Chapter 12

Running an inn is, as I’ve said often, a twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week job.

The morning after Colleen’s babies arrived, while Mac and Cathy were off to their honeymoon, I still had a full house of guests, half of whom were checking out. I usually serve a bigger than usual hot and cold breakfast for my guests on Sundays, so that those getting on the road won’t have to stop along the way if they find themselves hungry, and those who are staying get a nourishing meal to last them the better part of the day.

I managed to get two solid hours of sleep once I laid my head down and before I had to get up, bake, and cook for the day. Around eleven, my phone pinged with an incoming text.

—You get any sleep?— Lucas asked.

—A little. U?—

—Same.—

The little floating dots indicating he was typing ran across the screen.

Then, a sad-faced emoji and —I miss you— popped up.

Grinning, I scrolled through the emoticons in my phone until I found a happy face with closed eyes and tongue lolling out of its mouth. I clicked on it and typed —You miss my cooking—

—Truth. But I miss u more. I’ll try to stop by later if I can. Okay?—

Unfortunately, a domestic disturbance call took up much of his afternoon and evening.

The next morning, he dropped Robert off without coming in because he had to deal with a car accident.

Tuesday, I slipped away for a few hours and took Nanny to Concord to do some baby-present shopping. She was exceptionally quiet on the drive, something she rarely was, so I asked if anything was wrong.

“Tilly was hospitalized last night, and I’m worried about her.”

Tilly Carlisle was Nanny’s best friend and also a resident of the Arms.

“What’s going on?”

“Losing weight, and she’s a mite more distracted of late. They found her wandering about the grounds last week in nothing but her girdle. Had no idea where she was going when the staff asked. I suppose they’re doing tests and such today.”

I reached across the seat and grabbed her hand, gave it a squeeze.

“It’s a carin’ lass you are, darlin’ girl,” she told me, a half smile on her lips.

Nanny’s spirits improved greatly with each baby store we frequented. After about two hours, though, she started to tire. Back in the car, she fell asleep almost instantly and only woke when we were back at the Arms.

“There now, lass, we still haven’t had a proper gab fest, and you promised me we would.”

“We will, Nanny.” I stored the box of scones I brought for her every week into her bedside table as requested. “Things look light next week, schedule-wise, for me, so I’ll see what evening works best. Okay?”

She agreed and then kissed my cheek before going into the residents’ lounge for a visit with her friends.

For most of the week, Lucas and I kept having near misses, most often due to his job.

Even Robert claimed there were a few days he only saw Lucas when he dropped him off at the inn and then picked him up again, having to go right back out to work as soon as the teen was home.

He was helping me carry bags of food into Colleen and Slade’s home when he confessed how busy his father was.

I wanted to get the place stocked so when they came home with the babies, neither of them would have to worry about feeding themselves.

“I’ve never seen so many casseroles,” Robert said as he unpacked a few bags filled with plastic containers.

“They’re fast, easy, and the way I make them, nutritious,” I told him. “A new baby is a lot of work and exhausting. Double the number, and Colleen and Slade aren’t gonna want to do anything like grocery shop and cook when they have any free time. They’ll probably want to rest, themselves.”

After I got everything put away, I left a note telling Slade where everything was and how to reheat the dishes.

Back at the inn, I found Lucas sitting in my kitchen, a cup of coffee and my insomnia cookie tin in front of him.

“Sarah said I could have some,” he told me when he caught me eyeing him and the open box.

He looked worn out. Dark swatches colored the skin under his eyes, and the corners of his lips were crevassed. Those little lines fanning out across his temples seemed deeper and more etched today.

“You don’t need permission, Lucas.” I picked up his cup and refilled it from the pot.

To his son, he asked, “You done for the day?”

The teen nodded.

“We were just at Colleen’s, filling her fridge with food,” I said. “The babies are coming home tomorrow, finally. Almost a week in the hospital seems long.”

“It’s because they’re twins,” Lucas said, stifling a yawn. “And Colleen’s not nineteen anymore, so they probably kept the three of them to make sure no postpartum complications arose.”

He lifted the refilled coffee mug to his lips, and the sigh that broke at the first sip told me just how tired he was.

“Robert told me how busy you’ve been the past few days,” I said when the boy excused himself to go wash up. “You look like it’s been a rough week.”

He lifted a hand to me. “Come here.”

When I was close, he gripped my hand and lifted it to his lips.

“It’s better now.” He placed a sweet kiss across my knuckles. My free hand snaked up and cupped his cheek. The way Lucas nuzzled into my palm and kissed it had my legs shaking.

“I need to see you,” he whispered. His gaze bored straight into me, leaving no doubt about the intent behind those words.

“It’s been hard to schedule time,” I said. “We’re both so busy.”

“Do you have a wedding this weekend?”

“Just tomorrow night. It’s small. Twenty for dinner. I’ve got nothing planned for the next two weeks.” Grinning, I added, “Colleen wouldn’t give up more than three weekends. Even if she needs to bring the babies with her, she’s working again and not leaving it all up to Charity.”

“Your entire family consists of workaholics,” he said, kissing the hand he held again. “The normal forty-hour workweek doesn’t exist for any of you.”

I smiled at him because it was true.

“So, can I come by tomorrow, then? After?”

I was all set to say yes when he added, “I miss you.”

Those last three words sealed the deal in stone.

“Any time after nine, I’ll be free.”

Robert’s footsteps had Lucas releasing my hand.

“You all set?” he asked his son.

They left shortly after, a container of leftover chicken parmigiana and a few cupcakes with them I’d put in a go-bag.

“See you Monday,” Robert said.

Lucas mouthed I’ll text you later over his son’s head. I nodded.

****

Never let anyone tell you a small wedding is easier than a large one. They’d be wrong.

By the time the dishes had been cleared and the happy couple had gone back to the room they’d share for the night before leaving on their honeymoon in the morning, I’d been on my feet for over sixteen hours. I was operating on sheer momentum and muscle memory to keep myself upright.

As I put the last dish in the dishwasher, my phone pinged.

—You free?—

Lucas.

I typed back I was and to come on over when he could.

—I’m at the back door.—

Laughing, I all but ran through the hallway to let him in, my fatigue magically flown.

“That was fast,” I said as I closed the door behind him.

“I’ve been sitting out there for twenty minutes, waiting for the damn car clock to read nine.” He hauled me up against him. “Watching it take forever to tick the minutes by was as torturous as waiting for cement to harden.”

I smiled against his quick, hard kiss.

“Well, you’re here now,” I said, nuzzling his jaw. “That’s what matters.”

“Are you done for the night?”

“Just let me lock the front door. Go on up.” I pointed to the staircase.

After one last sweep through the rooms to make sure all was settled for the night with my guests, I bounded up the back stairs to my apartment and found him standing in the living room, hands on his hips, surveying the room.

“I don’t think I’ve been up here since I helped you and Eileen move in,” he said. “You’ve done a nice job fixing it up.”

“Thanks. Eileen was in charge of decorating the inn, but this space was mine from the beginning.”

“It looks like you, your taste. Your touch.” A half smile warmed his lips. “Cozy and comfortable, welcoming and relaxed. Just like your inn, your private space feels like the best parts of home. Being able to create a space like that is a rare gift, Maureen.”

Saying his compliment pleased me is too tame.

Unexpected nerves appeared. We were all alone in my apartment for the first time, and thoughts of where I wanted the time we were spending together to go sailed through me. I folded my hands together and asked, “Do you want anything to drink? Eat? Did you get a dinner break?”

“I’m good. Come here.” Just as he had in my kitchen, he stretched out a hand to me. When I slipped mine through it, he tugged me close and wound his other around my waist. The green in his eyes was bright, and they glistened as he stared down at me.

His fingers trailed up my neck and across my chin, his thumb swiping at my bottom lip. Tingles of anticipation exploded within me.

Lucas rested his forehead against mine. On a long sigh, he whispered my name.

“What’s wrong?”

He pulled back, a half grin playing at his lips again. “Nothing and everything.”

I cocked my head. “Cryptic, much?”

His short bark of a laugh echoed around us. He slipped his hands into mine and tugged me toward the couch. “Let’s sit down for a minute.”

Once we were seated, Lucas tossed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close.

“Care to explain now?” I asked as I ran my nose down his neck and then back up, taking in his plain man-and-soap essence.

With his head tilted to give me better access—which I dutifully took advantage of—Lucas grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips.

“Can I just tell you how much I adore when you do that?”

He smiled and kissed my palm.

“And that, too?” I said.

His smile grew, then softened. “That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to about,” he said.

“What? How much I enjoy when you kiss my hand?”

He chuckled. “I’ve been thinking, and I need to be clear about what I want if we’re going to be together. What you want, too.”

Those little nervous kicks started dancing in my stomach again. I swallowed. “Okay, like rules or something?”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not what I mean. Christ, I’m no good at this.” He took a breath, then squeezed the hand he held. Those tiny lines at the corners of his eyes deepened. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was nervous. “I want to assure you I’m all in with whatever you want between us. We can take it slow and date, go out in public, or simply keep our relationship to ourselves for a bit. I don’t care. What I do care about is you. Being with you. I want you. Just you. In any way. If that means we take a beat, get to know each other better on a personal, adult level, then fine. But make no mistake”—his eyes drilled into mine—“I want you. In every sense of the word.”

I didn’t need to be convinced. The way he’d kissed me proved the physical attraction between us was profound. That he was giving me a choice to take it further instead of simply accepting we’d wind up lovers was a huge insight to the kind of man he was.

“I won’t push you,” he continued, “into anything you’re not ready for or don’t want. You’re too important to me, Maureen.”

Cathleen has commented many times over the years about a gene for boldness running rampantly through Nanny. Since I’m the one who’s the most like her in other ways, it stands to reason the genetic trait resides in me as well.

Lucas’s words sparked it to fire up. Taking a deep breath and never breaking eye contact with him, I slid up over his thighs and straddled his lap. He shot his hands to my hips and held on to me as I gripped his shoulders.

“You’re important to me, too, Lucas. More than you can ever know.”

I bent, placed a hand across his cheek and kissed him, keeping the contact light. “And I think you should know what I want from this relationship, too.” His eyebrows rose. “You. Simply you. In every sense of the word.”

I kissed him again, this time with a smile blooming across his mouth.

“I don’t need to be wined and dined or to show off we’re together to the gossips in this town. I simply want to spend time with you. Without anyone else around. You.”

The moment our lips touched, I knew there was no way I could keep the contact light again. One swipe of Lucas’s tongue across my lips and I was a goner. He deepened the kiss, his hands sliding up my back to press me in closer. The throbbing of his lengthening erection against me was full proof of how much he wanted this…wanted me.

I pulled back and stared down at those lips, now swollen and wet, his eyes half closed and so damn hot it was a wonder smoke wasn’t billowing from them.

“I’m not sixteen anymore, and neither are you.” Confusion sailed across those hooded lids. “We don’t have to be relegated to a couch make-out session when there’s a perfectly good bed in the next room.” I skimmed my mouth across his jaw, trailed my tongue across his bottom lip as he’d done to me. A rush of power washed through me when his hands flexed against my back.

“Maureen?”

“Come on.” I hopped off his lap, then grabbed his hands and hauled him up. No easy feat since he was built like a tank. He used the leverage to pull me back down on top of him.

His eyes were intense and searching. “You’re sure?”

“More than anything I’ve ever been sure of,” I said.

I never knew such a big man could move so fast, but before I could take a full breath I was lifted up in his boulder-like arms.

“I think I like this as much as having my hand kissed,” I said on a laugh as he carried me to my bedroom.

Lucas stopped short at the doorway.

“That’s some bed.” Laughter rang in his voice. “A man could get lost in it.”

“You won’t.” I kissed his neck.

“Oh, I know I won’t,” Lucas said, dropping a knee to the mattress and still holding me. “And I’m stoked we’ll have some room to roll around in.”

He sat me down on the bed with my legs draped over the edge and kneeled between them. With his hands fisted next to me on the comforter, we were both eye level. Amusement ran across his face.

“What?”

“I’m trying to figure out why you need such a big bed, and I’m coming up blank.”

I shrugged, then placed my hands on his shoulders. Lucas leaned in closer so I could wind them around his neck. He shifted so we were pressed together, intimately.

“The easy answer is I’d spent almost all my life sleeping in a twin single since Eileen and I shared a room from birth and our bedroom wasn’t big enough for anything larger. It made turning over at night almost impossible without the danger of falling out of bed. Which I did. Often.”

A quick grin shot out in front of me.

“When we bought this place knowing we’d each have our own room, I wanted the biggest bed I could find. Big enough so I could flip over, roll over, even sleep in it sideways if I wanted to without fear of waking up on a cold, hard floor at three a.m.”

“I think you accomplished your goal. You could sleep four in this thing, and nobody would touch. I’m way taller than you, and even I don’t have a bed this big.”

“You can come over and sleep any time,” I said. Then immediately blushed from head to toes. “I mean—”

“I know what you meant.” He leaned in and pulled my bottom lip between his teeth. “And I’m gonna take you up on that offer right now.”

Oh, goodie.

“Only, Maureen?”

“Mm?”

“I don’t think I’m gonna be doing any sleeping tonight.”

“Promises, promises,” I said on a sigh.

I didn’t have the opportunity to say much of anything else because Lucas silenced me with a kiss.

While his mouth sipped and nipped and lapped at mine, his hands went on a wild excursion, starting with yanking the pencil out of my topknot. My hair whooshed down my back, and in the next breath, my T-shirt was yanked over my head and tossed… somewhere.

Lucas shifted back and stared at me. I tried to remember which bra I had on: one of my nicer, lacier ones or an older, less feminine, and more serviceable one. I didn’t have enough nerve to glance down and check.

I needn’t have worried which kind I wore because the determination simmering in Lucas’s eyes made it obvious I wasn’t going to be wearing it for much longer.

And I was proven correct when he reached around and unfastened it, my breasts spilling into his waiting hands.

I gasped when his thumbs rubbed against my hardening nipples, threw my head back and planted my fists on the bed for support when he pulled one swollen tip into his mouth, sucked, then gave equal time to the other.

My vision blurred when he did it again.

“Your turn,” I said when a moment of sanity broke through. I tugged the shirt from his pants, then tried to open the buttons, but my hands were shaking with excitement. Frustration whirled through me when I couldn’t get more than one undone.

“Take this off,” I commanded, slapping at his arm. “And from now on, no more button-downs.”

His deep laugh filled the room. In a smooth move I swear only a man can do, he tugged the shirt over his head with one hand—buttons still fastened. It joined my shirt and bra.

“Better. You’re good at that.” I took my hands on a happy journey, scraping up, then down his torso, weaving them through the thatch of hair covering him like a pelt. Hard and thick, his muscles flexed and contracted with each touch of my fingers. I didn’t know if Lucas worked out or was simply gifted from God with this body, but either way, it was an absolute pleasure to see and run my hands over.

“You’re built like a tank,” I said as I dipped my head and played with his nipples the same way he’d done with mine. The air hissed from between his lips when my tongue swirled over a flattened disc, my ministrations causing it to pucker in a heartbeat.

While I was busy, Lucas was, too. Both hands snaked through the waistband of my slacks, downward, to cup my butt. His hands, big and warm, cradled me and then pulled me flat up against him.

“We both have too many clothes on,” he whispered over my jaw and up my cheek. We pulled back just enough to shed what remained of our clothing.

I was done first.

I grew up sharing a bathroom with three sisters. Walking around half clad or naked was the norm, and I’d never been shy about being so in front of them.

But being naked in front of Lucas was an entirely different experience. My sisters had never looked at me with hot lust in their eyes, causing me to erupt in a full body flush. They’d never dragged in deep, resounding breaths when I’d stood before them in nothing but skin and freckles. And they’d certainly never been struck speechless at the sight of me without clothes. Lucas had his fingers tucked into the band of his pants and was about to drag them down his long legs, when he stopped moving.

He was blatantly gaping at me, his eyes wide, his mouth open.

Nerves flittered through me again. I willed myself not to cover my nakedness with my hands.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

My voice shocked him out of his trance. He dragged his gaze back up to my face from where it had settled south, and blinked a few times. Then swallowed.

“Nothing. Why?”

I pointed to him. “One of us has stopped getting undressed, and if you’ll notice, it’s not me.”

That panty-wetting half grin bloomed over his face. He sprang into motion, first toeing out of his shoes, then he pulled something out of one of his pockets, and then finally—finally—dropped his pants.

The only sound in the room was of me trying not to swallow my tongue at the sight of him. What’s the old saying about reality never living up to the fantasy?

Well, in Lucas Alexander’s case the reality was a gazillion times better than any fantasy I’d ever had about him without his clothes. And I’d had a lot of them.

As he’d done to me, I took my eyes on a slow, slow tour of his amazing body.

Hands on his hips—his naked hips—Lucas cocked his head, and it sounded like he was trying not to laugh when he said, “Maureen?”

“Um…y-yeah?” It took a supreme effort to drag my eyes back up to his face.

He lost the battle not to laugh. Shaking his head, he stalked to me, equal parts of determination and desire flying across his features, grabbed my hand, and drew me up against him.

Body to body, he’d felt wonderful when we were both fully clothed. But naked? What’s better than wonderful? Mind-boggling? Life altering, maybe?

Whatever it was, I stopped trying to define it the moment Lucas shifted, lifted me in his arms again, and then up onto my massive bed.

Once we were stretched out on our sides facing one another, I threw a leg over his thighs and cuddled in close, nose to nose. With his eyes closed, Lucas ran a hand down my side, across my hips, and settled just north of my butt, where his fingers drifted back and forth. Divine tingles of pleasure slid up my spine.

“Your skin is the softest thing I’ve ever felt,” he whispered, dropping a kiss on the tip of my nose.

“Good genes.” I laid my hand over his cheek. “And religious use of moisturizer.”

My hand shifted when he grinned and opened his eyes. The depth of emotions swirling within them was almost too much for me. Desire mixed with humor, kindness sifted with raw need. That this man could feel so much, and feel it for me, was dumbfounding.

And if I have to admit it, pretty damn fantastic, too.

He brought his lips to mine in a kiss going from gentle and sweet to poker hot in a heartbeat. Deep, guttural sighs moaned from each of us as our hands explored, tempted, and teased one another.

My skin may be soft, but his felt like velvet as I trailed along his broad shoulders and down his tight back. I’d always admired the view of Lucas walking away from me. With my hands now gripping his fabulous, toned, and tight ass, I knew why.

My toes flexed, then curled, when his hand slipped between my thighs and took a long swipe from front to back and front again. Instinctively, my hips rose from the bed and my legs opened, allowing him full access to whatever he wanted.

He got the hint pretty fast.

With his palm resting against my mound, his fingers began circling around my clit, pressing inward, then releasing in a rhythm that had me panting and writhing in record time. It had been a long, long time since a man had brought me to an orgasm. I hadn’t been kidding when I’d told Nanny I didn’t need a guy to take care of my needs. But the feel of this man’s touch against my most sensitive area was better than anything mechanical could ever be.

That all-too-familiar tingling sensation firing in my pelvis signaled I was close to coming undone. “Lucas.”

His kiss absorbed the scream I let loose a moment later when everything inside me shattered.

I should have been mortified at the speed at which I’d come and the tears that formed behind my eyelids.

That I wasn’t, was something I’d think about much later.

“Open your eyes,” Lucas commanded when the tremors inside me calmed.

When I did, I almost came again at the naked need facing me. Where I got the energy to lift my hand and cradle his cheek is a mystery. Every bone, nerve, muscle, and corpuscle in my body was drained.

He kissed my palm.

“You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?” he asked. “Not only right now, but every day?”

Heat ran up my cheeks as those little tears slipped down my temples. Lucas captured one on his finger, then bent to kiss me.

“I want to make you come again,” he whispered against my lips. “And then again after that, just so I can keep watching you fall apart and know it’s because of me.”

Oh, good Lord.

“Promises, promises,” I managed to eke out between breaths that were still staggered.

His deep, resonant chuckle had all the hairs on my body standing at attention in anticipation of him doing exactly what he’d promised.

But first…a burst of energy blew through me, and I bucked my hips, lifted, and pushed him on his back so I could straddle him like I had on the couch. With my hands pressed into his shoulders to keep him in place, I swiped a quick, hard kiss across his smiling lips and said, “You’re not the only one with plans.”

I kissed his neck, then pulled his earlobe between my teeth and bit down. Lucas gasped.

I moved down his throat, sliding my tongue along the notch in his neck, then down farther to his pecs. While my mouth caressed his torso, my fingers moved south and threaded through the swirling hair beneath his flat belly. One small touch of his jutting erection and his hips bucked as mine had.

“I like this plan,” he half laughed, half moaned. When I fisted my hand around the long and pulsing length of him, he added, “A lot.”

I couldn’t help but smile when I watched him swallow, the notch at his neck going concave when I tugged up and ran my thumb along his wet tip.

“A whole lot.”

With a laugh bounding through me, I continued moving my hand, astounded when his erection grew even bigger. A sense of power I’d never experienced before filled me at the knowledge of what I could do to this wonderful man I’d been in love with for a lifetime.

“I want to be inside you,” Lucas whispered, placing a hand over mine to stop me. “I want to feel you when I come. Sit on top of me.”

Shifting, I spotted something on the bed, reflecting from the bedside lamp.

A condom.

At least one of us was acting responsibly. It had been so long since I’d had sex, I hadn’t even given thought to needing one.

Lucas turned to my line of vision and reached out for it.

I beat him to it. “I want to.”

He nodded, his eyes staying focused on me the entire time.

After rolling it down the long length of him—and being rewarded with another chance to hear him moan—I went up on my knees, positioned myself above him and slowly, slowly slid down until he was engulfed within me.

I think I blacked out for a moment from the sheer and overwhelming pleasure of having him fully inside me. I know we both went stock still when he was settled in all the way.

Eyes opened and focused on me, Lucas grabbed my hips and hauled me up, almost to the point he was out of me, then pulled me down again while he pushed up, deep. The force of the action made me cry out. This time, it echoed around the room.

He did it again and then again, quickening the pace with each plunge until I lost the capacity to see clearly. The bed shook, and I reached out to grip the headboard as Lucas thrust one last time, his voice breaking as he called out my name.

****

“You weren’t kidding about being able to sleep sideways on this thing,” Lucas whispered against my hair.

I opened my eyes to find we were, indeed, lying crossways on the bed, spooned.

The sheets were a mass of chaos, the comforter lying half on, half off the bed.

All in all, it had been a…vigorous night.

Lucas shifted, kissed my cheek, and then rose to go into the bathroom. I should have righted myself in the bed, but I was truly so exhausted, the thought of moving didn’t even compute in my brain.

I must have fallen back to sleep because when Lucas dragged a finger down my cheek, I opened my eyes to see him dressed.

“I’ve gotta get home.” He knelt beside the bed and pushed my hair off my face.

“What time is it?”

“A little before three. I wish I could stay, but with Robert and Dad at home…” He shrugged.

“It’s okay.” I pushed up. Lucas’s breath caught when his gaze dropped to my breasts.

I should have pulled the sheet up over me, but the boldness gene reared its head again. I liked having this newfound power over Lucas, I wasn’t gonna deny it.

“You’re making it hard for me to leave, Maureen.” He stretched and pressed his lips against mine.

“Sorry,” I mumbled against his mouth, not sorry one whit.

He leaned his forehead against mine and sighed.

“I’ve got a full day ahead of me,” he said, “but I’ll try to stop by later on. Okay?”

I yawned. “Don’t worry. I know you’re busy keeping the citizens of Heaven safe. It’s okay.”

I finally sat upright fully and shimmied back toward the top of the bed.

“Go back to sleep for a bit,” Lucas said as he readjusted the sheets and comforter over me. “I know you have to be up soon, but try to get some rest, okay?”

“I’m good.” I snuggled down on my side and burrowed into the pillow. “I survive on less than two hours of sleep most nights.”

I have no memory after that until I woke, two hours later.

Without a Saturday wedding, the inn was quiet, and I didn’t have the usual crowd of workers to help serve, cook, and wait on people I usually did on a wedding weekend. The relative quiet was a gift, and I was able to take a little time in the afternoon to get some work done I’d been putting off, like getting all my quarterly tax receipts ready for the accountant and planning staff for the fall. Leaf peeping season in New Hampshire usually runs from September until the beginning of November, and my inn is routinely filled every single day. Colleen had at least one wedding per weekend booked already, and that meant limiting the amount of rooms I could offer to tourists. I wished I’d made the decision to add on the bungalows earlier.

I called Slade to make sure Mom and babies had arrived home and was thanked effusively for all the food I’d stored in their fridge. I made a promise to visit and bring Nanny with me once they were all settled and up for visitors.

Just when I started a batch of scones to add to Nanny’s dwindling supply, footsteps turned my attention to the breezeway separating my personal kitchen from my professional one.

“Why are you here?” I asked Lucas as he strode into the room.

And strode is the correct description because the focused and intense glare in his eyes as he moved toward me reminded me so much of a hungry panther stalking his lunch there really was no other way to describe it.

He held my gaze prisoner on his trek from the doorway, stopped directly in front of me, took the mixing spoon from my hand and tossed it into the sink.

“Hey, I was using that.”

It was as if I hadn’t spoken. With one quick flick of his wrist, I was wound into his arms and pressed flat up against his hard-as-stone torso.

“When did you turn into such a caveman?” I asked, a grin twitching across my lips. What I didn’t say was how much I liked it. He shook his head, his own lips lifting, a laugh floating in his eyes as he bent and kissed me once, softly.

A sigh shuddered through my entire body.

“Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to leave you this morning?” Lucas whispered against my cheek on his way to nuzzle my chin. “To know you were cuddled under the covers, warm”—he kissed my temple—“and naked and sleepy from our lovemaking…” His mouth dragged across my ear, pulled the fleshy part between his lips.

I gasped and tightened my hold against him.

“I wanted to stay more than I’ve ever wanted to do anything. Spend the day with you, in your ridiculously big bed, and make you come again and again.”

It was a good thing he was holding me because I lost the capacity to feel anything south of my knees at that statement.

“Promises, promises.” I yelped when he bit down on my neck, laughter shaking through his chest.

He pulled back, and the sight of him smiling, his eyes clear and bright and no longer shadowed with exhaustion, filled me with such profound joy I couldn’t think straight.

“Maureen.” He kissed me again. “I can’t tell you what last night meant to me.”

“You don’t have to.” I cupped his cheek.

“I do. I need you to know this isn’t just some…passing thing with me. I’ve been imagining us together for so damn long.” He hauled in another breath as he held me tighter. “I…care about you. Really care. Deeply. And I want to be with you. All in, just like I said last night.”

My heart stuttered at the words. I knew what all in meant to me, but I wasn’t certain it meant the same thing to him. Was he telling me he wanted a future with me? A commitment of some sort? I knew there couldn’t be, and I should have told him so. I should have said it was okay for us to live in the here and now and not think of anything other than today.

I don’t know why I didn’t. Fear, maybe? What we had was so new to both of us, I didn’t want to say anything to jeopardize any time we could have together, because for as long as he’d been thinking of us together, I had been imagining it for much, much longer. Instead of saying it out loud though, I told him the truth of what was in my heart.

“I feel the same way, Lucas.”

He laid his forehead against mine, nuzzled my nose, and closed his eyes.

“I can’t stay. I wish I could, but I’ve got to head back to the station. I’ve got about a dozen reports I have to file by Monday morning. But I needed to see you, Maureen, hold you, even for just a few minutes.”

Good Lord. Was it any wonder this man had claimed my heart?

Lucas’s pager beeped loud and harsh.

“I’ve gotta go.” He reattached it to his belt after reading the screen. “Pete’s got a situation and needs some help.” He hauled me back into his arms, squeezed, then planted a swift, hard kiss on my mouth. “I’ll call later when I’m free, okay?”

“You don’t have to ask, Lucas. I’ll see you when I see you, hear from you when you have the time. Don’t worry. I know and understand how busy you are.”

He cupped my jaw, ran his thumb over my mouth one last, final time, then left.

Alone again, I took a moment to center myself. The depth of Lucas’s words and the emotion he’d shown me was thought-provoking because their intensity was something I’d never seen from him before. He was a passionate, thoughtful lover, and discovering it had been a top-five event in my life. But his words hinted he wanted more than I could ultimately give him, and I wondered if, by not being honest up front and telling him, this would somehow come back and bite me in the ass at a future date.

I shook my head and pulled the discarded spoon from the sink. Too many what-ifs about things I couldn’t control would give me a headache, so I went back to making Nanny’s scones and worrying about the fifteen different things I needed to get done before tomorrow came.

Lucas wasn’t the only one who was busy in this town.