by Wood, Vivian
“Because I find you beautiful, and compelling,” he finished.
“You don’t know me,” Scarlett replied.
“No, but I’d like to change that. We have all the time in the world to get to know each other. We can go anywhere, do anything we want.”
Scarlett stared at him, wide-eyed, for a long time. Only hours ago, she’d seen the end of her too-short life approaching on swift feet; she’d been forced to try to make peace with her own death back in that basement room.
Now she was hundreds of miles away, and the most attractive male she’d ever seen was offering her… well, everything.
“And you want nothing in exchange,” she clarified, her words slow and precise. “No catch?”
“No catch, other than the fact that you’ll have to spend time with me,” he said. His self-effacing humor hit the right note, and Scarlett chuckled.
“That doesn’t sound too awful,” she admitted.
“I won’t deny that I desire you, though. I’ll never keep that a secret,” Lucas said.
His words heated her blood, made her flush all over again. Scarlett shook her head, unable to respond. Lucas’s obvious interest and open admiration were so forthright. She’d never encountered anything like it in the other males she’d known.
“Maybe we should start small. Something like breakfast?” Scarlett said, giving him a smile.
Lucas laughed, showing off his gorgeous smile and that killer dimple again.
“That’ll work,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Scarlett wondered if there was such a thing as being too happy. She and Lucas sat on the Compound’s back deck, overlooking the glorious Blue Ridge greenery. The house sat in a neatly manicured clearing, but the trees pressed in all around them. Scarlett sucked in a deep breath; she smelled pine, and the faint scent of applewood smoke from the grill Lucas had used to make their dinner. They’d eaten big, juicy t-bone steaks, a fantastic kale salad, grilled butternut squash, and baked potatoes with butter. The food had tasted all the better because they’d eaten at a beautifully set glass patio table, a pair of outdoor speakers playing old country-western music. Tesla sprawled under the table, sleeping deep after eating a big piece of Scarlett’s steak.
Scarlett decided that too happy wasn’t a real thing, just happy enough. She stretched and rubbed her stomach, content beyond words. Lucas returned from clearing away their dinner plates, his big hands holding a bottle of wine and what looked like two miniature wine glasses.
“Do you like sherry?” Lucas asked. “I have some red and white wine too, but I like a digestif after a meal like that.”
“Never had it,” Scarlett admitted. “I don’t know much beyond chardonnay or gin and tonic.”
“Oh, this will be a treat, then,” Lucas chuckled, reclaiming the chair next to hers. He set one of the glasses before her, opening the bottle of dark, fragrant liquid.
“This is Pedro Ximénez,” he explained. “It’s sweet, and not too heavy.”
Scarlett gave it a doubtful glance, pulling the tiny vessel closer.
“Why is this wine glass so small?” she asked.
“It’s a sherry glass. Sherry is very strong, so you want to sip it. You wouldn’t drink a full glass like with red wine.”
“Oh.”
“Try it,” he urged.
Lifting the glass, Scarlett took a sip. The alcohol hit her first, and she crinkled her nose. After a moment, she tasted the sweet, strong flavor. Like brown sugar, only darker.
“It tastes like… molasses?” she queried.
Lucas’s brow raised, and she gave her another one of his killer smiles.
“That’s amazing! That’s exactly the flavor of this wine. Molasses and raisins,” he said, filling his own glass. He took a sip, licking his lips and sighing. “That’s good.”
He was too much. No male should be so good-looking and nice. Not to mention the fact that he was suave and educated. Scarlett had gone to a state college for two years, but she’d dropped out when her mother died. She was nowhere near as polished and well-learned as Lucas, and she found his intellect intimidating.
“Scarlett?” he prompted. She looked up from her lap, realizing that she’d retreated into her thoughts.
“I’m just a little overwhelmed,” she said, her lips twisting in a shy smile.
“It’s just wine,” he teased, leaning back in his chair. She shivered at the way he watched her, a predatory stare.
“It’s more than that. You have all this,” she gestured at the house. “Probably a lot more too, if I had to guess. I’m just a girl from Florida. I have no belongings, no family, no career… I don’t fit into your world, Lucas.”
She expected him to laugh, to dismiss her concerns, but Lucas surprised her.
“I didn’t come into this world overnight, Scarlett. I’m from a small town in Georgia, not much different than where you’re from. I went to college and business school, and then I built my software business from the ground up. I wanted to learn about the world, so I made myself a job that required a lot of travel. I learned about wine and books and computers because they interest me, and I took the time to explore and experience everything that I could. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”
He was the picture of calm, but Scarlett could see that she’d offended him.
“I didn’t mean to say that you were putting on airs, Lucas. I just meant that I feel like I’ll never be as polished as you are.”
Lucas tilted his head to the side, giving her a measured glance.
“You can be whatever you want. You have everything at your fingertips now, because I’m offering it to you. If you want to travel the world, we will. If you want to learn a trade, you can. If you want to lock yourself in my library, read and drink wine for five years straight, I won’t object, except to ask that I be allowed to join you. It all boils down to one question, Scarlett.”
“What’s that?”
“What do you want?” he asked. “Where do you want to start?”
Scarlett pursed her lips, considering.
“I don’t know yet. This is all so new. I think I’d like to finish college, someday. I like kids a lot, so I’d like to be a teacher, maybe. But that’s a little down the line.”
“What do you want right now, in this moment?” Lucas asked.
“I want to know more about you. I want you to tell me your story, from the beginning.”
Lucas gave a slow nod.
“Only if you’ll do the same,” he agreed.
So they talked. They talked late into the night; when the sun set, they moved inside to the living room, sprawling out on the couches. Lucas held nothing back, telling her of his rough childhood and tumultuous business and personal life in recent years.
He told her about his relationship with his brother, and about the female they’d lost. Alaina. He said her name with such a bitter sweet tone, it wrenched Scarlett’s heart. He told her the story of Aurelia, his almost-mate, and Ben, his best friend. He told her about Walker and Ella, and about the jealousy he felt over their happiness. He talked about his company, Luna Corp., and how he’d gone from being a vital asset to a figurehead. All his disappointments, his heartbreaks, his insecurities.
He told her the good parts, too. His triumphs, his victories, the things that made him proud. The last part he shared was the story of finding Scarlett, of herself. That she gave him hope, made him feel good.
Scarlett was nearly in tears when Lucas finally turned the conversation back to her.
“Now, I want to hear all about you,” he said, those beautiful grey eyes looking at her with such sincerity.
So Scarlett told him everything. Her abusive father, her sickly mother. Redd’s descent into addiction, sparked when their mother died. The last two years of pain and suffering, the slow suffocation of her hopes and the relinquishment of her aspirations. She poured it all out, crying when she needed to, pushing out every bit of heartbreak until she felt hollow inside.<
br />
No, not hollow. She was empty, but she was also ready to be filled again. Filled with something new, something that made her feel alive.
Lucas pulled her closer with every hour that passed, until she rested in his arms. He listened to her, his expression so intent as to be rapt, and she loved every second of it. He held her close, his big hands rubbing her arms, her back, his fingers lacing with hers. She felt safe, and warm, and cherished. Perhaps she wasn’t even empty, but beginning to fill with Lucas’s tender passion. She wasn’t empty, no. But she wasn’t nearly full, couldn’t get enough of Lucas and his caresses.
He’d spoke of taking opportunities, of exploring everything that interested him. Now Scarlett was ready to do the same, and the thing that interested her most was Lucas.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lucas watched Scarlett, devouring every expression that crossed her gorgeous face. He’d realized early on that she had no idea the effect she had on his body, or his heart. There was something so sweet and honest about her; when she’d cried as she told her life story, it tore him up inside. Scarlett was so unique, so delicate. She needed someone to protect her, to give her all the things she’d so long been denied.
Everything about her seared his senses, though he didn’t understand why. It wasn’t just her delicacy, her beauty, her forthrightness. It was something else, something he couldn’t define. A little part of him couldn’t help but wonder if Walker and Ben hadn’t found themselves in just the same situation in recent days, upon finding their destined mates.
“This feels a little crazy,” Scarlett admitted, dropping her eyes. “It’s a lot to handle, in such a short time.”
Lucas tipped her chin up with one finger, until she met his gaze again.
“I’m not asking you for anything deep yet, Scarlett. All I want right now is to know you, to see if this connection continues to grow. Just be with me right now, no labels, no pressure.”
Scarlett watched him, and he saw the yearning in her pretty blue eyes. She felt their connection, too. She wanted stability, and loyalty, and passion, just as he did. Holding her, talking to her, it was the right thing and the only thing they needed to do right now.
When she nodded in response, she lit a flame in his soul. Hope and desire, burning higher together.
“I just need one promise,” he said. It hurt even saying the words to her, but Aurelia had torn him up so bad that he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t consider making the same mistake twice.
“What’s that?” she asked, looking up at him with something uncomfortably close to absolute trust.
“When I was with Aurelia, albeit briefly, I was willing to share her. She could have gone to Ben or Walker from time to time, and I wouldn’t have minded. I told her so. My plan was to have a number of open relationships, and she was the central figure to make that work.”
Scarlett’s eyes darkened, hurt blooming in her expression.
“Lucas, I don’t— I could never want something like that in my life. If that’s what you need, I should leave now, before things get any more… complicated,” she said, her forehead creasing.
“You didn’t let me finish,” he said, a smile playing on his lips. After a long moment, she nodded.
“All right,” was all she gave him.
“When I look at you, when I hold you like this, I think about having you. Possessing you. Being inside you.”
“Lucas—”
“When I think about that, it makes me harder than I’ve ever been. It makes my wolf wild.”
“But Lucas—”
“I want you Scarlett. And I plan to take what I want. But I need you to know that once I have you, no one else will ever have you again. No male will touch you, or make you smile without me right there, staring him down. If they do, there will be violence. I guarantee it.”
Scarlett’s pretty lips opened, parting in surprise.
“That’s… that’s insane,” she stuttered.
Lucas nodded. He wanted her to understand the full ramifications of his kiss, of his lust. He needed more from a female now than he ever had in the past, and though it shamed him, he wouldn’t hold back from her. Not from the one female for whom he’d spun his whole life story, for whom he’d laid himself bare.
“I think about how I feel now, how strong my urges are… we haven’t even fucked yet. Imagine how it will be after that.”
He let his statement hang in the air between them. She blushed, and it fired his blood. If she agreed to his terms, he was going to make her blush over and over tonight as he took possession of her lush body.
“Think about how strong this feeling will be if I take you as a mate,” he said. Pushing her further, willing her to comprehend his raw, raging need to dominate.
Scarlett’s hand moved, her fingertips brushing the angry red bite mark on her neck. The mark made him rage, made him feel ill inside. He wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into the mark, burying it, replacing it with his own. Knowing it would only drive her away, he tempered his need, promising his wolf that their time would come. Sooner than later, in fact.
“I’m not going to bite you. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not this week. I promised that I wouldn’t ask for too much, and I keep my promises. All I will say is that there’s something between us. We fit, and I think you know it. I just need you to give me the time to prove it to you.”
Scarlett was quiet for several moments, mulling over his statement.
“It sounds so beautiful, they way you describe it,” she said, uncertainty plain on her face.
“You doubt me, though,” he said. She was too easy to read, unable to hide her feelings from him in any way.
“Of course I doubt. Your certainty only makes me more worried. Your heart was broken just a few days ago… How could you be ready for something like what you’re describing?” she asked. Point for point, her logic was sound. If only logic applied to matters of the heart, she’d have the right of it all.
“Let me prove it to you,” he said.
“How could you possibly do that?” she whispered, looking up at him with those deadly sapphire eyes.
“Kiss me,” he said. “Kiss me once, and tell me you don’t burn for me. If you can honestly say you don’t want me like I want you, I’ll do my best to let you go.”
She didn’t answer, her eyes drifting closed. All her pain was there, right on the surface, challenging him. His wolf pushed at him, and his heart hammered in his chest. Now or never. He was going to show her what could be, the sweetness that could grow between them.
Lucas had been careful not to hold her too close, not to push himself on her. Now, though, as they lay side by side on one of the living room’s sprawling white couches, he had to pull her nearer. His arms tightened around Scarlett, pulling her so close that he could feel her breath on his lips. His wolf howled, loving every second of the embrace.
Lucas gave her lips the barest brush with his own, teasing. Testing. Her soft gasp made his body tighten. He’d been hard for Scarlett since the first time he laid eyes on her, and his lust had grown with each admission, each word that fell from her lips. Now he had to rein himself in, despite the fact that his body and his wolf were desperate for her touch.
His eyes dropped to her mouth. Scarlett licked her lips, a slow, deliberate swipe of pink tongue. Lucas was aware only of her glistening lower lip for a moment before she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. He sunk into her kiss with a groan, his lips seeking hers, teasing and tasting. She arched into his touch as his hands came down to clutch her ribs.
Lucas sought her lips with the tip of his tongue, and she opened for him. He pressed in, sucking in a breath at the taste of her. Sweet, clean, and so feminine. His wolf growled with pleasure, and he heeded his wolf’s demands. His tongue slid against hers, exploring her lips and mouth.
Scarlett’s hands scorched a path up from his shoulders, kneading his neck for a moment before her fingers burrowed into his hair. She tugged him closer, pressing her bre
asts and stomach to his chest and groin, the possessive move only heating him further. Her tongue met his, tentative at first.
Lucas slid one hand up, up until it cupped the full, heavy mound of her breast. Even through her thin t-shirt and bra, he could feel her soft heat as his thumb brushed her hardened nipple. The kiss turned hungry and demanding in the next heartbeat as Scarlett blossomed under his touch.
Her tongue met his, thrust for thrust. She withdrew, only to nip his lower lip and moan before opening for him again, driving him crazy. She never hesitated, only took what he gave and dished back the same. Her hips rocked against his cock, soft motions that had him so hard and tense that he was worried he might come right then and there. His balls tightened, aching with frenzied need.
He slowed the kiss, grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it up over her head. The shirt fell to the couch, forgotten. He released her mouth, only to press hot kisses to her neck, her shoulder, her collarbone. He pulled down the straps of her bra and unhooked it, pulling it from her body to release the lush swells of her breasts.
“You’re so perfect,” he murmured as he cupped and lifted them. Even weighed in his big hands, they were heavy. Smooth, perfect globes that overflowed his fingers, each pale orb tipped in the softest peach flesh. She sucked in a breath, pressing into his touch, showing him her need.
“Incredible,” he said. Lowering his head, Lucas nuzzled her breast, glorifying in the slide of silky skin against his mouth. Flicking his tongue over her nipple just to hear her gasp, he took one taut peak between his lips. He moaned against her flesh, making her shiver with excitement. He nipped her tender breast, kissing and licking before drawing her into his mouth with a long, deep suck.
The scent of her arousal hit him hard, making him moan again. Laving the taut flesh with his tongue, he sucked on her nipple until it was reddened from his attentions. He moved his lips to her cleavage, pushing her breasts together and running his tongue up and down the cleft before moving to her other breast.
He nipped and sucked her supple flesh until she threw her head back with a groan, clutching his hair to pull him closer. He marked the underside of her breast with his teeth, drew her nipple to a hardened point. Sucked her long and hard until she cried out, her hips grinding against his cock.