“She asked me to dinner.”
“So you should’ve said no.”
“I did. But…” He cleared his throat. “Then I said yes.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. She’s no longer interested. I told her about your partner.”
Any guilt Luke had been feeling snapped into cold fury. “What about my partner? You don’t know a damn thing about it.”
“I know she’s pregnant. And you’re the father. And I know you’re trying to date my sister. That’s all I need to know.”
“You’re wrong,” he managed to push past clenched teeth.
“About what?” Jamie snapped.
He refused to say more. It wasn’t right to talk about Simone this way. She never said a word about it to anyone. She’d always been a private person, and he couldn’t disrespect her that way.
Jamie shrugged. “Whether you’re the father or not, it’s hardly the only issue.”
“Oh, yeah? What else puts her out of my league?”
Jamie shifted, running a hand through his hair and looking everywhere but at Luke.
“What?” Luke snapped, expecting to hear more about the divorce.
Jamie finally met his gaze. “Tessa is a virgin.”
“Uh… What?”
“You heard me.”
Luke wondered if the stress of the past few years had finally broken him. “You’re not serious.”
Jamie’s frown turned to a scowl. “You’re damn right I’m serious.”
“But…that’s… How do you know?”
“She’s told me as much herself.”
“She told you?” Luke asked weakly. Something that felt suspiciously like horror was rolling through him in waves. Tessa was a virgin? Good God. She hadn’t said a word. Except that part about being a good girl. Had that been a hint? “Wow,” he breathed.
“So when I say you’re not good enough for her, I mean you’re not fucking good enough for her, all right?”
Luke rolled his shoulders. “Look. I don’t like to talk about Simone, but what you’ve heard isn’t true. I’m not that guy. And I’m not looking to jump your sister’s bones. It was just dinner. We had a good time.”
“Well, make it the last time, all right?”
“What if I don’t want to?”
Jamie crossed his arms and dropped his eyes to the floor. “This is my sister.”
“Fair enough. But—”
“There is nothing about you that’s good enough for her. You’re damaged. Your job is dangerous. Your partner is pregnant. And even aside from your reputation, there are the stone-cold facts of your divorce. You can’t argue those away.”
Luke’s heart paused.
“She had cancer, man. How could you have walked out like that?”