Rushing the Goal (Assassins #8)(26)

Or even, mmmm, Jared Padalecki…

But not some normal, dorky, puppy-dog looking dude!

What in the world had gotten into her, and why the hell did she feel he could see right through her?

Especially when he moved toe-to-toe, his breath on her lips as he said, “You’re not a very good liar, Ms. Sinclair.”

“Ms.?” she asked breathlessly. Thankfully, she still had her brain…sorta. “I could be married.”

“But you’re not,” he said simply, his voice so low, so deep, and…f*ck, so sexy. “And that’s cool. I’ll get you to go out with me.”

Then he winked.

She was pretty sure she came.

And without another word, tall, dark, adorable, sexy, puppy-dog guy walked away.

Like a f*cking boss.

Where in the hell had that come from?

And why did she believe him?

There was no reason to, because Lucy knew she wouldn’t be dating anyone. Probably never would. Or maybe when Angie was eighteen and she wouldn’t ever have to deal with Rick again. But now, now she couldn’t. It didn’t make sense. She just didn’t have time, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to bring some dude around Angie whom she didn’t trust.

But this was different.

Angie already loved Benji.

Which meant Lucy couldn’t f*ck that up. She may not trust the guy, but Angie did and she needed that. Especially since her father was a turd.

So she’d keep her distance.

No matter how hard it looked like that was going to be.





Leaning on her desk, Lucy looked at the screen of her computer with no clue what she was doing.

She should be working. She had orders she needed to place for three different accounts. She had fourteen mock-ups to send to Elli Adler and seven to send to leopard-print couple. She also needed to call her mother back since she had been calling since eight that morning. She usually didn’t ignore her mother—she loved her and loved speaking with her—but lately, she was exhausted with the whole wedding thing. It still all seemed so unreal to her.

Plus, Lucy was distracted.

Benji asked her out last night.

And she said no.

Her answer was driving her insane because she was starting to think she should have said yes. There wasn’t a long line of men wanting to take her out. She hadn’t been out in a very long time, and man, she needed some sex. Nice, hot, wall-banging sex. Benji was tall, and while he was a bit awkward, she was pretty sure he could deliver the wall-banging sex. It had to be the eyes that made her think that…mmm…

But no.

No.

It couldn’t happen. She was busy, and he didn’t look like the kind of guy who wanted to just screw around. She didn’t have time for a relationship, and Angie—she couldn’t do that to her. Bringing guys in and out, that was just not responsible. She wasn’t that kind of a woman; she was smart and relationships led to heartache. The problem was, it wasn’t only Lucy’s heart that could be broken, and she couldn’t do that to Angie. Wouldn’t do that to her.

Rick already caused that girl enough grief, and she wouldn’t add to it. Or really, she wouldn’t give Rick the chance to give them both grief. He wouldn’t take kindly to some guy coming around Angie. He had made that comment many times, and yeah, it was stupid of Lucy to worry about what he thought, but it did worry her. He was unpredictable, and she was okay with her life as it was. She didn’t need a man. No, she would be the staple in Angie’s life. She would be strong; she would be the best role model she could.

But was she being that without trying to love again? Angie was loved, over and beyond, but that was by family. Was Lucy not giving her the example of what marital love could be? All she had were the interactions between her and Rick—those were never good—but was she cheating her baby out of a family? But Angie had Rick and Heidi, if that was even an example. Who knew? Heidi was a dimwit, but shit. Was she f*cking up? No, she was doing fine. Angie was happy, she was loved, everything was fine. God, why did she do this to herself?

What happened to just wanting hot, nasty sex from the guy?

Jesus, she was a mess.

Closing her eyes, she ran her other hand through her hair as her phone beeped and her assistant Rayne came over the speaker. “Lucy, do you have Angie this weekend?”

Looking at the phone, she closed her eyes again, holding back her moan. She really needed to hire another designer. “Nope.”

“I have a guy on hold for a design on Saturday. He’s leaving town on Sunday and wanted to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. He’s offering to pay a rush fee if needed. When would be good? You have the whole morning blocked out, but then your mom called me and told me to block out your lunch and two hours after that.”

“Jesus, why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you should call her back?”

Rolling her eyes, she shrugged. “I guess I should. Okay, so what, like, four? Would four work?”

“I’ll ask, but you want to do anywhere between four and six? So I don’t have to call you back?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she said with a sigh. “Does he sound rich?”

Rayne laughed. “He offered a rush fee and said he needs a design for his whole house. He just moved in and doesn’t have time to make it adultish. He’s funny.”