Chasing Forever (The Forever Series #1)(23)

Lucas leaned back in his chair and didn’t say anything for a few minutes. He just stared at her as though she were a bug in his office.

“I really wish I could go with you, but my mom doesn’t have anyone else.” Regan lifted one shoulder and then let it drop dramatically. “I’ll be available by email, and I’ll take my laptop so I don’t fall behind.”

“Uh huh, what’s her diagnosis?”

She looked at her lap unable to make eye contact as she studied the folds in her skirt. “I’d rather not share. My mom’s really private and it’s not my story or my health issue.”

Lucas leaned forward and braced his elbows on his cluttered maple desk. A faint smiled teased the corners of his lips. “Regan, I don’t believe you.”

It took a moment for his response to sink in. “What?” She stood up so fast she knocked over her chair.

“I don’t believe you,” he repeated. His faint smile grew into one of those huge dimpled smiles she used to love. Now she hated it, hated him.

“Do you want me to bring in a note from her doctor?” She couldn’t get one. Her mom wasn’t sick, but she hated that Lucas called her bluff. Why couldn’t he leave her alone? He already humiliated her once, wasn’t that sufficient?

“No. I don’t want a fake doctor’s note. I want you to go with me to Colorado. I need your help.”

Her mouth opened and closed quickly. She paced back and forth in front of his desk and then she stopped abruptly with her hands on her hips. “Why can’t you and Olivia leave me alone? I don’t get it. Hurting me doesn’t hurt my dad. He doesn’t care about my life. I talk to him three times a year—Christmas, his birthday, and my birthday. Tell Olivia to come up with some other plan or better yet tell her to get a life and stop interfering in mine.”

Lucas grabbed his gray suit jacket off the back of his chair and walked over to her. “Let’s go to lunch.”

“No. I thought I could do this, but I can’t work here, with you.” She flung her arms dramatically into the air. “I quit. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything to Richard.”

“You’ll ruin your career before it starts.” Lucas slid one arm into his suit jacket and then the other.

“Richard will understand and if he doesn’t, Parker said he could get me an internship in the District Attorney’s office. I don’t need this job, and I don’t have to stay in San Francisco either. I have options.” She hated the thought of practicing criminal law, but anything beat working with Lucas, especially with Olivia in the picture.

Lucas looked out his open office door, and Regan followed his gaze. A couple secretaries were whispering outside the office. Great, now everyone would be gossiping about this disagreement. She hated gossip. By the end of the day, everyone would think they were sleeping together or worse.

Lucas put his hand on her back and leaned toward her, invading her space and her sanity. She could smell his spicy scent and his minty breath. She remembered sleeping in his t-shirts years ago, so she could smell that smell all around her and feel like he was with her even when he wasn’t. When everything fell apart, she kept his t-shirts for a couple months thinking, in some irrational part of her mind, those shirts might have the answers he never offered. When she came to terms with the fact he had used her, she had burned the t-shirts with her mom in some cleansing ritual—her mom’s idea, not hers.

“We have an audience,” he whispered. “Come to lunch with me so we can talk about this in private.”

“Fine,” she responded through clenched teeth, then pasted an elaborately fake smile on her face. She pushed his hand off her back and walked out of his office with her head held high telling the world and all those nosy secretaries that she didn’t have anything hide.





Chapter Twelve




Regan sat at a small two-top table in the corner of a seafood restaurant across from Lucas. Neither of them had said a word on the walk here and now she studied the menu as though she’d be tested on the content later. Lunch would cost more than a week of groceries. Lucas better be planning to pay this bill.

She wished they were at a loud restaurant so she could ignore him. Instead, Lucas picked a place with quiet music and white table linens.

“Regan?” Lucas prompted.

“Huh?” Regan replied without looking at him. She turned over her menu to read about the drinks on the back, not that she planned to order a drink, but it gave her something to do other than look at him.

Lucas snatched the menu out of her hand and placed it on top of his. “Look at me.”

“I haven’t decided what to order.” Regan held out her hand. “Give it back.”

“You were studying the drink menu, and you’re not ordering a drink.”

“I’m not? Are you sure about that, because I wouldn’t mind a glass of wine or two right about now.”

“I’m sure.”

“Fine. Then, I’ll study the food portion of the menu.” She waved the fingers of her still outstretched hand.

“Not necessary. We’re both having the seafood cioppino.”

“No thank you. I hate seafood.”

“You love seafood.” Lucas smiled. “Remember that little restaurant with the red and white table clothes you loved? You ordered the clam linguine every time we went there. You would never let me take you anywhere else for lunch.”