Page 28 of Sweet Temptation (Love & Legacy #1)

LUCKY

T he sun is rising when I pull the blanket back and see my gorgeous girl sleeping soundly in my jersey, in my bed, just like she was told.

Her hair is a mass of beautiful blonde waves spread out against the dark gray sheets.

But even in her sleep, she’s more pale than she was when I left thirty-six hours ago.

Fuck cystic fibrosis, and fuck what it takes from her body every day.

I love all of her. CF doesn’t change that.

Because Lexie is more than this disease she’ll live with and will eventually die with.

She’s everything.

She’s quickly become the sun my entire fucking world orbits around, and if that means I only have twenty years to feel her warmth shine on me, then so be it. I’d rather live every day warm beside her, for as long or short a time as I’m given with her, than a lifetime of coldness without her.

“Lucky,” she murmurs groggily before she coughs. “You won.”

“Yeah, baby.” I wrap my arms around her and drag her back against my chest, breathing with her. “Hey, Lex?”

She wraps her arms around me and snuggles into me. “Yeah, Lucky?”

“Do you think the villain ever gets the princess in the end?” I whisper the question into the darkness, hoping it hides the fear in my voice. “Like, can he get a happily ever after?”

She turns her head and opens her eyes to stare into mine.

“I think all any of us are promised is a happy for now, Lucky. We don’t know how long that is, and I’m trying to learn to be all right with that.

But if the princess is smart, she’ll love the villain in this life and the next because he’s the one who will fight hardest for her. ”

“I love you, Lexie. I’ll fight forever for you.” I press my lips to the top of her head and hold her so damn tight, she can’t move—not wanting her to see my face as I bury it in her hair. Needing to hide the sadness there tonight.

“I know, Lucky. I’ve always known. Thanks for waiting for me to figure out how to let myself be loved by you and to love you back. I never saw you coming, and now, I can’t imagine my life without you.” She closes her eyes. “I’m sorry you’ll have to live yours without me.”

“Marry me, Lex,” I whisper into her ear and wait long minutes for her to respond, but she doesn’t. Her breathing evens out, and I realize she’s fallen back asleep.

Guess I better make it more memorable next time.

O n a normal week, Tuesday is our off day, but a normal week gives us six and sometimes seven days between games.

This week, the league fucked us up the ass with no lube and had us flying across the fucking country to Seattle for a Sunday game, then turning around Wednesday night for a Denver game on Thursday.

Coach gave us Monday off instead. And I’ll fucking take it because Sweet Temptations is closed on Mondays.

And that means I can sleep in with Lexie for as long as she wants.

But when I roll over at noon and my girl still isn’t up, I get nervous.

“Lex.” I roll her over, and she’s burning up. Fuck. “Lex, wake up.”

Panic builds as she opens her eyes. “Ugh, I feel terrible.”

“You’ve got a fever, baby. Who should I call? Do you need to go to the hospital?” I’m up and out of bed and looking for my sweats before she can even answer. “I’ll grab your clothes.”

“I don’t need to go to the hospital, Lucky. Just let me take my meds and do a treatment, and I’ll call my doctor,” she tells me calmly, like her body isn’t on fire. “I’m okay, Lucky.”

I sit helplessly while she goes through her morning routine. The one I’ve memorized step-by-step, because knowing what to expect is one of the few ways I feel like I can have any control over this. Blind acceptance is a cold bitch, and it’s not my style.

I hand her the phone with her doctor’s number already pulled up as soon as she’s done with her treatment, and Lexie lifts a brow, looking less than impressed. “You don’t have to take care of me, Lucky. I’ve been doing this my whole life. I can handle it.”

As if that makes my need to protect her any less.

“Call the doctor, Lex. Make them see you today.” I cross my arms over my chest and stand in front of her, waiting. “I’m driving.”

“I’m not hating bossy Beneventi,” she teases and coughs weakly, which might be more disturbing than her thick coughs. This one sounds like it hurts. “Bossy kind of works for you. It’s hot.”

“Tell me that again when you feel good enough for me to tie you to the bed and eat that pretty pussy raw, and we’ll see how hot bossy can be, baby. Now call.”

She rolls her eyes and rubs her chest as she speaks to the nurse practitioner who squeezes her in for an appointment as soon as we can get there. Overreacting, my ass.

Two hours, one stop at the pharmacy for three new medications, and a cup of tea later, and Lexie is tucked on the couch, sleeping through her second episode of Only Murders in the Building , while I call Mom and have her walk me through making her homemade chicken soup.

Okay, in all honesty, five minutes into the call, she offers to drop some off at the house, and I accept because I’m a little worried if I try to do this, I’m going to make Lexie feel worse, not better.

What I don’t expect is my mom to show up with all the ingredients.

She takes over our kitchen without asking, and I’ve never been more grateful.

“Have you called Carys?” Mom asks, once the soup is simmering, and Lexie naps on the couch.

“No. She’s a grown woman, Ma. If she wants to call her mom, she will. It’s not any different from one of us getting the flu. We wouldn’t run to you.” Even as I say the words, I know they’re a lie, but I still stand behind them.

Mom looks at me and pushes a cup of soup across the counter toward me. “You know that’s not true, Lucky. Lexie is different. No matter how much you wish it weren’t true, her reality is different. Have you thought about that?”

Amelia Beneventi has always been the strongest woman I’ve ever known.

She raised my siblings and me in a world most women would shrink from, but she somehow thrived and made sure we each did the same.

But that was before I fell in love with that woman on that couch.

Lexie has changed my definition of strength.

“Have I thought about it?” I hiss back. “Are you really standing there, asking me if I’ve thought about what loving her means?”

She rests her hands on my shoulders and looks up at me, like she’s had to do since fifth grade when I hit five foot three and just kept growing.

“I love you, Lucky. You’ve always had a big heart, and you’ve hidden it so well.

You were my wild child. The one always surprising me.

The one I could count on to get in trouble at least once a month.

The one the ladies loved the loudest. Probably not any more than either of your brothers, but the tramps who loved you were much less discreet about it.

You were never careful a single day in your life.

When everyone else was just testing the waters with their toes, you were jumping in headfirst. Consequences be damned. ”

“Ma.” I grab her wrists and pull them away. “I get it?—”

“I’m not sure you do, Lucky. Not this time.

I love that girl in that room. I’ve loved her since the day she was born, and her birth mother gave her to Cooper and Carys.

But loving her comes at a price, and I’m scared of what paying that price will do to you.

Because no matter how much I love Lexie, I love you more. ”

I should be pissed or hurt or fucking confused, but I’m none of those things.

Because she’s not wrong.

Loving Lexie will come at a price.

One I would do anything to avoid, if I could, but I can’t.

There is no avoiding it.

But here’s the thing.

I love Lexie more.

More than my life.

More than my fear of losing her.

More.

“If someone told you you’d only get ten years with Dad, would you have stopped loving him?” I ask softly. There’s no point in being angry. Not with my mom. Not with anyone. No one can control this.

Tears shine in her onyx eyes. “No. I wouldn’t trade a single minute of my life with your father.”

“Exactly.” I pull her into a hug and hold her close for an extra minute. “I’m sorry for the hell I put you through when I was younger, Ma.”

“You kept me on my toes.” Her pretty laugh makes me smile. “Love her wild every day, Lucky. Love her like it’s your last.”

She doesn’t need to say the words that silently follow those because they hang between us all the same.

Love her like it’s your last day because you never know when it will be hers.

B y the time Lexie’s feeling good enough to go back to work and I’m willing to leave her side for anything other than football, nearly two weeks have passed.

And I’ve had a lot of time to think and plan while I’ve lain awake at night, with her wrapped in my arms, listening to her breathe.

Those days of waking up in the middle of the night are gone for both of us.

Lexie sleeps like a baby now, and me—I watch her sleep.

But hey, I’m not getting out of bed and eating eggs at two a.m., so I guess I traded one vice for another.

When she leaves Tuesday morning for work, I already have my day laid out for me, she just doesn’t know that. She doesn’t need to. Not yet.

But an hour later, I’m standing on her father’s doorstep, ready for step one.

Cooper opens the door after a minute, and concern flashes in his face. “Is Lexie okay?”

“Hey, Cooper. She’s fine. She’s at Sweet Temptations today. Do you have a minute?” I look past him into the house as Carys comes into sight.

She pushes him out of the way. “Come in, Lucky. Is Lexie okay?”

“She’s fine. I was hoping to speak with you.” I look between them. “Both of you.”

Carys smiles, but Cooper, fuck, the look Cooper gives me is anything but warm, and anger takes hold. “You know I’m not the same kid who hurt her back then.”

“You never hurt her, honey,” Carys offers warmly and looks at her husband. “Tell him that wasn’t his fault, Coop. She got sick. It happened. You couldn’t control that, Lucky.”

“He was the reason she was swimming in the lake in the fucking rain, Carys. He was the reason she snuck out that night, and he was the reason she got sick and spent three of the scariest weeks of our lives in the hospital, not knowing if we were bringing our daughter home or burying her.”

Carys pales and leans against the wall, like Cooper just hit her, but Cooper holds his ground.

“What is wrong with you?” She looks at him like she can’t believe what he just said, but I can because he said it all to me before.

He and my father said it all to me when it happened.

That’s when they decided it was better if I left Lexie alone.

You make her reckless , I believe were his exact words.

“They were kids. They didn’t know better. ”

“It was his job to know better.” Cooper never takes his eyes off me to look at his wife, and for the first time, I see it. I didn’t back then. I was too young and too scared. I missed the fear. I can see it now because I know what I’m looking at. I see it in the mirror every fucking morning.

“I didn’t know better then. But I do now. I love your daughter. I’m going to marry her, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving her.” And when Cooper opens his mouth, I cut him off without a single fuck given to what he was about to say. “The rest of my life. Not hers. Do you understand?”

His cool blue eyes sharpen, and Carys takes his hand in hers.

“I’m not here, asking for permission to marry her, because the only person’s permission I need is Lexie’s, and I haven’t asked her yet.

But I want you to know I plan on it. Soon .

And I swear not even God himself is going to stop me.

” My heart thumps loudly in my chest, now that I’m finally saying the words I’ve been wanting to say for so fucking long.

“You can try if you want, but I’m not a scared teenager anymore.

I’m a man who will do whatever it takes to keep her happy and healthy and safe.

I’m going to make sure she has everything she’s ever wanted, including my name. ”

Okay, that last part may have been just to piss him off, but the way he flinches at the idea of his daughter with my name is surprisingly satisfying.

“Oh, Lucky.” Carys drops the hold she had on Cooper and wraps her arms around my shoulders.

“I’ve been so proud to be someone who got to watch you grow up and into an incredible man.

Watching you and the boys all these years, I’ve watched how you love, and I’ve watched how you lived.

The good and the bad, but here’s the thing.

.. none of us are perfect. No one only has good days.

We all make mistakes.” She glares at Cooper.

“All of us.” Her voice thickens with emotion.

“But you’ve got to choose the good, no matter how much harder that choice is.

You are a good man. And you love our girl.

And there is no one else I’d rather get to watch her spend her life with. ”

“I love her, Carys.” No truer words have ever left my lips.

“I know, honey. I know.”

Cooper shakes his head and walks away like I figured he would.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s a father who’s scared for his little girl. Just wait. If you’re lucky one day, you’ll know what that’s like.”

Her words hit me square in the chest.

One day.

Lexie and I haven’t talked about kids, but I want them.

With her, I want everything.