I nodded. Most of my friends told me to buy something in the city closer to work and the night life, but I was a father now.
“I kept this house for her. It’s quiet and we have great neighbors. It seems a lot healthier for a kid than living in Manhattan. We can go into New York if we want to, but here we have some balance.” I glanced back at the house to see if there was any sign of Riley looking for me, but she was tired tonight.
“That’s perfect. You’re a good father, Max. I think you should be able to win in court without me. You’ve provided her with so much stability.”
“Thank you. I try,” I told her with a smile. “We just want the perfect plan. If she goes to Blake, then it’s another battle.” My smile faded as I thought about life without Riley and I shook my head. “I couldn’t handle that.”
“What if you offer her some visitations?” Lucinda asked me as I sipped my wine.
“I offered that to her through her lawyer. That was when I knew that she just wanted money. If she wanted to see Riley, she would accept my terms. This is more.”
I was surprised when Lucinda covered my hand with hers. “I know that you’ve tried everything. It’s obvious. I want Riley to stay with you.”
“She likes you as well. Actually, she loves you.” I told her and she smiled.
“Do you want me around her?” Lucinda asked me. I gave her a serious look.
“She likes you and I trust you with her. Besides, they might ask her about you and it will look better if you’re here.” I squeezed her hand. “I like you being here.”
We talked about her lab for a while and what she wanted to do with that. I admired her persistence. She reminded me of a buddy’s little sister and that memory made me smile as I sat down. “What’s that for?”
“You remind me of someone. Same name, though she went by Lucy.” I looked at her as she stared at me. “I suppose you look a little like her, too, but I don’t even know where she is these days. Her brother doesn’t live here anymore.” I heard a sound at the door and looked over to see Riley tapping on the glass. I stood up and walked over to her, picking her up to bring her outside. She should be sleeping, but screw it.
“Hi,” Lucinda said as Riley reached out her arms to go to her lap. I smirked as I passed her over, seeing how natural their relationship was. Riley hugged Lucinda as she told her all about her day. She asked Lucinda to bring her back to bed and I watched the girls walk in together.
I knew that this could be dangerous, but it made Riley happy. That was my life goal. I’d deal with the consequences if things ended with Lucinda.
I brought everything inside as it got darker and set up in the living room. Lucinda came out looking sleepy and I grinned at her. “Did you fall asleep?”
“Close. Why did you give her a full-size bed?” Lucinda asked as she sat beside me and took the glass of wine that I offered her.
“Mom bought it for her as soon as she grew out of her crib. She wanted her to have plenty of room, but I can’t count the amount of times I’ve fallen asleep in there with her. I make a point of locking the door every time I close it now.” I laughed as I remembered the mornings that I woke up in her bed, pissed off that I didn’t make it to my own room.
“I can see why,” Lucinda told me as she looked at me for a moment. I gazed back at her, seeing the softness in her eyes as she licked her lips. I smiled and leaned closer to her.
“No sex. What about other stuff?” I asked softly as she smiled. ‘
“Other stuff is okay. We need to practice, right?” I claimed her mouth with those words. She pressed against me, our tongues sweeping together. We kept it to kissing, but my body ached for her as I ran my hands over her figure and felt her curves. Lucinda was gorgeous. She finally yawned and pulled away from me with a sleepy smile. “I should sleep.”
“Here?” I asked before kissing her softly. “I’ll be a good boy.”
“What about Riley? I would think you’d want to keep this away from her,” Lucinda asked as she looked at me in the dim light from the lamp.
“She’s three. I don’t think that she’ll do the math and I usually can keep it from her. You’re going to be my wife, though. You can go home before she wakes up if you’re worried about it.” I kissed her again and she moaned against my mouth.
“Okay,” Lucinda agreed as adrenaline surged through my veins. I shut the lights off and locked up the house before leading her to my bedroom where she walked over to the window. It was dim, but she shook her head. “You really could see everything.”
“It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” I admitted as I reached into my dresser for a shirt. “Want a shirt to sleep in?”
“Sure,” she told me. She took it and met my eyes. She walked into the bathroom and shut the door while I closed the curtains and pulled on some boxers to sleep in. I was sitting on the bed when she came out wearing my t-shirt that fell to her thighs, laughing. “This is crazy.”
We got settled under the covers and I pulled her against me for a soft kiss. “Why the wait for sex? Is there a particular reason?”
I felt her shift beside me as she sighed. “I guess I wanted it to be the right guy at first, and he ended up leaving. I was a teen, so I assumed that someone would come along at some point. I went out with a few and they didn’t fit the bill either. And then I met my ex.” Her tone went serious and I held her closer to me. “He was charming at first but difficult in the end. He was controlling and tried to make me do a lot of things that I didn’t want to do… Some things that worked out in his favor and others that didn’t.”
“He didn’t force you?” I asked her as she pressed her lips to my chest. It was gentle, but my heart started racing at the contact.
“No, it never got that far. I didn’t talk about the girls that he cheated on me with because I was relieved that he was mostly leaving me alone.” Her voice was sad. I slipped a hand into her hair to kiss her.
I felt her relax against me and stroked her back until she fell asleep. I wondered how extensive the other abuse in her relationships was as she breathed deeply. It surprised me that she was even here in some ways, but there was something so familiar about her.
I gave in to sleep finally, feeling like things were going to work out. I’d been so stressed about the custody issue that I was feeling like I was going to snap. Now I had the answer – or at least a little bit of hope.
We woke up and made breakfast for Riley before I went to work. It all became a habit. It got around that we were seeing each other in the neighborhood and everyone loved it. We spent time together on dates with Riley doing family activities. Dinner at Violet’s became a thing.
I surprised her with a ring a week later and proposed outside. I knew that it wasn’t real, but I liked her smile and the way she looked at the delicate diamond ring. I put it on her finger and we went to bed, moving dangerously close to making love as I pressed her to the bed. I sensed Lucinda’s growing trust in me and even some feelings as we moved apart, taking deep breaths.
This was getting harder for me.
Chapter Twelve – Max
I walked out to the mailbox after work one evening, noticing Lucinda doing the same. We smiled at each other as Riley babbled about something and pulled out the bills and ads while I flipped through the pile. I came across a large, thick envelope and smiled as I recognized Cameron’s return address. He was getting married. I started to walk to the house and asked Lucinda to come over for dinner. I glanced at her, seeing her holding a similar envelope. The only difference was that hers had a stamp on it, indicating that her address had changed. “You know Cameron?” I asked as she gave me a guilty look and pressed her lips together.
“I do. He’s my brother.” I stared at her as memories of then and now blurred together in my head. Lucinda took Riley’s hand and led her to the house as I watched her, my mind blown.
“That’s why you’re familiar,” I told her as she paused by my front door. “You’re Lucy!”
“I knew the first time I was at your house,” she told me as I opened the door and let her inside. “I just didn’t have the heart to tell you and I forgot about the wedding with everything going on.” She gave me a long look as Riley asked what was for dinner. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Lucinda made spaghetti and I mixed the salad as I played back our first kiss in my mind. I never forgot it and I hated my best friend for a while for interrupting it. It was the best kiss of my life, apart from the new ones from Lucy. Lucy, not Lucinda – her last name was different. Why the hell was her name different? Did she get married?
She looked at me as we ate, begging for me to be patient. I looked at her ring, sparkling in the light as I sipped a beer and tried to focus on my daughter. She was what mattered and this engagement was just to keep her. I’d leave it behind me now, knowing that Lucy lied to me about everything.
She gave Riley her bath as I did some work on my computer, still seething. I was half-tempted to call Cameron and ask him why the hell his sister changed her last name, but he would be busy with wedding preparations.
This was between me and Lucy.
I did think about how much she’d changed. Back when we were both in school, Lucy was a brunette with glasses. She was pretty in a librarian kind of way but kept more to herself. Now she was older. She had grown into herself and was a gorgeous, curvy woman. She had obviously lightened her hair and ditched the glasses. I assumed that she worked out. Even though she was curvy, she was fit and had the body of a woman. I remembered how hot I thought she was when I was going to be leaving school, but now she was stunning. Sadly, she didn’t see it in herself. I wondered if her ex had something to do with that.
Lucy came to stand in the office doorway once Riley was asleep. I glanced up at her. “Is she asleep?” I asked her as Lucy nodded.
“I’m sure you can go say goodnight, but she was tired tonight. I also assumed that it might be the last night I had the chance to tuck her in.” Lucy twirled her ring around her finger.
“Why didn’t you tell me? You had to know that I’d find out eventually,” I told her as I stared at her in confusion.
“I knew when I saw you, but I hoped that we wouldn’t see one another too much. That was my plan. I was going to try to get my new lab going at another place and never see you again. Then, I met Riley, you and I kissed, and you were asking me to marry you. I still kept telling myself that we would be over before we ever had to tell anybody about this.” She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry, Max.”
“I’ve never forgotten about that kiss, Lucy. Never.” I told her as she stared at me. “Had it not been for Cam, it might have gone further.”
“I never forgot about the kiss, either. You were the one that was supposed to be my first. You were supposed to be my everything, but you left. I just went on with my life and… things changed.” Her voice faded as pain crossed her face. I stood to stalk over to her.
“Why did you change your name?” I asked her, cupping her face as I stared at her. Looking at her now, she was the Lucy I knew. I held onto her as if she was going to disappear.
“My ex was stalking me. I had to get away from him and start over. I just changed my last name and used my full name. I don’t think you ever knew it before this.” She smiled weakly at me as I shook my head. “I should have told you from the start.”
“Lucy. I wondered what happened to you, but your brother didn’t seem to want to talk about it.”
“He was trying to protect me. Cam lost it when he found out about Braden. He was already in Montana, so I told him to stay there. Once I changed my name and left Long Island, I felt like I’d be safe. I dyed my hair and changed my style a little bit, too. It was refreshing.” She smiled at me. “Seeing you is refreshing. I trust you, Max. I like being with you.”
“I can keep you safe.” I told her, knowing that this was more than a fake marriage now. I never stopped thinking about Lucy and, now that she was here in my life, I had so many questions to ask her.
“You don’t want me to leave?” she asked as tears filled her eyes. “I got prepared for you to ask for your ring back and end this. You want me to stay?”
“I want to get to know you again. I still need a wife, and what better wife could I find than the girl that used to keep me laughing through the hard times? You were always so damn funny and sharp. Why did you hide from everyone else?” I asked her as I took her hand and led her to the couch to sit down.
“I was shy then. I was a nerd – just happy to live in my little world. I think I am more so like that now after Braden, but I feel better knowing that I have a new identity.” Lucy shrugged and looked at me. “My family members are the only people that know about that. That’s why Cam has been quiet about me. They were scared that something was going to happen to me after I left Braden. It was so scary when he was following me everywhere… I didn’t know if I was going to become a statistic. The odds are low in those kinds of relationships, but Cam helped me out here and the name change went through. I was already working at the lab and I increased security measures, but it still burned down. I was glad that it was owned by my parents and couldn’t be traced back to me under my old name. I just don’t know if it was an accident or arson. They’re taking their time looking into it.”
“What did Braden do for a living?” I asked her as she frowned at me.
“He was a police officer in Long Island,” she replied as understanding crossed her face.
“Do you think someone is holding it up on purpose?”
“Maybe. I hope that you can get your new lab without an issue.” I looked at her. “I guess you’ll keep this name when we get married?”
“I didn’t even think about that. Do you want me to have Riley’s last name?” I asked him as we moved closer together.
“If you want it. We get to announce this to our family in a few weeks, so it might help it look authentic.” I looked into her eyes as she laughed.
“Oh, God. Do we surprise them there or tell them now?” Lucy asked as she leaned into me.
“We can decide that later,” I assured her, still irritated by everything a little bit. I understood, though. She was keeping herself safe. Now that was my job, too.
I kissed her, knowing that it was Lucy. I knew her personality and her past and I got to know her future. We took it to the bedroom, kissing in just our underwear. I moved down her neck. I didn’t want to stop this time.
Lucy pulled away from me, breathing heavily as she rolled onto her back. I stared at her hard nipples and forced myself to calm down. She closed her eyes and smiled as I curled my arm under a pillow.
I wanted her more than ever now that I knew who she was, but I also wanted to respect her wishes. Cam’s wedding was coming up, and after that we were supposed to be married. I’d give her that.
Chapter Thirteen – Lucy
We kept the relationship going until we flew to Montana for the wedding. By this time, Max had admitted to Cameron that we’d started dating and we became engaged quickly. He said that we knew each other already and that twelve years was a perfect amount of time to find out we were right for each other. It was a shock to everybody, but they were happy.
I was still pretty sure that Max held my secret against me sometimes, but I made it up to him by taking care of him and Riley. She stayed with his parents while we went away. I was surprised to find that I had a seat in first class. It was a surprise from Max. I kissed him before the woman brought me a glass of champagne.
My brother and his fiancée Jane were having a simple wedding in a meadow with about sixty guests. They kept it limited to friends and family and we were all staying in a series of cabins on the property. I knew that Max and I had the same one since we were engaged, and it made me nervous. We’d done so much besides have sex. Every night with him made me want to just take that step. It was hard to hold onto my heart’s biggest wish when I was with Max and he was with me, Lucy.
>
His Lucy.
We landed and rented a car to get to the resort where they were having the wedding. My parents were already there and I hugged them tightly as Max walked over with the keys in his pocket. They hugged him as well, congratulating him on the engagement. I smiled. It all felt real. When Cameron approached us, I ran and threw myself into his arms. “You had to end up with Max, didn’t you?” he teased me.
I felt bad for our lie and smiled as I pulled away. “I suppose fate made its own way, didn’t it? I am so happy for you.” I hugged him again, happy to see his warm brown eyes and feel his embrace. I missed Cameron as much as I did Max when he left. Soon, I saw his pretty bride-to-be coming over with a big grin on her face.
I had only ever talked to her on Skype, but she was every bit as pretty in person as I expected. They were only together for a year before they decided to jump the gun. I supposed that Max and I weren’t that exceptional when I saw the love between Cameron and Jane.
We had the rehearsal dinner that night with the small wedding party that consisted of Max, Jane’s brother Nick, myself, and Jane’s best friend Mary. My brother was popular in school, but he kept his circle close and their relationships just got stronger as he got older. They lived in a small town on a ranch here in Montana and it was a different life than New York. He was different but happy, and it was nice to see him and Max catching up.
I laughed as Max told a story about Cameron in school, remembering it well. He grinned at me and reached for my hand as I sipped my wine. The night ended and we all went back to our cabins. I felt the wine in my head. I had to remind myself to wait until we got married, but something about this atmosphere just made me want to give in.
I watched him with my family and fell a little harder for him. My aunt had knee surgery a few weeks before the wedding but came anyway, and he was so kind when he helped her around. Max was charming everyone.
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