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“I need a week off,” Kane told Luke two days later.
He’d hesitated originally, pondering the decision for the last forty eight hours until he knew exactly what he had to do.
“Ok.”
Wondering whether he should get his hearing checked, Kane stared back at Luke, the astonishment on his face probably apparent. For some reason, he had expected an argument, not an immediate acceptance of his request.
“Ok?”
“Were you looking for a different answer?” Luke asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.
Shit, he’d expected anything but that. Now came the hard part. “I need Lucie to have a week off as well. With pay.”
A small smile tipped Luke’s lips, and Kane had to squint to make sure he was seeing correctly. Granted, so much had changed with Luke in recent months, but for his hard ass of a boss to smile was still a little unnerving. “Done.”
Luke’s easy acceptance threw Kane for a loop, and he couldn’t come up with anything to say other than, “Who will cover for us while we’re gone?” He’d given it some thought, but never came up with a clear plan.
“I think I can get it covered, Kane. I know how to manage my club.”
He didn’t doubt that, but he also knew that’s what Kane was there for. Club Destiny wasn’t just a bar and Luke had his hands full with several other things at the moment, including a high publicity lawsuit that was taking most of his time, the temporary closing of Club Destiny’s doors, not to mention some sort of investment deal he was working on.
“Will you be working tonight?” Luke asked as he leaned forward, resting his arms on the desk and glaring back at Kane.
“Yes.” It was Saturday night, and Kane would’ve never thought of leaving Luke to deal with their busiest night of the week alone, especially not with advanced notice.
“All right.” Luke smiled again. “When you get back, I need to talk to you about a couple of things. But it can wait so enjoy your time off.”
Kane wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, but what was he going to say? Never mind? No. This vacation was more than a little overdue, so it had to come first.
Although he’d received Luke’s permission, Kane knew that was the easy part. Now he had to talk to Lucie.
Unfortunately, the talking to Lucie part didn’t happen as Kane expected. The bar had erupted in chaos only minutes after he returned from Luke’s office, and he had been going nonstop ever since. Glancing down at his watch as he poured a Belvedere and 7-Up for Samantha McCoy, Kane realized he had several more hours to go, but he needed to talk to Lucie before she tried to sneak out.
Ever since the night he had stayed at her apartment, making love to her again had been the only thing on his mind. Since she seemed to be avoiding him, Kane was bound and determined to ensure they had some time to talk. Not to mention, he was looking forward to spending more than just an hour or two at a time with Haley.
The idea for a vacation had come to him the morning he was leaving Lucie’s which was why had had gone home and immediately gotten on the phone with his travel agent – better known as his mother.
Originally, he’d given some thought to taking Haley and Lucie to Disney World, but being this would be the perfect time for him and Lucie to talk, he figured that might not be the ideal setting for them. When his mother, Susanna suggested the beach, Kane had immediately perked to the idea. Having some time with his two girls all to himself sounded just about perfect right now, so he’d instructed his mother to make it happen.
“Hey,” Lucie greeted, albeit shyly, when she approached the bar. Kane knew she was just dropping off some drink orders since she was waitressing tonight due to the large number of people, but he was still happy to see her even if it were only briefly. On nights when they were slow, she opted to take over the bar, but on nights like this, it was all they could do to keep up, so he generally had Lucie working the tables.
“Hey.” Staring back at the woman, Kane was immediately assaulted by the images of their night together. The night he remembered because it was burned into his brain. “Before you go home tonight, I need to talk to you.”
Lucie nodded her head but didn’t ask him to elaborate and for that Kane was grateful. No matter what, he knew she was going to argue with him and probably be a little pissed off that Kane had already arranged for her to be off work for an entire week, but at this point, he didn’t give a shit.
The other night was a precursor to what Kane wanted from her. Now he just needed to seal the deal.
~*~*~
At three o’clock, Lucie was dead on her feet. The bar had cleared out at two when the decision maker lights had come on, yet the McCoy crowd had stuck around for longer than she expected. Something about a celebration although Lucie hadn’t understood what they were celebrating. Nor did she ask.
As she walked past the bar, half tempted to sneak out without talking to Kane, she found herself stopping abruptly. The scene she was witnessing caused something dark and bitter to flood her system.
There, at the other end of the bar was Kane... and some blonde floozy who seemed to be cozying up to him quite nicely. To his credit, it didn’t appear Kane was at all interested in the overly intoxicated woman, but there was a jolt of possessiveness that flooded through her, making her want to scratch the woman’s eyes out.
Never having been the catty type, Lucie smiled in spite of herself. After the night Kane had stayed at her apartment, something had undoubtedly changed between the two of them, yet they hadn’t spoken much since. He’d visited Haley just like normal each day, but they still had yet to have the conversation that was looming over both of them.
Feeling a little bold, and a lot possessive, Lucie approached Kane and the woman just to see what was going on.
“Let me call you a cab,” Kane told the blonde, turning back to the bar.
“I’d much prefer you to take me home,” the woman said, although the words were jumbled together and slurred. When the woman grabbed his arm, effectively stopping his efforts to reach the phone, Lucie interjected.
“I’ll call for you,” Lucie offered, glaring at the woman and not looking at Kane.
“Thanks, baby.” Kane’s words penetrated her brain and Lucie froze in place, a strange, but not uncomfortable tingle just beneath her skin.
Did he have any idea what he just said? A bright ember of hope bloomed in Lucie’s chest, and a smile graced her lips. Reaching for the phone, she quickly dialed the cab company’s number that was taped just beneath the bar.
A minute later, she turned back to the woman who was still hanging on Kane, although he looked more than a little irritated at this point. When their eyes met, there was a plea for help in the turbulent gray orbs, and Lucie almost smiled. Almost. It was comical to see the big, bad, surly Kane Steele needing help to fend off a poor, helpless drunk woman.
Instead of ignoring him, like she would do normally, Lucie moved closer. “Cab will be here in five.”
“Thank you,” Kane mouthed, his eyes glued to her lips, which made Lucie’s thighs quiver. She subconsciously licked her lips and to her surprise, Kane groaned.
“You’re killing me, baby.”
Lucie had never considered herself the kind of woman that a man would want with the type of desire she saw in Kane’s eyes. But she’d seen it before from him and quite frankly, it empowered her.
Over the last few years, Lucie had lost touch with herself, being more focused on being Haley’s mom and nothing more. She worked, she slept, she took care of her precious little girl, but beyond that, she’d become a shell of the woman she had once been.
She’d become the meek, timid woman that she hated, but when Kane looked at her like that, she felt her old self deep down, begging to get out. Interestingly enough, she reflected back on the night he had come to her apartment and all but insisted she go down on him in her shower and her body flared to life once more.
Not that Lucie had ever been the flirty type, but she had been fairly popular with both men and women. She knew what she looked like, knew that men hit on her every single night at the bar, but she figured that was primarily the booze talking. Except in high school, she had been sought after by the boys, but she’d been the nerdy type, so she’d spent four years ignoring them in hopes of making something of her life.
That hadn’t happened though, but not because she didn’t try. The turn of events in her life had sent her down a different path than she originally planned and Lucie found herself taking care of her mother for a few years right after high school. Thankfully, they had found some truly excellent doctors who managed to get her mother back on her feet, after four successful back surgeries to repair her spine after a horrible car accident had all but paralyzed her. It had been a long recovery, but her mother was a different woman today than she was back then.
However, it had come at Lucie’s expense, though she would never admit it to her mother. Instead, once her mother was back on her feet, Lucie had come to work at Club Destiny, hoping to make enough money to save for college.
Then another turn of events – namely Kane – had altered her course yet again and here she was standing before him, almost six years later still employed as a bartender slash waitress and doing everything to raise her beautiful little girl who’d been her miracle in a particularly dark time. And still, she had let the dark cloud of her life take over. Until recently. Until that night when Kane finally came to her, finally insisted that they give in to whatever was still brewing between them. And now she felt like a different person.
Feeling even more brazen than before, Lucie approached Kane. Placing her hand on his chest she successfully inserted herself between him and the floozy who was barely balancing on those four inch heels. Letting her eyes skim his mouth briefly, Lucie then met his gaze and smiled. “Let me walk her out and then we can talk.”
It was Kane’s turn to nod, not saying a word, but she could see the heat reflected in his eyes.
“Come on, honey,” Lucie told the woman, gently touching her arm. “The cab should be here now.”
As Lucie walked the woman out, she managed to get her address so she could tell the taxi driver where to take her. After a somewhat teary goodbye on the other woman’s part, the way too intoxicated woman flopped into the cab and was on her way. That’s why Lucie didn’t drink anymore. That and what happened between her and Kane that one night so many years ago.
Once back inside, Lucie ventured over to the bar, watching Kane as he quickly ran through a list of items in front of him before their eyes met again.
“Thanks,” he said as she approached.
She could only smile. “I really need to get home. I promise I’ll call when I get there.”
“I want to take you and Haley somewhere,” Kane blurted, and Lucie had to think hard to process what he was saying.
“It’s the middle of the night,” she replied, figuring he already realized that, but she had to state the obvious anyway.
Then he laughed, and the dark, rich sound of it rumbled through her making her want things she never thought she’d want again.
“I wasn’t talking about tonight,” he clarified, grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh.” She knew that.
“Tomorrow,” he stated, taking a step closer and putting one hand on her hip.
Lucie glanced around nervously, making sure no one saw them. She clearly didn’t have any problem with Kane touching her, but she certainly wasn’t interested in letting the other employees see them.
“Where are we going?” she inquired. She was tired, her feet hurt, and she was sure Haley would be up early, but Lucie wouldn’t deny wanting to see Kane.
“Hawaii,” he said, his eyes locked with hers.
Lucie expected to see the humor on his face, but what she saw surprised her. He was serious.
“I can’t miss work, Kane. You know that,” she told him.
Although he was paying child support now, Lucie was still trying to make ends meet. She was saving up money so that she could move her and Haley to another apartment in another part of town before her daughter started kindergarten. The area they were in wasn’t safe, and Lucie was eager to start over somewhere else. Soon.
“Your time off has already been approved. With pay,” Kane stated and Lucie jerked away from him.
“What?” How could he? Did he actually ask Luke to give her time off with pay?
“I told Luke that we both needed a week off,” he replied, putting his hands in his pockets.
“How dare you?” she asked. Lucie wasn’t sure why she was so angry, but she was. Kane didn’t have any right to do such a thing. If she wanted time off, it was her responsibility to ask for it. Not his.
“I want to spend time with you and Haley,” Kane lowered his voice, tilting his head in that way that made Lucie’s defenses go down.
Not this time. “Go fuck yourself, Kane,” she yelled and without another thought or another word, she turned and walked out.