I reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. “What? Do you need to get up?” I started to slide out of the small bed, but he stopped me with a hand on my waist, pulling him back to him.
“No, I don’t need to leave. I wish I never had to leave.”
I smiled, burrowing into him, kissing his neck, loving the feel of his five o’clock shadow. “I don’t want you to.”
“But I need to tell you something.”
I looked up into his eyes. “Yes?” I cautiously said.
He took my face in his hands. “I love you, Lily Spaulding. I have no idea what my future holds. Hell, I’m not even sure what the next month holds. But I am deeply…deeply…in love with you.”
“Lucas,” I whispered, and softly kissed him. “I love you too.”
“You do? Because you don’t have to say it just because—”
“Shhhh,” I said, my finger on his mouth, which I replaced with my lips for another kiss. “I mean it. I love you.”
His eyes welled up with unshed tears. “Jesus, Lily, you’re the best second chance anyone ever got. I can’t believe you love me too.”
“Lucas,” I said, “I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you.”
He smiled, thinking I was kidding. He pulled me to him and again I rested my head on his chest, knowing I wasn’t kidding in the least.
Chapter21
Lucas
I’d just gottenAndy to bed, after reading himWhere the Wild Things Arefor the forty billionth time, when there was a knock at the door. Used to be, a knock at the door at nine on a Saturday night was a signal that the night was just getting started. But these days, a knock as I was putting Andy down, and ready to hit the hay early myself, was very unusual.
As I made my way down the hall from Andy’s room to the door, I wondered if Lily was surprising me. When I left her dorm room this morning, we had decided I’d just stay in with Andy tonight and she’d work on that paper she was struggling with.
I smiled, happy that she had decided to ditch that idea and come pay me a visit. Though I worried about how she got to this side of town on her own.
But it wasn’t Lily at the door. It was Stick.
“See, I knocked this time. I hope it didn’t wake the kid.”
“It didn’t. He just went out. Why didn’t you just call or text?” I moved away from the door, letting Stick in.
He went right to the fridge and grabbed himself a beer. He offered one to me, but I shook my head no. Twisting the cap off, then taking a long swig, he moved into the living room and sat in the chair. I followed and sat down on the couch.
“Because I needed to talk, and I didn’t want to do it on the phone.” He leveled his gaze at me and I knew what was coming.
“No. I said I was done with it, and I meant it.”
He held up a hand. “Hear me out.”
“I don’t need to hear about it. No.”
“It’s tonight. Right now. One car. I’ve been waiting months for the right time for this car and this is it. You can get Mrs. Jankowski to come over here for two hours. That’s all it will take. Two hours of your time. Ten thousand dollars.”
“Ten thousand? Are you serious?”
He nodded, took another swig of his beer. Now I wished I’d said yes to one.
Stick dealt in stolen cars. A broker of sorts. He had “clients” that contacted him with specific cars that were desired by their “buyers,” and Stick delivered. And I meanspecificcars. Right down to the color of the interior.
Stick knew about every luxury sedan and expensive sports car that was purchased in a hundred-mile radius, which included several very wealthy enclaves.
