He and Katie made the salad dressing based on Ivy’s instructions. Then he poured it on the salad and gave Katie the important task of tossing it. While Ivy placed the food and pico de gallo in serving dishes, he and Katie set the table. Every time he caught his daughter looking at him, he’d wink at her and she’d laugh.
Finally, they sat down to dinner. The nachos were laden down with meat and beans, melted cheese, and over the top they each scattered healthy doses of pico de gallo. He listened to Katie talk about her friends and classes at school. She’d never shared this much information with him, and she sounded excited about her Language Arts class. Pride filled him. He couldn’t help but be happy that in some small way she might have taken after him, even though he hadn’t been a presence in her life.
“These are great,” Lucas said around a bite, during a lull in the conversation.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Katie chastised him.
“Hey, I’m the adult,” he teased back, and tweaked her nose.
He sensed Ivy’s eyes on him and met her gaze across the table. She smiled and took a drink of beer.
“What do you think of the brew?” she asked.
“I like it,” he answered. She didn’t look at him again. He wanted her to, but he pushed away the unwanted ache for some kind of connection and continued eating.
After dinner, Ivy watched Lucas and Katie work on a crossword puzzle, something else they had in common. Katie sat close to her father on the sofa while Ivy used her tablet to prepare the monthly goals for the area managers in the restaurant group.
Every so often her daughter attempted to include her in the activity.
“Mommy, what’s a four-letter word for masculine?”
“Mommy, what’s a three-letter word for adversary?”
“Mommy, what’s a three-letter word for luau garland?”
“Lei,” Ivy answered, proud she’d actually known the answer to that one.
As the night wore on, she finished up her project and was about to go clean up the kitchen when Lucas whispered, “She’s out.”
Katie had nodded off and was leaning against his arm. Seeing the two of them together in that way made such a sweet image, she wanted to take a picture.
“She sure is.” That was one thing about her daughter, she fell asleep easily and would soon be deep in slumber. “Come on, munchkin.”
Ivy brought her to her feet and she grumbled as she trudged back to the bedroom, leaning on her mother, eyes half-closed. Ivy settled her into bed before heading back out to the living room and found Lucas clearing the table.
“I can do that,” she said.
“The least I can do is load the dishwasher since you fed me,” he replied with a good-natured smile. His attitude had gone through a complete one-eighty. He certainly was no longer angry at her, but she didn’t know what to make of it.
“If you insist,” she said to cover the jitters that overcame her. “But the dishwasher’s broken and I haven’t taken the time to get a repairman in here to look at it yet.”
“Then I’ll help you wash,” Lucas offered.
They stacked dishes on top of one another and took them into the kitchen.
It felt strange to have a man in her home. Particularly one she was attracted to. It would be difficult to explain her relationship with Winston. They’d been more like friends than husband and wife.
Over dinner she’d caught herself watching Lucas, drinking him in. His playfulness with Katie had roused feelings she couldn’t ignore. She used to imagine doing things with him, like hanging wallpaper or picking out fabric swatches for furniture together. And now, having him here felt so right. But those thoughts were dangerous. They needed to get along to co-parent. Nothing more.
Ivy ran water in the sink and watched as suds foamed over the dishes. “Maybe being friends isn’t such a bad idea,” she said. “You know, like you suggested when you came by my office.”
“I don’t guess we have much of a choice. We have to get along.”
She nodded her agreement.
“Want one?” He stuck his hand under her nose with a cinnamon Altoid between his fingers.
“You trying to tell me something?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“All I’m saying is, we both had nachos.” A lopsided grin twisted the corner of his mouth. He should stop smiling, because it drew her attention to his mouth each and every time, which made it hard as hell to remain detached.
“Gee, thanks, but my hands are wet. I’ll get one in a minute.”
He held the candy closer to her face. “Open your mouth.”
For tense seconds neither of them moved. Then slowly, she parted her lips and he slipped in the candy. His thumb brushed her lower lip and heat streaked down her chest to the spot between her legs.
Cinnamon flavor burst in her mouth. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” His voice sounded low and raspy, and he stepped back, as if he suddenly realized they were standing too close. He lifted one of the mints into his own mouth and pulled his thumb in between his lips as if—as if he was tasting her.
A startled expression filled his eyes and he stared at his thumb. Then he snapped the tin closed and shoved it into his pants pocket.
Rattled, Ivy turned off the water. The sink was almost filled to the top.
“I’ll wash and you dry—how about that?” Lucas asked.
“You know, it’s really not necessary.” She should get him out of there. “I—”
“I insist.”
Ivy just wanted him to leave. Her kitchen wasn’t big enough for the burgeoning tension between them.
“You know where everything goes, so it makes sense,” he said.
“Right.”
They switched places so he could wash, and a few minutes in, he started making conversation. “So what do you do for fun?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you do? Seems like you’re always here with Katie.”
“I’m not. I have a life outside of Katie.” She rinsed a plate under the water and then started drying it.
“I’m sure you do. Do you go out a lot?”
“Not much. Every now and again.”
“You dating anyone?”
She slanted a look at him. “What do you care? Don’t you have your women?” Why had she brought that up? She sounded jealous even to her own ears.
“It’s not an indictment, Ivy. It’s just a question.”
In other words, she shouldn’t be so sensitive. “I don’t date much, but I have.”
“Seeing anyone in particular?”
“I have friends.”
He stopped washing the bowl in his hands. “Friends? Friends with benefits—plural?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s awkward for me to have this conversation with you.”
“Why?”
“Because we have history.”
He chuckled. “Ancient history. What, you think I’m going to be jealous or something?” He began washing again.
His comment pained her. When he said it like that, it did seem ridiculous. Just because she had remnants of feelings for him, didn’t mean he cared one way or the other about her. “You would have to care to be jealous.” She dried the white bowl they’d served the salad in.
“Who says I don’t.” Her pulsed jumped in response to the quietly spoken words. She turned in his direction; he was looking at her intently. “You’re the mother of my daughter, and we have to get along. For Katie’s sake.”
Ivy let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “Yes, for Katie’s sake. She’s the priority.” Ivy would do well to remember that.
She opened the cabinet and reached toward the top shelf to put away the bowl.
“Let me get that for you,” Lucas said.
“I’ve got it. I’ll use the stool.”
He wouldn’t listen, though, and before she could move, he was already behind her.
“No need,” he said. She fe
lt the heat from him. Or had her body turned into an oven because he stood so close?
“I can get it,” Ivy said almost in a panic.
He took the bowl. “I’m taller and I have a longer reach.” He set it on the top shelf where it belonged. She held her breath as his hips brushed her backside and closed her eyes against the sensations twisting through her.
She clutched the counter and stayed perfectly still, waiting for him to move. He didn’t, and his warm breath fanned the back of her hair.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He didn’t answer. He traced his hand down her arm and she jerked away from his touch. His fingertips had been so light, barely there, but she felt the sensations everywhere.
“Still don’t want me to touch you?”
When she didn’t answer, he brushed her hair out of the way to expose her nape. His mouth pressed against the back of her neck, the soft hairs of his beard caressing her sensitive skin. A whimper escaped her lips.
“Is it because you hate it, or because you like it too much? Which is it, Ivy?”
She curled her fingers into her palms on the counter. Maybe if she didn’t react he would stop.
“Still don’t want me to touch you?” His tongue flicked at the shell of her ear. “Look at me.” She didn’t turn. She was afraid to. “Look at me.”
A soft, deep-throated chuckle warmed her skin. He turned her in his arms.
“What’s wrong?”
“Lucas, this is a mistake, and you know it.” That beautiful mouth of his was so close. Only inches away.
“Kissing you wouldn’t be a mistake, Ivy. You may think so, but I don’t.”
Then his head swooped down and he crushed his mouth to hers.
Chapter Fourteen
The kiss was so sudden it took Ivy by surprise. She gripped his powerful triceps as he applied pressure to her spine, flattening her against him. Combined with the freshness of the cinnamon mints, the heady taste of him filled her mouth.
She could no longer think. The touch of his lips sent shudders zigzagging through her. He lowered his hand to splay across her bottom and pulled her in tighter. She felt every inch of his hard, aroused body. Desire throbbed between her legs, making her panties damp. She softened, practically melting into him, her nipples hardening in anticipation of more.
“Goddamn,” he groaned. He reached his tongue between her lips to taste deep into her mouth. With a helpless sigh of pleasure, she opened to him.
She trembled in the circle of his arms and rubbed her hips against his crotch, eliciting a deep-chested groan that resounded in her own chest. His hand gripped one of her butt cheeks and squeezed, and she felt the sensual thrust of his hard length in her abdomen as he rotated his pelvis. When she gasped, he released her mouth and dragged his teeth along her chin and down her throat. He bit her neck and sucked hard against the skin of her collarbone. He knew that was her spot. It turned her into an overly-aroused prisoner of lust.
His other hand fisted in her hair and tugged, yanking the strands against her scalp. His treatment of her could be deemed too rough, but it wasn’t. She enjoyed the pain with the pleasure. His aggressive passion had driven her out of her mind years ago. He’d marked her on more than one occasion, his coarse handling leaving bruises on her skin. His tutelage had awakened a brazenness, a hunger not evident in her before she met him. He’d taught her more about her body and sexuality than any book or magazine.
She reached between them and skated her hand up his jeans. Shivers raced down her spine as she cupped him in her hand. He groaned, gyrating against her palm in time to her ardent caress.
“You want this,” he said. Not a question, a statement of fact.
“Yes,” she admitted, her voice husky and trembling with desire. She could hardly breathe from the unexpected need. She wanted to drop to her knees and fill her mouth with him. She wanted to suck and pull until he unleashed into the back of her throat and she could have the pleasure once again of tasting him in the most intimate of ways.
The carnal nature of her thoughts shocked her. Ivy froze in the midst of their passionate episode. Reality returned with a vengeance, and she sprang back, tearing out of Lucas’s arms.
He stared at her in surprise, chest heaving, body obviously going through the same tumultuous experience as hers. What she couldn’t figure out was how the snap on his jeans had come undone. Who had opened it?
Her fingers trembled.
Had she been so impatient for a taste of him she’d undone the snap herself?
Ivy put a hand over her face and took a deep breath. “That shouldn’t have happened.” She swallowed. “We can’t do this. We can’t sleep together.”
“Why not?” he asked. His breathing sounded shallow and harsh.
“If things—we—don’t work out, it becomes a problem.”
“If that’s the only reason, then—”
“No, it’s not the only reason.” She fought the trembling that threatened to overtake her entire body. “I don’t want to be your plaything, someone you use to pass the time with. I know you, Lucas. It’s been a long time, but you’re still pretty much the same man. I dragged you into the fatherhood role, and maybe you’re getting comfortable with it, but you’re not the settling down type. I’m not looking for anything casual, and certainly not with you.”
His head jerked back as if she’d struck him. “What do you mean, certainly not with me?”
She dragged her tongue across her lips. God, she could still taste him. She still ached for him, and if he pushed, she didn’t think she could resist. “We have history, and we already know we can’t work. We want different things in a relationship. If you need to have your sexual needs satisfied, you’ll have to go elsewhere.”
“So you want to pretend there’s nothing between us?” He sounded incredulous.
“If we ignore it, it—whatever it is—will eventually go away.”
“You know what it is, and you don’t believe that for one second.” His eyes challenged hers.
“You don’t live in Seattle. What would be the point?”
He ran his hand over his head in frustration. “So we behave as if there’s no attraction between us? That’s damn near impossible. I don’t see how you expect me to do that.”
“You’ll have to figure it out.”
“Yeah.” He gave a mirthless laugh. He eyed her with animosity, as if he was angry that he still wanted her so much.
She forced herself to say the words that would bring her peace of mind. “You should go.”
“Ivy—”
“Please.” She hadn’t meant to beg, but what was happening between them was more than she could handle.
He didn’t move, and for a moment she thought he would persist, but then with one last look at her, Lucas left the kitchen and she followed. He strode through the condo and closed the front door behind him without so much as a good-bye. He gave her what she wanted, but it didn’t make her happy at all. Because having him leave wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted him.
All of a sudden, the door swung open and Lucas charged back in. She heard words that sounded something like “One last time,” before he grabbed her into a long, devouring kiss that robbed the breath from her lungs. Tilting his head to the side, he plundered her mouth and pushed her against the wall. He trapped her hands on either side of her head and took his fill. For the second time that night, nothing else existed but him. He surrounded her, his scent, his muscular body. Long fingers bit into her wrists and the firm pressure of his mouth stripped her of resistance.
Caught in the grip of an unholy lust, she humped his thigh between her legs. He kissed her harder and she strained closer, returning his ardor despite herself. When he finally tore his mouth away, his harsh breath warmed her cheek as he kissed her jaw. He attacked her throat with open-mouthed kisses and went lower. His lips grazed the ripe buds of her nipples beneath her shirt, and the faint touch provoked a helpless whimper she couldn’t stop even if she’d tri
ed. He gave one long, provocative tug on her nipple between his teeth before he lifted his head to look into her eyes.
His lids were at half-mast, but she saw the tempest brewing in the depths of his dilated pupils. His warm breath fanned her lips, which burned from the bruising power of his kiss.
“I’ll do what you ask, Ivy, but I want to make love to you. I’ve been wanting to since I saw you at the anniversary party, and that’s not going to change.” His lips grazed hers. “You and I both know how good it is between us. I haven’t forgotten, and I’m sure you haven’t, either. I’ll respect your request, but know that I don’t like it one bit.” He ground his hips against hers so she could feel his hard-on. She inhaled sharply and closed her eyes. “I’ll do my best to be good, but I’m no saint. I hope you understand how hard it’s going to be to keep my goddamn hands off of you.”
He planted one last kiss on her mouth and stroked the interior with his tongue. Then suddenly he was gone. As the door swung closed behind him, he called out, “Lock the door behind me.”
It wasn’t a casual, meaningless comment. His words predicted danger to come if she didn’t adhere to his instructions. Ivy moved on legs that barely allowed her to stand, much less walk.
“Lock the door!” he hollered out in the hall.
With a surge of vigor, she scrambled for the latch and twisted the dead bolt into place.
****
The next few days were hard, but Lucas continued to visit because his desire to bond with Katie was greater than his need to avoid Ivy and the attraction between them. They maneuvered around each other easily enough, but the ever-present tension created an invisible boundary. One that, in his opinion, felt tenuously thin. Being around her and having to pretend not to notice her every move was a near impossible feat to accomplish. They circled each other, careful not to touch or say the wrong thing. It had him on edge.
On the plus side, he and his daughter grew closer. So close, he didn’t experience a lick of shame when he questioned Katie the day they went to the park. They’d been there all morning, with him chasing Katie around, listening to her high-pitched squeals of laughter and regretting that in a couple of days he’d be on a plane back to Georgia and didn’t know when he’d be able to come out to see her again.
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