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to Melanie. It had been the best gift Melanie had ever received. This cozy little cabin on the outskirts of Marietta had been the first place she’d ever felt safe.
    She walked back into the kitchen and flicked the switch on her electric kettle, heating water to make a French press since she knew Luke wouldn’t want cake without coffee. In that, they were of one mind. A comforting thing, since right now she felt like she didn’t even know him.
    “Okay, Luke. It’s story time. And if you’d like to build in an explanation for your caveman behavior last night, I’ll take it.”
    “I don’t think I owe you an explanation,” he said, walking toward the covered platter at the far end of the island, lifting the glass dome and examining the cake that was beneath it. There was a quarter of chocolate with chocolate frosting with ganache drizzled over the top and about a third of a raspberry hazelnut cake with little meringues on top of the frosting. Luke eyed them both. “Are either of these gluten free?”
    “No.”
    “Good.” He walked over to the far cabinet and pulled out a plate before going back to the platter and slicing himself a piece of the chocolate.
    “My gluten-free cake is fantastic. You would never even be able to tell the difference.”
    “I beg to differ.”
    “Well, I beg you tell me why the hell you punched Beckett Larson in the face.” She crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter, fixing her best Grandma Mina stare on him. She had learned a thing or two growing up with the sweet, but formidable old woman.
    “I should have guessed when you told me you saw Kaitlin leave the wedding with him.”
    She frowned. “Should have guessed what?”
    Luke looked down, his expression dark, filled with deadly intent. “Kaitlin is pregnant.”
    Melanie’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
    “Pregnant. With Beckett’s evil Hell spawn.”
    “I can’t believe that he would –”
    “Believe it. The asshole stole money from our business. So why wouldn’t he knock up my little sister?”
    She blinked rapidly. “Oh, a lot of reasons. I mean, he could have just put sugar in your gas tank if he was pissed at you. Getting your sister pregnant is a little bit elaborate.”
    “That bastard is lucky I didn’t kill him.”
    Mel decided that this called for a temporary ceasefire. She was still pissed about his behavior last night, but all things considered, she was going to let it go for a little bit.
    “Definitely.” She frowned, thinking about Kaitlin. Luke’s sister was sweet, and definitely not the femme fatale type that bad boys like Beckett seemed to prefer. A relationship between the two of them seemed… Impossible. And Melanie would have thought a little bit better of Beckett than that. Sure, all that stuff had gone down between him and Luke and the garage, but still. She had known him, even if it was a little bit distantly, since middle school. He might have the swagger and the motorcycle of a bad boy, but she had always thought there was more to him than that. “What did Kaitlin say about it?”
    “I didn’t ask her any details.”
    “She’s a grown woman,” Melanie pointed out.
    “Yeah. Kind of. But Beckett is a manwhore. Lesser women have fallen prey to him. It isn’t fair.”
    The hypocrisy of that statement burned a little bit. Luke seemed intent on passing judgment on everyone else’s sexual activities while continuing to engage in his own. She wasn’t an idiot, and she wasn’t blind. She knew what she’d seen back at the garage a couple weeks earlier.
    But, ceasefire. But temporary .
    He was going to get his earhole reamed by her later. “While I’m certain you are a saint, Luke, you still don’t have a lot of room to comment here. As long as he didn’t coerce her…”
    Luke scowled. “I’m not saying he did that .”
    “Then it’s her fault too. Women are also involved in these choices, you know. We also like sex.” She figured. In theory.
    That made Luke’s