Page 57 of Fighting for Lucy

“He is,” Lucy said.

“Oh,” Dora said again, this time with a hint of reproach like Lucy was doing something wrong by dating her friend’s brother.

Was that how everybody else saw it?

Did they think she was betraying her friend by going out with Zander?

She sincerely hoped that wasn’t true because she wasn’t giving Zander up. Not for anybody, not even Scarlett. Zander needed her, and she needed him, too.

“We’ve got to get upstairs, Zander doesn’t like to be late.” She shot him a teasing smile so that he knew she was okay with Dora looking down on her, nothing was making her walk away from him. She’d made him a promise and it was one she intended to keep.

When they got into the lift, she could sense Zander emotionally withdrawing, and since she was having none of that, she literally threw herself at him so he had no choice but to catch her. Once he did, Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, wrapping her smaller body around as much of his as she could.

“Don’t pull away from me, Zander. I don’t care what Dora thinks. I'm here for you. Not because I have to be, not because I owe you since you saved me, and not because I feel sorry for you, although my heart does break for what you’ve been through. I'm here for you because I want to be, and because there’s nowhere else I'd rather be.”

When he smiled and she felt some of the tension ebb out of his body, she relaxed, knowing she’d gotten through to him. “Do you read minds, sassy girl?”

“Yep, sure do,” she teased, and then because she couldn’t be this close to him and not kiss him, she leaned in and brushed her lips across his.

Framing her face with his hands, his fingertips swept across her cheekbones. “Thank you doesn’t seem to be big enough for how I feel about you being here for me.”

“I said the same thing to you when you saved my life, and you told me there were no thanks necessary,” she reminded him.

“You really are a sassy girl, aren't you, babe?”

“Only with you,” she whispered, which was absolutely the truth. Serious, that was the word most people would use to describe her, but with Zander she felt freedom not to have to prove herself. If he didn't believe in her, he wouldn’t have come to her when he was at rock bottom.

“That you feel free to be yourself with me means more to me than you can ever know,” Zander whispered back, and then his lips were on hers and he was kissing her in the same way he had last night, like he was pouring his whole heart into it. Was there anything better than when someone kissed you with their whole being?

“Eww, my eyes, why are you two making out in the elevator?”

The voice had them both breaking the kiss and turning to find Grayson “Chaos” Simpson standing in the open lift door grinning at them. The man was a top-tier prankster who lovednothing more than making the lives of everybody around him his playground as he looked for ways to outdo himself. From the grin on his face, he was obviously pleased to have been the one to break up their kiss and embarrass them.

“As if I haven’t had to watch you and Juliet make out a million times,” she tossed back as Zander set her on her feet and reclaimed his hold on her hand.

“Hey, that’s because we’re adults, and you two are still kids,” Chaos said.

“There’s not even ten-years difference in our ages,” she reminded him as they all headed for the conference room.

“Ten years is a lot, kiddo.” Chaos ruffled her hair as he walked along beside her making her take a swing at his shoulder and miss when he dodged out of the way.

“You are impossible, I don’t know how Juliet puts up with you, and now you have two little munchkins you're training to be just like you. Poor Jules.”

“My woman loves me and the fun I bring into her life,” Chaos said with another grin, and it was absolutely true, the couple was madly in love, and their two little boys were adorable, even if the three-year-old was following in his daddy’s jokester footsteps.

“Nice of you to join us,” Owen “Fox” LeGrand said as the three of them entered the room. Although her boss didn't look angry with them, he did look stressed. Not a good thing.

Actually, everybody looked stressed. The rest of the guys who ran Prey’s East Coast office along with Fox and Chaos, Ryder “Spider” Flynn, Eric “Night” McNamara, Logan “Shark” Kirk, and Charlie “King” Voss, all had tense expressions. As did Rocco’s SEAL Team who were also in the room. Decker “Gumby” Kincade, Beckett “Ace” Morgan, Cole “Rex” Kingston, Forest “Phantom” Dalton, and Bubba.

The tension in the room quickly wiped away any joy she’d felt in the elevator a minute ago. Something bad was going on.

“Told you we were going to be late,” Zander leaned down to murmur in her ear, and since she knew he was trying to get her to relax, she forced out a breath and calmed herself.

“I don’t think they care,” she murmured back. “What's going on? Is it bad news? Did we find the mole?” That would be both good and bad news. At least the threat would be over, but they’d all have to face the fact that someone who had worked with them had betrayed them.

“No news on the mole. Or Raul Castillo,” Fox added.

“Then what?”

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