by Jody Holford
Closing his eyes, he silently cursed and stood to see who wanted what now. When he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised to see the only person he would be willing to invite in at this particular moment.
“Hey there, Sheriff,” Lucy smiled up at him, a pizza in one hand and a laptop case in the other. He smiled back when she eyed his bare chest a moment too long before bringing her gaze back up to his.
“Hey yourself. If you’re sharing that pizza, come on in.”
He moved aside and shut the door after her. She toed off her baby blue Converse shoes and walked through the house into the living room as though she came over all the time. Putting the laptop bag down, she looked over at him.
“You want plates for this?”
“Nah. I’ll grab some napkins, though. You want a beer?”
“Sure.”
He grabbed the napkins and a beer for her. Then, because it seemed polite, yanked on a T-shirt before joining her. She’d already started on her first slice, making him chuckle.
“Hungry?”
She looked away from the T.V. and nodded unapologetically.
“Yup. They were having soup at my house. Apparently, it heals. I saw you come home and figured you’d probably be hungry, too.” He sat down beside her and grabbed a slice. She put hers down to open her beer.
“You figured right. Did you go get it or did they deliver?”
“Delivered. Had to wait on the porch so my dad didn’t try to steal any. He’s not a big fan of vegetable soup,” she laughed in her musical way and the sound drained some of the tension he’d been carrying. Beer, pizza, and Lucy. Not a bad end to a shitty day. Also not something he should get used to.
“I don’t mind soup. On cold nights. When pizza isn’t an option.”
She tucked her legs beneath herself and took a long swallow of her beer. He liked the slender column of her neck and enjoyed the swell of her breasts when she arched back—but he should probably try to keep his thoughts, and eyes, from straying there.
“Pizza is always an option. Unless you’re in the backwoods of some tiny town in the middle of nowhere,” she amended, setting her beer down. She turned so her body was facing his, making their knees touch.
“I don’t need to be anywhere pizza isn’t an option,” he replied.
She looked sweet and soft in a pale pink hoodie and black stretch pants. Her socks were polka dotted and cheerful. “How are you?”
“I’m okay. Pissed. Tired. Pissed. Not quite as hungry as I was five minutes ago. Come to think of it, not quite as pissed or tired as I was five minutes ago, either, so thank you.”
She pursed her lips, and he had the urge to kiss her. He thought better of it since he was still finishing up his pizza.
“You’re welcome. I didn’t know if you’d want company,” she said, almost shyly, which was something he’d never thought of her as being. He grabbed a napkin, wiped his mouth, and took a drink of his beer before answering.
“What if I hadn’t?”
“Oh, I would have said I was just bringing you pizza and dropped it off.”
“Then you would have gone home and had soup?”
“Yup. And I would have been mad thinking about you over here eating my pizza,” she said with a smile. She crumpled up her napkin and tossed it onto the coffee table.
“I like this better,” he said, reaching out and twisting a soft strand of her hair around his finger. “How’s Kate?”
He noticed that she shifted a bit closer before she answered, which was more than fine with him. He put his arm on the back of the couch behind her head.
“She’s sad. I hate seeing her cry. She hardly ever cries. But, she’s resilient. She’s got some ideas for how to rebuild. She’s going to talk to city hall tomorrow to see who needs to fill out the paperwork for the insurance.”
He couldn’t help touching her and played with her hair while she spoke.
“Well that crosses one thing off of my to-do list, so tell her to let me know what she finds out. I talked to Sam. We went to school with him. You remember?”
“I don’t really remember him from going to school, no. I mean, I knew who he was, but it’s not like we were friends,” she recalled.
He poked her teasingly in the shoulder. “He wasn’t cool enough for you?”
She pursed her lips in an adorable way before frowning at him. “What’s that supposed to mean? As if.”
Lucy had always been in her own little world, but maybe she truly didn’t realized how appealing she was, back then or now. This only made him want her more. He let it go, without answering her and tugged a strand of her hair playfully. She spent her life capturing beauty and yet she didn’t seem to see it inside of herself.
“Anyway, Sam’s an architect and does construction. He says it’s going to be expensive to rebuild, so I sure as hell hope the insurance gets it started. What Kate is trying to pull off is going to matter to the community.”
Because he didn’t think he could resist kissing her—which would make him want to touch her, which would make him want to do more than touch her—he stood and picked up the pizza box. She rose with him, grabbing their beer bottles and following him to the kitchen.
“You know your voice goes all soft and sweet when you talk about my sister?”
She rinsed the empties before lining them up on the counter. Alex blinked, unsure he’d heard her correctly. Scrunching his face, he chose his words carefully. “I like Kate. She’s sweet.”
She turned her head, glancing at him for a second. “And gorgeous.”
Alex frowned, running a hand through his hair. Kate was a kid. “And, what? Twenty?”
Lucy turned to face him just as he closed the refrigerator door. Alex moved closer, putting his hands on the countertop, gripping it on either side to stop himself from touching her. His eyes were drawn to the pale freckles on the bridge of her nose. He wanted to kiss each one.
She stared at his chest. “You’re my age. Not that much older than Kate.”
Shaking his head, his heart thudded heavy and slow in his chest. “You know I’m not into your sister, right?” he asked. He smiled, warmed by what sounded to him an awful lot like jealousy. He leaned in and kissed the side of her neck softly, then placed another kiss below her ear. She kept her hands at her sides.
She had to clench her fists to keep from touching him. He might be older than Kate, but he was probably a lot better suited to her. Driven, settled, solid … very solid. She felt her nails dig into her palms.
“I was just mentioning how you sound when you talk about her,” she replied in what she hoped was a flippant voice. His nose nuzzled against her as he replied, “Hmm.”
The sound he made vibrated against her neck at the same time he pressed his lips there, causing a shiver to skirt up her spine and settle deep in her belly. The smell of his soap was ruining her ability to think clearly. “Wanna know how I feel around you?” His voice was low and gruff.
She would have answered him, but her tongue stopped working the moment his gently touched her ear. She put one hand on his chest and another on his waist. Just for balance.
Alex pressed against her with his hips. “Not soft. And not sweet.”
“I know what the opposite of soft is, but isn’t the opposite of sweet sour?”
He laughed and pulled back to look at her. He shook his head, but his eyes were bright with amusement and unrestrained affection. “You’re damn hard to seduce,” he chuckled. “Maybe you should stop talking.”
She laughed and let herself run her hand over his chest, which was, indeed, very solid. She knew that he likely deserved someone better than her, but he was a grown man, pressed up against her, capable of making his own choices. From the hungry look in his eyes, she didn’t think she was forcing him to be with her, and he was well aware that she didn’t stick around.
“I’m trying to give you an out. A chance to come to your senses,” she said, her voice breathy, her eyes not lifting to his.
“Lucy,” he said in a low, firm voice that made her stomach feel like it was being tickled from the inside. He put his fingers to her chin and lifted her gaze as his thumb stroked her cheek.
He really had nice eyes. Direct. Warm. Sexy.
“I was twelve years old the first time I thought of kissing you. Do you really think, now that you’ve given me permission, I want an out?”
He answered his own question by leaning down, inundating every one of her senses, and pressed his mouth to hers. He kissed her like he’d been waiting just as long as he claimed. His hands moved immediately to her back, and she gave up trying to do the right thing. She might not stay, but she was here
now. There was nowhere else she would rather be.
He was twenty-eight years old and had been with enough women to know what he was doing. He knew how to seduce, romance, tease, and flirt. But any finesse he might have prided himself on seemed to have vanished when Lucy’s tongue touched his, when her hands gripped the fabric of his T-shirt, making him wish he hadn’t put it on. He went from pulling her near to boosting her onto his counter so he could step between her legs and wedge himself against her. She didn’t seem to mind and looped her arms around his neck, devouring him with just as much energy as he felt. He was almost dizzy with need, but when she started to yank at the hem of his shirt, he was able to pull back enough to realize that if he only got one chance with Lucy Aarons, he was going to make it count.
“Slow down, Luce.”
“Why?”
“So I don’t miss anything,” he smiled, pulling her closer and lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he walked to his bedroom. She teased his neck with her lips and her tongue, making his fingers flex into the soft fabric of her pants and the gentle curve of her ass.
“Alex,” she whispered, her eyes clouded by desire and doubt. It was clear she wanted this, but she was holding back, worrying about hurting him, as far as he could tell. Truthfully, she could—probably would. But it would be worth it.
“I promise I won’t ask you to put a ring on my finger after,” he teased. She gave him a glare that only made him laugh. “It’s not funny. You’re the last person I would hurt on purpose,” she said seriously.
“My eyes are wide open, Lucy. I’m a big boy. I can make my own decisions.”
He pushed his bedroom door open with his foot and brought her to his bed. He didn’t want to put her down, so he continued to hold her until the doubt in her eyes cleared and all he could see was the desire.
“Well, then what are you waiting for?” she asked, leaning back and pulling him off balance so they fell together onto his bed. His heart tumbled along with their bodies as he covered her, but he’d keep that to himself.
Chapter Eight
She couldn’t stop grinning, which was ridiculous. It was like she had never been to bed with a man before. Granted, she hadn’t been to bed with many, but enough to know feeling giddy afterward wasn’t the usual. Or maybe she had just never been with a man who had made her want to smile so much after.
During. Before.
“Talk about the cat that caught the canary. What are you smirking about?” he asked on a laugh, running his hand up and down her side, sending ripples of renewed longing through her.
“Funny, sexy, and exceptional in bed. Why didn’t I notice you sooner?” Probably because in high school her focus had been on travelling and stretching her wings.
His fingers continued to trail up and down. “To be fair, you’ve been gone, and I’m pretty positive I’ve improved in most areas since we went to school together.”
“Well, then I guess it was worth the wait,” she said more seriously, leaning into a slow, sweet kiss. His hand gripped her hip possessively and before she could stop herself, she snuggled into him, letting herself relax against him. He ran his hand up her side before moving it to her hair and stroking it gently. The combination of sensation, happiness, and his utter sweetness made her feel like the scattered pieces inside of herself had shifted, aligned. The realization stole her breath, literally.
“You okay?” he asked, his eyes darker from this distance, more compelling. “Yeah. Of course. I, uh … I wanted to show you something.”
“Sweetheart, you’re going to have to give me a bit more time before you show me anything else.”
She rolled her eyes but laughed, even as her stomach fluttered from his term of endearment. Lucy scooted out of the bed as gracefully as she could, which was not really graceful at all. He went up onto one elbow and watched as she looked for his shirt, which she had pulled off of him and tossed … somewhere. She found it at the end of the bed and hastily popped it over her head.
“What are you doing?” he asked, a lazy smile on his face as he lay back down onto the pillow, hands tucked behind his head. Unable to resist, she pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “I’ll be right back.”
“You sure? You have a tendency to run,” he teased.
Lucy gave a half-hearted laugh but what he said stuck in her head when she headed out to the living room to grab her laptop. It’s not a tendency, it’s a choice. A choice that has sound, professional reasons. She was always getting teased about having one foot out the door, so why did Alex saying it bother her more than it did when others said the same? She brought her case back to the bedroom, sat beside him, and then pulled the laptop out while he sat up against the tall headboard. She kept her eyes on the screen while she waited for it to boot up.
His voice was soft. “Lucy.”
She turned to look at him and saw that his eyes were sad. He reached out his hand and covered hers before saying, “I’m sorry. I was teasing but it was in poor taste.”
She couldn’t hide her surprise. She arched her brows and continued to look at him. “What? I didn’t say—”
“Lucy. Do you think I can’t read your face? That I didn’t notice the way your smile fell and the quickest flash of hurt came into your eyes?”
“Actually, I didn’t think you’d notice. I thought I hid it better. Maybe you just look too closely,” she mulled on that thought as she turned back to the screen. He distracted her again by pulling her against his side. The laptop slid from her legs to the bed.
“Why would you hide it at all?”
“Because it’s silly. It’s not like it isn’t true. I do have a tendency to run—or, at the very least, to not stick around.”
“It’s not silly if it bothers you to have people say things, even if it’s teasing.”
“It’s not a big deal. Look, I want to show you this.” She didn’t like the flutter erupting in her chest at the serious expression on his face. “Lucy.”
“What?”
Instead of being put off, he smiled at her show of impatience and kissed her quickly, lightly. “I plan to keep looking closely, so don’t hide from me, okay?”
Lucy shrugged. “Sure.”
“I mean it. No hiding. Not from each other.”
She rolled her eyes at him but saw that he wasn’t going to put it aside, so she reluctantly agreed. “Fine. Want me to cross my heart?”
“How about another kiss?” he asked softly, capturing her lips and distracting her, making her fall into it, into him. When he pulled away, she kept her eyes closed for an extra moment.
Opening them, she pulled the laptop onto her knees again and smacked his blanket-covered leg. “Pay attention.”
She pulled up the mock advertisement that she planned to have printed on large paper. She had photos of the rec center in its glory days along with photos of the town working on it last week. She had taken a couple of shots during the fire: kids, parents, community members watching the devastation. In the middle, she had put a photo of the rec center as it had been next to a photo of the wreckage. Under these two photos, the large bold font read: The future relies on us rebuilding the past. Under that, in smaller font, it read: What can you do to help? She had started an Angel’s Lake Rec Center Fundraising Facebook page and put the link on the poster. S
he planned to post current news and hopefully have people sign up to help. She was about to flip to her next file to show him the flyers for her photo exchange idea when he spoke.
“You made this?”
“Yeah. It’s just a bit of graphic design. I dropped it off at a printer today so we can hand them out. I’ll do basic photos—kids, families, couples, that sort of thing, in exchange for a monetary donation and volunteer time for the center. They’ll have the option to add on to their package for a fee, which covers my costs.”
“You’re going to take photos in exchange for their help?” he asked, making her stomach twist. Not him, too. He looked at her and his smile was so wide she wondered if it hurt his cheeks.
“You take photos for National Geographic and In Style. You’re going to spend your time and use your incredible talent to take kid pictures and family shots?”
Her pulse beat double time. He knew where her photos were featured. “That was my plan. It’s not—”
“It’s generous and thoughtful and pretty damn clever. You’re hardly the photo booth at the mall. People are going to be lining up to get photos done by you.” It settled her erratic pulse when she realized he liked the plan. And he’d seen her pictures; admired them. She had a flash of him as a boy, riding up on his bike to buy lemonade from Kate. Alex had overpaid on purpose and made Kate’s day. Lucy might not have seen it then, but if she thought about it, he’d always kind of been there; a silent supporter.
Warmth pooled in her belly at the memory and from the way his hands never stopped touching her. But she didn’t want to get distracted; yet. “I’m glad you said that. I’d like to take some of you. And some other men .”
His easy smile turned to a grimace and his eyes narrowed. “Didn’t we have this conversation?”
“What conversation?”
“That I wasn’t too worried about the timeline on whatever this is between us, but for however long it’s going on, it’s exclusive.” Because she liked the thought of him only wanting her a little too much, she tried to make light of it. “Aww. Are you jealous?” She laughed when his frown deepened but stopped when he pushed back the covers, grabbed his boxers, and yanked them up. “Alex. It’s for charity. I have no intention of seeing anyone else while I’m with you.”