Page 31 of Beautiful Harmony

“What the fuck?” He pulled back, staring at the basset hound’s face only inches from his. She licked his face again, and he grunted in annoyance. “Greta, what are you doing here? Go on.”

Greta backed up a few steps, but her entire body wiggled joyfully, and Lucas knew from experience it would only be a matter of minutes before she tried to climb onto the futon with them.

“Whose dog is this?” Emma asked.

“My parents. She must have been out with them or… shit!” Lucas whipped his head to the right to stare at the basement steps.

Emma followed his gaze, and he could practically feel the heat from her face as she turned bright red.

His parents stood on the basement stairs, surprise on his father’s face and amusement on his mother’s.

“Good God, Lucas. It’s like you’re a horny fifteen-year-old all over again,” his father said.

“Not true,” his mother said. “Fifteen-year-old Lucas would never have had a girl down here. Just a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues.”

“Mom!” Lucas said.

She laughed. “It’s fine, honey. All teenage boys masturbate. Hi, Emma. It’s lovely to see you again.”

“Um, hi, Mrs. Wright,” Emma said.

“Oh please, it’s Helen,” his mother said. “Sorry, we interrupted. We saw Lucas’s car in the driveway and assumed he was here alone.”

“We came over to play arcade games,” Lucas said.

“Did you? Because it seems hard to play an arcade game when you’ve got your tongue down a girl’s throat,” his father said with a grin.

Shit, Emma wasn’t the only one glowing now. Between the two of them, they could power a city block.

“Don’t embarrass the kids, honey,” Helen said. “Lucas, did you get my email about your aunt’s birthday?”

“Yeah. Mom, can you give us a minute?” he said.

“Oh, of course. Once you two are,” his mother paused and grinned at his dad, “finished playing your arcade games, come upstairs. We stopped at the bakery and picked up the most decadent chocolate cake. You and Emma must try it.”

“Uh, sure, maybe,” Lucas said.

His father whistled for Greta, and the basset hound took off for the stairs, her long ears flying out behind her. The three of them walked up the stairs, and Lucas moved to the far end of the futon, clearing his throat as Emma sat up and straightened her shirt.

The birthmark on her face was a dark pink, and when she realized he was looking at it, she turned her head away to stare at the arcade games lined up against the wall.

“Emma, I -”

“That was a mistake,” she said. “A mistake that can never happen again.”

CHAPTER9

“It was awful, Rayna. So freaking awful.” Emma collapsed on Rayna’s couch next to Bea, petting the beagle’s head as Bea rested her chin on Emma’s thigh.

“Huh.” Rayna sat in the armchair, whose fabric had seen more than its fair share of cat claws. “I would never have guessed Lucas would be bad at making out.”

“No, not the making out part!” Emma said. “The making out part was fine.”

“Fine?” Rayna said.

“It was amazing. Lucas is… I mean… my God, that guy can kiss,” Emma said, “Which sucks because I’ll never get to kiss him again.”

“Why not?”

---