Luke swallowed a bite of burrito and wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Do you need a date for this charity benefit? Or do you already have one?” Those words must have left a bad taste in his mouth if the sour expression on his face was any indication.

“I’d love you to come with me, but I’m afraid I might bore you to death. In addition to the benefit that evening, Abby has several meetings set up before the dinner. I’m doing double duty that night. I’ll be the attendee and the CEO extraordinaire. Still want to go?”

“Absolutely.” His eager response made her smile and set the butterflies in her belly to fluttering wildly. “What day is it?”

“The twenty-seventh.”

Luke perked up. “The Rockford Benefit?”

“Yes.”

“My family goes every year. We buy our own table.” Which meant Luke believed in giving back just as much as she did.

“Then we’ll be there together.” She took a huge bite of her burrito and savored the yummy taste. “So you’ll be taking off your cowboy hat and putting on your lawyer one?”

“Something like that.” He’d demolished his first burrito and made another. “You might be the only person who sees me as two different people.”

“I know you fit here. I’d love a glimpse of you all suited up as a lawyer.”

“I prefer jeans, but I’d put a suit on for you any day of the week.” The warmth in his voice shot right through her.

“I can’t wait to see it.” She wanted to know so much more about him. “So tell me about your childhood.”

“Well, it was always me and Jason together growing up. Just like Jack and Nick. We were best friends as well as brothers. Like you, Dad ran a successful business and had the money for us to live in the biggest house imaginable, but they wanted us to grow up having had a normal life. Education was the highest priority and we went to great schools, but we were raised in an upscale but not outrageous house in the Bay Area. We spent summers here. Mom, especially, loved the ranch. She likes open spaces. They travel a lot now, and Dad only goes into the office a couple days a week. I work three twelve-hour days during the week in the office and a couple of hours each night the other days here. I sometimes have to go into court the other days.”

“It must be nice to have so many people to count on.”

“We’re a close family. Always have been. Do you see your dad a lot?”

“Once in a while. We keep in touch over the phone, but our relationship is . . . complicated.”

“How’s that? He’s your dad. Were you angry that he didn’t find you sooner?”

“Actually, no. My mother never told him about me. As I understand it, they met and had a very brief affair. It didn’t even last a month. She went back to her tumultuous family. I never met my grandparents, but it’s obvious they weren’t nice people. My mother turned out to be a wild child, drinking, getting into trouble, ending up pregnant young and not even telling the guy. My uncle was as neglectful as my mother and a mean drunk. It’s no wonder the relationship between my mom and dad didn’t work out. He came from a stable family and had plans for his life that didn’t include the perpetual party my mom enjoyed and used to cover up her misery.”