RECLAIM MY HEART(50)

His lips quirked and he shook his head. “There you go, focusing on the negative. I think we should concentrate on the positives. And there are many.” He leaned forward. “All I can think about is that kiss. And how you tasted. And how your skin felt warm and soft under my fingers. And how all I wanted to do was—”
“Lucas—” she twisted one corner of the napkin in her lap “—there’s more to a relationship than sex.”
His deep chuckle sent a tingle down her spine strong enough to make her want to arch her back like a cat lazing in sunshine, and the throbbing in her vagina intensified.
“Yeah, but,” he murmured, “we gotta start somewhere.”
Rosy buds of heat blotched her cheeks and perspiration prickled the back of her neck.
“Now, that is what I call cute.”
Her face flamed hotter. “Lucas, stop.” He continued to stare and she shot him a half-hearted grimace. “You’re making me feel…?strange.”
Lightheaded, happy…?desired.
He grinned. “Strange wasn’t what I was going for, at all.”
The raw eroticism in his voice was unreal, and she knew his intention was to knock her off-balance.
She smoothed out the wrinkles she’d creased in the square of linen. “Lucas, if you’re serious about talking—”
“I love it when your face goes pink like that.”
She crossed her arms, leaned against the chair’s back, and went quiet.
He chuckled. “Pushed you as far as I can, huh?”
The man was handsome when he smiled, but he was orgasmically gorgeous when his sharp-angled features shifted into that let’s-get-down-to-business expression. Tyne pinched the corner of the napkin again and started coiling.
“Let’s hear it,” he said. “I can see from the look on your face that you’ve got reservations.”
She nodded. “I do. I-I really do.” She stopped long enough to take a sip from her water glass. “I mean, I will admit that there’s something there.” Her gaze dipped for an instant as she muttered, “An attraction or whatever.”
“Good.” A smile hid just beneath the surface of the short response. “At least we do agree on that much.”
“But h="r wdon’t you see the past as a problem?” She’d twisted the napkin into such tight coils that, when she released the fabric, it squirmed like a snake in her lap. Thank goodness the draped tablecloth covered her nervous handiwork. “I do. I see it as an obstacle. A huge obstacle. Too big for us to climb. Too big for us to overcome.”
He reached across the table, opening his hand in invitation. When she lifted hers from her lap, she was vaguely aware that her napkin slithered to the floor. His palm was warm against her fingers.
“Stop looking for trouble,” he told her. “We had a son together. And because you were brave enough to raise Zach alone, I have the opportunity to know him.” His eyes warmed. “Personally, I think that’s something to celebrate.”
“But…” What about the ugly details, she wanted to ask but couldn’t get her tongue to form the words.
“Tyne? It is you. Tyne Whitlock!”
The high-pitched female voice made Tyne wince. The bosomy woman approaching their table looked vaguely familiar. Her stone-gray hair spiked outward behind her ears, and she’d gained a considerable amount of weight, but when Tyne placed her, remembering her name, the blood drained from her face.
“Mrs. Denver?”
The elderly woman waved her hands in a ‘come, come’ motion and Tyne slipped her fingers from Lucas’s and stood without giving it a thought. Good Southern manners prohibited any other choice. Vera Denver’s Chanel N° 5 hit Tyne like a solid wall when they hugged.
“I just knew that was you. I told Earl, but he didn’t believe me.” Vera shifted her shoulder so her husband could nod hello.
Tyne raised her hand to him in greeting, but dread had her face too numb to smile.
“I saw your mother in church on Sunday,” Vera said. “And she didn’t say a word about your being home.”
“She doesn’t know.”
“Oh!” The woman clapped her fleshy hands together. “I can’t wait to call her—”
“Please don’t.” Tyne’s throat constricted so tightly that she could barely squeeze out air, let alone words.
Vera nodded, the ends of her spikes bobbing at her neckline. “Ah, I see. A surprise, is it? Lovely!” She glanced at the table and then Lucas before looking at Tyne. Vera blinked, then let her gaze fall down the length of Tyne’s body, evidently taking in her casual attire for the first time. The delight in her voice withered when she hesitantly murmured, “I came over to invite you to join us.”
The prospect had Tyne flattening her palm against her stomach. “Oh, thank you for the offer, but—”
“Excuse me, Tyne, but we have to go.”
Both the women turned to Lucas who was already standing with his wallet in hand, pulling out several bills, and dropping them onto the table.
“Mrs. Denver, this is Lucas Silver Hawk,” Tyne introduced. “Lucas, Vera Denver. She’s a good friend of my parents.”
“Life-long friends. Why, I changed Tyne’s diapers,” Vera supplied.
Lucas smiled politely at the woman and then gave Tyne a sad look. “I just got a text. I’m needed. I hope you don’t mind, but we have to leave now.”
The man was a quick thinking and skilled liar. She could have kissed him.
“No, no. I don’t mind.” She reached for her purse and looked at Vera. “Enjoy your evening. It was lovely to see you.” The fib snagged in her throat like a barbed fishing hook.