Lucas (Members From Money Book 20)

by Katie Dowe

  “Hello?” This time her voice had a tinge of annoyance to it.

  “It seems I have woken you up.” The familiar deep voice sounded in her ear.

  “Who is this?” she asked even though she was fully aware who it was.

  “I am insulted,” he drawled. “We shared such a tender moment last night that I would have thought you would not forget me. Or did someone tickle your throat with his tongue as well?”

  “Maybe,” she said coolly as she shivered. She was fully awake now and propping her head on the pillows she contemplated hanging up on him. “What do you want?”

  “To see you. I was thinking we could have breakfast at Maude’s and then we could go back to my place and have lunch and dinner in between pleasuring ourselves with each other’s company of course.”

  “I am sure a man of your financial means could probably pick up a hooker somewhere nearby or if not call up one of the women you are associated with.”

  “Ah, Jasmine,” he sighed, his soft voice sending shivers over her body. “I am afraid that you are the only one who can satisfy my immense needs.”

  “Where did you get my number?”

  “From the lovely bride in the rather unfortunate dress.”

  Jasmine almost laughed at that but managed to squelch it. “You need to lose it.”

  “I am afraid not. So how about it?”

  “No,” she said abruptly and hung up on him. She jumped out of the bed and remembered that she had a flight to catch. Ignoring the insistent ringing of her phone she went to take a shower and hurriedly got ready to leave. She turned off her phone after she had called Bubba and told him of her plans and then made her way to the airport.

  *****

  Lucas stopped calling eventually as he realized that she had turned her phone off. He climbed off the bed and started to reach for a robe to cover his nakedness but decided against it. He never slept in clothes no matter what the weather was like because his very elegant home was satisfactorily insulated and the high walls around afforded privacy. His neighbors were few and far and that was just the way he liked it. He put the coffee pot on and wandered to the window to look out. It had snowed last night and the blanket of whiteness seemed to cover everywhere. He went to make the coffee and poured a large cup. Where did she live and what was her story? He sipped the hot delicious beverage in appreciation. He wanted her and he had never wanted a woman the way he wanted her, he thought musingly. She was certainly a prickly thing but he was sure he could get through to her! He had already done so because he was experienced enough to know that the reactions he had gotten from her was that of passion!

  Chapter 4

  “So how was New York?” Phil asked her as the silence lengthened. It had been a week since the wedding and he had called her but she had sounded a little distracted when she spoke to him. He was getting tired of edging around the subject of them being a couple and he figured she needed to know how he felt. The weather was nasty. It had turned into March with a lot of slushy snow that quickly turned into the mushy ice. She had finally agreed to come to lunch with him but she was not there in spirit only physically.

  “Crowded,” she said briefly as she looked around at the crush. He had suggested that they eat at a café near the precinct and she had agreed. It was filled with cops and a little bit of civilians. They served big juicy burgers and tasty fries and the hot chocolate was not half bad.

  “What time did you get back?” He felt as if he had to be prying the words from her. She was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and the usual faded denims with knee length boots.

  “Late.” She dunked a fry into the puddle of ketchup in the paper container and nibbled at it. His eyes were drawn to her lips and he had to force himself to look away. “I am sorry, I have a lot of things on my mind just now. I think Bubba is sick and he is not saying anything to me.”

  “Get him to see a doctor.” He was pathetically glad that she was sharing with him.

  “Have you met Bubba?” she asked him dryly.

  “Trick him into going,” Phil suggested.

  She looked at him for a moment and then nodded. “That’s actually a very good idea. Doctor Weinstein owes me a favor. I gave his daughter’s restaurant an excellent review last year and they said anything they can do for me. I think I am ready to call the favor in. How do you suggest I go about it?”

  He smiled and leaned forward. “Take Bubba to dinner at the daughter’s restaurant and have the doctor come along. Get them talking.”

  “You deserve that detective badge you wear, honey,” she said with a smile. “I will do just that.” She looked at him. “Want to tag along?”

  The invitation sounded as if it was an afterthought but he was willing to take anything. “I would love to.”

  “Good.” She cleaned out the ketchup with the rest of the fry and ate them hurriedly before standing up. “I will call you with the details.”

  “You have not finished your burger,” he protested.

  “Have you ever known me to finish a burger?” she asked him with her tapered eyebrows raised.

  “Take it with you,” he suggested.

  “Yeah.” She wrapped the paper around it and put it in the bag. “I can eat it later. I am going to need the fuel. I have a difficult piece to write.” She blew him a kiss and looped her way out of the restaurant. Phil saw the look on the faces of the cops there and wanted to tell them that she belonged to him but not yet!

  *****

  “Stop calling me!” Jasmine said in exasperation.

  “Go out with me and I will,” he said softly.

  “I am busy.”

  “Have dinner with me and then spend the night with me and maybe the next day. I can call in sick.”

  “You need to give up.” He was starting to amuse her and she was entertaining him.

  “No, you need to give in and let me take you to paradise,” he told her with a tinge of amusement in his deep voice.

  “Does that actually work on the women you talk to?”

  “I don’t know. You are the first one I have wanted to take to paradise. Is it working?”

  “No.” She felt a shiver at his words. “Lucas, I have work to do.”

  “You called me by my first name. We are getting somewhere.”

  “I give you a week to get tired of the chase and go on to someone else.”

  “Want to place a wager on that?” he asked her silkily.

  “I don’t gamble.”

  “Coward,” he said softly. “I have a function to attend on Saturday and would love to have you on my arm and then later inside them.”

  “No to both.”

  “Give me a break please.”

  “No, and I really have to go. You are going to get me fired.”

  “I can hire you or better yet I can provide for you so you never have to lift a finger again. You would only have to be at my beck and call when it comes to your delectable body.” He heard the dial tone in his ear and laughed out loud in delight. Christ, he was going to have so much fun breaking her in and giving her pleasure!

  *****

  “Stop grumbling and get dressed, Bubba, you are going,” Jasmine said mildly as she buttoned up his shirt. She was worried about him. He was in his seventies but up until a week ago he had looked ten years younger. Now he looked drawn and tired and she felt the fear of losing him heavy in her heart. “When was the last time we went out to a very nice restaurant?”

  “You go every day. I am a simple man and prefer to eat my meals at home.”

  “Do it for me.” She kissed his cheek lightly.

  “How long are we staying?”

  “As long as it takes us to eat.” She linked her hand through his and led him to the living room. She had invited his next door neighbor Marion as well, but she had said she was coming down with the flu. Maybe it was the same thing with Bubba and she had nothing to worry about. “I have invited Phil as well.”

  He stopped shortly. “If this is a date why do you ne
ed me?”

  “It is not a date. Phil and I are just friends.”

  He harrumphed and did not say anything else. “What time is our reservation?”

  “Eight so we had better get a move on.”

  Phil was there before them and came forward eagerly. The doctor’s daughter had secured a very nice table for them in the corner booth and Doctor Weinstein came shortly after. “Charles Weinstein, this is my dad, Robert Blake.”

  “Very nice to meet you. You have a lovely daughter.”

  “I know,” he said with a pleased look on his face. “Phil, how are you?”

  “I am good, sir.”

  They settled at the table and their orders were taken. Doctor Weinstein steered the conversation into health matters as soon as they were having their meals and he very subtly started to ask Robert when was the last time he had a thorough check up. “As we get older we have to take care of ourselves. We are not as young as you are, my dear and young man,” he said looking at the young people. “We cannot afford to let things slide. I have trouble with high blood pressure and my daughter and my wife are always at me to eat properly and cut down on the salt. You would think as a doctor I would know better.”

  “I have not been feeling too well myself,” Bubba said slowly as he listened to the man. “I have not been to a doctor in years.”

  “Why don’t you come in and I will look you over?” the doctor asked him casually. “I am sure there is nothing serious. You probably need to get some supplement.”

  “That’s a good idea.” He nodded his salt and pepper head and the doctor handed him his card.

  “Come in tomorrow. On Wednesdays it is not too busy and we can have a cup of coffee and talk.”

  Her phone rang just then and she looked at it and saw that it was his number. “Excuse me please,” she murmured and got to her feet. Phil looked after her with a frown, wondering who it was.

  “I am busy,” she said as she went into the ladies’ room to take the call.

  “Aren’t you tired of saying that?” he asked her silkily. “I hear noise in the background. Are you on a date?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Oh, but it is,” he said with a slight hardening of his voice. “I have a vested interest in you and I am going to need everyone else to back the hell away.”

  “Did you actually call to have a normal conversation or just the garbage coming out of your mouth?”

  “I want to use my mouth on you,” he whispered. For a moment Jasmine could not speak. “I want to take my time and start with your very delectable lips and make my way to those pert breasts of yours and go further down. I want to taste you and have you come inside my mouth. Come on over, Jasmine. I can text you the address and I will meet you out front.”

  She sagged against the counter and closed her eyes, her breathing uneven.

  “What do you say?”

  “Go to hell!” she whispered hoarsely and hung up the phone!

  It took her several minutes before she could go back out but the evening had been shattered for her!

  *****

  “Work?” Phil asked her casually as she came back out and took her seat.

  She nodded vaguely without looking at him.

  “Your dad was just regaling us with the exploits of the past. Police work seems more tedious than what is shown on the television,” Doctor Weinstein said with a smile. They had been served chocolate soufflé for dessert, but Jasmine was not sure she wanted any. Damn him, she thought furiously. He had gotten underneath her skin and she had no idea what to do about it!

  “It is glamorized for the benefits of the viewers,” Phil said a little pompously as he dug into his soufflé. “It is very hard work and involves a lot of risks that people generally do not appreciate.”

  Robert looked at him and shook his head. “We do not look for appreciation, we are in it for the love of what we do. At least that is what it is supposed to be.”

  “Yes, of course,” he agreed hastily looking at Jasmine to see if she was put out by what he had said but she was not even paying attention. Who the hell had she been talking to before?

  They wrapped up shortly after and Jasmine slipped her hand through Robert’s as they made their way out.

  Phil caught up to them as they were about to enter the vehicle. “Hey. That was very nice of you to invite me. I had a good time.”

  “No sweat, Phil.” She touched his arm lightly. Robert had already gone inside the vehicle to get out of the cold.

  “I was thinking that you could come with me to a movie over the weekend. I promise no mushy stuff.”

  “I will let you know. I have some things to take care of so I don’t know what my weekend looks like yet.”

  “Okay, give me a call.” He backed away and allowed her to enter. “Get home safe.”

  “Will do.” She waved and pulled away.

  “That young man is besotted,” Robert murmured as he settled back against the seat and closed his eyes. He really was not feeling himself.

  “He knows we are just friends.”

  “Maybe you should tell him again,” he teased.

  “I am not interested in anyone in that way.”

  “I hope you will be one day.” He turned to look at her face in profile and thought with a pang that she was so beautiful and so distant. “You called me ‘Dad,’” he murmured.

  She glanced at him briefly before looking back at the road. “So?”

  “You never did that in public.”

  “You are my dad so what’s the big deal?”

  “I felt a warm glow inside me,” he murmured.

  “You are such a big softie,” she scoffed and hid a smile.

  “So are you when you love someone.”

  “I love only you,” she pointed out.

  “You are going to fall in love one day, honey, and it is going to be wonderful!” he predicted.

  Her mind flashed to Lucas and she steered it away quickly. “We will see.”

  *****

  He should have not have called her and said those things to her now he was suffering like hell! He got up from his desk and went to pour himself a drink. His phone rang just then and for a minute his heart picked up speed as he wondered if it was her! But it was Sherona and he contemplated on whether or not he should answer.

  “Not a good time,” he said coolly. She had been trying to get them to hook up but he was not interested.

  “I need you, Lucas.” She sounded tearful and he could not help but bite off an impatient sigh.

  “I am sure need is a very strong word.”

  “I am sick,” she cried out.

  “What?”

  “I have been diagnosed with breast cancer.” She broke off on a sob.

  “I am sorry to hear that. What are the doctors saying?”

  “I might have to have a mastectomy, Lucas. I would rather die than have that happen.”

  “Are you listening to yourself?” he asked her impatiently. She had been sheltered and pampered all her life and now that she was hit with a crisis she had no idea what to do about it! “What are your parents saying?”

  “Daddy says we need to get a second opinion and Mother is in her room and won’t come out. I need you with me, Lucas.”

  “I will be there when I can.”

  “I have an appointment on Friday, will you come with me?”

  “I will try.” He felt the impatience and the trap but told himself that she did not call it on herself. “Just give me the details.” As he wrote it down he realized that he had not thought of Jasmine in the past few minutes!

  *****

  “I am coming with you,” Jasmine told him firmly.

  “Don’t you have anything better to do than to follow an old man around?” he chided her as he finished getting dressed. Even the usual task of bathing and putting his clothes on had made it seem as if he had performed a mammoth task! What on earth was wrong with him?

  “Apparently not.” She had noticed hi
s trembling hands and felt the fear spark through her. Something was wrong! She rifled through his closet and plucked out a warmer coat than the one he had out. “How about this one?”

  He nodded and reached for it.

  “I am just going to get us some coffee to go and maybe a bagel.”

  “I will meet you out front,” he told her. He waited until she had gone before he sat heavily on the side of the bed. He closed his eyes and willed the weakness away but he could not get rid of it. He feared what the doctor was going to say to him. Ever since he had lost his wife, he had felt as if a part of him had disappeared but there had been his job and he had loved being a cop. When he discovered Jasmine, something inside him had become ignited again and he had poured his love on the troubled girl. Then he had had to retire but there was Jasmine even though she had her own life now. He did not want to die right now and leave her all by herself. He was troubled that she did not seem to have friends and had no interest in forming a relationship and he was hoping that he would live to see her get married and have kids. He stifled a sob and squaring his shoulders he went into the kitchen where she was just coming out. He had her to live for and he was not going to die now!

  *****

  He was silent all the way there and Jasmine did not try and start a conversation. She was worried but tried to hide it from him. Traffic came to a crawl as soon as they reached on the freeway and she found some suitable music for them to listen to.

  “I went to a Ray Charles concert when Millie and I had just married and that woman put up some screaming that I was embarrassed to be near her,” he said suddenly.

  She looked at him for a moment and then smiled. “I behave the same way when I listen to the songs Mark Seville writes. That dude can write. His songs are meaningful and even though they have a touch of tragedy and heartbreak to them they twist you up inside.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Bubba, come on!” she said with a laugh that lightened the heavy mood. “He has written several soundtracks to movies that have gone off the charts.” She slapped her hand on the wheel. “Love in Denial! Remember when I came over last Christmas and I persuaded you to watch it with me? The one where the girl lost her husband and found love again in the man’s best friend?”