Luring Lucy (10 page)

Lucy stumbled back into a seat, dropping hard. “But . . . you sleep with young, beautiful women. You're a . . . a stud.”

“Yeah?
Big deal.
I'm a forty-one-year-old man who wants more in his life than a string of one-night stands with women looking for a father figure or a guy who's settled enough that he can buy them a good time. They see me as responsible, mature, when they're anything but. The sex is great, but is that supposed to make my life worthwhile?”

“I don't know.” At the moment she didn't feel like she knew anything. Everything had changed so suddenly she couldn't get her bearings.

“Well, let me tell you,” he shouted, “it doesn't.”

Lucy flinched, and Bram instantly lowered his tone, drawing a deep breath in an effort to calm down.

“Being with you, that's what matters.” Bram knelt down in front of her and caught her hands. “This week has been the best of my life. Not just the sex, though God knows you send me through the roof. But it's you, sweetheart. Talking with you, laughing with you. Loving you.”

Hearing him say it again made tears roll down her cheeks. She sniffed and then smiled because she couldn't
not
smile. Bram loved her, and according to him, his feelings weren't new.

He smoothed her cheeks, brushed her mouth with his thumb. “You can't begin to imagine all the times I've fantasized about you, about having a moment like this, being able to tell you how I feel. You're my life, Lucy. You're all I want, not some young female just out for kicks.”

Lucy touched his mouth, almost laughing now. He made a
“young female just out for kicks” sound like a bad thing, when most men would have done anything to be in his position.

He kissed her fingers. “I want a woman who matches me in maturity, who's intelligent and settled and honorable—and still so sexy that even when she's sitting here crying and telling me she might walk away, I still get hard.”

Lucy threw her arms around him, chuckling and sniffling at the same time.

Bram held her, his big hands moving up and down her back. His touch was so gentle, so uncertain, it broke her heart.

And then he asked, so quietly she could barely hear, “Do you love me, Lucy?”

“I always have.” That was one truth she could easily admit to.

“No, not like a friend.” He pushed her back and held her there, his gaze boring into hers, into her soul. “Did you ever fantasize about me while you were married?”

Such a thing seemed sinful, by thought if not by deed; she couldn't get the words to come.

“Lucy?” His voice was hard, bordering on impatient. “Admit it—you did dream about me, didn't you? I can't be that wrong.”

“I . . . I was married to David,” she hedged, feeling breathless and guilty and confused, “and even though things weren't great, we—”

Bram shook her. “Damn you, tell me the truth! Tell me you dreamed about me.”

“Bram . . .”

“Tell me you wanted me even then!”

“Yes!” Lucy saw his vulnerability, his fear, and everything else ceased to matter. Gently, love consuming her, she cupped his face in her hands. “Yes, Bram. In the beginning of my marriage, I only noticed you as an extremely attractive man. I was so curious, but
your girlfriends were always around, always bragging, so I knew, without having to ask much, that you were a good lover. And of course that made me . . . wonder.”

Bram turned his head and kissed her palm. His eyes were closed in relief, some of the tension leaving his shoulders.

“When things started to go wrong between David and me,” she continued, willing to tell him everything now that she knew he needed to hear it, “I . . . I pretended sometimes that he was you.”

Bram jerked around to stare at her. Lucy kissed him, giving him the words without making him ask. “That wasn't any good, because David had stopped caring about what I wanted or needed and sex was . . . Well, I still loved him as a father to my children, as a man I'd known for so long, but I didn't desire him anymore. And pretending didn't help. I knew, intuitively, that being with you would be incredible.”

She drew a shuddering breath, guilt melting away with the heat of the summer day and the warmth in Bram's gaze. “So yes,” she said, smiling just a little, “when I was in bed at night, alone and lonely, I thought of you.” Lucy laughed, then wiped her teary eyes. “You're even better in reality than in my dreams.”

Bram stood, caught her arms, and pulled her up, too. “I love you.” He kissed her, long and hard. “I love the kids. Let's be a family, Lucy.”

Lucy toyed with the hair on his chest. She felt like she was floating, then realized Bram had lifted her completely off her feet. “I love you, too. I think I've been in love with you for a long time, but I just never imagined . . .”

“Your self-esteem was low,” he explained gently, rocking her back and forth. “It was a nasty separation and you took it to heart.” Then he grinned. “Marcy knew all along how I felt. When I told her I had something to do this week, she knew that I was coming
after you. And given how quick she agreed to fill in for me, I'd say she approves.”

“Others won't be so generous,” Lucy warned. “They'll say that we were fooling around all along, even when I was married. They'll make up stories that you had something to do with the separation—”

Bram released her and turned away. “And you don't want to take the risk of more scandal, is that it?”

Lucy caught him before he'd taken a complete step and hugged him from behind. “No, I just want you to be prepared, that's all.”

Bram twisted around to her, his eyes darkened to near black. “Then you'll marry me?”

She smiled and threw herself into his arms. “On one condition.”

Bram squeezed her so tight she could barely breathe. “Name it.”

“Promise we'll come back here at least once a year, just the two of us.”

Bram held her face and kissed her hungrily. Lucy took that kiss as wholehearted agreement. Seconds later Bram lifted her over his shoulder and started for the house.

Lucy squealed from her upside-down position, “Bram! What are you doing?”

“Getting some ice.”

“Ice?” She started to giggle until Bram smacked her on the bottom.

“Damn right, woman. I told you I'd get even.” He kissed her hip and brought her around to hold her gently in his arms. “And I always keep my word.”

Lucy started to feel weepy again, she was so full-to-bursting with love.

Then Bram opened the freezer and pulled out the ice tray, and she took off running, laughing, loving—having the time of her life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously.

 

LURING LUCY
. Copyright © 2001 by Lori Foster. (Originally published in
Hot and Bothered
, from St. Martin's Press.)

Previously published in
Real Men Last All Night
, (St. Martin's Griffin).

 

e-ISBN 9781429959438

 

www.stmartins.com

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

 

For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

 

First Edition: July 2011