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“I should,” she said, hoping they’d eat their hearts out. “I work after it.” She should’ve told them she had a lover who kept her in shape. Instead, she placed her hand in the curve of her waist and let them gawk. She hadn’t spent twelve hours a week in a gym for nothing.
“How ya been?” Rex asked.
“Great. You?” she replied flippantly, pretending she didn’t care.
“Better now,” Rex said, that faint whisper of need curtailing in his voice.
Her gaze met his, and she immediately saw the sincerity pouring from his eyes. Rex had always struck her as dangerously quiet, and his dark personality, coupled with stark sarcasm, often overpowered his other features.
As a teenager, Rex had been a scarecrow of a boy. Tall and skinny, his pale skin was dotted by freckles, and his henna red hair hung low over his eyes. Half the time he couldn’t see where he was going, and that was probably for the best. Mimicked by others, Rex’s appearance drew snide remarks back then, but the man before her stood confident and proud. Lucy understood why better than anyone.
Rex was the kind of man who never knew the definition of hurry. He took his time with conversation and loving a woman, something Lucy couldn’t easily forget. Those same girls who once poked fun at Rex McDavid eventually stood in line, hoping to win his favor.
That was part of the problem.
Lucy had been a loyal friend, a gentle lover when he needed someone to kiss away his bruises, and what had he done? He’d become a dominant partner in bed, the kind of man women passed around and then talked about later at the local beauty salons. She cringed at that, remembering how one older woman once told a shop full of women ho
w she’d gladly pay for his time.
“Mrs. Carpenter sent us over to see if you’re up for a home-cooked meal,” Luke said, slicing through the silence with an invitation guaranteed to make Lucy’s stomach rumble.
What Lucy would do for some of Mrs. Carpenter’s Southern-fried chicken and all the side dishes she typically served with hearty meals. “I still need to unpack, but tell Mrs. Carpenter I’ll stop by and have a cup of coffee soon.”
“You don’t want to let her down,” Rex said.
“Disappointments are plenty around here. I know that better than anyone.”
“Are you still harboring sour grapes?” Luke asked. “I never took you for a woman who sulked.”
“Sure you did, Luke. We talked about that. Lucy will go to her grave contemplating the best way to get even.”
“You think I’m still pouting.” It wasn’t a question. “Oh come on, guys. Surely you don’t think I’ve carried a torch for a couple of Tennessee cowboys after all this time?”
“Word is, you’ve brightened up the speedways and that’s about it. You haven’t had a man in your life since…well, from what I can tell since you left us way back when.”
Luke was such a smart-ass. He was a bad boy who never made good on much of anything outside of giving women pure hell. Spoiled to a fault with one inheritance after the next, like his brother Rex, Luke had never been short on cash or a supply of women eager to spend it.
Rex stuffed his hands in his front pockets. Her gaze fell to his belt. After a swift sweep across his lower region, her eyes met his. Clearing his throat, Rex said, “We’d be honored if you’d have dinner with us.”
“I’d be happy to join you. Thing is, I still have a vivid image of what transpired on your dining room table. Any chance you’ve replaced the furniture since then?”
Rex grunted.
Luke grinned. “What do you say we let the past stay where it belongs?”
“How’s Marilyn?” Lucy asked without missing a beat. “I haven’t seen her since the two of you had her sprawled across that pretty wood surface. I never asked back then. Did she have splinters in her ass after you were done with her?”
“There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain,” Luke told her. “If she had battle wounds, she never asked for a bandage.”
“Of course she wouldn’t. She had you there to kiss it and make it better,” Lucy said, trying to overcome a lot in a short period of time. Why were those same feelings of betrayal resurfacing? Why did she still remember the hurt she felt all those years ago? And why, after all this time, did she recall those events from that hot summer night and think of her own jealousy more than the pain of watching them with another woman?
Rex pursed his lips and refused to add to Luke’s snide reply. His eyes told a sorrowful tale. He regretted that day. He wore an expression of apologies he’d never speak.
Luke, on the other hand, was a cocky bastard. His nose twitched, and he rolled that thick tongue over his swollen bottom lip.
Taking one step toward her, he touched her cheek for a brief moment, withdrawing his hand before she had the pleasure of smacking him away. “It’s been a long time, Lucy. The only thing the distance provoked was an intense hunger I’ll never understand. Time made me hungrier, harder, and more determined to get what I want. You know something about lust and longing, too. Don’t ya, honey?”
Lucy’s mouth dried, and her pulse raced. Luke bracketed his arm around her waist, drawing her to him so quickly, her last breath left her body like a sudden sigh. Damn it to hell, she felt like such a vulnerable woman.
