Loving Lucas Read Free Page A

move when he talks, his lopsided, arrogant grin, that pouty lower lip that I just want to nibble on. Totally kissable, and undeniably hot.
    He catches me staring again and I quickly avert my eyes. What am I thinking? I just broke up with my boyfriend and I’m already scoping out this guy. What if he thinks I’m a little slut? I’m not; it’s just been so long since I felt butterfly wings flutter inside my stomach because a guy smiles at me. Too long.
    Don’t I deserve to feel warm and gooey inside? I want to feel pretty again, desired, and certainly like I’m worth some effort. I don’t know when or how things deteriorated between Connor and me, but I’ve been taken advantage of for too long. Connor hardly notices me anymore, but he used to and I had fallen in love. I guess I stuck around because I believed that if I could help heal his broken heart, things would change. We connected in so many ways—we both had even grown up without fathers—-and I truly thought I could give him a reason to be happy. That whole “two broken hearts heal each other” bullshit . . .
    Alcohol and drugs robbed me of any chance of getting through to him. He’s numb, so volatile, and snaps at the slightest thing. Like a good puppy, if he kicked me, I came crawling back, begging for a little love and attention.
    “Wine cooler or Bud?” Brandon asks.
    I return to the present and look at him. “Wine cooler.”
    He hands it to me.
    “Let me.” Lucas gently removes the bottle from my hand and opens it. “Here.”
    A complete gentleman and just like that, I feel another flutter inside. Shit. “Thank you.”
    “So do you have a last name?” he asks.
    “Augustine.”
    “Karlie Augustine,” he repeats my name. “Vitals?”
    That’s an odd question. “Want my height, weight, and bra size?”
    I get a roguish grin. “Only if you’re volunteering.” With that, his gaze flicks down to my breasts.
    “I’m a full-time student at Texas A&M.”
    “How did you end up with a piece of shit like Seville?”
    I knew it would come up eventually and he deserves an answer for rescuing me. “We met at a nightclub a year and a half ago,” I say. “Danced and talked all night. Nothing epic, just a big mistake. Racers have big egos and high expectations.”
    “Not all of us,” he assures me.
    I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. “And you?”
    He sighs. “Really want to know?”
    I bite back a smile, half expecting him to say he’s a drug dealer or Special Forces. “Sure do.”
    “Corpus Christi Police Department.”
    “A cop?” I squint at him, picturing him in uniform. It fits. “No wonder you wrestled Connor to the ground like he weighed nothing.”
    “It doesn’t bother you?”
    “Should it?” I’m hopelessly focused on those lips again. What’s wrong with me? “Do you abuse your power? Take bribes?” I try to keep a straight face.
    “Depends what you’re offering, Karlie.”
    My eyebrows pinch together in total shock. He’s flirting with me. “Um . . .” My cell chimes and I take advantage of the diversion, searching for my backpack.
    “Right there.” Lucas points.
    I kneel, unzip it, and fish out my phone. Marie? I answer.
    “Don’t say my name out loud,” she warns.
    Like a dummy, I look around us to see if I can spot her. “Where are you?”
    “Close enough to see you and the hottie.”
    “And?”
    “Notice the way he keeps staring at you?”
    My eyes dart to Lucas; he’s drinking his beer.
    “Yes.”
    “Like him?”
    “Don’t ask me that; he might hear me.”
    I look up again, and there’s a shit-eating grin on his face. “I’m hanging up now.” I disconnect.
    “Where’s Marie?” Lucas edges closer.
    I feel like an awkward teenager. “Not here.”
    “No,” he agrees. “But that was her on the phone.”
    He’s standing right in front of me now and I’m staring at his hard chest, wondering what it would feel like to run my hands over his muscular body. “Yes.” I can’t lie to