Page 55 of Beautiful Harmony

He listened for a few minutes, a frown crossing his face. “Well, shit. When did it happen?”

He nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be there in twenty.”

He ended the call and slid out of bed to grab his clothes. “I’m sorry. I have to go to work. Paul was working on Shadow Assassins and thinks he deleted one of the main files.”

“That sounds bad,” she said.

“It’s super fucking bad. Set us back months, bad. If he did delete it, Stark will fire his ass,” Lucas said. “Even if I can restore it, Stark might fire him anyway.”

Emma grabbed her robe, slipping into it and belting it around her waist as Lucas’s phone buzzed. He stared at the screen. “Shit, now Paul is texting me. I gotta go.”

He pressed a distracted kiss against her mouth and ran out of the bedroom.

Emma sank back onto the bed, touching her lips with the tips of her fingers. She’d just had sex with Lucas, and it had been… amazing.

Too bad you’ll never do it again.

A wave of depression hit her hard. She stood and headed to the bathroom. This was fine. She was fine. So what if sex with Lucas had been the best moment of her life? They couldn’t keep having sex. Sooner or later, someone would find out and then… her cheeks turned hot. Then everyone would think the hottest guy in Harmony Falls was pity fucking her.

Her stomach twisted, and she hurried into the bathroom, turning on the shower and stepping under the hot spray.

She had to accept that she couldn’t be with Lucas again. The risk was too great.

CHAPTER15

“So, you and Lucas are friends again?” Rayna sank onto the couch next to Bea, rubbing Bea’s stomach when the beagle immediately rolled to her side.

“Yes.” Emma had her phone on the counter as she chopped vegetables.

“Change the angle. All I see are chopped carrots,” Rayna said.

Rayna rubbed Bea’s belly again as Emma propped the phone on something that gave Rayna a view of her face. “Better?”

“Much. Listen, I’m worried about you.”

“Why? I’m fine.”

“Are you? You’re acting weird,” Rayna said.

“No, I’m not.”

“You kind of are. I find it strange that you forgave Lucas for punching Brad at the party. I mean, not that Brad didn’t deserve it, but you hate that kind of macho bullshit.”

“I do, and when Lucas showed up for our knitting lesson yesterday, I explained why I hated it, and he apologized. We’re good now.”

Rayna stared at Emma through her phone screen. “Emma, what aren’t you telling me?”

Before Emma could reply, Rayna’s doorbell rang. Bea stayed where she was, on her back, with a blissed out look on her face as she snored loudly. But unlike the deaf beagle, the two pitbull mixes she was temporarily fostering were young and had excellent hearing. They jumped to their feet and set off a chorus of barking that made Rayna wince.

“Emma, I have to go,” she shouted over the barking. “I’ll call you tomorrow!”

Emma waved, and Rayna ended the call before heading to the front door. She closed the baby gate that separated the living room from the hallway and patted the dogs when they made disappointing howls.

“Hush, silly girls,” she said and made the hand motion for quiet. To her delight, they quieted down. “You girls will be so easy to adopt out. Yes, you are, lovebugs.”

She leaned over the gate and kissed their noses. The doorbell rang again, and she shouted, “I’m coming!”. She weaved around the calico cat in the middle of the hallway, lazily washing one front paw.

She stopped to pet the cat, smiling when the cat purred loudly and arched her back. The cat stood, revealing her gently rounding belly. Rayna lightly stroked her sides. “How are those babies baking up, little mama?”

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