The Last Husband (Forever Love #2)(14)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“Let me go and see what we have for dessert.” Lucky gave me a hooded look and jumped up.

“I’ll help you check.” I jumped up behind her and followed her to the kitchen.

“What’s going on? Did you speak to Leeza?”

“How did you know?” She looked at me in shock. “Are you tapping my phone?”

“What?” My jaw dropped. “Am I tapping your phone? What sort of question is that?”

“How did you know Leeza contacted me?”

“I didn’t know. I was just guessing.” I looked at her in confusion. “Why do you think I’m tapping your phone?”

“Because you always seem to know what’s going on, and I think Leeza was trying to tell me that you’ve been stalking me.”

“What?” I laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“Leeza called me and said that she was worried.” Lucky’s brown eyes were huge and accusing. “I don’t really think you’ve been stalking me or anything. But you know, I couldn’t help but be worried …” Her voice trailed off.

“Worried about what?” I frowned, fearing the worst. Did Leeza think we were moving too fast? Was she going to try and convince Lucky to leave me?

“I’m not sure exactly. She had a bad connection.”

“Call her back,” I commanded her angrily. “I want to know what she’s talking about.”

“I’ll call her later.” Lucky turned away from me and I heard her mumble something under her breath.

“What’s that?” I walked towards her and it took everything in me to not pull her towards me and ask her what was going through her mind.

“Nothing,” she sighed. “Let’s please finish dinner and talk later?”

“Fine.” I left the kitchen and walked back to join Leo at the dining room table. He sat there with an amused expression on his face and I scowled at him. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re so sprung on this girl. I never imagined I’d see the day.”

“Whatever.” I sat down and gulped down the rest of my beer. “So are you free to do the work?”

“You sure you want me to do this?” Leo frowned.

“I’m sure.”

“And you haven’t talked to Lucky about this?”

“She’ll say no.” I shook my head. “I need to make sure she’s protected.”

“I really think you should tell her what’s going on, Zane.” He leaned forward and stared at me. “She has a right to know.”

“Not now.” I was firm. “You don’t know her like I do. She needs to be protected and I can’t do it by myself. I need you to look after her for me. You need to protect her.”

“Zane, I don’t want to be dishonest.” Leo shook his head. “I really think she’s a good person. I don’t want to fool her. As a bodyguard, I need the person to know they can count and depend on me.”

“You need to be her friend first. You can’t tell her, understand?” My voice was low. “Do not tell her that I’ve hired you to be her bodyguard. All she has to know is that we’re friends.”

“I don’t feel good about this, Zane.” Leonardo frowned and I could see the tension in his shoulders. I was tense, waiting for him to make a decision. He was the only one I trusted with Lucky. I had to make sure that she was protected at all times, I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her. I had to hire the best.

“I’ll do it because I like her, Zane. I’ll do it because you’re my best friend. But I must tell you, you’re going to lose her if you keep lying to her. I hope that one day soon, you’ll tell Lucky what’s going on. And I hope you do it before it’s too late.”

Chapter 4

Lucky

I felt awful eavesdropping on Zane and Leo, but something just didn’t feel right. Zane was acting crazy and possessive and I wasn’t quite sure if Leo was flirting with me or just being nice. Not that I wanted him to be flirting with me seriously, of course. That would make him a really shady friend to Zane, and I would hate for his best friend to be shady, seeing as his family wasn’t exactly the strongest. So I stood there and listened discreetly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear their whole conversation. The only words I had heard were, “Tell Lucky what’s going on” and my heart started beating like crazy. And then I started to feel angry; Zane was still shutting me out. After everything that had happened with Braydon, he still didn’t trust me. And I still didn’t know what the stalking thing was all about. I’d been very surprised when he asked me call Leeza. But maybe it had been a trick. Maybe he was tapping her phone as well, and knew what she was doing too. Maybe he knew she couldn’t answer.

I shook my head at my own thoughts. Stop being crazy, Lucky. I told myself over and over again. He’s not tapping your phone, and he’s certainly not tapping Leeza’s phone. I felt like I was going crazy and wondered if I wasn’t just plain crazy. I was crazy for all of it. I mean, really, what sane woman would up and leave college and move to another state with a guy she barely knew? But you knew him for three months, a voice whispered. Maybe you weren’t dating him and maybe you weren’t bosom buddies, but you got to know him. Three months is a long time. People get married after three months. You just moved for a job. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

I stood there debating in my head for another couple of minutes before I realized that I still had no clue what to serve for dessert. I quickly opened the freezer and saw a frozen apple pie and some ice cream. Bingo! I pulled the pie out and preheated the oven quickly. Who could say no to apple pie and ice cream?

As I stood there waiting for the oven to preheat, I realized that this couldn’t go on any longer. Zane and I needed to talk. Everything was all over the place—we were both all over the place. It wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t a great way for a relationship to begin. Not if it was going to be a relationship that lasts the long haul. We were like two birds with broken wings that couldn’t fly, living in the same nest. We trusted each other a little bit, but not enough to leave the nest to go and get food. And if we continued in this vein of not leaving the nest, one of us was going to starve. And I didn’t want to starve, and I knew Zane didn’t want to starve either. And now I had another concern: What if I was pregnant? I couldn’t bring a baby into a situation like this. But I also knew I couldn’t do it by myself. There were so many unanswered questions, and I knew it was time to be a grown-up and start asking them.