Lucas (Members From Money Book 20)

by Katie Dowe

  “No.” She reached for him as he took off his shirt and left his chest bare. Her fingers wandered over the warm flesh as she explored him. He hurriedly took off his pants and left his underwear on. He cried out sharply as she leaned up and took a nipple with her tongue.

  “Christ!” he muttered as he pushed her back down and came over her. He reached between her legs and pushing aside her panties his finger dipped inside her. Jasmine let out a sob as she arched her body against his fingers.

  *****

  She sat there eyeing the official looking envelope warily as she sipped her wine. It was her third glass and she was beginning to get lightheaded. It was Tuesday, two days after they had been to his parents. He had told her that his P.I person had gotten the results and he would be bringing it home with him. They had eaten something and he had gone upstairs to give her privacy because she had requested it. She knew that if she stayed down long enough he was coming to get her. She picked up the envelope and turned it around in her hands.

  “Open it, Jasmine, and get rid of the suspense.” His deep voice from the doorway caused her to jump.

  “Dammit, Lucas, you scared the crap out of me!” she said in an irritable voice.

  He came further into the kitchen and took the seat next to her. “I told you that if you dawdled I would come and get you and I stood in that bedroom torturing myself over whether or not she is down here crying her eyes out or thinking about something crazy. Open it, Jasmine.”

  “Don’t rush me.”

  He took the envelope from her and broke the seal, taking out the sheaf of papers. “There you go.”

  She eyed him balefully and took up the paper in her hands. She read quickly with a frown on her forehead and he saw when her eyes widened. “Son of a bitch!”

  She hopped off the stool and headed to the living room. Lucas grabbed the papers and followed her just in time to see her grab her jacket. “Where are you going?”

  “To confront the low life who fathered me.” She shoved her hands into the sleeves.

  “You are not going alone.” He grabbed her arm just as she was about to open the door.

  “It’s not your problem,” she bristled.

  “Like hell it’s not.” He grabbed his jacket as well and his keys. “I am driving and you can explain to me who this person is.”

  He kept a hand on her until they were in the underground garage where clicked the alarm to the Corvette. She did not say anything to him, just folded her arms and stared out the window. “We are stopping at Bubba’s first,” she told him coolly.

  He made the turn and kept glancing at her stony profile. She was opening the car door almost as soon as he parked in the driveway. He followed her as she ran up the steps.

  “Did you know?” she asked coldly as soon as Bubba opened the door to admit them.

  “Know what?” Bubba looked from one to the other.

  She grabbed the papers from Lucas and shoved them at him. “Did you know he was the one who screwed my mother and got her pregnant?”

  Bubba scanned the documents quickly and they saw when he stiffened. “This can’t be true,” he said slowly as he looked up at them. “I have known him all my life and he would never do something like this. Maybe he did not know.”

  “So let’s go ask him.”

  He hesitated and saw the determined expression on her face. Bubba went to get a jacket and followed them out. Neither of them spoke a word except to give directions to Lucas on where Clive’s restaurant was. When they got there the place was packed and lively with merry conversation and some catchy music. Jasmine had done her duty and had written about the place which had given it a certain edge.

  Clive spotted them the moment they entered and waved them over. “Hey, you could have called and told me-”

  “Is there somewhere we can speak in private?” Lucas asked interrupting him.

  He looked at them curiously and nodded his greying head. “Right this way.” He led them into a tiny cubicle that could barely accommodate the four of them and then turned to look at them.

  “You never told me you were involved with Jackie,” Bubba said to him as soon as he closed the door.

  “What?”

  “He is talking about my mother and the fact that you had sex with her and got her pregnant, Clive.” Jasmine flung the papers at him. “Did you know you had created a life? Because believe me if you had no idea that I existed then I will walk out of this place and we go on as usual. Did you know?”

  He stared from one to the other, a hunted look on his craggy handsome face. “You have to understand. I had just recently gotten married and Melba was pregnant with our son.” He looked at Bubba as if for help and continued. “You know how it was in the force those days. Bubba, something like that is heard and there would be consequences.”

  “You were there when we picked her up off the streets. Clive. Did you know it was your own daughter?” Bubba asked him coldly.

  “I swear I did not know.” Clive was sweating profusely as he looked at Lucas and then looked away. “She came to me and told me that she was pregnant and that the kid was mine but I did not believe her.” His eyes careened to Jasmine and he looked away. “I was scared of losing my family and my job. She was just someone I had sex with a couple of times-”

  The slap Jasmine gave him was hard enough to cause her palm to sting and his head to jerk. “You bastard!” she whispered as she turned and walked out of the office with Lucas following her.

  “You are not the man I thought you were,” Bubba said contemptuously as he followed after them.

  She did not say a word even when Bubba tried to get her to say something. They dropped him off at home and he stood there looking after her, his heart breaking into tiny pieces. She certainly could not take anything else!

  Chapter 12

  “Talk to me,” he said quietly as soon as they came into the apartment.

  “I just want to be alone for a while please.” Her eyes looked haunted and he could feel her slipping away from him.

  He came over and ran his hands up and down her arms. “Look at me.”

  When she did he continued, “I am here. If you want to vent, cry, or just be silent. I am here. I signed up for this when I fell in love with you. Please don’t go through this alone.”

  “I thought I would have felt better when I found out.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “He would come around every other day with Bubba and he made me call him ‘Uncle Clive’,” she said. “I played with his kids and we would go for rides in the squad car. I thought he was such a nice man and I wished he was really my uncle. All this time he was my dad and he never said anything not even to Bubba.” She bowed her head onto his chest and closed her eyes.

  With a sudden decision he picked her up and carried her to the sofa in the living room where he sat with her on his lap. She turned her head into his chest and he felt the shaking of her shoulders and the warmth of her tears as she cried against him. He did not say anything to her but held her while she released her pent up emotions. He did not know what to say to her and he was sure he would not be able to make her feel better right now. He just wanted to be here for her.

  Later that night she slept in his arms, her body curved against his. She had fallen asleep after he had given her some tea. He held her gently to him, his expression troubled. He loved her and wanted to take the hurt and pain from her but he had no idea how to do that! He knew it was going to take some time for her to get over something like that and he just wanted to be there for her! Bubba had called him and asked how she was and he had told the man that she was hanging in there. They had talked while Jasmine was in the shower.

  “I could murder him,” Bubba said grimly.

  “You would have to get in line,” Lucas had responded wryly.

  “He was my partner as well as my best friend and I never knew,” Bubba had sighed. “I knew he was going through something and I asked him about it but he would just say it was home. His wife was a ball
buster but that was no excuse.”

  “You did a good job raising her.”

  “Yeah. Take care of her please.”

  “You don’t have to ask twice. She is my heart.”

  *****

  “I need to talk to you please.” His voice sounded weary and subdued far from the cheerful man she knew.

  “I don’t want to hear anything from you, Clive. I think I heard enough,” she told him acidly.

  “Please just ten minutes and you can walk out after. I just need to explain.”

  She thought about it for a few minutes and then told him yes. She had seen Lucas watching her as she got ready for work this morning and knew he was concerned but she needed to sort it out in her own way. He had told her that they could make an early night of it and maybe go and have dinner someplace. She had said yes to shut him up.

  She had gotten to the magazine early and had started working on the piece she had outstanding when she got the call.

  She left at three and made the drive there. The restaurant was scanty at that time of day with a few people sitting around enjoying buckets of the crispy fried chicken. He came towards her as soon as she came in and indicated that she come with him. He closed the door of the office and turned to face her. “Bubba refuses to speak to me,” he said with a shaky laugh. “We have been best friends forever and I have messed it up with him.”

  “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Your friendship with Bubba?” she asked him coldly. “You could have saved me the drive all the way out here.”

  “No, of course not!” he said hastily as he stared at the coolly remote exquisitely beautiful woman who stood in front of him. She had turned out better than his two kids. If only he had played his part in her life! “I just want to say I am very sorry. I should have stepped up and played my part as your dad.”

  “That’s okay. Because you know what? Bubba did an awesome job and I am glad he was there as my dad. I have no regrets where that is concerned.”

  He bowed his head in shame and then looked up at her. “Do you think that eventually-”

  “We will become father and daughter like one big happy family?” Jasmine asked him sarcastically. “No. Bubba is good enough for me. Go back to your family that you chose over me Clive and please lose my number.” She pushed past him and opening the door went out without a word. She sat in the car out front for a few minutes and then drove away slowly. She picked up her phone and rang Phil’s number. “Hey.”

  “Hi yourself. You have been scarce.” His tone was deliberately casual. He had been trying to come to grips with her being with Lucas Henderson but still was not getting there yet.

  “A lot of things have been going on. Look can we meet someplace? Like right now?”

  “I am getting off in a few minutes. How about the café we go to sometimes?”

  “I will meet you there.”

  She hung up and made a call to Lucas. “I was just about to call you. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I am. I have something to do now so I will probably run a little late.”

  “How late?”

  “Maybe around six or so. I am not running away, Lucas.”

  “I should hope not. I have put a tracker on your vehicle.”

  “What? You would not dare!”

  “I am kidding, but it seems like a good idea.”

  “I am not running away from you not because you think you have such a hold over me but because you have grown on me and well I miss you when I am not with you.”

  There was a moment of silence and Jasmine shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Why darling, is that a declaration of love?” he asked her softly.

  “Bite me,” she said with a laugh.

  “Gladly,” he murmured huskily glad to hear that her mood had improved. “When you get home I will bite wherever you want me to.”

  “I am driving here,” she said hoarsely.

  “Hurry up and get home, darling.”

  She hung up and felt her hands trembling on the steering wheel. With a sigh, she turned into the car park and went to meet Phil.

  He had ordered for her. A strawberry shake with a thin roast beef sandwich. “Thanks, you read my mind.” Jasmine took the seat opposite from him and reached for the shake. “How are you?”

  Phil shrugged and looked down into his chocolate smoothie. “I have been better.”

  “Look, Phil. I want us to continue being friends. I don’t know if that is selfish of me but I value our friendship a lot. I just discovered something recently and I almost lost it.” She told him about Clive being her biological father causing him to stare at her in shock.

  “He knew?”

  “He did but he had his family and his job to think about so he did not want any part of it.” She stirred the straw around in her shake. “I am getting past it. Bubba was right. He is my dad and I am cool with that. Another thing I want to talk about is this: I am with Lucas.” She saw the hardening of his expression and plunged on. “If it was not him it would not have been you. I don’t think of you that way. For the first time in my life I have met someone who does not take what I dish out and no matter what he is there for me. He is special and different and I am scared about the future but I know I don’t want to spend another day without him.”

  “He is a lucky man,” Phil said grudgingly.

  “I think I am the lucky one,” she said softly, her dark brown eyes glowing. “So are we cool?”

  “I suppose we are.” He sighed and leaned forward. “As much as I would have liked it to be me I am happy for you, Jas, and I want us to be friends still.”

  “Good. Because I want you to come to my wedding.” She shrugged. “It’s going to be sometime in June.”

  “You don’t sound too enthusiastic.”

  “It’s not because of Lucas. I wish we could run away to one of those gaudy wedding chapels in Vegas and say the ‘I dos’ but Lucas is a very important man and his parents are kind of looking forward to it.”

  “And I want the chance to be in your wedding party,” he said with a smile.

  “Yeah, and there is that.” She grinned at him. “So I guess I will have to go ahead with it.”

  She spent a few more minutes with him and then left.

  *****

  He had dinner on the balcony waiting for her when she came to the apartment. She hung up her jacket and wandered around looking for him when she noticed the open doors of the balcony and the glow of candles. He was standing at the rail looking out with his back to her. He had come home and showered and changed into simple grey slacks and light blue shirt and his hair glowed in the combined light of the moon and the candles on the table. She walked over and put her hands around his waist, resting her head on his back. Lucas exhaled sharply as he felt her against him. For one crazy moment he had thought she was going to leave and he could not find her.

  “Hey,” he said huskily without turning around.

  She splayed her fingers over the rigid contours of his well-toned stomach. “You ordered out?”

  He turned to face her, his green eyes searching her exquisite face. “Where were you?”

  “I went to meet with Clive.” She shrugged a little. “He called and said he wanted to explain so I went and I listened and then told him that I never want to see or speak to him again. After that I went to speak to Phil. He is my friend, Lucas, and I did not want us to end things in a bad way. I want us to remain friends.”

  “I walk on eggshells around you.” His thumb caressed her cheek slowly. “I find myself looking at my phone wondering if you are going to call or wondering if and when I call I will get an answer. I keep wondering if you are coming home. I feel as if I am standing on the edge of the cliff wondering if I am going to be pushed to my death.” He released her and stepped back. “I love you so much, baby. I love you beyond limits and I am scared you are going to take my heart and trample it under your feet.” He smiled at her whimsically. “I can’t do it anymore.”

  Jasmine stared at
him in shock. “What?”

  “You have to want to be with me. I am not going to wait around and keep wondering if you love me.” He turned and started walking towards the doors that led inside.

  “Wait a damned minute!” Jasmine caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “Are you dumping me? Because if you are you can bloody well say it to my face!”

  “I want you to want to be with me, Jasmine.”

  “All of a sudden you are taking this attitude? I have been going through some stuff and you know it, dammit! You forced your way into my life and make me-” She stopped and backed away from him, her eyes wide.

  “Make you what?” he asked her softly as he came towards her.

  “Leave me the hell alone!” she whispered.

  “Make you what, Jasmine? Too afraid to say it?” His tone was challenging and she rose to it.

  “You made me love you!” she cried out. “Damn you! I love you! Are you satisfied? You make me fall in love with you and you are calling it quits? Who is the coward now?” She squealed a little as he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.

  “Was it so hard?” he whispered hoarsely as he held her against him.

  “No,” she whispered back. “No. Lucas, I am afraid.”

  “I will never hurt you.” His hands cupped her face. “Do you believe me?”

  “Yes.” The tears made her eyes bright. “I can’t be without you.”

  “You won’t have to.” He bent his head and took her lips in a kiss designed to send her into a spasm of intense passion that had her clinging to him. He lifted her into his arms ready to take her inside.

  “The food!” she protested.

  “It will still be there when we are through. I just want to be with the woman I love.”

  “No problem.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Were you really planning to dump me?”

  “No,” he murmured with a gentle smile. “I wanted to scare the admission out of you.”

  “You know I am going to get back at you, right?”