Kara Lennox - A Second Chance

Where had this come from?

He briefly lifted his head from hers to suck in an almost frantic breath, but Loretta wasn’t letting him escape. Pure instinct took over as she stood on tiptoes to claim another kiss. She’d become a tigress, and she didn’t care that they were on a public street.

Hey, it was New Orleans.

A nearby car honked, startling them and finally bringing them to their senses. They pulled apart at the same time, and Luc looked down at her with a sort of shell-shocked expression. She expected to see that mischievous grin of his, but it was curiously absent.

“Loretta-” he began, but his voice broke.

“Uh…” She had no idea what to say. Should she apologize for behaving like a floozy? Thank him for opening up the rusty valves inside her, allowing her to feel something deeply for the first time in years?

“Are you okay?” he finally managed.

“I think so. You?”

Gradually he loosened his grip on her. “That guy could have killed you.”

The kiss could have killed her. She could have had a heart attack from the exhilaration. “What…” she tried again, but her poor beleaguered brain simply wasn’t connecting thoughts into coherent sentences.

He leaned over to pick up the bag she’d dropped. Fortunately it was the one with the potpourri and a couple of tea towels, nothing breakable. “Shall we keep walking?”

Loretta wasn’t sure her legs would hold her up. But she took one tentative step, then another, and she didn’t crumple to the sidewalk.

He took her hand. The gesture was oddly innocent, given the incendiary embrace they’d just shared. Wasn’t the hand-holding supposed to come before the kiss?

“That was maybe a little sudden,” she said, and chanced a look at him.

Finally his grin returned. “I couldn’t help it. You were right there. And I’ve been thinking about it all day. When you had that powdered sugar on your mouth at the French Market, all I could think about was kissing it off.”

Oh, my.

“We can forget it happened if you want,” he reassured her. “In fact, maybe that’s the best thing. Doc told me you had no interest in dating, and I’ll respect that.” He paused a beat. “If I have to.”

Was it true? Yesterday it had been. Today, she wasn’t so sure. “Did Doc tell you why I don’t date?”

“He told me how your husband died. It must have been rough.”

Loretta sighed. She loved her small town, but gossip came with the territory. It would be nice if everyone didn’t know her tragic history. Sometimes she wanted to sweep it under the rug, pretend it never happened. Pretend she was normal, with a woman’s wants and needs.

Today, for the first time in years, she had felt almost normal. Today, the thought of getting tangled up with a man, making herself vulnerable again, didn’t frighten her into shutting down.

“Even if I wanted to…to date, or whatever, I don’t think I know how. The last time I went out on a date, I was in high school. Things have changed an awful lot.”

“Yeah.” He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have a curfew anymore.”

“More than that, I’m afraid.” The biggest change was four feet tall and likely to be full of questions and opinions about her mother having a male friend.

“Like what?”

“I’m just not sure how it would work. With Zara. I never envisioned myself exposing her to strange men.”

“I’m not that strange.”

She laughed despite the awkwardness of the situation. “Zara already likes you. She’s a regular chatterbox around you, which is highly unusual. She’s actually a bit shy around adults.”

“Zara?”

“Really. I’ve always been worried that if I went out with someone, she could get attached and that would make it doubly hard on her when the relationship ends. I don’t want to cause her any more difficulties than she’s already facing.”

“I understand. Loretta, really, it’s okay. The timing’s not right.”

Why did he have to be so darn agreeable? If he would just argue with her a little, she might be tempted beyond her convictions. She was still warm and tingly in places that had been asleep for a long time.

They reached Luc’s car just as the meter was about to expire. He put his packages in the back and unlocked her door. She climbed in, feeling horrible and sad and wishing she weren’t so confused.

How often did a guy like Luc Carter come into someone’s life? How many women would give up chocolate for life just to spend one night with him?

She put on her seat belt and lapsed into silence. As Luc gradually made his way out of the Quarter and onto the freeway, fighting rush-hour traffic now, he cast a worried glance at her every so often.

To her horror, her eyes filled up with tears, and the harder she tried to force them back, the worse they got, until they spilled onto her cheeks and she gave herself away with the most awful sob.

“Loretta. What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing.”

“Bull.”

“It’s just that ever since Jim went to prison, I’ve told myself I have to be good. I have to live my life for Zara. She’s my responsibility, my legacy, and I can’t mess it up. That’s why I gave up men, and I’ve been okay with that, but now I’m not.”

“Oh, God, please stop crying. I can’t stand it. I’ll pull over.”

“No, just keep driving, I’ll be fine.”

“Aren’t you being a little hard on yourself? Lots of single mothers don’t check themselves into convents.”

“I know.” She found a tissue in her purse and mopped at her face. She always looked horrid when she cried. Luc probably wouldn’t want to date her after seeing this side of her. “Just blame this on hormones or something, okay?”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“I know. I’m just making everything worse.”

“Would you stop it, please? You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Except I’m acting like a psycho.”

“A little bit,” he admitted, which actually made her laugh.

“Going without sex for nine years can do that to a person.” She clapped her hand over her mouth, horrified. Had she just said that out loud?

“I’m going on two years myself.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true.”

“What about the girlfriend you visit every other Tuesday?” She covered her mouth again, too late to prevent those words from escaping. What was wrong with her? Didn’t she have any discretion?

Luc turned to look at her, shocked. “What?”

“That’s the gossip. You leave town every other Tuesday to go somewhere. And since you aren’t dating any of the local women, the logical explanation is that you have a girlfriend in New Iberia.” Loretta was ashamed to admit she was more than a little anxious to have that particular bit of gossip negated.

He didn’t say anything for a long time, and Loretta desperately wished she’d kept her mouth shut. Then a slow smile spread over his face. “Busted.”

“You mean you do have a girlfriend? And you kissed me?”

“It’s not an exclusive arrangement.”

Loretta gave an unladylike snort. She could scratch Luc off her list. Any guy who treated women like that…“Do you really have a girlfriend? Or is this your way of positively discouraging me?”

“Why would I try to discourage you when you’ve already discouraged yourself?” And that was the last they spoke of his mysterious Tuesday out-of-town drives.

Loretta noticed he hadn’t truly answered her question.

L UC MANAGED TO TURNthe conversation to a less personal topic, and to his great relief Loretta said nothing more about his Tuesday outings. But it was disconcerting to realize the whole town knew about his Tuesday trips, or cared enough to guess he was seeing a girlfriend.