The stretch of sidewalk that normally seemed lonely and sad after visiting her father felt different with Lukas by her side.

His silent presence, his calm, steady form gave Star a strength of will she didn’t know she had. She didn’t like it either, that she realized in that moment, she was borrowing comfort from the very man she’d vowed she would never feel anything other than disdain for.

“This is it,” Star mumbled. She stopped in front of her large brick apartment building. It was a nice place, given the neighborhood that surrounded it. Built in the early nineteen hundreds, the building had withstood over a century of change. It had once been impressive, grand, majestic. Now it was crumbling here and there. The bay windows had flags hung in them instead of velvet drapes. The balconies sagged and there were tags all over the sides that bordered the parking lot and alley.

She stared at it. It seemed to be a metaphor for her father’s life. Her own even. Nothing stayed the same. Everything changed. People lost their grandeur and their ability with their youth but deep inside, sometimes buried, the heart of them remained as young and beautiful as ever.

Lukas stared down at her. His blue eyes reflected his concern. It was disconcerting to see kindness on a face that looked so smug and assured in his photos. This was the very same man who had played her best friend. Who had taken the heart that was given him and stomped all over it. This was the same man who proudly defended criminals and got them off scot free.

This wasn’t a man she could trust.

Yet, as Lukas leaned in slightly, his blue eyes burning through her and finding the deepest sorrow buried in her heart, she couldn’t find it in herself to hate him any longer.

“Are you alright?” His warm, strong hand moved to rest gently on her shoulder. It was her undoing. She couldn’t control the pent-up tears any longer.

All she could do was shake her head and brush at her cheeks, completely embarrassed by the moisture she found there. Worst of all, the tears wouldn’t stop. They rained down at an alarming rate.

“Hey… it’s alright,” Lukas soothed. “It’s all going to be alright.”

The next thing Star knew she was pulled in against a solid wall of a chest. Tight arms wrapped around her. One hand massaged a small circle against her back. She inhaled shakily, trying to find the strength to push Lukas away. All she got was a nose full of spicy masculine cologne and underneath that, the scent that was uniquely his own. His cotton t-shirt smelled like the kitchen. Like dish soap and the food that was cooked and even cleaning solution. It reminded her of the very place that was her own, the place she felt utterly accepted and totally safe.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped tonight. I’ve had a couple other cases like your dad and it seems to work if you just go along with the flow. If you can ask all the right questions in a way that they understand. I shouldn’t have done it. I can see that you’re upset.” His hand smoothed over her hair and still she didn’t pull away. She felt the hard outline of his broad chest underneath her cheek. His heart hammered right next to her ear. The gentle, dull thud was oddly more comforting than anything.

“No,” she whispered. “I know you were just trying to help. I just needed him to say that he wanted me to be taken care of. That he didn’t want his life savings to go to charity or someone else. I felt- guilty when I thought about taking it for myself.”

“That’s not the real problem at all though.” Lukas’ voice was strong but astoundingly gentle.

“It’s not,” she admitted. She had no idea why she was telling him this at all. Lukas Millar was supposed to be the enemy. “It’s just that he’s my dad and it’s so hard. Most times I can take it but I’m just human. I love him. It’s hard watching him, knowing that he might not have much time left. It’s even harder hearing him talk about a house full of grandkids. He’s never going to get a chance at those things. This is it. I’m it.”

“If you’re it, then your father is probably the luckiest man in the world.” Lukas ran his hand over her hair again. His heart kept beating with its gentle rhythm against her cheek. “I know it’s hard to see him confused. I know it’s even harder for you to think of losing him. You both just have to cling to the happy memories. You know that he’s still your father and somewhere inside he knows you’re still his daughter. Cling to the happy memories as well as the happy moments he has now, even if they don’t always make sense.”

“I know…” Star had never fully admitted before how completely alone she felt. Losing her mother had been the hardest thing in the world. Losing her father to another slow end was just as agonizing. Her pain made her vulnerable in a fresh, raw way. She knew nothing, nothing at all, save that in that moment, clinging to Lukas felt right in a way it shouldn’t have.

Star had no idea what she was doing when she pulled away slightly. Her arms twined around Lukas’ neck. He stared at her for just a second, questioning everything before he shut his eyes, lowered his head and claimed her mouth.

His lips were strong and warm. They moved gently and so very sensually over her own. She lost herself in the gentle movement of his lips, the glorious way his hands shifted in her hair, the sweet percussion of his heart beating against her own. He kissed her hungrily, like he was starved for her which made absolutely no sense. She kissed him back with the force of her own pent up intensity which also made no sense. His tongue licked at her until she parted her lips and gave in, granting him access to the deeper, rawer part of herself.

His kiss was like a balm, chasing away the fragility and anguish of the night. Her fingers ground into Lukas’ scalp, pulling him closer. Her hips rocked into his, her body pressing against that hard wall of his chest and into his muscular legs in an arch of desperation.

It was the little whimper that escaped her throat that sent her crashing back to reality.

Star broke the kiss. She stepped back hesitantly, wondering what the hell she’d just done. “I… that wasn’t right.” She brought her hand to her tingling lips. They, like the rest of her body, felt like a raging wildfire had just swept through, leaving her scorched and trembling in its wake.

“Why not?” Lukas asked huskily. “It felt pretty damn right to me.”

Star imagined those words of his, in that same husky tone, whispered to a thousand other women just like her. Women who had been stupid enough to trust in his charms and fall for a set of soulful blue eyes, a handsome face and a few quietly whispered words.

It was a moment of weakness. That was all. I am not giving in. I am not one of those women. She knew very well what had happened to Annie. How this very man had probably whispered those same words, held her the same way, soothed her when she was unhappy. Annie had trusted Lukas and look where that got her.

“Just do me a favour,” Star said firmly. “Forget that ever happened because I will. It was wrong. End of story. See you at the kitchen tomorrow.”

She turned and headed up the short walk to the apartment’s beat up glass front door. She didn’t have a purse. Not in her neighborhood. Instead she kept her keys tucked into the pocket of her jeans along with her ID, wrapped in whatever bills she might need for the day. A small paperclip held it all together.

“Just like that?” Lukas’ deep voice broke the night.

Her hand hesitated on the handle, trembling as she inserted her key into the lock. She turned slowly. “Just like that,” she whispered before escaping into the safety of the building.