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For a moment, she didn’t say anything.Then she giggled a little.
The sound warmed him.“Liked that one, did you?”
“No.”She giggled again.A little longer this time.“I’m just picturing some poor woman sitting beside you at a bar, rolling her eyes.”Her giggles continued.“Honey,” she said, choking on laughter, “you might be single for a lot longer with lines like that.”She pressed a hand to her belly, laughing so hard that tears streamed down her cheeks.
Her laughter was contagious and had Lucas chuckling at first, then laughing along with her.
When Felina’s giggles subsided, the tears continued to flow, body shaking with silent sobs.
“Whoa, babe, what’s this?”Lucas reached for her and pulled her into his arms.“I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“You didn’t.”She scrubbed at the tears that wouldn’t stop.“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.I never cry.”
His arms tightened around her, and he pressed his lips to her forehead.“You’ve had a rough night.Hell, you’ve had a rough couple of weeks.You’re allowed a few tears.”
“Tears are for weaklings,” Felina sniffed noisily.“I’m not a weakling.”
“Tears are like a safety valve.It’s your body and soul’s way of releasing overwhelming pressure.You’re like a pressure cooker.When the pressure builds up, it’s released in steam.In your case, it’s released in tears.”
Felina sniffed again and rubbed at her damp cheeks.
Lucas kissed the tip of her nose.“It helps release stress, ease grief and even help you process extreme joy.”
“Huh?”She looked up at him.“Why would you need help processing joy?”
“Think about the mothers giving birth.They work so hard physically to bring another life into the world.When they finally meet their babies, many of them cry tears of joy.”
“And relief.”
“That too,” he said with a grin.“The point is...tears are a release.Sometimes, you have to let them go to relieve the pressure inside.”
“Mmmm.I think you’re right.And laughter helps, too.”She rested her cheek against his naked chest.“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For terrible pickup lines.”She yawned.“Apparently, I needed...the laughter...and...the tears.”Her voice faded off, her breathing grew deeper, and Felina slept in Lucas’s arms.He didn’t care the floor was hard, or that his arm was getting numb.He didn’t want to move a single muscle and disturb this woman’s sleep.
For the past few weeks, he’d spent more money on flower arrangements than he had his entire life, trying to get this woman’s attention so that he could ask her out.He hadn’t known she’d had a boyfriend because he’d never seen her with another man.
Marty had to be a complete fool to dump her for another woman.
Lucas had seen how good Felina was with people, no matter if they were old, young, black, white, male or female, grief-stricken or celebrating.She brightened their days with her floral arrangements and her smile.
His teammates had teased him about his pursuit of this woman, telling him she wasn’t interested and that he should move on.She’d never date him.
Maybe not.But she was his girlfriend for the next two weeks.That gave him exactly two weeks to convince her that he was worth seeing for a more extended period or that they really didn’t belong together.
He was aiming for the first scenario, already convinced she was perfect for him.
More than his desire to be with Felina was his growing concern over her safety.His arm tightened around her as he mulled over what had happened and what could have happened.
First, she’d been shoved off the back landing at the Crawdad Hole.Then, someone had forcibly broken into her apartment and trashed the place.Had she been in the room at the time the intruder broke through the door, would he have hurt her?
Lucas was glad Felina had gotten out of the apartment before the man had broken through and even happier that the car alarm had helped to end his reign of destruction before he’d gotten to the door to the shop.The vases she’d thrown at Lucas wouldn’t have done much to slow down the attacker.
What if the man had broken through the door while Felina had been dead asleep and too groggy to think fast?What if Felina hadn’t called Lucas, and he hadn’t reminded her of the emergency horn feature on her key fob?
The night could have had a much different conclusion.
