Tempting the Artist

by Sharon C. Cooper

  That wicked little grin she flashed whenever she was up to no good, slid across her lips. “Are you saying that you can’t hang?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” She laughed and loosened her grip, but didn’t remove her hand completely. “I’m not proud of it, but I’m a little out of practice.”

  That seemed to get her attention. During their separation, no other woman held his attention long enough to want to talk her out of her panties. That’s because this beautiful woman staring down at him now had his heart.

  “I’m glad you’re out of practice,” she said softly and climbed on top of him, kissing him with so much passion. At that moment, she could ask for anything and he’d try to deliver. Though he didn’t think he had another round in him, the way she was making love to his mouth was sure to get a rise out of him.

  “Mmm, Christina,” he mumbled against her lips.

  She lifted her head and smiled. “Lucas,” she spoke his given name again as if testing it out on her tongue.

  Before his mother died, she was the only person who called him Lucas. He had to admit, he liked when Christina called him by his given name.

  “My mother would have loved you,” he said pushing her hair away from her face, relishing how silky soft it felt between his fingers. “I don’t remember everything about her, but in some ways you remind me of her.”

  Christina caressed his cheek. “In what ways?”

  Luke’s mother had died of ovarian cancer. Watching her day after day, fight the disease, enduring chemotherapy and then radiation, took its toll on her, as well as him and his father. Since they didn’t have much family, once she was gone, his whole world had changed. It was one of the loneliest times of his life.

  “She was really sweet and smiled a lot. Everyone who knew her loved her.” He placed a lingering kiss against Christina’s cheek. He wasn’t sure why, but he’d been thinking about his mother more lately. “She did so much for others. Buying groceries, giving folks money to get their lights turned back on. Whatever people needed, she was there for them. It’s not that she and my dad had much money, but the little they had, she used to help others. I often told her that I was going to make a lot of money so that she wouldn’t have to use her money to help others.”

  “I know she’s looking down on you, proud of the man you’ve become.”

  He could only hope. There were so many things he had done over the years that he wasn’t proud of. Things he wished he could do over. Then maybe he would be more confident that his mother was proud of the man he had become.

  “You were right about me having another reason for leaving New York.” Christina lifted her head from his chest and met his gaze. When he didn’t continue, she climbed off of him and reclaimed her space on the bed next to him, as if sensing his discomfort in what he was about to tell her. She pulled the sheet up higher over her naked body and propped up on her elbow.

  When he didn’t speak right away, she said, “If you’re not ready to tell me, I understand. Look how long it took me to tell you about Sasha Knight.”

  “I had a brother.” He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.

  She lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow. “Had?”

  He nodded. “My half brother. My father had an affair about a year after I was born. I don’t know all the details, but while I was in my sophomore year of high school, I found out about him.”

  “How did you find out?”

  Luke turned onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, his hand caressing Christina’s smooth thigh. She was soft in all the right places and he felt a sense of calm fall upon him whenever his hands were on her.

  “We attended the same high school,” he finally said. He told her how some of his classmates had mentioned that there was a guy who favored him in their classes. After a few weeks of hearing this from different people, he finally met Scott. They had different last names, but the resemblance was strong. It turned out that his father didn’t even know Scott existed.

  “That had to be wild. Did you guys become friends?”

  “Not really. We were friendly, but we didn’t hang out. Scott ran with a different crowd. A group of guys that were bad news and spent more time on the streets than they did in school. My father wasn’t having that with me. After my mother had died, he rode my ass to get good grades, saying she wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer. Now, I’m glad my dad stayed on me, but back then, I hated him for it. I couldn’t catch a break with the old man. B’s weren’t good enough. I had to bring home A’s or he’d beat my ass.”

  “What about Scott? Did your father have a relationship with him?”

  Luke shook his head. “Nah. He tried, but Scott wasn’t interested. They didn’t hate each other, but since neither of them knew about the other until Scott was almost grown, they never did establish a bond.”

  Christina moved closer. Luke wrapped his arm around her, his hand resting on her hip, her head near his shoulder just under his chin.

  “That’s so sad. I can’t imagine my parents not being in my life. I’m surprised Scott’s mother didn’t insist on child support or something. How is it that your father didn’t know about him?”

  “From what I understand, it was a one-time thing with my father and Scott’s mother. Supposedly, she wanted a child, without the husband. Though according to my father, he didn’t know that. They worked on a committee together for months and then attended a conference in Boston,” Luke shrugged, “one thing led to another and they had a one night stand.”

  Christina didn’t say anything for a while, her soft touch on his chest was so relaxing, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. He wished they could just stay like that - in bed, together, surrounded by silence, but there was more to tell.

  “What does Scott have to do with you leaving New York?” she asked as if reading Luke’s mind.

  “He’s dead.”

  She sat upright. “Oh my God.” One of her hands hovered over her mouth, the other over her heart. “When? How?” Her eyes as wide as saucers, she moved away from him.

  Maybe he shouldn’t have just blurted out that part.

  “Come here.” He tried pulling her back down, but she wouldn’t budge.

  “What does Scott being dead have to do with you being in Cincinnati, Lucas?”

  It wasn’t until she leaned further away from him did he realize what she must have been thinking. Now he was sitting up, the sheet tangled around him.

  “I know you don’t think I had anything to do with his death,” he said in a tone rougher than intended, causing her to scoot back more. Swallowing hard, he tried to rein in his anger. “I had nothing to do with his death, CJ.” He stood, and stepped into his pajama bottoms. Walking over to the window, his back to her, he took a moment to slow his breathing.

  “Then … then what happened?”

  Luke turned to her. She was standing next to the bed with the sheet wrapped around her curvaceous figure. Her tousled hair making her look as desirable as if she was all dressed up and in full makeup.

  “He got into some trouble about eight months ago and was up on murder charges. He asked me to defend him.” Luke breathed in and released the breath slowly as he turned back to the window looking out at nothing in particular. “The judge set bail at a million dollars.”

  Luke startled when Christina placed her hand on his back. He hadn’t heard her approach.

  “And?”

  His throat tightened and a gut-wrenching ache had him rubbing his stomach. He felt sick just thinking about that day. Based on his initial interview with his brother, Luke knew he was guilty but agreed to defend him. He had to. They were brothers.

  Luke thought he could keep his brother safe by having him sit in jail for a little while, thinking Scott couldn’t come up with the million dollar bail. All Luke needed was a little more time. At least long enough to cut a deal and get Scott put into the government’s witness protection program if he agreed to testify against the capofamiglia - the boss of
the Donati family.

  “Lucas?”

  “Someone posted his bail before I was notified. There was a hit out on Scott. He was dead within an hour of being released.”

  “Oh. My. God. I’m so sorry.” Her arms went around Luke’s waist and she laid her head against his back, holding him tight.

  He hadn’t planned to share anything about their relationship. Only his friend, a P.I and Zack knew that they were brothers. And now, Christina.

  During high school, neither he nor Scott were interested or willing to claim each other publically. And when Luke went to California to school, they had lost contact. He didn’t even know his brother knew how to reach him until Luke had received a call from him at three o’clock one morning. Scott was in jail.

  Christina lifted her head and loosened her grip, stepping to the side of Luke. He glanced down at her, not missing the tears misting her eyes. She had such a sweet, gentle spirit. Here she was getting emotional for a man she didn’t even know. A man who had lived his life on the streets of New York doing God knows what.

  “Are you … are you in danger? Is that why you moved here?” She visibly shivered and he pulled her close hoping to comfort her.

  “No. I moved here because of all of the loss and shit I experienced in New York. Between working so many crazy hours, losing my family over the years and the type of cases I was getting … it was starting to be too much. I was defending people, some I knew were guilty.” He shrugged. “I just couldn’t do it anymore. I didn’t want to do it anymore. I needed a new start. I needed to regroup. Zack suggested Cincinnati.”

  “What about the stuff Scott was caught up in?”

  “I have friends in high and low places who keep me informed. Looks like Scott might have been set up to take the fall for someone in one of the largest crime families in New York. I never had a chance to dig into the case. After he was killed, I didn’t think it was safe for me to pursue answers.”

  “So I don’t have to worry about something happening to you? You’re not going to try to retaliate?”

  He had done plenty of stupid stuff over the years but trying to kill off a crime family wouldn’t make the list.

  “No to both questions. From what we can tell, no one knows that Scott and I were brothers.”

  “What about his mother?”

  “She was killed in a car accident last year. Being parentless was the one thing we had in common.” The bitterness in his mouth seeped out with each word, threatening to consume him the way it had when he found out his brother had been killed. He and Scott might not have been close, but they were family. Everyone Luke ever cared about had been snatched from him in some way.

  Luke wrapped his arms around Christina and held her tight. He didn’t think he could handle losing anyone else, especially her.

  Chapter Eight

  Christina snuggled closer to Luke, reveling in his body heat. Back together for a month, it was as if they had never split. They had fallen into a good routine and she planned to do whatever she could to never feel the emptiness that she felt when they broke up, which seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “What are you thinking about?” Luke turned onto his side and draped his arm across her waist, pulling her to his body.

  “I was thinking how glad I am that we’re back together.” She ran her fingers through the barely there hairs on his chest. “I missed this, lounging around on a Saturday morning sharing pillow talk.”

  Seconds passed without him speaking, his fingers sifting through her hair, something he often did. When he looked at her, the way he was doing now with such intensity, the love she had for him bubbled inside of her, making her giddy like a schoolgirl.

  “After my mother died, I never let anyone else get close to me, close to my heart, not even my father.” He lifted her chin, forcing their eyes to meet. “You’re everything I never knew I needed. Never knew I wanted. You’re compassionate, creative and your loving touch keeps me thinking about you throughout the day.”

  “Aw, that’s so sweet.”

  “But you know what I love most about you?”

  “No. What?”

  “You’re a freak.”

  “What?” Christina laughed and pounded on his chest. “I can’t believe you said that! Why’d you have to ruin the moment?”

  “Quit,” he said laughing, blocking her swats. “Why are you hitting me? You know you’re a freak.” They wrestled before he halted her moves by pinning her to the bed and then he turned serious. Staring into her eyes, his fingers gently caressed her cheek. “But you’re my freak, and baby I wouldn’t have you any other way. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And that’s on the real.”

  For the next hour, they talked and laughed. Christina couldn’t remember ever being as happy as she was at that moment. Glad the secrets were behind them, she wished they had talked, really talked before she allowed her half-truths to almost ruin their relationship.

  They finally got out of bed, showered, and were in Luke’s kitchen eating breakfast. He had cleaned the kitchen as he cooked and Christina marveled at how different they were when it came to housekeeping. Luke was ridiculously neat and her … not so much.

  “Tomorrow for Sunday brunch, my family is having a cook out at my grandparent’s house. You want to go with me?” The last two times she had asked him to Sunday brunch he turned her down. He had spent time with some of her male cousins, but Luke was an important part of her life. She wanted him to get to know everyone else and for everyone to get to know him.

  He watched her over the rim of his coffee cup.

  “What?” She shrugged, wondering what was going through his mind.

  He set his mug on the round glass table. They were sitting near the window overlooking a swimming pool.

  “So why do you guys have to get together every week? What if you want to do something else like, oh I don’t know, cook dinner here?”

  “Then I would cook dinner here. We get together weekly because that’s what families do.” She pushed her plate aside and leaned forward. “Where is this coming from? Do you have a problem with my family?”

  He shook his head. “Nah. I don’t have a problem with them.”

  “Then what’s with the questions? And why do you keep turning down the invite?”

  Luke stared down at the mug in front of him, steam billowing from the dark liquid. How could he tell her that he didn’t do family gatherings? That he didn’t want to get close to her family and he didn’t want them to get close to him? He already felt vulnerable letting Christina get so close. Now she wanted him to welcome her family into his world.

  “I think your family is cool, but I’m just not into the lovey-dovey, let’s get together every week scene. I get this is what you guys do, but you have to understand. That’s not who I am.”

  “That’s nonsense. We both know why you don’t want to get close to others. But let me explain something to—”

  “Christina, baby, let’s not do this.” He stood abruptly with his coffee mug, his chair scraping across the travertine floor. His hasty retreat to the coffee pot across the kitchen confirmed what she suspected.

  “Let’s not do what, Lucas? You don’t want me to call you out on your fear of letting anyone get close to you? Or is it that you don’t want to get close to anyone for fear of one day losing them? Which is it?”

  He refilled his mug without responding. She didn’t miss the way his jaw clenched or the death grip he had on the handle of the coffee pot. Maybe she needed to try a different approach.

  “I can’t even imagine what it’s like to not have a family to call on in the time of trouble. Or a family that doesn’t butt in when you don’t want them to. But I do know what it feels like to laugh and joke with people who love you. Or how it feels to have someone be there to hold you up when your heart breaks or your knees go weak.” She thought of Jada and the way she and Zack rallied to get her and Luke back together.

  Luke turned and faced her, his back leanin
g against the counter. “Can’t you accept that I just might not want to be around a lot of people tomorrow?”

  “No.” She stood and approached him. “There will be times when we don’t want to do something that the other wants to do or go someplace the other wants to go. But if you asked me to go anywhere with you. Do you know what I’d do?” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “I’d go. Do you know why?” Still no response. “Because I love you. That’s what people who love each other do. And I love you so damn much at times if feels as if my heart is going to explode.”

  “Christina.”

  “I’m inviting you because I want you there with me.” She felt herself getting choked up but refused to let any tears fall. “No, I don’t expect you to be all lovey-dovey with my family. Or automatically fall in love with them. What I want is for you to try to get to know them because they’re important to me. I know they can be intimidating, but …”

  “Stop.” Luke set his mug on the counter and grabbed hold of her hand, pulling her against his body. “Just stop. There is nothing I won’t do for you. Understand? If attending the brunch means this much to you, consider it done. You’re right. Letting others into my world doesn’t come easy, but I understand how important your family is to you. I will try to be more … social. Just don’t cry. I can’t handle seeing you cry.”

  Christina wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. Hearing his heart beat wildly against her ear, she should have felt guilty for forcing him to go with her, but she didn’t. No way would she let him close himself off because of fear of getting too close to others. He deserved to experience what it was like to have a close family love on him. And the Jenkins’ were just the people to show him what that was like.

  *

  “Damn man. Is there anything you’re not good at?” Christina’s cousin, Ben Jr. asked as Luke leaned over the pool table preparing to hit the eight ball into the left corner pocket. “I let you beat me in air hockey, but here you are wiping me out in ping pong and pool.” BJ was a painter who often worked with Christina and the biggest competitor of tabletop games from what Luke could tell. They had met a few weeks ago at a bar for a man’s night out that Zack had pulled together. Like then, they all got along well, dishing out nonsense and were having a good time.