Lucky Kiss

by Melanie Shawn

  How was it possible that she didn’t remember doing anything worthy of accolades last night?

  Then a thought hit her that maybe the congratulations weren’t for something heroic at all. Maybe she’d won a dance contest or a drinking contest, or… No, what if she’d arm-wrestled someone?

  Had she embarrassed herself? Chief Maguire had been two tables away from her. Had she done something to disgrace the station?

  What had started out as panic quickly dissolved into utter and complete horrified dread. How was she going to face the guys? Her cousin?

  This was a small town. Clearly she’d done something to draw attention to herself when her goal had been to fly under the radar for as long as possible. Well, it was pretty obvious she was flying so far above the radar that the entire town was aware of her. Her palms were sweating and her heart was racing as she stepped up to the counter.

  Audrey’s face lit up when she saw Deanna. Her new friend’s genuine expression deflated her terror. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions and hadn’t humiliated herself.

  “Hey there! Do you want your usual, hon?” the pretty brunette asked.

  “Yeah, that would be great.”

  The swinging door that led to the back room, swung open and Vivien breezed through it. Her long, red hair pulled up in a ponytail, swooshed over her shoulders as she stepped up to the register.

  After glancing at what Audrey was making, she tapped the screen of the register. “That will be three eighty-five.”

  Deanna pulled a five out of her purse and tried to hand it to Vivien.

  But the redhead leaned forward, her brown eyes sparkling as she whispered conspiratorially, “It’s on the house if you tell us who it was.”

  And just like that, the uneasy feeling was back.

  “Who what was?” Deanna asked, still holding the money in her hand.

  Vivien pushed her hand down. “Who the bidder was.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed together as she tilted her head. “What bidder?”

  The second the question left her mouth, a scene began playing in her head like a movie montage. The mayor announcing her as receiving the highest bid. Her hightailing it out of the community center. Lucky following her. Lucky giving her a ride home. Lucky telling her that he was the one who’d bid on her. Her kissing Lucky.

  Oh no. What had she done?

  She’d kissed Lucky Dorsey—that’s what she’d done. And if her sketchy memory was correct, he’d been the one to end the kiss. If he hadn’t, she was fairly certain her inebriated self would’ve taken things all the way.

  “Are you okay?” Audrey leaned closer to her. “You look pale.”

  Deanna absently touched her hand to her face. She’d never thought it was possible for the color to actually drain from people’s faces. She’d been wrong, though, because she could literally feel the blood draining from her face.

  “I’m fine,” she assured them.

  “Are you sure?” Even Vivien didn’t seem convinced.

  Her heart felt like it was beating and the rest of her body felt numb. She couldn’t feel her limbs. She tried to calm herself with the reminder that no one had ever died of mortification, so at least she knew that what she was suffering from wouldn’t lead to her an untimely demise.

  Deanna nodded as she left the five on the counter and grabbed her coffee. “Thanks,” she said over her shoulder as she headed towards the door.

  “Call if you need anything!” Audrey shouted after her.

  Deanna raised her hand in acknowledgement but kept walking as fast as her hungover legs would carry her, which turned out to be a fairly fast clip. Actually, in light of the new information, she wasn’t feeling nearly as sluggish as she had been moments before. Or nearly as foggy headed.

  As she double-timed it back to the safety and anonymity of her house, she ran through last night’s timeline. She’d danced with Lucky. The mayor had announced that someone had bid five thousand dollars on her donation. She’d made like a banana and split as soon as the mayor had finished talking. Lucky had followed her out to the parking lot. He’d given her a ride home.

  Wait. How did he know where she lived?

  Shaking her head, she decided to address that question later.

  Where had she been? Oh yeah. Lucky had given her a ride home. They’d talked, somehow it’d come up that he’d bid on her, and then he’d kissed her. Oh, no. Wait. She’d kissed him? Someone had kissed someone, and the upshot was that the kiss had happened.

  Or had she dreamed that?

  Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, Deanna tried to clear her head to determine if the kiss had actually happened in real life or if it had occurred only in her dreams.

  A tingle spread across her lips, and if she closed her eyes, she could still feel his firm yet soft mouth pressed against hers. Her mouth watered as she remembered the way his tongue had thoroughly explored every inch of it.

  Her eyes flew open. It had been no dream. She’d kissed Lucky Dorsey, and he’d bid on eight hours of her time. He’d spent thousands of dollars, even, which meant that, in four short days, she’d be seeing him again.

  Oh boy.

  *

  “Again!” Alder shouted.

  Lucky sucked in a deep breath. His lungs painfully expanded as he dropped his arms to his sides and his head fell back. Every muscle in his body burned. Sweat dripped down his face as he flexed his fingers around the handles and started working the battle ropes again.

  His mind cleared as he pounded his arms up and down. The rhythm of the rope hitting the concrete floor sped up as he increased his pace. He was in the elusive zone that had been just out of his reach for months.

  He lived in the burn. Lived in the pain. Lived in the tightness of his chest.

  So many people had asked him how he managed to handle the pain that was a by-product of getting your ass beat for a living. This was how he did. He lived in it. He didn’t try to breathe through it. He didn’t try to ignore it. He didn’t think about when it would be over. He accepted it. Fully.

  When he was a kid, the first time he’d broken his arm, his mom had told him that, now, he would appreciate having the use of both arms more. And it was true. When his cast had come off, he’d felt like he’d had a new lease on life. That had always stuck with him. That you appreciate the good, the pleasure, more when you’ve experienced the bad, the pain.

  “Okay, that’s it.” Alder’s words barely registered.

  Lucky doubled his efforts as adrenaline pushed him past his fatigue threshold.

  “That’s it!” Alder repeated as he lowered his arm in a chopping motion to break Lucky’s momentum. When the handles fell to the ground, Lucky shook his arms out and hopped from foot to foot.

  “Damn. I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into you or who the hell you’ve gotten into the past week, but whatever or whoever you’re doing, keep it up. You’re an animal. I haven’t seen you this focused, this on fire, since before the Hammer fight.”

  Lucky rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck from side to side. His trainer was right about one thing; for the past three days, he’d been back to his old self. Unfortunately, the person responsible for his renewed sense of self wasn’t someone he was doing. That’s where Alder was wrong.

  In fact, he’d only seen his green-eyed, brown-haired girl once since he’d dropped her off at her house after the auction. And that had only been from the window of the gym when she had been running drills up the tower.

  He’d texted her several times but only received one-word responses. Which was fine with him. He wasn’t even taking it personally.

  For whatever reason, Deanna was fighting her attraction to him. But, after the dance and the kiss they’d shared, there was no doubt in his mind that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He had never shied away from a challenge, especially if it was something he really wanted. And he wanted Deanna more than he’d ever wanted anything else in the world.

  Well, except one more day wit
h his mom. He would do anything, pay anything, sacrifice anything, for just one more day with her.

  Alder handed Lucky a water bottle. “I have to admit, I was kind of shocked when you bid that much on the firefighter hottie. But hey, I can’t argue with the results.”

  “Why do you think I was the one who bid on her?” Lucky hadn’t told anyone that he was the highest bidder. Except Deanna. And Sue Ann knew because she was the one who’d run his credit card.

  “Because I’m not stupid or blind,” Alder stated flatly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  Lucky waited, his face blank.

  “Okay, I saw you pick up her the envelope when Vivien came over, and I may have glanced over your shoulder to see the amount you wrote down,” he admitted with a shrug.

  Lucky smiled as he squeezed more water into his mouth. His trainer was honest to a fault. Which wasn’t always a good thing. Sometimes, the truth was the last thing he wanted to hear. But keeping around people who would tell him when he was being an asshole or that his training was shitty was another reason he’d gotten to the place he was today. Having a camp that kissed your ass might be good for your ego, but it wasn’t good for your livelihood or your bank account.

  Maybe that was one of things that was so appealing about Deanna. It wasn’t like she’d said, that he only wanted to be with her because she was a challenge. But part of the reason he was so drawn to her was the fact that she wasn’t trying get his attention. Wasn’t trying to inflate his ego.

  If anything, it was the opposite. Which made the dance and the kiss they’d shared even more special. She hadn’t been there because of who he was and what she wanted from him. She had been there in spite of those things.

  “So, what is up with the two of you?” Alder lifted his hands in mock surrender. “You know that, usually, I don’t ask, but this girl seems different. Special.”

  She was different and special, but Lucky had no intention of telling Alder that. His personal life might’ve been general knowledge, but he’d never been the one to kiss and tell. And he wasn’t about to start now.

  “She’s a nice girl.” Lucky picked the battle ropes up again and waited for Alder to give him the nod that he’d started the timer.

  Instead of a nod, his trainer raised one eyebrow. “A nice girl?”

  “Yep.”

  Giving up on a dead end, Alder pressed the screen on his phone to start the timer and barked, “Again.”

  As Lucky worked the ropes, his mind zoned out—or, more accurately, in. He was hyper-focused. One more day. That’s how long he’d have to wait to see Deanna.

  When he’d texted her the morning after he’d dropped her off to make sure she was feeling okay, she’d said, “Yes.” When he’d texted her the next day to ask how her day was going, she’d said, “Okay.” When he’d texted her yesterday to let her know that she could dress casually on Saturday and he’d pick her up at three in the afternoon, she’d said, “Fine.” When he’d texted her today to ask if she ever planned on answering him in more than one-word responses, she’d said, “Maybe.”

  She was a smartass, and he loved it. She was also a badass, which he also loved. And she had a sensational ass, which was probably his favorite of all of her assets.

  “Time!” Alder called out.

  This time, Lucky dropped the ropes without needing intervention.

  Letting out several puffs of air, he jogged in place as his rapid pulse slowly returned to a more normal pace.

  Then his phone buzzed, and even though Deanna had never initiated any text conversation, his heart still jumped at the thought that it might be her. Damn, she had him acting like a schoolgirl with a serious crush. Not a comparison he’d ever thought he’d make.

  He scooped his phone off the bench and saw that it was Jerry. Earlier that day, Jerry had finalized the contract for his next fight with Moyer, and he wanted Lucky to sign it so he could get it over to the promoter.

  “Is that Jerry?” Alder asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

  “Yeah.”

  “He’s been blowing me up ever since I told him you were looking like your old self again.”

  “Oh yeah?” Lucky had already known that. His manager had been blowing him up, too.

  “So, you gonna sign it?” Alder asked casually, even though it was probably driving his trainer crazy that he hadn’t committed to this fight yet.

  Alder had been pressuring him to get the rest of his camp there since the first day he’d shown up. He tried to play it off like he was bored and just wanted the rest of the guys here, but Lucky knew better. Bringing in the rest of the camp was as good as committing to the match.

  Before he’d danced with and kissed Deanna, he’d been on the fence about what he should do. It was scaring the shit out of him that he hadn’t felt the fire he needed to go into that cage and come out the champion.

  But now? Now, he did feel it.

  “Yeah, I’m gonna sign,” he told Alder as he texted Jerry that he could expect them within the hour. “Call the crew.”

  “Finally.” Alder’s tone was frustrated, but his eyes were lit up like a Christmas tree, and he was smiling from ear to ear as he pulled his phone out to make the calls.

  Tomorrow, he’d see the woman who had somehow been able to put his Humpty Dumpty ass back together again after all the king’s horses and all the king’s men had failed miserably.

  And she’d done so with a dance and a kiss, which made him wonder what would happen if things went further between them.

  He had no idea, but he was looking forward to finding out.

  Chapter 15

  ‡

  Deanna wasn’t sure what she’d expected they would be doing, but it hadn’t been this.

  “I bet the boys are lining up around the corner for you.” Lucky winked at the girl he’d just given a hug to.

  She giggled and blushed. The tubes sticking out of her tiny, frail body broke Deanna’s heart. The doctors had told them that she was eleven, but she looked younger than that, and she’d been battling Lymphoma since she was five.

  “Can you sign this?” Mandy asked as she handed him a small, pink punching glove.

  “Of course I can.” Lucky took a pen out from his pocket and signed the base of the glove.

  Mandy’s mother beamed. “Thanks so much. She never misses one of your fights.”

  Her father handed Lucky another glove to sign. “My boy had practice, so he couldn’t be here, but we’re all big fans. Would you mind signing this?”

  “No problem. What’s his name?” Lucky handed the pink glove back to Mandy and took the larger, black glove from her dad.

  “Steven.”

  After signing two more shirts and promising to send some swag before his next fight, they left the room. They’d visited over a dozen patients in private rooms and also spent an hour reading books, playing board games, and answering questions with children in a playroom.

  The time had flown by. The kids had asked her what her favorite games were and she’d told them that it was hard to choose because playing board games with her cousins and aunt and uncle made up some of her favorite memories. When that wasn’t good enough she’d narrowed it down to Yahtzee and Scrabble, leaving out the fact that she was the reigning queen in her family of both.

  It had surprised Deanna that when Lucky had introduced her to the kids, he’d told them that she was a real-life hero, a firefighter. And whenever the attention started swaying in his direction, he’d point out another “cool” thing firefighters do.

  When one of the boys had looked at her funny and said that he didn’t think that girls could be firemen, Lucky had told the boy that not only could girls be firefighters, they could do anything boys could do. The kid hadn’t looked totally convinced.

  As they walked down the hall, Lucky’s hand rested on her back, and he leaned down and whispered, “Have I told you how hot you look in that mask?”

  He’d been saying stuff like that all
day, and Deanna had to admit that she liked it. A lot more than she should have. It was nothing over the top, and it had been at the most unexpected times. Like now, when she was wearing a mask that covered half of her face.

  She tried to remind herself why he’d gotten his nickname, that she shouldn’t feel flattered by his attention. He was a flirt. A player. A womanizer. That’s what he did; it was part of his persona.

  But it was hard to remember that when he looked in her eyes like she was the only other person on earth.

  They returned to the small waiting room they’d been instructed to go to by Shelly, the hospital liaison who had been coordinating Lucky’s visit. She was a pretty, young blonde who’d obviously met Lucky before today. When they’d arrived in Sacramento at Children’s Hospital, she’d been waiting in the front. Lucky had walked straight to her and kissed her on the cheek before introducing Deanna to Shelly.

  It shouldn’t have bothered Deanna to see him be so friendly with Shelly. It shouldn’t have made her stomach feel like it had when she’d woken up after the Hometown Heroes Ball to see Shelly hug him tight. She shouldn’t have wanted to lace her fingers through his and tug him close to her to claim her territory when Shelly had touched his biceps and told him that he was “looking good.” But she had.

  “So, do you do this a lot?” Deanna tried to convince herself that this wasn’t a gateway question that would lead to So, how long have you known Shelly?

  “As much as I can.” Lucky nodded as he took his mask off and removed the booties over his shoes.

  Deanna did the same.

  “If a children’s hospital reaches out, I make it my top priority to visit.” His eyes were serious, and he shook his head slightly. “The things these kids go through…” Letting out a deep sigh, he sagged back against the chair.

  Deanna had wondered how he’d kept his spirits so high when the doctor had explained each case they’d visited. He’d just nodded and then walked into the room like everything was totally normal. He’d spoken to the patients and the parents like their circumstances weren’t dire. Like their children weren’t fighting for their lives.