Although I should have.It’s this intensity that lives inside him that caught my eye to begin with.
“Uhm….”It’s difficult to concentrate.“Did you pay my hospital bill?”
His arms cross over his chest as he holds my stare.The ice in his irises hypnotizes me.“I did.That a problem?”
“Shall we leave?”Preston asks as he reaches for their guest.
“No,” I snap out.I left his office before because I knew Lucca needed to work off some steam, and this man had done something to greatly aggravate him.“No.I’m leaving…”Why was I so worked up again?
“Is that so?”Lucca’s dark eyebrow lifts in question.
“Why did you pay it?”
It was nearly a hundred thousand dollars.That doesn’t make sense to me.I’m nobody to him.We’d never formally met until after I was admitted to the hospital.Sure, we’ve known of each other for months, but only because I make a mean triple espresso, and I don’t chatter his head off while doing it.
He softens, only slightly, as his arms release, and he cups one hand on my hip and one around the back of my neck, stepping closer to me so that we touch.I stare up, up, up, at his massive height, and he shakes his head, then kisses me on the forehead.
I close my eyes.The moment is so soft and intimate that I forget we’re not alone.“Please don’t break my heart, Lucca.”All the pain I’ve felt about being unloved is infused in every word, and I can only pray he’ll heed my plea because there’s no survival for me if I’m just a good time or charity case to him.
CHAPTER10
Lucca
Break her heart.My beautiful, perfect, sexyamoreworries that I’m about hurting her.That couldn’t be further from the truth.In fact, over the past week, I’ve been moving things around and making deals to ensure she isn’t targeted because of me.I hold her too close to my soul to ever think of hurting her, but I understand her fear after being burned her whole life.Her parents, her foster homes, schools, too many people to count.Her trust has extended to Sabrina and Janet, but only after knowing them for months first.
Guilt assaulted me after learning that, because I asked Janet to deceive Coco so I could be her hero.I’m not a hero, never have been, never will be.I’ve been a cold, calculated monster most of my life.Nothing has mattered more than business.No one has mattered more than family.There was never any need to care about anyone else, and now I have Coco Spencer counting on me for her happiness and safety.
It’s the most incredible honor ever imposed upon me.
One I’ll never screw up.Not so long as there’s breath in my body.
“Say goodbye, Chris.I have better things to do than dole out punishment to a man who deserves a grave.”
Preston’s shock at my about-face is like a living entity in the room.
“Sir?”my oldest friend asks for clarification.
“Send him home.Let him be a warning to others.”My frigid eyes spear Chris Parin, an adversary for years, only made worse when he tried to encroach on my territory by selling his knock-off clothing line.“But Preston, first, take his tongue.”
Parin’s face pales and turns a little green, but who cares?I have a woman in desperate need of my attention, and I intend to give it to her.
Exiting my office, I close the door after locking it, grateful that the room had been soundproofed years ago.Coco doesn’t need to hear what often happens in that room.
I find her and Jason setting the dining room table, and I’m pleased to see the candles lit and the wine chilling in a bucket.
“I asked you to be her right-hand, J, not enlist her help to do your job.”
Coco tries to defend him, but he stops her with a hand on her arm.“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.Coco was actually directing me on how she would like the table set.”
Good.That’s how it should be.
“Thank you, J, that’ll be all.”My woman’s confusion by the interaction is palpable, and I give her my attention.“You don’t like that I scolded him, but you don’t understand why he didn’t lash out or argue back and accepted it.”She nods.“Jason has a strict regimen he follows.You being here has thrown him off his game.He needed a reminder, wanted one.”
“I like him,” she says, sitting as I pull out her chair.“But I don’t want to screw up his position here.”
Pushing in her seat, I lean down to kiss the side of her neck.“You always smell like sugar cookies.How is that possible?”
Turning her head a bit, our lips are a breath apart as she says, “Do you want to know the secret?”I immediately nod.“It’s a body scrub.I make it myself.”
