Rushing the Goal (Assassins #8)(43)

But Lucy was gone.





“Hello?”

“Avery.”

“Lucy? What’s wrong?”

Lucy leaned her forehead on the steering wheel of her car, sucking in a deep breath. She had one shoe on, no underwear, and she smelled like him—all glorious and sexy. But that didn’t matter.

She had done the walk of shame.

Something she thought she would never do. Even as a teenager, she’d never done the walk of shame. Everyone she’d slept with was a boyfriend. But nope, now, in her twenties, she was doing the walk of shame. She was a mommy! Mommies didn’t do walks of shame. It wasn’t responsible, but nothing about last night was responsible.

The things they did.

The things she allowed.

Oh God, she had sex with a guy she had only known for a few days!

And after all was said and done, she’d had the best night’s sleep of her life. Usually, she was restless, her mind going a billion miles an hour. But he had done her so well, relaxed her so much that when she closed her eyes, she didn’t wake until seven.

And he was still beautifully asleep.

She could still see him. His chiseled jaw relaxed as he drew in deep breaths, his hair falling slightly over his closed eyes. His brown lashes touched his cheeks, his plush lips parted ever so slightly, and Jesus… Did she miss him? Obviously not, because she hightailed it out of there faster than Angie moved when she hadn’t had her medication. She had hustled moved so fast in her life, and because of that, she didn’t give herself time to actually find her other shoe or panties.

God, she was a mess.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she considered just hanging up. Did she really want to share her indiscretions with her sister-in-law? What would it do? She wouldn’t cry; she didn’t regret it. She enjoyed every minute with him, but she was embarrassed. She hadn’t wanted this to happen. She’d said it would be a bad idea. Yeah, she might have considered going out on a date with him. But that was it, a date! She basically jumped the dude. How was she supposed to face him? Ugh. It had been such a bad idea. She didn’t have time for this.

“Damn it,” Lucy muttered, shaking her head.

“What in the world? What is going on?”

“I slept with him,” she said and then looked up at the Walmart in front of her. She was early. Rick wouldn’t be there for another hour. But after going to the shop and her apartment, where she realized that she wouldn’t be coming back for a while—Tuesday, her ass—she gathered what she could and stuffed it into her car. Hard feat when she was wearing a tight dress and no panties. There was no way to change in her apartment since they had torn down the wall between her room and the kitchen. She could have gone into the bathroom, but one of the workers was in there.

And apparently his breakfast did not agree with him.

So her week of hell was ending in a fiery heap, which was exactly how it started. But could she really consider last night part of her week of hell? Because it was on the opposite side of hell. No, it was perfect. So damn good and she wanted more, she did, but how? How in the world could that work? At first, she thought a date would be a good idea, but after being with him, no, a date would be a train wreck.

Because after one night.

One smile.

One press of his nose to hers.

She was f*cking feeling something.

Damn it.

That was the issue with sex. It was a double-edged sword. One edge was great, “Woo-hoo, she loved sex. Giggity, giggity.” But on the other edge, feelings could blossom. She’d wanted mindless, fun, happy, giggity sex, but she got more than that. She desired more. She wanted to know him. She wanted to never leave that bed, and that was what scared her so badly that she had to run. Never in her life had she had felt what she felt in Benji’s arms, and she didn’t understand it.

She didn’t have time for it.

No, she had to raise Angie right. She had to deal with Rick, and bringing a man into that just wouldn’t work. It couldn’t. Rick would be such a f*cking *, and that would have Benji running the other way. No one wanted to deal with stupid baby-daddy issues.

But Avery didn’t know all that. Hell, she probably didn’t need to know anything. Yet, Lucy whispered, “I slept with Benji.”

Avery took in a sharp breath and then paused. “Okay. Why do you sound like you kicked a dog? I don’t get it. I thought this is what you wanted.”

Lucy shut her eyes once more, shaking her head. “I jumped him like a cat in heat, Avery. We went at it like rabbits and I ran. I left before he woke up.”

“What? Why did you do that? And why so many animal references?”

“Focus, Avery,” she complained and Avery laughed.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t understand what is going on. You wanted to have sex, you had it, and it’s okay that you ran. People do that all the time. It isn’t like you guys are in a relationship. It was a one-night stand. So what?”

Why was she so callous about this? “You make it seem like not even a big deal!”

“It isn’t!” Avery laughed. “People seriously do it all the time. Hell, I’ve done it.”

Not something she wanted to know about her perfect angel sister-in-law who was married to her baby brother and had his child. “Avery Rose!”

She kept laughing. “That’s how Jace and I got together.”