She was stirring the chicken when Lucas said, “He died from a heart attack.”

Fallon glanced up to see Lucas standing beside the counter in only a pair of white boxer briefs. Of course, he looked like a damn underwear model. Fallon had to actually force herself to look up at him and not his package. Lord, he was hot.

She cleared her throat, throwing some vegetables into the pan before saying, “Who?”

“My dad. He died from a heart attack at the end of our driveway the day before I turned 18,” he said sadly.

Fallon froze.

Oh no, no, no, no. She couldn’t do this.

“Lucas, you don’t have to tell me this.”

Lucas nodded. “Yes I do. I want you to know everything.”

He took a deep breath in before looking back up at her. Fallon turned down the stove and lifted herself up on the counter as he leaned against the one across from her. He crossed his arms against his chest before looking down at the ground. She wanted to know what happened, but did she deserve to know when she planned on leaving? Did she deserve the right to know everything when she knew there was no future — outside of Aiden — for them?

Before she could stop him, he said, “I remembered looking out the window because I heard him go outside. I knew he was getting the mail because he had ordered something for me for my birthday.” A small smiled formed on his lips. “It was this amazing stick that I didn’t even realize was delivered until a week after his death, but anyways, I watched him reach into the mailbox, and then he stopped. The most awful look came across his face and I stood up. When he fell I was already out the door, running down the driveway to him.”

Fallon covered her mouth with hand as she took in quick small breaths. Lucas had nothing but raw emotion all over his face, and Fallon could see the tears gathering in his eyes.

“I was screaming ‘Dad? Dad, wake up!’, when my mom came running down the driveway. He had died instantly and I guess Mom could tell because she tried to pull me away, but I wasn’t going. I tried crawling to him, but my mom had a death grip on me. The only reason I stopped fighting her was because I noticed my bloody fingers. I had popped two of my nails off and the rest were all so jagged that during the funeral I kept running my other fingers along them, feeling the jagged edges and the scabs from the cuts.”

Tears ran down Fallon’s cheeks as she watched Lucas run his thumb along his fingers the way he described. She had seen him do it time after time before but now that she knew why he did it, it destroyed her inside.

“I shut down and didn’t tell anyone that I felt like I was dying. My dad was my best friend, my coach, the one person that understood me. Losing him was almost as bad as losing you.”

“It had to be worse, Lucas,” she gasped out, running her hand along her cheeks to brush away the tears.

“No,” he said quickly, “When I lost you it was because of my own stupidity.”

“Lucas stop, you’re killing me here,” Fallon said, looking away. Lucas came over to her, going between her legs and leaning his head against hers. “I’m sorry about your dad; I wish I would have been able to meet him.”

Lucas nodded against her forehead. “Me too, he would’ve loved you and Aiden so much.”

Fallon’s heart broke as she wrapped him up in her arms. “I’m so sorry.”

“I know you haven’t said you’d give me another chance yet, but I hope that you know how sorry I am and how I’ll never hurt you again.”

Fallon sighed before saying, “I know Lucas, and believe me, as much as I want to trust you, it’s just so hard.”

Lucas nodded as he met his lips against hers. “We’ll just have to work on your trust issues.”

“We?” she asked, because wasn’t that her problem?

“Yeah, when you agree to give me another chance, it won’t be just me anymore, it will be we. Always and forever.”

Lucas looked up at her and Fallon’s heart broke. He wanted her so bad, and she wanted him, but how? How could something work when everything was against them? Fallon cupped his face with her hands, and he brought his own hands up over hers. He turned his face, biting into the palm of her hand. He glanced up at her as he ran his tongue up her palm to her ring finger, where he bit softy. Fallon took in a sharp breath, getting wetter by the second by just the sight of his mouth on her. He bit down her palm to her wrist, where he left a nice little mark before smiling over at her.

“I want to eat you up,” he whispered against her wrist.

It was hard for Fallon to form words when he looked at her like that, with such hunger in his eyes as he slowly bit down her arm and along her shoulder. She loved it when he bit her; it turned her on beyond belief. Fallon pushed aside her thoughts of their issues and focused solely on her need for him. Tomorrow would be the day to worry, tonight was the night to enjoy the love that was between them.

Since it all was ending tomorrow.

“Oh Lord, please do,” she said breathlessly.

“We’re skipping this dinner?”

She nodded in agreement. “We’re skipping it.”

Lucas woke to the sound of Fallon moving around the room. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and her old Stanford tee as she continued to stuff things in her bag. As he rubbed his eyes, he thought about complaining at her for not being snuggled up against him, but then it clicked that she was packing.

Quickly.

Lucas’ pulse picked up in speed as what she was doing became apparent. She was trying to leave without saying goodbye.