Page 72 of Sweet Temptation
It all hurts, but he’s still here, and he’s begging me to be here with him.
To let go and trust he’ll catch me.
I wrap my legs around his hips and cling to him with everything I have. Everything I am. And everything I never will be. “Don’t let go.”
“Never.”
“Luciano Beneventi,” Amelia snaps as she marches into the kitchen, and I wish the world would swallow me whole. “What in the world?—”
Her words cut off the second she sees us. I know it, even if I refuse to look up.
“Oh, well... I see.” She clears her throat as I untangle my legs and fix my shorts. “I hope this means you’ve forgiven him.”
My eyes fly to Lucky’s. “You told your mom I was mad at you?”
“Who do you think taught me to make an omelet?” His smile is brilliant, and I kinda want to lick those dimples.
“Oh dear, please do not tell anyone that was my doing. You killed those eggs. Just because they weren’t scrambled didn’t mean they were actually an omelet.” Amelia shakes her head and looks around the kitchen. “Why don’t you head home, Lexie. Mae can clean up. I’ll see you next week.”
“Thanks, Amelia.” I squeeze her hand as I walk by her. “See you Tuesday.”
“So did the omelets work?” she whispers to Lucky.
“A little. But let’s just say I owe Caitlin a lifetime of babysitting,” he tells her loud and proud, and I think maybe, I’ll be spending some nights babysitting in my future.
“I’ve got to get to the stadium, Lex.” Lucky leans over and kisses my forehead Sunday morning before he leaves for the game, and I whimper, not wanting to let him go. His arms are the best sleep aid in the world. Warm and strong and safe. They make me not want to get up. “Have fun at the game. I’ll meet you in the box afterward.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind doing dinner with my parents?” After the flowers a few days ago, there was no denying something was happening between Lucky and me. Not when my mother owns the shop next door and word of the flowers made it up and down Main Street. “We could say you’re too sore after the game.”
I push up and wrap my arms around his neck, not sure I’m ready to feed him to the wolves. Or in this case, a former SEAL. “We could just come back here instead. Let Linc deal with them.”
“It’s not a big deal, baby. You want to do dinner, we’ll do dinner.” He presses his lips to mine and groans low in his throat. “But I’ve got to go, Lex. I left something on the dresser for you.”
“Have a good game, thirty-three.” One last kiss, and I smack his ass as he walks away.
Nothing’s changed, and yet somehow, everything has.
I push out of bed and stretch and cough and then smile when I see the package sitting on the dresser, wrapped in black paperwith gold Philadelphia Kings helmets dotting it and a big gold bow wrapped around it. Lucky Beneventi... what did you do?
It barely weighs anything in my hands as I shake it before I pull the bow loose and rip the paper off. Gold tissue paper is folded neatly inside with another expensive looking white envelope, hiding another note.
Wear me.
—Lucky.
A man of few words, but the ones he chooses matter. I have a pretty good idea what this is before I slide my hands between the tissue paper and pull out the jersey.His jersey.Lucky was never going to let me go to the first home game of the season in anything less. He didn’t care that I was wearing a Sinclair jersey because it was my name. It isn’t his. That’s what he sees. And maybe I’m crazy, but I kinda love that.
And when I walk out of the door that afternoon withBeneventiand the number thirty-three on my back, it doesn’t matter that the jersey nearly covers my shorts completely. Just that it’s his. Because somehow, someway, my villain got exactly what he wanted, and I am his.
I just hope he doesn’t regret that decision.
Not later today or twenty years from now, because I’m pretty sure he’s never letting me go. I think I’m okay with that too.
Dillan
I’m pulling up to your house now.
Lexie
