Page 23 of Sweet Temptation (Love & Legacy #1)

LUCKY

“ D ude, there’s a fucking fat-ass raccoon sitting on the couch in the backyard.” Linc walks right into my room without knocking, and I look at the bathroom door Lexie is currently behind, having only just gotten the hell out of bed two minutes ago.

I love him like a brother, but I might fucking kill him for his shit timing.

“Seriously, it’s eating something off a plate. What the fuck? Are we feeding the animals now and nobody told me? We gonna offer them silverware next?”

Before I can respond, the bathroom door opens, and Lexie walks out in my Kings t-shirt, her wild hair down around her shoulders, and an annoyed look on her face. But she can’t be pissed this time. I didn’t tell the dumb fuck to come in.

“Has anyone ever told you your timing is shitty, Linc?” she asks with a completely straight face as he smiles.

“Nope. Just you, Lexicon.”

Dumbass.

My girl shakes her head and moves around him for the door. “Well, it sucks. Learn how to knock. And while you’re at it, stop smiling at me while I’m half naked in your best friend’s shirt. It’s creepy.”

She walks out and shuts the door behind her, and the creepy dumbass turns back to me with a goofy grin. “I thought the you-and-her thing wasn’t happening.”

“Yea, well, I’m working on it. Now get the hell out so I can take a shower before practice.” I head for the bathroom, and the bastard laughs.

“Work faster.”

I wish it were going to be that easy.

T hursday practice is typically the last hard workout of the week.

But today, we’re working on one-on-one drills, which is more fun than it sounds.

Especially when you’re lining up on the line of scrimmage against your asshole roommate who’s walked in on you and his sister twice in the past few weeks.

“Come on, you cock-blocking motherfucker. Show me what you got,” I tell Linc as we line up against each other.

It’s just us running the drill, and this is our version of fun.

“Let’s see if you’re as easy as my sister, you little bitch.”

Camden Monroe calls the cadence and throws a beautiful spiral, the kind they slow-mo in movies as we take off running down the field. Fifteen yards down the field, Linc breaks right and pulls ahead of me. And I know this fucker thinks he has me.

News flash, asshole.

I’m better.

Linc has a tell.

Excitement lights up his eyes before he raises his hands.

No one else would ever know, but we’ve been playing together since peewees.

I know.

Linc’s left hand raises to snag the ball midair, confident he’s got it.

Dumb fuck.

I get to it first and cradle it to my chest as I hit the ground, laughing. “Not on my watch, fucker.”

“And that’s why they call you Lucky, you little shit.” He grabs the ball from me, laughing, and throws it back to Camden. “Let’s go again. I want to be ready to destroy Kansas City this weekend.”

“Yeah, man. I gotcha.” I grin and smack the back of his helmet. “Don’t ever fucking call your sister easy again.”

“I don’t know, man. She’s with you. There’s no accounting for taste.” I shake my head as Camden stops next to us.

“You know you guys are fucked up, right?” he asks, spinning the ball in his hand.

We both laugh.

“Yeah, it works for us,” I add as Camden shakes his head.

“If you say so.” He looks between us again. “Let’s run an out pattern this time.”

And that’s how we spend the afternoon.

I’ve got the best job in the fucking world with the best team in the fucking world.

My life is missing one thing, and she’s already there, but she just refuses to accept it.

Time to fucking change that.

Lucky

Help.

Caitlin

Umm... You know you just texted your sister and not one of our brothers, right? If you need to bury a body, call Rome. If you need bail money, call Maddox. If you’re already in jail, I’d say call Dad, but he might kill you. Unless you need help with your wardrobe, I doubt I’m your girl.

Lucky

If I need a sarcastic bitch, I should call you though, right?

Caitlin

Absolutely, little brother. And that’s why I love you. You keep me grounded. What’s up?

Lucky

I need a woman to forgive me.

Caitlin

I have so many questions.

Lucky

You’re not getting answers. Can’t you take pity on me and just help me? If I go to Mom again, she’s going to stab me.

Caitlin

Again? What did you do?

Lucky

I pissed off someone who means a lot to me. Can you help or not?

Caitlin

Okay, but can we focus on the fact you just admitted someone means a lot to you? That by itself is shocking.

Lucky

CAITLIN. FOCUS.

Caitlin

Okay. Okay. Sorry. But seriously... I’ll help if you tell me who it is.

Lucky

Lexie Sinclair.

Caitlin

Oh shit. Cooper’s gonna kill you.

Lucky

Do you think I’m scared?

Caitlin

I think you should be.

Lucky

Cait . . .

Caitlin

Is it serious?

Lucky

If I have anything to say about it, it’s endgame.

Caitlin

Well, okay then. This is too big for a text. I need details to help effectively. This is gonna be so much fun.

Lucky

I fucking hate you.

Caitlin

Hate you too. Now come over to my house after practice, and I’ll make you dinner while you play with your niece and nephew, and we’ll figure this out.

Lucky

Maybe I don’t hate you as much as I thought.

Caitlin

Bring your black Amex, Lucky. This is going to cost you.

Lucky

She’s worth it.

Caitlin

Good answer. See you soon.

Lucky

Thanks, Cait.

M y niece Anastasia hands me a pink teacup. “You have to drink it, Uncle Lucky,” she babbles in her baby girl voice that makes me feel like a great big softie before her brother knocks it out of my hands, and Ana cries.

“Come here, baby girl.” Her father scoops her up and shakes his head as he looks at me with a warning in his eyes.

He doesn’t voice it because he knows what it’s like to fall in love with his best friend’s sister.

And by all accounts, it worked out to be a pretty good life for him, but the warning is still there.

Lexie is Callen’s niece—because everyone in this entire fucking town is related somehow.

It’s amazing we’re not all inbred. And it’s not just Lexie’s parents and brothers who are protective.

It’s everyone. Everyone, including me. My need to protect is different though. “I’m not going to hurt her, Callen.”

“You know she’s different, Lucky. It’s not just about hurting her. It’s about taking care of her.” He puts Ana down to chase Joe, who’s just stolen her tea pot. “It’s Lexie. There will always be a level of putting her first that, I gotta be honest, I’m not sure you’re capable of.”

“Callen Sinclair, I love you with my whole heart, but if you put that bullshit in his head for one single second, I will show you just what I can do with that pretty pearl-handled knife Dad gave me for my birthday.” I love my fucking sister.

She’s always been the one person to stick up for me, even when I wasn’t so sure I was worth sticking up for.

“Do you really think he’d go there? That he’d go after Lexie—knowing what he does and having the friendships he has with her brothers—if he wasn’t in love with her? ”

Oh fuck.

She went there.

I haven’t even gone there.

Not that I didn’t know it already. I do. How can I not? It’s Lexie. There isn’t a world where it wasn’t going to be her and me in the end. But fuck me, hearing her say it makes it a little more real. Can you love a woman you’ll never be good enough for? Never truly be worthy of?

“You, better than anyone, should know what it’s like to love someone everyone thinks you should stay away from.

Stop underestimating my brother because he was a dumbass kid and treat him like the grown man he is now because he’s a pretty fucking good one.

Now man up or take my babies in the other room and decide how you’re going to make it up to me— because to say I’ll be furious with you is the understatement of the century.

I’m talking no Mommy, Daddy, middle of the day, alone time during nap time for a very, very, very long time, Callen. ”

Yeah. They broke the mold when they made Cait.

Callen looks at me like a man scared of never getting laid again.

“Swear to God, Lucky, I will be one in a long line of Sinclairs who’ll kill you if you hurt her.

Just remember that. And in my fucking defense,”—he looks from me to my sister, a little pissed and a little less scared now—“none of us are ever going to be good enough for these women. Not me. And not you. You’ll have to prove it to yourself, to her family, and most importantly to Lexie every goddamned day.

Get used to it, buddy. That’s love, and that’s life, and that’s the legacy we bear. ”

Callen wraps an arm around Caitlin and kisses her temple. “I’m going to take the kids upstairs for their baths.”

Cait watches him as he picks up both kids, a dirty smile stretching across her face. “Oh, he’s so getting laid tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m going to act like I don’t know that,” I grumble and move to the couch, now that my tea party is over. “Did you mean that shit?”

“Be more specific,” she demands as she picks up a stuffed dinosaur and points it at me. “I said a lot of things, Lucky. I might not have meant them all. Carving my husband up with that knife would probably dull the blade, and you and I both know I like them sharp.”

“Do you really think I’m a good man? I’ve done a lot of stupid, reckless shit in my life, Cait.” I’ve never regretted any of it as much as I do right now though.

“I think you’re one of the best men I know.

You just have to look at yourself through the lens of an eighteen-year-old.

We all do stupid stuff when we’re kids. That’s normal, little brother.

” She tosses the dinosaur to me and tugs a basket full of toys over.

“It’s what we do when it matters... how we choose to handle ourselves then.

How we step up for the people we love. That’s how I judge the measure of a man. ”

Funny, how you can look at life one way for years until the right person says the right thing the right way. That’s all it takes to look at it in a completely different light.

“You measure up, Lucky.” She adds the tea set and Joe’s stuffed football to the basket, then her bright blue eyes stare right into mine.

Making sure I’m paying attention without saying a word.

“You love your family. You’d do anything to protect us.

You’ve already done it so many times. But no one else ever sees that because you’re not showy. ”

I grin because I can’t stop it. “Pretty sure some people would argue with that, Cait.”

She sighs and throws a dog toy at my face.

“You don’t need the world to know you’re a good man, Lucky.

And that makes it even more true. It means you live your life that way because you want to, not because you want the world to know.

You’ve never had a problem letting everyone else believe whatever they wanted because it never mattered to you. None of those people mattered.”

“And what if it matters now?” I ask, feeling like a whiney bitch. “What if that costs me the one woman who matters most?”

“She knows you. She won’t doubt you,” Caitlin assures me, but it falls flat.

“It’s not her I’m worried about,” I admit, remembering her father telling me I wasn’t what Lexie needed. That I was the reason she was in the hospital.

“If she’s the right one, she’ll tell everyone else to fuck off. Their opinions don’t matter.”

I smile, because I’ve only ever heard Lexie say fuck while I was inside her.

Caitlin wrinkles her nose. “Oh gross. Don’t smile like that. I know what you’re thinking.” She groans and sticks her hand out. “Now hand me your credit card and let me help you get the girl.”

“Should I be scared?” The question is meant to be a joke, but in reality, everything about Lexie scares the shit out of me. Loving her. Possibly losing her. Fuck. It goes hand in hand.

“You wouldn’t be in love if you weren’t scared, Lucky.”

Well, hell... When you put it that way, there’s no arguing she’s the love of my life.

A humming sound is coming from inside Lexie’s room when I knock on her door later that night. She wouldn’t be...

A muffled sound answers that I’m pretty sure was c ome in .

If I’m wrong, she’s going to have my balls when I open this door, but it might be worth it to find out.

Okay, so not the vibrator I thought she might be playing with.

I guess it wasn’t as much a humming sound as a white noise.

Lex is sitting with her back to the headboard and a nebulizer on her face as an old episode of Friends plays on her TV.

She’s in my Kings t-shirt with a soft pink blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

This woman has more throw blankets than anyone I’ve ever met.

“Hey, dolcezza .” I drop a kiss on her forehead and wrap an arm around her shoulders as I settle on her bed. “I love this episode.”

She looks at me funny at first, then leans into me as she breathes through her treatment.

And just when Monica tells Chandler he’s not allowed to add anything to her junk closet because he might mess it up, she slides the mask away from her face and chugs half a bottle of water, then pulls out a pill box and spends the next few minutes swallowing more pills than her tiny body looks like it should be able to handle.

But she does it, and she does it like a pro.

Finally, once she’s taken everything, she lays her head on my chest and pulls the blanket over both of us. “What are you doing in here, Lucky?”

I fucking love this woman and the denial she lives in.

Her words might say one thing, but her actions tell me everything I need to know.

“Looking for my shirt,” I tease and drag her closer.

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law,” she murmurs and wraps an arm around my waist.

Yeah, baby, it is. And you already own me.

“You tired, Lex?” I breathe her in and relax as she nods. “Too tired to fight tonight?

“I think so. It was a really long day at work. Can we fight tomorrow?”

“Yeah, baby.” I scoot down until we’re both lying on the bed. Lexie’s head is on my chest, and my arms are around her, and tonight, that’s all that matters. “You can tell me tomorrow that this isn’t worth everything.”

She sighs, a soft, sweet sound as I play with her hair.

“I’m a bad bet, Lucky,” she whispers as the next episode starts.

“I’d bet on you and me all day every day, Lex. Now sleep. You sound exhausted.”

Her body shakes as she coughs as if to emphasize her point.

Like that’s going to scare me away.