Page 18 of Wine, Whiskey, & Lipstick 2

“Why are you telling me?”

“Palmer’s special, and I want to prove to her that I’m her guy. Like I said, I want you on my side.”

“Are you?” Dillyn wanted to believe him. “I mean really her guy?”

Lucas stood a little taller. “I am.”

The porch light came on, and the door creaked open. “I thought I heard voices.” Palmer took a look at Lucas, “Oh, I didn’t realize . . .” She turned to Dillyn, “We’ll talk later.”

Dillyn believed Lucas. Until now, her own track record with men had been abysmal, so that wasn’t saying much. However, she decided to go with her gut and hoped she was not wrong. “Actually,” Dillyn linked her hands with Ben’s. “We were just coming inside.”

Ben and Dillyn started to walk towards the house when she stopped to whisper into Lucas’ ear. “Don’t make me regret this.”

He nodded as they went inside. Palmer was just about to follow them when Lucas stopped her. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Palmer was emotionally drained. She released a small sigh, “It’s late.”

“I just need a minute.”

Palmer took another deep breath before turning around to face him. “Sure. What’s up?”

“Last night . . .”

She cut him off. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

His response threw her for a loop, “No?”

“No. I don’t have anything to apologize for.”

Palmer’s blood pressure was going up again, “Really? You don’t think so?”

“No, because we’re not a couple. You said you wanted to keep things casual between us.”

Palmer had said that. “Okay. Now that we’ve cleared that up, good night.”

“We haven’t cleared up shit. You’ve been sending mixed messages, but my intentions have been clear from the start. I’m hella interested in you, and you’re interested in me even if you’re too scared to admit it.”

Palmer scoffed at the idea, “I’m not scared of anything!”

“Then why won’t you give me a real chance? Why won’t you let me take you out on an actual date instead of calling me over when you’ve got an itch to scratch?”

Palmer blushed, “That’s not . . .”

“True? The hell it’s not! You saw me with Stephanie last night, who was coming on to me, by-the-way and you didn’t like it.”

“I may not have liked it, but you sure as hell seemed to be enjoying it!”

Lucas was relieved to see Palmer showing emotion, even jealousy. Jealousy meant she cared, and that was enough to spur him on.MaybeLucas thought he had a shot to win Palmer after all. “She’s not the woman I want.”

“She’s way more your speed than I am.”

“Because she’s a white woman with blonde hair and blue-eyes?”

Palmer thought that was funny, “Pfft, definitely not. I have never, and I meannever,been insecure about who I am. I love the skin I’m in. No offense to anyone else, but I happen to be my own favorite shade of milk-chocolate. I’m full-figured and fabulous. I can compete with the best of ‘em if I wanted to.”

Lucas smirked. That was true. Palmer was confident, curvy, and fabulous, and he wanted her bad. He adored everything about her. The way she walked, the sound of her voice, the purring noise she made when they made love. The list of attributes was too long to name. No other woman made him feel the way she had, but how comfortable she was in her own skin stood out the most.

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