by Lara Hunter
“Right, but you sure loved riding on my coattails, didn’t you? You loved benefitting from the work I did to keep the company together and growing. And all the while you were just waiting to shove a knife in my back.”
Lucas shoved Ottavio away from him as he said that, just in time for the cops to grab him and handcuff him. I watched, awestruck, as Ottavio was led to a car. Our eyes met for a moment, just the briefest moment, but he was ranting about trash and new money. I wasn’t sure he even recognized me in the state he was in.
I became intensely aware of the police presence around me in that moment. They could have turned me in if they’d wanted to, I realized—both Ottavio and Lucas. Either one of them could have ruined my life with just a single word. I’d spent all that time outrunning the police, and there I was, practically handing myself over to them.
Lucas stood there, breathing heavily, watching as Ottavio was led away. He turned to me with a look on his face that I couldn’t quite describe. He was relieved, happy, heartbroken. Above all that, he noticed my discomfort and came to me.
“Are you all right, Selena?” he asked softly.
“I don’t want to be here anymore,” I whispered. “I don’t need them finding out who I am.”
“It’s all right,” he assured me, holding my face in his hands. “Really. You’re safe now.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one still running from the things you’ve done.”
“Listen to me.” He looked me straight in the eye. “That’s the past. You have nothing to worry about now. You don’t ever have to go back to doing that, either.”
“But my parents.” My chin wobbled when I thought about them. “This whole time, I was doing this for them. I was supposed to give all of that money to them. And now there’s nothing. It’s about to go away in the back of that police car. Not that I’m not glad Ottavio’s going. But still. Where does that leave me?”
“Where do you think it leaves you?” Lucas asked, smiling before kissing me tenderly.
I allowed myself to sink into the kiss, to soak up every last moment of tenderness before our inevitable parting. I didn’t want it to happen. It broke my heart just thinking about it. I wanted it to last forever.
“I don’t know.” I whispered when we broke the kiss, wiping a tear from my cheek. I wished things could be different. I wished we had met in some other way, that I didn’t have such a huge, black mark against my name. There was no way it would ever work. I was essentially a criminal, even if nobody had ever caught me.
“You don’t know? You mean that? Selena!” Lucas laughed, throwing his head back. “I can’t believe you! You don’t know how much I want you? How much I need you?”
I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. There I was, thinking I had everything before I met him, thinking I didn’t need anybody. Then he came along and changed everything. And he wanted me. He wanted me, even when he knew about my past.
“You mean it?” I asked, almost afraid to say the words.
“Of course, I do! I don’t care what you did before. I know why you did it. You needed to. You were only doing what you thought was right. None of it matters now—I mean that. I only want you, Selena. The real you. The present you—and the future you.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“I’ve never been more sure. I want to take care of you and share my life with you. Will you let me?”
Would I let him?
I threw my arms around his neck, squealing as he picked me up and swung me around. I had never been so happy, not in any other moment of my life. It was all over. I didn’t have to be afraid anymore. I could live my life with Lucas, and there was nothing that I wanted more.
When he set me back on my feet, we kissed again. This time it was a deep, searching kiss, his arms around me and holding me tight to him. The sun set on the horizon as he kissed me and I kissed him back, while the police car—in which Ottavio sat soundlessly yelling—pulled away.
EIGHTEEN
I sighed in deep satisfaction, enjoying the feeling of the sun on my shoulders, the smell of the surf. I touched the sand, letting it fall through my open fingers. How many other people had touched that sand? Were they as happy as I was?
It had been three months since it all ended, three months of the sort of bliss I didn’t think was possible for me. In a previous life, I’d always been sure that the sort of happiness I’d felt since Lucas and I got together wasn’t real, just the kind of thing that existed in stories, movies, love songs. Not real.
I was wrong for all that time. But I couldn’t have known until he showed me that there was love like I’d known with him. I couldn’t have guessed it on my own. I was waiting for him to come along.
And he did. And he changed my entire life.
As if he’d heard me thinking about him, Lucas jogged over to me from where he’d been swimming in the surf. My heart skipped a beat as I watched him cross the stand to meet me, and there was no missing the approving looks from other women on the beach as he caught their eye. His body, dripping wet and glowing in the sun, was like a magnet. There was no avoiding it. And he was mine. I wanted to jump up and down in place, shouting that he was mine. All mine.
“Are you ready for your lesson?” he asked with a grin.
“I guess. Might as well get this over with.”
He helped me to my feet. “You’re too hard on yourself. I bet you’ll love it.”
“I’m really not very coordinated,” I protested.
“It doesn’t take that much coordination. It just takes balance.”
“I don’t have much of that, either,” I reminded him.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Lucas chuckled. He shook his head. “Come on. You’ll love it.”
I was only kidding—at least, half-kidding. I wanted to be part of something he loved. I wanted to be with him as much as I could, whenever I could.
He led me to where he’d laid out the boards and walked me through the basics. He showed me how to lay flat against the board while paddling, then had me practice the motions.
“All right,” he said. “Once a wave starts to swell, you’ll jump up on the board like this.” He placed his hands on the board, one on either side of him, then pushed himself up to his feet.
“That’s the part I’m sure I won’t get when I’m in the water,” I fretted. I could do it on the beach like nobody’s business, but that was sand. It stood still. It wasn’t water.
“Just give it a try when you get out there. I bet you’ll surprise yourself.”
I couldn’t protest any further, so I picked up the board and carried it out to the water, my stomach doing flip-flops all the way. I couldn’t let him know how nervous I was. I didn’t want him to know how my knees knocked.
We took the boards into the surf, holding them steady on the surface and getting on. That part was easy. I paddled beside Lucas, listening to the instructions he shouted out along the way.
“Okay! A wave is coming! When I say ‘Now,' you’ll get up on the board.”
We turned parallel to the oncoming wave, then away from it. It started to carry us.
“Now!” Lucas shouted.
I bobbled, too nervous to move quickly enough. I rode the wave in on my stomach—and even that was a thrill. I could understand why he liked it so much, the feeling of being one with the waves. I laughed as I rode into shore.
“All right,” he said, coming up behind me. “We’ll try again.”
And we did. And we did. And then we did again. After an hour or so of false starts, I finally got to my feet without falling over and managed to ride a small wave in. I heard Lucas cheering me on as I did, and felt a strange sort of thrill like I’d never felt before.
Okay. I could understand what he loved about it.
I would never, ever be as good as him—he looked like a pro out there, twisting this way and that, riding along the inside of a wave until it closed upon him. I would always hold my breath for just a spl
it second before seeing him pop up again.
I was exhausted by the time Lucas decided we’d had enough of lessons for the day. I collapsed onto my towel, while Lucas collapsed onto his own.
“Jesus,” he muttered, throwing an arm over his eyes to shield them from the sun. “All this lovin’ with you is making me flabby and out of shape. I need to get out here more and stop spending all day in bed with you.”
I couldn’t help laughing a little as I thought about how close his words were to what I was currently facing—something he didn’t know about yet. Was it time to tell him?
“Of course,” I said, dragging a playful fingertip over the surface of his chiseled chest, “I think one good turn deserves another. That’s all.”
“Huh? What’s that mean?”
“Well, it’s just that if you can make me out of shape, I should be able to do the same for you.”
“You’re not fat, Selena,” he said in a flat voice. “If anything, you could stand to gain a little weight.”
“Yes, well, I will be. Soon. And it’s all your fault.”
It took him a minute. I waited, holding my breath. We hadn’t talked about babies, not yet—we hadn’t been together long enough. But when those two lines had turned pink, I’d just about jumped out of my skin with joy. The only thing that could make it better would be to know he was as happy as I was.
He lowered his arm, his face frozen. I couldn’t read his expression.
“What are you thinking?” I whispered.
He shook his head, his mouth moving with no words coming out.
“If you don’t say something soon, I’m going to die.”
“I…I’m stunned.”
“But not unhappy?” I asked, my voice a little squeak.
He shook his head. “Unhappy? I couldn’t be happier!” He almost jumped up, then rolled over and threw his arms around me. “Oh, God, Selena! I can’t believe it!”
He wasn’t kidding. He wanted our baby. I closed my eyes against the tears that formed there, my heart swelling with joy.
Lucas pulled back just enough to look at me, then to crush his lips to mine. His kiss was deep, passionate, and said everything that needed to be said between us. I didn’t need him to tell me how overjoyed he was. I felt it, and then some. Sweet relief washed over me.
“You shouldn’t have been out surfing!” he gasped, pulling back. “You should have told me before we got started!”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I already asked the doctor, and he said to go ahead. Maybe I’ll take it easy after this, but for now, we’re just fine.”
“Oh, good.” His eyes widened. “So this means you’re staying in Brazil?”
“Was there ever any question? I could never leave you, Lucas. I couldn’t bear it. This is my home now. You’ve given me a real home.”
We stayed that way for a long time, just looking at each other with big, goofy grins on our faces. The father of my baby. I couldn’t believe it. I never would have imagined myself so happy, so in love, just a few months earlier. Never in my wildest dreams.
“I can’t wait to tell Diego,” he suddenly said. “He’s gonna lose it.”
I smiled, stroking his face. It meant so much to me, knowing the two of them were together again as brothers. The fact that Lucas had thought of Diego so soon told me a lot about how close they’d become again.
“I can’t wait to tell my parents!” I giggled. It had been a whirlwind, my relationship with Lucas, and something Mom and Dad were still trying to wrap their minds around. I’d gone from their little girl, somebody who worked hard to help them live a comfortable life, to the girlfriend of a billionaire. We didn’t live together yet—I’d rented an apartment closer to his home—but with the baby coming, it was inevitable. Just another thing for them to get used to.
“I can’t wait to tell my parents,” he agreed. I still hadn’t met them, even though we’d talked about it. They lived well, thanks to their sons, but chose to live a quiet life out of the spotlight. Their home was in the countryside, far away from the hectic city.
“Do you think they’ll be happy?” I asked.
“I think they’ll be thrilled. And they’re lucky that their grandchild gets such a beautiful, wonderful mother.” He kissed my forehead, my nose, my cheeks.
“Are you sure I’ll be such a wonderful mother?” I asked. I didn’t have much experience with babies, with no siblings and therefore no nieces and nephews. I hadn’t babysat in years.
“Are you kidding? Honey, you’re loving, sweet, patient. I know you’ll be amazing.” He took my hand in his. “I want to introduce you guys. You and my parents, I mean.”
“Really? You mean it?”
“I think it’s been long enough,” he said. “Besides, now you have to meet them! You’re carrying their grandchild. If I tell them you’re pregnant, they’ll be on the road in the blink of an eye. I think you could even get them to venture into the city.”
“Wow. I’m honored,” I laughed.
“And I mean it,” he insisted. “I want them to know you’re a part of my life, for now and forever. They need to know about you, since you’re not going anywhere as far as I’m concerned.”
“Hmm,” I said, eyes narrowed. “Don’t I get any say in this?”
He laughed, kissing me again. “All right, Selena. Do you want to be in this for the long haul? Or would you rather play the field and see what else is out there?”
“Do you really have to ask? All I want is you.”
The knowledge that Lucas was inviting me into his life, making me part of things, only reminded me of how perfect he was. How we’d been meant for each other. I kissed him once again, the warm sun beating down on us, the sound of other beach revelers mixing with the sound of the surf.
As far as I was concerned, it might as well have just been us there on the beach. Just us, in our own little world.
The End
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And now, as promised, are the first few chapters of my previous novel,
Auctioned To The Sheikh
ONE
Gray walls. Why did every office have to have gray walls? It was as if the owners were trying to reinforce the fact that you were their prisoners, their little worker-monkeys designed to come up with brilliant, company-saving finance strategies at a moment’s notice—which Emily Michaels gladly did.
The 26-year-old looked around the buzzing offices of Salt River Resorts, the Arizona-based developer of high-end hotels and a company she’d been pouring her heart and soul into for several years. While she appreciated the talented minds of the developers that worked for the company, she was much more comfortable in the accounts department with the rest of her people.
Emily had worked as the accounts assistant at Salt River for four years now and regarded most of her coworkers as something of a hilariously dysfunctional family. While she liked her job, she’d been promised a higher position at least a year ago, yet still sat in the exact same chair she did when the offer was made.
For the most part, Emily liked working in an office; she loved working with numbers and getting to wear office formal attire every day. The company had been good to her, overall, but her mounting bills were only highlighting her frustration with the lack of a promotion.
“Are you even listening to me?” came the low voice of Emily’s co-worker, Lindsey. She had long blond hair that was always curled to perfection and bore the unofficial title of office charity fundraiser. The two women had become close friends over the years and always kept each other up-to-date on the latest work gossip. Today would be no different.
“Yes!” Emily said quickly as her attention snapped back to her friend. She glanced over to where Lindsey was pointing. The subject of her friend’s scoffing seemed to be two office workers who were having a not-so-private momen
t in the kitchen. Two research assistants, Tom and Katherine, were seemingly engaged in a tickle fight.
“Ugh, look at them,” Lindsey said, her tone tinged with sadness. Tom had been Lindsey’s office crush for months now. “They’ll be dating soon.”
“He’s just…tickling her. It’s harmless!” Emily lied with a wince.
“Don’t try and make me feel better.” Lindsey rolled her eyes. “They’re all over each other.”
“She’s begging him to stop,” Emily offered. “She seems pretty annoyed, actually.”
