Good Girls Do by Cathie Linz

wanted to kick herself for responding to his bossy tone of voice.
    “That explains it then.”
    “Explains what?”
    “Why you still think this place is so great.”
    Julia looked up at the back of her house. “I realize it needs new gutters, but . . .”
    “I wasn’t talking about your house. I was talking about this town.”
    “If you dislike it so much, why are you here?”
    “I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. This is the rock.”
    She didn’t want to know where the hard place was. Her mental image was naughty enough. She had no idea if he meant to trigger such a response from her or if it was entirely her own fault. Either way, she felt herself getting all hot and bothered inside.
    He’d had that effect on her from the first instant. Physical chemistry. Nothing more than that.
    “Why are you here?” he asked
    “I live here.”
    “I mean this town. What made you come here?”
    “A job at the library. I fell in love with Serenity Falls the first time I saw it when I came for my interview.”
    “So you’re one of those.”
    “One of what?”
    “The rose-colored-glasses crowd. The ones who always see the best in people, who always think the glass is half-full.”
    “And what are you?”
    “A realist.”
    “Who always sees the glass half-empty?”
    “Who knows there’s nothing really in the glass.”
    “That’s a pretty cynical way of looking at things.”
    “There’s nothing cynical about the truth.”
    “There’s a difference between your opinion and the truth.”
    “No, there’s not. I see things as they are. You see them as you want them to be.”
    “And you learned all this about me after spending just a few minutes in my company. Amazing.”
    “So I’ve been told.”
    “Amazing and totally inaccurate. You’re the one who has the distorted view of things.”
    “By things you mean this town?”
    “You’ve been gone for what . . . ten years?”
    “Twelve. I see the gossips have been busy at work filling you in.”
    “Someone mentioned who you were.”
    “And did they also tell you all about my evil-doings?”
    “They may have related one or two highlights.”
    “And probably warned you to stay away from me.”
    “It wasn’t like that.”
    “Sure, it was.” He shrugged, but there was something in his eyes, the flicker of a shadow that was there and gone. “Town bad boy. Trouble. Evil seed. I’ve heard it all before.”
    So had she, about her own family . . . but that was another matter and certainly not one she ever intended to share with him.
    “So what are you going to do about it?” Luke demanded.
    “About what?”
    “About their warnings.”
    “I don’t plan on doing anything. What about you? What do you plan on doing?”
    “Raising some hell. Isn’t that was hell-raisers do?” Luke considered hauling her in his arms and kissing her, but one of the llamas was eyeing him the way a con artist eyed an easy mark. Llamas spit, and the big brown one looked aggravated.
    So did Julia.
    “If you came into town to make trouble, that’s your business,” she said.
    “Actually, my business is Maguire’s Pub.”
    “Where you plan on raising hell?”
    “Raising hell and the price of the burger on the menu. It’s been the same for more than a decade.”
    “Sounds like an astute business decision.”
    “You say it as if you don’t expect me to make many of those.”
    “No, I just meant that takes a lot of thought.”
    “What does? Raising prices?”
    “Running a business.”
    “And you’d know this because . . . ?”
    “My mother has run a number of businesses.” Not that Angel put a lot of thought into her endeavors, instead relying on the runes, or fate, or karma, or a blind belief that everything would somehow work out.
    “What kind of businesses?”
    “The details aren’t important. However, if you’re interested in checking out some books on business administration, you can do so at the library.”
    Luke wanted to check her out, see if her