“I look…beautiful,” I say with awe. In every photograph I’m lying on the forest floor of leafy vegetation. A ray of sunlight filters through the canopy to sprinkle what looks like golden dust over my naked body. Surely, I don’t really look like this?
“That’s because youare beautiful. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
When I’m done looking at the pictures, I put the camera on the bed. My chest fills with emotion. No one has done anything like this for me before. “Thank you for taking them. You did such an amazing job. I never knew you were so talented.”
“It’s easy when you have a great subject. If anyone gives you shit again, show them these. That will shut them up. Or I’ll shutthem up for you.” His expression shows me he’s telling the truth. He’d stick up for me. Look what he did for me at the hotel when he hated me; what would he do now that he likes me?
“Darren would never stick up for me like that.” The comparison between the two are so different.
“Surely he’s fought away paparazzi who’s held a camera to your face without consent.”
I shake my head. “He loved the attention. Whenever I complained about the intrusion, he’d laugh it off, saying we should be grateful for the publicity.”
“Why the hell were you with such an asshole?” Lucas rakes his fingers through his hair.
Getting up, I take the shirt Lucas gave me to use as a pajama off the chair and put it on. I stand by the bed. “A few years ago, a mutual friend introduced us at a party. I was getting my career off the ground. I had a regular gig booked on a morning show. My first book was releasing. Darren got noticed on the football field and had signed a contract with the New York Dragons. We were both in a position where all the glitz and glamour was new, scary, and exciting. We bonded over being the new kids in our industries. Our careers grew, and we stayed friends. He was charming and we got along well. Then one thing led to another, and it moved past friendship. When he asked me to marry him, I believed it was the next step for us. We were comfortable. Our relationship didn’t take too much time away from work. When I think back, he wasn’t always a jerk.”
Taking my hand, Lucas leads me back to bed. I sit next to him. “When did it change?”
“Nothing big happened. That’s probably why I didn’t see it coming. I never noticed the lack of affection and intimacy. We weren’t kids, so I didn’t expect we’d be groping every chance we got.”
“He should have been all over you twenty-four seven.”
I smile. “Well, it wasn’t until I spent time with Harper and Alyssa that I noticed the way Finn and Hayden looked at their wives. Like they are goddesses. In public they can barely keep their hands off each other, so I can only imagine what they get up to in the privacy of their own homes.”
Lucas shudders. “Don’t remind me. I’ve accidentally walked in on them a time or two, and they werenotin their bedrooms.”
Giggling, I say, “It’s so obvious they’re in love. Now that I’ve stepped away from my relationship with Darren, I know what we had wasn’t love. It was easy. Convenient. Our jobs constantly pulled us away from each other for days, sometimes weeks, at a time, yet we never planned a schedule to make sure we weren’t apart too long. The only time Darren insisted we be together was when I had an important event to attend. He enjoyed rubbing shoulders with celebrities and getting his photo taken.” I frown at the thought. “He showed more interest in that part of the relationship than he did in me.”
Was that the only reason he proposed? To reap the benefits of my career? He’d asked me to marry him after he’d gotten injured in the Super Bowl and thought he might never play again. Did he do it because it was a way to stay in the limelight? Nausea coils in my stomach. He used me.
“Is that why you don’t seem heartbroken over the affair, because the relationship wasn’t about love, or are you still in shock?” His brow creases like my answer is important. I know he’s worried he’s taken advantage of me during a vulnerable state. He couldn’t be more wrong. Being with Lucas is exactly what I needed.
I’m not sure when it happened, but my body is pressed against Lucas’ side, my head rests on his chest, and his arm is wrapped around my shoulder. I could get used to this. The affection Lucas has shown me within a few hours blows away any attempt Darren ever made. What the heck was I thinking staying withhim for so long? Comfortable and easy isn’t what a relationship should be based on. Learning about Darren’s affair has done me a favor. What if I’d married him? I’d be in a loveless marriage and would never have experienced this moment. If this is the only time I feel secure and desired, at least I have something to hold on to.
“I’m not heartbroken. Deep down, I think I knew something was off. After what he did, my heart should have shattered. It didn’t. I’m more annoyed at the mess he has made of my reputation.” And I’m disappointed that I wasted my time with him when I could have experienced so much more.
“It sounds like you’re better off without him.” His fingertips softly brush up and down my arm. “And it’s time you stop thinking about him.”
“How do I do that?”
“I know a thing or two we can do to get him off your mind.”
I tilt my face up to look at him. I grin because I know he has something sexual in mind and I’m ready for it. “Are you going to make me forget?”
“Absolutely,” he says with playful arrogance.
“How are you going to do that?”
He rolls me onto my back, leaning on his elbows on either side of me. Hovering above, his eyes burn into me. “I’m going to kiss every part of your body and then fuck you so hard you’ll forget your own name. Is that what you want?”
Heat pools between my legs. “Yes please!”
Chapter Eleven
LUCAS
The next morning, I wake up in an empty bed. My head swivels from side to side in search of Penny. I sigh with relief when I see her in the corner of the room, buttoning up the blue plaid shirt she bought from the store. For a second, I thought she’d left, and for that brief moment, I hated the thought of her leaving.
