Page 48 of This Loving Feeling (Mirror Lake)

CHAPTER 11

Who knew offering yourself up as a human sacrifice had its advantages? Even though the baggy costume was hot as hell and smelled a little—okay,a lot—and the clown shoes were gross and sweaty. But sitting on the toilet seat in Brad and Olivia’s bathroom while Sam put white makeup on Lukas’s face was ... interesting.

Her touch was deliberate and professional as she dabbed and swiped with a makeup sponge, treating his face like a canvas. He closed his eyes and concentrated on each stroke, the feel of her touching him that wasn’t meant to be sensual but was. Smelling her light, citrus-and-grapefruit scent reminded him of long, lazy summer days. Not that he’d ever had any of those, but it made him wonder what it would be like to spend one with her. To imagine a completely different scenario where he would simply reach out and tug her until she fell into his lap, circle his arms around her, and kiss her on those beautiful full lips of hers. Stamp her ashis.

A few years ago, he would have accepted that he didn’t have a chance with her. He was from another world. His entire experience of life did not include what it was like to be part of a loving family, a safe place where people had your back. In his world, if you turned your back for just a second you got stabbed. Taken advantage of. Trust was a luxury that couldn’t be afforded.

Yet now that he’d experienced the freakish and serendipitous world of success, he’d learned more about himself. He’d always been tenacious and scrappy, but now he had proof that he wasn’t a quitter. Not quitting had gotten him places.

He might be the wrong guy for her. A bad gamble. He was as far off from the stability she craved as Maine from Hawaii. Unknowing of how to love or be loved and clueless about raising a child.

But he knew one thing. Harris was worse. Harris, with all his education and all his wealth, didn’t treat her with the respect she deserved.

Lukas wasn’t going to back down. That included showing all her big, dumb brothers what he was made of, clown or no clown.

He opened his eyes to find her staring at him. She flushed as red as the face paint she was about to apply around his mouth.

“What are you looking at?” he asked, unabashedly admiring her. Up close, her green eyes held golden flecks in a fascinating pattern he’d never noticed before. Her cheeks were more rounded, not the carved ones of models on the brink of starvation, or some rockers he knew who subsisted more on pot and booze than food, giving her a fresh look so different from everyone in his world. And she had a smattering of tiny freckles over the bridge of her nose. Sun kissed.

It pleased him that her hands were shaking a little. “Tell me, Princess, how did you know you wanted to be an artist?”

“Quit calling me that. It’s demeaning.”

He’d started calling her that long ago as a warning to himself. Princesses don’t belong with bad boys. “Okay, fair enough,Samantha.I never thought business was the proper career for you. I’m glad you ended up doing art.”

She laughed as she continued to dab his face. “I’m just an art teacher. But I love using my hands.”

“I like to use my hands, too.” He let that sink in. Judging by the way her eyes widened, it hit the mark. “And you are an artist—who teaches.”

“If you’re asking if I regret not going to art school, the answer is no. I love my job.”

“I’m glad you found what makes you happy.”

“What about you—are you happy?” she asked.

“I love writing songs, performing. I mean, who’d’ve thought all this craziness would happen to me, a foster kid with nothing?”

“I hear a ‘but’ in there.”

“Oh, just that things are kind of consuming. I’m going to have to make some changes now that I have Stevie.”

“Changes?” she asked, her elegant brows arching.

“I’m going to hire a tutor for Stevie. And a chef. And someone to clean the bus on a regular basis.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, still skeptical. “What about a relationship? Do you have time for those?”

“Too focused on my career.” Actually, it was hard to have a relationship when you only wanted one person. “Besides, I don’t do relationships. Too complicated. You, however, deserve someone who thinks you’re special. Who treats you right.”

“More advice from the relationship expert.” She rolled her eyes, but her blush deepened. “Do you want a sad face or a happy face?”

“Let’s go with happy.”

She traced a big line around his mouth with red face crayon.

Sunlight filtered into the window from a large oak tree, the dappled rays bringing out the golden-red highlights and the May-grass green of her pretty eyes.

“Doyouhave to keep staring at me?” she asked.

---