Lukas wasn’t fooled by Star’s nonchalant outward appearance. She was doing her level best to avoid him but that didn’t mean anything. It actually spoke volumes. If she wasn’t interested in him then she wouldn’t have a reason to skirt the scene whenever she spotted him. She’d been doing it ever since the night of that kiss. Her actions could also be explained by the fact that she hated him but Lukas had pretty good senses and he didn’t think that was the case.
He was going to seek her out after a couple weeks of trying to prove to her that he was indeed a decent human being and not the pig he thought he was, but it turned out he didn’t have to. She came to him.
“Lukas.”
It was first thing in the morning and he was hard at work scrubbing toilets in the women’s washroom. One of them had overflowed. Again. Thankfully he had most of the mess cleaned up. He whirled, mop in hand, at the sound of Star’s voice.
“Sorry. I thought I put the sign out front that the washroom was being cleaned.”
“Yah. You did.” She shocked him by dead bolting the main door shut. Somehow that shitty fluorescent lighting overhead that buzzed and whined and never worked properly illuminated her face so that she looked like an angel. Hell, who am I kidding? She always looks that way.
“Oh. I- uh- can I help you with something?” He wasn’t used to being at a loss for words.
“Yes.” She hesitated, as though warring with herself.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Whether I truly want to ask you this or not.”
“Oh. I would say, go for it. No secrets between friends…”
“You’re not my friend.” The way she voiced those words said that she hoped not at least. They weren’t harsh like they could have been. “I want to know if what you’re doing is genuine. Do you really want to help people or are you just trying to impress me?”
Lukas nearly chuckled. Star looked so uncertain; so completely unlike herself. He moved, placing the mop back in the bucket. He leaned up against the first stall and crossed his arms casually over his chest. Star stepped back a pace but there was nowhere to go. Her back pressed up against the main door. Her eyes flicked around the washrooms wildly, as though coming there had been a mistake.
“I’ll admit that at first I was doing it to prove a point. You threw down a challenge and I wanted to prove that I was up to it. I’m not whatever devil you think I am. When I first started coming to this kitchen I didn’t like it. I thought, why help people who can’t help themselves? I know now, why you do it. The day that I first helped Jacob Wilde was the day I understood why you do it all. Why you come here, day after day and keep this place open when people aren’t always grateful. I know it’s not always easy and yet you and Jed, Connie and Cassie and all the other volunteers truly care. I didn’t get it. I was repulsed by everything when I first started. I understand now. That feeling of having helped someone, of making a difference no matter how small… it’s quite incredible.”
A set of huge green eyes blinked once, twice. Star let out a shaky exhale. “I guess I owe you a date then. Fair is fair.”
“Don’t sound so excited. You don’t really have to go out with me if you don’t want to. I would never force someone to spend an evening with me against their will.”
“No. I bet you’re used to all the women falling all over themselves. They probably line up down the block to have a shot at a date with you. I bet they’re still lined up. I want to know how many you have on the side right now.”
Lukas bristled. “I know what you’ve heard about me. Some of it is undeniably true, but ever since I got that third DUI I haven’t had time to worry about whether I was taking someone out for dinner or not. I never really was the playboy everyone made me out to be. I might have spent time with many women, but never more than one at a time. Sometimes things aren’t always as they seem.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“From your friend? I don’t doubt it. Sometimes, with the clingy ones I was a real asshole. I didn’t want to settle down. I felt suffocated. Trapped. I wasn’t always honest. I could be pretty convincing when I drove them away.”
“So you lied to them to get them to leave? To hurt them?”
He winced. Put that way it sounded real heartless. “Sometimes. If they wouldn’t listen any other way. Some people get… obsessed. Making them leave is going to hurt them no matter how it’s done.”
Star swallowed hard. Disgust flittered across her face for a second before it was quickly replaced with the same stoic wall that she usually presented to him. “I suppose I should thank you for being honest. Where does that leave us? Why would you want to take me out to dinner if you’re too busy or if you don’t want something serious?”
Why indeed? Because with you, I do. Oddly enough, it was true. After weeks of restless nights and haunted dreams, Lukas was near distraction when it came to Star. She was like no other woman. She’d reduced him to the equivalent of a heart sick teenager.
“I thought it might be nice. You know, to treat yourself. You probably don’t go out much. You work far too hard. You don’t look like you’ve ever had fun in your life.”
Star’s brow knitted in a frown. “Fun? You think a night out with you would be fun?”
“I don’t know. I guess it could be. At least it would be a free dinner at a nice restaurant.” A ghost of a smile flitted over Star’s lips. Lips that Lukas would love to kiss again. Would they be as velvet soft and supple as he remembered?
“I suppose that might count for something. But I want you to promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“That you won’t play around with me. I’m not into games. I don’t have time for them. I don’t have time for any of this really. I don’t even know why I’m agreeing to this. It will only serve to inflate your already massive ego.”
“Thanks.” Lukas said dryly.
Twin spots of pink brightened Star’s cheeks. He was astounded. Had he really just made her blush? For a man who thought he understood women quite well, he realized at that moment that he actually knew very little.
“One other condition. If you tell anyone about this I will personally make sure your last month here is a purgatory of your own making.”
“I don’t doubt it. So are we on then? Friday night? Seven?”
“Better make it eight,” Star ground out. “I have to visit my dad first.”
“Eight it is.”
She turned and unlocked the dead bolt. “Who would have thought…” she said so quietly he almost didn’t hear her. “That hell has finally frozen over.” She slipped just as quietly out of the bathroom.
Lukas let her go before he muttered under his breath. “This is San Diego and it’s mighty damn warm. Hell has nothing to do with it and it’s certainly not frozen over.”