Ready to Run (I Do, I Don't 1)

“So Luke’s for sure a no, huh?” Tim asked Jordan sympathetically.

“Oh, please,” Hailey said with a snort. “Like anyone thought that was ever actually going to happen.”

“Really,” came a sarcastic reply from behind Jordan. “Could have fooled me with the way the entire damn town’s been telling Jordan to keep hounding me.”

Jordan’s body went on high alert at the sound of Luke’s voice, even more at his proximity as he came to stand beside her.

She carefully arranged her face into a neutral expression before looking up at him. “Hi.”

His eyes were warm as he gazed down at her. “Hey.”

“Well, well, would you look at that—it worked,” Hailey murmured to her husband.

Jordan tore her eyes away from Luke’s. “What worked?”

“The town’s plan,” Hailey said, glancing innocently at her pale-pink nails.

“What plan?”

Hailey pursed her lips and said nothing.

“Hailey,” Luke said in a warning tone.

Tim snickered. “Told you he’d be pissed.”

Luke shifted his attention to Hailey’s husband. “What plan?”

Tim grinned at Jordan and Luke, waving his drink between them. “The women-folk had it in their heads that if they gave Jordan the impression that Luke could be coaxed into the show, she’d stick around for a while.”

“Tim!” Hailey exclaimed.

He merely shrugged and sipped his beer. “It worked. Look at them.”

It took Jordan a moment to absorb the full extent of this plan. “Wait…are you telling me the entire town was in on some sort of matchmaking scheme?”

“Oh, City,” Luke said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You’ve been away from small-town life too long if you’re surprised to hear this.”

Jordan glanced up. “How are you not mad? Did you know?”

“No,” he admitted. “Although I realize now I should have. Small population means limited number of eligible men and women. Anytime there’s fresh blood, the sharks circle.”

“Not anytime,” Hailey pointed out.

Luke’s gaze was sharp, and Hailey looked away from his warning glare.

Eva again, Jordan suspected. It always seemed to be about Eva.

“But it did work, didn’t it?” Hailey said, forcing brightness into her voice. “You guys are…”

“Not answering a single question,” Luke said, squeezing Jordan’s shoulder fully before nodding at her wine. “You done?”

Jordan glanced at the nearly full glass. “Well, I mean—”

“Good,” he interrupted, reaching down and taking her hand, tugging her off the stool. “Hailey, drinks are on you as punishment for meddling.”

His ex laughed. “Fine, but, really, you should be thanking me!”

Luke didn’t respond; he was too busy dragging Jordan across the bar, past dozens of grinning, knowing faces, until they made it into the cool evening air.