My Lucky Days: A Novel (20 page)

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Authors: S.D. Hendrickson

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BOOK: My Lucky Days: A Novel
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I
followed Lucky out the back door of the house. The cold air immediately touched every exposed place on my body. But the view across the backyard wiped out any discomfort I felt from the temperature.

“It’s beautiful,” I mumbled as I stepped off the cement into the thick snow.

The area behind Colt and Callie’s house was a couple of acres of cleared land that butted up against a thick tree line of the neighboring woods. And tonight, the ground was covered in a good ten inches of snow—at least that’s the amount the weather station had declared when Snowpocalypse came to an end.

I only went a few feet out into the yard so I didn’t get my clothes wet again. I was shivering. Since my coat had been covered in snow earlier, I had left it to dry in the pool house and went to the main house with only a red sweater.

Lucky came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my body, pulling me into his chest. We stood like that for a few minutes, taking in the scene. The snow was a smooth and sparkling canopy across the ground and trees. The moonlight made the world glisten with a quiet iridescent glow.

“I can’t hear anything,” I whispered.

“Does that bother you?”

I shook my head, feeling his chin move with me as it rested against my hair. “No, it’s just so different being out in the country with all of this snow. So quiet and beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is.” I felt his cold nose as he buried his face into my neck. The warmth of his breath sent shivers down my back.

Today was such a beautiful and amazing day. We had played in the snow and had sipped hot chocolate. Then I dressed as Elsa and had story time with Mia. Lucky had joined us later, and his Olaf impression still made bubbles of laughter surface inside my chest. They had spent the day as a family with me mixed in the middle. I loved it. The way it made my insides feel mushy and my heart bursting with joy.

After dinner, we watched a movie with Colt and Callie. My thoughts drifted back to the conversation with his brother. I wasn’t sure how to process that information. Or if I should say something to Lucky. Part of me felt dishonest, like I knew some secret about him. But I knew it wasn’t a harmful secret—just information about his life that he had chosen not to tell me.

“Can I ask you something?” I whispered. I didn’t know why I was whispering, but it just seemed wrong to disturb the perfect picture in front of me.

“No, I won’t make you shovel snow while topless.”

I smiled. “Thanks. I was
really
worried about that.”

“You should be. A bet’s a bet.” He kissed my neck, muffling his laughter against my skin. “So what did you want to ask me?”

“Why me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why am I the only girl that you’ve included with your family? Why me?”

“Did Callie tell you that?” he muttered.

“No, Colt mentioned it.”

My words hung breathless in the cold air for what seemed like minutes, but it was only seconds. His hands rubbed over my stomach before tucking me a little tighter against him.

“Sometimes it feels like I have to be different people. The guy you see on stage. A different guy to fans or girls I date. Someone else with my friends. And then the person I am with my family. It’s not like any of those are fake. They are just different from each other. Different parts of me. But it doesn’t feel like I can be all of them at once. Or mix them together.”

Turning around in his arms, I put my cold hands on his cheeks. “So which Lucky do I see when I’m with you?”

“All of them.” He shrugged. “The night I met you was the first time I really felt like I was all of them at once. I could be myself with you. You saw the stage guy, and the one in the bar, and the guy who just wanted to talk to a pretty girl, which you hated and I found funny.”

“I didn’t hate it. I was nervous.”

He smiled. “I figured that out about halfway through our first conversation. And I wasn’t used to that. Girls have always been . . . different toward me. Especially after I started singing. They would see the guitar and the stage. And they would say or do anything to get a little closer. But you were different. You tried to act all confident while your eyes said something else. That look hooked me.”

“What did my eyes say?” I whispered.

“They said I want you, but I’m too scared to tell you.” He leaned in close to my lips. “Kiss me. Tell me your secrets. And I did. I told you my past that night. About where I came from. I don’t usually tell people or talk about it unless they already know. But I found myself talking about my family with you. I was sharing that guy while still being the singer. And then when I went back to Nashville, I knew something else. They were the eyes I wanted to come home to.”

“But you barely knew me when you left. How did you know that back then?”

Our breaths left little clouds in the air as he rested his forehead against mine. “I’ve known you exactly fifty-two days. But I don’t think you have to know everything about a person in order to care about them. To feel things for them.”

“No, I guess not,” I muttered.

Lucky brushed his lips lightly against mine, teasing me with a kiss. “Do you feel things for me, Katie?”

I did feel things for him. Things I couldn’t say. Things I wanted to say. Things we shouldn’t say yet. But could still be summed into a simple acknowledgment. “Yes.”

“Good.” His eyes took on a mischievous glint. Lucky tightened his hand on my waist and I felt myself falling backward as he dipped me over his arm. I laughed, holding onto his shoulders, my hair dangling in the snow.

He leaned down until our noses touched and his mouth hovered over mine. “Do you still have feelings for me?”

“Yes.” I smiled.

“I can’t hear you. I think someone wants to be buried in the snow.” My back dipped even further. “Do you like having fun with me?”

“Yes! Yes!” I yelled. “I like having fun with you.”

Our laughter echoed across the quiet yard until his mouth pressed against mine. Lucky kissed me softly. His lips were cold, but his tongue felt warm. The silence of the iridescent shadows made everything more magical—like we were standing in our own snow globe.

 

L
ucky held the pool house door open as I scurried inside. I slipped my boots off and left them at the entrance. Rubbing my hands over my arms, I went over to the fireplace. He’d come back in the middle of the movie and added more wood so it would keep burning for us later.

I saw Lucky disappear into the bedroom for a minute. Leaning back against the couch, I pulled my knees up to my chest, locking my arms around my legs as I waited for him to come back. I wondered if he noticed that I had straightened his bed.

Coming back into the living room, he didn’t mention anything out of the ordinary as he carried a couple of blankets. Lucky handed me one and then placed a little kiss on my cheek.

“Thanks,” I said, wrapping it around me before spreading the other one out like a little pallet.

He smiled at me. “Want to listen to something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you want to listen to new or old?”

“I don’t care. You pick.”

I watched the musician carefully mull over his record collection. His finger ran over the albums until he stopped midway on the second shelf. “How about Keith Whitley?”

“I don’t know who that is.”


Don’t Close Your Eyes
?”

I shrugged. “Is that a song?”

“Really? That actually hurt.” He flinched like I had shot him in the heart with an arrow. “There’s so much we need to work on.”

“So teach me.”

“Teach you what exactly?” His gaze held mine and I got warmer—not from the fire that was burning behind me, but from the slight shift between us.

I knew it was coming. Where everything was leading now that we were alone. The butterflies moved through me slowly, spreading their wings. “Whatever you want, I guess.”

I counted my breaths as his eyes grew more intense and he silently questioned what I meant. “Whatever I want?”

I nodded slowly.

The record started spinning and he placed the needle down. Lucky grinned as he walked over to the fireplace, sitting down next to me on the blanket. “Let’s start with
When You Say Nothing at All.

“You don’t want me to speak now?” I teased him.

“No.” He shook his head and smiled at me as the song played softly through the speakers. His eyes flickered to my lips. The soft glow of the fireplace filled the room. I swallowed hard, feeling the beat of my heart, feeling the beat of the music, bringing us slowly closer together.

Each pound. Each beat. Each breath.

And then he kissed me.

A slow, burning kiss that started in my lips and moved through my bloodstream, giving every piece of my body a little taste of his mouth.

Lucky ran his fingers through my hair, pulling my head closer so his tongue went deeper, stroking the soft places. I thought I had experienced every kiss imaginable with him. But this was erotic and sweet—erotically sweet if that was such a thing.

I felt myself falling a little lower until I was on my back against the blanket on the floor. His lips continued to tease my mouth as his body shifted until I felt his weight cover me. Opening my eyes, we looked at each other for a moment. He was balanced on his hands while his legs straddled my hips.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this tonight because you are staying here.” Leaning in closer, he whispered, “But I do want you pretty bad right now.”

As I gazed up into his brown eyes, I was a little nervous. But I would be the same kind of nervous months from now. That’s just the nature of sharing yourself with another person—all of you, inside and out, causing pleasure and sometimes even pain.

“I want to do this,” I whispered.

He grinned at my answer. “You want me?”

“Yes.”

His lips brushed against mine. “As much as I want you?”

“Yes.” I nodded, reaching up to the first button on my red cardigan sweater.

“Wait.” He took my fingers in his hand. “That’s like letting someone else open my Christmas present.”

I laughed. “So now I’m your Christmas present?”

“If you want to be.”

“Have you been good this year?” I teased.

His eyebrows went up as he gave me one of those fake innocent grins. “Very good.”

Lucky set back on his knees as he stayed straddling my hips. His finger trailed over my lips and lightly over my cheek and then down my neck to the top of my sweater. He opened the first button with little effort. Moving to the second one, his fingers grazed my breast.

I sucked in a quick breath from the contact.

Lucky smiled as his fingers moved down to the next button, brushing my skin, sending little tingles through me. Once he reached the bottom, the sides fell open. He pulled my arms out of the sleeves. His fingers ran lightly over my skin until he reached the lace-trim bra. “I wasn’t expecting red.”

“You like it?” I had bought everything new. I had planned it out days in advance. My suitcase was full of pretty things to wear while I was here with Lucky.

“Yeah, I like it.” Giving me a playful grin, his hand cupped my breast. He rubbed the fabric with his fingers, causing tiny waves to trickle down into my stomach. He moved his hand over my rib cage and across my skin.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered. He touched the top of my jeans, dipping a finger just inside the waistband. His eyes asked the silent question.

I nodded yes as the rush of excitement shot through my stomach.

Lucky scooted down so that he was almost kneeling between my legs. Opening the top button, he slid the zipper down as far as it would reach. Tugging with both hands, the denim skinny jeans slipped down my thighs.

And then he laughed. “You’re wearing Christmas tree panties.”

“It’s a matching set. I thought they were festive.”

His eyes flickered up to the red bra and then back down to the panties, which had the same lace trim across the top and around the legs—except the fabric was covered in little green trees.

“You think they’re weird. I thought they were kind of . . . I don’t know.” I tried to read his expression, feeling the self-doubt creep into my thoughts.

“No, I like them. I promise.” Lucky smiled as his eyes stared at the red lace panties until he reached down to touch them. I felt his hand brush against my bare thigh as his fingers ran over the fabric.

My stomach tightened at the sudden contact. He was touching the fabric, but I felt his fingers rubbing across me slowly, back and forth as his lips curved into a mischievous grin. And then his hand went lower and lower. My eyes closed as my toes curled up inside my socks.

As Lucky touched me, I couldn’t hear anything but my quick breaths and the soft voice of Keith Whitley playing from the speakers. His fingers felt like both torture and happiness. But then he abruptly stopped.

My eyes opened in confusion, which made him laugh. “Not just yet. This not going to be fast. I had to wait many weeks for my Christmas present. You have to wait too.”

“You don’t play fair,” I whispered.

“Nope.” He leaned over and kissed my stomach right above my panty line, letting his tongue get a little taste.

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