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“That was before Luke Hawthorne walked in here last night in his spiffy new suit and kept giving you those romantic glances over the mushroom risotto.”
Julia clenched her teeth as she spoke. “That doesn’t mean you get to bankrupt him or…” She glanced down at the paper. “Sink all his tour boats.”
“Dad said that was a stupid idea anyway.”
Julia shook her head at him. “I cannot believe the two of you did this.”
“You can’t be mad,” Kyle said.
She offered him an incredulous, wide-eyed glance.
“Seriously, Julia. You can’t. We were all doing fine until Captain Luke strolled back into the mix and threw everything into turmoil.”
“He doesn’t deserve what you and Grant were about to do to him. No matter what you think of him. I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Grant. Leave Luke alone.”
Kyle chewed his lower lip. “Did he agree to that or…”
She glared at him.
“Right, you’re right. Okay. Unless Luke does something he shouldn’t, I will leave him alone.”
“No,” Julia said with a shake of her head, struggling to keep her voice steady, “you will leave him alone period.”
“But, Julia–”
“Kyle,” she said, her voice a tense warning, “this is not a debate.”
“It’s not fair.” He tossed himself against the chair back with his arms crossed.
“Are you serious? Are you five years old?”
“No. But Luke gets to come back here and do whatever he wants. He waltzes in here, demands he speak to you alone, does something that made my father uncomfortable enough to team up with me, and nothing happens to him. You’re not texting him about how disappointed you are. He can mess around with our family, and he gets a free pass. But we have to be held to a higher standard.”
Julia furrowed her brow at his words. Luke had been a part of the plan that ripped her away from Grant, a plan that had included lying about a restraining order, and ensured they had no way of contacting each other to find out what was happening. She’d placed the blame on Alicia, but had Luke been as big a part of that as her sister had been?
“We have a stake here, Julia. All of us. You can’t say he gets to fight for you, and we don’t.”
“I am not going to let Luke hurt anyone in this family.”
“He already is. If he takes you away from us…” Kyle didn’t finish the statement. “Look, Julia, you know how I feel. And no matter how you feel, I don’t want to lose you.”
Julia sucked in a breath. “Okay, fine. You might have a point.”
“Thank you,” Kyle said with a nod. “I’m glad you think so.”
“I still don’t want you going after Luke. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“Really? He’s hardly innocent in this. He came back for you, right?”
Julia sucked in a breath as she shifted in her seat. “He did.”
“Well, then, he isn’t innocent.”
“Okay, fine, He isn’t innocent. But I do not want the three of you tearing each other apart over this.”
“Over you.”
The words stung her. Was she at the center of this turmoil? At least it would end in the next few days. “Just let it go, Kyle. We have other things to focus on.”
