“It’s pretty sticky, Lu,” she said innocently before raising her hands with the honey on them.
“Hm,” he said, sitting and leaning toward her. “You’d better wipe your hands on something.”
Her smile widened — and his heart lightened. It made him so damn happy when she was happy.
“Okay,” she trilled, reaching out her small hands and spreading honey on his face and in his beard.
“Oh, that again,” Fox said with a dramatic sigh, but Lucas just smiled.
It was a tradition. He didn’t know how it had become one, but for months, he’d been covered in honey at least once a week.
At first, Melody hadn’t stopped crying after Laney died. Lucas hadn’t known what to do to calm her down because there hadn’t been anything that could have made it better.
But one morning, while she was having breakfast, she made herself a honey sandwich and ended up with half of it on her fingers. He’d tried to clean it off, but in the process, he’d gotten some on his forehead. And Melody had laughed. For the first time in weeks. And if honey on his face made her happy…then he’d bathe in the stuff for the rest of his life.
“You look very pretty,” Melody commented contentedly when she’d finished her honey artwork.
“I feel pretty too. Or like a bee,” he remarked dryly, which earned him another chuckle. “But you know what’s coming…”
“I have to wash my hands,” she said with a grin.
“With soap.”
“Okay.” She slid off her chair and walked out of the kitchen to the bathroom, where a stool had been set up for her to reach the sink more easily. Lucas also rose.
He wiped the honey from his face and neck with a damp cloth, knowing he’d still smell of it for hours. But no one had ever noticed—no one except Anna.
“Man, you’re a good father, Moreau,” Fox said. “Though a bad friend right now.”
Lucas stiffened.A good father. Those were the words he was hanging on to., but not the ones Fox expected a response to.
“Because I slept with Anna or what?” he asked quietly, turning away.
“Because you promised me that wouldn’t happen again,” Fox replied staunchly. “My goodness. You spend ten years with someone, start out together as rookie players, get traded to the same teams over and over, and spend more time together than with anyone else…and then you get blatantly lied to!”
Lucas snorted. “You’re more dramatic than Mel.”
“I’m not. Do you know what a stupid situation you’re putting me in? Jack and Dax are my friends too. They’re my teammates too. I don’t like lying to them.”
“She came into the shower, okay?”
“And forced you to fuck her?”
Well, she had looked at him and talked to him, and then smiled, so…yeah! She had practically forced him.
Fox sighed and rubbed his face. “I honestly just don’t get it. You’re not right for each other at all. You’re complete opposites.”
“I know.”
“Then how did this all happen?”
“She approached me, not the other way around.”
Fox snorted in amusement. “Oh, believe me, that was obvious. You don’t talk to people. That would involve both speaking and people, both of which you’re not a fan of. But she talked to you, maybe flirted with you, I don’t know. Why the hell did you go along with it? Why didn’t you just tell her you weren’t the right hockey player for her? I don’t get it. It goes against everything I know about you. You’re not spontaneous or impulsive. You don’t pick up random women without thinking. Besides, you like quiet people who don’t cause drama. Who don’t like complicated things any more than you do. Anna is none of those things, so why did you sleep with her?”
Lucas gritted his teeth and leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. The answer to that question was as simple as it was unsatisfying. He still had trouble understanding it himself.
“Because I wanted to,” he murmured.
