The Billion Dollar Mistake

31. Lucia and Lucien 4Ever

"What did you do?" I growled, hugging her to me. Her wails turned to soft whimpers in my embrace.

"Nothing I swear." He exclaimed. "She said something about a cat and then all hell broke loose."

I sighed in relief before putting him out of his misery. I kneeled down and held her at arm's length.

"Are you okay?" She nodded. "Good." I held up my thumb and she pressed hers against mine. "Now tell me what's wrong."

"Kitty." She whined through her baby talk.

"Use your words." I said in a stern voice. She sniffled.

"I want kitty shirt." She pouted. I looked over at Lucien and noticed the tiger on his shirt. I sighed at her confession.

She wants to match him? Seriously?

"What kind of kitty shirt would you like?" I asked, secretly hoping she would change her mind.

She motioned over to Lucien who looked confused. I dropped my gaze to his chest hoping he would get the hint. He followed my gaze and a wave of realization hit him.

"Sunshine," I grabbed her attention. "What kind of kitty is that?"

"Big kitty." She threw her arms out with a squeal. I nodded.

"What kind of big kitty?" I prodded. She stared for a second.

"Tiger!" She stated proudly. I nodded again.

"That's right!" I wiped the tears from her face. "Can you go in your closet and show me one?" She nodded frantically and ran to go find it.

Lucien looked at me in amazement. I rose to my full height walked over to her bed. I spotted her pacifier and quickly tucked it away in a drawer.

"What was that?" He asked, standing too close. My heart started to race. After the night we had, I needed some major space.

"Her bo-bo." I shrugged, sitting on the nightstand. He took a seat at the table to the side of me.

He looked just as silly as Carson did when he sat there. Which hasn't happened in a whole day since the thief showed up. Carson was trying to give us time to sort things out. He clearly knew that something major happened. It still bugged me how easily he suggested that Lucien stay here.

"She still has a pacifier?" He asked. "I thought she would have gotten rid of it by now."

"She two." I deadpanned. "She only uses it when she can't sleep or when I need to keep her from grinding her teeth." The color drained from his face.

"She knows how to do that?" He asked, completely dumfounded. I nodded in response.

"You'd be surprised." I said turning my attention to her intense concentration.

"She really is my kid." He mumbled.
----

To my complete surprise, we made it to the restaurant early. We looked like a well put together family, which annoyed me to no end. People kept coming up to us and telling us how happy we looked. Lucien and Luci ate the attention up. I was just about to burst into flames when Kenya and Koven showed up.

"Holy s-h-i-t." Kenya mumbled. "You're early."

"And I can't wait for the day Kove learns how to spell." I teased, pulling him into a hug.

"Me too," she sighed. "I'm ready to go back to normal.

I tossed my head back in laughter. Lucien gave me a look I couldn't read before turning his attention to a singing Luci.

During lunch, Kenya gave him the third degree. There were several moments where he looked to me for help but I pretended not to notice.

"So why now?" Kenya asked with a straight face. "If you knew this whole time, why did you wait?"

Lucien shifted uncomfortably in his seat. I looked between the two. His eyes went to an oblivious Luci who was singing about chicken nuggets. He finally turned his attention to Kenya whose stare was boring into his soul.

"I have a reason," he said lowly. "But I haven't talked to Harper about it."

"No better time than the present." She countered, arching an eyebrow. His panicked eyes flew to me.

"Kenya." I warned.

"Fine." She threw her hands up. "Have your stupid secrets."

"That's a bad word." Kove announced holding his hand out.

Kenya sighed and handed him a quarter.
----

How Kenya managed to separate Luci from "her Lulu" is beyond me, but she took her for ice cream. The bad part is, I'm stuck with Lucien.

We were idly walking past shops in awkward silence. We've never been alone except for the times concerning Lucia or making a Lucia. And those moments almost always ended in an argument.

"Soooo." I drawled, crossing my arms.

"It's been a while." He drawled. I sighed in slight annoyance.

"Let's not do this." I rushed out. "We never intended for any of this to happen."

"But it did and I'm a coward." He cut me off lowly. I gave him a look of confusion.

He led me to a bench and grabbed my hand. I felt an awkward tingle wherever his hands went. The longer he touched me, the harder it was to breathe. I slowly rose my head to meet his eyes. I was surprised when I saw that his held sadness. He was showing me a fourth side of himself.

Vulnerable.

"Can we talk?"

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