My overnight bag with my toiletries was still in my car in the garage. I could stomp out to it naked to collect it, thereby allowing me to apply my jasmine-scented deodorant, or I could stomp into the bathroom and use Lucas’s deodorant.
I stomped to the bathroom.
Screw him.
I’d just finished dousing my armpits in sandalwood-scented spray when Lucas came up behind me.
His hands slid over my hips. My bare hips. Damn it, why hadn’t I at least put my shorts on first?
Because I wanted him to come in here to me?
He pressed his groin to my ass, the smooth denim of his jeans a wicked friction against my skin. “Sure you want to talk, Ronnie?” he murmured into my ear, his lips a tickling caress. A ripple of excitement licked up my spine. My nipples pebbled.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I turned to face him. His palms burned my hips, hot and confident and possessive. His eyes blazed with the same arrogance. And yet I could see in him an uncertainty. A vulnerability I’d never seen before.
With a ragged sigh, I nodded. “I’m sure, Lucas. I need to know what’s going on, and you need to tell me. Before whatever this is between us becomes something else.”
He searched my eyes, maybe to see if he could convince me otherwise. Maybe glad for the fact I was forcing him to finally share what he’d kept from me for so long.
The thing was, now it was going to happen, I wasn’t sure I wanted it to. Ignorance is bliss and all. When I knew, I had no way of unknowing, and I’d spent so many years operating on the assumption the boy next door was a prick with an attitude and chip on his broad shoulder, I didn’t know if I was ready to discover he was anything but.
“Finish getting dressed, Ronnie,” he said, his tone calm and enigmatic. “I’ll wait for you in the living room.”
He dropped a gentle kiss on my forehead—quick and tender and utterly unlike any kiss he’d given me before—and then turned to leave.
“Lucas?” I called after him.
He stopped. “Yes?”
“Why tell me to pack an overnight bag given there’s a whole wardrobe here for me?” I drew a steadying breath. “I mean, if I looked hard enough in these cupboards, what are the chances of me finding toiletries for me?”
He let out a low chuckle. “The chances are very high.”
“So why make me pack a bag?”
He dropped his head. “Because the chances of me not surviving the trip here were higher.”
I swallowed.
Lucas turned and left me alone in the bathroom.
It took me longer to get dressed than it should, given all I was doing was pulling on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
The T-shirt was snug and had a deep V neckline that showed more cleavage than I was normally comfortable with. But even with the mayhem and confusion on the last few hours, the thought of Lucas being able to check out my boobs in such a way made my pussy contract with wicked excitement.
The shorts were short. You could damn near see my butt cheeks peeking out from beneath the frayed hemline.
I studied my reflection in the mirror, my heart racing. and let out a shaky sigh when I realized I couldn’t stand in the bathroom any longer.
By the time I descended the stairs from the top floor to the living room level, the delicious aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air. My mouth filled with saliva.
Lucas looked up from where he was placing a steaming mug on the dining table, along with what looked like a platter of freshly cut fruit. “Like the shorts,” he said.
I flipped him off, even as my tummy twisted with in purely sexual delight.
Without any other response, I crossed to the table, lowered myself in a seat and snagged one of the coffees.
Lucas watched me take a sip. I watched him watch me.