Free Craving Lucy by Terri Anne Browning Page B

having my father’s unconditional love for a moment longer before pulling away.
    “Okay, then. Have fun, baby girl.” He turned to shake Harris’s hand while I hugged my mom.
    I kissed her cheek and then spoke into her ear so that the other two didn’t hear me. “Check on Luca in a few minutes. He’s a little upset with himself.”
    Mom nodded her head, her chocolate-brown eyes full of a mother’s concern. “Have fun, baby. I love you.”
    Dad handed over my jacket and opened the door for us. When Harris and I had first started having our weekly dinner date together, my parents hadn’t even blinked when I asked them if the two of us could have some privacy during that time. Letting me go out to an actual restaurant with him, alone for two hours or so… Yeah, that was how much my parents trusted Harris Cutter. For my dad especially, that was a big deal.
    He knew that Harris would protect me, that I was safe with him.
    That only made my guilt at not telling Dad about Harris and me all the harder to swallow as Harris put his hand on the small of my back and walked me out to his car parked in the driveway. In that moment, I decided that I was going to tell him soon. Like, on my birthday. Yeah, that seemed like the perfect idea. He couldn’t say no to me on my birthday. Never had been able to before, anyway.
    Opening the passenger door, Harris waited for me to take my place inside his Maserati before shutting the door and moving around the car to climb in behind the wheel. The crazy-fast, crazy-expensive car had been a present from his dad and stepmom when he’d graduated from high school, so it was several years old. Yet it still had that hint of new car smell. Harris rarely drove this car, usually opting for the SUV, that he’d bought himself, to take Trinity places.
    He knew I loved riding in the Maserati, though, and always picked me up in it for our dinners together. Of course, neither one of us was brave enough to actually let me drive it. Jesse Thornton would blow ten gaskets if he saw me behind the wheel of a car that went this fast.
    As soon as Harris was behind the wheel, I expected him to start the car, turn on the radio and get us as far away from my house as quickly as possible. Instead, he just sat there, his body turned toward me slightly, and those mesmerizing aquamarine eyes were devouring me from head to toe.
    Having his eyes on me like that was something I wasn’t used to yet. I thought his gaze was hungry, or maybe that was just me, because my eyes were taking everything about him in and making me ache in places that were going to get me in a hell of a lot of trouble if I wasn’t careful. Last night I’d told him I wasn’t ready for sex yet. That was true, but I knew that he could change my mind all too easily if I wasn’t careful.
    Lifting one large hand, Harris pushed a few long curls back from my face. “You are so fucking beautiful, Lucy. All I can think about right now is tasting those ripe lips. I’m not going to, though. Not yet. We’ll never make it to dinner if I start kissing you now.” His thumb caressed over my cheek, lingering at the corner of my mouth. “So beautiful,” he murmured again.
    I couldn’t help the shiver or the gooseflesh that popped up over my entire body that his touch, combined with the look in his amazing eyes, caused. My lips began to tingle, aching for a kiss just as badly as he was. Clenching my thighs together in hopes of assuaging the same tingle in my most intimate place, I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch.
    “Fuck,” he growled and pulled away. I opened my eyes to find him gripping the steering wheel, his long body facing the front and his head leaning back against the seat with his eyes closed. “I haven’t even kissed you and I’m ready to explode. No one has ever done this to me, Lu. No one but you.”
    Heart racing, my teeth sank into my bottom lip. I wanted to beg him to take me to his apartment. I didn’t need food if I could