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by Toni Aleo
“I see you can still be a little dramatic,” Lucas said nonchalantly, even though everything she said hurt a little. He knew he had hurt her, but broke her? Damn.
“You said you loved me! You’re a liar because you never, ever, ever did! If you did you wouldn’t have fucked my best friend!”
Lucas couldn’t help but laugh. “Are we really quoting Bruno Mars right now? Do you want me to carry on the next part, and then we can join in together at the chorus?”
Her eyes got dark with something, maybe lust…or hatred, either way he smiled. When he saw her mouth twitch at the side, fighting the smile that was threatening to show, he couldn’t help but say, “What did you do, sit up all night listening to that song, figuring out ways to use it when you yelled at me?”
“Fuck you, Lucas!”
“Anytime baby girl,” Lucas said with a grin. God, she was fun to mess with. The way her face flushed and her eyes narrowed turned him on to the point of no return.
Damn, she was hot.
A heated moment passed through them as their gazes locked and their breathing quickened. She could cause him to be hard for weeks with nothing but one look. When she puckered her little lips the way she was doing as she looked at him, he swore he could go right there. He loved her mouth and he loved when she did naughty things with it.
He loved her.
************************************************
Fallon looked away, she had to. Lucas was giving her that, ‘I’m about to throw you up against a wall and screw your brains out’ look and she couldn’t handle it. Just being in the room with him was making her hot from head to toe. She moved past him, wanting to get to the door so she could kick him out. When she reached it and turned, Lucas took a step towards her, making her take a step back, trapping her between him and the door.
Fuck. He was too close.
He gave her a knowing smile as he put both his hands on the wall, trapping her head between them.
Fuck, Fuck, Fuckity, FUCK!
“Oh, baby girl, why do you fight it?”
Fallon took a deep breath, trying her damndest not to be affected by his sexy grin or smoking gray eyes as she looked up at him. “I’ve told you many times, I’ve not your baby girl, and I ain’t fighting anything.”
Lucas just laughed as he moved in closer, his body only inches from hers. When she felt the heat of him, she wanted to melt into a puddle of goo. He was the best person to sleep with when it was cold, he gave off so much heat that Fallon didn’t even need a blanket when she slept with him.
Aiden was the same way.
Before she could say anything, Lucas came in close, his lips so close that if she only moved a little she would be kissing him — something she had thought about a lot since the first night she saw him again. It was something about his lips; the way they were so thin, and with the way he was always biting them, it just made her hot. Period. They were just so damn sexy!
“Oh, you’re fighting the fact that we are supposed to be naked and in bed, baby girl and I need you to quit, because we both know that I’ll do you good. That we’re good together.”
Forming words wasn’t happening. Fallon knew she looked like a fish gasping for air as she looked up at him. How dare he? Be just so blunt about the fact that they used to have spectacular sex, but never again. She would never do it, she just couldn’t.
Right?
Lucas slowly moved his hand to the side of her throat and Fallon knew he felt her pulse going nuts. She felt like her heart was about to bust out of her chest.
“I know I still affect you, and damn baby girl, you just don’t understand what you still do to me,” he whispered before moving his nose against hers.
Fallon’s eyes closed slowly as she took in a choppy breath. Fallon knew she was losing the battle against resisting him; he was too smooth, too sexy, and Lord knew, she wanted to get laid. What was the big deal? Have some fun, chuck some deuces and never talk to him again.
But she just couldn’t do it.
Fallon moved her hands up his strong hard chest before stopping and pushing him away. She caught him off guard and he stumbled backwards. He looked at her confused while all she could think was that she could never sleep with him again. For one, he had hurt her more than anyone ever had and, two, she still hadn’t told him about Aiden. Not that she was going to, because this was over now.
“You lost me, and you’ll never have me again. Stay away from me Lucas, I mean it.”
Fallon moved past him as the tears threaten to fall. Why did it feel like she was breaking up with him all over again? Why did he affect her like this? Why wasn’t she over him? Why did she ask the same questions over and over again! Damn it, she needed an answer!
Oh God, she still loved him.
She had to brace herself against her desk as she took in deep long breaths. How? How did she still love him after everything he did to her? After everything she lost when she came home pregnant with Aiden, and how she had struggled since. He didn’t deserve her love. He didn’t deserve anything from her but Fallon still loved him, she had never stopped and she couldn’t understand it.
Fallon whipped around, anger filling her as she glared over at Lucas. He stood there with his cocky grin that drove her half past mad, and she decided then that she was done with Lucas Brooks.
“Why are you still here? Go, never come back.”
“You don’t mean it,” he said confidently as he fell back into the chair that sat in front of her desk. “Not only are you trying to convince me that you don’t want me, but you are trying to convince yourself. Is it working?”
Fallon rolled her eyes. “I do mean it, you jerk, so go.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you come over here and sit on my lap. Maybe give me a sweet kiss from those naughty lips of yours,” he said, crossing his legs and smiling over at her.
Unfortunately, Fallon’s breath caught but she recovered well, glaring and dismissing him with her hand. “Go, or I’ll call security.”
Lucas let out a gut-busting laugh before looking over at her with a look that said he didn’t believe her at all.
“Yeah, right.”
************************************************
Fallon called fucking security on him.
He couldn’t believe it. He was convinced he had gotten through to her when he had her up against the wall, but nope. She had him thrown out on his ass, in the cold.
What the hell?
Lucas stood in front of the doors of Rocky Top Wines, not knowing what to do. All his plans did not work, which freaking blew his mind because before they would have. Fallon was easy to make happy — buy some lip gloss and flowers and the girl was goo in his hands, but now he was stuck. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know the new Fallon, and she wasn’t giving him a chance to get to know her.
“Damn it!” he yelled out just as a curvy little brunette came around the corner. She looked up at him and Lucas froze. She was a thicker version of Fallon. She wore a bright yellow sweater dress with thigh high black boots that had chains all over them.
“I know you!” she gushed, pointing at him.
“You do?” he asked, “’cause I think I might know you.”
“No you don’t know me, but you know my sissy. I’m Fallon’s sister, Audrey, and you’re Lucas Brooks.”
Lucas gave her a smirk. “I am.”
“Why are you standing outside my office building? There couldn’t be a chance of my sister coming down to meet you?” she asked with a big grin.
“No, not at all. She just had me thrown out by security.”
Audrey started giggling before rolling her eyes. “Goodness me, she’s so dramatic. So again, why are you standing out here?”
“’Cause I’m thinking of my next plan. I’m a very persistent type of guy,” Lucas said before giving her his best smirk.
Audrey smiled sweetly at him. “You’re a smooth one, no wonder she’s so taken with you.”
Lucas grinned big. “Really?”
“Yeah, and because she is, and I believe in true love, I’m gonna help both of you out.”
Lucas’ grin stayed in place, because he just found his in with Fallon.
Chapter 9
Fallon’s body was still on fire.
Being only inches away from Lucas had really messed her up. Not only was she hot, she was dripping wet. All he had to do was pin her with those smoky eyes and she was a goner, primed and ready for some lovin’. If his lips were to even graze hers, she wouldn’t even know what to do. Probably jump him like a cat in heat.
It was disgusting.
Something was terribly wrong with her because men didn’t do that to her. Fallon had been on plenty of dates with men, and none of them had ever made her panties soaked the way Lucas did with just one damn look.
One Look! One!
And then his mouth would curve in that little smirk of his, and Fallon swore she came at the sight of it. Just imaging that mouth on her, sucking and biting every piece of her, was going to make her crazy. Lucas wasn’t joking when he said he would do her good, because he could. Really good, like make-a-person-scream-very-naughty-things good. He had this way of making Fallon ask for things that a good girl shouldn’t be asking for. When he would run his tongue down the hollow of her neck, she was putty in his hands. When he slid his hand in the crease between her ass and thigh, she swore she could come at just the feel of his hands. He was toxic and hot and Lord help her, but she wanted to fuck to his brains out again.
Like now.
What the hell was wrong with her!? He broke her heart, he ruined her for any other guy, and for God’s sake, he hadn’t spoken to her in seven years!
Fallon’s face fell into her hands as she cursed her lady parts for wanting someone that was not only dangerous but — hello — the father of her son that he had no clue about! Jesus, she needed help. Fallon heard her office door open but didn’t look up. She prayed that it wasn’t Lucas coming back for round two.
“Goodness me, what’s wrong with you?”
Fallon looked up at her sister and wanted to cry.
“I just called security to remove Lucas from the office building,” Fallon groaned. “I’m pretty sure he’s pissed.”
Audrey laughed. “Why did you do that? And why does it matter if he’s mad?”
Fallon shook her head. She didn’t know why it mattered that he was mad, but it did. She hated the look he gave her as the officers escorted him from her office. He was so surprised she had kicked him out, hell, she was even surprised.
“I don’t know why,” she whined, sounding a lot like Aiden, “but I care and I think it’s ‘cause I wanna have sex with him.”
Audrey laughed again. “Wow, so didn’t see you saying that.”
“Something is wrong with me,” Fallon cried. “He just drives me insane, and I wanna screw his brains out but I know that can’t happen because I haven’t told him about Aiden and because I’m supposed to hate him because he’s a cheating bastard, but I can’t help it! He so freaking smooth and dangerous and Audrey! He is the best lay ever!”
Audrey couldn’t even hold in the laughter Fallon knew she was trying to hold in. Audrey giggled as she leaned against the door frame. “Gosh, he does have you in knots. I think it’s funny.”
Fallon scoffed. “Some sister you are.”
Audrey really laughed at that as she came around the desk, wrapping her arms around Fallon’s neck. Fallon closed her eyes. Audrey gave the best hugs. They were so warm and so loving. Audrey was honestly her best friend. “Fallon, you’re tripping out babe. Why can’t you just have sex with him? Maybe it will give you some closure and you won’t want him anymore.”
Fallon laughed. “If I have sex with Lucas Brooks, I will still want him. A lot. So that isn’t gonna work, plus I haven’t told him about Aiden yet.”
“So tell him, and then get it on girl. Make me another nephew or niece.”
Fallon shook her head. “Even if I tell him about Aiden, I can’t have sex with him, I can’t. I don’t ever want to give him my heart again. He hurt me so bad AA, I just don’t want to go through that again.”
Audrey kissed her cheek. “People change Fallon, and he has to regret what he did.”
“He does, but that doesn’t make it better. How can I forgive him Audrey? Why does he want me back now? Seven years. Seven long, fucking years,” Fallon said as tears began to fall. “I’ve cried myself to sleep every night since I found out he was coming to Nashville. Scared because I knew this was how I was gonna get. The first time I met him, he had me kissing him in the middle of a bar. I slept with him that night, and I spent the whole summer with him. I didn’t even go home at all. I bought a new wardrobe, and bought new toiletries, everything. I was his that whole summer. I gave him everything, and for two amazing years, he was mine.”
“Fallon, goodness me, why haven’t you ever told me any of this?” Audrey asked, coming around the desk to look at her. “How did you keep all this bottled up inside you?”
Fallon wiped her face, moving her hair out of her eyes as she took a deep breath. “Because when I opened that door and found him naked in bed with my best friend, I felt like I failed. That it was my fault that he was in bed with her. That I didn’t give him everything he needed or wanted. I felt like it was my fault.”
“Oh, come on, Fallon, it was not your fault.”
“I know that now, but back then I was so in love, so engrossed in him, and for him just to break my heart like that, I just don’t know if I could do it again. Even though my body sings for his, I couldn’t imagine doing it again, because like I said, I was so in love. He did that to me, made me love him, everything about him, even the bad.”
Fallon watched her tears fall on the desk as all the emotions from the last seven years hit her hard. Audrey didn’t say anything for a long moment as the tears fell; she just wrapped Fallon in her arms, holding her close as she cried.
“That’s why you don’t want him to see Aiden huh? ‘Cause if he is around you’ll fall for him again.”
Fallon nodded against Audrey’s chest. “Not only am I scared he’ll hurt him, but I’m afraid he’ll hurt me again because I’ll fall for him like I did before. I thought I had stopped loving him, but I haven’t Audrey. Why?”
Her body shook as she cried, and Audrey just held her, letting the tears soak her shirt. Audrey really was the best sister ever. It had to be hard dealing with a sister that was close to being a basket case, but Audrey handled it like the champ she was. Fallon didn’t know what she would do without her.
“I think you should talk to him,” Audrey said when Fallon pulled back, wiping the mascara from her eyes.
“Why would I do that?”
“’Cause he needs to know. Tell him how you feel and you need to tell him about Aiden.”
Fallon shook her head. “After everything I’ve said, you still think that?”
Audrey gave her a small smile. “Fallon I love you so much, but you’re being selfish. You’re thinking of yourself and how this is going to affect you but what about our little guy? Or hell, Lucas? You don’t know the person he is now, people change so much in a year — you haven’t seen him in seven. Give him a chance, not for you, but for Aiden. He needs a daddy. I can’t do it for you, no matter how much I want to.”
“I don’t expect you to,” Fallon said, “but I much rather keep it just us, why bring someone else in?”
Audrey shook her head. “You’re so freaking stubborn. Fine. Let the shit hit the fan Fallon, it’ll be on you.”
Fallon didn’t say anything as Audrey got up in a huff, heading for the door. She didn’t mean to make Audrey mad, but really why did they need Lucas in their lives? Didn’t she see the way Fallon turned into a crazy person when it came to Lucas?
Before Audrey closed the door, she looked back at Fallon. “We have dinner reservations at J’s at six, me and Aiden will be waiting.”
Fallon nodded. “I won’t kee
p you long; I should be done here by 5:45.”
Fallon gave Audrey a smile since they all loved J Alexander’s and always enjoyed their family dinners, but Audrey didn’t return it. She just nodded before saying, “Good, text me when you get there.”
“Okay.”
Fallon watched as Audrey gave her one last look before shutting the door. Fallon opened the drawer to her desk, pulling out the little post-it notes that Lucas had written for her. Tears welled up in her eyes and began to fall again as she admired his messy handwriting. She found her two favorites and placed them back on her computer screen.
I miss you, all of you. Everything.
She missed him too, but her fears of being hurt kept her from doing what the next note requested of her.
I’m willing to talk about the problems and fix the problems that ended our relationship. Are you?
No, she wasn’t.
**********************************************
Fallon was running late.
Like always, she got caught up in work and made it to the restaurant 10 minutes after six. She pulled her phone out, texting Audrey that she was there as she went to the hostess stand. “Audrey Parker?”
“Um,” the girl looked down at her list as Fallon hit send and started tapping her toe. She hated being late, she always felt like Aiden and Audrey were secretly mad when she would make them wait for her. She didn’t mean to, she just always got caught up with something. Wine was a very distracting business.
“I don’t see a Audrey Parker,” the girl said.
Fallon looked down at her phone to see if Audrey had texted her, which she hadn’t before looking back up at the girl. “Maybe Fallon Parker?”
The girl looked back down at her list just as Fallon felt someone come up behind her. She took in a deep breath when she felt the heat from the person’s body as she quickly turned, seeing who she knew would be Lucas.
“Sorry, she’s with me,” Lucas said as his hand came up against the middle of Fallon’s back. He led her away from the hostess podium just as Fallon’s phone went off, but Fallon couldn’t even look at her phone, she was stunned by the look he was giving her.