Chapter Twenty

"Wake up! Sleepy heads!"

Something soft and cushiony slammed Lucas in the face. Kara jerked awake to see a laughing Isabelle holding a cushion over her head.
Celeste was standing next to her with hands on her hips.

Shit, it was morning.
Gasping, she pushed herself up, but jerked to a halt and realized Luc had her caged in against his chest like his favorite cuddle toy.

"Look at you two all cuddled up on the sofa!" Isabelle cooed happily, hitting Lucas with the cushion again. He jerked awake and blinked at Kara who stared at him over her shoulder.

"Ah!" said Lucas in alarm and Kara felt his arm jerk, pushing her away and she went falling right off the couch.
Isabelle and Celeste gasped.
"You idiot!" yelled Isabelle as Celeste helped a still drowsy Kara up off the floor. Kara got up to see Isabelle launch at Lucas with the cushion.
"You-could-have-hurt-her!" she yelled in between bashing him with the cushion.

"Stoooop!" Luc groaned. "What the hell are you two doing in here and how did you get in? What are you? Witches?"
Kara groaned and slumped back onto the sofa. Celeste tutted disapprovingly at Lucas.

Isabelle gave an evil laugh. "Yes." she said dryly. "We are the wicked witches of the West, here to reap your soul and cut you to ribbons." She made a rapid scissoring motion with her fingers to drive home her point. Luc rolled his eyes at her.
Celeste patted Isabelle on the shoulder to calm her before she turned to Luc and Kara with stern blue eyes.
"Okay, vous deux, what is going on here?" she asked.
Luc sat up and flexed his neck muscles.
Kara stood to put space between them. Celeste and Isabelle probably already assumed that something was going on between she and Lucas. She'd have to set them right.

"See, guys... uhm, what happened was... Lucas thinks it isn't safe all the way out here for me by myself so he decided to sleep over last night to see if I'd be safe."
Both women gave her raised eyebrows.

"Really, Karen?" murmured Celeste dryly.
Isabelle's eyes narrowed as her lips curved in intense amusement.
"Aren't those Lucas' track pants you're wearing?" She slapped her thighs in triumph. "You two had sex, admit it."
Kara gasped. "We did not! How can you say it s-so... openly?!" Her cheeks blushed red.

"Her mom's Italian..." murmured Luc as he stood. "Her father's English. Isabelle doesn't carry the genes for a filter."
Isabelle's jaw dropped open and she gave him one final wack with the cushion before turning to Kara.
"It's nothing to be ashamed off, love. Though Lucas really is a lousy choice, but love is blind, I guess." She eyed Lucas with her mouth turned down in mock disgust.
He ignored her and reached his arms over his head to stretch, unaware of the slight panic in Kara's mind at that moment.
She shook her head wordlessly. Oh, no! They weren't listening to her. They're choosing to think that she and Lucas had...

Kara huffed. She had to convince them. "No, there's absolutely nothing going on..."
She trailed off and turned into a sculpture when Lucas yawned lazily and dragged her close to him, lowering his head to bury it against her neck.
Kara had her mouth open staring at the amused 'Aha!' expressions on Celeste and Isabelle's faces.
What the hell was he doing? She reached her hand up, cupping his face to lift him up before he made a fool out of her.

"Uhm..." went Kara as Celeste began to chuckle. Lucas laid a hand over her softer one against his cheek and his beard prickled her palm. Kara gasped sharply and he snuggled further against her neck. Her eyes were wide in panic as Isabelle cleared her throat.

"We'd better leave, Celeste, before we see something our innocent eyes shouldn't..." she teased.
Celeste nodded gravely. "Ah, oui, ma cherie. You are right."
The two of them made their way out of the cottage snickering and calling a warning for them to use protection.
The slamming of the door zapped Kara into action and she pushed Lucas off with all the force she could muster five minutes after waking up. Which was really just a nudge.
He straighten and looked down at her with hooded grey eyes.
She pointed a finger at the closed front door. "What the hell was that?"

When he shrugged her hand shot out to slap him on the arm. "I asked you a question, Lucas! Now they're all going to think that I'm... that we..." She groaned and rolled her eyes.

"You need to calm down, it's too early for this. All I did was stop you from ruining things when they themselves gave us such a perfect excuse as to why I'm here."
He shrugged and headed toward her bedroom.
Kara stared at him incredulously. "Perfect excuse? That we're s-sleeping together?!" she gasped.
He turned to face her and sighed. "If they think we're fucking each other they won't question my being here or your moving to my place."

She jerked back at his words.
"Ew, do not use such... nasty words. Also, I told you... I am not moving in with you. If you want to protect me, you can do it here."
He stalked back towards her and Kara backed up a little. What if she had morning breath? He was getting too close for this early in the morning... although it was really eleven am. Not early enough for a housekeeper, she thought with shame.

"First of all..." Lucas began, lifting a finger. "'Fucking' isn't a nasty term. Fuck-ing. It's a fucking ordinary word." Kara was beet red at the image the damn word was producing and Luc knew it. "Secondly, you're the one who wanted to protect their lives, aren't you? As long as you're here, that 'very dangerous' person you spoke of, he could easily target them too. Where I live... it's about three hours away from here. It's just me and my guns. Safe."

She bit her lip, thinking it over, thinking it through and over-thinking a little. Dammit, he was right.
If Markov traced her to François' ranch, which she was sure he'd done already, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt or use anyone to get to her.
That was enough reason for her to move Luc's, wasn't it?
As she pondered, he turned and headed to her room.

"Uh, where are you going?" Kara asked too politely.

He shot her a grin. "To use your shower. Wanna join?"