Page 7 of Slide

“Ah…” He cleared his throat so he could talk. “Yeah, I guess.”

“I can tell.”

When he glanced at her, there was this little knowing smile on her face, then she lifted her bottle and took a sip of beer. Soft lips pressed to the opening, slender throat working.

He needed to get the fuck out of there. “How’s that?”

Why are you still talking, asshole? Get in your car and get the hell out of there.

She lowered the bottle. “You get this…I don’t know…” She lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “This look. All focused, eyes intense”—her eyes dropped to his lips—“mouth kinda firm.”

She licked hers and his cock surged in his jeans.

“Only someone that likes what they’re doing would get a look like that.” She rested her hip against the front of the car beside him. “It makes me happy that you have that, that you’re so passionate about something.”

“Yeah?” Somehow, she’d gotten closer and he realized her eyes weren’t just green, they were like emeralds. So many facets he could stare into them for days and not see all the shades. Shit, he’d heard it, read it before, and it was corny as fuck, but he could get lost in those eyes.

If that happened he’d happily stay that way.

“Yeah,” she repeated. “After your mom passed away…I didn’t think…I thought you might…”

Adam jerked back, the mention of his mother like a bucket of ice water down his back. This girl, this kid that he had no damn right looking at or thinking about—she pitied him, felt sorry for him. He fucking hated it. Didn’t want it.

Taking a step back, he forced a grin. “Thanks for the concern, Luce. It’s nice you care, but—”

Her hand came down on his arm, her soft fingers curling around his forearm.

“I do care. A lot.”

He lifted his gaze from her hand and locked on those exquisite eyes. That’s when he saw it. A whole lot of lust.

Lucy wanted him.

Tits brushing his arm, she moved closer.

He gritted his teeth. The two of them? It could never happen, for so many reasons. And if he didn’t stop this now, he’d lose the only good thing he had left in his life that meant something. For a long time Hugh, Joe, and their business were the only things that kept him going. He couldn’t betray them like this. Couldn’t hurt Lucy, which is what would happen if he went there with her.

She was just a kid; she didn’t know what she wanted. But he did. He knew exactly what his future held, and she couldn’t be in it, not in the way he suspected she wanted to be.

He had to put an end to this now.

The chuckle he forced was rusty as hell. “Nice of you to worry, baby girl, but I don’t need your sympathy.”

“That’s not…I just hate the idea of you being alone.”

He turned into her and picked up a lock of hair from her shoulder, rubbing it between his fingers. “You don’t have to worry about that either, sweetheart. I have plenty of women willing to warm my bed at night.”

She blinked up at him, and he felt sick to his stomach when her eyes went bright and she bit her lip, taking a hasty step back.

“Right…well, that’s…that’s good then.” She spun away. “I better get back to packing.” Then she raced out the door.

Adam cursed. He hadn’t thought about that day in a long time, didn’t want to. So much had changed. He’d changed. He wasn’t the same guy as he was then—he was worse.

Lucy was off limits. Always had been, always would be. Not only was she too damn young, but Hugh and Joe would murder him slowly if he laid one finger on her. There was also the fact she hated his guts passionately. The girl bit his head off whenever they were in the same room. He was the only one feeling the off-the-charts lust nowadays. And thank fuck for that. The idea of tainting her, unleashing all the messed-up shit he had swirling inside him on her, made him fucking ill.

If Lucy ever decided she wanted him again, only a fraction of the way he wanted her, he was royally screwed. They both would be.

Fuck. He needed to get the hell out of there, away from the temptation that was Lucy Colton.

Then he needed a damn drink.