A Baby For Christmas

“For crying out loud, Luke!” She waved her hand at him. “Help me up!”

Luke stood, clasped her hand in his and pulled her out of the overstuffed couch.

They were standing close together, too close. She could smell that intoxicating almond scent on his skin. It made her heart race even faster, and she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t budging. She pushed on his chest.

“Move it, Luke!”

She needed to find something to do, anything, to take her mind off Daniel’s arrogant, sarcastic, pain-in-the-ass brother. The farther away from Luke she could get, the better off she’d be.

Luke didn’t budge.

“Move!” She reached out and pushed him again. She was being rude and she didn’t care. For some reason, no matter what, Luke always brought out the worst in her. Just when she would start to think they had found some common ground, he went and screwed it all up.

This time, Luke turned to the side and let her by. She sent him a slit-eyed look before she lifted up her chin and breezed by him.

Luke watched as Sophia disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. He stood in the same spot for several seconds and felt as if he’d just been mugged. One minute he was enjoying the fire with Sophia, and the next thing he knew she was picking a fight with him. Why did that woman always have to make everything so damned complicated?

Luke looked at Ranger sitting on the edge of the couch cushion. “What the hell just happened here? Can you tell me that?”

Luke sat back down on the couch to contemplate his next move. One option was to not move at all. Normally, with any woman in his life, that’s the only option that would have been on the table. He would have stayed put and let them come back to him. They always did come back.

But there wasn’t anything normal about his situation, and he wasn’t dealing with just any woman. He was dealing with Sophia, and she definitely had to be handled with care.

What would Dan do in this situation?

He’d follow after her and eat crow! That’s what he’d do. Dan knew how to keep Sophia happy. And now, that was his new mission. Keep Sophia happy.

Luke dropped his head into his hands; that woman was giving him a massive headache. “So, go eat crow, marine.”

He dropped Ranger off in the bathroom and popped a pain pill into his mouth before he went to find Sophia in the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, writing in a determined fashion. She didn’t bother to acknowledge his presence.

She obviously still wanted to wring his neck.

He tried to break the ice by stating the obvious. He felt like an idiot trying to cajole a woman; it was out of character. “Working on your list?”

Sophia glanced up and narrowed her eyes at him. He had just been trying to lighten the mood, but Sophia looked as if she might want to do him bodily harm.

So much for breaking the ice.

Luke sat down at the table across from her.

“What’s on that list of yours, anyway?” Persistence was going to be a key element in this situation. He’d seen Sophia hold a grudge.

Sophia stopped writing and tapped her pen on the table. “Is there something you want?”

Luke rubbed his hands over the top of his shaved head. “God, Sophia, gimme a break, will ya? How was I supposed to know you wanted me to say something?”

She made a face. “Please.”

Luke let his arms drop onto the table with a thud. “Okay. How ’bout this? Why don’t you tell me what I should have said, because I sure as hell don’t know! Tell me what I should say when someone tells me that my face bothers them.”

It didn’t seem possible, but her eyes narrowed even more. She dropped her head and went back to her list. “Just forget it.”

“No. I’m not going to forget it.” God, she was a royal pain in the ass! “You wanted to talk about this. Let’s talk. I’m telling you flat-out—I didn’t know your statement required an answer. You don’t want to believe me, that’s your problem. But that’s the truth. Bottom line.”

Sophia chewed on his words for a bit. She glanced up. “You really didn’t think you should add something? Really?”

“That’s the honest truth. What do you think, that I sit around the campfire with my men singing Kumbaya and talking about our feelings? Come on...I just came out of a war zone, Sophia. You’re the shrink. Shouldn’t you be able to figure out that there may be an adjustment period for me?”

“You act as if you aren’t civilized anymore,” she said sullenly. The man did have a good point; there was no denying it.

“Maybe I’m not,” Luke said harshly without hesitation. “Because I sure as hell don’t know what I should have said to you back there.”

Sophia waved the pen in the air. “You could have said something like, ‘Gee, Sophia, I didn’t know that. I’m sorry that me looking like Daniel is making you feel confused and upset. Thanks for the info. Thanks for sharing.’ Something like that. Anything would have been better than snoring!”

When the woman had a point, she had a point.

Luke rubbed his hands over his face before he dropped them onto the table in surrender. Emotional conversations had never been his strength; that was a fact. He could have done better with Sophia. He needed to do better with Sophia. She deserved it.

“You’re right. I could have done a little bit better.”

Sophia snorted. “A lot better.”

“All right. A lot better.”

“Substantially better,” Sophia added.

Luke got up and pulled a glass out of the cabinet. He filled it up with tap water and chugged it. He turned his back to the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. Sophia was back to her list, and back to ignoring him. It was strange. He hadn’t really gotten a good look at her after she came down from her nap. He could see now, in the light of the kitchen, that her eyes were puffy. Sophia had been crying.

He felt like an even bigger jerk, if that was possible. He supposed it was possible, because he did.

Sophia always seemed so tough. In control. In charge. But right now she appeared vulnerable. He didn’t know quite how to deal with this version of the woman he loved. He’d never encountered it before.

“Sophia.” He said her name softly.

She ignored him.

Stubborn woman.

“Sophia.” He said her name as he always wanted to, like a caress. This grabbed her attention. It got her to look up.

“What?” Still a bite in her tone.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? You don’t even know what you did wrong.”

“Dammit, Sophia... Can you let a guy apologize without crucifying him?”

Sophia put her pen down. Luke took this as a good sign. “First of all, an apology is useless if you don’t know what you’re apologizing for. Second of all, watch your mouth.”

“First of all, it’s not easy switching from marine life to civilian life. I’m sorry about the profanity; all I can say is that I’m working on it.” Luke jammed his hands into his front pockets. He lowered his tone back to an acceptable level. “Second of all, I know what I’m apologizing for.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“What for?”

“For being an insensitive jerk.”

Sophia cocked her head and eyed him contemplatively. “For one thing.”

That’s the Sophia he knew. The woman didn’t give an inch. Then again, neither did he. This time, he raised his eyebrow at her. “Are you going to let me finish?”

Sophia waved her hand. “By all means. Please do.”

Her defenses were still up. Luke could see it plain as day. He had been working to get her defenses down since the moment he had walked through the door, had even managed to make a bit of progress with her, and then in two seconds he was right back to square one. Less than square one!

Nice going, Brand.

Luke knew what he had to do. There wasn’t a choice. If he wanted to see that guarded look leave Sophia’s eyes, he was going to have to open up to her.

“You know, sensitivity isn’t exactly a quality the Marines look for in a man,” Luke began.

In spite of herself, Sophia felt like smiling at that comment. She didn’t actually do it, but she felt like it.

Luke continued. “So, talking about feelings and sh...stuff like that isn’t my area of expertise. Never was, really. Dan was the talker. You know that.”

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