Diane (The Town of Pearl 6)

Lucas chuckled.

“And you, Lucas, don’t like to express your emotions verbally, yet I see them all in your eyes. Like when you’re angry, upset, concerned, and even aroused.”

“Hmm,” Drake mumbled and Lucas crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“I can also tell when Mark is hiding something or trying to not worry you guys, or me, maybe. He likes to be in charge, and wants order, organization, and flips out over chaos.”

“Or you bending over and letting him know you want his dick in your ass,” Drake told her, and she felt her cheeks warm as she shyly looked down and nibbled her bottom lip. Lucas chuckled this time and she glanced up at him, overjoyed that Drake’s statement and her actions caused that laugh. He was always so quiet and angry in the past, it was what worried her about getting to know him.

“Why did you move out here?” she asked, turning toward the various desks and just as both men answered simultaneously, she saw the picture of her on the work desk.

“Because of you,” they both said. She felt the tears reach her eyes, as she turned to look at them while touching the picture. “What do you mean?” she asked. Both men walked closer.

“Mark had told us about seeing you, meeting you here in Pearl. He was worried about us, and how we were closed off, distant, and angry after serving. He thought we needed to finally settle down. When we got here, we saw you in the park at one of the first fairs,” Drake told her.

She looked back at the picture and pulled the pushpin out, removed the picture from its position on the bulletin board, and stuck the pin back in. She looked at the picture as Lucas took her free hand. “I took that of you while you were laughing and enjoying conversation with some of your friends. You looked like an angel.”

She felt the tear roll down her cheek as she glanced up at him. “I saw you, too. All three of you that day.”

“You did?” Drake asked.

She nodded. “I’m not a person with a lot of self-confidence,” she told them and Drake raised one eyebrow in an adorable manner. She gave him a little shove to his shoulder. “Don’t base things on the lingerie show.”

“Let’s not even talk about that, New York, or the Internet pictures floating out there,” Lucas replied with annoyance. He still held her hand so she brought his knuckles up toward her mouth and kissed them.

“None of it was my fault or my idea. But, it changed my perspective on things, on how I was living my life.”

“How so?” Drake asked.

“Well, I never took any chances before. I liked things nice and organized, same routine, just stumbling through life as it passed me by. I was fine with that, or so I thought until Mark started to make his and your intentions and attraction to me show. I would watch you guys from afar. Heck, I even bought a clock that you guys made. I nearly fainted when Mark showed up to change my tire on the side of the road in the rain and he was so angry at me.”

“I sure as shit was,” Mark said from the doorway. He appeared as if he had been standing there for a while, with his arms crossed in front of his chest as he leaned against the doorframe.

“Well, you were quite intimidating, and then I found out that you reprimanded Willie, Paul, and Hank for not keeping watch over me.”

“You were their responsibility, but now you’re ours,” Drake told her, and she knew they all felt the same.

“I guess with you guys finally letting me know how you felt about me, and then that trip to Dallas and being pushed into modeling the lingerie, I finally felt alive. I felt like my life meant something, and that I actually caught your attention. It meant I wasn’t just ordinary, and plain, or average. I was someone special.”

“Aw, baby, you don’t even realize how special and beautiful you are,” Drake told her as he leaned forward and kissed her softly.

“You guys made me feel that way. Putting on the lingerie was done in the spur of the moment because the model passed out and no one else could do it. It wasn’t because they thought I was beautiful or had an exceptional body. They just needed someone to do it.”

“You have more than just an exceptional body. Hell, baby, you have curves, hips, ass, and everything we could ever desire in our woman,” Lucas said, and she smiled as he cupped her breast and gently ran his thumb along her nipple.

“Then why are you doing the show?” Mark asked firmly as he approached them.

She looked at him and swallowed hard.

“Because if I was average, if I didn’t have something special that they felt the world needed to see then why would numerous agents want me to model for them? Why would Monique ask, well beg, for me to do this catalogue? It made me feel even more important, and unordinary.”

“You aren’t ordinary, and it doesn’t have to take posing half-naked in some magazine in New York for you to have to feel special. We should be enough,” Mark stated.

She thought about that a moment. “I made a promise, and I’m going to keep it. I guess that’s kind of like your promise to the agency you work for, and to the agent who’s missing, your friend.” She knew she sounded jealous. Of course that got Drake all fired up and Lucas wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her gently against his side.

“That’s different. I’ve been doing this all my life. This is the last case. Things are going down and right now I can’t pull out of it.”

“Well, things are going down in New York, too. Monique has spent a lot of money on me already with limos, first-class airfare, and five-star hotels. I can’t turn back on my promise or my decision. If it turns out to be a mistake, then it is, but at least I won’t have any regrets.”