Free The Bet (Addison #2) by Erica M. Christensen Page A

Wake up! We’re here!” the driver hollers. I rub my eyes, stretch, and yawn. I look out the window and see that we’re parked right in front of Lucas’s condo.
    “Thank you so much,” I say to the cab driver while digging in my purse, trying to find money to pay him. The cab driver rolls down his window and there stands Lucas, saving the day, paying my cab fare. I open the door and run over to him. He stumbles to catch me. I kiss him, multiple times, quick soft kisses. The rain is pouring down on us, masking the tears building up in my eyes.
    “I think I might be madly in like with you.” Tears of joy come bursting down my face.
    “Good, because I’m madly in like with you too, Addison.” He laughs and spins me around, but stumbles and sets me down.
    “Sorry, I thought I could pull that off like in the movies.” He places his hands on my cheeks and draws my face up toward his and kisses me firmly. “Come on, let’s go inside. It’s raining!”
    We run for his front door. Before he opens it he says, “Don’t mind the mess, I’m remodeling.” I walk in ahead of him and find that this place is an absolute wreck. Scraps of wood are lying all over the floor, the drywall is unpainted, the carpet is completely pulled up in what I assume is the living room, buckets of light yellow paint are sitting in the hallway to the left.
    “I guess you are remodeling. Looks like you’ve got a lot of work to do.” I look around and watch the rain pouring down out on his deck.
    “Yeah, I do. I’m excited to see it all finished. When I was growing up my mom always told me she wanted to live in a condo on the beach someday and she wanted the walls to be yellow, because yellow is a happy color.” He stops talking for a moment and walks to the patio door. He stands and looks out at the rain. “She passed away from stage-four breast cancer. It spread to her liver and lungs…I was sixteen. You’d think it’d be easier by now, but it’s not. It’s still just as hard.” An ache forms in the pit of my stomach. I walk over to him and lace my arm around his.
    “I’m sorry…I had no idea. I can’t even imagine.” He rests his head on mine and we watch the rain fall in silence.
     
    ***
     
    Last night I stayed with Lucas, that way I didn’t have to worry about calling a cab at four o’clock in the morning to come over here in time to go to the photo shoot. It was nice sleeping next to him again, having him hold me in his arms and play with my hair until I fell asleep. He woke up a little before four to get into the shower and since there’s currently no door on Lucas’s bathroom and his bedroom is straight across from it, I couldn’t go back to sleep. He has no couch in the living room due to the remodeling, which leaves me hanging out in his bed while he gets ready for the photo shoot at sunrise this morning.
    “Hey, doll?” Lucas peeks around the door frame at me while brushing his teeth.
    “Yes?” I raise my eyebrow at him and smile.
    “Come here,” he says with a mouthful of toothpaste. I get out of his bed, wearing only one of his t-shirts. “God, you’re so damn beautiful. It’s damn near four o’clock in the morning, you just rolled out of bed, and you look absolutely perfect.” He grabs a handful of my ass. “Mmm!” he grunts.
    “You know, I thought for a split second you were really sweet.” I smile at him and kiss his cheek. “So is that all you wanted? Just a handful of my ass this morning?” I glide my hands over his bare chest and abs, then run my fingers along the towel at his waistline.
    “Oh no, I want far more than just a handful of your ass.” He pulls me in for a hug and kisses my forehead. “Go get ready.”
     
    ***
     
    We arrive at the photo shoot just as the sun’s rays are starting to peek out into the clouds. It’s fairly cold this morning and all I’m wearing is a large cream colored cable knit sweater, holey jeans, and my cowgirl boots. No one is here yet, which