“Shut up!” This time, I shouted it.

“You make the decision, either I walk out and leave you in here or we walk out together. We walk out together, that’s it. Things get tough, we fight, it doesn’t matter, we deal. You don’t buy tickets to St. Croix, you don’t give me the silent treatment, we deal. We walk out of here together and you use this, or anything else you can conjure up, to shut me out, I’m tellin’ you babe, it’s not gonna be good. In our scenario, we aren’t switchin’ roles so I’m forced to live your Mom’s life while you take off and live your Dad’s.”

Oh… my… God.

He did not just say that.

“You didn’t just say that,” I whispered, letting go of his head, pulling mine from his hands and leaning back.

“I said it. You know the worst in me and I know it’s bad but I’m not hidin’ anything. I’m givin’ you the chance to decide. You tell me to walk, I won’t like it, but I’ll do it.”

Okay, that was it. I’d had enough.

“You are such a jerk!” I snapped and gave him a shove that was so hard, he rocked back at the shoulder. I was too angry to realize I’d finally scored a physical push. Instead, I kept ranting. “You know, Lucas Stark, the reason I got contacts and lost weight was because you hugged me at your Dad’s funeral and later I overheard Marilyn and Sofia making fun of me, and you, because we looked stupid together. You, hot, handsome Luke hugging me, Fatty, Fatty Four-Eyes. They said the sight of us made them throw up a little. They said you had to be g*y to hug me. I vowed, vowed,” I shouted the last word at the top of my lungs, caught in a dramatic tizzy I could not control and didn’t even try, “that you wouldn’t lay eyes on me again until I could be held by you and if anyone saw us no one would throw up a little or think we didn’t look right together.”

I was on a roll, so on a roll, I didn’t notice the air in the room change again. Nor did I notice the look and feel of Luke changed. I just kept right on yelling.

“And last night when you thought I was sorting through stuff in my head, I wasn’t. I was remembering that motorcycle ride you gave me, after which you got in serious shit with your Dad and my Mom and you called me precious cargo. So I wasn’t sorting through stuff in my head, you pulled me through last night and you didn’t even know it, you big idiot.”

I shoved him again, this time his shoulder didn’t go back. I didn’t notice that either. I just kept on raging.

“You told me that it felt good when we were growing up to know I thought you could move mountains because you needed that. Well, you knew what I grew up with! I couldn’t have gotten through it without knowing you were across the street and you were the only person in my life who gave a shit. Other than Sissy, you were the only person in my life who gave a shit!”

“Ava –

“I’m talking now,” I interrupted him using a line he’d used on me. I ignored the side of his mouth going up in one of his sexy half-grins and kept on going. “So I don’t care who you were for eight years, it doesn’t change who you are to me. So don’t give me any ultimatums and don’t threaten me. I am who I am, a big dork who makes mistakes and deals the best way I can. I’m going to keep making mistakes and being a big dork because that’s who I am. You can’t deal with it, then you best walk out that door because that’s the way it is.”

I stopped talking and realized, first, that I was breathing heavily and second, that I had been shouting the whole time and it was likely everyone could hear.

Shit.

Oh well, f**k it. Now was not the time to be embarrassed for being me.

Hell, there was never a time to be embarrassed for being me.

“You through?” Luke asked, cutting through my world-rocking epiphany of coming to terms with being a dork.

I thought about it.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Your mother and sisters come to town often?”

I blinked in confusion, not only at his change in subject but at his calm, rational tone. Gonzo Luke was a memory.

“Not really,” I told him.

“But they come to town?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do I have to be nice to them?”

I took in a soft breath.

It had happened. I’d lost control, opened up and let Luke see my soft spot. I’d told him everything, held nothing back.

And he was smiling at me.

I felt something shift then settle, the soft spot was still there, still vulnerable, but now that I showed it to him, I closed the door on it, locked it and handed Luke the key.

I felt goose bumps rise on my skin but I ignored them and answered his question in a quiet voice. “Probably.”

“That’s gonna be hard, babe.”

“You’re a tough guy, macho man, you can hack it.”

His arms came around me and he slid me forward on the counter so my special girl parts were pressed against his hard boy parts. My arms lifted and closed around his neck.

“Fair warning, they say shit to you I don’t like, especially those f**kin’ sisters of yours, I may not be responsible for what comes out of my mouth,” Luke told me.

“I’m sensing that Marilyn and Sofia have earned a new title, that’s twice you’ve called them ‘those f**kin’ sisters of yours’.”

He ignored my comment and the fact that I impersonated his deep voice and kept to his theme. “I’m not shittin’ you, Ava. I’m not gonna stand around and listen to those bitches cuttin’ you down.”

Apparently, Luke took me giving him my key pretty f**king seriously.

Daisy was right. The best way to guard your heart was to trust a good man to take care of it for you. Lucky for me, considering there weren’t many around, I found myself a good man.

Caught up in this new knowledge, I whispered, “Okay.” Then leaned forward and, even with a cut lip, I kissed him hard.

His mouth opened over mine, his tongue slid inside and even with a cut lip he kissed me back, making the hard kiss so hot, I melted into him.

Oo, Good Ava breathed. I feel so much better now.

Weirdly enough, Bad Ava added, I do too.

You do? Good Ava asked.

Yeah, Bad Ava answered. Go figure.

Well, finally, Good Ava commented.

Still lots of fun to have even if we are Luke’s woman, Bad Ava noted.

I’m not thinking that’s a good thing, Good Ava leaned in and said in my ear.