Lucas gave his head a shake. “A fake date?”
“What’s a fake date?” Rylie asked as she came bouncing into the living room adjacent to the kitchen. She skipped her way over to me before snatching up a slice of apple with peanut butter and popping it in her mouth.
“That’s a very good question,” Lucas said.
I bit back a sigh. I suppose I should’ve explained better and considered that my ever curious niece might appear with nosy questions.
“Okay. It’s a date, but we’re not dating. Romantically speaking,” I explained.
Rylie finished chewing and leaned over to reach for the napkins in the center of the table. I stretched my arm out, nudging the stack in her direction. After wiping her mouth, she angled her head to the side. Like Lucas and me, Rylie had almost black hair and green eyes. Unlike me, her hair had a bit of a curl to it like her father’s.
Rylie narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “I don’t understand,” she said, her solemn tone almost making me laugh aloud.
“Walker’s a friend,” I said, looking between them. “He did me a favor the other night and helped me out with a situation at the bar. I told him I’d be happy to return the favor. He needs a date to a wedding, so I’m going.”
This was all starting to seem rather ridiculous. Plus, I couldn’t explain it completely in front of Rylie. What had tipped my hand to agree was learning that Walker’s ex had screwed around on him and would be at the wedding. After what Rylie’s mother had done to Lucas, well, I had feelings about that kind of thing. I couldn’t exactly discuss that in front of Rylie.
Rylie wrinkled her nose and grinned. “That’s weird.”
“Walker’s a friend. Just like I would go somewhere with Valentina because she’s my friend, I’ll do the same for Walker,” I explained.
That explanation finally seemed to satisfy Rylie. Her attention shifted to her father. “Can I go outside?”
Lucas nodded. “You know the rules.”
With a squeal, Rylie dashed to the side of the kitchen. The screen door bounced behind her, and she skipped out into the yard, immediately heading over to the small tree house a few feet off the ground. Lucas had built that for her last month, and she loved it.
Lucas watched as she disappeared into the tiny space before his gaze slid back to me. “Okay, what’s really going on? I couldn’t believe it when Walker mentioned he was taking you to the wedding.”
I threw my hands up. “Nothing is going on. Like nothing. You weren’t there, but Walker stepped in and broke up a bit of a scuffle at the bar the other night. This asshole was getting out of hand with a girl there for her twenty-first birthday. You know me—”
I paused when Lucas muttered, “Oh, I know you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that you never back down from a confrontation. Sometimes I worry about you because of that.”
With a roll of my eyes, I continued, “Anyway, I tried to get him to back off and the guy was drunk enough that he grabbed me. Walker intervened and straightened things out. When he said he needed a date for the wedding, and I found out it was because his ex screwed around on him with his best friend’s brother, well, I’m all on board.” I left out the bit about Walker helping me out of the dumpster and finding my bracelet. Lucas didn’t need to know every freaking detail.
Lucas chuckled softly. “And what exactly are you going to do?”
“Make her fucking regret it,” I said flatly.
“No need to take what happened with Melissa personally, Jade.” Lucas was referring to his late wife who died from an aneurysm. We found out after she died that she’d cheated on him with a friend for over a year. “In case you missed it, I’ve more than moved on. Valentina’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I know you have,” I said with a sigh. “Valentina is amazing and I adore her. But, I owe Walker a favor. If he needs a date to that wedding, I’ll do it. It’s totally platonic, so don’t read anything into it.”
Lucas studied me, his gaze speculative. I crossed my legs, my thumb reflexively reaching to my opposite wrist to trace over the silver bracelet I wore there, the very bracelet Walker had rescued for me.
“I thought you didn’t date,” he said with a subtle lift of his chin and the hint of a dare in his tone.
I lifted my own chin in return, meeting his gaze head-on. “I don’t. Like I told you, this isn’t a real date. It’s not like that.”
He angled his head to the side, staying quiet just long enough that I shifted my shoulders and uncrossed my legs only to cross the other leg over the top again.
“You know, you had an opinion on my lack of a love life before I met Valentina,” Lucas commented, his tone casual.
“So what if I did?” I managed in reply, clinging to the steely defiance that got me through most situations when I felt uncomfortable. Unfortunately for me, my brother wasn’t intimidated and knew me better than just about anyone else.
“I’m just sayin’,” he drawled, “you gave me a lecture on how I should give someone a chance. Think you said something about keeping my options open, or some other nonsense like that.”
“And? Look where it got you. You found Valentina. She’s amazing and we all adore her.”
Lucas smiled slowly. “I did. And I just might be the luckiest man in the world. My love life isn’t the topic of conversation right now. Yours is. Or lack thereof, I should say.”
I took a breath, willing the churning in my gut to stop. “I’m perfectly fine without any love life. Society places expectations on women, and I’m happy without anyone. I don’t need any pressure, much less from you,” I snapped.
Lucas’s gaze
