“Jesus, Lily,” he whispered, looking down at me, into my eyes, which surely showed how much I wanted him. “You make me so hard. You drive me crazy. From the first time I saw you.”
I looked from his face to the bulge at the front of his jeans. My eyes went back to his. “Me too. From the first time I saw you.”
He nodded. He knew. Of course he knew. “That first time,” he said, like it had been months ago instead of just days. “When I saw you in your swimsuit, all I could think of was peeling it off you, getting inside you.” He made no move, just kept my hand beneath his, his other hand gently laid on my hip. Then he sat back on his haunches, his ass resting on my legs. His fingers twined with mine, even with the cotton of his shirt between us. His other hand squeezed my hip, then his fingers splayed wide.
“Then I watched you with Andy, with all those kids. And it became more than just wanting to get in your pants.” A finger smoothed along the edge of my pants, half on the material of my leggings, half on my skin. He left a trail of fire as he gently brushed that finger along my waistband. “Believe me, I still want to get in your pants. But I want to…” He sighed. I could tell these types of words were hard for a guy like Lucas. Which made me treasure them all the more. I waited for him to continue, lying quietly beneath him, my hands still on his body. “I want toknowyou, Lily Spaulding. Really know you.” I squeezed the hand that held mine. He took a deep breath then let it out. “And…I want you to know me, too.”
I waited, wanting him to know that I got how hard that was for him to say. “I want that too,” I said, meaning it more than anything I’d ever said before.
Chapter9
It wasa good thing that Lucas insisted on the no Naked Big Brother thing, because Andy came bounding out of his room soon after Lucas proclaimed he wanted to get to know me.
A proclamation that shouldn’t seem like that big of a deal, granted. But it was. With Lucas it absolutely was.
I instinctively knew he didn’t say that to just anybody. Yeah, he could have been totally playing me. But, gorgeous as he was, Lucas didn’t seem to be a player. If anything, I could see that title falling more to Stick than Lucas.
When Lucas heard Andy’s door opening—way before I did—he was off me with the speed that had earned him a scholarship to USC. Before Andy’s little legs had carried him down the hallway, Lucas was on the other side of the couch from me with the pizza menu and phone in his hands.
We ordered the pizza and we all wolfed it down, demolishing two larges. Now that I knew I wouldn’t be getting naked with Lucas tonight, I let my appetite run wild, and yeah, probably sublimated one appetite to another.
From the look on Lucas’s face as he watched me lick the grease from my lips, then sank his teeth into the thick crust, he was too.
We watched a kid-friendly movie, Andy tucked between us on the couch. I couldn’t even tell you what we watched; my concentration was so not on the television. Lucas had pulled my bun loose as we’d made our way from the kitchen to the couch, and throughout the entire movie he had his arm across the back of the couch, behind Andy, and his hand played with my hair.
His look of regret over Andy’s head told me this wasn’t how he’d pictured the first time he’d get my hair long and loose and lying with him on his couch.
Having a six-year-old kick me in the hip every time one of the cartoon minions did something funny wasn’t exactly how I’d fantasized about it, either.
Around nine, Andy started conking out and Lucas woke him up enough to get him to brush his teeth, put on his jammies, and say goodnight to Miss Lily. At the last, Andy seemed to come alive, and ran down the short hallway and launched himself into my arms, his skinny arms wrapping around my neck, much like they did when he didn’t want to go under water.
But there was no trepidation now, just pure little-kid emotion. And it was all pointed at me. “Thanks, Lily,” he said, smacking me on the cheek. “Thanks for going swimming with us.” He didn’t let go, and I hugged him tighter to me.
I had to admit it felt good. Until the night Lucas had kissed me in front of the graffiti, I hadn’t been touched—at least deeply touched—since my parents had dropped me off at Bribury and my mom had held on tightly as she’d hugged me goodbye.
That day I’d been eager for them to get on the road, not wanting to hear any more of my father’s instructions on how to “handle” Jane. But about a week later, when the only other human contact I felt had been quick handshakes with new people, I’d wished I hadn’t shed my mom’s hug quite so quickly.
I rubbed Andy’s little back, the worn cotton of his pajamas soft and smelling like fabric softener.
“Okay, buddy, say goodnight and let’s get to bed,” Lucas said, his voice soft but firm.
Andy untangled from me—or me from him—and gave me another peck on the cheek. “See you next lesson,” he said, and returned down the hall.
“Yep, see you Tuesday,” I called after him, not really sure if kids his age had a good concept of how many days away Tuesday was.
Lucas disappeared with Andy into his room, then came out about twenty minutes later.
“Sorry,” he said as he moved to the kitchen and started cleaning up the empty pizza boxes. “We had to do an encore ofWhere the Wild Things Aretonight. Apparently once just wasn’t enough.” He moved the dirty plates to the sink, running water over them, but leaving them. He wiped off the table with a dishrag.
It was mesmerizing to watch this god of a man do mundane household tasks. He would seem so much more at home…on a football field, I suppose.
And yet…this Lucas was maybe even more attractive. How he was with Andy? Total turn-on, I have to admit, even though I was in no way looking for a guy with as much responsibility as it seemed Lucas was dealing with.
Although the male population of Bribury, rich and entitled as they were—as weallwere—certainly hadn’t made my pulse jump off the charts like seeing Lucas in swim trunks had.
“That’s okay,” I said. “I’m just surprised he’d be able to stay awake for two readings, after all the swimming and pizza.”
Lucas looked a little embarrassed. “I think he fell asleep right after I started the second reading, I just didn’t realize it until I was done. I need to start looking at him more frequently when I’m reading to him.” He said the last almost to himself, as if trying to make a mental note.
