I wanted his hands on me again, just like earlier today, but this time I wanted more. This time, I wanted all of him.
Lucas’s eyes hooded. “Preciosa, don’t look at me like that. You’re only making it worse.”
Lina cleared her throat loudly, and when I glanced at her, her eyes had turned to thin slits. “What are you two whispering about?”
“I was telling Rosie that I was glad we were alive,” Lucas was quick to answer, his face telling me a completely different story. Then, he turned to face his cousin, “Don’t you agree we’re lucky,Ms. Fast and the Furious?”
“Ha,” Lina shot back. “Hilarious.”
With a sigh, I turned to my best friend. “Here.” I placed my key in her palm. “You go first. We’ll get the rest.”
Shockingly, Lina didn’t question me, just called for Taco and headed for the staircase.
I grabbed the lightest bag I could find—one with a pillow—and placed it on Lucas’s shoulder. Then I retrieved the suitcase he thought he was taking upstairs. “There.” I patted his chest. “Up you go, Martín number two.”
He grabbed my wrist, a wild, all-powerful sensation flooding my body under his touch. I looked up at him, the heaviness and lust dissipating slightly when his lips pursed into the cutest pout.
I snickered. “Don’t be a grouch,” I told him, trying to keep the tone light. “You can’t win all the time. Now up.”
He scoffed. “I’m a ray of sunshine.” Lucas’s gaze tipped down to the fingers that were around my arm. He moved my hand so it lay against his chest, right over his heart. “I just… want to help.”
He didn’t want to; he needed to. And I understood that.
So, I splayed my fingers over his sweater, making sure he felt my touch through the layers of clothing that separated my hand from his skin. And only when he seemed as distracted as I was by that, I told him, “Your being here with me. That’s all I need from you.”
I was looking straight at him, so it was impossible to miss the way his face changed when my words registered.
He probably wanted to talk about what had happened today, or last night, because we hadn’t and we really, really should have. But once again, this wasn’t the time, so I cleared my throat and said, “Let’s go. Lina is probably wondering what’s taking us so long.”
With a nod, he headed up.
A little over two hours later, we had all my stuff up and the big mess the contractors had left behind was cleaned up.
“I am dead,” Lina grunted from her post at the end of my couch. “This was worth at least three months of exercise.”
I chuckled and Lucas scoffed with disbelief. “I think the several ten-minute breaks you took to snack on Pringles cancel out the workout,prima.”
“What a total party pooper.” She threw her hands in the air. “You’re in such a mood today, Lucas. I didn’t even know you coulddogrumpy.” Lina wasn’t lying: Lucas hadn’t been his usual self these last few hours. He’d been sighing and grunting and barely smiling at all. “Maybe you should take a nap when you get home,sí? You’re acting like a baby that needs some sleep.”
“I slept fine last night,” he said, his gaze falling on me from across the living room. “In fact, sleep is the last thing in my mind now.”
My pulse rose, because I could see what was flickering in those two brown eyes that were on me. I could feel it on my skin.
Lina cleared her throat.
I ripped my gaze off Lucas, clapped my hands. “All right. Thanks so much for helping out, guys,” I said, standing up. Taco nudged my leg with his head. I crouched and planted a big kiss on him. “And thank you, too, for being the handsomest of them all.”
Lucas grunted, and Taco went immediately to him. He seemed to relax slightly.
My gaze slid to the loveseat where Lina was sitting, and it hit me then that there was no reason for them to hang around. There was no reason for Lucas to stay. He’d return to Lina’s studio. And soon, he’d return to Spain, too.
Panic swirled inside of me, making my next breath a little harder.
I blurted out the first thing that crossed my mind. “You guys want to eat something? The fridge is empty but I can order pizza.” I turned to my best friend, because if I looked at Lucas, I might do something very stupid. Like jump in his lap and beg him not to leave. “It’s the least I can do.”
Lina sighed, clasping her hands together under her chin. “I promised Aaron I’d pick him up from InTech after I was done here.” She stood up. “And I’ll take any chance I have to get him out of there early. Because one day, I’ll have to rip his ass off that office chair before he fuses to his laptop.”
I nodded, debating whether I should tell Lucas that if he wanted to stay, he should. That I really wanted him to.