LLucy’s Revenge(Divine Creek Ranch 15)(10)

“I know you met Beck at the Pony. You’ve both said as much.” She pressed soft lips to his temple and a fever sparked inside him. He was starting to lose track of their conversation.

“We bonded while drowning our sorrows over the women in our lives—or not in our lives—as the case may be. We didn’t talk much about them but we understood how each other felt. When we met you…”

“Yeah. Epic fail. Mr. Beck—‘I think you’re more woman than I can handle, sweetheart,’—O’Malley was really classy with the lines.”

“He never intended for you to take that as an insult to your shape or size, Luce.”

“I know that now but…”

“He still needs to work on his delivery. Like tonight. He’d been drinking and then that call came. You didn’t see the panicked look on his face when he recognized who was calling him. I told him he was a little harsh with you—”

Lucy’s eyes widened. “A little harsh?”

Patrick let out a breath and slid his hands down her arms. “He said he planned to apologize to you. Whoever called sent him into a free fall tonight. You have a right to be hurt over him yelling at you to move—”

“Cursing at me to move, thank you very much.”

“Cursing at you to move. Yell at him for that when the time is right but see the opportunity, too, honey. He’s drunk. He’s sick. He’s definitely hurting. But I also think he’s free. Isn’t that what you really wanted? The chance?”

On what planet does a guy try to sell his girl on his best friend? Talk about alternative realities.

“I had a feeling that call was from a woman.”

Patrick hid his smile from her, liking the fact that Lucy was obviously defensive of Beck, despite his surly attitude.

Lucy folded her arms and then tucked her head against his shoulder. This time he wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. He kissed the top of her head and breathed in her sweet scent.

“Maybe we’re asking too much, Patrick. Just because it worked out for the others doesn’t mean it’ll work out for us.”

Patrick tilted her chin up. “You’re not the only one who wants this. And right now, Beck is too torn up to know what he wants. But the simple fact remains that he walked to your house tonight, when he was feeling his absolute worst. It was you he turned to.”

Lucy’s big orange cat, Waldo, chose that moment to leap into Lucy’s lap and rub his face against her breasts and Patrick was jealous, wishing he could do that, too. Waldo purred loudly as she stroked him for a second before turning his golden eyes on Patrick and waiting for a pat from him, too, and then jumped down. Lucy returned her attention to him.

Up that close, Patrick could see the pale blue and silver striations in her blue eyes that gave them an ethereal quality. He sometimes felt like she could see into his soul with those blue eyes. He’d dreaded telling her his story and he was glad it was done.

Her hands were warm on his cheeks as she kept looking at him. “None of this would work without you, Patrick. Are you sure it’s worth it?”

“It’s worth the chance. Give him just a little more time.”

A smile curved Lucy’s lips as she tilted her head and pressed her lips against his.

Desire filled him, stiffening his cock further, and all the reasons they’d held off on this moment suddenly drifted away as though on a puff of wind. He’d kissed her before, at the end of the dates they’d had in December and early January, but this kiss was different.

Once the three of them had started going out together, their dynamic had shifted. He hadn’t felt comfortable kissing her good-night in front of Beck. Not because it felt wrong but because it didn’t feel right to pair off like that. He’d always meant to ask Lucy how she felt about it but had never had the chance and she had seemed to nonverbally agree. When they’d dropped her off at home at the end of their evenings together, which hadn’t been that many really, she’d waved and wished them both a good night.

His wall of reserve dropped away as she clung to him and kissed him back without reservation. Elizabeth had never been particularly passionate and so Lucy’s response was both stunning and exciting. He knew what it was like to go without and resolve grew in him to do what it took to make their relationship work, no matter what.

This kiss signaled the beginning of something new, and he fully intended to have an illuminating conversation with Beck once he felt better. It was foolishness to continue not really ever voicing what the three of them wanted from whatever kind of relationship they had. He made a mental note to have that conversation just before his rational brain shut down and his primordial brain took control.