Unlike the rest of the town, Willa didn’t want to know their secrets. She simply wanted to be a friend they could trust with their confidences, and know she wouldn’t spread the gossip to the entire town. She was too used to being the object of malicious tongue-wagging to ever bring that down on someone else’s head.

 Willa gave them both a strained smile. “I wanted to say hello before I left. I need to leave to pick the kids up from school.” Willa made up the excuse to get herself away from the uncomfortable situation.

 “I’m sorry you have to leave so soon. I haven’t opened your present yet—”

 “That’s okay. It’s not much. I hope you like it.” Willa started backing away, downplaying the hours she had spent knitting the powder blue baby blanket that was lying unopened by Lily’s side. “Bye, Beth … Lily.” She turned to leave, relieved she could finally escape. The room was becoming more crowded by the moment, filling with even more men.

 As she made her way through the crowd, she neared the front door which had been left open from the last bikers entering.

 “Why won’t you at least say hi to Willa?” Willa slowed, recognizing Evie’s voice.

 “Because I don’t want to give her another reason to feel awkward. She sticks out like a sore thumb in there. Every time I approach her, she runs like hell. I’ll be glad when she gets over her crush on me. It’s damn uncomfortable.”

 Willa paled. Rider, who had been coming down the steps, came to a stop when he heard Lucky’s words and saw her eavesdropping.

 Humiliation flooded through her. Straightening her shoulders, she continued toward the door and went outside. Evie saw her first, her mouth dropping open. King, who was standing next to her, was able to hide his surprised reaction, but not by much. Lucky glanced over his shoulder to see who they were staring at, and their eyes met.

 “Willa…”

 She hadn’t believed anything could embarrass the confident man who had a tinge of red beginning to show on his firm jawline.

 “I’m leaving. I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.” She gave him a fixed stare, determined not to make a bigger fool of herself.

 “I didn’t mean…” Lucky ran his hand through his hair that had grown even longer since he had stepped down from the pulpit.

 “You meant exactly what you said. If you think I’m attracted to you, you’re wrong, Lucky,” she said. “I would never be attracted to a man like you. The man I would be attracted to would share the same faith and beliefs I have, be kind and considerate to others, and never deliberately hurt someone’s feelings. That man is the one you pretended to be for years, but I knew it wasn’t the real man standing behind the pulpit every Sunday. That’s why I switched churches. My pastor has to be a man I believe in. I never believed in you, and I was right.”

 Willa brushed past King with an apologetic glance, leaving the group staring after her in bemusement. She forced herself to go carefully down the long flight of steps to the parking lot when all she wanted to do was run. She felt Lucky’s shocked gaze on her as she got inside her car then pulled slowly out onto the road.

 She was humiliated yet proud of herself for giving him a piece of her mind. The arrogant man was used to women catering to him, trying to catch his attention. Well, she was one woman in Treepoint who wasn’t going to make that mistake.

 She was so angry she felt like baking him a cake then smashing it in his face. A giggle escaped her as she drove down the road, leaving the clubhouse behind. The image of Lucky with cake all over him gave her a tiny bit of confidence, as did the fact that he now believed he had been mistaken in his assumptions that she was harboring lovelorn feelings for him. Which I don’t, she told herself firmly. No, she wasn’t in love with him at all. However, she was forced to admit to herself—because she was afraid God was privy to her innermost thoughts—that she might have had a few fantasies about the self-assured man. He did fill her dreams late at night when her defenses were down. The longings she kept at bay during the daylight hours couldn’t be suppressed during those long, lonely nights that seemed never-ending until the first streams of daylight would return, and she could bury them once again in hard work, exhausting herself so she could make it through another one.

 Her mother had drilled into her mind since infancy to be a virtuous woman. Her mother would not only disapprove of her unwanted attraction to Lucky, whom she’d never met, but if she were still living, she would have heart palpations at the thought of her pure daughter being near the sexually magnetic man. Did people suffer anxiety attacks in Heaven? Willa placed it on her ever-growing mental list of questions she wanted to ask God when they met, hopefully in the far, far future. Lord willing that I meet him, Willa corrected herself. Her feelings for Lucky were putting her everlasting soul in jeopardy.

 “God, if you’re listening, I have something to confess. I lied. I kind of do have a crush on the big jerk,” she said out loud, watching for oncoming vehicles in the other lane, afraid she would be punished for telling an even bigger lie. “Okay,” she said, starting her confession over. “I like him a lot.”

 * * *

 Lucky stood on the front porch, watching until the taillights of Willa’s car could no longer be seen. Reluctantly, he turned to confront a glaring Evie and King.

 When Evie’s mouth snapped open, Lucky raised his hand to stop her angry recriminations. “There’s nothing you can say that I’m not saying to myself. I’m aware I came off looking like a dick and hurt Willa’s feelings.”

 “You going to fix it?” Evie’s features fueled his regret.

 “No. I’m going to leave it alone. I didn’t mean to hurt her, but it’s for the best.” Lucky averted his eyes from King’s discerning gaze.

 He smothered his guilt, something he was becoming an expert at. Willa’s infatuation with him needed to be stopped, and he would rather her feel hurt now than prolong the attraction she felt for him.

 “When did you become such an ass?” Evie stormed inside the clubhouse, leaving him and King alone.

 King leaned against the porch banister, folding his arms across his chest.

 “Go ahead and give me shit. I know you’re dying to.” Lucky was aware King had taken a liking to Willa.

 “Why should I say anything? You wanted Willa to hate you, and you succeeded. You have your reasons. They’re probably bullshit, but they’re your reasons.”

 “They aren’t bullshit. Willa’s a sweet woman, and I refuse to lead her on. I’m not attracted to her, and I never will be,” Lucky denied heatedly.

 “Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?” King’s mouth twisted with a mocking smile.

 “Neither. I’m stating a fact. The sooner she gets over me, the sooner she’ll find someone else.”

 King looked at him in disbelief. “You really believe she has a thing for you?”

 “Yeah, Evie told me … and the way she acts around me.” At first, he had thought her keeping her distance was because she didn’t approve of him as her pastor, but Evie’s comments on Willa’s attraction to him one night had opened his eyes to the fact that she didn’t know how to deal with the one-sided attraction she felt toward him.