CHAPTER NINE
When they stepped into Trish’s, several women watched Luke’s progress across the room. Jack wanted to grab Luke’s hand and declare that Luke was his, which was crazy. He never got possessive, not even with Lauren, and they’d dated for three years. She’d been the one to introduce him to BDSM. But he’d never felt like he needed to stake his claim with her. What was going on with him?
All the booths were full, so Jack gestured toward a table. When they sat down, he had to resist the urge to pull out Luke’s chair for him. They’d been there less than two minutes, and he was already struggling not to give them away.
Luke picked up a menu as soon as he sat down. Jack could tell how tense he was from the set of his shoulders, not to mention the fact that he was sure Luke had the menu memorized.
Jack toyed with his own menu, but he knew what he was going to order and he wasn’t actually seeing any of the printed words. Then Luke glanced up, and their gazes met. Jack nearly melted from the weight of emotion in Luke’s eyes—desire, nerves, anticipation.
“I…um…wanted to say thank you again for earlier in the week, for understanding.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for. Anyone who didn’t understand isn’t worthy of being your…friend.”
“I guess I’m lucky I was with you, then.”
If Luke kept this up, Jack wasn’t going to survive their lunch date, and yet, he couldn’t help flirting back. “Yeah, you are.”
Luke’s eyes widened, and he sucked in his breath. They had to stop before they got themselves in trouble.
“Hey, y’all. How’s it going?”
Just great. Luke’s cousin Lucy was their waitress.
Luke’s cheeks turned red as if Lucy had caught them doing far more than bantering with each other. He needed to say something before things got awkward.
“I’m talking to Luke about some bookkeeping help. Scott Tregar told me he really knows what he’s doing.” There. Cover story out of the way.
“That’s nice,” Lucy said, but when she turned toward Luke, she eyed him in a way that was too damn perceptive. “You look flushed. Should I tell Trish to turn the A/C on? She said it was going to stay cool today, but I don’t think that’s true. This heat wave just won’t quit.”
Luke’s frantic expression spurred Jack to latch on to the topic of weather.
“It’s the worst September in decades.”
“I know. Trish ain’t even started selling her start-of-fall chili yet.” She glanced at a large party walking through the door. “I guess I shouldn’t stand here talking any longer. What do y’all want to drink?”
“I’ll have tea,” Jack said and prompted Luke with a light kick under the table.
“Um…yeah. Tea’s fine.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you sure you’re all right? You don’t need me to call Aunt Susanna, do you?”
“Hell, no.”
Lucy wrinkled her nose as she continued to study him. “Well, why are you acting so strange today, then?”
“It’s just hot, like you said.”
Lucy clearly didn’t believe him. She looked back at Jack. “Keep an eye on him. He’s way too stubborn to tell anyone if he is feeling bad.”
“I don’t need a keeper,” Luke insisted.
Lucy snorted and walked off.
“Shit.” He dropped his head into his hands.
“At least now I know you’re a terrible liar.”
He grimaced. “I’m the fucking worst.”
“I like men who are honest.”
Luke peeked up at him. “I guess that’s something in my favor, then.”
“Right now I don’t know a single thing that’s not in your favor.”
Luke’s cheeks reddened even more. “If you keep that up, we’ll have to tell Lucy what’s going on because I’ll be incoherent by the time she gets back.”
Jack grinned. “I love that I have that effect on you.”
“But do you have to affect me here?”
“Hmm. Maybe after we eat, we should go somewhere private.”
Luke sat up straighter in his seat. “Really?”
“If you’d like to.”
“But I thought we weren’t…”
Jack shrugged. “I did too, but I was wrong.”
“I’m glad.”
“I inherited my great uncle’s cabin at the fishing club on Lake Ingram. I hardly ever use it, but it’s remote and private, so sometimes I bring…friends there.”
Luke nodded vigorously. “Yes.”
“I didn’t actually ask a question.”
“Well, when you get around to asking me, the answer is yes.”
Lucy appeared with their drinks before Jack could respond. He hoped to God she hadn’t heard anything he’d said. Not that there was any reason he couldn’t tell Luke about his cabin. Still, his lack of ability to focus on something other than his lust was the reason he usually kept relationships with men confined to the club or his cabin.
“Do you know what you’d like to eat?” Lucy asked.
Jack wasn’t sure he’d be able to eat with Luke giving him that innocent look through his ridiculously long lashes, but he needed food if he was going to have the afternoon he was now planning.
“I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger.”
“With fries?” Lucy asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Great. Luke, you want the chicken and gravy special, right?”
“Of course.”
Lucy laughed. “I’ll have that out as soon as I can.”
Once she was gone, Jack caught Luke’s gaze. “If we’re going to make it through this lunch, we’ve got to tone things down.”
Luke nodded. “Yeah, I’m feeling like forgetting all about food.”
“No, you’re going to need your energy.”
“Fuck.”
Jack raised his brows.
“How’d you end up running an inn?” Luke asked, all feigned innocence. “I know your dad wanted you to go into teaching and then coach like him.”
“Yeah, he did. Ames Bridge dads seem to all be sticklers for their sons following in their footsteps.”
Luke snickered. “Yep. Just like me, working on my family’s farm.”
“Is that what you want to do? Because if it is, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“No. I’ve been considering the accounting programs. I know people think that so boring and all, but—”
“Accounting is a great career path.” Ugh, now he sounded like a dad. “What made you choose it?”
“Numbers have always made sense to me. Reading is hard sometimes, but I’m good with patterns, and numbers seem to just line up in my head.”
“That’s awesome. I wish they did that for me.”
Luke gave him a shy smile.
“So why have you waited?”
“My family. Mama thinks school would be too stressful for me. And me moving to Greensboro to go to UNC-G? She’d flip.”
“Luke, I know you love your family and they love you, but you’re a grown man, and you can move wherever you want.”
“I know, and I’ve got a good amount of savings to help me do it. I insisted that if I was going to keep working on the farm, I’d get paid like anyone else. I give some of that back in rent for my garage apartment, though.”
“Good for you.” Jack couldn’t understand why other people in town couldn’t see how mature Luke was, a lot more so than many of the other twenty-one-year-olds around there, like Lucy’s brother, Dale.
“Thanks. If I move, I’ll find a job to help with school, and I’m applying for some scholarships. There are ones for people with congenital heart defects. We actually can handle the stress of school, even if some people don’t believe it.”
“I believe it.”
Luke grinned. “Apparently, you think my heart can take quite a lot.”
“I told you that while I needed to know about anything that could compromise your health, if you can handle regular exertion, you can handle what I want from you.”
Luke blushed—did he have to be so fucking adorable—and glanced around. “Shit, I… When I’m with you, I just…”
“Me too.”
“Yeah?”
Jack nodded.
“Did you really mean it about the cabin? This afternoon?”
He should probably make Luke wait, especially since he was showing Jack just how eager he was. As he pondered his answer, Luke chewed his lower lip.
“Stop that.”
“What?” Luke tilted his head and smiled.
“Are you trying to earn what you want?”
Luke shook his head, but he was still giving Jack that coy look that drove him crazy.
“You never did tell me how you ended up running an inn. You skillfully diverted the conversation to me.”
Jack chuckled. “I have a habit of that. I’m not good at talking about my personal life.”
“But you’re the one who said communication is the most important thing in a relationship.”
“When it comes to what we were talking about then, that’s certainly true. I know it’s strange that I can talk about things that would make most people blush, but when it comes to more mundane things, I’m shit at opening up.”
“You can tell me anything. I promise.” Luke reached out like he was going to take Jack’s hand, but then he jerked his hand back and lowered his gaze.
“It’s not like there’s anything all that exciting about my story.”
“No?”
“Well…”
“Tell me, Jack.”
Those words, mirroring what he’d said to Luke in scene space, nearly did him in.
“After high school, I traveled around for a few years. I had no idea what I wanted to do other than not being a high-school teacher. I spent a summer in Alaska. I worked a winter at a ski resort in Utah. I traveled through Costa Rica.”
“That sounds amazing. I’ve hardly been anywhere.”
“I’d love to—” Jack paused, but Luke appeared so truly interested. He might as well say it. “I’d love to show you all those places. I know that’s presumptuous, but—”
“Thank you. No one’s ever offered me anything like that. But we don’t have to talk about it any more now. I don’t want to screw this up.”
Jack nodded. “I don’t either. After all that traveling, I decided that whatever I did, I wanted to work for myself. I started out majoring in business at UNC-G. Then I met a friend—later he became my first boyfriend—who worked at a hotel. I had a job at Subway, which I loathed, so when there was an opening at the hotel, he encouraged me to apply. I ended up really enjoying the job, getting to know people from all over and advise them on the best restaurants and local attractions.”
He realized Luke was grinning at him. “What?”
“It’s just interesting how much you like to serve when you…”
Jack rolled his eyes. “I’m sure there’s a whole psychological analysis that could be done.”
“Or, you know, maybe it’s not that complicated.”
Jack knew in that moment that he was falling for Luke and falling hard. He took a deep breath and continued. “I switched to the tourism and hotel management program and finished my degree. I worked for a hotel in Greensboro for five years, eventually becoming the manager. Then a friend I worked with bought an inn in Winston-Salem, and I helped run it while saving and hoping I could one day have my own.”
“So when the inn came up for sale, you bought it. And now it’s doing really well.”
Jack nodded. “It is.”
“It must be great to have a job you truly enjoy.”
“Yes, but I’m very thankful to have been able to hire some more staff recently, and I could still do with more. It was a luxury to take off Wednesday night and this afternoon.”
“You’re spending all your time off with me?”
“I am.” Jack didn’t even care how much that revealed.
Luke gave him an enigmatic smile.
“What are you thinking about?”
Luke didn’t respond.
“Luke.”
Luke sighed. “Now you’re the one doing it.”
“What?”
“Using that tone. I can’t think when you do that.”
Lucy arrived with their food then. Did she have the best timing or what?
“You doing any better?” she asked Luke.
“I’m fine. Really. It’s just been a long day.”
“It’s only 12:15.”
“My days start early.”
She sniffed. “I bet you weren’t at work at three a.m. making bread like I was.”
Luke laughed. “Nope. I’ve got to give you that one. I forgot that bakers get up even earlier than farmers.”
“Sadly, we do, though the quiet is nice.”
“Lucy?”
“What?”
“How are you liking school?”
“It’s the best thing I could’ve done. Does that mean Dale’s right and you’re planning to go?”
“Maybe, but don’t tell Mama you talked to me about it.”
“I won’t, but you ought to tell her yourself. Surely she wouldn’t mind if you took some classes like I am. You could still work at the farm.”
“Like you’re working at the garden supply?”
Lucy huffed. “You know I’d wanted to quit for years.”
“I don’t want to work at the farm any more than you want to sell seeds. Besides, I’m applying to programs at UNC-G and GTCC.”
“Still, that’s not—”
“And apartments in Greensboro.”
She whistled. “Well, that would be something. You should do it. You need to get out of here.”
“You stayed.”
“I’m not in the same situation as you, and I’m not saying I’ll stay after I finish school. Although, Paula said she’d be interested in having me full-time.”
“That’s great.”
She nodded. “It is, but I’m not sure if I’ll accept.”
“How long does your program last?” Jack asked.
“Sixteen months. I’m just four months into it. So I’ve got a while left.”
“Well, good luck.”
“Thank you. Y’all need anything else?”
Both of them shook their heads, and she headed back toward the kitchen.
“So you’ve been thinking about moving?”
Luke nodded. “I need to get away from my family and prove that I can be independent and not get sick or beg to come home.”
“You should apply. You seem like a man who knows what he wants and goes after it.”
“I… That’s the man I’d like to be.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
Luke sighed. “My mom… She… It will hurt her. I know she loves me.”
“Will she love you less if you prove you can handle living on your own?”
“Shit, how do you do that?”
“What?”
“Make me see things in a completely new way.”
Jack shrugged. He simply had a rapport with Luke that he didn’t with most people. “As awful as hurting her might be, you still need to do what’s right for you. Living for her, being what she wants, isn’t ever going to feel as good as being you.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “This from a man in the closet.”
“I never said I was perfect.”
“Damn, you had to go and be honest, didn’t you? So now I have to be too.”
Jack grinned. “We should talk about something else anyway, considering we’re in gossip central.”
“True. For all I know, my mom has spies stationed here.”
“Then let’s make sure she doesn’t see anything to make her worry.”
As they ate, they talked about innocuous things like the fall crops at Sumner Farm, Jack’s interest in setting up some beehives at the inn, and the latest gossip about the new priest at the Episcopal Church, which Jack attended sporadically.
When they were ready to go, Jack snatched the bill before Luke had a chance. “I’m paying.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t have to, but I want to.”
“Okay, but I’ll get the bill next time,” Luke insisted.
“Deal,” Jack said. But would there be a next time? They weren’t supposed to be dating, and they sure as hell would get tongues wagging if they kept doing it here.
When he reached the register, Trish moved down the counter to ring him up.
“Be careful with that boy,” she said as she handed back his credit card.
“What do you mean?”
She raised her brows.
“Trish, I—”
“I don’t need a confession or a denial; I just need to know you won’t hurt him.”
“He’s not some delicate flower.”
Trish snorted. “Not the way his mother thinks, but he is vulnerable.”
Jack wanted to pretend he had no idea what she was talking about, but he couldn’t be that dishonest, not with someone as full of integrity as Trish. He’d been hesitant about the relationship himself, in part because Luke was inexperienced—sexually but also emotionally and culturally.
“Getting out of Ames Bridge, even if it’s just for a few years, would do him a lot of good,” Trish added.
“I understand. I’ll do my best to take care of him.”
She narrowed her eyes and then nodded. “Good.”
He hoped to hell he didn’t end up hurting Luke. He’d obviously have hell to pay if he did.