Lucas: The Hunter Brothers Series (47 page)

Either way,
‘We’ll see’ could only mean one thing. He obviously thought I was easy pickings
as I tried to straighten myself up and get my head into gear.

“I’m pretty
certain we won’t,” I shot back in an effort to redress the power balance,
although I was rather hoping we would. He didn’t seem bothered, just chuckling;
a low deep gravelly sound that only added to his sexiness. I decided to ditch
the retorts; I was fighting a losing battle. Besides he was the only human life
I’d seen for miles that might help me with directions to the Hunter estate.

Do you know
where Greenfield Hall is?” I asked, licking my lips as he pierced my gaze,
clearly misreading my gesture. It was an anatomical need to get some
lubrication before my damn mouth dried up altogether.

“Come here,” he
said, beckoning me closer as my traitorous feet seemed to move of their own
accord and my breathing sped up. I wasn’t sure what he was about to do, but
there was only one thing I wanted. Where the hell had that thought just come
from? This wasn’t me; it wasn’t how I behaved. It was the way those women who
followed Brad Johnson into the bathroom behaved. I’d always looked down on them
for belittling their value, following him like he was the pied piper of pussy
or something, dropping their dress as quickly as their morals for a quick romp
with someone who, in ten minutes, wouldn’t remember their name. Right now, if I
wasn’t careful, I could be that woman. The killer gaze was evaporating my
senses.

‘Get your shit
together, girl’.

He was only
centimetres away as he turned and pointed. I didn’t follow his finger, just
staring vacantly at that incredible face, flushing as he frowned at me and I
eventually looked across the fields.

“Can you see
that huge house, beyond the trees?” he asked as I nodded.

“The one with the ornamental carvings below the roof?”
I replied, solely in an effort for something to say.

“Yeah, the one
we can actually see,” he said as his eyes twinkled with humour and I realised
he was mocking me. It was the only house in sight and my comment had been an
entirely moot point. I was being ridiculously uncool; and cool was my middle
fucking name.

 
“You need to take the next left and follow the
road. You’ll see the entrance in a mile and a half,” he said and this time he
was looking at me just as intently as I was looking at him. I’d never felt so
off balance.

“Thank you,” I
mumbled, breaking the gaze and moving backwards into safer territory. I
followed my better judgement, turning to leave before I completely lost the
plot. This ‘Carpe Diem’ shit was dangerous.

“I’ll see you,
Chastity,” he winked, rolling out my name sweetly across his tongue as my heart
flipped in my chest. I took a deep breath, regaining my senses with every foot
of distance I put between us and glanced back as I left the churchyard. He was
still watching me. Luckily I hadn’t totally morphed into my sister and tripped
over my own feet. I exhaled loudly as I climbed back into the car, unable to
recall the directions he’d given me to the house.
Left?
Did he say left? I took a left.

Every car was
heading in the opposite direction to me and I guessed it was all over. Jess
would probably go thermonuclear, but it wasn’t as if I’d actually had fun
today; except for the incident in the graveyard. That had been incredible. I
wondered if I’d share it, imagining how hilarious my sister would find it that
I hadn’t got his name and number after the lectures I’d given her. That’s what
I’d been kicking myself about when I finally found the Hunter estate. I drove
the beaten up Ford along the gravel driveway, parking next to the impressive
ornate circular fountain that dominated the front of the incredible house. Wow,
this really was something.

 
I walked through the grand stone front
entrance, a huge arched doorway with carved pillars at either side, trying to
focus my attention on the reason I was here instead of the amazing architecture,
smiling at Lucas.
 
He was kissing the
cheeks of a sweet looking, grey haired lady and seemed to be in charge of
waving everyone off, eventually shutting the door and leaning back against the
wall for a second as he sighed deeply. He looked exhausted.

My sister was
hovering behind him, looking me up and down and distinctly unhappy with my
tardiness.

“Where the hell
have you been?” she scalded, marching into the kitchen followed by Lucas as I
stepped forward to give him a hug, completely ignoring her.

“I’m really
sorry for your loss, Lucas, and I’m sorry I’m late. I got lost, almost died,
went to the wrong funeral and killed a ferret,” I smiled, squeezing him tight
as Jess glowered at me over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,
Sis,” I said, moving to hug her too. “The sat nav broke and I’ve been driving
around Surrey for hours. There was no one around to ask for directions, and the
life and death thing shook me up,” I said as Lucas laughed.

“Don’t worry
about the ferret, they’re nasty little fuckers and I’ve never met one that
didn’t bite.”
 

I gawped as the
gorgeous man I recognised from the smoking hot video on MTV strode into the
kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out a beer. Charlie bounded up to me,
throwing his arms around me and kissing my cheeks. “I’m sorry about your Dad,
Charlie, and sorry I missed the service,” I said as he pulled back, smiling
down at me broadly.

“No big deal,
babe, you’re here now.”

 
“Have I missed the party too?” I asked as Jess
threw me a nasty glare, Lucas frowned and Charlie laughed whole heartedly.

“I told you,
Chas, it’s not a party and yeah, it’s finished. Everyone left just before you
got here,” he said as the beautiful specimen of Tyler Hunter sidled casually
towards us, swigging his beer and looking me over.

“Jesus, you lot
hit the genetic lottery, didn’t you?” I laughed as Charlie chuckled and Tyler
raised his eyebrows. They were lucky they hadn’t accidentally cremated Silus’
body, surrounding him with that level of heat. I bit back that observation just
in time.

“Will you tone
it down, Sis, the boys have just buried their father,” Jess said as I smiled
apologetically.

“Sorry, I forgot
where I was for a second.” I stared at the sexy young rocker, then at Charlie
and then at Lucas. It wasn’t easy for a girl to keep her head around this much
hotness and the glance to my sister told her as much. She’d been here a few
days and I wondered how the hell she managed it. Falling into bed with Lucas at
night had to help I thought, casting another quick glance at Charlie.

“Chas,” I said,
reaching out my hand to Tyler as he shook it, offering a tight smile and I
could tell from the redness that rimmed his eyes that today had affected him
deeply.

 
“I’m glad you’re here, Chas. You are probably
the only person who could make me smile today,” Charlie said as I smiled back,
holding him in another lingering hug and wondering whether this weekend might
be the time that Charlie finally decided he wanted more than a fast fuck. I’d
always hated funerals and already considered stranger sex in a graveyard today
which was absolutely unheard of. Maybe Charlie might suddenly decide that a
relationship would be more fulfilling after all. Despite the sizzling sexual
chemistry and the undeniable attraction, I wouldn’t cross that line until I had
some guarantees. Our friendship was too unique to risk for anything less.

“Always on hand
to brighten your day,” I smiled as he tucked his arm around my waist, kissing
me in an affectionate gesture that sent a shiver of warmth running through me.

“So where did
you get to?” Lucas asked as I sighed.

“Well I ended up
in Little Prenton instead of Little Preston. I found a graveyard, but they were
burying someone called Deidre,” I said as Charlie smiled. “It took me a while
to realise, but there was way too much polyester going on and not a sniff of
Armani. You should have seen the looks I got when I tried to sneak off. I had
to pretend I was overcome with emotion, but I don’t have much experience of
that. I sounded more like a pig having an orgasm,” I said as Charlie laughed
hard.

“What does that
sound like?” Tyler smiled in amusement as I snivelled and sucked in loud deep
breaths, peppering my virtual sobs with the occasional grunt and high pitched
squeal. If it sounded as bad then as it did now, I wasn’t surprised everyone
was staring.
 

“Eventually I
found the right one, and I was hoping I could make the burial part, but you’d
all left,” I said, my face lighting up as I thought about my little encounter
with the hot gravedigger.

“What’s that
look?” asked Jess who had clearly noticed the sparkle in my eyes as Charlie
watched me with some amusement.

“What look?” I
pursed my lips and tried not to smile, but I was fooling no one, least of all
my sister.

 
“
That look
! The one
right there, that’s lighting up your whole face.” She was pointing at me as I
flushed, biting my lip to stifle my grin and I wondered whether telling them at
this particular moment would be inappropriate.

“Nothing,” I
lied as Charlie shook his head.

“It can’t be as
bad as bursting into someone’s burial and moaning like some strange, horny hog.
Come on, Chas, tell us what happened,” he grinned as I took a deep breath. It
probably wasn’t a good idea, but might shock Charlie into action if nothing
else. Maybe it wouldn’t. However it went I was desperate to share it with
someone.

 
“I met a man by the grave,” I said, noticing
the slight frown on Charlie’s brow as Jess urged me to continue. “He was
stunning and he started talking to me. I was absolutely speechless.”
 
Jess stared open mouthed and even Lucas was
smiling.

“You were left
speechless? Jesus Christ, Chas, that must be a first,” he laughed, looking at
Charlie who wasn’t amused.

“Were you hit by
the thunderbolt?” Jess asked excitedly as I shook my head.

“I don’t know
about a thunderbolt, but I was definitely smacked by the sex stick.” Everyone
laughed except Charlie. I glanced at the floor as guilt pricked my gut. I was
supposed to be here cheering Charlie up, not bringing him down, and the last
thing I’d intended was to hurt him.

 
I had never seen my sister so animated and she
wasn’t about to leave it there. “I knew it would happen one day. Now you know
how it feels. What’s his name?” she asked as I rolled my eyes.
 
She was silent for a second, until a broad
grin spread slowly across her face. “You didn’t get it, did you?” she laughed,
with more than a small element of triumph in her voice as I shook my head. She
was smirking now, and I really couldn’t blame her after the lectures I’d
delivered on this very subject.

“Tell us what he
looked like. If he’s local we might know him,” Lucas said, almost reading my
mind. Digging graves must be thirsty work. He definitely looked like the kind
of man who’d like a beer, as the thought of him extracting that glorious body
from a sweat covered T-shirt and wrapping those full, soft lips around a
moulded brown bottle flashed into my mind. Perhaps I could drag everyone down
to the pub later to see if I could find him. The prospect of never seeing that
incredible face again was pretty depressing. I cast a quick glance at Charlie,
all of a sudden quite awkward and wondering whether I shouldn’t be sharing this
after all. Hell, it was too late now.
 

“He was tall and
muscular with dark skin; really tanned like he spent a lot of time outdoors.
It’s strange, but he was so captivating that I can’t really remember the exact
details, except his eyes. His eyes were extraordinary, the most vibrant blue
and he looked...” I stopped, glancing up as the kitchen door flew open. I stood
there for a second, immobilised; open mouthed and staring hard as everyone
followed my gaze to the figure in the doorway.

“He looked
exactly like that,” I whispered. Jess glanced at me with a stunned expression
on her face as the deafening shouts of “Roman” echoed through the room.
 
Tyler flung his arms around the handsome
stranger, almost knocking him stumbling backwards into the hall.

“You came,” he
gasped as Roman looked at Lucas, then Charlie until his eyes settled finally on
me, a small smirk curving the side of his mouth.

“We thought you
weren’t coming,” Lucas smiled, moving to hug his brother, patting him hard on
the back and pulling away as Roman shifted his gaze to Charlie and the smirk
was gone.

“Charlie?” he
said as Charlie looked away, and Roman’s dark brows pinched together as he glanced
across at Lucas. The tense atmosphere was broken by Tyler, who looked relieved
and happy.

“I knew you’d
come back.”

“I needed to
check for myself that the bastard was actually dead,” he smiled at Tyler as
Charlie glared at him, every muscle tensing in his body, hands balled into
giant fists.

“Let’s take this
through to the study,” Lucas announced firmly, ushering Tyler and Roman out of
the kitchen as Charlie followed behind, looking furious and not remotely happy
to see his prodigal brother. Jess grabbed my elbow.