The Perfect Stroke (Lucas Brothers #1)(64)

“Get out,” I tell him, my voice quiet as the implications of what this could mean settle upon me.

“I’ll expect you to disappear from Grayson Lucas’s life before the tournament in Georgia next week,” he says calmly, gathering up the photos.

“You can’t make me do that.”

“I thought that would be your answer, so here’s your official notice. I foreclose on your garage at the end of the month, unless it’s paid in full. I hope being Lucas’s whore is worth your garage, CC, because that’s all you are. Men never pick women like you permanently. I had to explain that to your mother, too.”

“Get the f*ck out of here!” I yell, grabbing wildly and throwing something from the table at him. I shouldn’t have bothered because once he has the photos, he’s gone, leaving only the foreclosure papers and likely feeling secure in the knowledge that he’s destroyed my world.

What do I do now?





“You okay, Cooper?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“Sweetheart, I don’t know if you realize this, but you’ve barely said two words.”

“I’m just eating, Gray.”

“Really? Because all your food still seems to be on your plate.”

“Okay, fine,” she sighs, pushing her plate around. “Some things came up at home today and I need to get back and try to figure them out.”

“Well, that’s clear as mud.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” she says with another sigh. I study her face. She looks so lost. I want to shake her for not letting me in.

“Try me.”

“The shop. It… appears there was a problem with the loan, and instead of having it paid off, there’s an… an outstanding balance now.”

“Let me pay it.”

“Gray!”

“What? I have it, and the garage is important to you. I can pay it. Problem solved.”

“No. Problem is not solved. I’ll deal with it. We’re going back to Kentucky tomorrow anyway.”

“Can you promise me one thing?”

“Depends on what it is,” she says, smiling a little.

“If you can’t work it out that you will at least consider taking the money from me, it can be a loan. You can pay me back, if you insist.”

“Gray, you don’t even know how much it is.”

“I don’t really give a f*ck, CC. You’re important to me. Not the money. And if I win the tournament in Georgia, I can buy three garages once I put that with the money I got from signing the Riverton contract.”

“You’d really do that?”

“Definitely. You don’t seem to have grasped it yet, sweet lips, but this thing between us is special. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here and I’m staying here.”

“Sometimes, life throws curveballs that are beyond our control, Gray.”

“Good thing for you that I’ve become a master at learning just how to hit balls so they curve the way I want them to.”

“Ouch. That was a really bad pun.”

“They can’t all be gold. How about you give up pretending to eat and I take you back to the hotel and ravage you.”

She drops her fork in her plate and grins at me—and this one almost reaches her eyes. “I was hoping you would suggest that.”

I throw some money on top of the bill the waitress left earlier, then get up and walk over to her seat, pulling it back and helping her up.

“I do aim to please,” I tell her, kissing her lips gently. “It’s going to be okay, Cooper. I promise. I will always be here for you.”

She hooks her hand against my jaw and looks into my eyes. Then she burrows her head into my neck, placing a gentle kiss on my chest.

“I could love you, Grayson Lucas,” she whispers, and it feels so close I can almost taste it.

“I’m counting on it, sweet lips. I’m counting on it,” I tell her, trying to swallow down the emotion that’s choking me. CC doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve made it my goal that she falls in love with me. I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen. I’m keeping her.

Forever.





“I’m sorry, CC. There’s nothing I can do. The contract clearly states the terms of the loan and I’d say the pictures you described would sway a jury or a judge.”

I hold my head down, the phone away from my ear. Mack is a local lawyer in town and, as lawyers go, he’s about the only one I trust not to rat me out to Riverton. He is new to the area, having moved here after marrying Belinda, a local girl who’s a few years older than me.

“So I’m royally f*cked?” I ask, my eyes still closed.

“The only alternative is to take out a loan on the bank again. The garage would clearly be worth that.”

“You forget one thing, Mack.”

“What’s that?”

“Riverton owns all the local banks. You don’t think he’s already put word out against me?”

“You really think he’d go that far?”

“I know so.”

“What about an online lender? Or a national bank?” he suggests.

“I’ll try it, but my personal credit rating isn’t that great.”