Hearts in Motion (Boggy Creek Valley 5)

“I’ll be right back,” I said. “I’m going to walk him out. My boyfriend. Who is a cop.”

Luke nodded. “I’ll take my cheese board and head on up to my room, since this doesn’t seem to be a good time for us to talk.”

Why his words sent a rush of disappointment through me, I wasn’t sure. Hadn’t he said he wanted to talk to me? Now he was going off to his room? Of course, he is, Brighton. Ugh…I was being childish and that pissed me off.

But I didn’t have time to question him if I wanted to catch up with Kyle before he left.

“Enjoy it,” I said over my shoulder and headed out the front door, down the steps, and jogged over to Kyle’s SUV. He opened the back door and Cat jumped in. She turned and looked at me, and I had to stop for a moment.

“Does it look like she’s scowling at me?”

Kyle glanced at his partner and laughed. “She doesn’t like to share.” He reached in to give her a kiss and a quick pet on the head and all seemed to be fine.

“Man, she’s sure getting big,” I said as I reached in and gave her some pats. She may be a police dog, but she was so damn cuddly. A strange thought entered my mind. Maybe I should get a dog to snuggle up with at night. Before I could debate the idea in my head, Kyle pulled my attention back to him.

“Okay, what in the hell was that all about, Brighton? That was Luke Walters. The actor.”

I chewed nervously on my lip while I kept stroking Cat. “It was, yes. He’s staying here while he films a movie up the valley with that vile Kathleen Daughtry.”

“Dude, why do you hate her so much? You’ve mentioned her before and…” His voice trailed off, and he stared at me for a moment. As if a light bulb went off in his head, he slowly closed his eyes, then snapped them open and met my gaze. “You dated him.”

With a long sigh, I stepped away from Cat and glanced at the house. Luke’s room faced the backyard, so I wasn’t worried about him seeing us, unless he made his way to the living room and peered out. I looked that way but didn’t see anyone standing there.

“Yes,” I said. “I dated him for about a year.”

“A year!” Kyle shouted. “What the fuck? When did this happen, and why did you keep it a secret?”

I smacked him on the chest. “Shut up! This past year. I met him a year ago last Christmas, and we broke up in January.”

Kyle stood there, blinking as if he couldn’t process the words I’d spoken. “You. You dated. Luke. Walters? You dated him—for a year?”

I placed my hands on my hips and glared at him. “Yes. Why do you seem so shocked?”

“How did you keep that a secret, Bree? Does Willa know? Greer? If my sister knew, I’m going to kill her. Do you know how good he was in the movie Till Death Do Us Part? I mean, the man can play an action hero better than Jason Bourne.”

My jaw ticced as I fought against clenching my teeth. “You do know that Jason Bourne is not a real person.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes. But Mark Johnson, played by your ex in that movie, was fucking amazing. He won an Oscar for that, Bree. The man won an Oscar.”

“So I’ve heard,” I replied dryly.

“Okay, so the ex shows up, and the first thing you do is pretend to be dating someone? Was the breakup mutual?”

I dropped my head back to study the clear blue sky. “Ugh, Kyle. It’s so complicated.” Looking at him, I asked, “Can I tell you all about it tonight? It’ll honestly be good to finally tell someone other than Bella.”

Kyle’s mouth dropped open. “Bella knows? Hunter is going to be livid!”

Bella was another one of my best friends. There was a group of us. Me, Willa, Greer, Abby, Bella, and Candace. Bella and Hunter had only recently gotten married after being separated for a number of years. I was so happy for them both. It also happened to be Bella whom I’d finally told about Luke after I’d moved back to Boggy Creek.

“Listen, you can’t tell anyone Luke is here,” I said. “He’s staying under a false name and he really does like his privacy.”

Kyle looked up at the house. “I’ll say. The dude kept you a secret for a year.”

I shot him a dirty look. “I’ll see you tonight. Oh, by the way—why did you stop by?”

He gave me that boyishly handsome smile that I was positive had gotten him laid plenty of times. It had zero effect on me, but I could see why women flocked to the man. “To wish you a happy birthday.”