“No! We never had sex. Not once.”
“You never had sex? Oh, my God, you’ve been parsing your words every time we talked about this, haven’t you?”
“No,” he said, adding nothing more.
Tessa wanted to hit him. She wanted to slap him and scream at him and tell him what an asshole he was.
“We never had sex,” he said again.
“Fine, Mr. Detective, if you want to get legal about it, that’s fine. Did you ever kiss her?” When Luke’s gaze fell to the ground, Tessa heart sank right along with it.
“It was nothing. Just one night.”
“Oh, God,” Tessa breathed.
“Look, I’d just moved here. We’d both had too much to drink. A few of the guys saw us leaving the bar together. But we didn’t… We never… It was a mistake, and luckily we both realized it before it was too late.”
“Get the hell out, Luke. Get out!”
“No. I’m not going to let you paint me as the bad guy just because Simone and I made out two years ago. I never lied to you about that.”
“You did!” she screamed. Her anger exploded, amplified by the press of heartbroken tears in her throat. She pushed him. Hard.
“Calm down,” Luke said, raising his hands.
“You’re a goddamn liar!”
“I told you we’d never had sex. I told you it wasn’t like that between us. And it’s not. I didn’t lie. If you don’t trust me, it’s got nothing to do with me, Tessa. It’s because you know you’re lying all the time and you assume other people are, too.”
She stepped back, startled by the way his words froze all her roiling emotions. She felt as if time had stopped. “What?”
“You heard me. You lie to people you love.”
“How dare you,” she pushed past clenched teeth. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“That’s not true. I know you well enough to like you despite all that. You’re sweet and smart. You’re not trying to be cruel. You think you’re lying to protect them.”
“I am.”
“No. You’re just trying to control them, Tessa.”
Her anger surged again, and she jerked her hand toward the door. “Get out.”
&n
bsp; Luke took a deep breath and his shoulders slumped. “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Not now while you’re fighting with your brothers.”
“Not now? You shouldn’t have said it because it’s not true!”
He met her gaze straight on, not looking the least bit regretful. “I can tell you have trouble opening up, Tessa. That’s understandable, but—”
“Me? I have trouble opening up? You’re the one who won’t talk about your past! When have you ever opened up to anyone?”
“Don’t go there,” he said roughly.
“Oh, we’re not allowed to talk about your problems?”
“You’ve got it backward. It’s still your problem. I know how to open up to people. I’ve been in love. I’ve been married. You’ve never even had a boyfriend, so don’t tell me I don’t know how to open up.”