"Lucas?" I exclaimed as he walked in looking agitated. "Is everything okay?"

He was wearing a clean black t-shirt and dark jeans, his brown hair looked wet from a shower. His cuts appeared untreated, his eye still had a gash on top of it, with a bruise forming on his cheek.

His frosty blue eyes dashed to mine as he walked into my apartment. I moved into the kitchen to give him room.

"You've been avoiding me," he stated as he leaned against the island in my kitchen, his glance not moving from mine. He crossed his arms over his massive chest. He stared at me with a slight frown on his face.

"I haven't," I shook my head as I avoided eye contact.

"No?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

I shook my head and walked into my living room to avoid his piercing gaze. I stood by the couch, "Why would I avoid you?"

Lucas uncrossed his arms and slowly walked towards me in the living room. I stood completely still as he stopped right in front of me. I could feel the heat radiating off of his body. I could smell the masculine aroma that emanated from him. My head started to feel a little woozy.

His fingers reached out to clutch onto mine as he intertwined our hands together. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze and his warm palm seared into mine. "You tell me. All I know is I haven't seen you all week and I almost botched a fight today because my mind was on where you were the entire time."

I glanced at his face for the first time, "It was?" I asked in surprise.

He nodded, a slight smile playing on his lips. "You're on my mind most of the time, Emily." He stated matter of factly.

I couldn't form words. My heart was racing and knots had taken over my stomach. My face felt hot and flushed.

"If this is about my last fight, the girl you saw was just my PR consultant," he explained earnestly, his eyes searching mine.

I dropped his hand, my fingers already missing the warmth and I crossed my arms. "Maybe it started out about that," I shrugged, "but you're my employer. It's not going to work. What about Daniel?"

He gazed deeply into my eyes before his hands dashed up to gently brush the hair on the side of my face behind my ear, so quickly I wasn't sure if I imagined it. The hot trail it left on my face would indicate otherwise.

"Daniel will be fine and technically Miguel manages my finances so you're working for him more than you're working for me." He smiled a small, but dazzling smile as he stared deeply into my eyes. He was trying to convey something to me that I wasn't quite sure of.

I gave him a dry look, "You know what I mean."

"All I know is I thought I could ignore this," he gestured between him and I, "But I'm always thinking about you or worrying about you when you're taking that damn bus back late at night, or wondering if you're thinking about me too. I want to get to know you more. If you don't feel the same way though, that's a different story."

I shook my head vehemently, "I feel the same." I mumbled.

This time I wasn't imagining it when his large hand glided past my cheek to rest at the back of my head. His blue eyes pierced mine to the point that I almost wanted to look away. Almost. My gaze darted to his lips as Lucas leaned in ever so slowly, his eyes drinking my lips in.

My heart felt like it was going to beat itself outside of my ribs with how fast it was racing. My hands lay limply at my sides. I didn't know if I had the muscles to move them.

His lips reached mine after what felt like an eternity, his plush, pink lips brushing against mine tenderly, creating fireworks that I thought could have only been fictional. His hand at the back of head moved down to my neck, creating a trail of heat as it did so, his fingers caressing the skin they sat on.

I wrapped my arms around him, feeling every muscle that travelled across his chest and wide shoulders. Our lips moved against each other fervently, our breathing ragged and intermingled. His scent was captivating and I was immersed in the mouthwatering aroma. Our lips moved in sync, as though they were familiar and had done this hundreds of times together before. I ached for that familiarity.

He pulled back after a moment, his arms moving to wrap tightly around me, his chest heaving. Up this close, I could finally see the light diamond blue color that shone in his eyes. I was lost in the glittering orbs. He smiled at me softly, and the expression enthralled me. It made his face look carefree; so different than the stoic expression he usually held.

He bent down to lightly press his lips against mine again before standing straight. "Sorry, was that okay?" He whispered huskily.

I grinned at him, never having seen an uncertain side to him before this, "I thought so," I teased.

He chuckled bending down to nip at my lips quickly. I flushed before my gaze landed on the cut that sat on top of his eye and I raised an eyebrow, "You didn't get your cuts cleaned?"

He shook his head, "My favorite nurse wasn't there."

I laughed nudging his arm, "You're pretty smooth."

I wriggled out of his grip and he sighed before he released his arms from around me. I walked into my bedroom and grabbed the first aid box and advanced back towards Lucas. I saw him taking in the remnants of my visit with Ashley.

He turned to look at me mischievously, "What were you up to tonight?"

I shrugged, "You sadly interrupted a super romantic date." I fished out the antiseptic from the first aid box and a few cotton rounds.

Lucas wrapped one arm around my waist and lifted me closer to his standing form. I squealed at the sheer strength he had in one of his muscular arms. "Sorry, you were saying?"

I laughed, "I was hanging out with my friend, Ashley. Now sit down so I can clean your cut." I shoved his shoulder downwards so he would sit on my couch, which he did ever so gracefully.

Lucas watched as I applied antiseptic onto the cotton swab and gently dabbed it over his eye. I frowned at the cut, feeling guilty for distracting him from his fight. Lucas's warm fingers travelled to above my eyebrows and smoothed my frown out. "What's wrong?"

I glanced at him as I placed a bandaid over his cut, smoothing it down as I did so. I met his gaze which was steadily watching me, "I think we should go over ground rules before we consider starting anything."

He leaned back with a smile playing on his lips, "Okay," he conceded, waiting for me to continue.

"I think we shouldn't tell Daniel until we know what this is exactly."

"I'm fine with waiting to tell Daniel, but I'm pretty sure what this is, for me at least." His fingers reached out for mine and he clasped our hands together.

"What's that?" I asked raising an eyebrow. "Because I'm not exactly a shag and dump kind of girl."

He frowned for a moment. "I don't have a lot of experience with this," he gestured between the two of us, "stuff, but I'm going to try to let you know what I'm thinking." He sighed heavily and his fingers played with my own almost like he was nervous, "I want to be around you. I want to take you out and talk to you about your day. I want to enjoy your company. I want you."

"You do," I asked in a deadpan tone.

He pale eyes flickered to mine, "I do."

~~~~

Eeeek