Lucius (Luna Lodge #3) (12 page)

“We need to get packing,” he said gruffly.

Hannah looked over at him and frowned.

He sighed, and for the first time she saw what the stress of the day had done to him. “We don’t know how many more are out there. Staying here, in the middle of the compound, we put everyone in danger. My place is secluded and fortified. We would be safe, and so would everyone else.”

It annoyed her to no end that he might be right.

She trudged to the door and stopped at the frame.

“Don’t let them get to you,” Hannah said to Rachel.

She nodded, looked around her room and shrugged her shoulders.

“I’ve got nothing left to hide,” she said.

Her heart hurt as she closed the door. Seeing her friend so defeated was the last thing she wanted.

There was only one thing to do now. Pack.

* * *

Hannah hadn’t been certain what the inside of Lucius’s house would look like. She certainly loved the cute country charm of the outside, but that didn’t seem to fit the hulking man standing next to her. Inside she found deep rich tones throughout. It still had its country charm but seeped in more masculine tones. An over-sized leather couch sat in the living room. It was slightly too large for the space, but she realized that he likely needed the space to spread out.

“Go ahead and sit down if you want,” he said. Of course, watching her just seemed to come natural to him. Memories of the things he said earlier flashed into her head.

She shook her head and set her handbag on the end of the couch.

“I’m good.”

She moved around the room, fully aware that he was watching everything that she was doing. Occasionally, she would see him shift from foot to foot and know she was getting close to something he didn’t want her messing with or was worried she would ask about. Being careful not to touch anything, Hannah just looked. It was interesting really. The more she looked, the more he fidgeted. Really, she hadn’t noticed anything strange that would spark something in her.

There were a few rocks shaped as hearts, a collection of military books that was not totally surprising, and a few paintings she found slightly haunting but still very nice. She stood in front of a particular one that caught her eye. It was off in the corner of the room, hidden on a shelf. No bigger than a picture frame, the colors called to her at first, with deep orange being the most prominent.

She bent down and pulled the painting off the shelf without thinking. Hidden among the swirls of oranges, reds, yellows and purples was a faint shadow of a man. She leaned in a little more. The shadow was hunched in a ball. Like it was fending off something.

There, in the back, she could just make out a thin black line.

Lucius placed a hand on hers and pulled the frame out of her hand.

“It’s been a long day,” he said and placed the painting back on the shelf.

Hannah took one last look at the haunting shadow before letting him shuffle her out of the living room.

Down the short hall, she passed a small bathroom and groaned inwardly. It wasn’t going to be easy sharing that little space. She liked her products, and Hannah was just certain that he wouldn’t be a fan of having her stuff strewn all around.

He stopped with her bag outside the door across from the bathroom. Hannah glanced to the door at the end of the hall, just next to her own. Looked like he wouldn’t be all that far away.

Lucius opened the door. She was surprised to find a very sweet-looking room, not quite feminine but less robust. The deep blue actually reminded her of the sky and made her smile.

He set down her bags by the door as she walked in and looked around. When she turned to look at him, he stepped back into the hall.

“Goodnight, Hannah,” he said curtly and shut the door before she could even respond.

Once again, she was left alone with her thoughts.

Chapter Eleven

For hours Hannah had lain in her bed, trying to get to sleep with no luck at all. All she could see was that haunting shadow from Lucius’s painting. Something about it ate away at her, and she just couldn’t seem to leave it behind. She groaned and tossed the sheet to the side. Cool air rushed over her legs and despite this, she welcomed the chill.

She sat up and swung her legs over the side to listen. Lucius had gone to his room not long after her, and ever since, the house had been silent. The only hope she had was that he didn’t startle easily and would remember she was in the house.

She crept out of bed to the door. Maybe just a quick drink of water would be enough.

She turned the knob and stepped into the hall. The bathroom light had been left on for her benefit she assumed. She moved down the hall in silence. The light at her back made it a little easier to see, and she sighed when she made it to the kitchen. Hannah opened the fridge and was relieved to find cold water bottles inside.

She pulled back and took a long drink. The cool liquid felt good going down and she sighed. Maybe now she’d be able to get to sleep.

Hannah switched off the light and made her way to the living room. She stopped next to the shelf. The painting called to her, and she swerved toward it.

She picked it up and brought the picture close to her face. Everything about it made her ache inside. The shadow just seemed so helpless. Again, she followed the thin black line and wondered what it could be. A rope? It was all so strange.

She placed the painting back on the shelf and sighed. Something for another night.

She shuffled down the hall and paused outside his room. The door ripped open, and Hannah fell back in surprise.

“Shit!” she said as she landed hard on her ass.

“What the—” Lucius stooped down to offer her his hand. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I just wanted to make sure.” Hannah looked up. Lucius stood in the door more undressed than dressed. His pants were on, but it looked like they had been tossed on at the last second judging by the lack of buttoning, and if she was guessing, there wasn’t much on under. Her gaze continued up and stilled on his chest. She knew he felt her eyes on him, but she couldn’t look away. Thick scars coated his chest. Some looked like burns, others like stripes across his body

She cleared her throat and brought her eyes to his. “I was trying to make sure I hadn’t woken you.”

Hannah took his hand as he easily lifted her off the floor. She rubbed her sore bottom and groaned.

Lucius pulled quickly away and stepped back into his room. From her position at the door, she caught sight of the easel and walked into the room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he growled at her.

She ignored him and stood over by the wet canvas on the floor.

“Is that me?” she asked softly.

He didn’t speak for such a long time. She wondered if he had left. When she turned around, Lucius had slipped on a button-up shirt, but left it open in the front. His face was torn between looking like he might run and looking like he might start yelling. Lucius turned toward the door, and she panicked. Not again. She wasn’t going to let him shut her out again.

Hannah raced to him, arms outstretched. Pain shot through her as her foot connected with the post of the bed.

“Oh crap!” she shouted and stumbled forward.

For what seemed like the millionth time since meeting him, she was spiraling toward the floor until she crashed hard against him. Stunned by the sudden impact, Hannah took a few seconds to right herself. She looked down at her throbbing toe.

“Shit,” she mumbled.

“Is it broken?” he rumbled in her ear.

Hannah jumped at his deep voice.

“I don’t think so,” she said and continued to look at her toe. Just a little bit longer, and she’d be in control over herself.

She gasped when he sat her hard on the bed and kneeled down to examine her foot. He lifted it gently, moving it this way and that. His rough fingers traced the tender arches of her foot. It was such an intimate move she nearly came undone.

When he looked up at her, she was nearly out of breath from all the movement.

“It seems to be okay,” he said. His eyes burned into her for a moment before shifting back over to the paintings.

She looked again at the painting on the floor. Blond hair, slightly chubby cheeks, with an amazing smile. She’d never really seen herself this way and really hoped that was how he saw her.

“Is it me?” she asked.

He turned to look at her and nodded. “It’s not very good, but I just couldn’t get your eyes right.”

Hannah looked at the painting and then back at him.

“It’s amazing,” she said quietly as she stared at him.

He sat in front of her, so wounded and vulnerable. She wanted to take away every ounce of insecurity he ever had. Every bit of sadness he ever had. Hannah leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips, still half afraid he would run.

“You are amazing,” she whispered and placed her forehead on top of his. She slipped her hands inside his shirt and let her fingers skim over the scarred skin.

Lucius groaned, and Hannah wondered if she had gone too far touching him like that.

She gasped in surprise when she ended up flat on the bed, his hard body covering her own.

“Tell me you don’t want this, Hannah,” he said and ground into her. “Tell me to stop.”

Her t-shirt had ridden up. She wrapped a leg around his waist and pulled him in tight against her.

“No,” she said. Her hands pushed hard at the shirt he wore until it pulled off the back.

Her hands moved freely across the bumpy surface, and she moaned at the way his muscles flexed under her fingers.

Lucius planted hot open-mouthed kisses on the side of her neck, nibbling and licking along the way.

“I’m no good for you,” he rumbled when he got to her ear.

Hannah turned her head and kissed him hard on the mouth. “Why don’t you let me decide that?”

He moved against her. He pressed her into the bed. She groaned and arched her body closer to his.

Her arms moved from around his back. She let her hand move down his arms as he continued his ministrations to her neck. He growled in irritation when he met the neck of her shirt. He sat up so quickly she nearly lost her breath. Before the words were out of her mouth, he pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it across the room. When he sank back down on her this time, they both groaned at the skin on skin contact.

Her nipples pebbled against his hard chest, and she shivered with every movement he made against her. This was the most turned on she had ever been, and they hadn’t even gotten to anything. His hips pressed in and shifted from side to side, rubbing her clit in such a way she nearly came from the friction. Her nails bit into his arms, and she knew the front of his pants had to be wet with the evidence of her excitement, but she just couldn’t find the will to care.

“Fuck,” Lucius growled and leaned back to look down at her. She stared back up at him with her slightly swollen red lips and too green eyes. Her blond hair was fanned out on the bed around her like some sort of halo, and he felt a twinge of guilt like he was defiling something by even touching her, but he just couldn’t stop himself. He needed her. Needed to be a part of her in any way that she would let him.

He threaded his fingers through her golden hair and pulled her up for another hard kiss. This time she was the one to slip her tongue into his mouth, and he growled his approval. While their mouths continued to battle, his hand eagerly made his way to her bare breast. He swiped his thumb across the hardened peak.

Hannah arched off the bed and moaned into his mouth. Lucius pulled away, amazed with the reaction he had caused. He swiped the nipple again and watched her back bow, thrusting her breast into his hand.

“Touch me,” she moaned.

He didn’t know how much longer he was going to be able to hold off after waiting so long.

“Lucius,” she whispered.

She ran her nails playfully down his chest. He froze.

Lucius closed his eyes. She wasn’t
her
. Hannah was as far from
her
as a person could get.

“Lucius?” Hannah said after a moment.

He opened his eyes, afraid to see the pity and resentment there. Hannah worried her bottom lip, and instead of the pity he expected, he found his own insecurities reflected back at him.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly and turned to look the other direction.

This time, it was another part entirely that burned for her. He picked up the hand she had curled against her chest and placed it over his heart, the spot where the deepest and thickest scar was at.

He took in a deep breath when she turned to look at him. “Just no nails.”

Hannah nodded. He stilled as she traced the large scar with the pad of her thumb and sighed at the way it soothed him. The way she soothed him.

He placed his own hand over her heart, and she smiled at him. Words were never his strength.

Lucius slid his hand down her body and stopped at the line of her panties, resting just on the roundness of her stomach.

He frowned when she took her hand away from his heart to cover her middle.

Lucius moved her hands and placed them firmly over her head. He lowered his face to hers.

“Don’t move.”

Hannah trembled in anticipation. Despite what Apollo had said, there was no part of her that didn’t trust this man, and if he told her to not to move, there was something good coming to her.

She gasped when Lucius’s mouth latched onto one of her nipples. Slow, gentle and maddening licks followed. He held on to the other one and alternated between the two. Hannah moaned and lifted her body up to meet his mouth.

His hand trailed down her body once again and stopped just above her panties. She hated that part of her. The part that was just a little squishier than the rest. Lucius let his hand slip below the pretty blue lace panties she was wearing. Hannah was surprised when he slipped them off.

Leaving a trail of open-mouthed kisses, Lucius moved down her body, pausing at her stomach.