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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Crab was going to leave her broke. Adrianna groaned and hit the enter key harder than she had to on the spreadsheet cell. They’d spent more than usual on crab meat for the bistro in the past two weeks.Damned that market price bullshit and the shortage of crab pickers.
"It's pitiful."
She looked up from the laptop to find Luciana at the foot of the bed.
"Ever heard of knocking?" she snapped.
Unfazed, Luciana climbed into the bed and scooted closer to her. "You look awful."
"Thanks," Adrianna muttered and bared her teeth. "Now, get the hell out."
"You and my brother left this house disgustingly in love last evening. You were like lovesick teenagers with all the lingering looks and small touches. I considered taking Bron and going to a hotel somewhere because I thought we were going to hear some ungodly noises." Luciana paused. "Instead, I wake up next to my snoring niece. Both my brothers are passed out drunk in the living room and you're here looking like a city bus full of hobos ran over you.”
"I hate you so much," Adrianna practically growled.
"No, you don't." Luciana reached for the laptop, closed it, and placed it at the end of the bed. Then, she sat back against the headboard and patted the spot next to her. "Now, tell Doctor Lux all about what happened."
Luciana lost her mind. There couldn’t be any other reason and the last thing Adri was going to do was indulge her crazy. She wanted nothing more than to flick the other woman on the forehead with her finger and kick her the hell out of the room. Instead she sighed and moved to sit where Luciana indicated. The miserable four hours of sleep caught up with her and left her without fight. She gave up trying to sleep at four in the morning. She spent the time since then doing the books for the bistro, organizing inventory, double checking Bronwyn's events for the next two months. She was exhausted but not sleepy. Mostly, she was hurt and embarrassed.
"We were having a great evening," she began. "The restaurant was beautiful and everything was sexy and we were in this haze, you know? Then, this woman came to our table and began talking to Cam…” Adrianna went through the whole eventful evening, all the way to the point when they got home.
Luciana was silent for what seemed like hours to Adrianna before she began to laugh. "Thank God!" She threw her arms around Adrianna and kissed her cheek loudly.
What the fuck. She tried to pry herself away from Luciana, to no avail.
The other woman continued talking, "This is such a relief! I thought you turned into some kind of patron saint of maturity and poise. I am so glad to see the old Adrianna is in there. I mean, don't get me wrong. New Adrianna is a great mother to my niece. But it's nice to see traces of the girl who dragged Stacy Morris by the hair when she found her with Tommy near the bleachers."
Adrianna covered her face. "God, I was awful back then."
Luciana shook her head. "You were fun."
"You hated me," Adrianna reminded her.
Luciana smiled. "We hated each other. We also made that fucking hick town tolerable. What are you going to do about Cameron?"
Adrianna sighed. "I don't know. It wasn't exactly my best moment, and God knows I don't want to face him right now." She was mortified at the way she acted the night before. She should have known better. There were better ways to handle something like that. She was always preaching to Bron about being a lady and look what she did.
"You don't have to face him now."
Adrianna frowned. "What do you mean?"
"We can go have a girls' day. Do some shopping, grab some food and maybe a movie, or hit the spa so they can make you look human again," Luciana said, lifting one of Adrianna's limp curls between two fingers. “I can make a call and get us into the Green Goddess Spa. They’re dying for a review from me.”
She ignored the dig Lux buried between sentences. "What about my daughter?"
"She has a father now, Adrianna.” Lux winced right after she said the words but plowed on. “And don't you want to face him when you're looking your best?"
"I couldn't do that to him. You said he's hung over. Bronwyn is a ball of energy and she has two puppies that require constant attention. It would be torture." Adrianna toyed with the hem of her tank top, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. With Cameron not being a morning person, it would be pure hell.
She wasn’t that evil, though.
"I guess it's good that you are so mature. I admire you, really.” Lux studied her nails and sighed. “You’re just so good. I bet you have never had a few drinks and then had to take care of Bron hung over or when you didn't feel well." Luciana got off the bed and began to walk to the door.
"It just wouldn't feel right," Adrianna called out after her.
Luciana stopped at the door and said one word, "Sophia."
