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“No more water. You’ll wet the bed,” he called up, not moving even a toe. Damn, he was tired out.
“I forgot to tell you I have to go to NORE tomorrow and I gotta have my bike.”
“What’s NORE?”
“It’s my racing school,” Chris called down, with the slightest hint of “duh” in his voice.
“We’ll talk in the morning,” Lucas yelled, praying he didn’t wake up Charlotte. He’d readCreampie and Calico Kittenthree times before the child smiled sleepily and closed her eyes.
“I gotta go. Mr. Pete wants to do my qualifying.” Chris was anything if not persistent.
“Okay. We’ll get it set up.”
“Night,” he called.
“Night,” Lucas returned closing his eyes and pretending the messy living room away.
But it wouldn’t be messy for long.
New beginnings.
After declaring he would put the past behind him with Courtney and Ben, Lucas had decided he’d start in a literal manner. This morning he’d gone to the home improvement store, matched the paint on the front and back porches and started the sanding process. He’d worked all day preparing to repaint the porches, and he’d scheduled a maid service to give the house a good cleaning. He figured the last thing on his sister-in-law’s mind would be cleaning and repairing. If Lucas wasn’t going to get much of his own work done, he might as well get his brother’s house in better shape.
But the sanding, stripping, and daily tasks of taking care of kids had taken its toll. He just needed a minute to sit down.
The vision of a laughing Addy flitted across his mind. She’d been such a sight, laid out naked on her bed, talking about how much she loved watchingBig Bang Theoryreruns and how she’d once romanced the idea of being a microbiologist. Her mink hair had fallen messily around her pretty face, and her warm whiskey eyes had glowed with good humor. She’d been the sexiest thing he’d ever seen and she’d filled up his heart.
Was this love?
He’d told Addy he didn’t believe in romantic love… but that wasn’t necessarily true. Yesterday’s conversation had taken a strange turn and he’d panicked. Seeing the look of disappointment on her face told him all he needed to know—he’d screwed up.
He’d always believed love wasn’t something found as easily as it seemed to be in movies or books. Commitment was built on mutual respect, friendship, and like goals. Not a business arrangement per say, but more two like-minded people choosing to travel the hard road of life together.
He’d always thought lasting love had to be intentional and chosen by both parties involved, and that’s why it hadn’t worked with him and Courtney—she’d turned her back on commitment to him.
But with Addy things felt different.
So had he been wrong all this time?
Lucas shifted deeper into the warmth of the leather recliner and sighed at the sweet silence of the house. He’d called out to Addy earlier as she walked around following some guy wearing a navy jumpsuit nodding as he pointed out what looked to be a new security system, but he needed a few more minutes to decompress.
He wanted to see her again, taste her again, and find out about that security system.
Shouldn’t she have already had one installed on that old house? In fact, Courtney and Ben needed one, too. When he went over to Addy’s to say good night, he’d get the guy’s card and see about adding one to the Finlay house.
He yawned and sighed again.
And fell asleep.
The next morning Addy poured another cup of coffee and tried not to look out the back door toward the Finlay house.
Lucas hadn’t come by last night like he said he would. Something about his easy dismissal of her stung. He’d struck her as a man of his word, so perhaps something had come up? But that was part of her issue—man of his word. What did she really know about Lucas? She’d known him for a little over two weeks, hardly long enough to truly know what kind of man he was.
Logic told her it was a good enough reason to forget about their budding relationship and focus on her present. Just like the orchid she’d snipped right before Chris had crashed into her world dragging his uncle with him she’d have to cull the weak part of herself to protect the whole. Her strong intentions of opening herself to Lucas and the potential for something more than a weekend together had dissipated as doubt grabbed her and shook her hard. Shelia had been wrong about going to Lucas.
Addy had needed Lucas last night… and he’d not shown up.
She eyed the alarm system panel with its red light blinking, feeling comforted about the protection it brought and about how easy it was to use. After waiting up with a kettle of hot water and two cups of chamomile tea for her and Lucas, she’d armed the system and slipped up to bed, aggravated he’d not shown when she needed him most. She’d expected not to sleep a wink, but she’d slept hard and dreamless.
