Lucas grazed his hand over the small of my back, bringing a powerful rush of awareness to my skin even at that brief of a touch.
“Sure,” he said, going for the bag that was hanging off my shoulder. “It’s New York’s traffic who should be terrified,” he said, looking at me. “Of her.”
Letting out a laugh, I shook my head. These two were ridiculous, and there was no way I was surrendering the bag to him.
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
“Funny,” Lina said from the trunk of Aaron’s car. “Someone’s eaten a little clown today.”
Lucas ignored Lina’s comment and went for the suitcase resting at my feet.
I did, too, because I only had an idea what she might have meant. Plus, I was too busy pinning Lucas with another hard look. I lowered my voice. “You shouldn’t be taking anything heavy.”
He seemed ready to fight me, but he said, “You’re right.”
“Told you, I’m always right,” I murmured, my lips twitching. Then, I took the handle from him. “Gimme.”
“Nope,” he shot back, and picked the bag anyways. “You’re right, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you carry all this weight up the stairs.” He shrugged, and it was my turn to narrow my eyes, giving him my meanest face. “That look is not deterring me, Rosie.” He came close and added only so I could hear it, “It’s only making me hard.”
My lips parted, and I…
I hadn’t expected him to say that, but I liked that he had. A lot. Too much.
I wanted his hands on me again, just like earlier today, but this time I wanted more. This time, I wanted all of him.
Lucas’s eyes hooded. “Preciosa, don’t look at me like that. You’re only making it worse.”
Lina cleared her throat loudly, and when I glanced at her, her eyes had turned to thin slits. “What are you two whispering about?”
“I was telling Rosie that I was glad we were alive,” Lucas was quick to answer, his face telling me a completely different story. Then, he turned to face his cousin, “Don’t you agree we’re lucky, Ms. Fast and the Furious?”
“Ha,” Lina shot back. “Hilarious.”
With a sigh, I turned to my best friend. “Here.” I placed my key in her palm. “You go first. We’ll get the rest.”
Shockingly, Lina didn’t question me, just called for Taco and headed for the staircase.
I grabbed the lightest bag I could find—one with a pillow—and placed it on Lucas’s shoulder. Then I retrieved the suitcase he thought he was taking upstairs. “There.” I patted his chest. “Up you go, Martín number two.”
He grabbed my wrist, a wild, all-powerful sensation flooding my body under his touch. I looked up at him, the heaviness and lust dissipating slightly when his lips pursed into the cutest pout.
I snickered. “Don’t be a grouch,” I told him, trying to keep the tone light. “You can’t win all the time. Now up.”
He scoffed. “I’m a ray of sunshine.” Lucas’s gaze tipped down to the fingers that were around my arm. He moved my hand so it lay against his chest, right over his heart. “I just… want to help.”
He didn’t want to; he needed to. And I understood that.
So, I splayed my fingers over his sweater, making sure he felt my touch through the layers of clothing that separated my hand from his skin. And only when he seemed as distracted as I was by that, I told him, “Your being here with me. That’s all I need from you.”
I was looking straight at him, so it was impossible to miss the way his face changed when my words registered.
He probably wanted to talk about what had happened today, or last night, because we hadn’t and we really, really should have. But once again, this wasn’t the time, so I cleared my throat and said, “Let’s go. Lina is probably wondering what’s taking us so long.”
With a nod, he headed up.
A little over two hours later, we had all my stuff up and the big mess the contractors had left behind was cleaned up.
“I am dead,” Lina grunted from her post at the end of my couch. “This was worth at least three months of exercise.”
I chuckled and Lucas scoffed with disbelief. “I think the several ten-minute breaks you took to snack on Pringles cancel out the workout, prima.”
“What a total party pooper.” She threw her hands in the air. “You’re in such a mood today, Lucas. I didn’t even know you could do grumpy.” Lina wasn’t lying: Lucas hadn’t been his usual self these last few hours. He’d been sighing and grunting and barely smiling at all. “Maybe you should take a nap when you get home, sí? You’re acting like a baby that needs some sleep.”