The reality of kissing Lucas King was way better than the fantasy.
Four
Lucas was hanging on to his common sense by a quickly unraveling thread.
She felt so…good in his arms. He hadn’t expected that. Hadn’t expected her taste to enflame him or for the scent of lemons that clung to her to drive into his mind and cloud up his thoughts. The feel of her body pressed against his only made him harder. He pulled her closer, to let her know what he was feeling, and when she moaned, it almost pushed him over the edge and down a very slippery slope.
He had thought time would have muted the attraction that drew him to her. But it hadn’t. One taste and all he could think was…he wanted more.
One kiss, that’s all this was supposed to have been. A small preview of things to come. To get her thinking about him. Dreaming about him.
But it was so much more.
Rose Clancy.
Her name lit up in his mind like a shock of neon and that was enough to have him ending the kiss, however reluctantly. Lucas pulled away, though his every instinct clamored at him to hold her even tighter. He took one long breath and then another, hoping to steady himself.
This wasn’t the time for instincts. Or urges. This was a time for logic and cool thinking, and damned if he’d risk his plan by seducing her in the parking lot of a damn grocery store.
Somewhere close by, a car’s engine fired up, and Lucas took a step back from her, deliberately putting some distance between them. He could still taste her. Feel her.
Shoving one hand through his hair, Lucas thought that maybe Sean had been right. It had been too long since he’d been with a woman. That’s why Rose had gotten to him so completely. Hell, he was practically a starving man. Was it any wonder that a tender steak looked good to him?
His gaze was locked on her. She leaned against his car, lifting one hand to her mouth and holding the other hand up as if to warn him to stay away. Not really necessary, Lucas thought, but he got the message.
She was as shaken as he.
And that was a good thing, he told himself. At least he knew now that she would be thinking about him. Remembering this kiss, just as—he hated to admit it—he would.
“That was—”
“Rose—”
“—not something that’s going to happen again,” she finished, surprising him.
She straightened up, smoothed her hair and took another breath. After a second or two, she met his eyes and gave him a smile that was so forced it was more of a grimace.
“I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, but Lucas, you should know that I’m not looking for a relationship.”
Stunned, he could only stare at her. She was giving him the don’t-expect-anything-from-me speech? Had the world gone completely crazy? Her eyes were soft, her expression kind but remote, and Lucas was at a loss for something to say. This kind of thing didn’t happen to him.
Women didn’t turn away from Lucas King. They generally chased him down and did whatever they could to hang on to him.
“Excuse me?” he finally managed to say.
“Look, I’m sorry. I should have said something the minute I agreed to work for you.” She inhaled and rushed on before he could speak. “I noticed right away that there was an…attraction between us, but I didn’t think anything of it. It’s my own fault, I should have said something sooner. But the truth is, I’m not looking for another man in my life—”
She wasn’t—
“I don’t remember offering,” he said, his voice tightly controlled. Anger and disbelief warred in the pit of his stomach, kicking up an ugly brew as he felt the sting of rejection for the first time in his life.
She ignored that jibe. “And if I were considering getting involved with someone,” Rose continued, “it wouldn’t be with you.”
Completely shocked now, he just stared at her, too amazed to speak for a moment. This was not how he’d seen this little chat going. He’d expected to have to talk her down from their passionate kiss. To ease her gently into the seduction he had planned. What he hadn’t counted on was being insulted.
“What do you mean it wouldn’t be me? What the hell is wrong with me?” he finally shouted.
Rose winced and looked past him at the brightly lit grocery store as if checking to make sure no one else had come out and was listening.
Then she turned her gaze back to him. “Nothing’s wrong with you, Lucas. You’re just…not my type.”
“Type?” he echoed. This was not happening, he told himself sternly. No way was he standing in a grocery store parking lot looking at a beautiful woman and hearing her tell him to buzz off. This was so far out of his universe, he didn’t have a clue how to handle it. But his temper was on the rise and a sudden, pounding headache erupted behind his eyes.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he glared at her. “What type am I then?”
“Bossy.”
“Bossy isn’t a type,” he argued, because he couldn’t argue with the word itself. Sure he was bossy, but he preferred to think of that trait as confidence. All of the Kings were confident in themselves and their abilities, and they didn’t suffer fools, either. They took charge, got things done and steamrolled over whomever might be dumb enough to stand in their way.
Lucas was no different.
Yeah, he’d been called arrogant before. And unrelenting. And even, on occasion, egotistical. But it was a small price to pay for getting what he wanted when he wanted it. And he wasn’t about to apologize to Rose Clancy—or anyone else for that matter—for being the man he was.
“Just when exactly have I bossed you around?” he challenged, his eyes locked with hers.
She sighed. “You haven’t, in so many words. Not yet, anyway.”
“Oh, so you’re a fortune teller, too? You can read the future and so you know I’m going to start giving you orders?”
“I don’t need to read the future,” she told him, stiffening her spine and lifting her chin in defense against his tone. “All I have to do is look at the past.”
“That makes no sense, either,” he told her.
“It does to me,” she said simply.
Lucas shook his head and tried to rein in the million and one thoughts churning through his mind. Then he gave it up. How could he find logic in what was unreasonable to begin with? Was his plan for revenge going to end right here, beneath a flickering, ready-to-burn-out parking light?
“I can’t believe any of this,” he muttered, more to himself than to her.