I don't come here every night, so I thought maybe we just missed each other. But I asked Jack-you haven't been around for a beer at all. A couple of weeks, I think…." Eleven days, he thought miserably. "And you were going to make a break for it once I showed up. I hadn't even considered you were avoiding me. Do I make you nervous or something?" she asked. "Whew," he answered, shaking his head. "I haven't been out of the army long enough to get over that rank thing. Your uncle-" "Isn't anywhere in sight," she said, cutting him off. "Is it just my uncle?" "You're a pretty girl, Shelby," he said. "And you're just a girl. Puts me on edge, yeah." "Well then, we're even," she said. He gave her a perplexed look and she said, "You're a good-looking guy, obviously been around a lot more than I have, and you're older. Scary." He laughed at her candidness. "There you go-like water on a grease fire. Let's play it safe, huh? Now tell me about your day." "Nothing to tell. Besides, this is interesting. I'd like to know what's going on here. So, it's pretty much that I'm a lot younger than you are. Or you just don't like me." And then she blushed, which made him squirm. It obviously took guts for her to push on this issue. But she wanted to know. So he decided to tell her. "You know what it is, Shelby," he said. "You're young and tender. A sweet young thing. I'm hell on sweet young things." She laughed at him. "I bet anything you usually find a way to get past all that." Well, she didn't scare easy, Luke realized with some admiration.
( Robyn Carr )
[ Temptation Ridge ]
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