If The Shoe Fits (30 page)

“
Touché, my dear. All right,
what’s your condition?”

“
That you don’t leave me any more
tips. You’ve overpaid enough to last the rest of our lives. If you
want me to accept your gift you’ll have to accept my
condition.”

Now that was a condition he could live with
since Bella would no longer need his “tips.” “Very well. I
agree.

“
Great. Then we’re even.” Bella
held out her hand.

He shook it.
Even
? She didn’t know the
half of it. And that’s how it should be for mortals. His job was to
not let them suspect a thing about what he really was.

“
Here, Bella.” Mr. Campanale
walked up to the counter and slid four quarters toward her. “I was
a little short yesterday for your tip.”

She captured his hand before he could move it
away. “You don’t need to do this, Mr. Campanale. Please, keep your
quarters. Buy some flowers for Mrs. Campanale’s resting place, and
the next time you visit her, tell her they’re from me,
okay?”

Mr. Campanale had a tell-tale drop at the
corner of his eye. “God bless you, my dear. God bless
you.”

Jonathan slid from his stool and glided toward
the door, Mr. Campanale’s benediction following him into the
sunshine. “Not to worry, dear man,” he whispered. “He already
has.”

***

“
Your
mother
is the reason
you broke up with me?” Luke stomped through Staci’s kitchen after
her. “Are we living in the Dark Ages? Your mother isn’t some
all-powerful ogre, Stace. She can’t harm Sophia and get away with
it. She can’t control your life.” Luke sighed. This, he could deal
with.

Staci
shhhh
-ed him and pulled the patio
door closed behind them. “I didn’t mean she’ll abuse her, Luke.
Mother’s not like that. But she will send the poor kid away.
Raising another woman’s child is definitely not something my
out-for-number-one mother is capable of. And if I mess up what
she’s got going on, Sophia’s the one who’ll be most hurt. I can’t
do that to the sweet kid. She’s lost so much already.”

“
You like kids?” Luke put his
hands on her shoulders and squeezed. Dare he hope?

Staci shrugged, her laugh self-conscious.
“Who’d have thought, right?” She shrugged out of his hold and
walked to the edge of the patio where she toyed with a holly
branch. “I’ve been spending some time with her and I really like
her. The way she sees the world. Her trust.” Staci shrugged. “It’s
refreshing and, in a way, makes me feel good about
myself.”

Luke tucked that little tidbit away for
another time. “So, if we can somehow manage to get Madeleine on the
Board, Sophia—and you—would be in the clear, right?”

Staci shook her head. “Only until next time,
Luke. With Mother controlling two-thirds of Sal’s estate, she’s
pulling the strings. She can make Bella dance to whatever tune
she’s playing. Me, too, if she ever finds out I care about
Sophia.”

Luke tapped his lip. He knew all about
strategy—and that experience was about to come into play. “What if
someone else were to pull
her
strings? Then
she’d
be
the one dancing.”

Staci finally smiled the first smile since
she’d opened the front door. “What do you have in mind?”

“
Why don’t we get out of here and
I’ll fill you in?” Now that that misunderstanding was cleared up,
Luke was ready to move in and stake his claim. Staci liked kids,
had an unexpected altruistic side, and turned him on, along with
having some depth and some smarts. And, oh yeah, cleavage. He
was
still a guy, after all.

“
Okay, Luke. I’m all
ears.”

***

Staci tried to keep her hopefulness in check
as Luke drove down by the riverfront. It wasn’t fair that her
mother had control of so many lives all by playing on people’s
emotions—emotions she obviously didn’t have.

Luke pulled into his driveway in one of the
high-end condo complexes and killed the engine. But he didn’t open
the door. Nor did he say anything. He just looked at
her.

“
What?” She fiddled with the hem
of her shirt and glanced away.

Luke turned her to face him with a finger
under her jaw. He traced it around to her chin then drifted it
softly across her lips. “We can beat her, Stace.” He brushed some
hair from her face. “That is, if you want me to help.”

She wanted so much more. But this was a start.
“But Mother doesn’t make idle threats, Luke. You don’t know
her.”

“
And she doesn’t know me. You,
however.” He leaned closer. “I want
you
to know me very
well.”

The look he was giving her let her know
exactly
how he wanted to know her now, and oh, she wanted
that, too. And if he could make Mother’s threats disappear, she
could.

Luke dropped his hand. “You’re not another
conquest for me, Staci.”

“
I sure as hell hope not.” She
deserved better. For the first time in her life, she finally
realized—and believed—that she deserved better.

He slid his hand to her cheek and her heart
skipped a beat as he looked deeply into her eyes just like she’d
always wanted a man to do. But other men had only rarely taken the
time to look higher than her collarbone.

“
No. You’re not. I like you,
Stace. I really like you, and it’s been a long time since I’ve
liked a woman for who she is instead of what she looks like. Oh,
don’t get me wrong, I like how you look—hell, I love that—but this
caring, nurturing, unselfish part of you… it… I…” He turned
away.

This wasn’t Luke, the arrogant, cocky football
player. This was a vulnerable side Staci had only glimpsed when
he’d mentioned his son. This was Luke who
wanted
her. Who
liked
her. Who saw something in her she needed desperately
to believe was there.

“
I need you, Stace,” he whispered,
his gaze burning into hers.

So much need; Staci knew it
intimately.

“
Let’s go inside Luke,” she
whispered back.

“
You’re… you’re sure?” Luke looked
as if he’d just been given a gift but was afraid it was going to be
snatched away.

She smiled and stroked his cheek. Gotta love
the guy for giving her an out.

Her hand stilled.
Gotta
love
...

Holy—

Staci swallowed. “Yes, Luke. I’m
sure.”

He recovered quickly after that. He was out
the door, around to hers, and had it open before she could find the
handle.

Not
that she would have known what to
do with it if she had… She loved him.

As if she were a fairytale princess, Luke
offered her a hand out of the carriage, but when their fingers
touched, it was so very real that Staci couldn’t have let go even
if she’d wanted to.

And, oh, she didn’t.

Luke didn’t either. Intertwining their
fingers, he fumbled with his house key with his free hand while she
held the screen door with hers. He finally turned the lock, shoved
the door open, then kicked it shut behind them, tossing his keys
onto the table with a clatter while tugging her toward the stairs
on the far side of the living room.

Staci stumbled on something, their joined
hands the only thing keeping her from going down.

She looked at what she’d tripped on. A
crumpled t-shirt and a bag of chips. She looked around the room.
Oh, man. He was a slob.

“
Uh, sorry about the mess.” A
sheepish Luke was an endearing Luke. “I got upset when you broke it
off and went into a bit of a tailspin.” He kicked an empty beer can
into a pile of dirty laundry. “Luckily, I never made it past this
floor.” He slid his palms to her cheeks and touched his nose to
hers. “The upstairs is clean. Do you… would you like to see
it?”

Staci felt herself melt under the heat in his
gaze. That desire was for her and it fed an empty place in her
soul. “Yes.” Her voice was so choked she could barely get the words
out. “I would.”

A stairway had never seemed so steep, the
climb never so long, as Luke led her up to the second floor, each
step laden with a significance Staci had never felt
before.

But then, none of this felt like anything
she’d felt before. Not how she behaved with Luke, not who she’d
become, and not the way her knees were practically shaking with
nerves.

And all of it was marvelous.

As he led her toward his bedroom, Staci
realized why it all felt different:
she
was
different.

She was finally herself. Not a daughter who
had to act out to get her mother’s attention, not the sister of
someone she’d related to through the actions of their mother, not
the stepsister who’d been jealous of a girl who’d lost everything.
Staci hadn’t known who she was, but now, with her decision to help
Sophia, the effort she was putting into both her working and
personal relationships with Bella, and Luke looking at her as if
she were everything he’d ever wanted, she finally did. And she
liked who she’d become.

Luke led her into the master suite, the tan
walls as warm as cappuccino, and closed the doors behind him with a
soft click. The bed, with its black-and-tan-striped comforter,
stood on the far wall between two mahogany nightstands and Staci
couldn’t take her eyes from it. Everything else faded from but the
thought of her and Luke and the sharing of their souls and bodies
they would do on that king-sized bed.

Luke came up behind her, his hands sliding
around her waist and she could feel how much he wanted her. “You
sure about this?”

More sure than anything before in her life.
She turned in his arms, pressing her lips to his. “Take me to bed,
Luke.”

“
Ah, Staci,” he murmured against
her mouth, “I’ve dreamt of you saying that.” Luke slid his hands
low, cupping her, his erection pressed between them as he kissed
her.

And kissed her.

Long, drugging kisses that fired her blood
even as a sweet heaviness swam through her limbs. Hot, heavy
breaths caressed her cheek as his tongue slid between her lips to
turn her insides to mush.

Staci grasped the strong, broad shoulders of
an athlete, his muscles clenching beneath her fingertips as she
slipped them beneath his collar, needing to feel his
skin.

He pulled her to him, her aching breasts
relishing the pressure, her nipples peaked and tingling at the
contact, and she groaned into his mouth. He slid his lips from hers
and dotted kisses along her jaw to find the hollow beneath her ear
as shivers followed in their wake.

Her head fell back and she groaned. “Please…
Luke. I... I can’t stand.”

Luke laughed softly and kissed her again. His
hands threaded through her hair, and it was amazing she remained
upright. “Stace.”

One word, one syllable. Staci’s knees gave out
at the longing in it and it was only Luke swinging her up in his
arms that saved her, both literally and figuratively, from falling
at his feet. He made feel special. Cherished, and utterly feminine.
All Eve, sensuous and desirable.

She reached up to stroke his cheek, the desire
in his gaze giving her the confidence to make the move and know
that this would be more than just a one-night stand. For both of
them.

Her fingers trembled against his skin. “Luke.”
The husky voice didn’t even sound like hers.

Luke carried her to the bed, kneeling to place
her in the center. He wanted her. It was there in his gaze, in the
slight tremble of
his
fingers as they trailed over her arm,
the soft kiss he brushed to the back of her hand when he raised it
almost reverently to his lips, and the beat of his heart when he
placed her hand there. “See what you do to me?”

Rising from the mattress, Staci kissed him.
Then she slid her hand from beneath his and ran it down along his
abdomen, tugging his shirt from his jeans.

Luke braced himself on one hand and yanked the
rest of the shirt free. “Touch me.”

She didn’t need to be asked twice.

She shoved the shirt up his chest, reveling in
the play of muscles beneath his sleek skin. As he reached behind
his neck and drew the shirt off, she took the opportunity to taste
him, licking along his abs as her fingers played with his taut
nipples.

“
Stace
.” He exhaled as he
sank against her so she knew just how much he wanted her. “You’re
killing me.”

“
What a way to go, huh?” She slid
her hands inside his waistband. “These need to come
off.”

Luke caught her words with his mouth, drowning
her moan as his tongue did wicked things to hers while his lower
half ground against her.

Staci gripped his two firm, tight cheeks, her
fingers tracing the seam between them, and it was Luke’s turn to
groan. Then he wrenched himself off her, lying beside her and
fumbling with his fly.

Staci brushed his hands away and maneuvered
into a half-sitting position. “Let me.”