Saturday morning came around quickly and Sara found herself eagerly looking forward to a blissful day. After enjoying herself in the company of Lucas yesterday at the exposition, she knew she was beginning to get attracted to Lucas and fast. He was being chivalrous by letting her hop on that boat that was getting ready to sail. She knew as sure as she knew her name that it would, but she hoped she would be ready to let go and love again when it did.

Today, as per agreement, Lucas called her earlier to say they were on their way to her apartment. Apparently, Freddie was more eager for the day than she was and she wondered if his reason had something to do with seeing his bestfriend. Somehow, she had gotten Lucas to agree to her cooking for them instead of coming over with food. So, she was here in her kitchen making sure her delicacy was delicious and edible. She subconsciously wanted to impress him with her food, in gratefulness for yesterday and that thought made her giddy all morning.

A knock on her doors had her heart jumping out. She put her hands on her chest to calm it down, and realized her palms were sweaty. It was not a good thing if she was getting nervous about seeing him again. It only meant he was quickly occupying her mind, and her heart as well. The knock came again, louder this time and she shuffled on her feet to go open the door.

He looked dashing as always, in navy blue sweatshirt and blue wash jeans. He was clean-shaven and smelt and looked incredibly handsome. She held herself back from running into his arms. They looked like they would catch her too.

He winked at her when he realized she was checking him out. "I have a feeling I should pause this moment for a while to help you fulfill your fantasies. Am I that good-looking?" He quizzed with a raised brow.

She averted her eyes, having been caught staring. "Maybe," she mumbled.

He grinned at that before strolling into her apartment and closing the door behind him. "I'm flattered you think so. This actually is my third outfit for the day. Turns out Freddie's new art project for the week involves using Nutella on toast. He's pretty good at it except he can't control the spread and in a bid to offer my assistance, my shirts gets the reward."

She chuckled at the image. "I imagine he rejected your help totally."

He nodded, rolling up his sleeves to reveal toned muscular arms. She swallowed hard. "He's eager to show me the basic household chores he could do. Although I'm not sure spreading Nutella on toast and on my shirts counts as household chores," he finished with a smirk.

Sara opened her mouth to laugh and clamped it shut automatically when she realized they were standing close to each other. She traveled her gaze from his biceps to his chest to his jaw, and settled them on his eyes. Hazel-brown eyes that always did numerous things to her senses. They shouldn't be this close to each other, she thought fleetingly, but all thoughts abandoned her when he tilted his head and took her lips in his. Slowly, his lips moved against hers, causing tingles to travel down to her stomach. The butterflies increased when he pried open her lips with his tongue, pushing it inside.

She reached up on tiptoe to take in more of him, silently cussing her height for the stress she was going through just to kiss him. Her tongue reached out to play tag with his, beguiling him on. He accepted her tease, taking more of her. A moan escaped his lips and that brought her flat out into reality. Like a startled cat, she pulled away from him quickly, breathing rapidly and looking dazed. His lips were swollen, and she reached to touch her lips with two fingers and concurred that hers were also.

"You like me, I like you. I don't see the problem here," he said in a rasped breath. The kiss obviously affected him more than her.

She eyed him surreptitiously, wondering if she should take him up on the offer. She supposed teasing her with nibbles and pecks throughout last week had unhinged the chain he had around the raging beast in him. He was never one to hide his attraction towards her, never once had he ever done it. She didn't think he would start now. And she realized in shame that she didn't want him to.

"I am cooking," she spluttered out the first thing that came to find, in hopes of controlling her hormones. Then her brain connected and she was up and running. "I'm really cooking!"

Luckily, the soup wasn't burnt yet and she quickly stirred it before turning of the cooker. Lucas walked into the kitchen just as she was almost done.

"That smells good. Is that what we're having today?" He murmured, moving to come stand directly behind her. His arms reached out slowly, spanning her waist and she knew he wasn't referring to the food. Her mind started to spin again at his closeness. There really should be a law forbidding him from getting close to her, she thought idly, moving her arms subconsciously. When his hands travelled higher, it startled her and she suddenly hit her fingers against the hot pot. It scalded her instantly.

"Ouch!" She shrieked turning away from the cooker to stare at the offending finger. Instinctively, she raised her hand to her mouth only for Lucas to intercept her action and push her finger closer to his mouth before taking it in. Slowly, and quite deliberately of course, he sucked on her index finger while watching her face. Sara stared at him in confusion, which then turned to awe when he began to move her finger slowly in and out of his mouth. Her lashes fluttered close at the action and her lips parted slowly. There was no way he wasn't doing this on purpose.

He stopped suddenly, letting her hand drop to her sides and her eyes flew open in shock. He was smirking at her now.

"I'm starving. Let's start plating the food, shall we?" He said, turning towards the plate cabinet.

Speechless, she watched him bring two plates to her and she dished out the white rice and banga soup and he carried them to the dining table. It wasn't until they were sat to eat did she notice Freddie was nowhere to be seen.

"I thought Freddie was with you."

His lips lifted up in disbelief. "Don't tell me you're just noticing?"

At her blank expression, he continued. "Freddie's main purpose of coming here today was to hang out with Harmony. Don't get me wrong, he absolutely loves his art lessons with you but you're not the one he has a crush on. So, I got him and Harmony cinema tickets to go watch Big foot's son. Juliet is acting as their chaperone. Don't tell me you don't like what this entails?"

She nodded numbly, realizing that she was going to spend today alone with Lucas. It wasn't a bad idea, if only he would keep his hands to himself. And since it was definitely obvious he wouldn't, this was a terrible idea.

The man in question smiled at her, all in a bid to calm her frayed nerves. "Don't worry. I won't do anything to you that you don't like, Sara."

He dug hungrily into the food, scooping a hot spoon of food into his mouth and then immediately opened his mouth wide, fanning his tongue with his hand. He had scalded his tongue.

"Ode," she said, laughing uncontrollably at him. Ode meant fool in the native Yoruba language.

When the food had cooled down, he did the open chewing thing before swallowing the food, still breathing through his mouth. "You should try swallowing hot food dear," he retorted, glowering at her.

She was still laughing at his stupidity. "Even a blind man knows the food is hot. It's not my fault your senses of sight are useless."

He averted his eyes at her words. "I was hungry. I've not eaten since morning," he murmured.

She nodded, deciding not to retort. "I will make sure the food is ready next time you come over, good sir. Now, be a little patient and let the food cool down a bit before you shovel it all down," she stated, watching him.

He looked like he was going to argue but nodded slowly, watching her too. Barely two minutes later and he was shoveling spoonful of hot rice down his throat, Sara's instructions somewhere in the waste bin in her kitchen. He finished before she did, teasing her on being a slow eater. When she retorted everyone had their own pace in the world, he took it personal and using his spoon scooped up her meat and plopped it into her mouth. It wasn't until he had swallowed it, smacking his lips in the process did her mind connect. And she flipped.

"Oh my goodness! You did not. How can you still do this after all this years?!" She cried in disbelief. To think he had overgrown this childish prank!

When he smirked at her, she reached out to strangle him and he pushed his chair back, standing up instantly and laughing his head off at her reaction. "You actually thought I wouldn't?" He asked, still smirking at her.

She was out of her chair in a flash. "You must return it immediately. You ate all your pieces of meat by yourself. Why does mine have to find its way to your stomach?"

He shrugged moving to the sitting room. "I really have no idea. The food tastes better once I eat your own piece of meat."

She was enraged by his nonchalant attitude. "That is a lie. You just love provoking me."

"Maybe, maybe not, but there's nothing you can do about it."

That was her cue to react. Angrily, she reached for her couch pillow and threw it at his head. She almost fell down laughing when it hit him square on the face. Then he frowned at her and Sara made a run for it, the meat completely forgotten.

She ran to her bedroom, quickly closing the door behind her. She fell on her bed, laughing so hard at his reaction. When she had calmed down, she opened the door and peered out. Lucas was nowhere in sight but she heard the sound of rushing water and tiptoed to the kitchen. His sweatshirt was gone and his bare back was turned to her as he washed. She stood at the door, watching him, ogling him more like and having crazy thoughts run around in her mind.

"I've been told by a lot of women that a man who cooks and cleans is very sexy," he commented, turning to grin at her.

She instinctively shifted back, having been caught in her stare. "Oh," she murmured, distracted.

He nodded, resting easily on the counter, obviously done with washing. "Yeah."

"You don't look like you can cook," she retorted, feeling cocky at squashing his bloated ego.

He grinned widely. "You don't know that. You haven't seen me in five years." He lifted his waist from the counter and strolled to come stand directly in front of her, looking into her eyes.

Sara mentally praised herself for not being distracted and aroused by his sculptured abdominal packs. He was really handsome and sexy as hell. "You may have to show me your cooking skills someday before I can believe," she answered back unflinchingly.

"Why don't I show you right now?" He smirked, and it took only second for her to realize what he had planned to do. Turns out he held a can of water behind him and hid it without her knowledge. He raised his arm above her head and dumped the can of water on her hair. The water cascaded down her face to her shoulders and seeped into her knee-length pastel floral gown drenching her. Sara looked up from her wet state to find him grinning from ear to ear at getting back at her.

"You should have known I was going to get my revenge for that pillow you threw at me," he said.

She barely stomped down on her anger. That was the final straw.

"You psycho!" She cried, lurching at him, aiming to sidestep him into the kitchen. He was not stupid, as he grabbed her by the waist stopping her march. When she started to struggle, he lifted her high above him and placed her over his left shoulder. She was still screaming profanities at him as he marched off from the kitchen towards the direction of her bedroom. It wasn't until he dumped her on her bed, held her flying arms in his and straddled her waist, effectively imprisoning her did she get a breather.

In this position, he was two things. One, the person in charge. And two, very close, too close for comfort she realized as she found her mind taking him in all of a sudden, letting her know their position was arousing her.

"Lucas, let me go," she whispered, trying not to reach out and pull him down for a kiss.

He shook his head, pushing her hands he still had imprisoned to rest beside her head. "I can't let you go, Sara. Not while I've got you," he murmured, talking about their position but she could swear he was referring to their relationship.

She let out a ragged breath to calm her erratically beating heart as she opened her mouth to speak. He bent down quickly to claim her lips in his, silencing whatever she wanted to say. She moved her lips hungrily across his, wanting his kisses, needing him as much as she needed her next breath. He released his hold on her hands and they found their way round his neck pulling him closer. Soon enough, the simple kiss turned ferocious.

Eagerly, Lucas took her lips in his, nibbling at them forcing her to open her mouth for his searching tongue. Their tongues dueled fighting for dominance. She won pushing his tongue and hers back out into his mouth. He used that time to tug at her gown, removing the wet material. She removed her hands from around his shoulders to help him pull it off her head. They broke apart, breathing hard and completely aroused. Before she could reach for him again, he bent his mouth to kiss her eyelids, trailing kisses all over her face, pausing to nibble at her ear lobes and continuing the journey down, leaving love bites along his path.

She arched her body off the body, wanting his kisses everywhere, needing his hands everywhere. Definitely in tune with her needs, he trailed his fingers from her side slowly down to her ankle then found its way back up pausing to rest on her waist, precisely on her blue panties. When he moved his mouth to kiss the swell of her breast, she realized with a helpless blush that she wore mismatched underwear. He chuckled when he noticed her shy look.

"Obviously not planning for a seduction I see," he said, moving back to kiss her swollen lips. The black bra was the most comfortable and highly convenient of all of her C cup bras. It was only logical she would have it on. He stopped kissing her lips, letting his kisses continue their pathway down her body. His fingers followed his mouth as they moved further down. He moved to her stomach, kissing along the scar of her Caesarean section and that forced her eyes to open in confusion. He continued however, kissing her navel, and went down to kiss her on each hip. He dropped kisses along her thighs, to her legs and her ankles, stopping at her feet. She watched him reach out to tug at her panties and she froze.

It was momentarily but he felt it as his fingers paused in its action. His gaze flew to her eyes to see the uncertainty in them. He would be a fool to try anything with her if the pain was that obvious. He removed his hands and reached up to kiss her lips again, stopping with small nibbles. Then he was out of her bed in a flash and turning to leave.

Her brain scrambled about in alarm and she sat up instantly. "Where are you going?" She asked in confusion. Didn't he want her?

He looked at her and groaned. "Please get dressed. This is very distracting."

She frowned at his words. "It gets very distracting when you're moving about my apartment without a shirt on," she retorted, flinging his words back at him.

He nodded, accepting the error of his ways. "I apologize for that. It was very lousy of me," he murmured, not looking at her.

She pulled her purple rainbow and unicorns' bed sheets to her chest, wrapping it around her body. "There. I hope it's not distracting."

He grinned. "Really?"

"Where are going?" She asked, ignoring him.

"Home," was the simple reply. "It was a very bad idea to have come here without Freddie, knowing I'm attracted to you. At least, my son keeps my raging hormones in check."

"Why?" She whispered agreeing he was probably right.

He didn't mince words. "It's obvious you're not over what happened between us, and it'll be wrong of me to take advantage of the fact that you're attracted to me to seduce you into a relationship. I'll leave you be now, cause that's the only way I can get my hormones in check."

Sara felt tears bubble rapidly to her throat and she clamped her mouth shut to stifle it. His words were harsh, even if they were true. She had been so locked up in her pain she didn't have time to heal and move on. Starting a relationship when she was still hurting was a very bad idea. But how could she tell him she wanted to try again with him without sounding pathetic? Or how could she tell him that despite her initial fear, she wanted him as much as he wanted her without sounding desperate?

She could try explaining it. "Lucas..." she began slowly but he cut her off.

"No, Sara. This is for the best. I want you so badly but I'll only have you when you want me. Not anytime sooner. I'll wait for you till you're ready to have me too," he said, smiling sadly at her. Then he exited her room, letting her slump back into her bed.

She briefly registered him opening the door and closing it as he exited her apartment. She waited until she was sure he was no longer in her apartment complex for the first set of tears to fall. A few minutes later, she was clutching the sheets to her chest as she cried her heart out.

How could she tell him that she wanted him as much as he wanted her without getting hurt again?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some say third time's the charm. I say 'three strikes and you're out'. If Lucas tries to have sex with her again, I am banishing him out of this book. What rubbish? Arrant nonsense! 😒😋

But Sara did not even try. Mismatched underwear, really?? 😂😂

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