Killing Lucas (6 page)

Chapter Six

“Please don’t leave me.”—Kiloran to Lucas

O
ne room, damn it.
One
fucking room. With one queen-size bed and the only chair in the room a wooden, antique number that wouldn’t even hold Lucas’s weight. But what could he do? And honestly, looking at Kiloran, what else was there to do? She stood there numbly holding the puppy as Lucas placed the travel crate down and put the whimpering dog in for the night.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“Please don’t leave me.” Her voice was so small.

Breathing out a heavy sigh, he mumbled something close to he wouldn’t leave her and focused on getting her into bed. A female officer had packed a bag for her, complete with a nightgown. Handing it to her, he watched as she walked silently into the bathroom. It didn’t pass his notice that she left the bathroom door cracked just a bit either. The incident had spooked her, of course. But her reaction was much stronger than even Lucas would have thought. He wondered why?

If in fact she had been dealing with this crazy man for six years, Lucas would have thought something as simple a lipstick on the mirror wouldn’t have gotten to her. But then maybe it was more than that; she had felt safe from this man, safe in her belief that he couldn’t or wouldn’t get in the house.

“Kil?” he asked, going to the door. “Has the stalker ever entered your house before?”

She opened the door, tears in her eyes. Shaking her head, she bit her lip. “I don’t think so. Before notes were always left outside somewhere. I don’t know what to do anymore. I am so tired of being strong.”

Pulling her to him, Lucas lifted her into his arms.
Strong
was the last word he would use to describe Kiloran O’Connor right now. She seemed
frail
as he carried her to the bed. Placing her down as gently as he would a china doll, he pulled the comforter over her.

“Try and sleep. I’ll be right here.” Lucas pulled off his T-shirt and kicked off his shoes, then lay on top of the blankets next to her. And when the sobbing started, as he knew it would, he did the one thing he would have sworn forty-eight hours ago he would never do again: he pulled her into his arms and held her. Held her tight.

“We are going to get this guy. I promise you that.” He swore not to Kiloran as much as to himself. Tomorrow he would call Hunter and see what kind of game plan they could come up with. By then, if they were lucky, Agent Vassar and his team would have found something, to help track down the source of Kiloran’s nightmares.

Before leaving, Vassar had mentioned it looked to him like the stalker was escalating. Lucas’s reappearance in her life might have caused a snap. For eighteen months, the stalker had remained quiet, but with the newspaper article and now the speculation that they were back together, this might be a tipping point. For good or bad, that was what they wanted. They needed to tip this asshole’s hand.

Whatever his feelings for Kiloran were now, Lucas had loved her once and no one deserved to live in this much fear. No one.

He listened as her breathing slowed to the familiar cadence of her sleep. So many nights he had lain similar to this, holding her, just watching her and wondering how he had been so lucky. Now he wondered just how one man could be so unlucky.

They had first met at a benefit event full of A-list actors and the top of society. The only reason Lucas had been there was because Tony had asked him. Tony’s date had bailed, apparently realizing that Tony was no more serious about the relationship than he was about anything else.

But as Tony never asked for anything, Lucas hadn’t been able to deny him the request and had pulled his tux out of the back of his closet and flew out the West Coast to join him. It had been a good chance to look at the labs Sherman Engineering had in San Diego. Besides, Lucas usually found hanging out the Tony to be a nice break from the quiet solitary world of his lab and he was always willing to help a benefit that helped art museums.

They’d been at the party for an hour, rubbing elbows with people Lucas guessed he should have been impressed his brother knew, but wasn’t. Tony could only grumble how he would prefer to be elsewhere while schmoozing and smiling all the way. Lucas’s brother had a gift, among many, of making everyone feel special. Tony could remember their names, spouses, and what they did even from one meeting. It’s what made him great at PR, even if no one else seemed to see past his pretty-boy face. As a teenager, Lucas had hated how all the girls only every saw Tony; now he saw the burden being a human Adonis could take and wondered if it was for that reason he had become the playboy everyone thought he should be.

Then, just as they were about to make a quick exit, Lucas saw Hollywood actress Kiloran O’Connor. She took his breath away. She stood across the veranda, looking as bored as they were, smiling as the person next to her said something that made the others in the circle laugh. Her emerald eyes caught his, and she smiled. Then she saw Tony and excused herself.
Oh well, another bites the dust,
Lucas thought. After all, when Golden Boy Sherman was in the room what other man stood a chance?

She maneuvered through the crowd, chatting with a few people along the way. Her pixie haircut framed her round face and made her almost fairy under the paper lantern lights of the lawn party.

“Tony,” she greeted in a voice that held the slightest hint of an Irish accent and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“Kiloran, I heard you were filming some movie in New Zealand.”

“Just wrapped. I got back into town yesterday—feeling ready to collapse, actually. I so hate these things. How’s Hunter?”

Then Lucas remembered she had briefly dated Hunter Brooks, Tony’s best friend from college. As they spoke, Lucas stood to the side and watched, drinking in her beauty and wondering what it would be like to kiss those pink lips. “Lucas, have you two met?”

“What?” Oh good Lord, he’d been staring at her like a deranged fool and had no idea what they were talking about. “Um, no we haven’t.”

She giggled and her eyes lit up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lucas. Hunter spoke very highly of you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

“Hunter spoke highly of him?” Tony teased as he elbowed Lucas in the ribs.

“Of course. You, though, were another story.” Kiloran’s smile lit up her face “And what grand tales he had to tell, too.”

“Well on that note, I’m going to get some drinks and call Hunter to find out just what the hell he told you. You two can get aquatinted.” Tony tapped Lucas on the shoulder and, once out of Kiloran’s sight, gave Lucas an enthusiastic two thumbs-up like a sixteen-year-old wingman. Lucas knew Tony wasn’t coming back. And what amazed him was that for the first time ever, a woman left in his company didn’t ask
where’d Tony go
or
when will he be back.
She didn’t even question why he never returned with the promised drinks. She asked about Lucas instead, what he did. She even asked him about baseball. A woman after his own heart, if only she liked the Red Sox.

“My favorite team? That could be a dangerous question.” She laughed.

“I promise not to hold it against you—much.” He smiled back, wondering just what he would say if she admitted to being a Yankees fan. Not that Lucas didn’t have friends who weren’t Red Sox fans, but being a diehard Sox fan, a house divided was not what he envisioned in his life. For the first time, though, he might make the exception. And while he stood there staring at her, he really was envisioning a future.

“Red Sox,” she whispered against his cheek, lifting on tiptoe even in her high heels.

“Well, thank you God,” he whispered back, smelling her perfume.

She bit her lip. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Yes.”

“I know a place that has great coffee and pie.” She hesitated before taking a deep breath. “But I have to warn you, going anywhere with me might mean paparazzi.”

“I think I can handle a photographer or two.” The next morning, after spending hours laughing and chatting in a little coffee shop in LA, Lucas would have his first run in the newspapers.
Kiloran and the Mystery Man.
Tony would call to thank him for taking the spotlight.

They stayed up talking until the sun came up that night and met up for dinner the next night. Within a week, Lucas knew he loved this woman. Even with her heavy work schedule she made time for him, and by the next week he informed everyone that he was relocating to Los Angeles.

A few weeks into their relationship, Kiloran seduced him. She invited him to her rented condo, had enough candles lit to light up the city, and greeted him at the door, gloriously naked with the exception of the sexiest pair of red high heels Lucas had ever seen.

“I was afraid you would never make the first move,” she confessed, pressing her body against him.

“I was trying to show respect and restraint.”

She pushed his coat off his shoulders letting it fall to the floor. Soon his shirt followed. “I didn’t realize how buff you were.” Her voice was a bare whisper as her fingers brushed over his skin, touching him as he had dreamed for so many nights already. Her hand reached down and grabbed his, placing it on her small yet perfect breasts.

That was all it took. He picked her up and moved her through the house, Kiloran’s lips leaving trail of fire over the skin of his neck. Every touch, every breath, burned in a way that would forever mark him. She was his soul mate. Lucas followed the instructions toward her bedroom whispered into his ear, as if saying them aloud someone else would hear.

Placing her to her feet, Lucas cupped Kiloran’s face in his large hands, savoring as she kissed the palm of each, before he could wait no longer and captured her lips with his own. His tongue teased and danced with hers, working both of them into a breathless state. As her long fingers fumbled with his slacks, he hesitated.

“What?” she asked on a breathless pause.

“I don’t have any condoms. I didn’t plan…”

“Not much of a boy scout, Mr. Sherman,” she teased, moving her fingers between the waistband and his skin “Good thing I picked up a box this morning.”

“Really?”

Unbuttoning his slacks, she pushed Lucas’s pants down removing his shoes, socks, and pants, before sitting on the edge of the bed before him. She looked up at him, seriousness written across her face. “I was leaving nothing to chance.”

Lucas closed his eyes as soft fingers wrapped around his cock. Her other hand palmed his balls and a moan escaped him. He forced himself to focus on other things to prevent from coming right then and there. But everything was lost when her tongue licked the head, nearly bringing him to his knees.

“Lucas.” Her voice was insistent. “Lucas, wake up.”

Opening his eyes, he looked up at Kiloran leaning over him and wearing nothing but a robe.
Shit.
His cocked ached, and the last thing he wanted was for Kiloran to know that sleeping next to her had done that. Lucky for him the jeans he had slept in had managed to mask the tent that would have happened otherwise. “What?”

“If you’re still adamant about coming with me to the set you have to get ready.” She seemed out of sorts. Timid, even.

“Okay give me a second.” He needed time, or he would never be able to walk to the bathroom, let alone sit up. His cock apparently didn’t share the same point of view his heart and head did when it came to this woman.

“Thank you for staying with me last night. I know that wasn’t easy for you.” She pulled on a clean set of sweats. “I’ll head down see about some coffee and give you a bit of privacy to get ready.”

“Thanks.” Lucas closed his eyes. When the door closed behind Kiloran, he undid his pants and released his cock. His hand wrapped around the thick, hard shaft, forcing him to groan. He rubbed himself until every ounce of sexual frustration worked through him. Her smell surrounded him on the pillow next to him and only when the last stream of come erupted from his cock did he let the frustration go.