Highest Bidder Collection - Lauren Landish Page 0,83

can’t have it until we finish. But I know better than to argue. I just need to get this pizza crust done pronto, throw on the sauce and toppings: pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers, onions, four cheeses, and then throw it in the oven. So I can get all of that big fucking cock.

I continue to let Lucian guide me with molding the dough, and by the time we finish the crust I’m completely covered in flour. But worse than that, my panties are soaked.

“See, treasure?” Lucian asks, stepping out from behind me and filling me with disappointment. Unlike me, Lucian only has flour on his hands and a little bit on his blue apron. He nods at the crust we made and places it on the pizza pan next to the cutting board. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

I shake my head, blushing, wishing he were still behind me. “No, I enjoyed it. A lot.”

Lucian gives me a hooded look filled with desire, and a promise of what is to come and my breath quickens. “As did I.”

I blush harder and I’m about to reply when my cell, which is lying on the end of the counter, goes off with rapid dings. Lucian glances at it and then gives me a look.

I shrug, wiping my hands off with the towel and wondering if it’s my mom. Maybe she changed her mind about Christmas.

Before I can take two steps, my phone goes off several more times and I pause. It’s unusual I get that many texts in such rapid fashion. Maybe I should check to see who it is. Wiping my hands on a dishrag, I walk over and pick up the phone, but I almost drop it a second later when I see the series of texts, a cold chill striking my spine.

“Oh my God,” I gasp, my heart pounding wildly in my chest, dropping my phone to the counter.

Lucian tears his eyes away from the stove and settles them on me. “What’s wrong?” he asks with concern.

I place a hand over my chest to calm my rapidly beating heart. “Those texts I just got... they were from my mom.”

Lucian goes rigid and he clenches his jaw, but I’m too freaked out to really respond to his strange reaction. “And?” he asks.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my pulse. “She said my uncle was found dead...” my voice trails off as my mind races in disbelief. My blood heats, and my breath is coming in short pants. The person who’d caused me so much grief is now dead. It doesn’t even sound real. He’s gone.

Lucian doesn’t immediately respond, but I take his silence as shock.

“I can’t believe it.” The words fall from my lips as I read the texts over and over.

I glance at Lucian, noticing that his entire demeanor has changed. The playfulness I enjoyed while we made the crust is gone.

His face is emotionless. I’ve seen the look before. It’s his mask. He’s hiding what he truly thinks. A wave of a chill runs through my body, turning my blood to ice. I almost ask him if he knew. He doesn’t look surprised. He seems to be waiting for something. Or hiding something.

My heart thuds hard in my chest as I tear my eyes away from him. The thoughts in my head are just paranoia; horrible suspicion pressing down on my chest, a suspicion I desperately don't want to believe.

“Lucian?” I say his name as a question although I can’t ask what I really want to know. Something deep down in the pit of my stomach is telling me he did this. Maybe he’s not the one who pulled the trigger. But Lucian murdered him.

I swallow thickly as his heavy footsteps approach me.

I have to hold on to the counter to keep myself upright, suddenly feeling like I’m going to faint.

“Are you alright, treasure?” Lucian asks, concern returning to his voice as he walks over and wraps his arms around me, holding me close. I feel awful for leaning into him. For even thinking he did this. The club is full of powerful men. You don’t want to be their enemy. Carla’s words echo in my head as he rubs soothing circles on my arm.

Swallowing back a wave of uncertainty, I reply, “I’m fine.”

Chapter 27

Lucian

I haven’t taken a day away from the office in a very long time. But there was no way I was going to leave Dahlia today. We only have today and tomorrow