Fallon looked behind her, seeing that Lucas had just come out of the shower. His towel hung low on his hips, showing the butt of the guns that pointed down at the most amazing part of him. Fallon’s mouth watered at the sight of the muscles that made his eight pack of abs before looking up at his powerful muscular frame.

Damn, he was gorgeous.

“Um,” Fallon stuttered before rolling her eyes. “Audrey packed me a bag of clothes.”

Lucas smiled, his knowing eyes locked with hers. “Good.”

“Yeah, if you want me prancing around in short little skirts.”

Lucas’ grin grew. “What’s wrong with that?”

“You’re impossible!” Fallon said, annoyed. How the hell was she supposed to go shopping in a short white tube top dress? Or a gray, one-shoulder lace dress? Or even a black mini dress with a bust line that dipped down to her belly button? She didn’t wear that last dress much anymore; it was a ‘before Aiden’ dress. What could she say — she had a little bit of an inner slut in her. She loved to dress sexy. What woman didn’t?

Lucas chuckled as he walked across the room, opening a couple of drawers before finding one he needed, and pulling out a pair of jeans and a tee. He threw them on the bed and Fallon looked down at them. They were her clothes from college. A small smile went over her face as she reached for her old red Stanford t-shirt. She had worn it almost every day to school, it was so comfy and her favorite shirt. She looked over at Lucas to see that he was getting dressed.

“I figured we go out for lunch, have a picnic on the beach.”

“Sounds good,” Fallon said, picking out a matching underwear set. She never matched her underwear, it took too much time. Audrey on the other hand, would never have mismatched underwear. It was a disgrace according to her.

“I was going to make us reservations for dinner tonight and then maybe some dancing,” he said.

Fallon glanced back at him. “Dancing?”

“We do it best,” he said with a grin.

“True,” she agreed before passing by him. He swatted at her butt and she giggled as she ran into the bathroom for a shower. Fallon went to shut the door, giving Lucas one last grin before doing so while he gave her a heated look. She laid her things on his blue tiled sink before looking up at herself in the mirror. A slow grin went across her face because she looked good, great even. Even with her hair a mess, her face was glowing.

But the grin left just as fast as it came. This was how she felt all the time when she was with Lucas before. If she wasn’t careful she would fall right back into the way she was back then and when he left her, she would become the mess she had been for the past seven years. She needed to be careful and she needed to be smart. She had to, or she would end up being the sad, scared, young girl Lucas had cheated on seven years ago.

It was like déjà vu.

Like they had done countless times before, Fallon sat across from Lucas on an old, tattered red blanket, eating Baja Fresh burritos as the ocean crashed against the shore. It was a beautiful spring day, but Fallon still threw on Lucas’ Assassins hoodie just in case she got cold. Lucas on the other hand didn’t think it was cold and looked scrumptious in his black board shorts and purple Assassins hoodie. His hair was a mess under his hat, and he still hadn’t shaved.

Thank God.

They ate in silence, and for the first time in a long time, Fallon felt completely relaxed. She could say it was because of the beautiful scenery but she would be lying. It started and ended with Lucas Brooks and his glorious tongue. Fallon became hot just from thinking about what they did the night before and that morning. She wouldn’t say she had forgotten about how amazing Lucas was in bed, but man, she hadn’t remembered it being that freaking great. Jeez, her body was still buzzing and it was well into the afternoon.

Fallon took a bite of her burrito, willing herself not to think about it. If she didn’t stop, no telling what would happen. Lord knew Lucas wouldn’t stop her if she tried to get naked with him on the beach. She shook her head at the thought but stopped when Lucas’ finger swiped along her bottom lip.

“Sauce,” he said gruffly.

She smiled as she looked down, picking her burrito apart. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Fallon went back to eating her burrito as they sat in comfortable silence. It had always been so easy between them when things were good. When things weren’t, Lucas was nuts with his anger. Fallon had been around him for a solid month and she hadn’t seen it but once. Plus he had apologized right afterwards. It was so unreal that Fallon didn’t believe that she was sitting with the same Lucas Brooks that she used to sit with so long ago.

“I wanted to answer your question from last night.”

Fallon looked up at him to see that he was looking down at the top of his drink, running his finger over the bumps on the lid. “Huh?”

“You asked me why I cheated on you,” he said.

Air rushed from Fallon’s lungs. He had heard her?

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” he said before looking up at her. His eyes were so sad that it made Fallon’s heart stop while he held her gaze with his. “I didn’t mean to.”

Fallon looked down since she didn’t want him to see her roll her eyes. “How do you not mean to?”

“Fallon, look at me,” he demanded, and she did. He took in a ragged breath and his shoulders dropped as he said, “I was an alcoholic and pill popper.”