Page 47 of Getting Lucky Number Seven

As Flo Rida sang the first few lines, I shook my head. “I’m so proud our song is a stripper song.”

“Hey, I’d watch your body go down and throw my money around.” Beck wrapped his hand around my upper thigh. “I’ll swing by the bank. We’ll incorporate it into our foreplay.”

Tingly heat spread from my stomach outward, the mention of foreplay waking up every cell and sending blips from the times we’d been together dancing through my head. Anytime I thought I was getting in too deep, and that maybe I should stop having sex with him before I ended up irrevocably crushed, I wondered if I could stop even if I tried. Being with Beck was intoxicating—I loved how it made me feel sexy in a way I never had before. How easily he could have me practically panting with a few words or a simple touch. But now there was also the deeper level of intimacy.

It was like my wishful thinking at the party a few weeks ago had come true. He held my hand when we walked across campus together, and we kissed each other hello and good-bye, and everything in between. Despite not being in an official relationship, we spent more time together before and after we had sex, and we’d had some of our deepest conversations lying in his bed, nothing between us.

And the thought of giving it up—givinghimup—sent pain radiating through my chest.

I told myself we’d still be friends no matter what, so I wouldn’t be giving him up completely. But since I’d accidentally fallen head over heels for him, I wasn’t sure I could do it. See his perfect messy hair, hear his deep sexy voice, and not want more. Over the past few days I’d told myself of course I loved him. He was my friend—my best friend, really.

But then he’d shoot me a smile, just like he was doing now, and my heart would constrict, and I’d bite back the words that wanted to explode from my mouth.I love you.

“You okay?” Beck asked as the song came to a close. He opened up the console between the seats and held up the Twizzlers and sour gummy worms we’d picked up at the gas station before hitting the road. “More sugar?”

“More sugar. Hmm.” I knew it was cheesy, but I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Don’t mind if I do.” I ran my lips down to his jaw and kissed my way along the strong line of it and down the column of his neck.

The engine revved as he accelerated. “Twenty more minutes. Then we won’t even say hi to my aunt or sister. I’ll just carry you inside and have my way with you.”

I took the package of sour gummy worms that he’d dropped in his lap when I kissed him, sat back in my seat, and bit into the candy. “Want one?”

He leaned toward me, opening his mouth, and I tossed in a worm. “Thanks, babe.”

The breath I sucked in at hearing him call mebabewas laced with sour sugar, and I started coughing, because I was sexy like that. I reached for my H2O and gulped until the burning subsided.

Beck glanced at me, and I waved him off. “I’m fine. Just…you should really chew instead of inhaling the candy.”

“Good tip. I’ll keep that in mind.”

As we turned off the freeway, a knot formed in my gut. I really had no idea what I was walking in to. While I’d gone on and on about Miles back when we were dating, and mentioned being from New York—but the middle of nowhere part—I supposed that I hadn’t been an open book when it came to my family, either. But I was minutes away from meeting his, and there was still so much I didn’t know.

I bit my lip. “So, uh…” Finally I decided to stop beating around the bush and say it. “Beck, I feel like I’m going into this situation completely unprepared. I don’t even know…how your parents died. Or when. Or pretty much anything other than you’ve got an aunt and a sister named Megan who was arrested once.”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “There’s not going to be a pop quiz, Lyla.”

The words were too sharp. It’d be easy to take offense, but I knew it was more about it being hard for him than being upset with me—I hoped, anyway. “Beck. It’s me. I’m not trying to push you. Just trying to know what to say or how to act, and I’d prefer it if I didn’t put my foot in my mouth.” I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder, rubbing calming circles with my thumb, the way he often did when we were lying next to each other.

“My parents died in a plane crash early last summer,” he said. “Private plane, lots of attention. Everyone wanted a rundown of exactly how the plane crashed, too. They kept asking me how something like that could happen. Like I’d know or want to discuss the gory details.”

“I’m sorry.” I had to admit there were a lot of questions that came to my mind, too. I guess it’s human nature.

“They were coming home from a business trip—ever heard of D&T Pharmaceuticals?”

“Yeah. When I looked up pharmaceutical companies, it was one that I made a note to apply to after I graduated.”

“Well, considering it’ll be mine when I turn twenty-one, I could probably get you an interview,” he said.

I stared at him, sure my mouth was gaping open in the most unattractive way. “Yourcompany?”

“My great grandfather Davenport started it—that’s where the D comes from. His partner, Mr. Truman, sold his half of the company to my dad a few years ago. Right now the board of directors is running it, but they can’t make any big changes without me, even though I don’t really have any power for several more months.”

“That’s…crazy. I mean, huge. I mean…” The plastic bag containing the sour gummy worms crinkled as I fiddled with it, trying to think of what to say to the shocking revelation. “I’m not sure what I mean. It’s a lot of information to process.”

“You’re telling me. Can you really see me in a suit behind a desk?” He brought his fingers up and pressed them into his temple. “Yelling about reports and the bottom line?”

“Is it bad if I say I’d kinda like to see that? Solely for eye candy reasons—you’d look super hot in a suit.”

That comment got me a half smile. Then he sighed and glanced at me, anxiety swimming in the blue eyes I’d peered into so many times. “Well, I guess that’s good, because that’s my future. I’ve put it off as long as I could, but there are a lot of family and business things I need to deal with this trip. I probably shouldn’t have dragged you along, I just…” He turned his palm up and then curled his fingers between mine so that our hands locked together. “I wanted you with me to counteract all the shitty stuff.”

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