Page 54 of Getting Lucky Number Seven

She pulled on my T-shirt and went in search of her clothes. Separating at the end of the day like we’d been doing all this time was stupid. Pointless.

Lyla came back in fully dressed—a shame, that whole wearing-clothes thing—and tossed me my shirt. She twisted her hair into a bun and glanced around. I grabbed a pen out of the cup on my desk and tossed it to her.

“Thanks.” Once her bun was secured, she placed her hand on my chest, leaned in, and kissed me. “I just wanna say that I’m glad you saw my list, and I’m glad taking care of lucky number seven made us grow closer instead of apart. I was so scared it was going to screw everything up.”

“Me, too. It’s why I tried so hard to resist when I first started thinking about it.” I curled my hand around her bare neck. “But now that I know how amazing this can be, you’re never getting rid of me.”

Her beautiful lips curved into a smile and my heart lurched. “I’m holding you to that.”

As we drove through town, I felt peace like I hadn’t experienced in months. I didn’t even care if we ran into anyone I knew, or what questions they might ask—none of it mattered right now. Not with Lyla with me. When we got to the café, we loaded up on pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

At Aunt Tess’s, we split for showers. As soon as I was dressed, I found Lyla in her room, her hair wet and her clothes still clinging to her damp skin. “Babe, I need to go or I’ll be late. You want the car?”

“No, I’ll be fine here.” She moved over to me and threw her arms around my neck. “But hurry back, because I’ll miss you.” She pressed her lips to mine. “I’m trying”—kiss—“to not get carried away with the mushy stuff here”—another string of short kisses that merged into the next—“But I already can’t wait for whatever we do tonight.”

“If this is carried away, I say go for it.” I grinned as she kissed one cheek and then the other, then the side of my mouth, before placing her lips on mine again. “Tell you what, I still owe you a movie. We’ll order whatever horrific chick flick you want and have ice cream.”

She ran her tongue across my bottom lip and then gently sucked on it. A jolt of heat tore through me, revving me up to fully aroused in two seconds flat.

I groaned. “I really have to go.”

“Okay,” she said, but she wrapped her arms tighter around me. Another kiss and we ended up on the bed—that one was on me, but considering the wicked things she was doing with her tongue, I couldn’t help but respond in kind. While I usually preferred to take my time, the way we had last night, we ended up racing though sex. Fast and furious, a blur of skin-on-skin, moans, panted breaths, and then coming together.

Head still spinning, I gave her one last kiss, reluctantly forced myself to my feet and dressed, and then raced out of the house. Tessa would kill me if she found out I was late.

Worth it,I thought as I peeled out of the driveway, my lips stretched in a grin. At least no matter what happened, Lyla would be here at the end of the day to make it all seem better.

I think this is what being in love feels like.

…

The dark-haired woman who sat across the conference table from Mr. Hawthorne and me looked to be in her early thirties. There was something about the way she studied me that made apprehension prickle across my skin.

Her lawyer—Mr. Smith—sat in the chair next to her. “Son, I’m sorry for your loss, and I wish there was a better time to do this, but Ms. Walker can’t wait any longer. She has a daughter to take care of, and that has to be her top priority right now.”

“I really am sorry,” Ms. Walker said, her green-eyed gaze on me, and Mr. Smith shot her a stern look that made me think she wasn’t supposed to talk.

I folded my arms on the polished table. “What’s this all about? Just spit it out so I can get to the other matters I need to take care of today.” The words didn’t sound like mine. Me, an uptight businessman who didn’t have time for small talk. But after two hours with Mr. Hawthorne, sorting through estate paperwork and D&T “action items” I barely understood, I was actually starting to feel like I fit the part.

Mr. Smith set his pen on the table and steepled his hands under his chin. “Your father had another child. With Ms. Walker.”

Another child?My mind revolted at the words; my lungs turned to stone. I glanced at Ms. Walker and her face crumpled.

“Is this supposed to be funny? Some attempt to extort money from the company?” Anger rose, burning hotter and hotter by the second. “Going after a dead man’s family is low.”

Ms. Walker burst into tears, and Mr. Smith put his hand on her shoulder. “I assure you, it’s not a joke, and we’re not trying to go after your family. Only trying to get what’s owed to my client and the child. Richmond Davenport made monthly payments that helped Ms. Walker take care of their daughter. But he didn’t add them to his will, and with him gone, the payments have stopped. His daughter deserves the same comfort his legitimate children have. I believe he would’ve wanted it that way.”

Everything inside me was crumbling. The room was too hot and too cold and the walls were closing in on me.Momwas the cheater. Dad… I curled my hands into fists, fighting the urge to flip the table and throw one of the million pretentious chairs lining it out the window. He wasn’t like that. Our family was healing. Coming back together.

I heard his words in my head again and again:Son, people make mistakes. When you love someone, there are times you have to be strong and work through issues together, no matter how hard it is.

So much for working through issues. So much for fucking love.

“Beckett, you should know that your father always spoke so highly of you.” Ms. Walker gave me a watery smile and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “I wish we’d met under other circumstances, but now that we have, I’d love for you to meet your sister. For us to get to know one another.”

How could she sit there and act like she wasn’t ruining everything? “Do you have proof? Any proof at all? Besides that he gave you money?”

Mr. Hawthorne put a hand on my shoulder—apparently it was the go-to lawyer calm down tactic—but it was going to take a lot more than that to stop the rage coursing through my body. “Let’s hear them out, and then we’ll decide what to do.”

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