Home > Drawn into Love (Fluke My Life #4)(13)

Drawn into Love (Fluke My Life #4)(13)
Author: Aurora Rose Reynolds

Courtney’s body gets tight against mine like she’d forgotten someone else was there besides us.

With a sigh, I pull my face from her neck; I keep my arm wrapped around her, though.

“Abby?” I stick out my hand toward her.

“Yes. You must be Lucas.” She shakes my hand, and I’m surprised by how firm her grasp is. “So you’re together.” She looks between Courtney and me, raising a brow.

“Well . . . ,” Courtney starts hesitantly.

“We’re getting to know each other.” I give Courtney’s shoulder a squeeze.

“You said she’s your woman.” Abby calls me out on my earlier words while narrowing her eyes slightly on me.

“She is.” I shrug. I see Courtney’s head tip up to look at me, but I don’t look down at her.

“So she’s ‘your woman,’ but you’re still just getting to know her?”

“Abby . . .” Courtney sighs.

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on here,” Abby says to Courtney before she looks at me once more. “You should know that if you hurt her, I will hurt you. And by ‘hurt you,’ I mean I will take away your manhood and make it impossible for you to ever father a child.”

“He already has a daughter,” Courtney says.

Abby’s eyes fill with surprise.

“He’s also raising her on his own, basically.”

“Oh.” She shifts her gaze back and forth between Courtney and me, and her smile is surprisingly sweet. “Well then . . . what do you have to eat? I’m starving. I rushed over here from yoga.”

She turns for the kitchen, and I watch her go.

I look down at Courtney when I feel her body start to shake.

When I see she’s laughing, I fight a smile of my own. “What’s funny?”

“I think you just got her approval.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.”

“Thank you.” At her soft tone, I search her eyes.

“For what?”

“For helping to get rid of Tom.”

“You really don’t have to thank me for that.”

I tip my head farther down toward her. Her eyes drop to my mouth. My stomach dips, and I tighten my grip on her waist as she starts to get up on her tiptoes.

Just then Abby asks loudly, “Do you have any more of these? They are awesome!”

With a sigh and a grumbled statement I can’t quite make out, Courtney descends until she’s flat on her feet again, then moves toward the kitchen. “That Danish you’re eating is Lucas’s.”

“Oh.” Abby gives me a sheepish smile as she chews and swallows the bite she just took. “Sorry.”

“It’s all good.”

“He might just be one of the good ones,” she tells Courtney. “He’s not even mad that some woman he hardly knows threatened to take his manhood and is now eating his food.”

“Don’t you have to work today?” Courtney asks.

“Nope. Sundays are for Jesus and relaxation.”

“You told me that you don’t believe in organized religion.”

“I don’t, but I still believe in god. I still do my duty to him by taking Sundays off.” She takes another bite of the Danish she’s still holding.

“You’re still eating Lucas’s Danish,” Courtney points out.

“It’s really good,” Abby says around a mouthful. “I haven’t had carbs in forever.” She looks at me and holds out what looks like a bite and a half. “Do you want the rest?”

“I learned at an early age not to get between a woman and her carbs. Enjoy it. It’s yours.” I walk past Courtney, letting my hand glide across her hip as I go to the kitchen.

“Do you think Tom is planning on sticking around the city?” Abby asks as she takes a seat at the table with Courtney.

I put a couple of slices of bread into the toaster.

“I have no idea. Hopefully not.”

“We can file a—” Abby starts.

My eyes fly to Courtney when she cuts her off sharply. “I can’t do that.”

“Babe, you can.” Abby grabs her hand. “I know you don’t want to, but if he won’t let you be . . .”

“Does he show up a lot?” I ask, surprised by the growl in my own voice.

“No . . . Well, not since I moved from Boston. I haven’t seen him since then.”

“He keeps calling you. You told me yourself that he’s calling all the time,” Abby says as I spread butter on my toast.

I don’t like what I’m hearing one bit.

“I don’t answer when he calls. It’s not a big deal.” Courtney sighs.

Abby lets out a frustrated huff. “Fine, but if he does anything at all that makes you feel uncomfortable, I want to know about it.”

“It will be okay . . . ,” Courtney tries again.

“You’re only saying that because you haven’t seen what I have. I know how men like him get when they don’t get what they want.”

Courtney gives in. “If anything happens, I will let you know. Then we will talk about what to do going forward.”

I feel my body relax.

“That’s good enough for now,” Abby agrees, letting Courtney’s hand go before she shoves the rest of my Danish in her mouth. “Now, what are you two up to today?” She looks at me.

“Courtney’s going to rest,” I state. Then I add, “I got a couple movies, so I figured we’d hang on the couch.” I look at Courtney. “That okay with you?”

“That sounds good to me,” she agrees with a small smile.

I carry my toast to the table and take a seat.

“I could join you,” Abby says as she smiles evilly.

Courtney shakes her head. “No.”

“No? You don’t want me here, hanging out with you two while he ‘gets to know you’ as his woman?” She raises a brow.

“Not even a little bit,” Courtney says.

I laugh.

“Fine. I guess I should be on my way. I have some errands I want to run before I head home.” She stands and kisses Courtney on the cheek before looking at me. “It was nice to meet you, Lucas. I can honestly say that isn’t a lie.”

“Same.”

When she’s gone, I return my attention to Courtney.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“That scene with your ex was extreme.”

“Yeah,” she agrees again while pulling in a deep breath. I notice that she’s not really looking at me.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“He said he left her,” she says.

My stomach drops.

“What the hell is wrong with him? Why would he do that—not only to her, but to his child? I haven’t . . .” She shakes her head before meeting my gaze. “I haven’t ever told him that I would consider taking him back. Not once.”

“Would you?”

“Would I?” She frowns.

“Yeah. Would you take him back?”

“No. I mean, when I first found out about his affair I was scared to death. The life we had planned was ending, so I wondered what I did wrong. For about ten minutes I convinced myself that I could fix us . . . before I realized there was nothing to fix. He destroyed what we had.”

“Did you know about the baby then?”

“I didn’t find out until a month after I learned about the affair. He didn’t tell me about it, either. His mistress did when I ran into her at the grocery store, of all places. She was all too happy to share her good news with me. I don’t know if getting pregnant was part of her plan, but . . .” Her words taper off. “In the end, it didn’t matter. That was just the icing on the cake.”

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” I reach for her hand and rub my thumb over the soft skin on her wrist.

“I . . . I know I should be sorry, too, but I’m not. I was trying to hold on to him when I should have been letting go. What happened forced me to let go. Don’t get me wrong—it hurt. I built a life with him, made plans with him. I wanted the dream he promised me, but in the end it was harder losing the dream than it was losing him,” she says, her eyes locked on our intertwined hands.

   
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