Good Girls Don't (Donovan Brothers Brewery 1)

“Wow, you figured that out quick. You really are a detective.”

Shit. She was cute as hell. “I promised your brother I’d stay away from you.”

“Really? Well, that’s interesting. Which brother?”

“Jamie.”

“He told you to stay away from me?”

“He did.”

“Why?” she asked.

Luke wasn’t stupid enough to offer up his divorce at this point, not even the truthful version of it. Especially not the truthful version. “Why? Because I’m a man. And you’re his little sister.”

She chuckled again, and this time it was a soft, sensual sound. “Well, what my brother doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Yikes. Luke’s brain stuttered, preventing him from coming up with a witty response. Or any response at all. Dinner was tempting enough, but when she said something naughty like that…

Luke glanced over at the empty space where Simone’s car had been parked. He thought about going home to his empty condo and having yet another cold sandwich for dinner. He’d promised Jamie he’d stay away from Tessa, but this wasn’t medieval England. Tessa was right. What Jamie didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“Should I pick you up?” he asked.

His question met silence, but he was sure he could actually hear her smiling.

“Absolutely,” she said before rattling off her address.

When Luke hung up, anticipation was streaking along his nerves like fireworks. Hadn’t he just been telling himself that she wasn’t his type? Then again, what was his type? Jaded and dumped like him? What a tragedy that would be.

Still, Tessa Donovan was a complication he didn’t need. Too sweet to be a quick hookup. Too innocent to date a guy who’d already been married and divorced. This was going nowhere. But he needed some kind of distraction for a few hours, and he was damn glad the distraction was going to be her.

CHAPTER FOUR

TESSA PUT HER HANDS on her hips and made a slow turn, watching herself in the bathroom mirror. The shirt was perfect. Vivid blue and draped just right so that it looked entirely modest even though the neckline scooped low. She leaned slightly down to be sure she was showing just the right amount of cleavage—a lot. Perfect. Luke Asher had only seen her in Levis and T-shirts. Hopefully he’d like skinny jeans and high heels even better. She knew her ponytail made her look like she went to the U, so Tessa had quickly blown out her hair and left it down. She added some red lipstick to top off the look, then gave her reflection a nod.

Jamie was working the bar tonight, and Eric was closing up with him, so she didn’t have to worry she’d run into one of them. And that was a good thing. She had enough to worry about.

As she’d expected, Roland Kendall hadn’t been at his office. She’d had no idea what she was going to say to him, anyway; she just needed to know which cover-up to enact. Was it a matter of swearing Jamie to secrecy and hoping that Monica Kendall never told a soul? Or was it DEFCON level 5, wherein she pulled off the miracle of calming down an angry father while simultaneously convincing him to go through with the deal and forget he ever saw a thing?

It would be difficult, but she was sure she could pull it off. Hadn’t she convinced the principal not to call Eric that time she’d been caught skipping class to go river rafting? Hadn’t she gotten Jamie off a year-long academic probation without even a hint to Eric that anything was going on? If she could handle the public education system, surely she could handle one sixty-year-old businessman. His daughter was a grown woman, after all. Maybe Roland Kendall wasn’t even upset.

It was a foolish and stupid hope, and that’s exactly why she’d called Luke Asher. She couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. She’d go crazy. Five minutes into her drive home from Denver, she’d been close to hyperventilating. Luke had been the only thought strong enough to distract her.

And she hadn’t been able to shake the appeal of his quiet strength. He was a man who needed nothing from her. No emotional tiptoeing. No complicated negotiations. No pretense of sweet temper and sisterly innocence. Whatever Luke was interested in, it was something he might want from her, but not something he expected.

Ignoring the brief thought of how pissed her brothers would be if they knew about the men she’d dated, Tessa gave herself one last review before she switched off the light and walked out of her room. Her heels snapped against the old wood floors of the house. The floors needed refinishing, but every time she considered it, she decided it could wait another year. This was the house they’d all grown up in. It was the house where her parents had raised them. Every scar on the oak was a story, and she didn’t want to let those stories go.

She wanted everything to stay the same.

Entering the living room just in time to hear the hum of a car pulling up to the front curb, she bit back a smile, then waited for the knock on the door before walking toward it. She hadn’t listened to all of Eric’s advice about boys—in fact, she’d ignored most of it—but she had found him to be right about some things. Men liked the thrill of the chase…almost as much as women did. So Tessa tried to encourage a good give and take. She might ask a man out, but she wouldn’t rush breathless and smiling to the door. She might let him get to thir

d base on the first date, but then she might not answer his calls for a week. It kept things interesting, and that was just the way she liked it.

Though when she opened the door it was damn hard not to grin in nervous excitement. Luke looked like he had stories to tell and things to teach her. His black hair had the slightest unruly wave to it. His brown eyes were dark as chocolate, but hard with sadness. His body was hard, too, and lean. He’d changed out of his work clothes, and now wore black slacks and a pale blue shirt. His eyes traveled down her body so quickly that Tessa would’ve missed the glance if she hadn’t been watching for it. He was good.

“You look great,” he said.

“Thank you.”