25
Chapter Twenty Five
When Lucas got to his boat, Amanda was sitting outside the door, leaning against it. To his relief, her driver was with her.
“I’m sorry sir, I couldn’t get her to leave,” he apologised as Lucas came forward and unlocked his door.
“It’s okay,” he assured him, bending to scoop the half-asleep woman in his arms. “Thanks for watching over her. You can leave now.”
With Tom gone, he went into the boat and headed straight for the main cabin. He placed Amanda on the bed, then moved to remove her shoes.
“Why are you so drunk?” he asked, casting a glance at her flushed face. She moaned and turned to her side, her eyes opening to gaze at him.
Having removed her shoes, he sat down on the bed beside her. He peered down at her. “What happened?”
The last time he saw her, she had successfully taken down the malicious rumour about her failed engagement. What happened at her father’s office so that she ended up like this?
Amanda shook her head and reached for him, her fingers closing around the fabric of his long coat. “You’re here.”
“I am. Tell me, what’s wrong?”
Her hand tugged at his coat. “I want you, Lucas. Fúck me.”
Her words caught him off guard. Sex seemed like the last thing she needed.
His hand closed around her fingers. “I’ll get you a cup of water.”
“I don’t want water. I want you.” Tightening her hold on his coat, she lifted her upper body. “I just want you.”
Her chest pressed up against his arm as she came forward, lips seeking the side of his neck. On any other day, he would taken her up on her invitation in a split second. Not tonight.
“How about we make you feel better first? Then I’m all yours.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying. Let me get you a glass of water first.”
Her lips formed a pout, but she let him go. “Okay.”
A minute later, he was back with a pitcher full of water and a glass. He was able to get her to drink a glass. Next, he lay down next to her and gathered her in his arms. “Let me hold you a while, okay?”
“You don’t want me anymore, right?” she grumbled. “I’m not good enough. Nobody thinks I’m good enough anymore.”
Her words stunned him, and he drew back so he could get a good look at her face. “That’s not true. Why would you say that?”
“It’s true. Dad doesn’t want me at the company anymore, and you don’t want me too.”
Right, it was about the meeting with her father. What did the Chairman do?
“If I didn’t want you, you’d still be sitting outside my door,” he told her. He grabbed her chin between his thumb and index finger and raised her face to him. “I don’t just want you, Amanda. I also care about you. I want you to feel better, and I don’t think you’ll feel good about it if we have sex when you’re like this.”
“Why does it matter to you? We are just fúck buddies.”
“I told you, I care about you.”
“You said you didn’t want a girlfriend.”
He let go of her chin and trailed the back of his fingers down her cheek. “Yeah, I said that.”
“Do you treat all your fúck buddies this well?”
“No.”
“Stop lying.”
“I’ve never lied to you, Amanda. And I don’t plan to.”
“Then why are you treating me like this?”
“Do I have to repeat it again?”
“Why do you care, then?”
He sighed. “I don’t know.” He drew her head to his chest. “That’s enough talking. You need to rest.”
She snuggled into him. “How can you not know?”
Maybe it wasn’t that he didn’t know. Perhaps it was because it was such a foreign thing for him that he had a hard time identifying it for what it was.
But for the moment, he was content with knowing he wanted to treat her better than he had anyone in his life in a long time.
***
When Lucas woke up at around five o’clock in the morning, there was someone walking around the room. The emptiness around him alerted him that Amanda wasn’t in bed next to him. What was she doing, wandering around in the dark?
He reached out and switched on the bedside lamp. It illuminated the room enough for him to catch sight of her, pulling her pants up her legs. Her eyes widened as she looked towards him.
Then she ducked her head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”
He sat up and switched on the overhead lights. “You didn’t.” The alarm clock next to the bed showed it was 5:10am. “Where do you think you’re going at this hour?”
“I’m sorry about last night,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking. I shouldn’t have showed up here.”
“I clearly had no problem with it.”
Her eyes zeroed in on her shoes near the bed. She walked over to fetch them. “Still, I shouldn’t have imposed.”
“You didn’t impose.”
Before she could grab her shoes, Lucas reached out and snagged her hand. With a single tug, he had her sitting on his lap. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, just a little headache that I totally deserve.”
“Take this, then.” He reached for the glass of water and pill he had left on the bedside cabin after she went to sleep.
Amanda took the pill and gulped it down with the water. Then she set the glass down and attempted to escape his hold. Lucas maneuvered her so she was back to his side. “I’m not going to let you leave like this, under the cover of darkness.”
She turned her face away from him. “Have mercy on me, please. I’m embarrassed enough.”
“So you were just going to sneak out? The door is locked and you don’t know the code.”
“I… I hadn’t thought that far.”
“And what’s there to be embarrassed about, anyway? We all have our bad days.”
“Well, I’m not used to getting so drunk that I forget everything. I didn’t think I was that wasted. I can’t even remember us having sex.”
He blinked. “What?”
Her hands came up to cover her face. “I know, I’m sorry.”
“We didn’t have sex.”
Her fingers parted to uncover her eyes. “What?”
He chuckled. “What makes you think we did?”
“My… my clothes were strewn all over.”
“That’s because you complained you were uncomfortable and had me take them off you.”
“Really?”
He nodded.
She covered her face again. “God, I’m hopeless “
“We can have that sex right now if you’re up to it.”
“Lucas—”
He threw one leg across her body and hovered above her. “Is that headache too bad?” His hand sneaked downwards, going below the fabric of her shirt. “I read somewhere that sex is good for hangovers.”
“Is it?”
“Let’s try and see, hmm?”
