He tilts his head to the side. “Bella, I’m thinking when you go back in there, you need to look as if you’ve been thoroughly kissed.”
I can barely form a thought in my head; all I know is that Lucas is telling me he’s going to kiss me. “Okay.”
He doesn’t waste any time. He leans down and covers my mouth with his. I press up on my tiptoes to get closer. My hands circle to his back, and I press my body against his. For someone that has never done a lot of kissing, I can definitely see the attraction of it all because damn, Lucas knows how to kiss.
His hands are still on my face, and he tilts my head before deepening the kiss. His tongue presses into my mouth, stroking me. I whimper at his touch, and he pulls back. His lips are swollen, eyes glazed over and hair mussed, and I’m sure I look the same, but I still ask him, “Will that work? Do I look like I’ve been thoroughly kissed?”
He leans down and whispers into my ear, “Bella, with that look in your eye, you look like you’ve been thoroughly fucked, and it’s putting all kinds of thoughts in my head.”
He releases me and steps back, straightening his tie and smoothing out his jacket. “I won’t be gone long.”
I put my hand to my mouth and walk back into G’s room. She’s looking at me with a big smile on her face, but thankfully, she doesn’t say anything about the way I look right now. If I look anything like I feel, there’s no hiding what we’ve been doing.
Lucas
I drive through downtown Whiskey Run full of frustration. I got to the office this morning, and the things that came up were definitely things that I could have handled from home. But of course, once I was in the office, there was a long list of things that I needed to take care of. My few hours at the office turned into a whole day, and after a quick look at my watch, I realize that I’m late for dinner.
As soon as I pull into the driveway, I slam my car into park instead of waiting for the garage door to open. I leave my briefcase on the front seat and run inside the house, heading straight for the dining room. When I walk in, Bella has her head down, looking at her plate, and my grandmother is giving me the evil eye.
“I’m so sorry. The time got away from me, and it was one thing after another. Anyway, I’m sorry I’m so late.” I lean over and kiss the top of Bella’s head, and right now with Granny glaring at me the way she is, I know it’s not safe for me to go and greet her. Instead I sit down at the head of the table while putting some food on my plate.
Bella has still yet to look at me, and I know I fucked up.
Granny is not helping. “I raised you better than this, Lucas. You’ve been married less than twenty-four hours. It’s Sunday, even. It’s not even a workday.”
Finally, Bella looks at me, but seeing the disappointment on her face makes me want to kick myself. She’s trying to hide it, though. “Granny, I told you that I knew he was a workaholic when I said yes to marrying him. I understand he needs to work. I’m honestly not worried about it.”
She puts up a good front, but I can hear the break in her voice. I fucked up, and she’s trying to defend me. I look at the two women and then focus on Bella. I grab her hand. “I’m sorry, Bella. I promise to do better. Do you think you’d like to go dancing after dinner?”
She answers immediately. “Sure, that sounds fun.”
I sit through dinner with my granny glaring at me. I’m sure that the chicken cordon bleu is cooked to perfection, but I barely taste it as I try to figure out what I need to do to get back in not only my granny’s good graces, but also Bella’s. I keep one hand on Bella’s while I eat with the other. As soon as we’re all finished, Betsy comes to help my grandmother upstairs. She points at both of us. “Have a good night, you two.”
We nod, and as soon as she’s out of the room, Bella says, “You don’t have to take me dancing.”
I know she’s giving me an out, but I don’t want one. “We have to. You know Granny will know if we didn’t.”
She nods. “Right. Okay. I may see if Carlotta and Dwayne want to meet us there, okay?”
I nod. A buffer is not a bad idea. I already know that dancing with her is going to be torture. “Sounds like a good idea. I’m going to clear the table and change clothes. Meet down here in thirty minutes?”