Lucky Break (13 page)

“Oh, I understand. I’m the one that just spent all that time rehashing something I’d rather not, just to share myself with you.”

She tugged the sheet off and stalked to the bathroom, ignoring her naked state. Then she shut the door and locked it behind her.

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she realized what had happened. While she’d been fighting her attraction to him, she’d been falling for him. And now that she heard the story of what Nick had done come out of her own mouth, she acknowledged that she needed to let it go. Not all men were dicks like Nick. But during that same revelation, it dawned on her that her feelings for Jared hadn’t just grown; they’d developed and rooted in her heart. She strangled a sob, watching the woman in the mirror as her eyes filled with tears.

There was a knock at the door. “Lucky?” His voice sounded strained, worried. “Are you OK in there?”

She choked on a watery laugh. That was the question of the century. Was she OK? She would be as soon as she got the hell out of there. She’d let things move too fast too soon. He clearly wasn’t ready to move on from whatever happened to him, and now that she realized she’d been stagnating over Nick, she wasn’t going to be living in the past any longer. Her heart ached with frustration. She’d told herself this was so simple. So easy. Date Jared and not get emotional.

That wasn’t her style. She’d gotten emotional from the moment he’d kissed her by the fountain. She jumped into the shower. A dull throbbing expanded in her skull, growing while she showered into a full-blown migraine. She needed to go. She came out of the bathroom to find the bedroom empty of Jared. Dressed and still struggling to control the emotions running rampant inside her, she went in search of a phone to call a taxi.

Jared sat in the kitchen looking at some papers when she entered. He wore a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. His frown deepened when he glanced up at her.

“I forgot my cell phone in your car. I know it’s probably dead by now. I didn’t see a single phone anywhere on my way down.” She pursed her lips. Anger battled its way up her throat, but she bitterly pushed it back. “Either give me a phone to call a cab or take me home.”

“Lucky—”

“I don’t feel like discussing anything else. We had our moment where you felt I needed to divulge my past, but you were off-limits. I want to go. Now,” she added when he appeared ready to argue with her.

He clenched his jaw. “I’ll drive you.”

Their ride back to Nina’s apartment was quiet, tense. When he stopped at the curbside, she didn’t wait on him. She opened the door and jumped out. “Good-bye.”

She turned to the building and hurried to the front door, with his impassioned pleas echoing behind her.

Chapter Eleven

Jared glanced at the newly married couple doing their first dance and couldn’t help but be happy for Max. He’d seen the smile on Nina’s face when she walked up the aisle. It was clear to anyone with two eyes that they were deeply in love.

“You look like somebody took your favorite toy away, Mr. Sexy.”

He flicked a glance over his shoulder to catch Jazz strolling up to his side in a navy and pale blue suit.

“I’m fine.”

Jazz sighed. “No, you’re not. You’re stupid.”

He glared at Jazz. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, you didn’t hear me? I said you’re stupid. You have a great woman like Lucky shoving her past experience out of the way to give you a chance, and you can’t bother to be real with her. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You know, you’re treading dangerous ground there. Just because you’re Lucky’s and everyone’s preferred venue designer doesn’t mean I’ll allow you to call me stupid.”

Jazz rolled his eyes, stopped a passing waiter, and grabbed two flutes filled with champagne. “I hate to tell you this, but no smart man would do what you did.”

His defense mechanism kicked in. “Hey, I tried calling and seeing her. She’s the one who has refused me every step of the way.”

Jazz stared at him like he really was stupid, or slow on the uptake. “Why would she waste any more time with you when you don’t even know what you want?”

“Of course I know what I want.” He ground his teeth. “I want her.”

Jazz grinned. “Then tell her, because she’s not going to be up here forever. Our plane leaves in the morning.”

His gut clenched. She was leaving already?

“Word of advice?” Jazz’s voice interrupted the fear running rampant inside him. “Tell the woman how you feel. Cut the bullshit and get on with making her happy already. Trust me: it will be better in the long term, Mr. Sexy.”

He glanced around the room, looking for her. There. His eyes settled upon a goddess draped in pale gold. His woman. Her hair tumbled in soft curls down her back. His panic grew when she glanced his way, sadness filling her gaze.

“Thanks, Jazz.”

“No problem. Hurry your ass up before some other guy takes your woman!” He slapped him on his back.

Jared’s gaze locked on to her. She was talking to her sister and Alex. The three were dressed in identical styles of the same shade.

When he got to the women, Alex tapped Lucky and pointed at him. She whirled around. Her eyes went wide when she realized he was right behind her.

“Hi, what—” She frowned. “Did you need something?”

He nodded, his mind going a million miles per hour trying to think of the right words to say to her. “I need to talk to you.”

“Really, Jared. I have a lot of stuff—”

“Go!” her sister and Alex said in unison. “We’ll take care of everything.”

“The, um, suite that we changed in is empty if you need somewhere private. It’s just down the hall and to your left. There’s a sign on the door,” Alex stated, staring right at Jared.

He could’ve kissed her. He definitely needed privacy. Luciana looked from her right to her left before conceding. “OK, I guess we can talk for a few minutes.”

Her posture was rigid, and she pursed her lips as he led her across the room and down a hallway, following Alex’s directions.

Nerves got the better of him. He shut the door behind him and watched her make her way to the other side of the room, stopping by a large bay window and folding her arms over her chest.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“I—” He hadn’t spoken to anyone about his ex since it happened. It was hard getting the words out. “I was engaged to be married two years ago.”

Her defensive stance softened. She dropped her arms and sat on the window ledge, brows lifted, waiting.

“She came from a well-connected family, so the last thing I expected was for her to want me for my money.” He gulped past the acid burning his throat, shoved his hands in his pockets, and remembered. “Two days before the wedding, I returned home from a trip overseas early, so I let myself into the house we were living in at the time. She mustn’t have heard me because she was involved in a phone conversation.” He took a breath and let it out slowly. “She was negotiating with a hitman.”

“What?” She jumped to attention, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Yeah. Apparently her family was in debt—big debt—and she figured that marrying me would secure the money she needed to bring them back from the brink of ruin. Only, our prenuptial agreement stated she wouldn’t get anything while I drew breath.”

Lucky gasped, her face a mask of horror.

“I overheard her confirming a…price on my head. It was supposed to happen at the airport, on the way to our honeymoon.” He took a few steps toward her and stopped, unsure if that was the right move to make. He wanted to touch her, to hold her, but he knew he needed to let her know what happened.

“Oh my God.”

“I called in a favor from someone from my security business to find out more about her plans. Waited to see how far she’d go. We had all the details on who she’d hired, exact time and location. On the day of the wedding, I didn’t think she’d show up. Part of me was in denial that someone who’d been showing nothing but innocence could do that. But when she showed up, I let my own plan roll and had her ass arrested in a church full of her friends.”

“That’s…awful,” she whispered. “Didn’t she love you at all?”

He’d asked himself the same thing. And had come to one conclusion. “No.”

“I’m sorry.”

He stepped toward her. The ties holding him back over what his ex had done to him loosened their hold. He cared more about being with Luciana than dwelling on what had happened in the past. He couldn’t stay in the past forever, wondering if every woman would do the same. He already knew Lucky wasn’t like that. And she’d opened up to him, shared her own hurt with him.

She was watching him with sympathy. He didn’t need sympathy. What he wanted was her to give him a chance. “No, I’m sorry. I should’ve told you this when we discussed Nick the Dick.”

A smile split her lips. “He really was a dick.”

“I know, baby, but his loss is my gain.” He cupped her face with his hands. Emotion clogged his throat. He was scared she’d reject him, but his feelings pushed him to talk. “I know a few weeks wouldn’t normally be considered long enough to fall in love with someone, but I know how I feel.”

She lifted her brows. Curiosity filled her gaze. “How do you feel?”

“I love you, Luciana.”

She glanced down. “I don’t know, Jared…”

His heart stopped beating. “What don’t you know?”

Her smile was sad. “I don’t know what made you tell me this now, but will you have this much of an issue communicating with me about other things? Relationships are hard enough without me having to guess what you’re feeling.”

“It’s not that…” He stopped, unsure what to say, how to make her see that opening up to her—hell, to anyone—was hard. “I haven’t shared that story with anyone, until now. Only a handful of people know what happened.”

“So what stops you from shutting me out again, from locking things inside and not sharing them with me?”

He tried to think of what to say.

“That’s what I thought.”

She marched past him. She was leaving. No! He couldn’t, wouldn’t lose her.

He ran after her to the entrance of the room, grabbed her by her arm, and stopped her. “Don’t go.”

She turned in his grasp.

“I may not be the best at opening up, but I’m telling you the truth. I will never hold myself, or feelings, back again.”

She didn’t seem convinced. He placed her hands on his chest, directly over his heart. “Everything I am: the card shark, the security professional, the man, and every other piece of me…belongs to you.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“I’ve never felt this way toward any other woman.”

“How?”

“I…” He searched his mind for the right words.

She shook her head. “Forget it.”

“The love I feel for you is rooted deep in my bones.” He swallowed hard. It felt good to say the words. Even if he still worried she’d continue on her way out.

“You mean that?”

“I’ve never meant anything more in my life. I love you. With everything I have inside.”

She blinked. Nibbled on her lip, as if unsure. “That much?”

“More than words can say. So much it scares me.”

A slow smile spread over her full lips. “That’s good.”

“It is?”

She nodded. “Because…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I love you too.”

He kissed her quickly. To ensure she was truly there. With him saying those words. That it wasn’t his imagination playing tricks on what he really wanted to hear. Then he pulled back and stared deep into her eyes. “I’ll move down to Florida if you don’t want to come back here. I know you’re set to return tomorrow, but I don’t want to be away from you. I never want to be away from you.”

She grinned. “You don’t have to move. I was planning to come back up here anyway. I’m just going back to pack, but we’re moving the business office up to New York again.”

“I’m coming with you. I can be helpful with packing.”

She laughed. “Mr. Sexy is going to turn into Mr. Martha Stewart again? I can’t wait.”

“Baby, Mr. Sexy is all yours, and I’ll be your Mr. Martha Stewart any day you want.”

Their lips met in a heated caress. It was more a marking than a kiss; hard, rough, and needy. He teased her lips apart with his tongue and branded her as his own. Holding her tight in his arms, he opened himself to the emotions filling his heart. This was the one woman he wanted, and he’d let go of the past to be able to enjoy their future.

Epilogue

Lucky grinned at all the family and friends filling
Come Again
. It was a special celebration. The club had been decked out to welcome Adalia Karly Carter, Andrew and Alex’s daughter.

The room broke into soft applause the moment the proud parents walked into the club with the newborn.

“So…” Jazz’s voice caught her attention.

She watched him sip a fruity drink from a blue bendy straw. Geez. He really liked those things.

“So?” Nina frowned at Jazz. Her face was even more golden than normal from her recent honeymoon.

“So, which one of you is going to hook me up with my very own Mr. Sexy?” Jazz grinned expectantly.

Lucky laughed and glanced at the dance floor where her sister was trying to look like she was dancing with her friend and world-renowned chef, Sev. Instead of dancing, though, they looked like they were in a heated argument.

“Lucky?”

She jerked back to glance at Jazz and Nina, who were also watching the couple on the dance floor.

“Oh Jazz, honey, I think Kay may need some help next.” Nina grinned.

Uh-oh. If she was going to play matchmaker with Kay, her poor sister was in trouble.

The buzzing of her phone caught her attention. She glanced at the screen and grinned. It was a photo of a deck of cards and a message saying: “Want to play?”

She laughed and replied: “OK, who knows, this might be your lucky day.”

A moment later, Jared’s hard body rubbed up behind her. His hands went around her waist, hauling her into him.

“I don’t think I can get any luckier,” he whispered by her ear.

She turned in his grasp to glance up at his smiling face. Licking her lips, she rubbed her body over his, loving the feel of his hardness on her. She slid her hands into his. Pressed the ace card she’d taken from his boat into his palm. There was no need to keep the card when she already had the man.