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Chapter Five

"WHAT’S wrong?" Alyssa asked as Luc sped through the night, toward her house

Three am wasn’t the best time for a heart-to-heart, but he exuded a fuck-off vibe like she’d never felt fro waves, and though she kneouldn’t welcome the conversation, she felt his pain and couldn’t re" He bit out the word

"So you always run red lights for the hell of it?"

Luc’s body tensed "Shit Sorry I wasn’t paying attention"

"Did He-Man say so to upset you?"

His hands tensed on the wheel "Deke is still looking at your security system He’ll call in a fehen he’s done"

A non-answer Luc was good at evasion Then again,to do with his cousin

"Look, if your foulto do hat happened in the kitchen earlier--"

"It’s over, it’s done, and it’s not happening again"

Like hell She crossed her arotta tell you, Chef, I don’t think your new girlfriend is keeping you satisfied"

"Keep her out of this"

"If there’s one thing I know, it’s men And if you were happy, today wouldn’t have happened"

"Nothing happened"

"So seconds Alyssa cursed under her breath She’d pushed too hard Maybe tomorroould be a better ti each other long We haven’tSex isn’t the point of the relationship"

Translation: He hadn’t slept with this woman As sexual as Luc was, seriously? Alyssa was happier about that than she should have been

"What? You two play Scrabble together?"

"Just drop it," he growled

For now "All right Thank you for helping et a chance to tell you howto stir up trouble to either elevate himself or his bullshit cause I would have defended anyone he trashed"

Maybe that was true But if Luc had nothing but contempt for her, he wouldn’t bother He ure out what and how to grow them

"Which is part of the reason you attract ood heart"

"Alyssa--"

"Yeah, I knoas a good fuck, and now you don’t want to talk about it"

Damn it, she should have been subtler She had to keep control of her emotions and use her head, or he would bolt

Silent , "What happened to yourTyler He doesn’t knohen to shut up"

"Teeks isn’t long to grieve"

Alyssa hesitated Answer him and open up a potential door of pain? Shut him out and end the rapport and another chance to show hiarters?

"We weren’t close Her absence doesn’t alter my day-to-day life She wasand in a way, I guess I do When I first heard, I went through the shock and denial Anger consumed me for a few days Now I just feelnu"

"I guess I’ve never really lost anyone before" She wrapped her arht of her ut But she couldn’t one by Maybe she was still too angry

"Allergic reaction," she ic to peanuts Somehow a trace of theet medication in time"

"I’rabbed her hand

She squeezed it Now that she was talking about her mother, it wasn’t that hard "I think what bothers one, we can’t resolve rong between us It can never be fixed"

"And you regret the tih question "Yes and no I wish things could have been different, but they couldn’t"

Luc released her hand to focus on driving again, and she felt the withdrawal of his touch like a pang Why did she crave this man anted her far more than he liked her? And ay more than he respected her?

"I know it’s none of my business, but did shedisapprove of your career?"

Alyssa sent hi around a pole isn’t a career; it’s a way to make ends , but there’s nothing you can do to change the fact we’ll never have the chance to speak again"

"Is your mom one of the reasons you help the other dancers improve their lives?"

"No I iive a shit what other people think But if these girls have the drive, I want them to better their own situations because they want rueling schedule"

Luc nodded "Sounds like eighteen-hour days"

"Often"

He sent her astare "But you did it--more than once"

"As I said, I’m a business owner And I have ambitions"

Alyssa saw the moment he understood

"That’s what Bonheur is about You wantwhat? Nor uncomfortably close to the truth, and it would probably ht her chances for respectability had died when Clinton was still president

"It’s just a restaurant," she protested weakly