Because Andy wasdead to the world, we decided to just go back to their place and order a pizza. I watched as Lucas sweetly carried a sleeping Andy from the car into a four-story apartment building. If I had my bearings—and I wasn’t sure I did—we weren’t too far from the graffiti wall part of town.
Their apartment was on the second floor. Lucas easily held Andy while pulling out keys and unlocking the apartment door. It looked like a practiced move, and again I racked my brain for memories of the elusive mother. Was Lucas responsible for Andy all the time?
The apartment was small, the main room not much larger than my dorm room. The furniture was old and shabby, but the place was super clean. A tiny kitchen with a table and three chairs was on one side. I could see three doors down the hallway, figuring two bedrooms and a bath.
Toys were strewn around the small place, mostly trucks. A large flat-screen TV was against one wall on a table that seemed too small for the large screen. Several items sat on the floor around the table, as if they’d been recently displaced by the large TV.
“I’m going to put him down, then order the pizza,” Lucas quietly said as he walked down the hallway. He took Andy into the room farthest down the hall.
I dropped my backpack on the floor by the door and made my way to the couch, curling up in one of the corners. I pulled my North Face off and tossed it on the chair in the corner of the room. I noticed three large boxes tucked neatly behind the chair, out of the way. Yeah, it kind of seemed like maybe somebody with a big-ass TV had just plunked down into this little apartment.
Lucas was back out in a flash, a smile on his gorgeous face. “He isout,” he said, “but I know that doesn’t last long at this time of day. He’s going to wake up starving in about an hour.”
His eyes roamed over me. I’d put my North Face on over my leggings and tiny knit shirt in the locker room, so Lucas hadn’t seen me without the bulky jacket until now. The way I was sitting had made the hem of my shirt ride up a bit, and his eyes zeroed in on the skin showing. I still had a tiny bit of tan left from lifeguarding at the country club last summer, though that was more on my face and arms, since I didn’t wear a bikini often, even though it was technically allowed.
Lucas made his way over to me. He was about to sit next to me, then stopped. With a pained look on his face and a sigh, he pulled out his phone from his jeans pocket. “Let me just call and get the pizza. I’m serious, he’s going to wake up starving. And Andy may seem like a sweet kid, but he turns into a whiny little shit when he’s hungry.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, so do I.” He’d been walking away from me, toward the kitchen area, but looked at me over his shoulder at that and smiled.
God, when he smiled at me I just wanted to peel all my clothes off and rub myself all over his big, strong body.
“Somehow I don’t see you doing whiny,” he said. He went to a drawer, opened it, and started rummaging around what looked to be delivery menus.
My phone vibrated in my jacket pocket and I reached for it on the chair—nothing was very far away in the small room. I pulled it out of my jacket and looked.
Syd and I going to a party later tonight. Will you be back?Jane had texted.
I looked at Lucas’s back, how his broad shoulders tapered down to his waist and how his jeans fit so perfectly. And that ass. Good Lord, where to start on Lucas’s ass?
No. Have fun, I texted back.
Lucas turned and walked back to me, a pizza menu in his hand. “What’s up?” he said, motioning with his chin to the phone in my hand.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just Jane checking in.”
“Afraid you came to the dark side of town and disappeared?” He was teasing, but there was something a little serious in his voice. A little defensive, and I knew I’d need to be aware of, and careful of, Lucas’s slight insecurity about where he came from.
Hey, we all had our shit to deal with. I knew I certainly did.
“No, not that. She just wanted to know if I wanted to go to a party with her and Syd—that’s our suitemate—later.” I had meant to show that Jane wasn’t concerned about my safety, but I realized by the look on Lucas’s face that I probably shouldn’t have been so honest.
“Doyou want to go to the party with them? ’Cause I can bring you home as soon as Andy wakes up. Hell, I can have Mrs. Jankowski come over and stay with Andy and I can take you home right now.” He rattled this all off so quickly, I almost didn’t grab his hand in time before he’d turned and walked away from me, presumably to make plans to take me home.
But I did grab his hand, and I held on tight. I even reached out with my other hand, holding his in a tight grip. “Wait. No. No, I don’t want to go to the party. I want to stay here.” He looked down as he stood over me. A thousand emotions played over his face.
I’m not what you need.His words to me that first night played over in my mind.
He was probably right, but right now I needed nothing as much as I needed Lucas Kade to want to be with me. To want to hug and kiss me. To want to do everything to my body that I wanted to do to his.
I tugged on his hand. “Lucas,” I whispered. I leaned back into the corner of the couch, pulling him with me. He didn’t resist, but he didn’t fall on top of me, either. “I don’t want to go to any party tonight. I just want to be with you.”
He put a knee on the couch next to my hip. He held out his free hand in front of my phone, like he wanted me to hand it over to him. Did he want to check and make sure I wasn’t lying? Would he be that type of guy, always checking my phone? I could see that kind of possessiveness from Lucas, but not that kind of insecurity. But really, how well did I know him?
I gave him my phone, still holding on to him with one hand. He didn’t look at it, not even a tiny peek, but took it, and his own and the forgotten pizza menu, and placed them all on the scarred coffee table in front of the couch. He even put both phones face down on the table.
“Won’t Andy be whiny if he has to wait for dinner?” I said as Lucas, with the ease and grace of an athlete, lifted his other leg and straddled me. Each of his knees were now on the couch, and had me encaged. A cage I was dying to fly into and lock the door behind me.
“I’m willing to put up with an Andy fit if it means I can put my hands on you that much sooner,” he said as he towered over me. He smiled down at me and I let out an answering sigh, my body melting all the more.
