Page 150 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

This made Hallie suddenly think that Luke probably wouldn’t have had anyone to spend Thanksgiving with.It always sucked to be alone over the holidays.Her mama must have thought of that when she invited him.

Hallie hoped one day to be the kind of person who thinks of others, like her mama.

“Then pour me a drink, I guess,” she said.

“You’re going to think I’m being nosy,” Maria said, pouring her a rum and coke, which was her favorite cocktail, “But what the hell are you doing here on Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah,” Hallie said, folding her arms on top of the bar, “You are nosy.”

“Okay, it’s pretty obvious either your family kicked you out, or you left because of some disagreement.”

Hallie sometimes wished Maria wasn’t so perceptive.“I left, okay?I wanted to be alone.”

“Maybe you didn’t want to be so alone since you came here?”Maria suggested, raising her eyebrows.

“I came for the drinks and food, not for you to babble in my ear,” Hallie retorted.

“Okay, okay.What are you going to do now?”

“Start over, I guess.New job, new boyfriend.Maybe even a new city?”The idea seemed appealing since she was too embarrassed to be close to her family at the moment.

Maria pursed her lips.“Wow, must have been quite a blowup.”

“You have no idea.But I’m sure Terry will fill you in on all the gory details.”

“You know,” Maria began, leaning forward on the counter, “I had two older brothers who used to boss me around, beat me up.When I was ten years old, I finally realized I could get stronger and one day they wouldn’t be the boss of me.I worked really hard building up my muscles until one day I was pretty sure I could take on anyone, not to mention my stupid brothers.But at that point, I was just proud of what I had accomplished; wasn’t really interested in beating them up anymore.They knew well enough not to mess with me, so they didn’t give me any more grief, and I didn’t need to beat them to be happy.”

“I suppose there’s a moral to your story,” Hallie said with a hint of sarcasm.

“No, there isn’t,” Maria said with a light shrug.“I’m just babbling away in your ear.”

Maria went to take the order of another sad old man sitting at the bar, and Hallie instantly felt lonely again.

Of course, Maria was right.If she focused more on her own life, she would feel better.But it felt like a very lonely endeavor at the moment.

The music changed to a new song with a dramatic guitar intro just as a tall, well-dressed man walked into the bar.Hallie realized that even if she had never met him before, she would have been intrigued and mesmerized by his perfect body and the way he walked with effortless grace.No matter where they were, no matter who else was around, her heart always hopelessly gravitated towards him, like a moth to a flame.

Not that the other men in the bar could put up much of a competition, but Hallie was sure that even if the entire Cactus were filled with handsome news anchors, male models, and Olympic athletes, Luke would stand out among them.

Luke didn’t seem surprised to see her.He walked over to the bar to take a seat next to her, as if they had arranged to meet there.

As usual, Maria was right: Hallie didn’t want to be so alone.