She salivated over her entrée. Lucas had a similar dish with a slice of steak! So early in the morning? But then again, judging by his broad shoulders and his muscular build she knew he worked out hard at the gym so having a protein-rich meal was probably expected.
“I’m really sorry about what happened to you at the apartment, Maxine.”
“So I am,” she lamented. Her eyes looked downcast. “But I’ll survive.” A knot tied in her stomach but she had to be brave about the whole thing.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For this. For doing all of this. For your concern,” she murmured. “I have to be honest with you, Lucas. It shocked me to see you at the motel where I'm staying. I was like…wow! What are you doing here?”
“As I said before, you're like family. I take care of my family, Maxine.”
“I know.” She twirled her scrambled eggs on the plate.
“Listen, I’ll be upfront with you, too,” he offered. “I had my men look into things for me with that note you received.”
Her eyes widened. But why was she really surprised? She suspected he may have something to do with watching her back, though she didn’t know for sure. She secretly hoped he would. Who wouldn’t want to have a hot, eligible guy watching their back from time to time? Watching over them, sort of? Like a genuine hero. Not that she needed saving. At least that’s what she fed herself daily. She was drowning in debt, overwhelmed with caring for her mom and didn’t know which way to turn at the moment.
“I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“To be honest, it tore me up inside when I heard about it. You’re way too beautiful to be going through that crap.”
“It happens, I suppose. Speaking of which. I’m sorry about what you’re going through,” she said with genuine concern. “That really sucks when people try to make up things about you and tell the press about it."
“I know,” he said bitterly. His expression lightened slightly. “Thanks for caring.”
“Well, why wouldn’t I?”
“You’d be surprised at how many women wouldn’t even care to ask how I’m feeling or what I’m going through. Just what I can give them. Or what I can do for them…or to them.” A wicked grin touched his lips and he rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Oh, that’s terrible. You’ve dated the wrong women!” Maxine squirmed on her seat. Why did she say that? It must have come out awful. “I didn’t mean it like that, Lucas.”
“Oh, no. You’re right. I dated the wrong type of women in the past, Maxine.” The way he looked intently into her eyes caused all sorts of emotions to swirl through her body. Were they connecting? Lucas seemed more mellow than she’d ever seen him. He was comfortable opening up to her. That was good, wasn’t it? She was equally comfortable with him.
“You must have had one woman who was nice.”
Lucas swallowed hard. She knew she touched a raw nerve when she saw the look of pain sting his eyes. Oh, no. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. She should have quit talking when she was ahead.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s okay. I did have a steady girlfriend once. We dated in grade school,” he said putting his elbow up on the back rest and casually leaning back. He was looking off into the distance for a moment as if visualizing this former love.
“Grade school?” she asked. That was so long ago. Was that his only steady girlfriend?
“She was a good girl. It wasn’t anything like that. I was unaware of my…status back then. I’d only…my brothers and I met our grandfather when we were in our teens. So life up until that point had been pretty much like how your life is, Maxine.”
Wow. Normal. So he hadn’t been raised with a silver spoon in his mouth. No wonder he still hung out sometimes with “ordinary folks” and didn’t look down on those struggling to make ends meet. It made sense how they could connect like old friends. He understood Maxine and where she was coming from.
“Your life was like mine.” She smiled appreciatively. Maxine leaned forward, desperate to take her mind off her own troubles and get to know Lucas better. That was what she wanted. Intimacy on an emotional level before anything else.
“So what happened to the lucky girl? Where is she now?” Maxine probed.
Lucas’s eyes grew darker. Maxine flinched slightly. Was it something she said? Was she delving too deeply into a place in Lucas’s life that was off limits?
“She’s, Julianna, Julianna was her name, she's no longer…around,” he whispered almost inaudibly. His eyes glazed over with pain and a deep, horrible anguish she’d never seen on a man and wished she hadn’t. She wanted to reach across the table and hug Lucas. Was that why he hid behind his bad boy exterior and didn’t give a toss what others thought of him?
“I…Oh, God! Lucas. I’m so…so sorry,” she offered, her heart squeezing.
“It’s okay.”
“What happened?”
“It was a long process unfortunately. But we were close throughout school and then we discovered she had a rare form of brain tumor.”
“Oh, God! Lucas, that’s awful.”
“I know. She should have been enjoying school and everything else in life but she had severe headaches throughout it all. Her parents didn’t think much of it and thought she was studying too hard. They pretty much ignored it most of the time. I would get her Tylenol from my dad and give it to her. Her folks didn’t really believe much in modern medicine.”
Maxine shuddered inside.
“So,” Lucas continued. “Before long, the pain grew unbearable. I spent most of senior high going to appointments with her because her parents worked so hard and needed to pay the mortgage. Anyway, finally, they took time off work to get her hospitalized and we rotated turns sleeping at the bedside at the hospital. But the doc said it was too late. The tumor could have been operated on and maybe radiated if she’d had an MRI done long before and they’d caught it in time but…”
“Oh, God! Lucas, that’s terrible.” Tears stung Maxine's eyes.
Lucas was consumed by his emotions, she could see. “So that’s why I was inspired to develop a software system for clinics to get people into early signups and pre-screening for their health.”
“Of course,” Maxine chimed in. “The Healthy Start Program. How wonderful of you, Lucas.”
“It’s the least I could do. I had developed so many different programs in my line of work but that one was close to my heart.”
“I’m very…honored to know you, Lucas.”
Lucas shot Maxine a glance. “Well, I’ve never heard that before,” he admitted softly with a charming grin. “Usually women say the opposite.”
“Why?”
“Well, I’m not perfect, Maxine. I’ve made tons of mistakes. I love women. What can I say? But commitment was always difficult for me after Julianna died. I just didn’t feel anything intimate for anyone else, until now.”
“What?” Maxine almost choked on her drink. Something sparked inside her. Was he referring to her?
“I’ve been admiring you from afar, Maxine. I thought you would have known that.”
“No. I…um…why?”
“Because you’re different. And I can’t explain it but you reach me in a spot I’ve never been touched before, not since Julianna.”
Oh. My. What could she say to that?
“But you hardly know me,” she said, rubbing her finger around the rim of her cup.
“But I know me. And I know how I feel when I’m around you. And you’d be surprised at what I’ve learned about you and observed about you over the past six months since the wedding, Maxine,” he said with a knowing grin of satisfaction.
Maxine was stumped. What had Lucy said about her?
“Such as?” Maxine cocked her brow.
“You care deeply about those you love. You’re humble. And you’re sweet. You make me feel wild things inside, Maxine, and I didn’t even have to touch you. That’s what amazed me.”
“Oh!” Maxine felt heat rush to her cheeks and to the area between her legs. She was getting breathless in there. Was it the heat? Or the magnetic energy between them? So this was what kismet felt like. She never felt this way around any other man before.
“By the way, how is your mother doing?” he asked, so sincere.
Lucas Romero cared about her and her mother? Oh, my. He was so important. Maxine thought she hadn’t mentioned her mother before but then again at the wedding when they had chatted, it may have come up. But oh, God! This guy had a memory like an elephant. He remembered. That was good, wasn’t it?
“She’s,” Maxine swallowed hard. “She’s coping.”
“How are you coping?” Lucas leaned forward.
“Good.”
“Really?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I see it in your eyes. I can read eyes, you know. You work so hard around the clock, sacrificing yourself for the good of your mother and everyone else around you. When have you taken time for yourself? You know caregiver burnout is not healthy and can happen if you don’t take it easy.”
Maxine looked sheepish. What could she say? “You really care about me, don’t you?”
“I want to help you, Maxine. Let me. I can hire a private nurse for your mother.”
“Lucas, I…” Maxine broke off. She inhaled a deep breath before continuing. She really didn’t want to hurt his feelings but she had her pride. She wasn’t about to take a handout for nothing, especially from a rich, sexy bachelor. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. She didn’t want to send the wrong signal.
“Lucas, that’s so nice of you but…” Maxine bit down on her lower lip. “I just can’t accept that generous gift from you.”
“And why not?” he said forcefully.
"Well, there’s a price for everything, Lucas. You and I both know that nothing is free.”
“Ouch.” Lucas feigned a broken heart. “You really think I’m trying to buy you, Maxine? Now, that really hurt.” He seemed to be having fun with it instead of taking offense, which was a welcome relief for Maxine. The last thing she wanted to do was offend him. He was only trying to help her, wasn’t he?
“All I want is friendship, Maxine. Only if you want that.”
“Friendship?” Now it was her turn to take umbrage. Was that really all he wanted from her? “You mean friendship with benefits, right?” She cocked a brow. She really didn’t think a man as hot and sexy as Lucas Romero would only want female friends.
“You really do speak your mind, Maxine. I like that.”
“So do you. Sometimes.”
“Well, I try to be mindful these days.”
“But you would want something more from me, wouldn’t you?”
“Not if you don’t want it. But yes, I would love to f—, er, make love to you over and over again, enjoying the sounds of you screaming in unbridled pleasure like you’ve never known before. What’s wrong with that?” Lucas grinned as if nothing out of the ordinary was said.
Maxine must have flushed fifty shades of rouge. She was getting hot inside. Too hot. She swallowed hard and with shaking hands grabbed the glass of water that was by the side of the table and placed it to her lips. She needed air to breathe. She needed oxygenated water right now.
“Sorry,” he laughed. “Sometimes, I get ahead of myself. But you did want to hear what I had on my mind.”
“I did,” she said, smiling. “I’m…glad.” I’m flattered, too. Lucas really wants to do that to me? She visualized what it would be like writhing beneath this sex god on a bed, naked bodies entwined in an erotic fantasy. She was throbbing between her thighs.
Time to switch the subject.
“Listen, I’m very thankful…grateful that you want to help me, Lucas. But like I said, I’ll find a way to help my mom out.”
“It’s not a handout, Maxine.” His tone was more serious. He was really serious about helping her for nothing in return, wasn’t he? “You do love your mother, don’t you?”
“Of course, I do!” she shot back, placing her glass back on the table. “I’ll do anything for her.”
“Well, I can get you anything you want. Let me know. But I’ll need your consent first. I can have a twenty-four hour nurse to care for your mother.” He swiped his cell phone from his pocket. “Just say the word.”
“Lucas! I can’t have you do that.”
“Why not? I can do whatever the hell I feel like…as long as I have your consent, of course.” He gave her a wicked grin to melt her heart again. He was really serious, wasn’t he? He was so unlike the carefree bachelor she’d read about in news reports. Which went to show that you can’t believe everything you read or hear about a person.
“Yes, but—" The truth was she was worried sick about her mother’s safety in the nursing home since short-staffing was always an issue at the facility.
“Self-care, Maxine. You need to take care of number one before you take care of anyone else in your life. I know it sounds selfish but there is no other way. Besides, I don’t want to see anything happen to you.”
Maxine swallowed. “I promise to take care of myself, Lucas. You don’t have to worry about me.” She tried to brush him off with a grin and a roll of her eyes.
“You know something?” he said, leaning back. “I like that about you.”
“Like what?”
“The way you just seem to brush me off every chance you get.”
“That’s not quite what I’m doing.”
“Au contraire. You’re so different. Most girls would have jumped at the chance.”
“But I’m not most girls, Lucas.”
He leaned forward and gazed intently into her eyes and butterflies exploded in her belly. She loved the way he looked at her that way. Hungry passion burning in his eyes. A possessive interest in her. “I know,” he cooed with a wicked grin.
“Come here,” he said softly, getting up, reaching his hand to hers.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Over there to a better location. The sun will rise soon.”
“Oh?”
Lucas guided her to another side of the venue where there was a tinted window and a breathtaking view of the city by the lake. Beauty was not adequate to describe it.
“It’s a one-way visual. We can see out but no one can see in.”
“Oh, this is nice, Lucas.” And what a scenic view it was. She could see Lakeside Drive with a pier and a few yachts docked. Over to the left some tall, glass, high-rise buildings that reflected the glistening sunrise overlooked the rich, sparkling blue lake that seemed to stretch for miles along the coast. They didn't call it a “great lake” for nothing. Ontario was surrounded by a few great lakes the size of some cities and even some states. Glancing at the waves in the water outside was refreshing and soothing.
But it was the deep orange and red sun rising in the east that captured her as the reflection on the water was a warm orange over the blue. Darkness was melting into light. The dawn of a new day—and a new phase in Maxine’s life.
“I love watching the sunrise in the morning,” he whispered. “My mother used to tell us that when we rise with the sun we get more energy to start the day. It’s a wonderful way to renew your strength.”
When Lucas spoke, his eyes glittered with what looked like raw hurt. Maxine was sure there must be some story there but decided not to probe further. Not now. She just could not believe that Lucas was sharing this magical, intimate moment with her and it had nothing to do with them getting naked in bed. She’d never felt so sensual, so close to a man like this. He was opening up in a way that was indescribable, yet sweet.
Lucas sat beside her and placed his arms over the back of the chair around her. She wanted to snuggle in his embrace. This was so not the bad boy image the media painted of Lucas. She would never again believe everything she read about a celebrity or public person. Never again. She learned a lesson in that there was always more to a story.
To her delight, Lucas and she spoke practically through the night to early morning. They spoke about many interests and family stuff and all sorts of things while the city slowly woke until they heard the honking of horns and the busy traffic outside. Yep, the city was wide awake now. But she was grateful to have this time to feel protected after what had happened to her at her apartment.
And all through this she wasn’t even tired. How weird was that? She guessed Lucas was right about getting energy from the sun. Only once before did she remember pulling an all-nighter, while studying for finals, but it was nothing like this. Maxine always slept well during a twenty-four hour period. And she knew she would have to get some sleep sometime soon—if only in Lucas’s arms.
Lucas spoke fondly about his family. His grandfather, whom he adored more than anything on this earth—though they’d sometimes butt heads about issues. He spoke about the bond he had with his cousin Antonio and his six brothers. All of his family members were doing well in their chosen industries. They all worked under the umbrella of Romero Corp. and the Romero Foundation. The foundation especially brought so much to the community and it hosted the famous annual Diamond Ball that raised millions of dollars for various programs to help young entrepreneurs, fixed-income families and funded affordable housing for low-income families.
Maxine felt a pang of longing. She was happy that after all Lucas and his family had been through that he was doing well but she wished she had a large family too. It must be amazing, simply amazing to come from such a huge family—and a close-knit one at that, Maxine surmised.
Oh, how she wished she and her mother had a family. She didn’t even know her biological family. That hurt her the most. She was grateful for her adoptive mother but the pain of not knowing why her real family gave her away, stung her at times.
“So you have six brothers?” Maxine was stunned. She’d read about the Romero family but didn’t realize there was…so many of them.
A Bride for the Billionaire Bad Boy (The Romero Brothers, Book 2) Page 8
