Chapter 16

The lab technician informed me my results would be available within a week.

“There now.” Nanny sighed as she settled herself in the front seat of Cathy’s car. “ ’Twasn’t so bad, was it? Now ya can have peace o’ mind you’ll be living a long, happy life, lass.”

I wasn’t certain on either point, but I nodded, knowing arguing with her wouldn’t serve anything.

“I’m starving,” Cathy said as she maneuvered onto the county road. “Let’s go to the Last Supper and get something to eat.”

“Ya won’t get an argument from me,” Nanny said.

“I should get back. Lunch service starts soon.”

“Sarah can manage,” my sister told me. “The inn won’t go into foreclosure if you’re not there to supervise a meal.” Her phone pinged with an incoming message as she stopped at a light.

“Oh, shit.”

“Cathleen Anne.”

“Sorry, Nanny,” Cathy said at the same time I asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Martha just texted me there’s been a shooting at the courthouse.” She flicked her gaze at the rearview mirror and connected with mine.

“Oh, my God. Did she say who was shot?”

“No names have been released, just that a police officer and a bailiff are on the way to the hospital in serious condition. Lucas was due in court today,” she said, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. “And Asa was scheduled to preside.”

I stopped breathing. I think my heart went silent for a few beats as well.

“Cathy—”

“Hang on, sis. Take a breath. Come on, breathe.”

I did, all the air in my body whooshing from me in one long exhale.

“We don’t know that it’s Lucas who’s been shot.”

“But what if it is him? What if he….Oh, God! I need to know…I need to see him…tell him…”

I think I may have wailed that last part.

“Calm down, Maureen.” She turned around to face me, a stern Nanny-worthy expression on her face.

My entire body shook with fear as my vision tunneled.

“Don’t you dare pass out in my car, Maureen Angela O’Dowd. Breathe, damn it. Breathe.”

Something in her tone pinged through, and I bent at the waist, my forehead hitting my knees as I dropped my hands down to the floor of the car.

“That’s a good lass.” Nanny’s hand swung back to rub the back of my head.

“Sorry, Nanny, but lunch is gonna have to wait,” Cathy said. From the movement of the car, I realized she was making a U-turn.

Nanny kept her hand on my head as she told my sister, “Floor it, darlin’.”

The emergency bay was riddled with cars as Cathy sped into the circular drive.

“I can’t leave the car here. I need to park.”

“Let me out.”

“No. From the amount of police and state cars in the bay, you’ll have no pull in there to find out anything, assuming they even let you in.”

She pulled into the first available spot.

“You two run ahead,” Nanny said when Cathy opened the door for her. “I’ll get there in me own time. Go.” She shooed us with her hands.

Cathy and I bolted through the glass doors when they swung open.

The waiting area was as crowded as the drop-off bay had been, the noise level at a loud roar. We tried to push through a sea of uniform brown toward the reception desk, and were barred by several state troopers, just as Cathy predicted.

“I’m sorry, ladies. This is a restricted zone.”

I was about to rail someone I loved may have been shot when Cathy, ever the calm and logical-thinking sister, pulled her wallet out and showed her license and county courthouse pass to the trooper.

“We’re trying to find the name of the officer who was shot.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you know I can’t give you any information. First, because I don’t have any. But even if I did, this is an active investigation, and I can’t let any civilians through right now.”

“I realize that,” Cathy said, “but is there anything you can tell us? Or anyone you can refer us to who can?”

I came as close as I’ve ever come in my life to screaming at a complete stranger when he continued to stonewall us. I was just about to push past him and suffer the consequences later when I spotted a familiar shock of black hair when the emergency room hallway doors opened.

“Lucas.”

He spotted me right before the doors closed again. I tried to sprint past the trooper, but he was fast and grabbed my arm in a grip of steel.

“Take your hands off me.” I slapped against his hold and writhed, trying to break free.

“Maureen, calm down. This isn’t helping,” Cathy said in her best older sister you’d-better-listen-to-me voice.

I ignored her.

By now, a small crowd of state police had gathered around us. Cathy telling me I was going to be arrested if I didn’t calm down never even penetrated through my need to get to Lucas.

I was released when a firm, loud voice commanded the trooper to let me go.

“Lucas,” I cried.

“Let her go,” he repeated.

“But Chief—”

“Now.”

That simple word had enough threat and intent to do bodily harm woven into it to terrify even the bravest of souls.

Once I was free I bounded toward Lucas, stopping short before I could throw my arms around him.

“Oh my, God, Lucas. You’re bleeding,” I screeched. Bright, red bloodstains, wet and shimmering, covered his shirt and pants in a hopscotched pattern of gore. The sickening odor of metallic copper surrounded my senses and made my stomach churn.

Like it had in the car, my vision tunneled, and all the noise blaring around me softened and muffled until it silenced to a dull thrum. Every movement around me decelerated, as if the speed had been changed from fast to slow motion.

Strong and able arms gathered me close and lifted me before everything around me faded, then went inky black.

****

“Her eyes are startin’ t’ flutter a bit. I think she’s comin’ ’round.”

Nanny.

“Maureen? Can you hear me?” Cathy asked, dangerously close to my face, so close I could feel her concerned breath spraying over my cheeks. “Open your eyes if you can hear me.”

“So bossy,” I whispered. My tongue felt like sandpaper as I dragged it along the roof of my mouth. I did as commanded and opened my eyes, only to slam them shut again.

“It’s too bright.” I lifted a hand to shield the glare. When the intensity softened a moment later, I hazarded another eyewink.

“Better?” Cathy asked.

“What happened?” I was on my back on top of something soft and squishy. Cathy helped me to a sitting position.

“You passed out in the emergency room.”

“You’d a hit the floor hard, too, lass, if Lucas hadn’t a caught ya.”

It all came back to me in a rush.

“Lucas.” I gripped Cathy’s arm. “He was hurt, covered in blood. I—”

“The blood wasn’t his. It was Pete Bergeron’s.”

“Pete?”

“Yeah. He was one of the people shot in the courtroom, not Lucas. Got hit in the arm. Lucas tried to stanch the blood until the ambulance arrived. That’s why he was covered.”

“It wasn’t his?”

“No. Pete’s in surgery right now. Lucas is upstairs with Pete’s parents and girlfriend. He’s fine, Maureen. Lucas is fine.”

I nodded. “He’s fine?”

“Aside from being worried sick about Pete and you, yeah, he’s fine. I’ve never seen him move so fast as when you started to go out.”

“Oh, Lord.” I buried my face in my hands. I can only imagine how I’d looked, what he’d thought.

“He hauled you in the first empty cubicle but then had to go up to surgery with Pete,” Cathy said.

“But he’s okay? You’re not lying to me, right?”

She pulled her mouth into a puckered pout, then said, “You know better than to ever ask me a question like that. I don’t lie.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes again, only to have them bolt right back open. “Asa?”

“Is fine, too. He wasn’t hit, thank God. The minute the shooting started he ducked down behind the bench. Rusty, his bailiff, got hit in the knee while he tried to join Asa.”

“I can’t believe this happened in Heaven.” Nausea engulfed me.

“Lass, I think ya should be getting on home since you’re awake again. Maybe get somethin’ to eat. I know how much ya hate hospitals.”

“I’m okay, Nanny.” I shook my head and shifted so my legs were dangling over the side of what I realized was a gurney. “I was just shocked at seeing Lucas covered with blood. I’m okay. Really.”

She peered at me, her head tilted to one side, her periwinkle eyes squinting. “Ya still look a mite pale.”

“I’m always pale,” I said as I came to a standing position.

“Take it easy.” Cathy reached out a hand to catch me if I went down.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“Like tellin’ us not to breathe, lass.”

I was able to convince them I was better, and when they finally believed me, Cathy asked if I wanted to go up to the surgical waiting room to see Lucas.

“No. No, let him be with the Bergerons. I don’t want to bother him. As long as I know he wasn’t the one shot, I’m okay.”

We dropped Nanny off first and got her settled back into her room. Cathy spoke with the nursing supervisor about getting our grandmother a luncheon tray sent to her room since she missed the communal luncheon she usually attended.

We left her with hugs and kisses and promises to call later on.

The two of us were silent on the drive back to the inn. I didn’t know about my sister, but I was drained. Emotionally, physically, hell, even spiritually. A hot cup of tea and a nap called my name. Unfortunately, I knew the nap would have to wait.

When Cathy pulled up to the back entrance of the inn, she put the car in park but didn’t kill the engine.

“Go make yourself something to eat,” she ordered.

I wasn’t hungry, but she didn’t need to know that, so I nodded.

“And do me a favor?”

“What?”

“Never faint again.” She laid a hand over her belly. “Nothing good ever happens when someone in this family faints. My heart can’t take it, and neither can Junior, here. Okay?”

I grabbed her across the console and held on tight.

“And call me as soon as you hear your results.”

I nodded.

“No. Say it, Mo. Speak the words. I need you to promise me, out loud, you’ll call me no matter what the test says. Good or bad. Understand?”

The concern wafting from her was humbling. I was already feeling guilty about not getting the test initially, and I didn’t want to add any more anxiety to her pregnant state.

“I promise, no matter what the result, I’ll call you when I’ve heard. Colleen, too.”

She dragged in a breath and let me go. “Okay. Better. No more secrets. We’re all in this together, understand?”

With another nod and hug, I told her I did.

Back in my kitchen, I received a status report from Sarah after telling her what happened at the courthouse and hospital. Thankfully, I had no fires I needed to extinguish, but when she pointed out I had blood smears on my shirt, I figured I should change before I got back to work.

After starting the pork I was serving for tomorrow’s luncheon, I sat down at my office desk and pulled up my calendar. Colleen’s first wedding since the birth of the twins was this weekend, and although Charity was in charge, I knew my sister would be around nitpicking the details. I’d been commissioned to do the wedding cake and called up the file of what the bride wanted.

An easy enough design, and the desired red velvet cake interior I could put together in my sleep. I decided I’d start on the cake layers after my day workers went home. When I closed out the file, I glanced at the desktop calendar and noted the date.

How had I forgotten the anniversary of Eileen’s death was next week?

Easy, I countered. One sister’s wedding, the birth of another’s twins, and the emotional upheaval I’d been going through between worrying about this damn blood test and my relationship with Lucas, and it was no wonder I’d forgotten.

My sisters and I had briefly discussed a way to honor the day but hadn’t put any definitive plans together. I took a moment and sent them each a quick text about it.

—Let’s give it some thought— Cathy texted back.

—We can discuss options this weekend at the wedding— from Colleen. Multitasking is my middle sister’s middle name.

The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. Once the inn quieted, I set about making the cake for the weekend wedding. While the layers baked, I made the dough for three-dozen cookies to replenish my insomnia cookie tin. It had stood empty since the last time Robert and Lucas had been in my kitchen. At the time, I’d promised Robert I’d send him home with a box for his grandfather. I’d never fulfilled my promise due to unforeseen circumstances.

My heart ached at the thought Robert was still upset at what he’d seen between his father and me. When Lucas had texted Robert wasn’t coming back to work but was staying home to concentrate on passing his driver’s test, I knew it was just a handy excuse for the boy to avoid any further drama.

Since his son wasn’t coming to the inn every day, Lucas had avoided stopping in as well. I hadn’t seen him since the night he walked out of my apartment until today in the hospital, and I missed him. Terribly.

Before I knew he hadn’t been the one shot at the courthouse, my mind had dragged through an excess of twisted thoughts and dire scenarios. The one recurring reality was that I’d spoiled what there had been between us by admitting I hadn’t gotten tested. With him potentially dying from a gunshot, I’d never get the chance to apologize. Or tell him no matter what the test result showed, I wanted to be with him, to make any kind of future I could with him. But mostly, I wanted to tell him how much I loved him—had always loved him—and wanted to be with him no matter what came our way.

By the time the cakes had cooled and the cookies were stored in the tin, it was after ten and I was running on empty.

I locked the front door, shut the kitchen lights, and was about to head up to my bed when I spotted headlights light up my back parking lot.

The moment Lucas pulled himself from the car’s interior, I threw open my door and bolted down the steps.

Right before I flung myself into his outstretched arms, he said my name.

We stood there, with the moonlight shining down on us, just holding one another. In truth, I never wanted to let go. The strong and steady beat of Lucas’s heart against my ear, the rise and fall of his chest with every breath he took, even the way his hands felt around me—familiar and secure—solidified how much I needed this man in my life.

“You changed clothes,” I managed to say when I could find my voice.

“One of the ER nurses gave me these scrubs after Pete’s mom lost it when she saw his blood all over me.”

I hugged him tighter and bit back tears.

After a few moments, Lucas blew out a breath heavy with exhaustion and asked, “Can I come in for a bit?”

I wanted to tell him he could come in and stay forever. Instead, I took his hand and silently led him up to my apartment.

“Have you eaten anything?” I asked once he was settled on my couch.

“Not since breakfast, but don’t make anything, Maureen. I’m not hungry.”

“You still need to eat. Give me a minute.”

I left him, sprawled on the couch, fatigue clouding every pore on his face, while I made him what I knew was his favorite: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I brought it to him along with a glass of milk.

His eyes were closed, his hands cupping the back of his neck.

He opened them when I said, “Here. Eat this.”

Glancing down at the plate and glass I’d put on the cocktail table, one corner of his mouth tilted up. “You always know exactly what to make me. But what? No cookies?”

“I’ll run downstairs and get some.”

Lucas stretched out his hand and caught mine. “I was kidding. Come on, sit down with me so I don’t fall asleep. We need to talk.”

He tugged me down on the couch next to him.

“Eat,” I ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How is Pete?” I asked after he took a bite.

“He’s been better. The bullet went clear through his upper arm and nicked his brachial artery when it passed. That’s why I was covered in blood. Before the paramedics arrived, I slipped my belt around his arm as a tourniquet and it squirted all over me.”

I shuddered while he drank some milk.

“The surgeon says he won’t know how much damage there is for a while, but he’s hopeful whatever it is will be minimal.” He shook his head.

“Is it his dominant hand?”

“No, thank God. Getting shot sucks to begin with. Having your shooting arm possibly damaged beyond repair is a career killer. Luckily, if you can call it that, it was his left arm.”

I watched him finish the sandwich and then the milk.

“I guess I was hungry after all. Thanks. Leave them,” he ordered when I stood to clear the table. He grabbed my hand again and cocooned it between both of his. “Sit down with me, Maureen. Please. I need….”

A deep, guttural sound pushed from within him. This strong, always calm man was hanging on to his emotions by the thinnest of threads. My heart simply flipped over.

I laid a hand across his cheek. He burrowed into it and kissed my palm.

“Do you want to talk about what happened? Can you tell me, or is it”—I shrugged—“classified, or something?”

He sighed again. “What happened should never have. The staties are conducting an investigation right now into how Harley Reacher was able to get a gun past the security machine.”

“Oh, my goodness. Harley was the shooter? He’s the mildest, meekest man I’ve ever known.”

“One thing being a cop has taught me, it’s you never really know a person or what’s going on inside their heads.”

“Why was he in court?”

“Harley and his neighbor, Earl Sharrod, were involved in a dispute about Earl’s dogs barking at all hours. Pete and I have been out there three times this past month alone when Harley called with noise complaints. Earl filed a harassment lawsuit and wanted a restraining order served, so that’s how they wound up in court today.”

“And Harley brought a gun with him? Why?”

Lucas yawned. “Who knows. That’s gonna be for the investigators to figure out. For now, my thoughts are on Pete.” He turned and focused on me. “And you.”

“M-me?”

He shifted so he was facing me, tucked one leg under the other, and reached for my other hand. When he held both, he squeezed them. “When I saw you through the emergency bay doors, Maureen, looking scared out of your wits, it gave me something I’ve been a little short on these past few days—hope.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I walked out on you last week, I figured you’d call or text me in a day or two, once it got through to you I wasn’t joking around when I said I loved you and would no matter what any damn test said. You never did, so I figured you didn’t believe me after all.”

“I thought you were mad at me about…everything. When Robert decided not to come back and you stopped coming around every day, I knew I’d hurt you, something I never wanted to do.”

He squeezed my hands again.

“More discouraged than hurt,” he said. “I thought giving you time and leaving you alone was the way to handle this. I was, obviously, wrong. Like I’ve said before, I suck at relationships. Ninety-nine percent of the reason Nora and I got divorced is because she claimed I never talked to her about anything, never let her know what I was feeling, thinking.” He shook his head.

“Why did you say seeing me in the hospital gave you hope?”

“Because I know you. You hate hospitals with a passion and have since you were a kid. But it got ten times worse when Eileen got sick. You avoid them when you can and only go when there’s no other alternative, like when Fiona drove into that parked car and broke her arm.”

I shuddered again. “When I heard about the shooting and Cathy said you were scheduled to be in court this morning, I had to find out if you were okay. Cathy didn’t even think, she just aimed her car for the hospital. Lucas, I was so scared—” My voice broke, and he tugged on my hands and brought me closer.

“I’m fine, sweetheart. Well, maybe a little shaken because I almost lost one of my men, but physically I’m okay. I wasn’t close to Harley. Pete, unfortunately, was.”

“I feel so awful I’m relieved it wasn’t you. I don’t know what I would have done if…” I shook my head and stared down at our joined hands.

“Right there’s the reason why seeing you gave me hope. The fact you’d come to the emergency room and screamed my name when you saw me told me maybe, just maybe, you were ready to believe I love you.”

Tears built in my eyes. When I blinked, they cascaded down my cheeks.

“And you were ready to admit you loved me, too,” he added. “Because I’ve got this feeling you do, Maureen. Like I said, I know you. You’d never have let us be together if you didn’t feel something for me. That thought’s the only thing that’s been keeping me sane this past week.”

I swallowed the emotion clogging my throat and confessed what I should have given a voice to years ago. “I’ve loved you since I was eight years old,” I whispered after a few moments.

He gripped my hands even tighter.

“I’ve never not loved you. Even when I was involved with Parker and you were married to Nora, I loved you.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

I shrugged and slid one of my hands free to swipe at my tears. “So many reasons. The age difference between us was a big one for years. Then, you were married and had a baby by the time I was a teenager.”

“But what about after Nora and I split up?”

“By then, Eileen was sick, and I was terrified I was going to be too. Telling you I loved you, hoping we could be together wasn’t fair to either of us if I was going to wind up dead.”

He shook his head.

“And I know how stupid you think that sounds. My sisters and Nanny agree with you.”

“They knew you never got tested?”

“No, they were in the dark about it, too. I told them after, well…” I swiped at my face again. “I guess they noticed something was going on with me, so they asked. Pressed, really. It all came out in a rush.”

“I can’t imagine they were happy about it, especially Fiona.”

“Happy isn’t the word I’d use, no.”

For the first time his mouth lifted in a full smile.

“They made me promise to get tested. In fact, that’s where I was when Cathy got the call about the shooting. She and Nanny went with me to the lab this morning to ensure I went through with it.”

“And?”

“The results take a few days. One way or the other, I’ll have a definitive answer soon. I either have the gene mutation, or I don’t. There’s no in between.”

His eyes flickered for a second, then calmed again.

“I told them about…us, too.”

His smile dimmed a bit. “How’d they take the news?”

“None of them were what I’d call surprised. Colleen even gloated, claiming she knew all along. She can be so annoying.” I rolled my eyes and swiped at my now-drying cheeks. The moment I was done, he pulled my hand back into his.

“I have to tell you I’m glad they know. Keeping my hands off you whenever they were around was getting harder and harder. The night Robert walked in on us in the kitchen I was at my breaking point.”

“Speaking of,” I said, “how is he? Have you spoken with him since he went back home?”

“Every day. He feels awful about reacting the way he did, about being so rude to you.”

“In his mind, he had cause to.”

Lucas shifted until his leg bumped up against mine. He brought one of my hands up to his mouth and raked his lips against my knuckles. Every nerve in my body fired. That damn battalion of butterflies came to full-flap mode again in my stomach.

“After he calmed down, which took a few days, he started asking questions. A lot of them.” He kissed my knuckles again, then drew my hand across his cheek. “I was honest and answered every one of them including the one where he asked if I loved you.”

I swallowed when his eyes dilated and glistened in the dimmed lighting of my living room.

“When I told him I did, he asked me two things I didn’t have an answer for.”

“What?”

“First he wanted to know if you loved me back.”

My heart was thumping so hard against my chest and those butterflies were beating nonstop, it was a wonder I didn’t levitate off the couch from all the turbulence going on inside my body.

I swallowed again before I asked, “What did you tell him?”

“The truth. I thought you loved me, but since you hadn’t said it yet, I wasn’t sure.” A smile pushed across his mouth.

“Why are you grinning?”

This time when he shifted it was to yank me up on his lap and keep me there by sliding his arms around my hips. My hands instinctively lifted to his shoulders.

“Because his response was to tell me how pathetic and lame I was for a guy of my age and experience. To quote my son, ‘Geez, Dad, even I know when a girl likes me.’ ”

For the first time all evening, I smiled.

“There’s nothing as humbling as being called out by a teenager.” His sigh floated over me.

“What was the second thing you couldn’t answer?”

His hands pressed against my lower back and pushed me in closer. I slid my hands around his neck.

“What I was gonna do about it if you did love me.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Again, the truth is always best. I told him what I told you the other night. I want to marry you.” He kissed my jaw. “Make a life with you.” He moved up to the corner of my mouth, then worked his way down my neck.

It was difficult to take a full breath by the time his lips dragged across my collarbone.

“What-what did he say? Was he…angry or upset?”

“Just the opposite.” He pulled back and lifted his hands to cup my cheeks. “His exact words were ‘Go for it, Dad.’ ”

Tears built again and when one of them skidded free, Lucas caught it with his thumb.

“He loves you, Maureen. He considers you part of our family already.”

Humbled, I shook my head.

“Look at me.” He ticked my chin up so I could. “Again, his exact words were ‘She’s the coolest person I know, and the nicest.’ High praise from a fifteen-year-old.”

“He’s a wonderful boy, Lucas.”

He laid his forehead against mine and let out a breath. “Despite having Nora and me for parents, he is.” His hands slid up the sides of my hair and tugged the pencil holding my hair in place. It drifted down around us like a waterfall cascading down the side of a cliff.

Lucas clutched handfuls of it.

“Everything I told him was the truth, Maureen. I do love you. So much. When I was in the surgical waiting room, my mind kept drifting to you so I’d keep sane with the insanity all around me. How you look when you smile, the color of your eyes when you laugh, even how you look wearing nothing at all but all this hair splayed across a pillow.”

Heat rushed up my cheeks.

“I simply can’t imagine what my life would be like without you in it. If this past week has taught me anything, it’s that I don’t care if you and I have one more minute together or one hundred more years. As long as you’re with me, nothing else matters. When it’s real and right, you can’t walk away. The results of the blood test won’t change what I feel for you.”

I placed my hand across his cheek.

“I know you’re scared about what it’s gonna say.”

“Terrified.”

He nodded. “But it makes no difference what the end result is, the one thing that absolutely will not change is how much I love you and want to be with you. Please believe me.”

Nodding, I said, “I do. I really do. And I love you, too. More than I can ever describe.”

I pressed my torso fully against his and kissed him with every emotion churning within me. I’d missed this man so much, missed his taste, his smile, missed…him.

“I missed you, too,” he said with a grin, making me realize I’d said the words aloud. He pushed my hair back from my face again and hauled me in close for another kiss that left no doubt of the truth of his words.

Pretty soon just kissing him wasn’t cutting it for me. I needed to see him naked.

In my bed.

In me.

“Come on.” I slid off his lap, grabbed his hands, and tugged. The moment he was upright, he shifted our positions and the next thing I saw was his back from my upside down position over his shoulder. He had one hand on my butt, the other across the back of my knees to secure me in place.

“Hey.”

“My way’s faster.” He proved himself correct. In no time, he tossed me down on my bed and climbed in over me, both of us laughing like kids.

“I love this bed,” Lucas said between kisses while we wriggled out of our clothes. “There’s so much room to roll around in.” The borrowed scrub top hit the floor by the doorway, my T-shirt and jeans following it. The bottom of the scrubs went next.

“Commando?” I asked as I raked a nail across his naked ass.

“The hospital could only provide so much.” He pushed me down flat on the bed, then dragged me to the edge by my ankles. With my legs draped over his shoulders, he slid his hands under my hips, lifted, and put his mouth on me.

“Lucas.”

“Have I ever told you how much hearing you scream my name turns me on?”

I was going to keep screaming it all night long if he kept doing what he was doing. His shoulders shook from laughter, once again proving I’d said the words out loud.

It didn’t take long, though, before I lost the capacity to speak at all.

Or think.

All I could do was…feel, until a kaleidoscope of bright colors and shapes exploded behind my closed eyes as Lucas brought me to two back-to-back orgasms. Before the shockwaves ebbed, he sheathed himself and was inside me.

“Open your eyes, sweetheart,” he whispered.

When I did, I almost came undone again from the wealth of love flying across his features. His moss-at-midnight eyes were almost black, and I swear smoke billowed from them as he stared down at me. One corner of his mouth was ticked up on lips kiss-slicked and swollen.

“I love you, Maureen.” He rocked back and forth within me, each movement tender and yet so powerful. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”