by Lori Wilde
She clung to his waist and the scent of her filled his nose. Gone was the tough, trash-talking woman who liked to stun and in her place was a soft vulnerable Callie.
His gut wrenched and he loosened his grip.
“Don’t let go,” she whimpered into the hollow of his neck.
And that was the moment Luke figured out that her sassy, bad-girl bravado was actually protecting a very tender heart. The plaintive look in her eyes made him realize just how much he wanted to protect her.
“I won’t,” he promised. “I’m not going anywhere.”
For several minutes they simply stood there in the moonlight, waiting for the police to show up to take their statements, gazing into each other’s faces. It was the oddest sensation, but he felt knocked off balance. Drunk even. Impossible. He’d only had three swallows of his Michelob. But how else could he explain this feeling?
What was it about her that made it seem as if his throat was suddenly full of his heart? He hovered in terrible limbo, knowing he shouldn’t kiss her, but certain he was going to.
He captured her sweet face between his palms and was thinking about capturing her mouth with his own when the patrol car pulled into Madigan’s parking lot. He was both disappointed and relieved at the interruption.
A uniformed officer got out of the squad car. “You the guy who called about the drunk driver?”
“Yes.”
The officer took their statements, but since Luke wasn’t able to give him the license plate number, the policeman didn’t hold out much hope they’d catch the guy. Luke told him about the threats Callie had been receiving. The officer seemed inclined to believe it was nothing more than a drunk driver, but he instructed Luke to call the department immediately if anything suspicious occurred. Fifteen minutes after he’d arrived, the officer departed.
Luke turned to face Callie, which was his first mistake, and his second one was believing he could maintain any objectivity where she was concerned. She stared at him with such knowledge he felt as if she were peering right inside his soul. As if she’d gained unauthorized access to his deepest secrets.
“Take me back to the hotel,” Callie begged and ran her hot pink tongue over his lips, pressing her lithe form against his solid one. “I need you tonight.”
At that moment, he knew he was going to take her to bed.
It was wrong. No question about that. But he’d spent the last three nights fighting off his desires and the last twenty-nine years doing the right thing, staying on the right track so he seemed almost destined for this one slipup, this single mistake.
He would probably regret it later. He was fully aware of the potential consequences, but he could not stop himself. She needed the comfort of his body and he was desperate to comfort her.
Without another word, Luke scooped her into his arms and walked back to their hotel. She entwined her fingers around his neck, hanging on as if he was the only thing standing between her and nothingness.
He had to admit he liked the feeling of taking care of her. Protecting her. Being her hero. But would he know what to do with her once he had her in bed? He didn’t want to fumble, didn’t want to make a blunder. He wanted everything to be perfect.
She knew her way around a sex act and he did not. What if he embarrassed himself? Worse, what if he disappointed her? Hellacious thing for a man. To be almost thirty and little more than a virgin.
Don’t think about your deficiencies. What is the one thing you can give her that no one else can?
That was an easy one. He could fulfill her fantasies. Give her everything she wanted. He would be like the stable man in the illicit stories she told. He would use his fingers to trace a road map over her body. Lingering where she wanted him to linger. Skimming where she begged him to skim. Learning exactly how to trip her trigger.
Luke hurried, Callie snug in his arms. They barely got into the suite and she was tearing at his clothes.
He claimed possession of her mouth, owning it, staking it.
Her lips were velvety soft and so damned feminine. Her teeth parted, letting him in. He kissed her passionately, fiercely.
Too fast, too fast. He knew he was plunging ahead quickly but he did not know how to slow down. His body was filled with the pressure that had been building moment by moment.
Her spontaneity was attractive. She was an epicurean of life and she was everything he was not. She was open, expressive, unrestrained. She enlivened everyone around her. Some might consider her a flake but Luke thought of her as dynamic and free. He wished he could be so flexible, so full of life. She was real and true with her sexuality and he admired her for it.
Callie slid to her knees before him, a wild glow of excitement in her eyes. The contour of her lips changed, her posture was looser. Her fingers worked frantically, undoing his pants. She tugged his trousers to his knees and he kicked out of them.
His cock was rock hard.
He flinched at the first touch of her mouth, but her lips felt so hot and wet around his shaft that Luke couldn’t help groaning. The sensation was achingly sweet and so powerful he had to lace his fingers through her hair to keep from toppling over.
He was a lucky, lucky bastard. No doubt about it. He looked down at her and his heart stuttered.
He swayed.
She spread her hands over his buttocks to help steady him, her fingers splaying into his flesh. And when her mouth latched on to him with force, Luke’s eyes rolled back in his head. She was lapping and suckling as if she could never get enough of him. He knew he couldn’t get enough of her.
She tickled the small of his back with one hand, cupped his balls with the other. Luke almost yelped. It felt that damned incredible.
Systemically, she set about dismantling him with her mouth.
He felt embarrassed then and in spite of his body’s intense ache, he wanted to reach down to pull her to her feet but he was ensnared in a chaotic whirlwind of sensation. He was afraid and he was afraid to admit he was afraid. He wanted his serenity back. He wanted to feel balanced again. This powerful sexual attraction caused him an inner dishevelment that went against his honorable intentions.
Luke moaned as the heat escalated inside him. Her rhythm picked up. Her hands slid all over his body. Indescribable, this intimacy. His chest expanded, tightened. It was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. This took the meaning of sex to a whole new level for him.
“Yes,” he hissed as she moved back and forth, her hair a soft glide beneath his fingers. “Yes, yes, yes.”
Callie worked her magic with her fingers, her tongue leading him into uncharted territory. He was on sensory overload as she gently guided him to a paradise he’d only dreamed of.
But this wasn’t a dream. The warm wetness of her mouth, the sweet taste of her kiss still lingering on his tongue, her heavenly feminine scent, the sound of the ocean wafting in through the open French doors. This new awareness of him, of her was breaking up his brittle outer shell. All the old failures and disappointments fell away.
She was beyond beauty to him. She was pure life, pure joy. She and her sensual impulses merged together against all the rules of proper conduct. Her mouth moved over him without caution or fear. She pushed him past his knowledge of himself. He had never before been so physically possessed. Her movements shook his world. The walls of the hotel room seemed to ripple. Could this be an earthquake?
No. The ground did not tremble, only his body.
Luke was nervous and exalted and awed. He accepted the inevitable.
“Yes,” she murmured, “That’s right. Release all your preconceived notions.”
How had she discerned the mental shift in him? His acceptance. The letting go?
In the distance, Luke heard the soft hum of honeybees singing, calling him to their hive. He shook his head but the humming intensified, growing louder and stronger the more Callie plied her tongue against him.
Luke frowned. What was that noise?
A vibrator? Whoa. Where had she
gotten a vibrator?
He stiffened, suddenly nervous about what was going on down there. This was all new territory for him and he wasn’t quite sure he trusted her completely.
“Callie?”
“Shh,” she whispered against his shaft. “Shh.”
He stiffened and almost told her to stop but then he swallowed hard, took a leap of faith and decided to trust her.
The humming drew closer, a small round cylinder buzzing over his buttocks, his balls and the area in between until he could no longer tell vibration from fingers or tongue. His knees were quaking and he was as loaded and hot as he could ever be.
Past thinking, with no coherent thought residing in his head, he was nothing but cock and ass and balls.
Vibrating. Humming. Buzzing with sensation.
Relentlessly, Callie pushed him forward. He was aching, gushing, throbbing, beating. He threw back his head and let loose with a primal cry, pleading for release from this magnificent torture, for the ecstasy he could almost touch.
Tingling. Pounding. Rushing.
Soon. Please, please let it be soon. It had better be or he was going to drop dead from need.
And then, just like that, it was upon him.
Luke tumbled. Jerking and trembling into the abyss, hurtling across time and space. Lost. Enveloped by the chasm. The earth, the sky, the air, the ocean exploded in a ball of white-hot rapture.
He peered down, blinked. He could barely see. Callie was sitting at his feet, smiling coyly, her lips glistening creamy and wet. She winked at him and swallowed his essence like a greedy cat at the milk.
Luke pitched forward onto his knees and then collapsed onto his side. He lay there sweating, shuddering, panting for breath.
The honeybees were gone. His cock emptied. He tucked himself into a fetal position while he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened.
Callie curled up on the carpet beside him. She spooned against his back. For a long while they just lay there together, not speaking, waiting for him to recover.
When at last he could rouse himself, Luke lifted his head, gave her a satisfied grin and said, “Now, it’s your turn.”
10
“LET’S TAKE A BATH,” Luke suggested. “I’ve been fantasizing about getting you in one ever since you invited me to join you there.”
Callie nodded, still too overwhelmed by what she’d just done to him to even speak. She glanced up to find Luke’s eyes on hers, scanning her inch by inch. It was clear that he did not think any less of her. In fact, he looked quite pleased.
He took her by the hand and led her into the bathroom. She meekly acquiesced. He seated her at the vanity, turning the chair around so she could watch him. She was supposed to be teaching him, but it seemed he was the one giving the lessons.
His bare taut buttocks flexed as he moved. The pale skin on his bare butt contrasted to the tan above his waist. She went breathless staring at his abs. The man had to spend hours a day at the gym. Mesmerized, Callie could not look away. He put any male model she had ever seen to shame.
He was glorious. All biceps and triceps and glutes and hamstrings. Take that, Adonis. She couldn’t ever remember having such a well-built lover. She would remember this body for a long time to come.
And his face!
Straight out of a fantasy. His jaw was square, his cheekbones prominent. His dark hair glistened in the light, the severe short cut suited him. There was nothing frivolous about him.
Luke drew the bath, adding the foaming bath beads he found on the counter. They scented the air with the smell of fruit and sunshine.
“Music,” he said. “We need music.”
Callie pointed out that there was a stereo system in the sitting area with surround-sound speakers that were piped into the bathroom. First-class honeymoon suite in a five-star resort. Not too shabby.
“Be right back,” he said and disappeared.
The bathtub was heart shaped and decadently big. You could host a small orgy in the thing if you had a mind to do such a thing. Callie sat in the chair, watching the tub fill up, smelling the scent of peaches and strawberries and thinking about Luke.
Soon, the soft sounds of classical music trickled through the wall and Luke was back with two glasses of champagne, one clasped in each hand. He set the flutes down, and then lit the trio of white coconut-scented candles on the wall mount over the tub.
“Where’d you get champagne?”
“Minibar.”
She arched an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”
“I know, I know. Too expensive, but this is a special occasion. The first time we make love.”
His smile was so tender, so genuine, something inside Callie pricked uncomfortably.
“Luke,” she said. “We have to talk.”
“Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.”
“Sit.” She waved at the edge of the tub.
So he sat.
“Listen.” Callie paused, not knowing quite how to say what she had to say.
“Got both ears trained on you, sweetheart.”
“I think we should get something straight before we take this any further.”
“What’s on your mind?”
How many times had she given this I’m-not-the-marrying-kind-so-don’t-go-falling-in-love-with-me speech? It was never easy, but this time, it was particularly difficult. She liked Luke. More than she had any right to like him but this had to be said. She didn’t want to set him up for unrealistic expectations.
“I just wanted to make sure you understand, this thing between us.” She motioned from her to him and back again. “Is temporary. A good time. Nothing more.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Because I don’t want you getting a broken heart.”
“I’m not going to get a broken heart.” He scowled. “I know what I’m doing.”
“You might. If we go down this road we’re going to have a lot of intimate fun and I’m worried you’ll confuse a good time with something more than it is.”
“I’m inexperienced, not an idiot.”
“Considering your ideas about sex and love and all that…” She was trying not to notice that he was growing rock hard again. “And you’re pretending to be my fiancé. It could set you up for a fall—big-time.”
“Beliefs can change.”
“So you promise not to fall in love with me?” She caught her breath, studied his face. “I won’t do this thing if you don’t promise.”
“We shouldn’t be doing this thing anyway,” he said. “From a logical point of view.”
“Screw logic. Just promise me.”
“I promise. There’s only one thing I want from you, Callie Ryder.”
“And what is that, Luke Cardasian?” she whispered, leaning forward.
“To learn everything I can about sex.”
“All right, then.” She straightened. “As long as we’re on the same page.”
“Let’s toast.” He raised his champagne glass. “To Callie Ryder’s world-class sex lessons.”
She forced a smile, clinked her glass against his and took a sip of champagne.
“To world-class sex,” she echoed and wondered why she felt so empty inside.
He drained his champagne in one long swallow and rested the glass on the bathroom counter. “I’m ready for lesson 101.”
“Hold on to your horses, mister.”
“You and the stable analogies.”
“It’s a girl thing,” she said and stuck out her tongue.
Then she got to her feet and slowly began to take off her clothes. She had performed lots of stripteases before and she’d never been self-conscious. Not even the first time she’d tried it.
But now, she found herself hesitating, fumbling at her buttons, feeling unsure of herself. What was wrong? Was it because Luke was looking at her as if he needed a pen and paper to take notes?
She rushed through the process, anxious to get it over with. He didn’t seem
to notice that he had received the abbreviated version of her burlesque moves.
Even the look of frank appreciation in his eyes when he saw her naked did nothing to allay her uneasiness. Turning her back to him, she slipped under the water, grateful to hide her body beneath the bubbles.
“Can I get in there with you?” he asked, after she had sunk down, closed her eyes and letting the effects of the heat and champagne relax her.
Slowly, she opened one eye. He was standing beside the tub, smiling tenderly.
See there. That smile. That smile was why she didn’t believe him when he promised that he wasn’t going to fall in love with her. His smile was too trusting and too hungry by half.
She almost told him to go away and leave her alone. Before she could say no, he was already dipping a foot into the water.
What was she doing in the bathtub with a man she’d known for only seventy-two hours? Normally she wasn’t hung up about sex or time limits or dating rules. But she had never gone to bed with someone after having only known them for a few days.
It felt weirdly wicked and forbiddenly fantastic and totally taboo.
Luke sank to his knees in the tub. He leaned forward, his chest above hers. He pressed his lips flush against her ear. His beard stubble tickled her skin.
“Teach me,” he whispered. “Show me how you like it. I’m here to please and this is all about you. Tell me everything about your body.”
Callie shuddered. This big man, kneeling in front of her, willingly admitting his inexperience, turning to her for guidance, wanting nothing more than to pleasure her.
“Bathe me,” she said. “Wash me clean.”
Now why had she said that?
But what was it that she wanted him to wash away? Her past? The possibility of a future with him? Or maybe she wished he would scrub off the Midnight Ryder. Expose the real Callie beneath the facade.
That notion left her feeling much more vulnerable than her nakedness ever could.
She nearly stopped the game right then and there. Almost sloshed from the water, grabbed the white terry-cloth bathrobe from the hook beside the tub and dashed out the door.
