One Hundred Ways: An Aspen Cove Romance

by Collins, Kelly

  He seemed fascinated with her breasts while she was captivated by everything that was Luke.

  He spent his time working his mouth from her ankles to her neck and everything in-between. The man was a great kisser, but that tongue had talents of its own.

  He tasted her body and groaned, telling her she was the perfect mix of salty and sweet.

  Her hands roamed every inch of him. He was a man of contrasts, from his soft skin to his hard length.

  They didn’t rush into the act; they built up a frenzy of passion that had her body shaking each time he touched her.

  With his tongue and fingers, he brought her to the edge so many times her muscles ached from the fatigue.

  “Please,” she begged. She lifted to see him kiss her inner thigh. His tongue was like a heated lashing against her skin. When he drew his mouth to her needy core, she held her breath, knowing the minute she quivered on the edge, he’d pull away, but he didn’t.

  He licked and suckled until her knees shook and her insides burst into flames. It was like riding a roller coaster through the heat of hell, only to soar into heaven.

  Ripples of pleasure moved through her body like a stream heading into rapids. The roiling rough waters washed away any thought that she was damaged.

  When her thundering heart settled down to a steady beat, he climbed between her thighs. He reached for his pants and pulled out a condom. She watched him expertly roll it on in a microsecond.

  Pressed at her entrance, he looked down at her with such love in his eyes. Heavy-lidded and full of passion, the green had grown deep and dark, like nature-made emeralds.

  “You’re perfect, Riley, perfect for me.” In a single, steady thrust, he filled her up. She lowered her hands to his hips and held on while he moved inside her.

  “God, it’s so damn good,” she said and meant it. Luke was an all-in kind of man. He made love with his whole body and made sure she felt loved on every inch of hers.

  Slow, lazy strokes made her want to melt into the blanket. Hard, forceful thrusts sent her soaring. She matched his movement. Copied his rhythm. They were like a finely tuned instrument.

  She tried to flip him over but was no match for his strength.

  “My turn to work your body. Your turn to lie back and feel.”

  He smiled and flipped them over so she straddled him. Though the floor under the blanket was hard on her knees, the feeling of having him deep inside her compensated for any discomfort she experienced.

  He gripped her hips and set the pace he liked. Up and down she moved until she saw his jaw flex and his eyes close.

  Two could play at his game. She rose onto her knees, pulling him almost completely from her body. When she heard him growl his displeasure, she sank fully onto his rod.

  “Jeez, Riley. You’re trying to kill me.”

  “No, I’m making sure you feel good. Making sure you’ll remember this moment for a long time. I want you to want it so badly that, like me, you’ll beg.” She leaned forward and nipped at his lips.

  “I’ll beg you right now. Please put me out of my misery.”

  She laughed. “Not yet. I haven’t had my fill of you.”

  “Careful, sweetheart. Those words give me lots of ideas.”

  She teased and tortured him until he was begging her. When she wouldn’t relent, he used his strength to take control.

  She found herself on the bottom again. His powerful thrusts urged her body to peak again.

  “Are you getting your fill?” He leaned down and pulled a taut nipple into his mouth.

  The tingling started at her toes and moved its way to her sex. A shift of his position gave her the extra friction she needed.

  “Holy shit,” he called out as her muscles tightened down on him. The tiny flutters turned into vise-like spasms that coaxed him over the edge. Together, they found their pleasure.

  In a tangle of limbs, their sweat-covered bodies came down from the high. He tied off the used condom, setting it aside, and spooned next to her. His fingers mindlessly caressed her skin until goosebumps rose.

  “Are you cold?”

  She rolled into him, putting her face against his chest. “No, I’m perfect.”

  His fingers traced the scars on her back. “Yes, you are.”

  They both dozed off for a few minutes, but it was Riley who shifted away. She stood and looked down at the sleeping man in front of her. His body was a work of art. She had run her tongue over his stomach at least a dozen times. Reveled in the way it dipped in and out of troughs of muscles. She knew he was built, but nothing could prepare her for how her heart flipped at the sight of him now.

  He told her he was falling hard and fast, but she’d already fallen, and she never wanted to get up.

  Luke stirred. His eyes opened halfway. “Are you leaving me?”

  She dropped to her knees and bent over to kiss him. “Never.”

  He let out a sigh of contentment. “I thought you were going to sneak out and leave me here naked on your floor.” Luke didn’t have an ounce of self-consciousness; then again, he was made by the gods himself.

  “I was watching you sleep. Better than a movie. Thought I’d step out for popcorn and come back.”

  He rolled to his knees and grabbed for the T-shirt that was still shoved in the pocket of his work pants. “I’m starving. How about we get a bite at the diner and take a walk?”

  “You’re feeding me again. I guess this was a date?”

  He rose to his feet and hopped into his pants. He folded up his gear and stepped into his boots.

  “Every minute I’m with you feels like a date.” He looked down at the blanket and smiled. “Best damn date I’ve ever had.”

  “Me, too.” She turned toward her sculpture. “Let me get everything put away.” She gave him a wink. “You know, safety first and all that.”

  “How about I go find some real shoes and meet you at your place in fifteen minutes?”

  “That will work.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a spine-tingling kiss. “It’s fifteen minutes too long, but I’ll see you soon.”

  She almost blurted out, “Love you.” Didn’t know why it was on the tip of her tongue, because she’d never said those words to anyone except her brother and father.

  She tidied up her workspace, making sure the hoses were rolled up and put away. She double checked the power and unplugged the equipment. Better safe than sorry.

  She barely made it inside her place before she heard the light knock on her door. It dawned on her Luke had never been in her apartment.

  She trotted down the stairs and let him in. “Come up for a second. You can check out the apartment while I change my clothes.”

  He followed her up. “Damn, this is nicer than my rental.”

  She smiled. “Your rental is great.” She walked into her bedroom, shedding her clothes along the way.

  “Is this an erector set?” he called from the living room.

  “Yep, my first welding project, although I used a soldering gun. Got the whooping of a lifetime because it wasn’t only mine. Baxter was half-owner.”

  She rummaged through her closet. She didn’t have many clothes. With a pink dress and yellow one in her hand, she debated between them.

  “The pink tonight, the yellow tomorrow.” He leaned his head on her shoulder and kissed her neck.

  “You’re like a cat moving soundlessly through my place.”

  “I like your place.”

  “You can stay the night if you’d like.” She hung the yellow dress back in the closet and put on the pink.

  “I’d like that.”

  Once she’d washed her face and slicked on some gloss, she was ready.

  Hand in hand, they walked across the street to the diner. Meg was pulling the night shift.

  Riley went to pull her hand away from Luke’s, but he held on tight. “You’re my girlfriend. I’m happy to let everyone know.”

  She laughed. “Everyone doesn’t have ac
cess to an array of sharp knives.”

  “I think she’s more bark than bite.”

  He led Riley to his favorite booth, the one he always sat at when he ate there.

  “When they find me dead, you’ll know where to look first.” She slid into the booth and expected him to slide in the bench across from her, but he scooted her in and took the space beside her.

  The swinging doors flew open, and Meg walked in. She stopped in her saddle shoes and let her mouth fall open. Once she tucked her shock away, she pasted on a smile and walked over.

  “Hope you haven’t been waiting long.” She held up her pinup girl lighter. “Bad habits.”

  “Just walked in.”

  “Together, I see.” She leaned her hip against the table and pulled out her order pad. “What will it be, handsome?” Meg looked at Luke as if he were alone.

  “I’ll have a diet soda.” He turned toward Riley. “What about you?”

  “Water is good for me.”

  “Boring.” Meg leaned in to Luke, but her voice wasn’t a whisper. “When you’re ready to up your game, you know where to find me.”

  Luke turned away from Meg and looked at Riley. “You look beautiful.”

  Meg pushed off the table. “If you’re into Earth Mother, with a touch of Barbie.”

  Once Meg knew they wouldn’t be nibbling at her bait, she left to get their drinks.

  “Someone is getting poisoned tonight, and it’s not you.”

  He pressed his soft lips against hers. “Nor you. She’s like a kid throwing a temper tantrum. Don’t be afraid to fight back.”

  She shrunk. “I’m not much of a fighter.”

  He wrapped his arm around her. “No, you’re one hell of a lover.”

  When Meg returned, she took their order. A grilled cheese sandwich and fries for her, and a double cheeseburger with onion rings for him.

  They enjoyed quiet conversation while they ate.

  When Meg dropped off their check, she leaned against the back of the bench across from them.

  “You don’t eat any meat?” she asked Riley.

  “Nope, I don’t eat meat of any kind.”

  A hateful smirk crossed Meg’s face. She turned her attention toward Luke. “You poor thing...that must mean blow jobs are completely off the table.”

  Riley tensed until Luke set his hand on her thigh. “While she might not eat meat, she seems to enjoy my cucumber.”

  Both women were stunned into silence, but it was Riley who responded. She shoved her hip into his until he moved from the booth.

  “Both of you are awful.” She looked at Meg. “You because you're selfish and spiteful, and you…” She whirled around to face Luke, "because even though you see me, you’ve not heard a word I’ve said.”

  She was too angry to be hurt. She marched out the door and across the street toward her apartment.

  She mumbled to herself while she walked “First you make me the town firebug, and now you make me the town whore.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “Dammit.” Luke wanted to chase after her but needed to pay the check. He tossed two twenties on the table and took off out the door.

  She was rounding the building when he caught up with her.

  “Riley, hold up.” He chased her all the way to her door. “Can we talk?"

  Her hands were shaking so badly she struggled to get her key in the door. When they fell to the ground, she sank to the cement with them.

  “Why would you do that?” She turned her back to the door and brought her knees up to her chin, tucking the fabric of her dress around her bottom.

  “I thought I was defending you.”

  She looked up at him with saucer-sized eyes. “By telling her I enjoyed your cucumber?”

  Hearing it come out of another mouth made it sound worse than how it played out in his head.

  “I was claiming you. Telling her you belonged to me.”

  She pushed out her legs, forcing him to shift to her side. He leaned against the door and slid down to take a seat beside her.

  “All you told her was you gave me something she’s wanted all along. She and I are two dogs after a bone.”

  He chuckled. “I’m the bone.”

  Riley tried to stop the laugh bubbling up inside her. “Apparently not. You’re a cucumber.”

  He shouldered her gently. “You like cucumbers.”

  She leaned into him, pressing her head to his shoulder.

  “I like yours, but the entire town doesn’t need to know.”

  Luke was glad he hadn’t angered her beyond repair. If she was willing to joke with him, then what they had begun together wasn’t lost.

  “I’m sorry. I hated the way she badgered you, and on some level, it was a slight against me, too. As if, somehow, your dietary preferences would count me out. My intention was simply to toss back what she was dishing out.”

  She wrapped her hands around his bicep. He loved the way her touch warmed him all over. They were in the middle of a disagreement, and still, her touch was loving and tender. There wasn’t a mean bone in Riley’s body.

  Her chin lifted, and she looked up at him with eyes that spoke a thousand words in a single glance. Words that said she didn’t trust but wanted to. She didn’t want to fight with him but had to stand her ground. She didn’t want this to define them.

  “If you’re going to be my boyfriend, you have to understand the dynamic of my life.”

  “Tell me what I need to know.”

  She looked over her shoulder at the door. “You want to come upstairs?”

  He hopped to his feet and offered her his hand. “More than anything.” He pulled her to her feet. Without letting go of her hand, for fear she’d change her mind, he bent over, picked up her keys, and unlocked the door.

  They had two doors to get through before they were in her apartment. The bottom door led to the bakery and upstairs to her apartment, and the upper door let them inside her place.

  “I have coffee, water, and juice.”

  He didn’t want anything. All he wanted was to iron out this wrinkle between them. He sat on the blue couch and patted the spot beside him.

  “I want you to tell me how to be a better boyfriend.”

  She sank into the spot beside him. She played with the applique flower on her dress. “All my life, I’ve been an outsider. Even in my own home. All I want is to belong somewhere.”

  He slid his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. “You belong to me.” In his heart, he knew that to be the honest truth. Riley Black came to Aspen Cove looking for something, and she found him.

  “When my dad died, the first thing Kathy did was put the house up for sale, which meant I no longer had a place to live.”

  “You’re twenty-seven. Why were you living with your parents?”

  She smiled. “I wasn’t freeloading. When the shop burned down, my father had it rebuilt with a studio apartment on the second floor. He wanted me and Baxter to have a place to land if we needed one.”

  “You needed one?” It was obvious at this point he and Riley didn’t know much about each other. They’d exchanged the compulsory information about age, food likes, dislikes, favorite colors, but she was right, he didn’t know much about her family dynamics except her stepmother sounded like an awful person.

  “No, but my dad wanted me close by. I think I always acted as a buffer for him. He felt better if I was around, so he offered me the place.”

  “What did Kathy think about that?”

  “She thought it was great because she could charge me rent.”

  “How did you earn money in Butte?”

  She got a sly smile on her face. “I was a professional produce tester. You know how I like those cucumbers.”

  “Oh, so now it’s a joke.” How funny that a few minutes and some clarity could turn something hateful and hurtful into something funny. Life was all about perspective.

  “Seriously though, I did work at a grocery store stocking produce, so it�
�s not too far off the mark. On weekends, I helped my father.”

  He hated she sat next to him, where he couldn’t easily read her expression, so he maneuvered her so she straddled his legs and looked into his face.

  “This is what I’ve got so far. You had a mean stepmother. Your brother left you when he went off to college and never came back. Your father abandoned you to a bottle of booze until he died.”

  She shook her head. “That about sums it up, but Kathy wasn’t mean, she hated me.”

  Luke set his hands on her hips. “How is that even possible when you’re so loveable?”

  “You tease, but she literally hated me. She was kind to my brother and tolerant of my father, but me…”

  “Did you ever ask her why she was mean?”

  She shook her head. “No, why would I?”

  “To get answers. I found everyone looks at things through a different lens. We all see the same scene but have different versions. I wonder if she truly hated you or if you misinterpreted her intentions.”

  Riley pulled back, and he was positive she would leap off his lap, so he tightened his grip on her hips.

  “Are you taking her side?”

  He moved his hands around her body and clasped them together, locking her in place.

  “No, but my dad always told me there were three sides to every story. There was your side, my side, and the truth, and no one is lying.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Everyone has their own truth and motivations. It might serve you well to ask her what her problem with you was. Maybe it’s not what you think.”

  She looked past him like she was contemplating his words. “I never thought about her motivations. I assumed it was because somehow, I took something away from her. Maybe I looked like my mom, or maybe my father gave me too much attention.”

  “You’ll never know until you ask. There’s no risk. She’s out of your life, so if she gets angry, she’s still out of your life.”

  “You’re right. It’s that her words are so hurtful. It was always 'You’d be pretty if only…,’ 'You’d be more successful if only…'”

  “Listen to me. You’re perfect the way you are. While you see yourself as damaged and flawed, I see you as a beautiful woman with so much to offer.”