Page 41 of Love Bank
We both drank to that and I had a seat in an empty chair. It had the perfect view of Lucy shaking hands with the dude, Lukas, who took my bagel and coffee order every morning. He held her hand a bit too long for my liking, but heeding Titus’s warning, I didn’t do anything about it.
I had more questions than answers. The only thing I knew for sure was the intensity in which I wanted Lucy was unmatched. I’d never been so turned on, frustrated, angry, irritated, and intrigued all by the same woman. All at the same time.
Rip sat next to me and we chatted about various things going on around town. The whole time I gave my attention to Lucy, watching her drink a beer while chatting with Lukas and several of his friends. A young kid who looked like he played football all through high school put his arm around Lucy’s shoulders and I jumped up, seeing red.
“Hey, man, can you grab me a beer too?” Rip asked, probably thinking I was jumping up for a beer run. I ground my molars and nodded, walking over to the liquor blanket without taking my eyes off Lucy.
“You wanna check out the sea cave with me?”
The drunk guy with his arm around Lucy, asking her to go have sex with him in a cave, was the last straw. I abandoned the beers and pushed my way next to Lucy, shoving the guy off her in the process.
“Hey!” he bellowed.
I put my arm around Lucy’s waist, but turned to the guy. “Listen, buddy. Go find someone your own age and I won’t have to call the chief and tell him there’s some underage drinking going on. We clear?”
His jaw was clenched like he wanted to deck me, but he still had a few brain cells working for him. He nodded and turned away, pulling Lukas with him.
“What the hell was that for, Bain?”
Turning back to Lucy, she was wiggling to get out of my grip, a frown marring her face. A cheer went up from the crowd, interrupting our argument. We all turned to watch a young couple holding hands, running off to the hillside.
I tipped my head to the receding couple. “Know where they’re going?”
She just frowned harder.
“They’re going to the sea cave to have sex like the town legend talks about. You’re telling me you wanted to have sex with that guy over there?”
Her mouth fell open and then she clicked it shut and lifted her nose in the air.
“I forgot about that legend.”
“Uh-huh.” I tightened my grip on her waist, which pulled her into me, her breasts smashing against my chest. Her breathing picked up. “What you meant to say was ‘oh my goodness, thank you so much for getting me out of that tricky situation, Bain, you handsome rascal.’” I used my falsetto voice to mimic her.
A smile threatened to pull the frown off her face and I mentally high-fived myself.
“I don’t sound like that, nor was that what I was going to say.”
“But maybe you should have said that instead of yelling at me. I’m sensitive.”
She rolled her eyes and I loved the way her lashes were so long they brushed her eyebrows. We stared at each other for a beat, then two. Her pupils were dilated and I didn’t know if that was from the dark closing in or because she’d already had too much to drink. She must have decided to trust me at least a little bit as she leaned in and whispered.
“Are they really having cave sex?”
A rumble of a laugh worked its way up and I knew she could feel it. I couldn’t help it. She was adorable and so naive I wanted to stick by her side at all times to protect her. The big bad world I was all too familiar with would eat her up and spit her out for breakfast.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’re going for it. Why? You want to go next?”
Her lips parted in a cute little “O” and her face flamed. “Ssh! No!”
“Lucille! Do another shot with me…” Lenora tried to push her way between us, but I didn’t let go of Lucy’s waist.
Based on the way Lenora sagged her whole body weight into our intimate huddle, nearly toppling us, I could assume she’d already had enough shots. Which meant Lucy was in danger of having too many also. I grabbed the cup out of Lenora’s hand.
“Cheers, Lenora.” We clinked cups and both drank, Lenora throwing her hands in the air and moving off into the group.
“Hey, that was mine.” Lucy pouted, sticking that puffy lower lip out.
Blame it on the alcohol, but I couldn’t stay away any longer. I dipped my head down and nipped at that lip with my teeth, soothed it with a swipe of my tongue, and then I stood back up, just waiting for Lucy to object.
