by AJ Crowe
She swiveled her hips and tightened herself around him, delighting in his resulting moans. He played with her breasts as she moved over him, caressing the curves of them and lightly scratching his fingernails over her nipples.
They stayed like this for a long time.
Eventual orgasm was not the goal of this coupling. Ivy just wanted to feel him like this, make him feel this way, for as long as she could.
When she finally came, crying out and holding onto his hips with her hands at her sides, he came as well. She felt the warmth of him inside her and it strengthened her pleasure.
She collapsed by his side, still feeling contractions of delicious pleasure tingling through her. He kissed her neck, breathing heavily.
“I feel so much better,” he said. “Today was one of the worst days of my life until now.”
Ivy smiled though he knew she couldn’t see it in the dark. “I love the way you feel inside me,” she said softly. It was all she could think about.
There was a long silence.
Ivy thought maybe Lucas had gone to sleep.
“I love you,” he said.
Ivy’s heart went cold. She forced herself to keep breathing.
“I love you too,” she said. She curled up next to him and breathed in his scent. She was happier than she ever had been.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Ivy woke up the next morning, Lucas was at her side.
This was surprise. Every other morning after staying the night at his house, she had woken up alone. He would always be in the living room working out or on a run. This morning, he seemed to have forgone his morning routine to stay in bed with her.
Or maybe it was because he was injured. She didn’t really mind either way. It was lovely to wake up and see him breathing softly, his dark eyelashes leaving delicate spidery shadows on his cheeks.
She tried to get out of bed without waking him up. She wanted to surprise him with coffee. After yesterday, he definitely needed a nice way to wake up.
Yesterday.
She really needed him to know that the events of yesterday, if anything, had done more to strengthen her feelings for him than to upset her or make her uncomfortable around him. She felt like the thing that had irked her most about Lucas –maybe the only thing that had upset her –was the blank hole in his past that he simply wasn’t willing to fill.
Though the gap of her knowledge hadn’t been filled with his blessing, she now had some kind of an idea of what had happened between his high school years and when he came to Paisley. And that was really all she needed.
However terrified she had felt the day before, however confused and appalled, it was not Lucas’s fault. Clearly he had chosen to leave that world and come to Paisley. Though Ivy didn’t know why, she found that she had no desire to know why.
She had no more questions. She was no longer afraid of him –not in the least.
She knew the part of him she hadn’t known before, and her feelings for him had multiplied exponentially with every moment as a result.
Smiling to herself, her heart warm and content, she started to roll out from under the sheets.
Lucas rolled over sleepily, seeming to forget he was hurt, and grasped her wrist loosely. “No,” he said, his eyes half open. “Stay.”
She shook off his hand. “I’m just getting up to make you coffee, Panther,” she said laughingly.
His eyes opened wide. Ivy realized that whatever decision she had come to within herself, he had no idea. For all he knew, she wanted to run away from him and call the police.
“Lucas,” she said, keeping her voice soft and quiet because he still looked half asleep, even though his eyes were open. “I need you to know that yesterday did nothing but show me more of who you are. I… I feel more strongly for you now than I ever have before. I know you better than ever before. I feel closer to you.” She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.
He shut his eyes and let out a long breath. “You have no idea what that means to me,” he said, sounding like he wasn’t quite sure if he was awake or dreaming. “You’re so… far away from that world. I wanted to keep you away from it. I never wanted you to even have to think about it. That’s what I… what I loved about you.” He rolled over onto his side, wincing at the pain. “But I love you even more now that you do know. You’re perfect for me.”
Ivy started to pull on her jeans and t shirt. She didn’t fancy being seen naked by a neighbor through the kitchen window while she made coffee. She noticed that the clothes were stained with dust and ripped in places from her ordeal yesterday.
She hoped Jess wouldn’t comment on it when she came home.
Oh yeah. Jess. I can call her once I’ve made coffee, she decided.
“I’m going to go make you coffee, Lucas,” she said and tiptoed into the kitchen. He had drifted off back to sleep. Ivy glanced at the clock in the kitchen and saw that it was a few minutes after eleven.
As she waited for the coffee to finish filtering, she thought in pleasant circles about Lucas. Waking up next to him had been beautiful. Listening to him tell her how he felt about her sleepily had been beautiful. Watching him sleep had been beautiful. Making him happy was beautiful.
She could honestly imagine herself by his side for the rest of her life. She had never known someone like this -she knew the parts of Lucas that he didn’t want anyone else to know about. And because of that, she felt like that meant something. It meant that they were meant to be together.
When the coffee was done brewing, she carried two steaming mugs into Lucas’s bedroom. He sat up in bed, crinkling his nose at the pain, and propped himself up with pillows. “Thanks,” he said as she handed him the coffee. She sat down next to him on the bed over the covers.
They sipped their coffee, a comfortable silence between them.
“Thank you,” he said again after a few moments.
“You already said thanks,” she reminded him.
“No,” he said, smiling at her over his mug. “Thank you for being who you are.”
Ivy blinked, feeling her eyes get moist. Lucas had seemed to hit on just the right words to make her get all emotional in the twelve hours. “You’re welcome.” She looked down into her coffee, blushing.
“You’re beautiful,” he said.
“Stop!” she cried, setting down their coffees and playfully tackling him.
“Oh, Ivy, no.”
Laughing, she rolled off him. He pushed himself back up to a sitting position, trying to look upset. “That hurt,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
They lay there, both smiling, their fingers lazily entwined.
“Hey, Ivy?”
“Yeah?” She rolled onto her stomach and looked up at Lucas.
“I… I was wondering… I know it’s probably not an option… but I love having you here so much…” He looked at her desperately like he was hoping for her to finish his sentence so he didn’t have to ask. Ivy didn’t say a thing. She kept looking at him. “This house is big enough for two,” he said quickly, looking away. “Would you… could you maybe…?”
“Yes,” Ivy said breathlessly. “Yes.”
“But your job –”
“Don’t take on my worries. If my boss is fine with me working from my laptop this long, we can work something out. And if she’s not fine with it, then I can still work something out. Lucas.” Ivy crawled up and gave him a kiss on the lips. His lips were soft and warm and felt like home. “Lucas,” she said, whispering into their kiss. “I’d do anything for you.”
They kissed sweetly and almost chastely for a long time, simply expressing how happy they were to have found each other.
Finally Ivy pulled away. “Can I borrow your phone? I have to call Jess,” she said sadly. “She needs to know I’m okay.”
“Do you have to go?”
“Yeah. I should. Plus I want to tell her the news.”
He grinned. “Go, go. Don’t call her, just go and tell her.”
Ivy laughed. “I will. I’ll call you, okay?”
“Okay.”
Ivy got up. She opened his bedroom door.
“Ivy, wait.”
She turned and stood in the doorway, looking at him.
He just looked at her for the longest time, his eyes traveling her body with both a romantic and sexual meaning in his eyes. He looked like he couldn’t get enough of her. It reminded her of the very first look he had ever given her, though he had tried to hide it then.
“I’m so glad I came to Paisley,” he said, sighing. It almost seemed to be a comment to himself.
“Believe me,” Ivy said. “Me too.” She met his loving gaze full on. Her heart swelled with the absolute, genuine, pure love she felt for him. She had found someone to settle down with; someone strong and beautiful and who loved her just as much as she loved him. “Me too.”
Epilogue
After she got out of work at the library, Ivy decided to tell Jess what had happened the day before she decided to move in with Lucas.
She’d had a lot of time to think during a particularly slow day in the children’s section and had decided she was ready to tell Jess. She thought about asking Lucas first, but decided that he must have known that when it comes to secrets, every secret is liable to be shared.
“Jess,” she said on the phone as she walked downtown. “You’re out of work early today, right?”
“Yeah. I’m at home doing absolutely nothing. Emma’s at her friend’s house. I’m just watching TV and trying not to eat the chocolate I have stashed away. Michael isn’t answering my calls. He’s probably just working overtime but it still means I’m alone.”
Michael was Jess’s new boyfriend. She had met him at work. He worked in another department, so they hadn’t ever come across each other before, but now they were spending a lot of time together. He was a sweet, simple guy. Ivy hoped their relationship would last for a long time. He was what Jess needed.
“Want to meet me at Antonelli’s?” As she asked, Ivy walked into her favorite café downtown and asked for a table for two. She knew what her sister’s response would be.
“You know I do. I’ll drive over there so I’ll be there in like three minutes.”
“See you.”
Jess was there in four minutes. She sat down, took off her sunglasses, and called over a waiter. “I’d like an iced tea, please. And the eggs benedict special.”
He looked to Ivy. “You, ma’am?”
“Two pancakes, fruit salad, and coffee, please.” The waiter went off with their orders.
“You know it’s five in the afternoon, right?” Jess said, sipping the ice water that was already on the table.
“Hey, you ordered breakfast too. This place is amazing. I’ve never been anywhere with better all day breakfast.”
Even though Ivy was talking completely casually, she noticed that Jess had started to look at her oddly.
“Ivy,” she said suspiciously. “Did you invite me here to tell me something?”
Ivy tried to think of how to start the story.
“Oh God,” her sister said suddenly. “Are you pregnant?”
“No! No, I’m not.” She didn’t mention that Lucas and she had recently talked about how they would both love to have kids with each other someday.
Jess let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good. I’m not ready to be an aunt. All that added responsibility…”
“Thanks, Jess. I’m glad you’ll be there for me and my eventual kids when we need you.”
Jess rolled her eyes. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Sure.”
“So what is it then?” Jess’s ice tea and Ivy’s coffee arrived. “What do you have to tell me?”
“Well,” Ivy started. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. No –she needed to tell someone, and her sister was the best person to tell. She had finally convinced Jess that Lucas was a good person who wasn’t going to stab her in her sleep or sleep with other women (or men –Jess had seemed particularly concerned about that for some reason only known to Jess), and it was time to give her the full story.
“You know how I told you Lucas has that crazy tattoo?”
“Yeah, of a cat or something?”
“A panther. Well, there’s more behind that tattoo than you’d think…” Ivy went on to tell her how Jess had learned that story –how she had been kidnapped, brought to the warehouse, and watched Lucas fight for her freedom from Alain.
Jess listened carefully, expressing disbelief at every new revelation but not disputing the truth of the story.
When Ivy had finished, Jess shook her head. “Jesus Christ,” she said. “Wow.”
“It brought us closer together, really,” Ivy said.
“I can imagine. Wait,” Jess said, talking with her mouth full of eggs benedict. “What did his tattoo have to do with the story again?”
“Oh, yeah. His fighting name –or whatever they call it –was the Panther. That’s what everyone called him there. I just… it was like something out of a movie. He saved me.”
“The Panther?” Jess froze. She didn’t seem to have heard any part of what Ivy had said but those two words.
“Yeah –like his tattoo –”
“Ivy…”
“What?”
“The Panther… The Panther is the name of the guy who killed Nik. That’s all the police could ever tell me. It’s all they had to go on.”
Ivy shifted in her seat. “Okay, well, it’s a coincidence.”
“Are you sure, Ivy? Because from the story you just told me, Lucas sounds like… like he could kill someone.”
“Jess.” Ivy gave Jess a steady, serious, “shut up” look –but in her mind she saw Lucas’s fists crashing into the Hammer over and over and over, his body drenched in sweat.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue