“It was a lot of work,” he said. “My uncle manages most of it now that my family’s moved to Las Vegas.”
“She must be a black sheep, your mother. Land-owning Texans don’t usually up and leave.”
“My father wanted to try real estate development, and Vegas was in a huge boom,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing there now. Working for him.” He reached for his water glass, his eyes flitting all over the place before he finally looked at her again.
She got the feeling talk of his job made him uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the conversation about his family. No matter what, it was something.
“Hannah,” a man said, and she looked up at Jared. They laughed, and Hannah launched herself out of the booth to hug him. “How are you? I haven’t seen you in at least a week.”
“Oh, come on.” Hannah stepped back and tucked her hair. “It’s been at least nine days. Maybe only eight.”
Jared grinned at her. “Whatever you’ve been doing is working.” He whistled as he looked down to her toes and back to her face. “You look amazing.”
“Thank you.” Hannah cocked one hip and put her hand on it. “Now, we want those special crispy potato nachos that aren’t on the menu…” She raised her eyebrows, and Jared laughed.
“You got it, Hannah. What else can I get you guys?” He glanced at Luke, and Hannah did too. He wore an expression of wonder, and the buzz in Hannah’s veins made her feel beautiful and charming.
“I want the peach sunrise,” she said. “And the spinach and bacon soufflé, with the grapefruit segments.”
“Makin’ me work this morning,” Jared said, grinning. “For you, sir?”
Luke looked like he’d been asked an impossible question. He hadn’t picked up the menu, and Hannah just watched him. She was just about to say maybe he needed another minute when he said, “Do you have anything like a western omelet?”
Jared flicked his eyes to Hannah for the briefest of moments. She kept her smile hitched in place. “I have a western omelet breakfast roll,” he said. “It comes with a toast cup or fresh fruit.”
“I have no idea what a toast cup is,” Luke said. “Or a breakfast roll, but it sounds great.”
“Comin’ up,” Jared said, and he walked away.
“He’s the chef-owner,” Hannah said once he’d gone.
“And you know him personally.”
“Yes,” Hannah said, smiling at him. She reached for her water glass too, and hid halfway behind it as she added, “I actually dated him for a while.” She took a drink immediately afterward, watching Luke.
He looked steadily back at her, and he finally folded his arms and rested them on the table in front of him. “Hannah, if I ever came back to Texas for good, would you…I don’t know. Would you consider going out with me?”
Hannah’s smile felt like it was made from pure gold. “We’re out right now.”
“Are we?”
“Aren’t we?”
“I thought you were dating someone,” he said, leaning back in the booth. He shook his head. “Nah, this can’t be a date, because you’re not a cheater, and I would never go out with someone who was dating someone else.” His eyes sparked with something bright and hot and dangerous.
Hannah swallowed and nodded. “Of course. You’re right. I’m seeing Chuck.”
“This is just breakfast on the way to the airport with a friend, because his flight got delayed.”
Hannah leaned into the table now. “Sounds like a great way to start the day. Now, about these luxury resorts in the Hill Country…can you get, I don’t know, discount rooms or passes for your friends?”
A couple of hours later, Hannah pulled up to the curb at the Corpus Christi airport, her face actually aching from how much she’d smiled this morning. Not only that, but her throat was dry and scratchy from all the talking.
“Here we go,” Luke said before he got out of the car. She jumped out after him and reached back into the car to open the trunk. He lifted his suitcase out and put it on the sidewalk. He repositioned his cowboy hat and cleared his throat.
Hannah could only watch him war with himself, but she did want to know what he was debating. She was just about to ask when he faced her. With that sexy beard and such a perfectly symmetrical face, he was the definition of handsome.
“Can I tell you a secret?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You can’t tell anyone. Not Slate, and definitely not Jill, because she’ll tell Slate.”
“Okay.”
“Not Emma or Ginger or Jess either. No one.” He wore a stern expression, and yet Hannah wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest. She wanted to know all the intricate sides of Luke Holt, and she really wished he didn’t have to go.
“I will not tell a soul,” she promised.
Luke drew in a deep breath and blew it out. He looked back toward the doors to the airport and back at her. “I don’t really like Las Vegas. I don’t like my job there.”
“Oh,” Hannah said. Whatever she’d been expecting him to say, it wasn’t that. “I’m sorry, Luke. Can you do…something about that?”
“I should probably look into it.” He reached down to extend the handle on his bag. “Anyway, thank you, Hannah. For the ride and for breakfast.” He grinned at her, and Hannah thought he could probably light the whole state of Texas with the brightness of it. He easily drew her into his arms, and she closed her eyes as pure bliss flowed through her.
He smelled like cool water and mint and bacon and pine, and Hannah wanted to bottle him up and take him home with her. Her heart pulsed inside a too-small cage as she thought about him leaving—and she remembered Chuck.
“Anytime,” she said, her voice choked and far too low. She stepped back, and Luke adjusted his hat again. He nodded at her once, stepped onto the sidewalk, and headed for the doors.
Hannah stood next to the taillight and watched him go, noting that he never once looked back. When he disappeared, she got behind the wheel of her car and sighed. She had another hour of driving in front of her, and a date with Chuck on the horizon.
Her stomach squeezed, and she knew why.
She didn’t want to go out with Chuck now that she knew what she could have with Luke. She knew there was a difference between the two men, and how she felt when she was with each of them.
For the first half-hour, she debated with herself whether she could break-up with Chuck over the phone. They’d only been seeing each other since Thanksgiving, and tomorrow was New Year’s Day.
“You can’t break-up with him on New Year’s Eve,” she said, realizing what their date was tonight. But how could she kiss him at the stroke of midnight, knowing she wanted him to be someone else?
“But that someone else doesn’t even live here,” she said. “You don’t even know when you’re going to see him again.” Could she really ruin what was a good, fun relationship with Chuck for what could be nothing with Luke?
“Nothing,” she told herself. Right now, she had nothing with Luke, and something with Chuck. She didn’t want to be alone, and she could build off of something. She couldn’t work with nothing, and she didn’t call Chuck on the way back to the ranch. She could kiss him—she’d enjoyed kissing him previously—that night and continue to get to know him.