to say more. It wasn’t right to talk about Simone this way. She never said a word about it to anyone. She’d always been a private person, and he couldn’t disrespect her that way.
Jamie shrugged. “Whether you’re the father or not, it’s hardly the only issue.”
“Oh, yeah? What else puts her out of my league?”
Jamie shifted, running a hand through his hair and looking everywhere but at Luke.
“What?” Luke snapped, expecting to hear more about the divorce.
Jamie finally met his gaze. “Tessa is a virgin.”
“Uh … What?”
“You heard me.”
Luke wondered if the stress of the past few years had finally broken him. “You’re not serious.”
Jamie’s frown turned to a scowl. “You’re damn right I’m serious.”
“But … that’s … How do you know?”
“She’s told me as much herself.”
“She told you?” Luke asked weakly. Something that felt suspiciously like horror was rolling through him in waves. Tessa was a virgin? Good God. She hadn’t said a word. Except that part about being a good girl. Had that been a hint? “Wow,” he breathed.
“So when I say you’re not good enough for her, I mean you’re not fucking good enough for her, all right?”
Luke rolled his shoulders. “Look. I don’t like to talk about Simone, but what you’ve heard isn’t true. I’m not that guy. And I’m not looking to jump your sister’s bones. It was just dinner. We had a good time.”
“Well, make it the last time, all right?”
“What if I don’t want to?”
Jamie crossed his arms and dropped his eyes to the floor. “This is my sister.”
“Fair enough. But—”
“There is nothing about you that’s good enough for her. You’re damaged. Your job is dangerous. Your partner is pregnant. And even aside from your reputation, there are the stone-cold facts of your divorce. You can’t argue those away.”
Luke’s heart paused.
“She had cancer, man. How could you have walked out like that?”
Luke’s vision went dark at the edges, and he considered warning Jamie that he shouldn’t say that sort of thing to a man with a gun strapped to his body. Because in that moment, Luke wanted to kill someone. He really, really did.
“We’re friends, Luke, but—”
Luke cut him off with a hard laugh. “That friendship was a long time ago, obviously.”
“I’m sorry. It’s none of my business, and I wouldn’t make it my business, but I don’t want you anywhere near Tessa, got it?”
“Fuck off,” Luke said. He slammed through the front door of the brewery, blood rushing so hard in his ears he almost walked right into a car that pulled up. Two business types got out of the car, each of them eyeing him warily. Luke just stalked around them and got into his own car. Even two states away, he couldn’t get away from it. Luke had been married and divorced in California, which was one of the reasons he’d moved back here. Yeah, word got around the department, but he hadn’t expected it to get back to everyone. He should have known better. Eve wasn’t from Boulder, but she’d gone to school here. People talked. They always did. Hell, the police wouldn’t solve any cases if people weren’t so inclined to spread rumors.
God, what a disaster.
His rage leveled off to frustration, a constant, scalding burn beneath his skin. Everything about his divorce was frustrating. Not that that shocked him. His marriage had been frustrating, too, but he’d loved her like crazy.
“Shit,” he spat out. At least the anger had smoked out his guilt about spying on Simone. He didn’t feel even a twinge as he started the car and headed back toward the doctor’s office. But he was still reeling under a healthy dose of Holy crap, Tessa Donovan is an untouched innocent as he wove his car through streets filled with packs of hunched-over bikers. Frankly, the various emotions careering through his body left him feeling vaguely ill.
When he arrived at the doctor’s office, there was Simone’s car, right up by the door in one of the spaces marked with a stork. Maybe she was alone, then. Luke rolled down his window and settled in to wait.
The cool spring sunshine did nothing to temper his mood. He stared unmoved at the pale green leaves of the aspen grove at the edge of the parking lot. A wall of gray clouds gathered at the horizon, and Luke chose to focus on those instead. By two o’clock, the town would be beset by thunder and lightning, a fairly common occurrence on spring days. What a relief that would be. The sun and chirping birds and flip-flops were just too much to take.
So he watched the clouds gather beyond the building and let his eyes slide to the entry each time the door opened. A half hour later, the door swung out to reveal Simone, alone. She juggled a stack of pamphlets while digging for keys in her purse.
Luke slid out of his car, and when his door shut, she looked up. For a moment, Simone only looked concerned. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing. I was just … worried about you.”
Her eyes jumped to his car, then back to him, and her face stiffened. “Are you following me?”
“No.”
“Really?” she snapped. “Because I don’t remember giving you the name and address of my doctor.”
“I didn’t follow you. I … detected my way here.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes. This is outrageous.”
He knew she was pissed. Hell, she was way past pissed if her flaring nostrils and reddening face were any indication. So Luke tried to tamp down his own feelings. “I’m sorry. I don’t want you going through this alone.”
She pushed past him and hit the unlock key, then threw everything into the passenger seat before rounding on him again. “How did you know I was alone? Or …” She gestured toward his car. “Was that the point of this? To find out who might be here with me?”
“No. No! It’s not about who the father is. I—”
“Really? Because you ask me every damn day. I’m sorry people think it’s you. I tell everyone who asks that it’s not. You’re the one who stopped denying it!”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
She threw her hands high. “I don’t need your protection!”
“Why not?” he yelled. Before the words had even left his mouth, he scrubbed his eyes with one hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell, I just … You’ve totally shut me out.”
Simone’s hand touched his arm, and when he looked down, he realized she hadn’t touched him in months. Not that she’d ever been overtly affectionate, but she’d never avoided him before.
“I’m sorry, Luke,” she said. “I’m sorry for what people are saying. And I’m sorry I can’t talk to you. I am.” Her fingers curled around his elbow, digging in. “I’m sorry about it all.”
Oh, Jesus. He started to reach for her, but she jerked away and dropped into the driver’s seat of her car.
“Just leave it alone, all right? I’m fine.” She slammed the door, nearly catching Luke’s elbow in the process, and he jumped back just as the engine roared to life. Simone roared out of there like a pregnant NASCAR driver, and she left Luke more frustrated than ever.
The door of the office opened behind him, and Luke looked back to be sure it wasn’t