“I missed you so much this week. And this dress is driving me crazy …” He kept kissing in between his words. Other than our make-out session in front of Starbucks, we had managed to keep the PDAs to a respectable minimum.
“You don’t like my dress? I had meetings this morning, and everyonelovesthis dress,” I teased.
Lucas growled and pushed my hair to the side to get better access to the back of my neck, giving me open-mouthed kisses there I felt all the way to my toes. “I love your dress, too. If you presented something to me looking like this, I’d buy whatever you were selling in a heartbeat. So sexy …” His hand rubbed my thigh, and slowly inched all the way up until his thumb was on the edge of my panties. I had tingles between my legs, but I picked up his hand and took it off my leg.
“Lucas, Mike is right over there! We aren’t exactly alone, and you’re embarrassing me. Stop.Please.” I straightened out my dress and tried to hold it together. I was all wound up at this point, and my heated cheeks made me certain I was turning bright red as usual. I looked up, and Mike was laughing at us from behind the counter.
“Hey, don’t stop on my account! The place is always empty at this time anyway, and Luc, my office is right in the back if you guys need privacy.” Mike threw a wink in our direction. I put my face in my hands, mortified I was in my mid-thirties and got caught making out as if I were a teenager. I was so humiliated I wanted to crawl into the corner, and yet, so turned on I wanted to fuck Lucas on this little table right next to my turkey sandwich.
“See, Mike understands. I haven’t seen my girl in almost a week. It’s no wonder I can’t keep my hands off her.” He brought his lips back to my neck and whispered in my ear. “Or out of her …” His hand went to the same place on my thigh it was before I removed it. I tried to pull it off again, but it now gripped tight. His girl? Had Lucas called me his girl? We were careful not to put a label on what we were doing, but hearing him say I was his girl? As pathetic as it was, my eighteen-year-old heart sang—and if we didn’t have an audience, he could have spread me on top of the cold cut counter and do whatever the hell he wanted to me. I put the intrusive thought from my head. While I may be Lucas’s girl, I was technically still Marc’s wife.
It seemed like Lucas had ten pairs of hands and was out of control. I tried to scoot my chair away, but it was too heavy. I got up to pick it up and move it over when Lucas grabbed me by the waist and pulled me onto his lap. He kissed me hard, and I tried to resist, but with every swirl of his tongue and movement of those very talented lips, I gave in. I forgot I was in a deli and was completely and totally lost in kissing him. In fact, I was so preoccupied I didn’t even hear the door open.
“Samantha?”
Carmine, my least favorite of Marc’s friends, somehow walked into this tiny deli in lower-midtown Manhattan and found me on top of a man who wasn’t Marc. Carmine was short, chubby, and always a little sleazy looking. He always loaded his black hair with tons of product, so it looked like a greasy mess.
I’d hardly spoken to Marc since he left, other than a few text messages about when he would be sending money home. He wouldn’t answer why he hadn’t signed the papers, and I kept tabs on him through his mother. We were absolutely not together anymore, so I wasn’t sure why I felt like I got caught doing something I shouldn’t.
I slid off Lucas’s lap and sank back into my chair. “Hi, Carmine. How are you?” Carmine loved to gossip and was the world’s biggest loudmouth. My relationship with Lucas had just been outed—big-time.
Carmine smirked. “Not as good as you, that’s for sure. I didn’t know you and Marc had an open kind of marriage. Oh, oops. He did know you were married, right?” He used air quotes when he said ‘open.’
The playful Lucas from a few moments ago was gone. He kept his arm around me, but his hand was balled in a tight fist, his jaw ticking.
Carmine looked me over from head to toe, making want to vomit. “Maybe I should ask Marc how to get onto his wife’s rotation.”
Lucas shot out of his chair so fast it clattered to the floor behind him. He flew across the deli and went to grab Carmine’s collar, but before he could reach him, Carmine backed away, and I ran over to hold Lucas back. Carmine always loved to start with people, but he never had the guts to finish.
“Say something like that to her again and see what happens,” Lucas yelled to Carmine through gritted teeth. I never saw him lose his temper before, but he looked ready to kill.
I stepped between Lucas and Carmine. “We’re getting divorced. Lucas, this is Marc’s friend, Carmine. Carmine, this is my boyfriend, Lucas Hunter.” Carmine was running back to Marc about all this immediately, if not sooner. Marc knew Lucas from when we were all in school together. Knowing I was seeing Lucas was going to get under Marc’s skin in a big way. He refused to speak to me, so the “I’m seeing someone” conversation had never had a chance to come to fruition. I didn’t think Marc would be jealous, but I was sure he’d be embarrassed to find out this way. Carmine would tell all the guys a colorful story about the compromising position he’d found Lucas and me in. Looking stupid in front of his friends was a fate worse than death for Marc.
“Funny, Marc never mentioned you guys getting divorced when I went up to visit the guys last weekend.” I wasn’t sure if he was trying to cause trouble, or if Marc was keeping our current marital status under wraps. Either way, I sure as hell wasn’t going to let him brand me as some kind of adulteress and make Marc out to be a victim.
“Oh, so he didn’t mention he was served with papers in Chicago? I threw him out before he left. I can see why it probably wouldn’t come up in conversation.” I looked right at Carmine and said with a smile big enough it hurt my cheeks. “Throwing your asshole friend out was the absolute best thing I ever did. His daughter and I aresomuch happier since he’s gone. Since I know you’re going to run back and tell him everything, please feel free to quote me.”
With that, I took Lucas’s hand and led him back to the table. I was pretty damn proud of myself.
Carmine looked a bit taken aback. I never spoke to Marc’s friends, let alone put them in their place. I wanted to be disassociated from everything having to do with Marc, other than my daughter. Today was as good a day as any to start.
“Hey, no harm, no foul, right?” Carmine put both his hands up and backed away. “You two have a nice lunch. Nice to see you, Samantha.” He gave me a sickening smile and walked out without getting anything to eat.
“You okay?” I asked Lucas. He nodded without looking at me.
“What about you?” He turned to look at me with his jaw still clenched. I could still feel the anger radiating off him. I was a little shaken up, sure. But I was fine, even though I had a feeling a shit storm was coming. But, I could take it, and I felt ready for it—and hoped Lucas was, too. I nodded and gave him what I meant to be a reassuring smile.
“Mike, Sam has to use the bathroom. Can I take her in the back?”
I was confused. Maybe he was still upset and wanted to talk it out in private.
Mike nodded. “Sure, go ahead. She can use the one by my office.”
“Thanks, Mike!”
Lucas took me by the hand without a word and led me through the swinging doors that lead to the deli’s back rooms. He pulled me into the bathroom and locked the door. I was about to ask him what was going on when he pulled me against him and crashed his lips onto mine. He lifted my dress and put his hand inside my panties.
“I need you,please,” Lucas whispered against my lips. He pushed my panties down my legs and over my shoes, knelt in front of me and lifted one of my legs over his shoulder. I tried to say we couldn’t do this here, but once his tongue found my clit, and he slipped two fingers inside, my head dropped back, and I couldn’t say anything. I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him tight. When I tugged at his hair, he let out a moan and licked and sucked harder, grabbing me by the hips to pull me even closer to his mouth. My insides clenched and I fought hard to will it off. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from screaming once I came. My entire body went rigid, but I forced myself to speak.
