“That’s what you need,” Lexie said drily.
No. What Luke needed was quality flirt-with-Lexie time.
The bus tour was genius. Luke hobbled up the stairs, then took the aisle seat so he could stretch out his knee. The bus was slow and wound its way around a long route, taking them past famous building after famous building, landmark sculptures and bridges. Luke ran his arm along the back of her seat and watched her reaction to his proximity. More delightful color. Even more when he leaned close to make a comment as they passed one of his favorite buildings. But aside from the blush, she seemed determined to outwardly ignore his moves. Instead, she chatted about the sights. And within twenty minutes of that, Luke forgot about his moves too—she was too funny to listen to. She blossomed with enthusiasm for the experience, and with his appreciative laughter.
She opened up, talking about her trips around Australia and Asia. Was fully absorbed in learning all about these sights in London. It seemed she’d really gotten the bug. It suited her. Almost unconsciously, Luke moved closer still. “You really went to Vietnam on your own?” he asked, unable to reconcile that mental image with the terrified teen he’d once found lost and alone in a fairground.
“I really did.”
“And three months in southeast Africa?”
“I was on a tour for that.” She downplayed it. “You wouldn’t believe how beautiful those beaches were.”
He’d love to go to a beach with Lexie. He’d love to go to all these places she’d been to—with her. “No wonder you made a good travel agent,” he said. “You make all these places sound amazing. You’re so enthusiastic it’s infectious.”
“They are amazing places. So are the people you get to meet,” she grinned. “It’s such an exciting thing to do.”
He wondered what amazing guys she’d met in her travels and frowned. “I haven’t traveled anywhere near as much.”
“And you’re fifty rungs higher on the corporate ladder then me because of that.”
Was that necessarily a good thing? Luke wasn’t sure. Of course it was, in some ways, but now he had the feeling his balance was a little off. “Where’s next on your list?”
She frowned and absently rubbed the side of her neck. “I’m not sure. I think I need to actually get on the corporate ladder now.” She smiled ruefully. “I can’t get to where I really want to go without the funds.”
Luke shifted and signaled for them to get off at the next stop. He looked up at the giant white Ferris wheel with its large passenger capsules. She used to be terrified of heights. No doubt she was over it now, given she was the worldly traveler, but he couldn’t resist a trip down memory lane. He looked for her reaction but she acted as cool as the cucumbers the British sliced into a sandwich. Yeah, she was all in control now. Well, almost. Because the queue for the London Eye gave Luke the excuse to stand too close and delight in her blushing skin. That one last giveaway she couldn’t control. But she determinedly chatted away, firmly keeping her gaze on the river. Now, along with the blush, he saw the way her hands were tightly fisted. The question was whether that anxiety was caused by the upcoming trip into the sky or by him—or both. But she didn’t refer to the giant machine they were standing right beside. She just kept on chatting. Maybe she’d learned to cover up her emotions, but not necessarily wholly control them.
She’d always felt things deeply—nerves, stress. But also fun and frivolity. When she’d let herself go she was full of the fire her hair hinted at—hidden, bright flames that burned deep. He wanted her to let go again, with him.
“There’s not a lot of point going up there today, is there?” she said quietly, finally referring to the wheel. Her voice sounded almost perfectly calm—just the faintest edge gave her away. “It looks like rain. It’s so overcast I’m not sure we’ll see anything.”
So she was nervous. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” His own voice sounded thirty-a-day husky. Hell, he wanted to help her through this the way he once had before.
He watched her pulse rapidly beat in the base of her neck. Saw her tense swallow. “Are you still scared of heights, Lexie?” he asked. “Can’t you just relax and enjoy the view?”
She looked at him, not answering. Did she remember the last time he’d told her to relax and enjoy the view? She didn’t answer as they were propelled forward in the line. The capsules moved in slow-mo as they stepped up to the platform. And the doors opened.
Five
While the sky was overcast and the temperature was warm, Lexie was as cold as the ice cream in a kiddie cone. She didn’t want to do this, but no way was she letting Luke see how scared she was. She was sure he remembered and she recognized that look on his face—he was testing her. This was all a challenge. And she suspected that not only was he challenging her, but she was a challenge herself. A goal for him to achieve. Why was it guys had to compete so much—to tick targets, including women, off? He hadn’t grown up at all. He might do all the right things, be Mr. Charitable with his marathon guide efforts and all, but the fact remained he was still spoiled—a gorgeous guy who’d had everything come to him too easily. Especially women. He was a jerk. Unfortunately he was a breath-stealing, handsome jerk who appeared to care about all kinds.
Right now he took her hand in a firm hold and walked with her into the capsule of the oversized Ferris wheel. She had no idea how many other people came into the compartment with them—she was too busy scoping the dimensions of the thing and whether the glass looked likely to shatter.
She could handle the open-topped tour bus, but the London Eye was way too high. Her skin chilled, her breathing shallowed. She really didn’t want to do this. But at the same time she did, because she didn’t want to show weakness in front of him. Not again. Not when she remembered how he’d tried to calm her nerves that last time.
But bone-deep instinct won, and at the last minute Lexie tried to tug free and back out. Luke flexed his killer muscles so hard she quickly quit that idea. He’d break all the bones in her hand if he wasn’t careful. She glared at him and encountered his equally scorching expression. Her heart stopped altogether. He suddenly tugged her hand. Taken by surprise, she stumbled toward him. He wrapped his other arm firmly around her waist to haul her closer. The next second, his lips swept across her cheekbone in a light caress.
A violent tremble shook her
“Don’t be scared, Lexie.”
Oh, it wasn’t fear causing her to shake now. She sucked in a deep breath. She hadn’t been this close to Luke in years. Not since… She blanked out that memory and turned her head away. It wasn’t going to happen again.
Well, her hands were no longer cold, that was for sure. One was still locked within his, the other spread wide on the expanse of his chest in a defensive gesture. But man, was he hot. And now so was all of her. She was totally burning up because in that split second every fantasy she’d ever had flashed through her head.
“Luke…” She lost her words as she watched his black-brown eyes go even darker. Watched as for once he looked at her—right at her—for eons, before his eyes slid lower to spend forever on her mouth. And it seemed the longer he looked, the closer he was.
His gaze seared her skin and her thoughts turned to chaos. Surely he wasn’t going to kiss her? Never. But maybe he was—was he going to kiss her just to soothe her nerves? The way he had all those years ago? She wriggled, trying to put an inch between them. Because she was not turned on by that idea. So not turned on.
So turned on.
His eyes glittered wickedly. “Do you remember that time on the Ferris wheel?”
Of course she remembered it. He’d done it then, hadn’t he—kissed her to calm her down. Only it had the opposite effect.
She breathed hard, wishing she could stop the huge blush. Her skin felt on fire. “No. What time was that?” She desperately wanted to play it cool.
He laughed. “Liar. You were scared shitless.”
He’d found her. She’d lost Dani at that big f
air. She’d been looking up at the big wheel and wishing she had the guts for it. But heights had always been hard for her. Then he’d come along and she’d wanted to prove she could. He didn’t try to cajole her, he didn’t really say anything. He just looked at her as though he knew she could do it. And she’d wanted to—with him.
“You sat there next to me, refusing to acknowledge you were scared out of your mind,” Luke stepped closer so his rock-hard stomach was sealed to hers. “And when we finally got back to the zenith you turned and smiled at me. First time you ever really smiled just at me. Your lips, your eyes…your skin was glowing. You were so pretty.”
Lexie swallowed. She remembered that exact moment. The wheel had stopped—they were stuck at the top for a moment, only a moment. But that had been enough. He’d kissed her. He’d kissed her and kept kissing her. The wheel had started again and she hadn’t seen a thing. She’d been too busy feeling passion for the first time in her life. A kiss that had started sweet and soon turned hot—his tongue stroking her lips until she’d parted them. She’d let him kiss her. She’d let him in. And she kissed him back. Her first taste of intimacy and it had meant something to her. It had been bliss.
Until their turn to leave the Ferris wheel came and Dani was waiting for her at the bottom and he just walked off. Never once looking back. Never once mentioning it again.
Until now.
He’d made her feel like such a kid. She’d been so open with him—he had to have felt her adoration—but he’d ignored her completely. She’d had to work so hard to hide how much it had hurt, how much she’d wanted to cry. And she hadn’t. That was the first time, the worst time, that she’d controlled her wayward emotions. Until then she’d been an overly sensitive crybaby who’d struggled with new situations and meeting new people. Truth be told, she still struggled with that. She could do it so much more easily now—control her nerves, her fears. She could manage lots of things, including him. And damn it, she could control her desires too.
“My father tore strips off me.” Luke said quietly.
“He saw us?” Her eyes widened as she stared up at him. “Seriously?”
“They all saw.”
Oh, dear heaven. How embarrassing was that? She’d had no clue.
“He saw and he told me I wasn’t to go near you again.” He grimaced. “He did more than tell.”
Lexie gaped. “You got in trouble?”
“As big as it got.” His arms tightened around her, drawing her closer still.
All his muscles were big and tense, and Lexie was trying so hard not to melt on the spot. Desperately she resisted the urge to lean right against him.
“You never said anything,” she whispered.
“Now you know why.”
“You still could have said something. Anything.”
“I didn’t think you gave a damn. You never looked at me again. Not once.”
“I was shy,” she said harshly. “Anyway, it didn’t take you long to find someone else.”
His mouth twisted.
“Several someone elses,” Lexie said, reminding herself as much as she was him.
She pulled her muscles taut to gain a little distance and looked away from the intensity in his eyes. That’s when she realized they were moving—had been this whole time. The wheel was spinning and she hadn’t looked out the damn window once. Hadn’t looked beyond him to see the other passengers or the three-sixty view or anything.
But at least she wasn’t scared. No, instead she was furious.
She looked back at him. He hadn’t moved—was still too close, too focused. And he still had that half-smile playing on his lips. He was going to kiss her again. Now. Was this why he’d brought her here? To replay that moment in their past?
Well, that wasn’t happening. She wasn’t being the challenge again. She didn’t trust him—not someone so thoroughly spoiled. Guys who had it too easy walked away too easy, too. She’d had to learn that one more than once and she didn’t need a repeat.
“You know, the view really isn’t that great up here.” She pushed out of his arms, proudly standing alone as their capsule hit the highest point of the wheel. “It’s too cloudy to see far. We should get back on the bus.”
Six
Lexie marched back to the bus as soon as they were off the Eye. She wasn’t playing his game. She wasn’t going to let him get away with a lame excuse and think he could get what little he wanted that easily.
“What are you going to do?” Luke broke the silence ten minutes later when they were on board and taking in a new sightseeing route. “You’re going to stay in London, right?” He shifted in his seat, his knee obviously bugging him.
“I’m not sure,” she said, refusing to feel bad about his injury. He’d been the one insisting on doing this today. But she was glad he’d gone for a total topic change.
“Why don’t you build your own online travel company?”
She laughed in disbelief. “No.” She shook her head. “I can’t design the site. I could run it, but I’d need huge technical support.”
“So get technical support.” He leaned closer. “All those clients you had, they must be looking for a new service.”
“They’re in Australia,” she drawled sarcastically. It would never work.
“What does that matter? It's online. And if there was a need there you can bet there’d be a need here.”
She frowned. “You do like to make the impossible seem possible, don’t you?”
“Do I?” A laugh was shaken from him.
“It’s what you do. This amazing feat and then that incredible job and then something else altogether astounding. You’ve always got some mission on.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Because sometimes it was. Because that’s what she was today, wasn’t she? Another mission to him. Another challenge. That’s why he was standing so close all the time, sending intimate smiles her way. Thanks to his knee he had nothing else to do. It wasn’t that he was that into her. The guy just couldn’t be without a goal—no matter how small it might be. “I guess it depends on each mission. But is that all life is to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you have to win all the time? Win the scholarships, be the youngest consultant, get the plum job transfer, land the plush apartment, date the models, do the marathon… When is it enough?”
“It’s never enough,” he grinned, clearly treating the conversation as a joke.
“For whom?” She really wondered. “Do you need people’s admiration that badly? The kudos?” She shook her head.
He sat back, his forehead creasing. “It’s not about impressing other people.”
“No?”
“I don’t care what other people think of me,” he said bluntly. “But I do have a ‘need-to-win’ gene. And I’m not going to apologize for that.”
No. And in truth she didn’t really want him to. But she wasn’t a thing to be won—no woman was. “You know, all the things you did inspired me once.”
“Once?”
She nodded. He’d inspired her to do something she didn’t think she could do—something as little as riding on a Ferris wheel. That day had been a turning point. He’d helped her lay the first solid block of confidence within herself. Then he’d broken her heart. But in some ways that experience too had cemented her growth—her determination to manage her emotions, to develop and prove them all wrong. That she wasn’t too shy and scared to do anything exciting. She’d had to work so hard to hide that he’d hurt her. And it was such a silly, small teen hurt. But it had taught her that she could do it. She could fake it. And so she did, she had. She’d discovered she could adventure with the best of them.
“Only the once?” he didn’t look that thrilled. “Not any more?”
“So much of the stuff you do is amazing,” she said carefully. “But I wonder why you need to prove yourself over and over.”
“Like I said, it’s not about what other people t
hink. But I don’t believe in wasting life,” he said. “Got to make the most of it, don’t you think?”
She laughed. “I guess.”
“No guess about it. There might never be a second chance—you’ve got to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way.”
That’s what he did every time, right? He made the most of everything and played every game to win—no matter the consequence or impact on anyone else. Because he didn’t care about what others thought—or did? Or even felt?
She looked at him, wishing she could see inside his head and figure out whether he truly was all gold on the inside, or whether the glitter that emanated from him was merely the superficial finish she suspected it to be.
Somehow he’d gotten closer again—so close she could see each dark eyelash framing his eyes. She no longer knew what famous landmark they were driving by, there was only Luke—looking at her and looking like he was determined to win. But she didn’t want to be the prize. Not when she knew it wasn’t about the prize for him. It was all in the challenge.
Suddenly he sat back, letting go of her hand to dig his phone out of his pocket. She hadn’t even realized it was ringing. She tried not to listen in too obviously.
“Hey, how’s she doing?” Luke asked. There was a long moment of silence as he listened to whoever was on the other end.
“Is she there?” he asked quietly. “Put her on for me.”
Another few seconds. “Hey, how are you?”
Even from the distance she could hear the anxious tones of the woman on the other end. Asking about Luke, voicing her fears. Seeking his reassurance.
And he gave it.
“Don’t be crazy. Of course you can do it. You never needed me. It’s all within you.” He listened some more. “So he’s taller than me? Well then, that’s perfect. It’s going to be fine.” He leaned forward, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand. “Yeah, no, I’m fine. Just needs time to heal. I’ll be watching you on the day and shouting loud. But you just need to forget about me and get on with it. Focus. You can do it.”
Her Forbidden Crush Page 4
