Cheater (Curious Liaisons 1)

“Oh, sorry, I just, um, got excited. You know, about the kids.”

“I bet.” He chuckled. “So, I was thinking . . .”

“Good for you, Thorn.”

He ignored me and pressed on. “Are you hungry?”

“Is this a trick?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

The spider in the corner continued to make itself at home while I made myself comfortable in the middle of the floor. “I’m always hungry.” There, that sounded good, not like the starving human I was. More like, oh cool, I could eat, when really my brain was screaming I would destroy an entire elephant right now, sorry not sorry.

“Answer your door.”

I gasped. “Did you order me PIZZA?”

“Why are you always yelling at me?”

“Sister. Wrong bed. Broken engagement. Whore—”

“I’m sorry, did you want food?”

“Yes!” I jumped to my feet and ran over to the door and pulled it open, then fumbled with my phone as I nearly dropped it onto the floor.

“Thorn.”

“I was in the neighborhood.” He grinned.

“What? Fighting crime?” Just then a loud scream erupted down the hall.

With a gasp, I grabbed his shirt and jerked him into the living room, then proceeded to lock every lock on my door.

The screaming got louder.

With a yawn, I turned around and took in Lucas’s wide-eyed expression.

“Are you sure you’re safe here?”

“Oh that?” I pointed at the door. “That’s nothing. Mr. Thompson just gets confused sometimes and walks into the wrong apartment while women are changing. His timing is impeccable.”

“So . . .” Lucas clutched two bags, and I couldn’t take my eyes off them. “Mr. Thompson is a peeping Tom who just randomly breaks into people’s apartments?”

“He doesn’t break in—I mean, not really. He opens the door, takes a step in, says he’s lost, and walks right back out. Harmless really.”

“Which is why you lock your door.”

“I refuse to let him become the only man to see me naked in a year.” I laughed and then smacked my hand against my forehead. “I mean—”

“Noooooo, you mean Carl’s not real? How are the dancing children by the way? Invisible?”

“Hey! That’s an actual real nonprofit.”

Lucas’s cleft just made his stupid smile look bigger, and more . . . mocking, and sexy, but I refused to find him sexy, so I forced myself to think his smile was stupid and ugly. “I know—I give to the cause.”

“Of course you do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I marched over to where he was standing, which was like a foot away from me, given how small my apartment was, and snagged the take-out bag from his hands. “What do you have?”

“Easy.” He pried my hands from the bags. “You get food, but you have to do something for me first.”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “That’s cruel. You know how much I love food. How dare you use it as a way to get me to do you a favor! I have to work with you, isn’t that favor enough?”

Lucas sighed, his shoulders moving up and down with each exhale like he was so irritated with me his body couldn’t help but show it. “More like I have to put up with you and you have to put up with me.”

“Wait”—I held up my hand—“where’s Monday?”

“You mean Molly?” His smile was so smug, I wanted to punch him in the throat and then send him out to Mr. Thompson for some playtime.

“Yes.” I tried reaching for the bag again. “Molly.”

“You look great by the way, very shabby chic.”

It was then that I realized my attire. I was wearing ratty red shorts from high school and a white T-shirt with “I’m a Unicorn” scrawled across the front.

My socks had at least two holes in them.

Summary—I looked homeless.

I quickly touched my hair. At least it was pulled back into a bun, out of my face.

I groaned. In a scrunchie. I actually had a scrunchie in my hair.

“Those making a comeback?” He pointed at the scrunchie and burst out laughing. “Because I have to say, I’m a huge fan.”

“Out!” I gestured toward the door.

“What?” He set the bags on the table and turned toward me. “You’re just going to kick me and the food out?”

“The food can stay. It’s done nothing offensive.”

“And I have?”

“You are breathing.”

“So violent and jaded for someone so young.”

“Molly?”

“Her parents are in town, and she figured it would be too hard to explain that the guy she’s seeing is also seeing other women and, no, would not in fact be proposing marriage anytime soon. They’re very strict Catholics.”

“So?”

“So they want her to have children. Loads of children.”

“The last thing this world needs is carbon copies of Lucas Thorn running around, wreaking havoc on this city. The police have enough trouble with Mr. Thompson.”

“Cute.” He sighed and turned in a circle, then finally pulled out my one chair and pointed to it. “Sit.”

“I think it’s better that I—”

“Now.”

I slumped over to the chair and sat, crossing my arms over my chest while he started pulling out box after box of Thai food.

My mouth watering, I stared until my vision blurred as steam from the chicken pad Thai wafted into the air, tickling my nose.

I let out a moan; I couldn’t help it.

Lucas stopped with the food, his body stiffened.

“What?” I swallowed and glanced up at his gorgeous face.

His eyes locked on mine. “I forgot.”

“Forgot what?”

“That when you’re hungry you eat like a hyena.” His eyes zeroed in on my full mouth. “Or a shark during Shark Week.”

His sleeves were pushed up to his elbows, exposing gorgeous tan forearms. I tried not to stare, but it was hard. This was why Lucas Thorn was a menace to society, and a very bad man. He was too good-looking to be real. It was unfair that he had such a horrible personality to go with those good looks.

Not that he’d always been such an unfortunate human being.

But still.

He slapped my wrist with one of the plastic forks and shook his head. “Not yet.”

“But—”

“Patience. Tomorrow night.” He licked his lips, suddenly appearing more nervous than I’d ever seen him look. “I need you to be . . . nice.”

“That’s what this is about? You want me to be nice to you? During dinner?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes . . . nice to me during dinner. And not the fake nice that makes me want to strangle you within an inch of your life, but the nice where your smile actually reaches your eyes—and your laugh makes a man forget himself. That kind of nice.” He turned away and looked toward the spider. The lucky bastard was probably never going to leave now that it had experienced the Lucas Thorn effect. “Think you can handle that?”

I slowly pried the fork from his now-clenched fist, and then maybe insanity took hold, because I placed my hand on his and squeezed. “I promise; I’ll be nice.”

“Swear.” His eyes narrowed as he peered down at our hands. “Over your Thai food.”

“You’re serious?”

“Deathly.” His voice lowered as he leaned down so we were inches from each other, our bodies almost touching.

“Fine.” I took a deep breath. “I swear over this Thai food that I’ll be nice to you tomorrow night, the real nice that you want.”

“Or so help me God I will never eat another bite of Thai food again.” His eyebrows shot up. “Say it or no food.”

The temptation of my favorite dishes was too much to bear, so I gritted my teeth and repeated. “Or so help me God I will never eat another bite of Thai food aga

in.”

“Great!” He smiled brightly. “Because my parents are coming.”

Chapter Sixteen

LUCAS

My parents were great. I took a long sip of bourbon.

Fantastic, extremely supportive, loving. This time I chugged half my drink and slammed it down onto the bar, then checked my watch.

Correction. They were great until I ruined their relationship with the Blacks and solidified our family as the one that nobody waved to during the annual neighborhood Fourth of July celebration.

People had taken sides.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to discover who ended up in camp Thorn.

Crickets.

And my parents.

My sister was solid middle ground.

Which meant that my entire family was probably ready to throw a damn parade over the fact that somehow I was making a wrong right again.

There wasn’t enough whiskey in the world to calm the nerves I was feeling. Letting Avery loose on them without prompting her just seemed like the worst sort of idea I could possibly come up with.

Then again, the only other option was to admit the lie.