I storm out of Beta house numb with pain.
I never thought I could hurt so badly after I let Lawson go last week.
I was wrong.
Lawson
“Lucky!” I don’t give a shit that we’ve just put on the best show in town or that the entire Row knows about our one-and-hopefully-not-done sex life—but what kills me, what guts me on a deeper level is that she’s clinging to the fact her sister existed, which can only mean one thing—she did.
I blow past Rush and Grant as they try to hold me back, barrel down the porch, and start on a mad sprint toward campus. I spot Lucky’s hair blowing back like a dark flame just before she makes that hard left toward Hallowed Grounds. I hurdle bushes and dodge trees trying to cut her off at the pass, bolting around the back of Cutler, only to crash into her as I round out the corner.
“Shit!” she squeals, her body still pressed to mine. “How did you do that?” she pants, looking behind her as if I might show up in duplicate.
“Lucky.” I wrap my arms around her and sigh into her hair. “I believe you. If you say Jade was your sister, then that’s my truth, too.” I saw the hurt in her eyes back there, the utter disbelief that I had denied her one very special sibling. Sometimes raw emotions are far more potent at telling the truth than words, and with Lucky that seems to be the case.
She pulls back, tears pooling in her eyes. “My mother told me about Jade when I was five. She was our little secret. And when my mother died, I figured my brother already had too much to worry about, so I never told him. A part of me liked keeping her all to myself.” Silent tears rain down. “I needed someone else, and I found that in her.”
My heart breaks for this beautiful girl in my arms. My lips twitch involuntarily as I succumb to the grief I feel for her. Lucky has both my heart and my soul molded over hers. I could never want any other girl again. As far as I’m concerned, other girls simply don’t exist. In a world full of people, Lucky is the only person I yearn for—the only person I need. She’s the oxygen I need to survive.
“I’m sorry.” I pull her in, and my own tears rain over her hair. “I’m sorry for everything. I was an ass for taking a dime from your brother—but in truth, I had already figured out that I didn’t want any other idiots coming around. I wanted you for myself, only at the time I didn’t know why.” I had suspected it, though. Even in the beginning, I had an inkling this girl was special—deep down, I knew she was for me.
“Do you know why, now?” The moon kisses her features just right, and Lucky glows like a paper lantern.
“Yes.” It comes from me sharp and caustic. “I know exactly why.” I’m about to dive into the long list of reasons that I want this beautiful girl all to myself when she lays a finger over my lips, rendering me silent.
“Just FYI, I wasn’t popular.” She gives a playful swat to my arm, unlike those hard blows she was doling out in Beta house. Honestly, I almost suggested she try out for girls’ softball. Her arm is that good. “Jet has no idea what he’s talking about. My brother saw what he wanted to see.” Her lips quiver, and it takes herculean strength not to cover them with mine. “And I’m sorry about the virginity thing.” Her lids lower. “I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.” She ducks an inch. “I thought… Never mind what I thought.”
“Tell me.” I land a kiss to her earlobe, and my stomach bottoms out. Lucky’s skin is smoother, softer than anything I’ve ever felt before. I’d die to be with her again, to take my time and make sure she enjoys the hell out of herself. If given the chance, I will make love to every square inch of her body and enjoy every last kiss, bite, and lick. “I want to know what you’re thinking.”
“I thought you wouldn’t have acted on it.” She hikes her shoulders to her ears. “You would have said the laundry room at Beta wasn’t the right place for something like that to happen.” She glances away while doing her best to swallow down her emotions. “You would have said you wanted it to be special for me.”
A lone tear falls from her like a star, and I catch it on my thumb and kiss it.
A smile comes to me, still and peaceful. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have acted on it. The laundry room at Beta house was not the right place for something like that to have happened.” I run my finger along her jawline and pull her up a notch by the chin. “I demand that the next time we’re together it is special for you—and it will be.”
A laugh bubbles from her and warms me to the bone. “Presumptuous, are we?”
“I want you,” I whisper over her lips as I close my mouth over hers for a lingering moment. “You’re the only girl for me, Lucky Madden. And I’m going to have you—again and again.” Our lips fuse in one hot exchange as my tongue probes her, loves her the way I’ve been dreaming of this entire last week. Lucky has come back to me, to us. In a turn of events I couldn’t have predicted, we have stitched ourselves back together, sutured the wound we sliced open with our own indignations.
Lucky pulls back, and that tension we’ve been living with surfaces again.
“Lawson”—her forehead wrinkles in a series of worry lines, and my stomach tenses up in knots once again—“we can never be together.” Her lips bounce as she tries to control her emotions “Jet—he’s—”
“Going to get used to us.”
She struggles to break free from my embrace, but I’m too stubborn to let her go. “Everyone I love dies!” she roars over my face like a nuclear blast.
“Jet is still living!” I fire back.
She lets out a desperate groan, still attempting to twist free from my arms. “That’s because Jet is stubborn.”
“Good thing I’m stubborn, too.”
A weak laugh bucks through her as her body, her hardened features begin to soften, and she stops struggling. “So, where does that leave us? Are you saying you’re taking your chances? You’re willing to take your life in your hands just to have another shot at my private laundry service?”
My eyes close a moment as a compressed idea of a laugh strums through me. “Yes.” I lean in and steal a sweet kiss off those cherry lips. “I’m in love with you, Lucky. I’m so in love with you, there’s no stopping me from risking it all just to be with you. I would gladly give up anything to be with you. Life or limb, you are worth it all.”
She draws a full breath straight into her open-mouthed smile. “You said the L word to me.”
“Yes, I said Lucky.” I give a little smirk, and she swats me.
“I know we’ve exchanged that four-letter word, but so much has happened since that day. I just thought…” She shakes her head as if shaking the thought out of it. “Never mind. I love you, too, Lawson,” she whispers from under her lashes. “Say it again,” she commands, her lilac colored eyes widen and round as softballs.
“I love you.” It comes out plain as day, as if I’ve said those words to her a thousand times. I pitch my head back and laugh. “I love Lucky Madden!” I shout so loud my throat rubs raw.
She starts in on a swatting spree. “Are you nuts? My brother is at that bar across the street!”
“Well, then we’d better get the hell out of here.” I swing her in a half-circle and pause as the moon washes her an ethereal shade of sparkling blue. “In fact, we still have three days left of spring break. I have just the place we can spend it.”
Her brow spikes into her forehead like a fishhook. Lucky is sexier than hell with every curious facial expression she doles out. There is not a single move this girl can make without getting my dick worked up in an impossible way.
“Does it have a laundry room?” She cocks her head to the side, that sly smile peaking at the corners.
“That it does. But more important, it will have you—and me, alone with all the time in the world for me to worship you properly.” I pull up her hand and land a tender kiss to the back. “We don’t have to do anything.” I try to shrug it off like it were no big thing, but I’m openly frowning at my own non-proposition.
Lucky belts out a laugh.
“That is such a Grant Jones’ line. The next thing you know, you’ll be saying that you’re open to playing board games all weekend. Ava told me all about their time at the Happy Squirrel.” Her eyes enlarge as she dips her knees a moment. “Are you taking me to the cabin?”
“Yes,” I say with a false confidence that begs for this to be true. Technically, I need to place a quick call to my father to make sure it’s free. “And if you want, we can and will play board games.”
“Are you kidding me?” She reaches up and roughs up my hair. “Is that Frat Boy 101 or something? Offer up a variety of non-technological entertainment options to save face in the event you’re about to get shut down?” She bubbles with laughter at the thought.
“No, but if Grant made the offer, I figured it was safe to duplicate it. Ava and he seem pretty tight.” I pick her up and spin her.
“Are you kidding? They’re a done deal.”
“So are we, sweetheart. So are we.”
Lucky and I seal our newfound affection with a wild and carefree kiss right here in the middle of campus—hard kisses, soft kisses, determined exploratory kisses, everything holy and right kisses.
Lucky and I are a done deal.
And tonight, everything will be just that—holy and right.
I wait for Lucky at the base of Cutler Tower and text Dad, who lets me know that Scarlett and Rex have the cabin this weekend. I text Rex and tell him to get the hell out of the cabin, thus starting a texting war with both Rex and Scarlett, which is exactly why I texted Rex in the first place—in an effort to avoid my sister. I’m pretty sure Scarlett isn’t enthused knowing I’m bringing a girl up with me. I’m sure she’s less enthused considering the girl is Lucky, and she’ll have to keep that little sexed-up tidbit from Daisy and Jet. Siblings shouldn’t be aware of other siblings’ fucking schedules. It’s against the laws of nature.
Finally, Rex intervenes. It’s clear he’s far less concerned about the welfare of my neck, but at this point it’s my not neck I’m gunning to please.
He’s offered to whisk Scarlett off to Mirror Lake where his family owns a cabin of their own. And the thought of what he’s going to do with my sister, to my sister up at Mirror Lake makes my stomach churn. Case in point, I’m not interested in any sex schedule they might be anxious to keep.
Lucky bounces back down the stairs with her backpack bulked up and stuffed to the brim. “I hear there’s a laundry room with our name on it.” She offers up a beaming grin.
“Every room in that place has our name on it.”
We head back to The Row, and I gather a few things before jumping into my truck. It’s usually a long, mind-boggling slow drive up to the family cabin, but I’ve never been so happy to see every scenic outlook whiz on by, never been so quick to get up this mountain. Lake Avalanche is a fun, boisterous, down home kind of a town that caters to families with minivans full of children. But tonight, it’s idyllic and still, with the moon hanging low over its frosted peak. Even though it’s April, there is still enough powder on the north facing roads. And the air outside is damp and crisp as a cool fall night.
We hit the Happy Squirrel Retreat—a name picked out by my siblings and me when we were still part of a carefree nuclear family, prior to our parents’ divorce, prior to the fact I knew that I would later be able to count on one hand how many times I’ve seen my mother face to face in a five-year span. My heart sinks a moment, and I push that painful rejection right out the darkened window.
We park and I scoop Lucky up, racing her to the top of the stairs with a laugh bumping out of both of us. I let us in, only to find the cabin already toasty from Rex and Scarlett’s brief stay, the lights still on in the living room.
“I’ll give you the quick tour once I start a fire,” I say, trying not to pant too hard. Those stairs are a killer without another body in my arms, but Lucky is well worth the workout.
“You’ll give me the tour now, Kent,” she says it curt like the crack of a whip, and my balls ache just dying to be with the girl one more time.
“Your wish is my command.”
“Damn right, it is.” She gives my hair a little tug, and a crooked smile comes to me as I sweep us in the direction of the tiny room in the back.
“Someone is feisty tonight.”
“Tonight?” she balks. “Have you met me?”
“I’ve met you.” I try my hardest to frown. “And to know you is to love you.” That smile she sponsors springs right back to my lips, and I soften as we enter the glorified closet of a laundry room. “And I do love you,” I whisper right over her lips. “You’re it for me. Do you think you can handle this?” I offer up a cocky grin, and it melts away as fast as it came. “Because I’m begging you to have me.” Never in my life did I think those words would ever fly from my mouth, and here I’m bleeding them straight from my soul. “You’re beautiful, Lucky. You are everything I want.” I take a gentle bite out of her lower lip and pull out slowly. “And best of all—you’re mine.”
“I’m yours?” Her eyes sparkle with tears as I kiss her lips.
“Damn right.”
“Does that mean you get to have your way with me?” Lucky dives her curious hands into my jeans.
“Only if you let me.”
“That doesn’t sound very demanding. I always pictured you as some puffed-up ape in the bedroom, barking out orders. You know—on your knees, lick that, suck this.” She gives a quick wink as she dips farther into my jeans.
“Is that what you want?” My heart thumps louder than the words I just whispered. “Say yes,” I mouth right over her lips.
Lucky tips her head back, and her laugh echoes throughout the tiny room, spilling out into the cabin—brightening it up, warming it without the need for a fire.
She digs her fingers into the back of my hair and gives a slight tug. “That’s exactly what I want.”
My hand glides up her back, wrapping a fistful of silky hair around my wrist. Lucky’s hair is downy soft—a thousand luscious feathers I’d love to sleep in. I’ve never felt anything so silky in all my life. I’d give anything to bury myself in it, and that’s definitely on the agenda tonight. I pull her head back slowly, forcing her to look at me. A wicked grin already playing on my lips.
“This is what I want.” I bear into those violet eyes of hers and lose myself in the moment. “You ready to do some laundry?”
A bubbling laugh escapes her as she whips off her sweater, exposing a see-through lace bra the exact hue of her eyes, and I die a little at the sight. Her nipples peer out, pink and hard, already waiting for me to devour them.
“Holy—wow.”
“My eyes are up here.” She flicks my chin until I’m back to gazing right at her. “I owe you an apology.” A lightning quick frown flits over her features. “I may have misled you about my virginity, but only because you were so damn arrogant.” She bites down hard over her bottom lip until it threatens to burst from the pressure. “And I wanted to see what the big deal was—which I still somehow missed out on because I was so taken aback by your moves.” She unbuckles, unzips, and pulls down my jeans just enough to free my hard-on already saluting her before she ever sees it. “Where is it?”
“Are we back to the micropenis? Because, honey,” I grunt out a laugh, “last time I checked, I’m pulling nine solid inches. In fact, it’s probably ten. I am a growing boy.” That wicked grin of mine expands.
“Not that.” Her brows dip like a couple of birds descending in flight. “Your crown? Prince Albert?”
“Oh.” I pull my dick back a moment, trying to stave off the embarrassment of my unpierced penis. “I may have told a little lie of my own.” I wince. “Technically, you assumed I went through with it—everyone assumed. I just didn’t correct anyone. Once Jet had me in his hand—”
“Ugh.” Lucky looks ready to vomit. “My brother held your—”
“Junk,” I finish for her. “I couldn’t do it. Why mess with nature any more than you have to, right?”
&
nbsp; “Sort of like this.” She holds out her arm at her ode to tats gone wrong. “I’m not exactly running to Think Ink waiting for him to knife me up.” Her lips curl up on one side. “You’ll have to come with me when the time comes. You know, hold my hand.” She bites down over her lips as if holding back a laugh. “Hey, you want me to go with you and hold your—”
“No. It’s not happening. Besides, you really want your brother holding my dick while you hold my hand? That’s going to make for a lot of awkward Thanksgivings for years to come.”
“Lots of Thanksgivings?” There’s a hopefulness exuding from her that I have never seen before. “You think you’ll survive my curse?”
“Unless Jet takes me out, I’m not going anywhere.” My fingers sweep the hair away from her eyes. “Lucky, you’re the family I’ve been craving deep down all these years. I thought I needed my mother back to complete me, but I was wrong. I just needed you.”
A gentle sigh expels from her as I lean in and close my mouth over hers. Her teeth, her tongue, that lava hot mouth. I could easily spend a year doing exactly this, never coming up for air, food, or sleep. Lucky is the air I need to breathe, everything I need to nourish my hungry soul—and who the hell needs sleep when her body is pressed to mine?
Clothes disband as quick as we can remove them. Shoes fly like missiles, and we laugh as one of my sneakers bounces right out of the room. I hoist her up on the washing machine and pull her knees over my shoulders.
I may have come out the sole victor last time, but this time Lucky comes first.
Lucky in Love
Lucky
Lawson Kent stares up at me from between my thighs with those green headlamps he calls eyes, and my entire body quivers with anticipation.
An entire litany of excuses begs to tumble from my lips, starting with why I should not be seated on top of this ice-cold washing machine, but I can’t get a single word out. Lawson dives over my thighs and bathes them with kisses, working his way up until he hits home, and an unexpected cry escapes from my throat. It’s clear Lawson is eager to take me from virgin to sexual superhero in a single bound, and as much as I’d love to don that cape—
Lucky Kisses Page 18