to remove the errant water droplets. The beads on his skin made him look rakish and dangerous. “He’s trying to have Amelia disinherited.”
Devin focused her attention. “How do you mean? “
“Steve is trying to prove she isn’t entitled to the ten percent of Pacific Robotics.”
“How can he do that?”
“He’s found a loophole in the will,” said Lucas. “He thinks if he can prove Konrad and Monica’s marriage was a sham—”
“It was a sham,” Devin felt compelled to point out.
Lucas crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “It wasn’t. But that’s not the point.”
Devin didn’t answer, assuming Lucas would only let her wait so long before he told her exactly what the point was.
“The point is—” he drew a deep breath “—you might inadvertently help him.”
“Inadvertently?” What planet had Lucas been living on these past few weeks. “If the point he’s making is that Monica and Konrad’s marriage was a sham, then I’ll be helping him on purpose.”
Lucas took a step forward, his head cocking slightly to one side. “You can’t do that, Devin.” “I’m not going to lie, Lucas.” “I’m not asking you to lie.” “Konrad didn’t love Monica.” “He did love her.”
Devin clenched down on her jaw. If Amelia was entitled to the inheritance, Devin would fight tooth and nail for her. But if she wasn’t…
“You don’t have some special psychic ability to see into Konrad’s brain,” said Lucas.
“Don’t you mean into his heart?” “You need to see the broader picture.” “That’s a nice way to put it.”
“You need to allow for the possibility, however slim, that you might have been mistaken about Konrad.”
“I don’t need to do anything.” The truth was the truth. “Listen to me—”
“You’re grasping at straws.” Devin had spent countless nights consoling Monica over Konrad’s betrayal. He’d hurt her sister very badly, and Devin wasn’t about to pretty it up now.
“Amelia is the legal and rightful heir of my grandfather’s will,” Lucas growled. “You and I…” He paused, clearly gathering his emotions. “You and I owe it to Konrad and to Monica and to my grandfather to protect Amelia’s interests.” Lucas’s shoulders were squared, his jaw was set in a determined line and his eyes glittered black in the dim light.
When Devin didn’t respond, Lucas carried on. “And that means you and I have to stop fighting with each other.”
“We’re not fighting.” Well, maybe they were at this very moment. But they’d been getting along pretty well over the past couple of days. In fact, they’d been getting along too well for Devin’s peace of mind.
“I mean over the guardianship case,” said Lucas. “We have to shut it down.”
It took a second for his words to sink in. And when they did, Devin’s heart plummeted.
She didn’t know why she was disappointed. She shouldn’t have even been surprised. “Is this some trumped-up scare tactic to get me to drop the guardianship case?”
His eyes narrowed. “No.”
“Has Steve really found something in the will?”
“Devin—”
“I don’t believe you.” Why, oh, why did she keep letting her guard down? What was the matter with her?
“Believe me,” Lucas stated, voice hard as steel, “Steve has found something. And if you and I duke it out in court, Amelia will be the loser. Your testimony, misguided as it is, will play right into his hands.”
“I am not giving up on guardianship of Amelia.” She flattened herself against the pool wall, hands sloshing through the tepid water as she stepped sideways toward the ladder. “This conversation is over.”
He reached out and gasped her wet arm. “I’m not asking you to give up on guardianship, Devin. I’m asking you to buy us time for Amelia’s sake.”
She shook off his hold, fighting the tingle that was left behind from his fingertips. “You’ve never done a single thing for Amelia’s sake.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.” She rubbed the arm where he’d touched her, fighting hard to ignore his closeness, the darkness around them, the cool water lapping against her bare skin.
“You won’t even listen,” he accused.
“I’ve been listening plenty. All I do is listen to you. And I give you the benefit of the doubt, over and over—”
“Ha!” he scoffed.
“And I make stupid decisions.”
He moved in. “And you don’t think I do? I make the stupidest decisions in the world when it comes to you.” His body brushed up against hers, thigh-to-thigh, belly-to-belly.
“Lucas,” she gasped, reacting instantly to his touch.
Her skin flushed hot, her nipples beaded, while raw desired pooled in the base of her belly.
In slow motion, he tipped his head, and she held her breath, waiting for his lips.
The peach-colored fabric for Devin’s bra had gone translucent in the water, the image dancing through Lucas’s brain. Her nipples were hard, and the filmy fabric revealed every nuance of her gorgeous breasts. Her face was red, her full lips parted.
With steely determination, he kept himself from completing the kiss. Instead, he slid his fingertips along her slick arm and rounded her shoulder, skimming his way to the curve of her neck.
Her pupils dilated, and her breath came in small gasps. He knew he was playing with fire.
The ripples from the water lapped between them. His hand slid around to the nape of her neck, fingers inching into her hairline as he urged her closer still.
“I can’t trust you,” she told him, even as she tipped her chin and canted her face to the right angle.
“I know,” he responded softly, the words more a caress than part of a coherent conversation. But he understood her position. He didn’t much care about it at this exact moment, but he understood it.
“And you can’t trust me,” she breathed, her words and her body giving him mixed messages.
He shifted so that their bare thighs brushed together. “I know that, too,” he answered with honesty.
He gave in and brushed his lips against hers in a tender, painfully brief kiss. It was more a question than a statement. If she was going
