I was rambling, but Lucas was making me nervous. This new Lucas acted like he cared. And truth be told, that was scarier than the Lucas who only demanded my submission and wanted me for my body.
“You should see it in Belize,” he said after a moment. “My beach house has an unobstructed view of the ocean and the most spectacular of sunsets.”
“That sounds nice,” I admitted softly, my thoughts going straight to Lucas in a pair of board shorts and nothing else. “How often do you get to go there?”
“Not often enough,” he responded as the sun dipped lower, setting the sky ablaze. “When I was younger, I never thought I would see a place like that or be standing on a yacht with a beautiful woman like you in my arms. Yet here I am.”
“Here you are,” I echoed.
His compliment warmed my cheeks against the cool wind coming off the water. I ached for him when he said things like that. He was holding something close to him, something he didn’t want to share. Not even with me.
Not even after everything that had happened.
Bitterness crept into the edge of my thoughts. My own brother had years’ worth of bitterness directed toward my father because of the horrible things that he was made to do. I hadn’t even known about it, and if I had, I might have offered some degree of comfort?
Who did Lucas have? Did he have siblings? Did he have anyone close to him? All I had ever seen around him were his guards. Did he even know how to care for others?
The bitterness grew inside of my heart.
Ugh, I didn’twantto feel this way about him. This all snuck up on me, and suddenly I startedwantingto be someone close in his life! What was I thinking? He was my captor, yet, standing on this deck in his arms, I felt more.
So much more.
The first pop startled me, and Lucas shielded me immediately with his body, his hand going for a gun I didn’t realize he had tucked at his back.
The sight of the gun was like a splash of ice water. But then, another thought entered my head.He wanted to protect me.
I let out a burst of laughter when the sky lit up in red. “It’s just fireworks.”
Lucas swore and straightened us both, the gun disappearing in his clothing.
“Sorry,” he said as he pulled me close to him again. “Hazard of being a Don. Always think someone is shooting at you.”
My laughter grew, and I felt a chuckle escape his chest against my back. “At least you are prepared. But I don’t think your bullets would go that far.”
He spun me around as a blue firework exploded in the sky, and I saw the smirk on his handsome face. “You think it’s funny, don’t you?” he asked softly.
I fought to rein in my laughter, wiping my eyes. “A little.”
To my surprise, Lucas rolled his eyes, something very unlike what a don would do. “The thought of me taking a bullet for you amuses you?”
Truthfully? Yes. My traitorous heart soared at the thought. There was no one else here for me but him. I laid my hand on his chest and he stiffened, the mirth sliding from his expression.
“What are you doing, Leda?”
“Thanking you,” I simply said, my heart doing a nervous dance inside my chest. “For being ready to protect me.”
The monster that awoke inside of me since the first moment he put his hand on me stirred. I knew better than to fight her. It was time for me to lose myself in my own desires. Lucas was all that I thought about now, and the thought of him pressed against me like he was now left my mind feverish with want.
I wanted to see what he would letmedo.
Chapter 40
Leda
My hand slid down the front of his body and cupped him through his pants. Lucas swore under his breath. How did he walk around already hard as a rock all the time?
One day maybe I would ask him.