Sweet Hill Temptation (Sweet Hill 0.50)

Two right turns and a couple miles of apple trees later, she pulled in front of Luke’s place. It was the same small cabin he’d had since turning eighteen, despite his fortune, and she respected his simple lifestyle.

She banged on the door. From inside, she heard a small crash followed by Luke’s low cursing.

Luke opened the door. Great, shirtless again. Only this time, instead of jeans he was wearing only black boxer briefs, and Annie almost forgot why she was there. She reminded herself to stay strong—and for God’s sake, to stop staring at his package.

“What the hell are you doing, Lucas Jacobs?”

He rubbed his eyes with one hand and said, “Sleeping.”

“No, I mean what the hell were you doing earlier today?”

Fully awake now, his gaze roamed the entire length of her body, and a hot flush was left on every inch that those intense greens graced. He smiled, apparently liking what he saw, and rested his forearm against the edge of the open door, doing all kinds of yummy things to his muscular chest and torso.

“I like this look on you, baby.” He winked, taking in her outfit again, which consisted of small pink pajama shorts, matching cami, boots, and jacket. Oh, crap! She had been so focused on giving Luke a piece of her mind she hadn’t thought about her appearance. “And if I had known you made these kind of house calls, I’d have ordered a hell of a lot more than a few sandwiches.”

“Oh no you don’t,” she snapped. “Don’t think you can throw that charm around, top it off with a sexy smile, and assume that’ll work on me.”

“You think my smile is sexy?”

Now she really wanted to scream. “What happened today is not a good idea. I already had a shitty afternoon at the café. No one came in, because everyone thinks I’m some unhinged woman who goes around socking men.”

“Aren’t you?” He was teasing, but she wasn’t in the mood. Because between her lack of judgment when it came to Luke, and how the town perceived her, more than her feelings were at stake—her business was in jeopardy. And that wasn’t acceptable.

“I’d like to keep a distance between us. I don’t need any more scandal. And I don’t need people refusing to come back to my café, thinking I offended the town’s golden boy.”

“How can I help?” he asked with such conviction it startled her.

“I don’t need your help. I just came here to—” She took a breath to yell. To tear him a new one. Tell him that she could fix things on her own. Tell him how much she hated him and that she didn’t care and hadn’t thought of him. Instead, as if the wind around them had stilled, so did her heart.

There was only one thing she had really come here to say, and it was a question.

“Why did you leave the way you did, Luke?” Her voice sounded softer and more vulnerable than she liked. But there it was. The truth. The one question she asked herself over and over. How could he have just snuck off in the middle of the night after what they’d shared? “Did you take off early because you were ashamed of me?”

“No.” He frowned hard and looked appalled by her question. “I’ve never been ashamed of you, Annabelle.”

“Then how come you didn’t say good-bye?”

He let out a long breath and dropped his arm from the door. Judging by the expression on his face, he was mulling over what to say.

“I didn’t know how to say good-bye to you. I had an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, so I just took it. I thought we said everything we needed to that night.”

The words stung more than she was prepared for. But it was the truth, just like she’d asked for. So now it was her turn.

“You asked me if I thought of you since that night.”

His eyes zeroed in on hers, and she held his stare. She wouldn’t be weak. She would tell him exactly what she thought.

“I did, a lot. But mostly I thought of myself.”

He frowned when she said that, but she just continued. “I thought of how I was so stupid. Thought of what an idiot I was. Did you know I actually believed that you cared about me? Believed we connected on some level that no one has ever—” She stopped because, damn it, her voice cracked.

Luke moved to touch her, but she just straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I came here to let you know I won’t make that mistake again.”

She turned to leave, and Luke grabbed her hand.

“We did connect, Annabelle.” He coaxed her to face him. “You can be such a hard-ass, but that night, I finally saw a side of you that not many get to.”

She wanted to scoff, because it was more like no one. Because that side he was referring to had a kind of vulnerability that terrified her. The kind that hurt.