The Perfect Stroke (Lucas Brothers #1)(60)

“Do you think we might be having too much sex?” CC whispers as she sits back in the seat beside me on the plane. I just got back a minute before her. I think we played it all rather smoothly, really.

“Is there such a thing?” I ask her with a grin. “Besides, you weren’t complaining when I had you pinned against the door of the bathroom.”

“You couldn’t help but pin me. There wasn’t enough room in that bathroom for two people.”

“I think we need to go back in there. You didn’t complain as much. I mean, seriously, is this the thanks I get for making you a member of the mile-high club?”

She leans over and kisses me sweetly on the lips. “Thank you, Grayson Lucas, for inducting me into the mile-high club.”

“Much better. You’re welcome, sweet lips.”

She laughs and pulls away, rolling her eyes at me. “What do I make, anyway? Your, like, fiftieth inductee?”

“Ouch. I can’t remember. Since you came in my life, Cooper, I can’t remember a f*cking woman before you.”

“That would be a better line if you said you couldn’t remember f*cking a woman before me. Grammar is very important, Tarzan.”

“That’s what I meant. Stop being a pain in my ass,” I grumble, watching as my fingers play in her hair. I’ll never get enough of the beautiful auburn-gold color. It’s natural, unique, special… just like the woman who wears it. “I love your hair.”

“I like being a pain in your ass and I’m glad because, well, it’s kind of stuck on my head, y’know? Hard to change,” she jokes.

I look at her. She’s got a faint color in her cheeks as if she’s embarrassed. I need her to see the truth.

“I don’t want you to change anything about yourself, Cooper. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

“I think it’s only fair to tell you perfection doesn’t exist. Heck, even those abs you sport aren’t perfect. I think the last can in your six pack isn’t quite defined as the rest of them.” She grins, trying to shrug off the compliment.

“I’m serious, CC. You’re perfect to me… for me.”

“Gray…” she whispers, and I think she’s getting it. I can see the fear in her eyes, but there’s something else there and that’s what pushes me to take it a little farther. CC is new territory for me. Not only am I in love for the first—and last—time in my life, but she sure as f*ck is not getting away. She’s also new territory because she’s the first woman I’ve ever met who is afraid to commit to me. She doesn’t trust people in general. I think that comes from her past and her mom. But she’s doubly afraid of me and it makes me ashamed of my past. She brings it up sometimes when we’re joking and it feels like it doesn’t bother her, but still, the truth of it has hit her and has settled in her mind and that can’t be good. Still, this is the first time I’ve seen anything from her that might encourage me, so I have to start trying to break through.

“CC, you have to know you’re special to me,” I tell her—a f*cking understatement of the year.

“I…” she starts, then stops. She looks at me and slowly nods. “I know, Gray. You’re special to me, too.”

Fuck, that’s such a simple statement, but with it, I feel better than winning any damned match or tournament has ever made me feel. It feels like fireworks are going off. I get lost in the feeling and push harder—which might be a mistake.

“I want everything with you, Cooper. Everything,” I tell her, laying it bare as gently as I can. Everything in me is wanting to tell her I want to give her my last name. I want kids with her. I want to grow old together. She’s the last face I want to see when I close my eyes and go into the next world. I’m pretty sure those words would scare the hell out of her.

“What if you’re disappointed?” she asks.

“If there’s one thing I’m one hundred percent sure of, Cooper, it’s that I could never be disappointed in you. Never.”

I hate seeing the fear in her eyes. I think it’s probably a good thing I never met her mother. I’d probably want to kill the woman. I bring CC’s face closer to mine and kiss her.

“You better get a quick nap in. We’ll land soon, and I’m going to need you again.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“Watch and see, sweet lips, watch and see,” I tell her with a wink. She watches me for a minute, then reclines her seat back to rest. I stare out the window wondering how in the hell I’m going to knock down all of CC’s walls. I may have to call my family in for reinforcements. They’re crazy as f*ck, but they’re hard to resist and CC is already drawn to them.

I’ll figure it out somehow. I have to.





“Claude, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Cammie exclaims, and it’s a real struggle to keep myself from slapping her. If there was ever a woman in need of someone knocking some sense into her, it’d be Cammie.

“And yet, here I am,” I say with a shrug. I hear Gray snort in the background, but I don’t look at him. If I do, I’ll probably start laughing and I need to at least appear like an adult here. It’d be much easier to control myself if I could just slap her once. Okay, maybe twice. Three times, tops. “Did you want something, Cammie?”