Killing Lucas

by Dominique Eastwick

  Lucas looked at his brother lying on his back, then at Kiloran looking up at him, terror still in her green eyes. He looked at Kiloran for a few more seconds before relief washed over him and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her as if his life depended on it. Kissed her deep and demanding, letting out his frustration, anger, and relief. He squeezed her to him and she squeezed right back, meeting every lash of his tongue and every breath with one of her own.

  “For the love of Buddha, you two. And yes, I’m okay—thanks for asking.”

  Lucas pulled away from Kiloran but kept a secure arm wrapped around her waist. He held out a hand to help his brother up. When Trent was back on his feet, Lucas pulled him into a large bear hug. “Thank you.”

  “I—can’t—breathe.” Trenton pulled away. “I knew you were strong, but damn.”

  “Come on, Kil, let’s get you into the truck, while I call the state police and Trenton gets his gear.” Walking Kiloran back to the truck, Lucas steadied her as she tripped once. She was shaking now and only seconds away from a losing it. As they approached the truck, doors open, did it occur to him that Fenway might have gotten out. But the dog was still asleep on the seat as if nothing had happened.

  Lucas lifted Kiloran with ease into the cab and reached behind the seat for a blanket he had seen earlier. Wrapping her up tight, he closed the door and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. He was pissed and done dealing with this psycho. And he was disgusted with himself that he had thought for one second Kiloran could have set any of this up.

  Nothing was clearer to him now; had Kiloran been doing this to herself, there was no way she would have gotten into that car. Lucas had no doubt someone had tampered with his brakes. Bile rose at the thought that he had allowed her behind the wheel. If he was correct, then the wasp hive had been placed there to attack while she was getting ready. The ambulance would have taken her, leaving him to follow in a car that was nearly guaranteed to be a death trap. That meant the damned stalker had been all over the set today without raising any alarms. Someone knew him.

  “Agent Vassar,” a gruff voice answered.

  “It’s Lucas.”

  “We haven’t been able to get in yet, so I don’t have any news.”

  “Well I have some for you. Someone tampered with my car and it’s over the side of the fucking cliff in the Goddamned trees. If you want to send someone down to retrieve it, you might have more luck getting evidence if it’s on stable ground.”

  “I’m on my way. Is everyone all right? Do you need an ambulance?”

  “We’re fine, thanks to my brother.” Lucas looked at his brother who was back at the edge, looking at the car below. Emotions flooded him: anger, gratitude, fear. Too many to name but he would never question his baby brother’s choice of professions again. Lucas answered a few more questions and told them where they were.

  “Hang tight, be there in a few.”

  “A few” ended up being about twenty minutes. And Agent Vassar looked none too pleased by the way things were shaping up. After speaking with Kiloran for what little information she could give him, Vassar turned to Lucas. “I think it would be best if you headed straight back to the house. There are two agents parked outside the house as guards, and I’ll come up when I’m done here so we can discuss plans for keeping you both safe.”

  “We need more than a plan at this point, and I promise you if I find this guy first I will kill him.”

  “Just make it look like self-defense if you could.” Agent Vassar waved them away.

  Trenton started the truck as Lucas approached, and Kiloran moved to the center of the cab to let Lucas in. Lucas wasn’t sure who moved first once his seatbelt was secure, her or him, but she was in his arms holding on for dear life as they made their way with slow precision back to the house. He worried that his tight embrace might be crushing her but every time he tried to pull back she clutched tighter.

  As Trenton pulled up to the house, they were greeted by the two FBI agents now patrolling the grounds. Once they assured themselves that Trenton posed no threat, they returned to their lookout points at the top of the driveway.

  Lucas got out of the car and Kiloran nearly jumped into his arms. He cradled her in his arms heading straight for the house.

  “What about all this stuff?”Trenton whined.

  “Just take it to the basement.” Lucas didn’t bother to look back as he made his way to the front door.

  “What am I, your damned Sherpa?”

  Lucas turned for a moment to stare down the youngest Sherman. “Dump it on the front lawn. I don’t care. I’ll be down in a little while. Until then, do whatever the hell you want.”

  Entering the house, he managed to disarm the alarm without putting Kiloran down. Up the stairs, into her new bedroom, and then Lucas finally put her to her feet. As they stared at each other, a familiar feeling came over him. She must have seen his eyes burning with desire, because the next instant she kissed him.

  He didn’t question this need to have her. They might both regret this in the morning, but right now he needed to feel alive and it had to be with her. He had to know she was with him all the way. Kicking off his shoes, Lucas lifted Kiloran’s small frame into his arms. He held her in place against the wall using his own weight to keep her still so his hands could explore.

  Her shapely legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer with her feet. Agile fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt making quick work of them, until she was able to push the material over his shoulders. He savored the feel of her touch as Kiloran worked her hands over his taut muscles.

  His lips never left hers. When she tried to pull away to focus on other parts of him, Lucas took the kiss deeper. He wrapped his other arm around her waist, spinning away from the wall and bringing her to the bed. Only when she was lying there did he let go.

  She reached for him. “Don’t go.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He reached for the waistband of her pants and eased them down over her hips. The scent of her arousal nearly had him jumping her like a madman. “I don’t think I can be gentle tonight, not this time.”

  Lifting up she kissed him, taking lead this time, working the button of his jeans free. “Don’t want gentle.” Lucas bit his lower lip and pushed his jeans and boxer briefs off as one, and kicked them to the side as Kiloran made quick work of the T-shirt she wore, no bra needed. She had always said she was too small, but her breasts were perfect. His hands ran over the outside of her hips, relishing in the feel of soft skin before running up her inner thigh. She hissed and fell back against the bed, and let knees fall to either side, leaving her open to him. Lucas ran his fingers through her soft red curls, not sure what made him harder—her whimper or the feel of her wet lips as his fingers worked into her.

  It didn’t matter. He couldn’t wait. In a heartbeat he was on the bed and the next he was guiding his cock into all the way into her. This was heaven, what he had been missing all these years. He hadn’t wanted anyone because no one else was Kiloran. No one else could touch him the way she did. When he pulled back, she whimpered again and wrapped her legs around his hips and pushing on his ass with her heels.

  “More,” she demanded.

  Slamming back into her, Lucas watched as pleasure washed over her. He wanted to cover her with his body, have her feel his whole weight as he took her, but watching her was more important. So he held himself up on trembling arms as each push forward brought them both closer to the end. There was nothing elegant about the way he made love to her. It was primal and rough, full of grunting and panting.

  “Come for me, baby. Come now,” he whispered into her ear. Kiloran dragged her nails down his back, the pain easing into pleasure as she stilled under him. She threw her head back as she fought for air, and memories of so many nights flooded him, all the times she had come for him just like this.
And then the waves crashed over her, shaking her to the tips of her toes. He followed her over the edge, letting his body release all he had deep into her.

  How long they lay together, neither willing to let go nor able to release the other, Lucas didn’t know. They had been blessed with a second chance, no matter how it had come about. The question was, was he man enough to take it? And was there any heart in him left to give?

  Chapter Nine

  “You would have been my wife. What about that?”—Lucas to Kiloran

  Kiloran lay in his arms, terrified to move. What if this moment of passion had been a fluke? What if Lucas regretted it and what kind of gasket would he blow when he realized they hadn’t used a condom? A big one, that’s what; she knew nothing about gaskets, but this one would be huge.

  Neither of them should have taken that kind of chance with the other’s body. She heard through the grapevine Lucas hadn’t dated anyone seriously since their break up, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t taking anyone home for a quick romp in the bedroom.

  Her stomach seized at the thought of other women in his arms and his mouth on theirs, just as Kiloran had made it look like had happened with Mel, her costar all those years ago. They’d done nothing but wait for Lucas to open the door and think they had been having sex and drinking all morning. The second had been true; she’d drunk herself into oblivion that day. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to let him go. Mel had thought the whole idea was stupid, but he’d owed her. She’d gone to bat for him with the movie studio when his name was no better than mud in town. She’d given him his second chance.

  Still clothed under the blankets, they’d made it look convincing. Kiloran had said things that she still didn’t remember, but the look of pain on Lucas’s face came through that hazy fog of drunken memory even now. She’d watched his world collapse and remembered how, before he left, the iron wall had gone up around him.

  She’d given Tony a letter a few months ago with an explanation about what really happened that night. The guilt of Mel’s death, followed by a friend saying she had bumped into Lucas and it was like seeing a stranger had been too much to bear. So Kiloran had found a reason to see one of the Sherman brothers, the one least likely to physically throw her out of his office. But also the one who could rip her to shreds with mere words, and had there not been another person in the room, no doubt about it he would have flayed her. Ripped her apart like a T-Rex tearing into his dinner. But she’d taken a chance that Tony the protector would open the letter himself and read it. Then he would know, would see, what had happened.

  She’d waited at her hotel room for days, hoping Tony or Lucas would call. But no calls had come, and she had to accept that Tony probably ripped up the letter, throwing it away along with the brief hope she and Lucas could somehow be together again. But after a few days of feeling sorry for herself, she remembered that Lucas’s safety was more important than either of their happiness.

  Moving her hand down to her stomach she allowed herself for just a minute to wonder what it would be like to have Lucas’s baby deep within, to have a piece of him to carry and nurture for nine months, to grow round and full with him. Would their children be darker like him, or redheaded and freckled like her? And then like an ice bucket over her head she thought of what would happen if they didn’t catch the stalker. How could she possibly bring a baby into this world when someone was out to hurt anyone she cared about? How different would her life have been without this psycho in it?

  “You okay?” Lucas’s voice drifted over her. Oh, how she’d missed the huskiness it took on after sex. So thick and sensual, just one word from him and she was aching for his touch again. And after years of celibacy, that one quick round had done nothing but take that the edge off her need. “Kil?”

  “Sorry, I’m fine.”

  “Should I apologize for what just happened?”

  Leaning on an elbow she lifted up to look at him to see his face. But he wasn’t looking at her; his free arm was draped over his eyes. “Why would I want you to apologize? Do you regret what we just did?”

  Peeking out from under his arm, he shook his head “I feel like I should regret it, but I don’t.”

  “So where do we go from here?”

  “Like most things that deal with you, I have no earthly clue. We still need to focus on your madman, and then we can deal with what happens to us.”

  “Is there a chance for us?” Kiloran hoped only she could hear the neediness in her voice. She so wanted there to be an “us,” to be the two of them, to be a happily ever after.

  “I just don’t know yet. There is so much damned luggage with us. I don’t know if I have it in me to be in a relationship again.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “No, no more sorrys. I don’t want you to apologize any more. What happened is in the past, and we can’t change it.”

  “Will you at least listen to what I have to say?”

  “Say about what?”

  “About that day?”

  “I told you yesterday, I don’t want to think about that day. No matter what your intentions were, what you perceive happened compared to how I saw it, it doesn’t change who I have become because of it. What my family had to deal with.” He pulled away from her and sat on the edge of the bed, his back to her.

  She wanted to touch him, but was unsure of herself, of him, of this “relationship,” of where her life was heading. Kiloran just wished her off-grid house was ready so she could just go there and hide. “Your family will never forgive me. I don’t blame them for how they feel. Your mother must have been beside herself when she found out.”

  “I can handle my mother. If I’m happy, she’ll be happy.” Standing up, he reached for his pants and put them on before sitting on the bed again. His fingers brushed against the side of her face, down her neck and over her shoulder. “I always found your freckles such a turn on. They give you character. My mother once said you were kissed by the sun. All I could think about was how I was going to kiss every one.”

  She had grown used to the angry Lucas; this gentle side only fed the well of sadness within her. There was so much melancholy for their shattered dreams in his voice. “Perhaps later you can get started on that goal.”

  “Perhaps I will, but first I should go deal with my brother…who I left to unload the truck without me. He’s probably eaten everything in the kitchen as well.” Lucas brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes and brushed his lips over hers. “You should take a hot shower. You’re going to ache from the accident tomorrow.”

  “That sounds heavenly. Can I be a wimp and just ask you to go in there first to check it out?”

  He smiled at her, nodded, then headed into the bathroom. She heard him start the shower before coming back into the room. “Up you go. When you get out just climb back in bed and see about getting some sleep. I’ll bring you up dinner later.”

  She nodded; that plan sounded a great deal better then dealing with dinner herself. Maybe if she could sleep, she could forget for a minute. And maybe for a few hours she could feel happy again. Getting up, she headed toward the bathroom, pausing in the doorway for a moment. She knew it was silly but that didn’t help her nerves. As she started to close the door behind her, Kiloran’s cell phone rang. “Could you get that?” she asked, grabbing a hairbrush.

  “Okay,” Lucas said picking up the state of the art device. “Hello? Hi, Mrs. O’Conner—yes this is Lucas.” There was a long pause as she could imagine her mother talking a mile a minute, asking questions before he had a chance to answer. “She’s fine… Word travels fast… No, it was a minor accident… Actually, she’s resting, do you want me to have her call you when she gets up?… No you shouldn’t jump on the next plane out. I promise, she’s fine… Would I lie to you?” A smile entered his voice, one guaranteed to get her mother off the thought of coming out. �
�No, really, no one needs to come out… Yes, I’m sure the next time Kil comes home I can join her… Yes, it would be grand.” With that he said goodbye and set the phone on the side table. “Make sure to call her in the morning.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Why haven’t you told your family about your stalker?”

  “They would just worry. I don’t want them to. And they couldn’t do anything about it. What if they came out and got hurt? I can’t risk those I love.”

  Lucas took a deep breath, crossing his arms in front of him. “You know, if you’d relied on the people who love you to help, maybe you wouldn’t be in this mess now.”

  “And maybe you and my brothers would be dead.”

  “And maybe the psycho would have been caught by now.”

  “And what if you had been killed?”

  He walked over and loomed above her. “And what if you had trusted me instead of sleeping with someone to push me away? You knew just what would drive the wedge between us, didn’t you? You decided for us what was best, but do you know what would have happened if you had just been honest with me? I would have married you. I would have protected you. You would have been my wife. What about that?”

  A sob rose up from deep within her. Those words were the cruelest cut of all. Didn’t he know that that was all she had ever dreamed of? Being Mrs. Lucas Sherman was all she had wanted in life and she would have given up everything for. But it was a dream that would only end in the nightmare of him dead.