Free Craving Lucy by Terri Anne Browning Page A

that I’d hit my mark. Grinning, I ruffled his hair and stood. “Remember that the next time you think about taking something that isn’t yours, big guy.”
    “Lucy?”
    Hearing Harris calling my name snapped me into action. I ran back into the bathroom as my brothers left my room. Checking myself over one last time, I made sure that my makeup was still perfect and my hair wasn’t too much of a rat’s nest. I had on black leggings with a purple mini skirt on over it and my top was a brighter shade of the same purple color, which hinted at my cleavage but wasn’t enough to send my dad into cardiac arrest if he saw me. Satisfied that I looked okay, I slipped my feet into a pair of black ballet slippers and grabbed my phone and purse.
    “I’m coming,” I yelled down as I headed down the hall.
    As I passed the twins’ bedroom, I paused and pushed the slightly ajar door open. They were sitting on their beds facing each other, talking in low tones that stopped as soon as they realized I was standing in the doorway. We had an extra bedroom and I was sure that one of them would move into it when they hit puberty, but for now they didn’t want to be apart. I guessed it was a twin thing.
    “I’m leaving,” I told them with a small smile, letting them know that for the most part they were forgiven. “I love you both.”
    “Love you, too,” Luca said, his eyes looking red and a little puffy. My heart clenched at the signs that my tough-as-nails little brother had been crying. He might be a rotten little brat at times, but he had a really tender heart that could get broken all too easily. It was him that I worried about the most when it came to him finding a girlfriend later on. It was probably going to be him that I was going to end up in jail over because I’d beaten the first girl to break his heart into a coma.
    “Love you, Lucy,” Lyric called from his bed where he was sitting Indian-style with one of his pillows hugged to his chest. “Be careful.”
    I blew them both kisses and then closed the door to give them their privacy before walking downstairs. Halfway down, I realized that my parents were standing in the hall talking to Harris. At my descent, they all looked up, three sets of eyes watching me closely.
    But I only had eyes for one of them.
    Harris was dressed as he normally was, in jeans that looked like they were made just for him and a white dress shirt half unbuttoned over a simple black T-shirt that I knew hid a body that was pure perfection. His short hair was styled with just a little bit of product in it and he was flashing me those dimples in a way that never failed to make my heart go crazy. I tried to pull my eyes away, honestly I did, but they seemed to have developed a will of their own, eating up the sight of the guy who had declared himself my boyfriend just the night before.
    “You look beautiful, Lucy.”
    I felt my cheeks fill with warmth, a mixture of a shy blush and pure delight that he liked what I was wearing tonight.
    My dad shifted beside Harris, completely draining away the pink from my cheeks as I focused on the behemoth of a man standing between my boyfriend, whom I hadn’t yet told him about, and my mom. I bit my lip, feeling guilty that I hadn’t told him about Harris and me. I’d only ever kept one other thing from him—something I’d never told another living soul about—so keeping this from him felt so damn wrong.
    But I wasn’t going to tell him just yet. Not for a little longer. I wanted time to enjoy where things were going with Harris before my dad put him in a full body cast or worse—a casket.
    “Are you going to First Bass after dinner or coming home?” my dad asked as he stepped forward to hug me when I reached the last step.
    “First Bass for a little while,” I told him and gave him a hard squeeze. “Marcus is going to pick up Kin and meet us there, so you don’t have to worry about me being without him.” I felt Dad’s lips in my hair and savored