Page 78 of Badd Daddy

13

Lucas

I layawake at two in the morning, unable to sleep. Liv had been home for two days already and I hadn’t heard from her. I didn’t want to bug her—not with her daughter newly arrived and trying to recalibrate her entire life, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was so near, yet she might as well have been on the moon.

I missed her, and the brief reunion on the way home from the airport hadn’t been anywhere near enough for me. I needed more. Needed to smell her, see her, feel her. God, I’d thought I had my feelings for her kinda locked down, but from the first moment I laid eyes on her at the ferry dock, I’d known I was in trouble.

It wasn’t that she looked any different, because she didn’t. She smelled the same, spoke the same—she was just Liv, as she’d been since we first met in the hardware store. I was different, though, and her being gone while I’d been working my ass off to revamp my life and myself meant I saw her in a whole new way.

Or maybe the absence really had made my heart grow fonder. I’d always kind of thought that saying was a bunch of bullshit, but maybe it wasn’t after all. I’d missed her more than I cared to admit, and I found myself wondering if she’d missed me as much—if her feelings toward me had changed or grown at all.

Unless I was misinterpreting her body language cues, it sure did seem like she’d missed me, and that she’d liked seeing me again—and this new and improved me—had helped her feelings along.

But was there a future between us?

Could there be?

Did I want there to be? That one, at least, was easy to answer: yes, I did. I deeply wanted to know what life could be like with Olivia Goode in it day in, and day out. To know her inside and out. To feel her affection, physically and emotionally and mentally.

When she smiled at me, I felt like I could fly. When she’d told me she was proud of me, I had been on top of the world. That moment where it had seemed as if she’d been resisting the urge to kiss me, I could have wrestled a bear, could have shouted with joy.

If I were to have the privilege of kissing her, I would never, ever, take it for granted. I would never takeherfor granted.

My phone rang, a jarring, shocking digital warbling sound—Roman had told me I could change the ringer, but I couldn’t figure out how.

I stared at the screen for a moment, shocked breathless—liv, it read.

I clumsily swept my finger across the screen to answer it before it stopped ringing, as if the fact of her calling me would somehow vanish. “Hello?” I murmured.

“Did I wake you up?” Her voice was quiet, nearly inaudible.

“Nope. I was awake.” I must have been delirious with lack of sleep—it was the only way to explain my next words. “Just laying here trying to convince myself I shouldn’t call you.”

“Why would you convince yourself of that, Lucas?”

“It’s two in the morning, and your daughter is with you.”

There was a long hesitation on the other end. “I haven’t been able to sleep since I’ve been back.”

“Jet lag?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s part of it—France is several hours ahead of here.” Another pause. “But that’s not the only reason I haven’t been able to sleep.”

“What’s the other reason?” I asked, feeling something tense and thick in the air between us, even though we weren’t even in the same room.

“You.” This was a whisper.

“Me?”

“Yes, you, Lucas. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

“I ain’t been able to stop thinkin’ about you since the moment I met you, Olivia.” I wasn’t sure what prompted my actions, but I found myself tugging on shorts and a pair of running shoes, grabbing my keys, and heading for my truck.

My hands and feet operated on autopilot as I steered the truck across town. I still had Liv on the line, but most of the trip was spent in silence.

Finally, she spoke. “You told me how you felt two months ago, and I think maybe I was a little unfair to you.”

“No, you weren’t,” I said, my voice brusque. “I needed a kick in the ass, and you saying what you said was it. You got me to realize that I wasn’t taking myself seriously. That I hadn’t really given a shit aboutmein fuckin’ decades.”