Chapter 37
“Yeah?” Luke said into his phone, chewing on a cigar.
“Luke, it’s Carly.”
“Caroline! Well, you’re the last person I thought would be calling me! Well, second to last,” he added with a chuckle, thinking about where Lucky was. Mac had called earlier to give him an update. So far, everything was going as planned. They even found the broken bed already.
“Let me guess, by that you meant Lucky?”
“Hey, how’d you do that? You can’t read minds now, can you? Cause I gotta warn you, mine’s not a safe place to go stomping around.”
Carly laughed. “No, trust me, I wouldn’t go near your mind with a ten foot pole. Actually, Liz called a little while ago. Seems her and Lucky got thrown in jail for trespassing at the Outback, and now they’re stuck in a cell together all night. I just thought you’d like to know that they’re on to you already.”
“Well, I figured they would be. I wasn’t trying to be discreet, just effective, and trust me, this is going to be pretty effective!”
“So, does that mean it’s too late for me to help?”
Luke sat up, shocked, and a little pleased. “Well, don’t tell me your Spencer colors are finally shining through?”
She chuckled. “Luke, you sound like a Kodak commercial. For whatever it’s worth, I’ve noticed the electricity between the two of them, and would love to help get them together.”
Luke snorted into the phone. “Uh-huh, and if by some chance that means you lose your competition for Jason at the same time...”
“Hey, Liz is my best friend! She was never competition, and anyway, she left him. End of story. I just want her to be happy, that’s all.”
“Well, then you’re in. It’ll be good to have another Spencer in on this. Laura wants nothing to do with it, and Lulu’s still too young to care. I’ll let you know if I’m planning anything else after this is over. I take it you’re bailing her out in the morning?”
“Yep.”
“Do me a favor then, and make sure you’re late. Make them squirm a little.”
“Okay, but what about Lucky? If he gets out right away, what’s the point of keeping Liz in there?”
“Ah, now you’re thinking! I’ve got a pretty good idea of who the cowboy called, so I’ll take care of it. Take care of my little grand-nephew for me, will ya?”
“Always do. Thanks, Luke!”
Luke hung up and sighed, not liking what he was going to have to do next. He dialed, then waited for an answer.
“Hello?”
“Nikolas, it’s Luke Spencer. Got a minute?”
~*~
“You know, you could give a guy a little more room here,” Lucky grumbled, trying to get comfortable.
“Sorry, but I’m sort of limited in my sleeping positions these days,” she said, pointing at her shoulder. “It’s either my back or my right side, and if I slept on my right side now, I’d be facing you.”
“Oh, and is that so bad?” he asked, trying to sound offended.
“Yes!”
“We could switch places, you know. I’ll take the wall, then you can sleep on your side and not be facing me.”
She shook her head. “No way, with my luck, you’ll roll me off the bed in the middle of the night.”
“I will not!”
“How do I know? It’s not like I’m familiar with your sleeping habits. You could be one of those people who tosses around a lot.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“How can you be so sure? I mean, it’s not like you’re able to see yourself when you sleep! Unless you’ve had other people tell you.....” she trailed off, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
“No, I mean, I haven’t, I mean, let’s just say I know, okay? Anyway, for all I know, you snore.”
Liz burst out laughing. “Snore? I don’t think so!”
“Are you sure? Like you said, you’re asleep, how do you know? Or has Jason told you?” He couldn’t help throwing that last jab in there.
Liz didn’t answer at first, shocked by the directness of his question. Her and Jason had never slept together, at least not in the most intimate sense of the word. Sometimes, she would stay at his penthouse, but although they would share a bed, they never went any farther than kissing. She would never admit it to Lucky, but she was saving herself for marriage, if it ever happened.
“Will you look at that? I do believe she’s speechless!” Lucky teased, rolling onto his side to get more comfortable, turning his back to her.
“For your information,” she said angrily, “not that it’s any of your business, but Jason and I never slept together. Not like that.”
“Oh,” Lucky said. He then turned around onto his other side, propping his head up on his elbow. “Really? I mean, not that I thought you slept around or anything, but I just figured Jason...you know...I mean, I don’t know.” He decided to shut up before he said anything too stupid.
Liz laughed and shook her head, rolling onto her right side so she could see him. “It’s okay, I think I know what you meant. But, I have slept with him in the room, and he’s never said anything about snoring.”
“Well, good. Now that we’ve got that all cleared up, why don’t we try to actually sleep now?” Lucky asked.
“Fine with me,” she answered. Neither of them moved, which meant they were both facing one another. “Okay, this isn’t going to work. Once of us has to turn over, and since I can’t....”
Lucky sighed and rolled onto his other side. “You know, you’re awfully bossy in bed.” He laughed suddenly and shook his head. “Sorry, that sounded pretty bad.”
“Yeah, it did,” she said. “Come on, the faster we go to sleep, the faster it will be morning, right?”
“Right. Good night, Elizabeth,” he muttered, closing his eyes, trying to ignore the feel of her breath on the back of his neck.
“Good night, Lucky,” she whispered. Every time she inhaled, she could smell his cologne, and it wasn’t helping the situation any. She couldn’t help noticing how good he smelled.
Lucky shivered slightly and pulled the blanket up to his shoulders, snuggling into it. By doing so, he ended up pushing himself towards Liz, and their bodies were nearly touching. She started to back away, to give him room, but could feel the cold of the wall close to her back, and couldn’t bring herself to get any closer. Besides, laying next to Lucky was almost like being near a heater, he was so warm. For the first time since being thrown in there, she wasn’t aware of the cold.
