He rolled his eyes. “It’s in the car.”
I scrunched my nose up and took a sip of coffee as I stepped out of the apartment. “Last night I killed you.” I smiled triumphantly.
Lucas exhaled and shut the door behind me, placing his hand on my back as we walked down the dimly lit hall. “Wow, tell me more, please. I’m dying to know. Was it a gunshot wound to the head or something more graphic, like a machete to the balls?”
“HAH, don’t give me ideas, Thorn.” I chugged more coffee, allowing the heat of the bitter liquid to soothe my nerves.
The last time I’d been to the gyno was right in the middle of college. Not only was the checkup expensive, but it was also after I’d stupidly had sex with a relative stranger just to get the whole thing over with.
I was the only virgin left in my group of friends, and for some reason I thought that part of growing up was giving my virginity up in the most awkward experience possible.
Not only was it the most unromantic experience of my life.
But I later found out the guy had given another girl an STD. I swore I’d never have random sex again and went to get tested.
Thankfully, I was healthy.
But the trauma of the Pap smear remained.
Not that I would ever reveal that to Lucas. Who knows? I wouldn’t put it past him to somehow use the info as ammo and turn the whole damn thing against me. That was the last thing I needed. Besides, he probably couldn’t have cared less about my sexual (in)experience. He was a complete man whore.
“In you go.” He opened the door to the back of the nice black Uber Escalade.
I slid across the plush leather seats, grabbed the paper bags of warm pastries, and inhaled them like a drug addict.
Lucas slid in behind me and slammed the door. “I figured the easiest way to put you at ease was to drug you with sugar.”
“I take it back.” I grabbed a sugary donut and stuffed half of it in my mouth. “I didn’t enjoy killing you last night. I shed a tear, it was small.” I held up two fingers that were almost touching. “Like this big. Hardly noticeable, kind of like your penis.”
Lucas choked on his coffee.
“Well, maybe not as small as that”—I elbowed him—“but close. At any rate, thanks for the donut.” I squeezed his leg, unable to keep my hands away from his stupid body.
“I got you a breakfast sandwich too. You know, protein.”
I waved him off.
“Typical,” he snorted.
“What?” I asked midbite. “What’s typical?”
“You need to take care of yourself, go to bed early . . .” His voice was strained. “Make sure you do your annual checkups.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, because that’s been so necessary this past year.”
Damn it!
I waited.
Hoping he missed it.
But he was Lucas Thorn, so instead of missing my meaning, he leaned toward me and licked his stupidly attractive big lips. “Oh?”
I averted my eyes.
To the cleft in his chin.
Which made me think of our kiss.
I clenched my thighs together and then crossed my legs. Nope. Not happening, not getting anywhere near the lower region of my anatomy, not now, not ever.
My body was notorious for betraying me when it came to Lucas, and I wasn’t going to lose control again.
Ugh, the sugar on the donut didn’t taste as good as his tongue. The same tongue he thrust into other women’s mouths.
Lust cooled. I turned to him and shrugged. “What?” Lucas’s eyes pinned me.
“Admit it.” He grinned. “There is no Carl.”
“Fine, no Carl. Gee, you got me—doesn’t change anything. I’m still a sexually active wildcat just waiting to pounce on my next prey.” I tore a piece of donut and made a growling noise.
He swore violently and adjusted the collar of his shirt.
“What?” I smirked. “Something I said?”
“Nope, just imagining what that would be like, getting mounted by Avery Black.”
It was my turn to choke.
The driver stopped in front of a large building a few blocks away from our downtown offices, closer to Pike Place Market, which made me want to go shopping for flowers and toss some fish around while sipping coffee.
I reached for my seatbelt; Lucas pressed a hand to my fingers and whispered in my ear, “Admit it, you’re thinking about it too.”
I exhaled and tried to even out my breathing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar.” His chuckle was warm, seductive. “You’re right—I bet you’re crazy in bed, wild, violent. If there was a Carl, I’d have half a mind to be jealous.”
“That would be the day.” My voice was raspy and stupidly turned on.
Our eyes locked.
He leaned forward, just as the rear door opened beside me.
I jumped back and quickly wiped my mouth of any remnants of sugared donut, then numbly reached for my purse.
Walking was an issue.
You know, for obvious reasons. You needed legs to walk, and mine had turned to jelly. I couldn’t even feel my legs, or my face, and it was all Lucas’s fault.
Hating him was difficult.
Being attracted to him was inevitable.
Because many years ago—my life goal had been to find and marry someone just like Lucas Thorn.
Not the one I was helping lie to his entire family or the one who slept with a different woman almost every night, but the one who had held my hand when I watched scary movies.