Which, she admitted with a rueful inner smile, wasn’t a problem for her these days. Not since she’d cut herself off from the family coffers to go her own way.
“Anyway,” she said, inhaling sharply to bring her mind back into line. “The bottom line is, after my divorce I told Dave what I wanted to do and he actually tried to tell me no. That I should do volunteer work—not that there’s anything wrong with that at all,” she added quickly. “But I wanted more. I wanted to build my own business. Be my own boss. And Dave thought it was too risky to invest in.”
He snorted his disgust.
She appreciated the gesture even though she had the strangest urge to defend her brother. Shaking her head free of that notion, she said simply, “So I took the small trust fund my grandmother left me, opened my own business and am now alternately sinking and swimming all by myself.”
“Good for you,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “I can admire someone who knows what they want and goes after it.”
“Thanks. Wish Dave felt the same,” she admitted and felt a ball of tension in her stomach disappear.
“Yeah, well, Dave’s a special case, isn’t he?” Lucas muttered.
Studying him, she said softly, “I told you my deep dark secrets…why don’t you tell me what happened between you and my brother to break up your friendship?”
“No.”
“Just ‘no’?”
“Get Dave to tell you,” he said.
“Yeah, he won’t talk about you, either,” Rose told him. She tossed her ponytail back over her shoulder and said, “Secrets usually come out though. Eventually.”
“Not if you’re careful,” Lucas said, meeting her gaze until she was forced to look away from the heat she could see in those deep blue eyes.
“And you are?” she asked. “A careful man, I mean?”
“Always,” he said, leaning toward her. “I’m a King. We might make mistakes, but we never make the same ones twice.”
She looked up at him and tried to read what she saw in his eyes, but there was an emotional barrier there that she couldn’t see past. There was more to his statement than she knew, Rose told herself. But getting any more out of him wouldn’t be easy.
There was a warm, intimate feeling between them right now, she thought. Maybe it was the soft lighting, or the darkness beyond the windows. But it felt as though they were the only two people in the world. And that was a dangerous feeling, she realized.
Lucas King was temptation personified. Even his usually gruff manner wasn’t enough to dispel the fantasies that seemed to arise with more and more frequency lately. Then Rose thought about everything Dee had said about maybe just “living a little.” Why not enjoy Lucas in the short term?
Her stomach spun as she actually entertained the idea of seducing Lucas King. Could she do it? Hah! Of course she could do it. She’d seen the way he looked at her. She felt the heat pouring from his body into hers every time they so much as brushed against each other.
Oh, more and more dangerous, she thought, and said abruptly, “You know, I really should straighten up.”
She bolted from her chair and with her back to Lucas, she grimaced tightly at her own cowardice. She had thought about this man for years and now that she had the opportunity to do something about it, what did she do? The dishes.
Flipping the water faucet on, she was grateful for the rush of water into the sink. At least the soft roar filled the silence. Then she heard Lucas walking up behind her and she braced herself. Be strong, she told herself silently.
“Don’t,” he said.
Startled, Rose wondered if she’d actually spoken aloud, but in the next moment, Lucas reached past her, turned the water off and said, “Don’t hide from what’s happening.”
“Lucas…”
“You don’t want to do the dishes, Rose,” he murmured into the strained quiet. Then he laid his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him.
Stomach swirling, mouth dry, she lifted her gaze to his and inhaled sharply. Desire played out in those cool blue depths and he was making no effort to disguise his need for her.
“I’ve wanted to do this since that first night we kissed,” he whispered and bent down slowly, lowering his mouth to hers.
Rose felt her heartbeat jump into overdrive as Lucas got even closer. Her hands were braced on the edge of the counter behind her, her chest heaving with each shallow breath she took. Heat zoomed through her until she felt like a sudden fever had slapped her.
His mouth was just a breath away from hers when her mind started racing.
Did she dare risk a very good-paying job for the momentary satisfaction of having the night she’d always dreamed of with Lucas King?
Did she dare not do it when she had the chance?
Did she want to live to be a hundred and go to bed every night, filled with regrets, asking herself, Why didn’t you sleep with that man?
No. She really didn’t.
“Rose?”
He had stopped, his lips a fraction of an inch from hers. Waiting. Waiting for her to be the one to decide. For her to put a stop to this or welcome him with open arms.
He lifted one hand, smoothed his fingertips across her cheek and instantly, wild heat skittered through her body. Want and need clawed at her.
Lucas King’s touch was magnetic. Electric.
And just like that, her decision was made.
“No more hiding,” she whispered and leaned into him, offering her mouth up to him. And as his lips closed over hers, she sighed.
She was ready for the electricity.
She was more than ready for Lucas King.
He cupped her face in his palms and kissed her so thoroughly, so completely, Rose was lost in the sensations whipping through her. If she hadn’t already made up her mind to do this, the kiss would have convinced her. This kiss shook her completely, even more than the one they had shared only the week before, and, until that moment, she wouldn’t have thought that possible.
A desperate sort of longing filled her. This was what she’d been looking for most of her life. This…magic that sent waves of pleasure crashing through her. Rose leaned into him, wanting more, wanting it all. Heat pooled in her center along with a throbbing ache that pulsed in time with the ragged beat of her heart.
Rose’s skin hummed with anticipation as her tongue tangled with his. Lucas growled low in his throat and that rumble of sound awakened something vital inside her. His response to her was every bit as intense as her own. Knowing that, feeling that, gave her a heady sense of feminine power like she had never experienced before.