Chapter Forty-One

It felt as if time had stood still. Lucas felt his body go hot and cold all over as he looked up at her. She stood by the door, hands nervously pulling at each other as her gaze focused on him.
Luc could hardly believe it. Had she really come back to him?
Wordlessly, he stood up, letting the knife fall out of his hand. It landed besides Kai's head, where Raphaël quickly picked it up.
Lucas stared at Kara, hardly daring to let himself believe that he could be so damn lucky. He wouldn't look away. Wouldn't risk it. He'd die if he looked away for a second and she was gone again.
Kara didn't move, only stared with wide eyes as he approached. What was he going to say to her? She'd just heard him say that he... he loved her... She couldn't dare to dream. Was it really true? It couldn't be.
The doubts ran through her mind, weakening her faith even more and just as Kara was beginning to regret coming back, Lucas reached her.
She opened her mouth to say it was a mistake, but he didn't let her.
Lucas reached Kara, looking deeply into her eyes as he lowered himself down on both his knees. Her eyes grew huge, but he didn't stop. She'd come back.
His head was level with her mid-section and as her eyes grew teary, his arms came up to wrap around her body, where he hugged her tightly.
She'd come back. Lucas didn't give a fuck about anything else. It would be okay now. Everything would be fine because Kara had come back.
She stared down at the top of his head, looking at the hair she'd come to love so damn much. It was messy and... her hand slowly rose and rested on the top of his head. Thick... his hair was so messy and thick and silky and God, she missed feeling it beneath her fingers.
Making up for lost time, Kara brought her other hand to Luc's hair and heard him sigh, pressing her closer.
The strength, the warmth, the possession in his hug brought the tears pouring out of her eyes. He held her hard and Kara's hands wrapped around his head, holding Luc to her mid-section.
God, she missed him. Missed him so much more than she could ever explain.
Her fingers thread through his hair and Kara felt the love swell in her heart and she was stunned by the force and gravity with which it shook her.
"I'm sorry, Kara..."
The words were muffled against her body, but Kara heard them and this time, she believed him.
Lucas slowly lifted his face to stare up at her. Here he was, on his knees before the woman who drove him completely insane over her. He didn't care if the guys were watching. Didn't care about anybody else but her.
Kara stared down at him and her eyes swam with more than tears. Lucas remembered François saying she loved him and his heart thumped at the memory.
"You cut your hair..." he whispered and Kara scoffed out a laugh as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Yeah... I did. What?"
Lucas grinned at her from where he was kneeling, putting his chin on her midsection.
"You look like a little school girl," he commented.
"Oh, yeah? Your beard's over grown, you look like a caveman," Kara retorted and Lucas grinned even more broadly.
"Oh, my God... fucking hell, Kara... I missed you."
His words were mere whispers but they ran over her skin like a wind over the calm sea, and unsettled her in just the same way.
François dragging Kai up and exiting the room with Raphaël was so unnoticed by Luc and Kara that it might as well have been in another dimension altogether.
"You gonna get up or do we wear two gigantic dents in Isabelle's carpet?" Kara asked then.
He didn't get up, only pulled her closer and bit his lip.
"Kara, I'm sorry about everything, ma belle, I was such an ass. I don't even deserve you forgiving me..."
She didn't know what to say. The way Lucas was speaking to her... the way he was holding her, it felt incredibly intimate. Her skin prickled at his words, but she tried to hide it.
Tried was accurate because despite what her brain thought, her body had missed Luc's touch for too long and had ideas of its own.
Kara watched her hands slide over his shoulders and cup his face. Luc pressed a hand against hers, cupping his face firmly and kissing her palms.
The touch of his lips on her skin sent her heart beat galloping for the hills.
Luc's hot gaze turned back up to her then. "Kara... I..."
"What? What is it?"
She saw him swallow and sigh before he held her closer. He was on his knees, but the distance between their faces wasn't more than several inches. She could see as clearly into his stormy greys as on the day he'd kissed her for the first time.
And the way he was staring at her had Kara struggling to regulate her breathing.
"What is it, Lucas?"
He swallowed again.
"I... Kara, je t'aime."
She gasped. Loudly and in a ragged breath, letting it out in just as shaky a sigh.
"What?"
Lucas nodded and slowly stood on his feet, drawing her in close to him until he only had to inch forward to touch his lips to hers.
"Yes, Kara... I love you... so much. I don't know when it started... I don't know how, but you did this to me. I'm fucking crazy over you. You make me weak, Kara... you make me so damn weak for you. I can't think of anything or anyone else when I don't have you."
Kara kept trying to push the air out, but it was stuck in her lungs as she stared up at him.
"You... love me?"
Luc's mouth twitched. "Yes, you wanna beat me up over it?"
She didn't smile back, only stared wide eyed at him, until the air wooshed out of her lungs in a wobbly sigh.
"Lucas, I..."
"Yes?"
"I can't..."
"Kara, please. Give me a chance." His heart hammered in fear. "Please, Kara."
She fought a smile. "I'm so... so... so in love with you..."
He stood stock still. Never had he imagined that hearing Kara say those words would have such an instantaneous effect on him. Never had he even expected her to say them. It was like she'd jolted his heart with an electric zap, the way it rammed in his chest.
Luc stroked her chin gently as she stared up at him.
"Say it... say it again," he whispered.
Kara shivered and he pulled her closer, staring intently into her greens as they flooded with emotions.
"I'm so in love with you... I love you. With your stubbornness and - and even the way you tease me. I love it... even the way you argue with me and- and feed me pizza and when you hold me, Lucas, I love you..."
Luc wanted to hear her tell him how she loved him all day, he could very well replace his oxygen with it, but at that moment if he didn't kiss her, he would die.
The measly distance between them was filled as he brought her face up to meet his and let his mouth tell her whatever he couldn't put in words.
Kara melted against him with his hands on her body, his body on hers and the words he'd just said to her ringing wonderfully in her head.
Lucas loved her. He loved her for real!
Kara couldn't help the moan that slipped out of her when Luc's tongue slipped into her mouth and he kissed her like he was a starving man.
Which Lucas knew he was.
His fingers tread up into the thick curly bob she'd left loose, positioning her head just right for him to feast on her delicious mouth.
When Kara pulled back to take a shaky breath, he let his mouth kiss across her jaw and down her soft, graceful neck, nipping at the skin that he really wanted to devour, feeling his fire inflame at the sounds coming out from between her lips.
The soft panting and moaning had Lucas harder in his pants than he had ever been before.
"Kara..."
Christ, how the hell had she managed to do this to him after just a kiss? He'd only wanted to kiss her and now he found himself losing control. What was she doing to him?
Luc didn't have an answer to the question, so he lifted her into his arms, nuzzling his face against her neck as her arms curled around him.
The trip from sitting room to Luc's room down the hall took too long for his liking, but when he lowered Kara onto the bed and she yanked him down on top of her, it was all worth it.
Kara's body was hot and Lucas swore to himself that he would love every inch of her, literally and figuratively in any way possible.
Breathing became difficult when he'd taken their clothes off and Luc replaced it with kissing every inch of her skin.
Kara held onto him, curling her fingers around his hard muscles as though if she let go, she'd fall so far down from where he'd carried her. His mouth made love to her, robbing her of her oxygen and Kara gasped, arching off the bed when his tongue traced hot circles inside her. She dripped on his tongue, trying to pull away. The pleasure was overwhelming and it threatened to drown her. Lucas wouldn't let her go, dragging her back to his hungry mouth. He'd never get enough of her taste.
Lucas watched her face, feeling her body writhing beneath his as her hands clutched at his shoulders.
Her mouth opened on every gasp and when he covered her body with his heavy mass, she clung to him.
"Lucas... please..."
Luc sucked on her neck, letting his fingers replace his mouth at her core, before he sheathed himself and filled her.
He had to stop. Had to pause inside her before he lost his mind.
"Fuck... Kara..."
Lucas couldn't breathe and her rocking her hips against him wasn't helping.
"Luc..."
He rocked her. Made love to her like he never had before and it was fucking glorious.
Kara felt like she had splintered to a million pieces in the galaxy of stars.
Her dark greens opened to look at him when her breathing evened and she smiled.
"I love you, Cartier..."