The Strongest Stone

Chapter Ten

Being with Lucas was like breathing. I needed it to survive. He seemed so strong in the places where I felt weak, it was like we were a perfect combination. That connection had always been there, but until now, it had been disjointed, ignored, neglected.

I'd never had a boyfriend before, but I wasn't afraid, because I was with him. When the social worker dropped by next two weeks later, it didn't feel like a lie anymore, we were together, and although we weren't engaged things felt solid.

I walked in the door after a particularly long night at work. A 1950's convention was being held I town, and the diner was one of the "must see" attractions. We'd had a steady stream of customers all night, and not all of them were sober. I'd batted at least five drunk hands away, and that hadn't even been the worst of it. At one point a particularly difficult customer threw his dinner at me, and I'd had to change in the back room. Needless to say I was ready for bed.

I traipsed down the hall to my room half expecting Lucas to be asleep, but he wasn't. He looked up at me and smiled. "I ran you a bath." He murmured.

"You don't have to keep staying up to run me baths. You have work in the morning."

Lucas stood up and put his hands on my shoulders. "I can't sleep until I know you're home anyway." He replied.

"Really?" I smiled. "You're cute."

"Cute?" He frowned. "Not manly?"

"Lucas, you're a man, everything you do... it's manly because of that fact. You could wear a tutu and dance in Swan Lake, and it would still be manly. Running me a bath is just cute as well."

"You make a good point." He grumbled. "You should go jump in it while it's still hot. Do you want a drink?"

"No, you should join me." I whispered as I turned toward the door. "Can you unzip my dress?"

Luke's fingers pulled at the zip, he placed his hands inside my dress and over my shoulders, and the dress slipped down and fell to the floor softly.

"I'll be there soon babe." He murmured. "Go hop in and wait for me."

I walked from the room in my underwear, I opened the bathroom door and the steamy warmth greeted me like a hug. Lucas had run a bubble bath, I could see the steam rising, inviting me in. I slipped my bra off first, and then my panties before stepping in to the hot water. It touched my skin and like a bodily butterfly effect it set off a chain reaction of relaxation. I sat in the water, letting it lap over my stomach, then my shoulders and for a brief moment my head. When I sat back up and let my back lean against the cool porcelain I closed my eyes. Tonight I needed this, more than I had any other night.

"You look like you could fall asleep." Lucas said a few minutes later, waking me from a half dozing state.

"I could." I replied, opening my eyes. I looked up at him, he was topless, and his jeans were slung low around his waist. The sight did something to my heart, and my libido.

"Don't, sleeping in bathtubs is highly inadvisable." He laughed.

"Are you getting in?"

Lucas nodded, his eyes flitted to mine and with a provocative smile he let his fingers find their way to his jeans button. He was daring me to keep eye contact with him as he undressed, he was testing my resolve, a resolve I wasn't sure I had. With a knowing chuckle he let his jeans fall to the floor.

"Are you trying to make me explode in to flames of lust Lucas?"

"Maybe." He grinned, "But you're literally surrounded by a small body of water, you'll be fine."