31. charlee
THIRTY-ONE
charlee
“Tell. Us. Everything.”
“Obviously, I’m not gonna do that.”
It had been five days since our epic date. Four since the dinner with Mom which had gone better than expected. One day since I’d been with Lucas. He’d had a late appointment last night, a long one that ended up being a five-hour sitting. He told me to come down to the shop, but my mother had been begging for me to come over for dinner, so I’d figured it was as good a time as any.
With Natalie being away for work, this was the first time I’d seen either her or Zoe all week. Boots and Brews had started a karaoke event on Thursday nights, and though I didn’t plan to sing, Zoe was itching to get up on stage. She had a great voice, and literally no one knew why she didn’t use it more often or in a professional manner. Zoe claimed that would “kill her enjoyment of it” and preferred to wow crowds with her karaoke skills.
We sat at a high top not far from the stage. With Lucas being right next door, I had popped in quickly to say hello, but he was in the middle of a session so I didn’t stay long.
“Instead, you’re going to stare at the door waiting for him even though you know he said it would be at least another half hour or longer before he’s done?” Natalie asked.
“Exactly,” I said, teasing.
Or not. Standing, I moved to a seat that would put my back to the door, knowing the “situational awareness” Lucas had mentioned would have him shuddering at the thought. But this way, I’d focus on my friends. At least until he came.
The place was packed, karaoke having just gotten started. Actually, the singers, two younger-looking ladies, probably college kids, weren’t so bad.
“Obviously, we know you did the dirty,” Zoe said.
“Like a hundred times,” Natalie added.
“Not quite a hundred.” I took a sip of my drink, actually squirming in my seat thinking of one of those times. It had been the middle of the night, and I’d woken up to Lucas behind me, his hand wrapped around my hips, his finger making me believe I’d been having a very sweet dream. Turned out, it wasn’t a dream after all.
“Fifty?” Zoe asked.
“No comment.”
“At least explain what you meant by ‘the best sex of your life,’ which could mean a lot of things.” Natalie put her chin in her hands as if she were all ears.
“Exactly that. The best sex of my life,” I said noncommittally.
“Because specifically?” Zoe countered.
The ladies were relentless. I was no prude, but some of the things we’d done Saturday night and since then made me blush thinking of them.
“I’ll say this. He likes it a little rough and”—I shrugged—“turns out I do too.”
“How rough?”
“What did he do?”
The questions kept coming. Some I answered, most I didn’t. If they kept this up, I’d be jumping Lucas’s bones the second he walked in. So instead, I changed the subject to the most non-Lucas topic I could think of.
“Did you hear,” I asked Zoe, “that the Southpoint property is getting a dining room refresh?”
“You are not talking work right now,” Natalie accused. “Especially as a deflection.”
But it worked. Zoe had been trying to get the dining room of the property she managed on the docket for a refresh since she’d gotten the job.
“I was not happy,” she admitted. “Did you know about it?”
“As much as I knew about my father’s announcement,” I said. Natalie had been filled in on that one too. Last night, my father hadn’t mentioned work once, which told me he knew he was wrong by springing the possibility of me taking over on the whole management staff.
“I figured,” she said. “Sucks though. I don’t see how Southpoint needed it more than we did.”
After ten or so minutes of work talk, the conversation effectively diverted, we chatted about the VP position. I’d wanted to mention it to Lucas this week but never quite got the gumption to do it. I already knew what his opinion would be, and I couldn’t count on him to be objective about it. But I really did have to tell him. Even if it would be more ammunition in his arsenal against my father.
“Sometimes I really don’t get my father’s decisions,” I admitted. And then, so as not to totally bore Natalie, I changed the subject again. “Speaking of boyfriends, what’s going on with you and Erik?”
Zoe’s boyfriend was a doctor in a local hospital. He worked more often than not, and seemed to have a ton of time to hang out with his doctor friends but not as much for Zoe. No one was sure why she put up with it, but she seemed to really like him.
“You know.” She shrugged. “Busy. He picked up two extra shifts this week, so I hardly saw him.”
Neither Natalie nor I said anything. That was pretty typical of him. But then again, until a week ago, I’d agreed to fake date Lucas just to be able to stay in his life, so if anyone wanted to talk about bad relationship decisions, it probably shouldn’t be me.
Just as I lifted my drink, an awareness washed over me. Maybe it was the look on the girls’ faces. Or maybe I smelled him before I could see him. But there was no doubt in my mind Lucas was behind me.
Confirming it, his strong hand slid behind my neck. I loved his hands, so firm and capable. He massaged my neck for a second or two, and then in his low, sexy voice said, “Evening Natalie. Zoe.”
The hairs on my arm rose, in a good way. My core clenched. Every nerve ending in my body suddenly became electrified.
Lucas.
I turned my head to look up at him.
Dear Lord.
“Buenos noches, se?orita bonita.”
Melt.
“Hi there,” I managed to say lamely.
But Lucas didn’t seem to mind. He leaned down and kissed me, much too briefly, which I understood given our audience. And then asked if anyone wanted a drink.
“I could use a refill,” Zoe said. “Vodka soda.”
“Anyone else?” he asked Natalie and me.
“I’m good,” Natalie said.
Lucas, his hand still rubbing my neck, watched me. “What about you? Need anything, baby?”
His suggestive tone didn’t leave a ton of room for interpretation. The answer, of course, was yes. I needed all of him. But now didn’t seem to be the best time to answer. So instead, I pretended we were still talking about a drink. I raised mine up. “Still good, but thanks.”
He winked.
I shuddered, realizing the lengths I would go to be on the receiving end of that wink again. This pull toward Lucas was downright terrifying, if I were being honest. It was like ten years ago but much, much worse.
In short, I had it bad.
“You okay over there?”
Although Natalie asked it as a joke, I answered seriously. “Not really.”
“You’re in love with him.”
“Madly,” I replied. “But it’s all so tenuous.”
We chatted for a few minutes.
“Shhh,” Zoe said. “He’s coming back.”
“You ladies mind if I join you?”
“Not at all,” Natalie said, moving seats so Lucas could be next to me.
“Alright,” Zoe said. “That’s enough watching. Time to get my name in. Who’s coming up with me?”
I looked away. Natalie looked away. Lucas laughed.
“Doesn’t look like you have a lot of support,” he said to Zoe.
“I’m used to it. Big chickens.”
“What’d you want to sing?”
My head whipped back.
“You don’t. . . sing,” I said to him, still unused to the fact that I knew so little of the new Lucas.
“Not usually, but your friend needs a singing buddy so. . .” He shrugged. “Why not?”
I loved his spontaneity and willingness to put himself out there. This was completely unexpected.
“Doesn’t matter to me,” Zoe said, obviously excited by the prospect of having a partner in crime for a change.
“I got this.”
Lucas stood up and made his way to the stage. All three of us watched him.
“That’s one hell of an ass,” Natalie said what I’d been thinking.
I thought about how it felt under my hands. “Yes. It is.”
Lucas flipped through a book, but as the song ended, the DJ motioned to him. Apparently, there wasn’t a long lineup of singers yet because they talked for a few seconds, and Lucas motioned for Zoe to come up to the stage.
The two of them talked. Zoe burst out laughing and then looked at me.
“This should be good,” I said as the two of them took the stage.
If I’d thought Lucas was hot before, as he took a microphone, I actually shook out my shoulders to release the energy building inside me. There wasn’t anything quite like a man who could sing or dance or play an instrument. Especially when they looked like that.
“We have a classic for you tonight, folks,” Lucas said into the mic. It was odd to see him like this. The man was typically so private, but he seemed as comfortable on that stage as he did with a tattoo machine in his hand. “But first, I’d like to congratulate my friend Mazzie on a successful opening to Boots and Brews, and thank the community for welcoming me next door at Grunt Ink Tattoos.”
A class act. I looked around to see more appreciation than skepticism. Putting himself out there like this would go a long way with the locals. Everyone loved a guy who could make himself vulnerable, and what was more vulnerable than singing on a stage?
And then, the song began.
Natalie burst out laughing, and I would have, too, but my eyes actually stung with unshed and unwanted tears. Clearly, it was a message. And my heart couldn’t have been more full.
“I got chills,” Lucas sang. “They’re multiplying.” The crowd began to cheer as Natalie and I stared in awe. He was actually. . . really good. “And I’m looooosing control.”
He never took his eyes from me.
Zoe began to sing, and that was when everyone really lost it. She had an amazing voice.
“You're the one that I want,” he sang to me.
I wanted to laugh. And cry.
I wanted him too. No one had ever intrigued me or filled my heart with such joy and pain for a long time, too, as Lucas. But that just told me how deeply I felt for him. The fact that he wanted the same thing. . .
By the end of the song, the entire bar was singing along. As soon as it was over, Lucas handed his microphone to the DJ and made a beeline to me. When he reached me, didn’t the sexy beast of a man actually lift me from my stool, my legs wrapping around his waist for balance, and kiss the ever-loving shit out of me.
As if to make a point.
The song’s message was for me.
He did indeed want me, and I wanted him too. As the place went wild around us, hoots and hollers coupled with whistles, we ended the kiss, and Lucas put me back in my seat.
“Well then,” he said. “That was fun.” Then to Zoe, he added, “Happy to sing with you anytime, Zoe.”
Lucas couldn’t possibly have shocked me more.
Or so I thought. Until he leaned into my ear and whispered, “I love you, Charlee.”