Lucan (Steele Protectors 6) Read online

  After dealing with the shit hitting the fan, of course.

  Which it would, once Becca knew how she’d been deceived for the past seven years.

  A deception Lucan hadn’t deliberately added to, but had still known existed and done nothing to correct.

  Becca was going to hate him.

  More than she did now?

  “Pull over!”

  “What the…?” Lucan instinctively veered the SUV to the side of the country road, putting the vehicle in Park before looking out the windows. “What happened? I didn’t feel us hit anything, but did you see an injured animal on the side of the road or something?” He took off his seat belt with the intention of getting out. Becca’s hand on his arm stopped him from doing so. “Becca, what is it?” He turned in his seat to look searchingly at the pallor of her face and shadowed green eyes.

  Eyes that were suddenly swimming in tears. “I don’t want us to part like this,” she finally told him emotionally.

  Lucan frowned his puzzlement. “Like what?”

  “As enemies!” she choked.

  He sighed wearily. “I’m not your enemy, Becca.”

  She winced. “Then maybe I’m yours?”

  “Not even close.”

  She swallowed. “Then perhaps we’re two people who just don’t like each other very much.”

  “I like you just fine.”

  She nodded. “I like you too.”

  Lucan felt some of the ice inside him melt at hearing that. “So where’s the problem?” he prompted gently.

  She sniffed as tears escaped her lashes and fell down her cheek. “You— We— I don’t want to say goodbye to you when we get back to London and then never see you again.”

  Lucan tensed. “You don’t?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t either,” he assured gruffly. “But there are other things in play that might, and probably will, change your mind about that,” he added heavily.

  Becca stared at him for several seconds before moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Do any of these other things have anything to do with my sister, Cassie?”

  Lucan felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. Yes, he’d known, and very much appreciated, how intelligent Becca was. But he still hadn’t expected her to add all the facts together and realize her sister was more involved in what had been happening the past few days than what Becca had been told.

  How was he supposed to answer Becca when he and his brothers had promised Hailey she could be the one to tell Becca the truth?

  But he hadn’t known Becca then. Hadn’t desired her, made love to her. Hadn’t fallen—

  Fallen in love with her, he completed inside his head.

  He’d never thought it would happen to him, but Rourke had guessed within minutes of seeing the two of them together. Lucan was in love with Becca. Deeply. Completely.

  But he was the warrior from hell, to quote that guy Pete, a soldier, and Becca was an academic working in a fine art museum.

  Two such different people shouldn’t even have met, let alone have feelings for each other.

  Did Becca have feelings for him?

  The tears now tracking freely down her cheeks seemed to imply she might.

  But what was the point in even attempting to continue what they’d started at the cottage? In a few hours, Hailey was going to blow Becca’s carefully constructed world to pieces. A world Becca was now saying she wanted Lucan to remain a part of.

  Be there for her, Rourke had told him.

  Ha. Rourke had also said Lucan would feel a whole lot better once he admitted to his feelings for Becca.

  Lucan felt worse, because there was every chance Becca was soon going to hate him. Along with everyone else involved in keeping the truth from her.

  Then so be it, Lucan resolved. Having Becca hate him didn’t mean he couldn’t still be there for her. Couldn’t still love her.

  “From your silence, I’m guessing they do,” Becca said softly. “Whatever this is, you aren’t responsible for it, Lucan. You didn’t even know any of my family eight years ago when this all started,” she reasoned.

  He ran a hand over his eyes before answering her. “Will you promise me that you’ll carry on remembering that and really try not to hate me?”

  “I could never hate you,” she assured huskily. “How could I when I—”

  Lucan’s fingers against her lips prevented her from finishing that sentence. “Don’t say something you might later want to take back.” Maybe, just maybe, Lucan might be able to stand the pain of losing Becca if he never knew for certain she felt the same love for him as he felt for her.

  And what about all those future family get-togethers where the two of them would inevitably meet because her sister was married to his brother?

  Because no matter how angry Becca might initially be with Hailey/Cassie, Lucan had no doubt Becca would finally see through that to the joy of having her sister returned to her and forgive Hailey for the deception. Anyone else who had helped to continue that lie might not be so lucky.

  Becca could see how troubled Lucan was. She just couldn’t imagine what was so awful he was convinced she was going to be angry enough with him to actually hate him.

  She reached up and gently removed his fingers from her lips. “We wasted far too much time last night on being angry with each other and then sleeping apart,” she muttered self-disgustedly.

  She was as much to blame for that as Lucan. She was an adult and more than capable of stating what she wanted.

  Wasn’t she?

  Becca glanced into the back of the SUV. “Does that seat go completely flat?”

  Lucan glanced in the same direction. “Yes. But—”

  “Ever made love in the back of an SUV in broad daylight?” Becca raised teasing brows, her eyes glowing with mischief.

  He looked taken aback. “I’ve never made love in the back of an SUV at all.”

  “Oh good, another first.” She released her seat belt to get out of the vehicle and open one of the back doors before looking inside. “Where’s the lever to release the seat so we can lay it flat?”

  “Becca, we’re only parked on the side of the road,” Lucan protested even as he got out of the SUV and opened the back door on his side. He pressed the lever that unlocked the seat so he could push it down into a horizontal position rather than a vertical one before locking it down. “We can’t just get in the back of the vehicle and have sex.”

  “I said make love,” she corrected firmly. “And how many other cars have you seen along this road in the past fifteen minutes?”

  “Well…none,” he acknowledged. “But—”

  “Didn’t Rourke mention he could see we have an intimate connection?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s get reconnected!”

  Lucan gave a slightly dazed laugh at how the two of them had gone so quickly from misery and anger with each other to the possibility of making love. “Fifteen minutes isn’t long enough…”

  She grinned. “You’re right. It’s going to take us much longer than that.”

  Lucan’s tension eased. “In that case, could we at least move the vehicle off the road and a little way down that cart track over there?”

  Becca glanced to where he was pointing. “What if the farmer who owns the land comes along on his tractor?” she taunted.

  “Then he’ll get an eyeful of my bare arse as he drives by.”

  “Or mine.” She chuckled when Lucan raised his brows. “I like the idea of being on top this time.”

  Lucan still hesitated. “Becca, are you sure about this?”

  “Very.” She slammed the back door closed and climbed into the passenger seat, ready for Lucan to move the SUV.

  He climbed in beside her. “We’re using a condom this time.”

  “Isn’t that a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted?”

  “It’s me belatedly trying to protect your future,” he insisted. “Our future,”
he amended. “Because I would want to be involved in our child’s life too.” Jesus, just the thought of seeing Becca pregnant with their child was enough to make his cock hard. Harder. Because it was already aroused and throbbing.

  “Okay.” She shrugged. “But could we get on with it. Otherwise, Rourke might decide to double back to see what’s delaying us.”

  “I’m on it.” Lucan nodded as he quickly reversed the SUV onto and then farther along the dirt track so that it couldn’t be seen by any passing traffic.

  He didn’t give a damn what Rourke did or didn’t do. His brother could stand beside the vehicle selling tickets to the show if he wanted to. All Lucan cared about was that he was being given another chance to worship Becca, both her delicious body and her beautiful mind.

  “Do you think that was a record?” Becca giggled once the two of them had thrown off their clothes outside and then dived into the back of the vehicle and shut the doors behind them. Lucan had removed a condom from the pocket of his jeans before they used their discarded clothes as a buffer between them and the hardness of the flattened backseat.

  “If it isn’t, then it should be. God, it’s cold out there! Whose idea was this again?” He pulled her slightly shivering body into the heat of his, entangling his legs with hers to add to that transfer of heat.

  Becca rolled until she was on top of him. Their torsos were aligned, the hard muscles on Lucan’s chest very arousing against her nipples. The throb of his beautiful erection was pressing against her swollen clit. “I have the best ideas,” she murmured.

  “You do,” Lucan had time to agree before Becca lowered her head and claimed his lips with her own.

  There was both heat and desperation in their lovemaking as they both tried to devour and claim each other, rolling from one side of the SUV to the other. Hands, lips, and teeth were used as they caressed, kissed, and occasionally bit each other.

  “I want to be inside you when I come.” Lucan gently eased Becca up from sucking his cock. “And I want you to come with me,” he added as he took out and then rolled the condom down his glistening length.

  Becca chuckled. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re a demanding lover.” She immediately sobered, a frown on her brow as she lightly ran her fingertips down the hardness of his cheek. “I don’t want you to make love to anyone else but me.”

  “I won’t,” he instantly assured.

  Right now, he couldn’t imagine himself ever wanting any other woman but Becca. But even when or if he did it would be for sexual release and not making love. Becca was the only woman he’d ever made love with. The only woman he’d ever fallen in love with.

  “Ride me,” he encouraged as he lifted Becca back on top of him.

  Becca held the darkness of Lucan’s gaze as she placed her knees either side of his hips before lifting up to take his cock in hand and guide it inside her.

  She bit her bottom lip and her back arched as Lucan’s hands on her hips helped slide his cock inside her one glorious inch at a time until it bottomed out and she felt his balls against her sensitive flesh. “So good,” she groaned, her eyes closing as she slowly lifted up. She was able to feel the pulse of veins along that delicious length before she sank down again.

  “Harder,” Lucan groaned.

  Becca stared down into his flushed face and darkly glittering eyes as she leaned forward to place her hands on his shoulders and began to ride him in earnest. Faster, and then faster still, Lucan’s cock gliding easily in and out of Becca’s wet channel, until they were both groaning their pleasure for the other to hear and be even more aroused by.

  “Oh God, harder, Becca.” Lucan’s fingers dug into her hips as he helped guide and set the pace even faster. “Now.” His eyes held hers captive. “Come with me now!” One of his hands moved downward, and his fingers pressed and rubbed against the hardness of her clit.

  Becca felt it as Lucan’s cock somehow swelled harder and thicker inside her as a precursor to his climax and at the same time bringing about her own explosive release.

  The complete silence, after their gasps and groans and the slick movement of their bodies, wrapped the two of them in an intimacy that felt just as warm.

  “Fuck this!” Lucan suddenly grated harshly, his arms tightening about Becca. He looked down at her, and the complete trust he could see in her gaze added to his conviction that he couldn’t just let her walk in cold to the Hailey/Cassie situation. “You have a right to know the truth.”

  Becca continued to caress the hardness of his chest. “The truth about what?”

  “I— You— I don’t even know where to start explaining this clusterfuck,” he admitted disgustedly. “And it’s not even my clusterfuck!”

  “The beginning is usually a good place,” she teased.

  A teasing which wasn’t going to last much longer if Lucan told Becca her sister was still alive. And his love for Becca said he had to tell her.

  He drew in a deep breath. “Okay, I can do this,” he muttered. “Just try not to hang, draw, and quarter the messenger, okay?”

  Becca was feeling more and more tense the longer Lucan delayed explaining himself. “You aren’t secretly married, are you?”

  “Hell, no.” He looked horrified at the suggestion.

  Of marriage in general? Or marriage to someone else?

  Becca didn’t know, but for the moment it was enough Lucan was as unattached as she was. Although she found his continued hesitation more than a little disturbing. What could be so awful that Lucan didn’t want to say it and she was going to be angry hearing it—

  “Your sister Cassie isn’t dead,” he stated evenly. “She’s alive and well and works for Steele Protectors under the name Hailey Frost, shortly to become Hailey Steele after she and Haydn are married.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Where the hell have you two been? I’ve been back in London for almost two hours.” Rourke frowned when Lucan and Becca stepped out of the lift into Haydn’s penthouse apartment. “Oh hell, she knows,” he realized with a grimace as Becca didn’t speak or spare him a second glance before continuing into the apartment.

  “She knows because I told her,” Lucan confirmed. “Don’t even try to guilt me over this,” he warned. “I did what I believed was the right thing to do. And I would do again. This way, Becca’s at least had time to process before being confronted with the truth.”

  Rourke nodded. “I think you were right to tell her.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” Rourke gave Lucan’s shoulder a reassuring pat. “Everyone is here.”

  He groaned. “Everyone?”

  His brother gave another sharp nod. “Except the parents. We’re all worried about Hailey, okay?” Rourke defended.

  Lucan snorted. “And my only concern is Becca.” He hurried to catch up with her as she stood hesitantly in the hallway outside the closed door into Haydn’s sitting room.

  Becca had said only four words after Lucan told her Cassie was alive. Take me to her.

  Since then, Becca had, for the first time since Lucan met her, remained absolutely silent.

  A silence that had continued while the two of them dressed, and as they got back into the front of the SUV. She’d remained that way during the rest of their drive back to London.

  Becca hadn’t answered him, but merely looked blankly at Lucan on the couple of occasions when he’d attempted to explain he’d only become aware of the situation himself a few days ago.

  “Okay?” he now prompted her gently.

  She looked at him with those same blank green eyes. “Cassie is really in there?” She nodded at the closed door into the sitting room.

  “She really is, yes,” he confirmed gently.

  Becca then did something Lucan hadn’t been expecting. She held out her hand to him, palm side up.

  Lucan instinctively grasped that hand in his before wrapping his fingers tightly about her cold and slender ones.

  She swallowed. “When all this is…is settled, y
ou and I are going to have a little talk about not keeping secrets from each other in future.”

  Lucan’s eyes widened. “In future?” he echoed hopefully.

  A faint smile curved her lips. “Oh yes, we’re going to have a future. Do you want to know how I’m so sure of that?”

  Considering Lucan wasn’t sure about anything right now, least of all Becca… “Hell yes,” he encouraged.

  She nodded. “Because you love me.”

  “I—”

  “You would never have broken your promise to Hailey or your family and told me the truth if you weren’t in love with me,” Becca stated with certainty.

  It was true. The love Lucan now felt for Becca was the reason he’d broken that promise. As he’d just told Rourke, he would do it again too. In a heartbeat.

  “I’m in love with you too,” Becca told him huskily.

  Lucan drew in a sharp breath. “You love me?”

  She nodded. “We’ll talk again later. After,” she murmured. “But I wanted you to know that. Before.”

  “Tell me again before you go in there,” he pleaded.

  She turned to face him. “I love you, Lucan Steele. And when we’re alone again, I’m going to show you how much. Okay?”

  He released a shaky breath. “Okay.”

  Becca kept a tight hold of Lucan’s hand as she ran the dampness of her other palm down the thigh of her jeans. Still, her hand was trembling so much, she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to turn the door handle.

  “Let me,” Lucan seemed to guess her dilemma as he stepped forward. He paused before opening the door. “I’ll take you away from here the moment you’ve had enough. Okay?”

  She nodded abruptly before lifting her chin and straightening.

  A part of her still couldn’t believe her beloved sister Cassie was on the other side of this door.

  Alive.

  Tangible.

  And waiting for Becca.

  She squeezed Lucan’s fingers even more tightly as he slowly turned the door handle and then pushed open the door in front of them.

  Becca drew in a long and steadying breath before stepping into the room, still gripping Lucan’s hand.

  There were ten other people in the room once Rourke had stepped round them and joined a blonde-haired woman sitting on one of the sofas.