Page 73 of Prettiest Little Thief
With my back against the bed, I twisted the ring between my pointer finger and thumb, the burning in my eyes intensifying.
Lucas stalked into the room, and I dropped my hand to my side, pushing the ring into my pocket. My weak smile wasn’t convincing enough, because Lucas caught my eye and his face fell.
“What’s wrong?” he asked and took a seat beside me on the floor, forearms resting on his knees.
Once Sarah was released from her horrible marriage, everything would be over. I would be free to go about my life. To finish college and finally get my nursing degree. Even so, the tightness in my chest didn’t ease. Was that what I still wanted?
I fisted my hands, digging my nails into my palms. My head tilted down, gaze on my lap to keep from looking at the man whohad suddenly taken up space in my life—my heart—for the past month and a half.
“What’s going on inside your head, little thief?” Lucas’s voice was low, soothing.
“I don’t know.” I sniffled.
Lucas shifted closer. The heat of his thigh when it brushed mine seeped into me through the barrier of clothing. His fingers gripped my chin, lifting my face, his stormy eyes inspecting me, and my chin trembled.
It was no use under the force of his scrutiny.
I crumbled.
Tears cascaded down my cheeks as my sobs pulled me under.
Lucas wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into his lap. Instinctively, I allowed myself to curl into him and hold on for dear life. “Talk to me, Monroe.”
“I was just overthinking.” I hiccupped and wiped a few tears from my cheeks.
“About us?”
The tears came faster, my crying became harder. Emotions I had never thought in a million years would overcome me were now overpowering my logical thinking. Because now, my heart was involved. I nodded, resting my cheek on his chest. The evidence of my despair soaked through his T-shirt.
“I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest. No matter what the answer is. Okay?”
Again, I nodded.
Lucas placed a kiss on my forehead, his embrace becoming tighter. I soaked in every ounce of it. “Do you want to leave once our deal is complete?”
“Not even a little bit,” I confessed.
The sound of Lucas’s heart thudded against my ear, and I could swear it sped up. “Thank fuck. Because I wasn’t going to let you leave anyway.”
A laugh climbed up my throat, breaking through the fog of anguish. My shoulders shook, and I stared up at Lucas through wet lashes. Before I could blink, his lips were on mine. Elation filled me, and my fears of losing yet another person I cared for fled.
Lucas wanted me to stay.
He wanted me.
Our kisses deepened, and I fisted his golden hair as Lucas brought us both to lay on the bed. Passion ignited, darting through my body, and I slid my hand beneath his shirt, feeling the chiseled muscles that rippled under his flesh.
He pulled his mouth from mine momentarily. A heavy breath expelled from him. “Monroe, if you don’t stop touching me, I’m going to fuck you.”
A slow smirk tipped at my lips. “Maybe I don’t want you to stop.” My voice was husky with need.
He growled, gripping my hips and tugging me on top of him in one quick motion. We were groin to groin. His erection pressed into my most sensitive part through fabric. My hair draped around us as I leaned forward and kissed him with abandon. Tongues clashing, teeth biting.
My breasts grew heavy, nipples puckering as desire rolled into me. I swiveled my hips, my core rubbing against his length as wetness gathered in my panties.
Lucas devoured every soft mewl that escaped me, his fingers digging into my waist, causing a searing desire to ravage me.
I gripped the front of his shirt, wanting to rip it from his fit form. To view all of him.
