Page 73 of Empowered
She snapped out of her half-asleep fantasies. “What?”
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s not good for your job. That’s why I’m going to tell Damon Monday morning when I get back to work.”
“Come on, Luke…”
“I’m serious. I’ll tell him in confidence, off the record. If he really has a problem with it, I’ll deal with it. I’ll make sure you stay out of it.”
“Even if he signs off on it, there’s no way I can stayoutof it.”
“I know, but…” He sighed. “Don’t you want to be public with me, Angel?”
Her finger traced his bottom lip. “I want everything with you.”
Those words came out of her mouth before she vetted them in her brain. Lucas gave her the exact expression she expected once she realized her folly. That boyish hope that told Sarah she needed to think things through next time.
“Me too, Angel. There’s something about you that continues to draw me in.” He lightly kissed her forehead. “We can keep taking it easy, of course, but eventually… maybe…”
She brushed her fingers against his chest. “You’ve got a lot going on with your disputes.”
“Yes. I need to focus on that before anything else.”
“As you should. He’s your son.” Sarah would never be able to forget how happy those two looked playing the other night.
“But I want to focus on you, too.”
“You are focusing on me. Right now.”
“I want to focus on you every waking moment I have available.”
The way his hand pressed upon her body awakened some forgotten corner of her heart. It made her sit up with a start, her brain firing offwarning!shots before she had the chance to calm herself down.
No… no, she shouldn’t be feelingthisfor a man like Lucas Blackbourne.
She shouldn’t be feeling this for a man at all.
“Sarah.” She melted into his embrace, nonetheless. “God damnit, I love you.”
Hearing that was both an inspiration and a hindrance.
“Please tell me that you at least feel a sliver of love for me too.”
“I…” She certainly cared for him. She wanted to be with him for as long as it worked out. She wanted to see him every day, or at least hear his voice every day. Sweet texts. Sexual texts. Flowers at work and little presents sent to her apartment. Nights in with her family and nights out like this, where they could focus on each other for as long as time allowed.
If anything happened to him… if for some reason they could no longer be together… it would devastate her all over again. That’s what scared her.I can’t live like that. I can’t afford to get depressed again.
Dangerous. Too dangerous. If Lucas broke her heart, it was all over.
Could she allow herself to love like that? Openly? Unabashedly? Without fear of her own demise? Of his demise?
“Please, Sarah. Say something. Tell me what you want.”
She said the first thing that came to her mind. “I want to love you, Luke.”
That soothed him enough to give her another heavy kiss. Before Sarah knew it, they were making love again, wishing that the rest of the world didn’t exist so they could spend the rest of this eternity together. Unfortunately, they only had one weekend. It would have to do.
