Rush (12 page)

Lucy walked through the door, bringing a radiance with her that lit the entire room. Just the sight of her brought Mi so much joy, her face split into a grin she couldn’t control. Flushed from the lingering heat and glow of pregnancy, Lucy looked stunning in a yellow and white gingham halter dress trimmed in white eyelet. She’d pulled her long blond hair back into a ponytail that trailed nearly to her waist. When she spotted Mi her face broke into a wide smile and she waved. Heads turned to follow her movement across the restaurant, regardless of her hugely swollen belly, as she picked her way toward Mi.

Lucy hugged her with the exuberance of a long lost relative. “Oh, I missed you,” she gushed, her east Texas accent slow and melodic. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Look at you!” Mi couldn’t get over how much her friend’s body had changed in the couple of weeks since she’d seen her. “Your boobs are huge,” she blurted out without meaning to.

“I know. Kevin can’t get enough of them.” She giggled, her laugh infectious, inviting Mi and everyone else to join in the merriment. “I hardly fit into anything anymore. I’m so huge.” She didn’t seem unhappy about it instead she seemed thrilled as though nothing better could have happened to her.

They slid into the booth and scooted in next to each other. It felt so good to be with Lucy, like lying in the sun on a tropical beach.

“How are you feeling?” Mi asked.

“Gigantic, but the doctor says everything’s right on schedule. Which is good because Kevin planned his business trip around my due date. He doesn’t want to be in Cincinnati or Denver when little Jessalyn arrives.” She patted her belly, beaming a smile that showed signs of overuse.

“He’s been out of town a lot lately.”

“His consulting business has really taken off.” Lucy grabbed a chip from the basket the waiter had brought, broke it in half and dunked it in salsa. “Which is good because we could really use the money for all of the things little Brie needs.” She popped the chip in her mouth with a frown slightly creasing her brow.

“Wait. Which is it, Brie or Jessalyn?”

“Oh, I can’t decide! I change my mind every other day. Kevin likes Jessalyn, but I don’t know.” She scrunched up her cute little nose. “Sounds old fashioned to me. We both like the name Brie though.”

“But you always told me that if you have a girl you’d name her Poppy after your grandma.”

“Kevin doesn’t like the name Poppy. He says it’s a silly name.” Her perpetual grin slipped a little before she caught it and propped it back up.

“Is everything all right between you two?”

“Kevin and me?” Lucy glanced off to the side, concentrating on dipping another chip. “Why sure, sweetie. Couldn’t be better.”

Mi didn’t believe her. Something was off. “And everything’s okay with the baby?”

Her smile returned tenfold. “Oh, yes. She’s going to be so perfect. I can’t wait. I set up the nursery with all of the things I got from my shower. It’s so pretty. You have to come and see. Kevin still has to put the crib together, but he says there will be plenty of time for that when he gets back.”

Their waiter arrived and took their order. As soon as he left, Lucy put a hand over her mouth and whispered. “See that man over there by the potted fern? He’s been staring this direction. I know he’s not looking at me with my big, giant belly.” She nudged Mi. “He’s a big one and kind of handsome in a scary bad-boy sort of way. Oh! He looked over again. He’s definitely looking at you.”

“That’s Lucas.”

“You know him?”

Mi sighed. “He’s my bodyguard.” She dove into the story about why she needed Lucas. When she finished, Lucy was looking at her with a mixture of horror and shock.

“Oh, sweetie. You poor thing. Well, that just isn’t right.” Lucy slapped a hand on the table, making their silver ware dance. “I can’t believe Cal could be so cheap as to get you a bodyguard for free! Calling in a favor.” She shook her head, her ponytail swaying with her irritation. “That cheap son of a bitch makes more money than God and that computer guy put together. He can afford a whole team of bodyguards. Not that big, tall, and brooding over there couldn’t handle himself real good in a fight or anything. I just think you deserve better.”

“I don’t know what I’d do with a whole army of men following me around all day.” The thought of that alternative gave Mi a bad moment. “I’m fine with Lucas. Cal’s increasing security at the studio both inside and out. The police are on top of the case. The detective in charge told me it’s just a matter of time before they catch up to Doyle Gann and when they do, they’ll likely revoke his parole. In the meantime, I feel perfectly safe with Lucas.”

Lucy eyed Lucas’s profile, then looked at Mi, then to Lucas and back again. “I think that tall, dark drink of water wants to do more to your body than protect it.” She nodded as if confirming her own thoughts. “A lot more.”

Mi’s cheeks flamed and she ducked her head, sure Lucas overheard Lucy’s comment even though he showed no reaction.

“Sweetie,” Lucy said, her Texas drawl slower than molasses over ice. “I know when a man’s interested. Believe me. And that man is interested with a capitol I-want-you-naked.”

“Lucy,” Mi begged.

Their server appeared with their order. “Is there anything else I can get you?” he asked.

“No, darlin’. We’re fine,” Lucy answered.

“Okay, just let me know.” The server started to leave, then turned back and pulled an envelope from his apron pocket. He handed it to Mi. “I was told to give this to you”

Mi accepted the envelope automatically. “Who is it from?”

He hitched a shoulder already moving on to another table. “Don’t know. He gave me twenty bucks to give it to you with your food.”

Mi stared down at the envelope, then back up at the server, but he was already gone.

“I don’t think it’s from a secret admirer,” Lucy said, eyeing the envelope as though it were a coiled rattlesnake.

Mi looked at Lucy and the envelope was snatched out of her hands.

“You’re not opening this.” Lucas towered over her, looking prepared to do damage. He held up a hand. “Stay here.”

They watched as Lucas stormed over to the server, grabbed him by the back of the shirt and marched him back to their table. He held the guy up so that his feet barely touched the floor. He thrust the envelope in the guy’s face. “Who gave this to you?”

“I don’t know, man.”

“What did he look like?”

“I don’t know! A guy. A white guy.”

“Is he still here?” Lucas asked, scanning the restaurant.

“No, man. He gave me the envelope and a twenty, then split.”

The waiter looked like he’d piss himself, but Lucas didn’t care. He gave the kid a shake. “Dark hair? Light hair? Old? Young?”

“Don’t hit me,” the guy whined, putting his hands up in front of his face.

“Lucas.” Mi gripped the wrist of the hand he was holding the letter in. “Lucas, please stop. You’re scaring him.”

He looked down at Mi’s wide eyes and then over at the punk dangling from his fist. He hooked a chair with his foot and dropped the guy down onto it gentler than he would have if Mi hadn’t been staring at him with her golden eyes full of fear. Of him.

Fuck.

“I take it back, sweetie,” Lucy said to Mi from behind her hand. “That son of a bitch, Cal, did right by you after all.”

Ignoring Lucy’s comment, Lucas pulled a chair up even with the kid and sat across from him. “I need to know everything you can remember about the guy who gave you this envelope. What he looked like, what he said, how he acted, everything.”

A man with a name badge declaring him ‘manager’ appeared. “Is everything all right here?”

Mi scooted to the edge of the booth, swung her legs over the edge and stood up. “Yes, thank you everything’s fine. Billy here, gave me an envelope from a secret admirer and my boyfriend—” She motioned toward Lucas. “—got a little jealous. He wants to know who his competition is. Not that he has any.” Mi flashed Lucas a smile that made it clear he had no rival. “Sorry for the commotion.”

“He’s got tables waiting,” the manager informed them before walking away with a warning glare.

When the manager was out of earshot, Mi put a hand on Billy’s shoulder and leaned in. “I’m sorry to cause you trouble, but we need your help. Can you tell me about the man who gave you the envelope?”

Billy cast Lucas a wary glance and straightened in his chair. “Sure.” His voice came out unsteady. He cleared his throat. “He had black hair with some gray.”

“Okay, that’s good. What else?” Mi asked.

“Dark eyes. Kind of small and close together. He was a little taller than me so maybe five-ten, five-eleven?”

Mi nodded in encouragement.

“And a scar. Right here.” Billy drew a line on his face over his left eye from hairline to eyebrow.

“Is this the guy?” Lucas asked, holding up his cell phone for Billy to see.

Billy bobbed his head. “That looks like him, but he didn’t have beard.”

“Who is it?” Mi tried to peer around to see the phone screen.

Lucas turned the phone so only he could see it and looked at the face of a convicted murderer.

Doyle Gann.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lucas dropped a hundred dollar bill on the table. “Thank you for your help. The police are going to want to talk to you about what you saw.”

Billy put up his hands. “No, man. No police.”

Lucas peeled off another hundred. “What’s your full name and cell number?”

The kid had the nerve to eye the bundle in Lucas’s hand a little too covetously.

“Don’t push your luck and I won’t tell your manager that you’re undercharging the customers and pocketing the difference.”

The kid rattled off his info as Lucas punched it into his phone.

“Let’s go,” he said to Mi. “Nice meeting you, Lucy.”

“Likewise, I’m sure.” Lucy hugged Mi and he could hear her whisper as if she were speaking in his own ear instead of Mi’s. “You need a take-charge man like
him
in your life, sweetie. Think about it.”

As Lucas and Mi set off toward the exit, a cell phone rang behind them. Lucas turned back to the kid. “Just checking. Take my calls. Don’t make me find you.”

He tucked Mi into his side with an arm around her as they made their way through the restaurant. He grunted in satisfaction at the feel of Mi fisting the back of his shirt in her small hand, holding on tight as he propelled them toward the exit.

Putting Mi a little behind him, Lucas scanned the now darkened street. Sunset had cooled the air, but the pavement retained the heat of the day like hearthstones after a fire. A flimsy breeze greeted them as they stepped out onto the sidewalk, joining the other pedestrians out for a night stroll. Senses on high alert, Lucas moved quickly. He hoisted Mi up, basically carrying her at his side on the short walk to his truck. He clicked the car locks off and lifted Mi in and over the center console. He didn’t register the flash of pink lace her hiked up skirt had exposed until they were several blocks away.

“It was Doyle Gann, wasn’t it?” Mi asked a short time later, her voice calm.

She’d held it together, going along with him without asking questions. But now he could see the strain in the brief glimpses he caught of her face in the strobe effect of the streetlights.

He wasn’t going to hide the facts from her. She needed to know what she was up against. He knew she could handle it. “Yes.”

She didn’t speak for a few moments so he checked on her. She was working that lip again, but her head was up, her shoulders back.

She angled her body toward his. “What do you think is in the envelope?”

“Does it matter?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“He’s not going to get to you, Mi.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he’d have to go through me.”

She nodded as if accepting his boast as fact. Satisfaction swelled within him. She trusted him. He reached across the console and took her hand in his. A comfortable silence drifted over them like a blanket, each of them immersed in their own thoughts.

Checking his mirrors frequently, Lucas took a round about way back to his apartment. He drove past the parking garage twice from two different directions before clicking the door open and rolling the truck into his assigned parking space.

Mi turned her body toward him, her focus on their joined hands. “Lucy was right. Cal did pick the right man to protect me. Thank you.”

He could just make out her features in the dim yellow light of the underground garage. She looked so earnest in her gratitude that it pricked his temper. He didn’t want her gratitude. He wanted her, panting and writhing beneath him, screaming his name. She could thank him for that.

He reached for her none too gently, pulling her as close as the console allowed. She let him, tipping her head back to look up at him. He froze, lost in the look in her eyes. She wanted him. The knowledge stunned him. Lowering his mouth to hers, he maintained eye contact, allowing her that small chance to back out. She met him half way, reaching to bring him closer. And then they were kissing. He fought to keep it light. Fought hard.

She sighed into the kiss, threading her fingers into his hair, and the fight became a battle. He wanted to crush her to him, devour her. She climbed over the console into his lap, straddling him. Gripping her ass, he pulled her down against his erection. She wiggled, grinding into him, and he nearly lost it. Nearly ripped at her clothes to get inside her. He slipped a hand under her skirt, up her bare thigh, and pressed his thumb to her. Jesus, she was wet. For him. He could smell her, hot and ready. He reached for her panties with both hands. Allowing him, she arched back and leaned into the horn. Startled, Mi jumped and accidentally hit the horn again.

She collapsed against his chest, laughing. “I feel like a teenager about to get busted.”

His heart thundered like the boom of a howitzer, half lust and half scared shitless. He was a fucking idiot. They were totally exposed. He had to get Mi out of here and into the safety of the apartment.

Wrapping his arms around her, he brought her close, marveling at the feel of her body against his. God, she was so small, so perfect. He breathed in her perfume mixed with the scent of her arousal. Jesus. He needed her upstairs safe… and naked. Now.