Page 89 of Resisting the Lawyer (Dirty Hot Resistance 3)

“Okay, Mama.” I kiss her cheek, affectionately.

I come back to see Elise sitting in the armchair and Sophie trying to crawl on the carpet.

Elise has been unnaturally calm since this whole thing and I can’t say I’m not worried. “Elise.”

She looks at me and then draws a shuddering breath and her calm countenance shatters as if made of the finest glass. She holds out her arms to me.

I go to her.

“I was frightened out of my mind,” she confesses, her voice unsteady. “At first, I thought he was going to kill me, but a part of me just knew that if anything happened to me, you’d be there for Sophie.”

Her confidence in me humbles me, and I tighten my arms around her.

“But then, you came and the idea of losing you, I can’t bear to think of it!”

“I’m not that easy to get rid of. I’m like a cockroach.”

She’s silent for a little bit and then she says in a curious voice, “Of all the things to compare yourself to, why a cockroach?”

“Because they’re hard to kill,” I say, smugly.

A short laugh is torn out of her. “You’re a weird man, Lucas Black. And I love you because of that. And I’m glad we’re here together.”

I kiss her on her forehead. “Lucky for you, I love you, too.”

“I won’t sleep with a cockroach, though.”

“Hey!” I protest, insulted.

She laughs.

It is the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.

Then as my house fills with Elise’s teasing voice and Sophie’s insistent babbling, I feel like I’ve finally found my home in these two.

Epilogue

“Seriously, Lucas. Stop being so dramatic. Let me see!” I don’t know what I’m walking on but it sure is soft. I’m blindfolded with a silk tie.

The sun feels pleasant on my face and I hear Sophie gurgle happily in Lucas’s arms. The wind is cool and it playfully flirts with my hair making me smile in spite of my wariness.

“What’s the point of a surprise if you won’t let me surprise you?” Lucas asks, not at all deterred by my deliberate complaining. “Now shut up before I dunk you in the water.”

I know him well enough to know that he will. I frown. “What water?”

He just chuckles. “Your mom’s being a bad girl, Sophie!”

“Ba – ba!” Sophie shrieks.

I smirk, knowing that Lucas will be wincing at the volume.

He’s been very mysterious since two weeks ago. Avoiding me, working late, going out at weird times. Considering how overprotective he’s been since the whole incident with Darren and his father happened, six months ago, this space to breathe is actually a relief.

And now he’s dragged me out on a Saturday in the midst of doing laundry.

I mournfully think of the soaked shirts in the sink.

I had planned an afternoon of lazing around after I was done with work and maybe coaxing a foot massage out of my handsome looking lawyer. If I played my cards right, I could have gotten slow lazy sex on the couch that would leave me as a boneless lump.

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