by Stella Rhys
But the second I felt my body nestle back against his I knew I was screwed.
11
LIA
I hugged the sheet to my chest as I sat upright in bed. I wanted to blame my phone for failing me but apparently, my alarm had gone off fine. I’d just hit snooze a thousand times and because of that, I now found myself staring at the most gorgeous dilemma I’d ever faced in my life.
Lukas Hendricks naked. In my bed.
Still asleep.
“Damn it, Lia,” I whispered to myself as I slipped carefully out of bed, swiping my robe off the wall and wrapping it around my body as I kept my eyes glued to the naked perfection stretched out on my mattress.
It would be creepy to take a picture right? Yes. It would. Don’t do it.
Maybe it would’ve been halfway acceptable if he was in any way covered but he wasn’t. He was on his back, both arms over his head and his head tilted so that his gorgeous lips were an inch from his left bicep. I would’ve been hung up on the fact that it looked like he was flexing in his fucking sleep, but there was a much more pressing matter that required my attention and that was his completely naked lower half. As he slept, his legs were slightly spread, his cock resting against his abs.
Good God.
It was like he never took a second off from being ridiculously hot. Flustered, I grabbed my phone and went into the bathroom, furiously texting Sara as I brushed my teeth as quietly as possible.
ME: Hi hello 911 I forgot to kick him out
Within seconds, she was calling me but I promptly hung up and sent another furious text.
ME: Remember how I said I forgot to kick him out?? That means he’s still here so I can’t talk!!!
SARA: SORRY. Omg how was it how was last night?
ME: Too good
ME: Way too good
ME: He’s still here. He’s sleeping (adorably) and I don’t know how to kick him out.
SARA: Your use of the word adorably tells me the getting attached to him ship has already sailed…
Following that text was a collection of smug emojis that made my cheeks burn. Biting down hard on my toothbrush, I fired back with a two-hand text.
ME: WOMAN are you hoping for that because you find all this amusing???? Stop being the devil on my shoulder ASAP. Angel mode activated NOW
SARA: Fine.
SARA: Just nudge him lightly, say thanks for last night but I gotta get my day started. If he asks when he’ll see you again say you can’t afford to do this anymore. It was amazing but you’re a busy gal.
ME: What if he asks for a morning quickie?
SARA: Tell him no?
ME: He’s hard as a rock right now.
SARA: Sounds hot.
SARA: Also sounds like you’re the one who wants the morning quickie
I was in the midst of hunting down every anguished emoji I could find when I heard stirring by the bed. Shit. Forgetting my texts, I went outside just in time to catch Lukas in the living room, stretching his boxer briefs over his dick. He smirked when he looked up to catch me staring like a dumbstruck cartoon, my toothbrush hanging out the corner of my mouth.
“Morning,” he said humorously.
“Hi,” I returned curtly before disappearing back into the bathroom and closing the door. In a rush, I spit out my toothpaste and splashed water on my face, rubbing away the day-old makeup and combing my hands through my hair. I flipped it nine thousand ways before getting it to look anything but limp and with a deep breath, finally went back outside. I sucked in a sharp breath when I found myself immediately facing Lukas’s pecs.
“Hi,” he laughed.
“Hi again,” I said, my eyes slowly following Lukas’s hand as he hooked a finger into the knot of my robe and pulled. “Nuh-uh,” I shook my head, blushing as I tied it back.
“Fine.” He sucked a breath between his teeth and adjusted his dick. “So. About last night.”
“Thank you for it,” I blurted awkwardly, remembering Sara’s advice and executing it like crap. “I have to get going though.”
“Get going? This is your apartment.”
“I mean I need to get my day started.”
“What do you got today?”
Just thinking about it sobered me up. “A lot,” I said, heading for the kitchen. “I need to write up a business proposal for a potential investor and I need to email some other realtors since the last one I met won’t get back to me anymore.”
Lukas frowned. “Why?”
I looked at him. Because I was too busy thinking about the first time you kissed me to make full sentences when I met her. “I don’t know,” I shrugged as I made my way to the kitchen. “I guess she’s busy.”
“You know I work in real estate right?”
I glanced over the counter at Lukas. His shoulders broadened as he leaned against it. I tore my eyes off them.
“I do know that. I may or may not have Googled you the night I met you. Just to see what the hell I might be dealing with here.”
“Shit,” he grinned. “Well if you saw any headlines about any particularly insane nights I had, it was Emmett’s fault.”
“Is that your go-to move? Blame Emmett?”
“Yes,” Lukas deadpanned, reaching for the coffee tin I was struggling with. He twisted it open easily and handed it back. “To be fair, he’d proudly take all the blame.”
I smirked, spooning four heaping tablespoons into my pour over. “How do you know him and Julian, anyway?” I asked. From what I gathered, Emmett was a party boy. Julian seemed much more quiet and controlled. “They both seem so different from you.”
“Good,” Lukas laughed. “I don’t want to know that I’m any bit like either of them. I met Emmett in college. Julian’s his older brother so I met him shortly after.”
“I see. Where did you go to school?”
“Wharton.”
“Jesus.” I raised my eyebrows.
“What, you thought I was all brawn and no brain?”
“I mean you are a lot of brawn,” I couldn’t help but note as I grabbed my kettle and poured hot water over my coffee. I avoided Lukas’s grin as I remembered how he carried my weight like it was nothing and fucked me against the wall last night. Crap. Stop. None of that, I told myself, quickly changing the subject. “And Emmett went to Wharton too?”
“No. He played football. He was a friend of Cam’s.”
“Ah.” I arched an eyebrow. It wasn’t till I grabbed two mugs off the wall that I realized I’d subconsciously made two cups of coffee. “That reminds me, you still owe me a Cam story.”
Lukas laughed. “I thought you had to get your day started?”
“I will after you tell me what kind of worthless, gold digging bitch Cam is.”
“God, the sound of you berating him gets me kind of hard.”
“Shut up,” I snorted as I grabbed cream from the fridge. “Cream or black?”
“Black,” he answered as I slid his cup of coffee across the counter. He gazed down at it for a second before looking back up at me with a smile that anticipated my answer to the question he hadn’t even asked yet.
“What?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Will you let me make you breakfast?”
The offer made my heart skip a beat but I didn’t let it show. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because. I’m already pushing it by letting you stay for coffee.”
“What are you pushing?”
I paused for a moment then heaved a sigh. “This is supposed to be a one-night thing, Lukas,” I confessed, peering up to catch him raising an eyebrow.
“I didn’t realize.”
“Well, I didn’t tell you. I just planned on making it that way,” I said, hoping my bluntness would remind me of my mission here. Have sex. Be done. Move on. But Lukas was making that difficult for me.
“Certainly a first for me,” he smiled, studying me in the way that got my neck hot as hell. “But as much as it turns me on to think that you used me f
or sex, I’m not quite done with you here.”
“Oh, no?”
“Not even close.”
“Well, too bad it’s not up to you.”
Lukas grinned. “You’ll want me again.”
“I won’t.”
“You already do. I can see it,” he said as I shook my head. “In all seriousness, Lia, your poker face is shit. Remind me to never take you to Vegas.”
I laughed but chucked the cap of my cream at his head. “For that, you have to chug your coffee in ten seconds and leave.”
“Fuck that. I’m making your ass a French omelet,” Lukas said, rounding the counter and snorting as I tried to push him out. Oh God. My hands on his chest was always a bad idea. He was just so fucking hard it was unreal. “What are you tryin’ to do, huh?” Lukas teased, gathering my hand and holding them behind my back with one of his. Heat bloomed in my cheeks as he held me still and taunted me with kisses on my neck, pushing my robe open again and feathering them down the curve of my breast. With a low mm from his chest, he flicked his tongue over my nipple. My mouth fell open as he gave a quick suck.
But just as quickly as the moment happened, it stopped.
“Last three,” he said, taking the eggs from my fridge. “I’m using them.”
I blinked as I watched him, still recovering as he grabbed a skillet off the back burner and placed it up front. Damn it. Did that just happen? What the fuck was that? I asked myself, all hot and bothered as I watched Lukas cook for me half-naked, a Greek statue whisking eggs with a fork. I was so entranced by the knot that twitched in his forearm that I missed the first few sentences of what he was saying about Cam.
“Bored already?” Lukas laughed when he caught me. “See, I knew I shouldn’t tell you about that asshole.”
“No, tell me,” I urged. “I’m curious and you’re already making me a damned omelet so spill.”
“Fine. But you’re getting the condensed version,” Lukas said, pouring the egg over the melted butter and whisking the fork like lightning in the pan. “First things first, I started my company with Cam out of college. I needed cash fast to get out of the shit I was in. I had mouths to feed and Cam’s connections presented a huge opportunity, so I went for it,” he said, rattling his story off fast, like a business pitch. “His dad was in the NFL. His uncle was an agent for every major sport. Cam had a network of athletes. I had the drive and business savvy. I was twenty-four when I started Hendricks-Cameron and the first thing I did was target pro athletes.”
Lukas shook the skillet to gently fold the omelet. He grabbed the plate I handed him and flipped onto it a perfect, soft mound of pale golden egg. I was in awe of how quickly he’d done it but I refused to marvel because I felt like it was a trick – like he was trying to distract me from the story he was telling.
“Six years ago, I sold the biggest free agent in baseball a twenty-million dollar penthouse on the Upper West Side. Fifty-five hundred square feet with three hundred-sixty degree views of Manhattan. I had the media cover it and convinced my client to do a TV special. Made sure it mentioned my company name at least four times and from that point forward, Hendricks-Cameron became the go-to agency for New York athletes. I had more success than I knew what to do with. Suddenly, I didn’t have to worry about my family anymore and the truth was that I couldn’t have done it without Cam’s connections, so…” Lukas trailed off. I could see the hollows of his cheeks flexing as he clenched his jaw for a bit. “Over the years, I let him get away with things that I shouldn’t have. I let him do more damage behind my back than I could ever dream of fixing all at once and it was my mistake for looking past the warning signs. In short, I fucked up. For a lot of people, not just me.”
I frowned. He was being vague and I wanted to pry, but I held back. “It’s not your fault,” I said.
He peered up at me with a faintly curious smile. “No?”
I shrugged. “No. It’s natural to feel like you owe the person who helped you during your darkest times. Sometimes it’s the right person who got the chance to help you and other times, it’s someone who’ll take advantage of your debt.” I heaved a big sigh as I thought about Ritchie. “I mean what can you really do about it? Bad people do good things sometimes. And it tricks you.”
Lukas was silent for a moment. I could see a million thoughts swirling behind those green eyes as he gazed at me but when he broke the silence, it was with two words. “You’re right.”
“But hey,” I tried to keep it light. “Better late than never that you kick them to the curb.”
Lukas studied me for a moment. “I put Cam in the emergency room.”
My eyebrows darted up. “Oh.” I tried thinking of something else to say but I came up empty.
“You think I’m a monster now,” he said, almost matter-of-fact.
“Not at all,” I said truthfully. “I wish I put Ritchie in the emergency room,” I said, finding myself laughing with Lukas. “Trust me, I’ve spent many nights fantasizing about getting back at him – at all of them, really. All my friends from home said that I owed any success I had to Ritchie. That I couldn’t have done anything without him and that I’d never succeed by myself in this city. So sometimes I think I’m only this hungry for success because I want revenge. I couldn’t put Ritchie in the ER like you did to Cam,” I smirked, “so at the very least, I’d like to prove him wrong by doing well for myself. I just can’t stand when assholes get to go on in life thinking they’re right. I need the record set straight. You know?”
“Oh, I know,” Lukas smiled. “And if it helps your craving for justice, you’ll be happy to hear that I bought Cam out of the company about a month ago. I offered him a ridiculous chunk of cash so he’d sign the contract without thinking. He didn’t realize till it was too late that I’d fucked him over beyond repair,” he said, handing me a fork and nodding at the omelet on my plate. “Don’t let it get cold.”
I stared. “Are you going to tell me exactly what he did? I feel like you’re leaving out a lot of details here.”
“I am. Now eat.”
I squinted as I took a bite of the omelet but my eyes popped back open when I felt the silkiness that glided over my tongue. “These are eggs?” I didn’t mean to say it aloud but I did. I stared back down at my plate as Lukas laughed. “Where did you learn how to cook like this?”
“My grandmother. Grandma Elodie.”
“She’s a chef?”
“No. Just French,” Lukas said with a faint smile. “She made us do her mise en place and watch nothing but Jacques Pepin growing up.”
“You and Tess?”
He paused. “Yes.”
I frowned, vaguely remembering something he’d said before that piqued my interest.
“Was it just you and Tess growing up?” I asked.
Mouths, I recalled. Plural. He said he’d gone into business with Cam because he had “mouths to feed.” I was curious about that detail before and I was even more curious now. But taking another bite, I blinked up to find Lukas ignoring me as he scrubbed the pan in the sink. And just like that I was distracted again. It was hard not to be. He was like a vision from any housewife’s dream – tall, ripped and half-naked while doing my dishes. God, I could get used to this, I thought. But I quickly corrected myself. Nope. You can’t. Take a mental snapshot and move on with your life, I decided.
Though instead of taking a mental snapshot, I took an actual one with my phone.
“Saw that,” Lukas said, still washing. He grinned when he looked up to catch me blushing. “I’ll let you keep it under one condition.”
“What?”
“You let me see you again.” Lukas faced me as he dried his hands. “And before that smart mouth tries to make a joke, I mean see you as in take you out, not pass you by in the hall.”
My shoulders fell. “Lukas. I told you I have a lot to do today. And every day.”
“And I told you I work in real estate. I have every connection you could dream of and I can help you with whateve
r you need.”
“No.” My heartbeat quickened. “I don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Mix business with pleasure. That’s my rule.”
“Fine. Then don’t. Get your work done today and let me come over at night to take you anywhere you want.” Lukas said earnestly. I watched as he dried my pan, set it back and wiped up the water around the sink. “We can do dinner and drinks. Or we can catch a game. I get box seats anywhere.”
I swallowed. “It’s tempting, Lukas,” I said, backing up as he stepped forward. “But my entire career is banking on this meeting, and it happens in only four days,” I said, shuddering just from saying it aloud. “So whether or not I want to see you is irrelevant because the truth is I can’t afford to. I have a pitch to write and I’ve already spent the past few days being completely distracted.”
“Fair enough.” Lukas nodded. “But how about after your meeting? What happens when it’s over?”
I thought about it. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I considered that I might actually have an investor by then. I might have my official budget for the store I’d been dreaming of opening for years. I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said quietly. “I can’t even think about it yet. It makes me unbelievably nervous.”
Lukas smiled as he watched me chew on my lip. “Alright. Then here’s my pitch to you – I’ll leave you alone till you’re done with your meeting. I won’t knock on your door once. I won’t text or call. I won’t have a single guest over so you can have your guaranteed peace and quiet. But once the next four days are over, we renegotiate our contact agreement because I want to see you and I already know that feeling’s not going away anytime soon,” he said. When I refused to meet his eye, he tipped my chin up to face that sexy grin of his. “Deal?”