my vision for Sugar Tots for hours.”

“So?”

“I’ve been rambling. You’re probably bored to tears and too polite to say.”

“If I was bored I wouldn’t prod you to share more.” He cocked his head. “How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Bottle up all that passion and knowledge when you were working here under Gretchen?”

Rae shrugged. “It leaked out sometimes, but she didn’t want to hear it. She was set in her ways.”

“And not half as committed to the children of this town as you are. She threw in the towel and you’re not