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Hannah bent to pick it up, and she dusted it off on her tank top. She glanced at it as she extended it back toward him, stalling before her arm had fully straightened. “This text has my name in it.”
“I’m sure it does,” Luke said coolly. “Did you or did you not hold my hand in front of Ginger and Nate?” He cocked one eyebrow at her, hoping she’d pick up on his flirtatious tone.
Hannah blinked rapidly, her eyes widening a little with each movement. “I think you asked me to hold your hand.”
“That I did.” He slowly reached out and took his phone from her, and without looking at it, slid it in his pocket. He used that same hand to take hers in his again. “Oh, look at that.Iheldyourhand this time.” He slid her a grin and found her shaking her head with a giggle slipping from her mouth.
When they reached the lobby, Luke asked, “Do you think we’re doing the right thing?”
“Going to dinner in our swimwear? It’s not my first choice for a first-date outfit, I’ll admit.”
Luke chuckled, but he appreciated her attempt at lightheartedness. “But seriously.”
“I think…I think we should go. They don’t want us hovering around. Nate doesn’t want you to feel bad. What happened was an accident. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that in my head,” he said. “My gut keeps flipping over in a strange way, and then my mind starts conjuring up some strange scenarios thatcould’vehappened.”
“I’m sure that’s true,” she said. “We’ve all gone over and over things that might have been.”
Luke frowned, but he turned his face away from her so she couldn’t see. They reached his truck, and he helped her up and in. He’d have to drive her back to her car in the parking lot at the beach, as they’d all piled into his truck to bring Connor to the hospital.
He got behind the wheel and sighed. “Maybe we should just go back to the ranch and fill everyone in. Take a shower. Eat something out of the fridge.”
“If you’d like,” Hannah said, her tone pitching up a little.
Luke hadn’t had a super serious girlfriend in the past, but he knew enough about women to know she wanted to go to dinner. What he wanted—well, Luke didn’t know what he wanted.
He adjusted the air conditioning so it would blow cooler air, and he took his phone out. “Let’s see what Slate said.”
“Thank goodness,” Hannah said. “I’ve been formulating a plan for how I could get that phone out of your pocket without a fight.” She grinned at him, and Luke looked up from the text to meet her eyes.
“What were you thinking?”
“Oh, I was going to use my impressive hips to pin you against the wall at Grub and then use a one-handed approach to pin your arms above your head while I snatched the phone from your pocket.” She burst out laughing, and Luke did too.
It felt good to laugh. Really good. The laughter cleansed his soul, and he let his voice out of the cage he sometimes kept it in.
“One-handed approach,” he said. “I’dreallylike to see you try that.”
“Please,” she said, still giggling. “I can’t even get my fingers around one of your wrists, let alone both of them.”
“Come on,” he said, looking at his phone again. “My muscles are up in my biceps and shoulders. No one has muscular wrists.”
“Mm, you keep telling yourself that.”
Luke switched his gaze to his wrists. They looked normal to him. He could see the bones and everything. “Well, now I’m all self-conscious about my overweight wrists.”
Hannah pealed out another round of laughter, and a measure of powerful satisfaction filled Luke. He really liked making this woman laugh.
“Okay, so Slate said, Is it true that you’re seeing Hannah now?”
“How would he know that?” Hannah asked.
Luke’s thumbs flew across the screen, but a picture popped up. “Oh, he sent a picture. I just got it. Must have some bad reception in the hospital.” He peered at it, trying to make out—“Oh.” He started laughing and handed his phone to Hannah.
She took it, curiosity burning through her dark eyes. “You’re laughing. That’s a good sign.” She looked down, and Luke saw the moment she understood what she was looking at.
“Nate took a picture of us.” She looked up and out the windshield. Her chest rose and then fell. “Well, it’s not like we need to keep it a secret.” She handed the phone back to him. “Now, I brought all this food to the beach, because I was going to soothe myself with snacks for hours, and I’ve yet to eat anything. Let’s get this show on the road, cowboy.”
