by Chloe Walsh
“Lucas?” Jake repeated as he studied my face with sharp gray eyes. My eyes…
I watched Jake lift his small hand to mine and it was when his flesh touched mine that I realized this tiny human was going to bring me to my knees.
I had no doubt about it.
“That’s my middle name,” Jake told me before removing his hand from mine and swinging around to face Kate. “Isn’t it, Mammy? Lucas is my middle name – the same as that man.”
The same as that man…
I was ‘that man’ to my own son.
My own flesh and blood.
“Jacob Lucas Summers.” Jake grinned proudly at his mother while I gaped in disgust and watched as her face reddened.
“His middle name?” I managed to croak out and Kate had the decency to squirm.
Why did she do this?
“You kept my son from me but decided to give him my name anyway?” I shook my head in confusion as I strived to figure this out. “Why would you…what the hell, Katy?”
“Lucas,” Kate hissed, glaring at me meaningfully. “Not here.”
“You named him after me,” I snarled, not able to hold back a second longer. I needed this out in the open. The kid had been lied to for long enough by his mother and I sure as hell wasn’t about to start the same pattern. “Does he even know that?” Running a hand through my hair I let out a sharp hiss. “Goddammit, Katy, what’s the matter with you? I’m his father – he has my name – and you purposefully kept us apart…”
“What’s going on?” Jake piped up and Kate’s face paled. “Is that man my daddy?”
“That’s a very good question, Jake,” I murmured, eyes locked on my lying, cheating wife. “Why don’t you explain this one, sweetheart?”
“Well, you see Lucas is actually your…” Kate stalled, tripping over her words as she tried to explain herself. “Do you remember when I told you that your…”
“I’m your father,” I blurted out without my brain’s permission. “That’s what your mother was trying to tell you.”
“Luke,” Kate gasped, appalled.
“He needs to know,” I muttered, concentrating on the huge gray eyes staring up at me. My heart squeezed so tight I could hardly breathe. “I know this must be a surprise to you, Jake, but I am so happy to meet you.” And I love you and I’m so goddamn sorry but if I’d known about you I never would’ve missed a single moment of your life…
Jake frowned. “You’re my daddy?” he asked, looking up at his mother for reassurance.
Kate offered him a watery smile. “That’s right, sweetie,” she whispered as tears pooled in her blue eyes. “Lucas is your daddy.”
“But I thought I didn’t have a daddy,” Jake said, staring up at his mother with nothing but trust and innocence in his eyes. “That’s what you said, isn’t it mammy?” he added. “You said that some boys and girls only have mammies?”
“Yes, I did say that,” Kate mumbled, red-faced, and I had to bite down hard on my lip to keep myself from muttering a string of curse words. “But this… Lucas is your daddy and he wants to take us on a holiday.”
“To Disneyland?” Jake asked in a hopeful tone of voice.
“No, not Disneyland. We’re going to visit your daddy’s house in America…” Kate began to say but I cut her off quickly.
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go, Jake,” I husked, staring down at my son. “Anywhere.”
“What about my mammy?” he asked, reaching out for his mother’s hand. “Can she come with us? I don’t want to go without her.”
I heard Kate’s weak sob and forced myself to smile down at Jake. “Of course,” I croaked out. “Your mom can come too.”
****
Kate
“I’ve heard all about you, Lucas DiMarco,” I told the beautiful American man sitting in the car beside me. My heart was racing so fast I was sure he could hear it. One short month of dating and I’d never fallen so fast for a man, so deeply, so irreversibly…
“I bet you have,” Lucas rasped, leaning closer, so close I could feel his breath fan my face. “Are you impressed?”
“With your playboy antics and affluent lifestyle?” I shook my head and watched carefully for a reaction. If Lucas was nervous he didn’t show it. All I could take from the expression etched on his handsome face was contentment. “I know you’re a player,” I added in a husky tone. “That doesn’t impress me. Neither does your father’s millions.”
“Cut me deep, Katy,” Luke chuckled, wrapping his hand around my neck and pulling my face to his. “What can I do to win you over?”
Twisting on my seat to face him, I drew my legs beneath me as I pressed my hand against his chest and smiled shyly. “Give me something money can’t buy.” I pressed my lips to his, inhaling his masculine scent.
“I’ll give you all of me,” he breathed against my lips as his fingers knotted in my hair.
“I bet you’ve promised your heart to dozens of girls before me,” I managed to gasp as Lucas pressed closer, pushing me backwards, taking more from my heart than I knew I had to give.
“I haven’t promised forever to anyone,” he growled. “But I’m promising it to you. Marry me and I’ll give you forever, Katy…”
“So this is it,” I muttered to myself as I stood in the empty hallway in Lucas’s mansion having just tucked Jake up in one of the bedrooms on the second floor. The long flight had exhausted my son because he hadn’t opened an eye since we landed in Seattle – not even when he was moved from the plane to the limo and then into the house.
Forcing the memories of my old Luke to the back of my mind, I slowly made my down the hallway towards the master bedroom. That’s where he would be. He’d told me as much.
Swallowing the bile that was trying to force its way up my throat, I smoothed my black pencil skirt with my shaking hands before readjusting my sleeveless white blouse. My feet were aching from the skyscraper stilettos I had on and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball beside my son and fall into the sweetness that was a dreamless sleep.
When I reached the door of the master bedroom, I contemplated knocking for a brief moment before letting myself inside.
My breath caught in my throat the second I caught a glimpse of Lucas standing in the moonlit room with his back to me – his naked back.
It was dark but the moonlight shining through the floor to ceiling window allowed me to see the huge king-size bed with the leather headboard taking up a huge portion of the room. The remaining walls were painted a dark color I couldn’t quite depict and were bare of any picture frames or photographs.
“He’s asleep,” I told Lucas as I closed the door behind me and stood nervously inside the masculine looking bedroom. As much as I hated Lucas right now, I couldn’t deny the fact that he was sublimely beautiful. With his blonde hair ruffled, his broad chest and ripped stomach on display, Lucas could have passed as a male model.
“Good.” Turning slowly, Lucas stood with his hands shoved in the pockets of his navy suit pants and stared at me. “He’s going to like Seattle, Kate…you both will,” he added after a pause. “In time.”
“I would prefer to be at home,” I replied quietly.
“Yeah, well, there’s a lot of things in life that I would’ve preferred, sweetheart,” he husked as his eyes trailed over my body. “But we can’t always get what we want.”
I wasn’t sure what I supposed to say to that or do next, but my feet felt like they were seconds away from buckling, partly because of the shoes, mostly because of my half-naked husband, so I chose to walk over to his bed and sit.
“You need to prepare yourself for the backlash,” Lucas husked as he prowled towards me with a look of hunger and irritation in his eyes. My PA called me when you were putting Jake to bed.” Running a hand through his thick blonde hair, Lucas stood in front of me, towering over my body, and let out a heavy sigh. “We were photographed leaving the airport – the three of us.” His gray eyes penetrated through me. “The press is g
oing to have a field day with us.”
My heart sank.
I knew Lucas was a big deal – his family was treated like royalty. But I hadn’t signed up for this. “You could let us go home,” I whispered. “And forget the arrangement. I wouldn’t keep Jake from you – not if you wanted to see him.” I could hear my voice rising but I couldn’t help it. I felt frantic. A part of me still wanted the man in front of me – still wanted to be with him – but not on these terms. Not this way.
“So you can disappear with my son and I’ll never see him again?” Lucas shook his head in anger. “I don’t think so, Kate. I can’t trust you.”
“I never disappeared, Luke,” I snapped.
Jerking to my feet, I stood chest to chest with my estranged husband and gave him a few home truths. “I’ve been in the exact same place since you left me,” I told him, glaring into his piercing gray eyes. “You are the one who did a vanishing act. How am I supposed to trust you – trust that you won’t get bored of Jake and toss him aside and break his heart?” Like the way you broke mine…
“Because I’m not that kind of man,” he roared, lowering his face and pressing his forehead to mine. “I wouldn’t do that, Kate.”
“You are nothing but that kind of man,” I shot back, furious, as I pressed my forehead against his. Lucas’s chest was heaving and hot against my flustered skin, but I didn’t back down from him. I couldn’t afford to…
“Pretend to be the doting father all you want, Luke, but I know the truth.” Tears filled my eyes and I welcomed them. They were a stark reminder of the cruelty this man was capable of. The damage he was willing and able to do to me. “I read your truth. Remember your heartfelt letter?”
Even in the darkness I could clearly see Lucas’s cheeks turn red as he glowered down at me. “Show it to me?” Lucas demanded, cupping the back of my neck with his rough hand.
Knotting his hands in my hair, he clutched me tight against his body and lowered his mouth to my ear. “Show me this letter I’m supposed to have written.”
“I can’t,” I screamed. “I got rid of it.” Lifting my hand I clutched his chin in my hand and forced him to look into my eyes. Digging my nails into his stubbly flesh I hissed, “The letter, that is. The baby, I kept.”
Shoving me backwards onto the bed, Lucas pressed his hard body against me. “I didn’t write you any damn letter, Katy,” he rasped before taking my earlobe in his mouth and nipping it.
“Yes, you did,” I cried out as I bucked upwards against Lucas’s growing erection.
“I fucking loved you, dammit…” His hands tore at my blouse, tearing it open before ripping my bra away. “I would’ve made it work,” he added before dropping his mouth to suck on one of my hardened nipples. “For the baby,” he snarled as he used his other hand to hitch my skirt up.
“You abandoned me,” I snarled as I dragged my fingernails roughly down his back, scrawling him, marking him.
“No.” Lucas hissed loudly.
Lifting his weight off me, Lucas stripped me bare before turning me over. “You cheated on me,” he roared, pressing my body face down on the bed so that my ass was in the air.
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” I moaned, spreading my legs for him to take me. I hated the bastard but right now I thought I would die if I didn’t feel him throbbing inside me.
Grabbing my hips, Lucas positioned himself between my legs and I couldn’t stop the scream of raw pleasure that tore from my throat when he pinched my clit.
“You were supposed to be mine, Katy,” he snarled before slamming into me from behind. He was so hard – so deep inside me that I could do nothing except claw at the bed sheets and ride out the wave of ecstasy he was taking me on. “Only mine.”
My thighs trembled as Lucas clasped my hips and thrust roughly into me over and over. The sound of his balls slapping against me was so erotic that my body started to shake and shiver.
“I have never been anyone else’s,” I panted. “Not before, not during, and not after our marriage.”
Hooking one arm around my waist, Lucas slipped his hand between my legs and began to play with my swollen clit as he continued to plunge into me.
“Didn’t you know how much I loved you?” he demanded as he flicked my clit hard. “Did you even think about me when you climbed into his bed?”
“I didn’t sleep…with Jared.” My legs gave out, but Lucas wrapped an arm around my waist and held me up. “Hmm…”
“I would’ve walked on water for you, Katy,” Lucas rasped, digging his fingernails into my fleshy hips. “Given you the fucking moon – the clothes off my back – if you had asked for it.”
Heartache, hatred and passion coursed through my veins as I took what he was offering. My body trembled with desire as Lucas grinded himself against me.
“You broke my heart,” I whispered though it sounded more like a breathy moan. The tightening in my core combined with the friction of Lucas’s body grinding against mine sent shockwaves of desire through me. “That letter…”
I felt Lucas’s lips on my neck as he covered my skin with hot, wet kisses. He pushed roughly into me once more and let out a savage growl. The heat that spilled into me caused the tightening feeling in my pelvis to explode and I came hard around him.
“I never wrote a letter to you,” Lucas said in a thick tone of voice as he buried his face in my neck. “I couldn’t bear to sign and send divorce papers to you – let alone a goddamn letter.”
The sincerity in his voice caused a shiver of fear to roll down my spine and I froze beneath Lucas’s hard naked body, with his cock still pulsing inside of me, as my brain contemplated the what if’s…
What if Lucas really hadn’t sent that letter?
What if Lucas had never written that letter?
What if Lucas had never been informed of my pregnancy…?
What if… oh my god…
“Who told you I slept with Jared?” I asked quickly and Lucas went completely still.
“Jared,” he finally said before pulling out of me.
“But who else?” I pushed as I watched Lucas stalk across the room naked as the day he’d been born. “You said someone confirmed the affair?”
Pulling myself to my feet, I stood by the bed and watched Lucas disappear into the en-suite bathroom. “I want to know who that someone was, Luke.”
“Julie told me – not that it makes a difference,” I heard Lucas shout seconds before the sound of a shower motor running pierced my eardrums. “I think we need to focus on the here and now, Kate,” he called out. “And try and make this arrangement work for Jake’s sake.”
“She did this,” I said with a gasp.
On shaken legs I staggered towards the bathroom, skidding on the moist tiles beneath my feet in my rush. “Oh my god, Luke.” I stared through the fogged up shower door at my naked husband. “She orchestrated this whole damn thing.”
Lucas didn’t look at me when he said, “Who?” Instead, he continued to stare down at his feet with his head bowed, and his hand pressed against the wall.
I rolled my eyes in irritation. “Your stepmother.”
Lucas’s head snapped up. His piercing gray eyes locked on mine. “Come again?”
“Think about it,” I said excitedly, moving closer. “You said it yourself that Julie was under a lot of pressure back then and that’s why your family traveled to Ireland for a vacation – you guys wanted somewhere out of the paparazzi’s because of your father’s…”
“Stroke,” Lucas added coolly. “Yes, we did and Julie was under pressure with the business. We all were.”
Excitement bubbled inside of me.
Lucas was hearing me out.
“For the sake of this conversation let’s agree that I didn’t sleep with your brother and you didn’t write me a letter ordering me to abort your baby.”
I watched with my heart in my mouth as a vein in Lucas’s neck ticked.
He nodded slightly and hope soared inside of me.
&
nbsp; “Then why did we break up, Luke?” I asked timidly.
“Because you slept…”
“No,” I interrupted quickly. “Think again.”
“Where’s this going, Kate?” Switching off the shower, Lucas let out an impatient growl before stepping out of the shower and grabbing a towel. “What’s your point?”
“My point is I think I believe you,” I told him honestly. Lucas moved towards the door and I stepped directly in his path.
Wrapping my hand around his muscular forearm, I stared into my husband’s eyes and begged with all my heart for him to believe what I was about to say. “I think we’ve been set up, Lucas.”
“Set up?” he husked, eyes locked on mine. “Kate, please stop…”
“What if we’ve both been telling the truth?” I dared to say, stepping closer to him. “What if our wires have been crossed for years and this is just one huge misunderstanding schematized by your stepmother?”
“So you’re saying Julie made it all up about you and my brother,” Lucas stated in a flat tone and I nodded.
That was exactly what I was saying and now all I needed was Lucas to believe it too.
“You’re saying Julie wrote this infamous letter and Julie is the one who didn’t inform me of your pregnancy?” he continued and with each word he spoke his voice grew harder, colder…
“Yes,” I replied uneasily. It had sounded absolutely accurate in my head, but now…now I wasn’t so sure.
“Jesus Christ, Kate, give it up already, will you,” Lucas all but roared in a harsh tone.
“No,” I spat. “I wont give it up. That letter ruined my life.”
“Stop lying to me, Kate,” Lucas snapped before roughly pulling his arm away from me. “And better still, stop lying to yourself.”
With that Lucas stalked out of the bathroom, leaving me standing there alone, with an aching in my heart and a conspiracy theory that my brain refused to let go of.