Free I LOVE LUCY (The Bachelor Pact) by Rita Herron Page A

naked body with its soft curves…looked absolutely delicious.
    Damn, he had it bad.
    He had never been in love before, but Lucy had blindsided him, and he’d fallen hard and fast for her.
    He twirled a strand of her hair around his finger, then pressed a kiss to her cheek. Lucy was surprisingly sweet, funny – and a sex siren whose shocking exotic Vegas showgirl dance act had tied his body in knots the first time he’d seen it. Then last night she’d brought out the sex toys she sold with her Sleepover Inc. business and man, oh, man.
    He was sore in places that had never been sore before.
    Of course he hadn’t known quite what to do with a couple of the contraptions, but hey, he was teachable.
    Lucy had given up the show life though and was looking for acting jobs, but the image of her in feathers and boas gave him a hard-on every time he thought of it.
    Lucy opened her beautiful eyes and smiled. “Morning, lover boy.”
    Reid’s chest pumped up a notch. “Last night was spectacular.”
    Lucy nodded, then laid a big lip-lock on his mouth. But her cell phone rang a moment later, interrupting them.
    “Don’t answer it,” Reid whispered. “We’ll stay in bed all morning, then go to lunch at that shrimp place you like on River Street, then pick up a Christmas tree.”
    For a brief moment, he considered shopping for an engagement ring to put in her stocking, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to go that far.
    After all, sharing a Christmas tree was sort of a commitment.
    Lucy threw the covers aside and reached for her phone on the nightstand. “Sounds wonderful, but this might be my agent.”
    Reid frowned. He didn’t want to lose Lucy to L.A., but he couldn’t very well balk at her career choice. He had to be loving and supportive or he’d lose her.
    And losing Lucy made him itchy, like he was going to break out in hives.
    A small frown puckered Lucy’s brow as she studied the number on the caller ID screen. Then she slid from bed and headed to the bathroom. “Be right back.”
    Reid watched her sashay into the bathroom, already missing her sexy little tush.
    Being in a relationship was completely foreign territory to him. His sister Maddie had given him pointers, basically her ten rules to please a woman, so he wouldn’t screw up. But he’d frozen up around rule two when she suggested he forget about Sunday afternoon football and give Lucy full reign over his remote.
    After all, he was still a bachelor.
    In fact, he and his brother Lance and their best friend Chase made a bachelor pact a few years ago, and Lance and Chase had broken the pact when they’d gotten drunk enough on lust and love to get hitched.
    His body shuddered as he pictured himself in a monkey suit walking down some aisle and saying words like forever . Could he really do it?
    Make a commitment to Lucy?
    Shoot, what was wrong with him? He had made a commitment to her. They were exclusive .
    Committing didn’t have to mean marriage, did it?

    Lucy shivered as she closed the bathroom door and answered the call. The man on the other end of the line was the last person she wanted to hear from.
    It couldn’t be good news.
    “Lucy?”
    She leaned against the bathroom sink and sighed. “Yes.”
    “I’m sorry to have to phone.”
    “What is it, Wallace?”
The two words she’d dreaded hearing the past two years echoed back. “He escaped.”
    Oh, God. “How?”
“A van crash. Looks like a set up.” Wallace sighed in disgust. “Apparently he faked a suicide attempt, was sent to the hospital and was being transported back to jail when it happened.”
Lucy chewed her thumbnail. Emmet Roach had made her life a living hell before she’d finally convinced the police that he’d been stalking her. First, he’d befriended her at a Vegas show and she thought he was harmless.
    An autograph here. A chance meeting at a coffee shop.
    Then it had gotten weird. He’d started following her, sneaking into her apartment and dressing room, stealing her