Handsome Devil

by Amii Lorin

  His breathing harsh, his voice even harsher, Luke murmured words of encouragement. “Yes, yes, Green Eyes, let yourself go, give in to your desires.”

  Her voice little more than a gasping whisper, Selena responded in kind. “I want to...I have to! Help me, tell me, show me, kiss me...hard!”

  He took her mouth with savage sweetness, drinking from her while quenching her own raging thirst. Their tongues twined, stroked, then twined again, sharpening their pleasure to an almost painful degree.

  “You’re beautiful.” His fingers traced her facial features. “Here.” He filled his hands with her quivering breasts. “And here.” His palms glided over her flat belly. “And here.” His fingers tangled in the tight cluster of black curls at the apex of her thighs. “And here.”

  “And you’re wonderful!” Selena exclaimed on a strangled gasp. “But you’re driving me mad!”

  Luke’s laughter rumbled, deep inside his heaving chest. “I sincerely hope so.” The tip of his tongue meandered down her arched throat. “I’m working at it”

  “Luke, please...” Her voice fading to a moan, Selena clutched at his taut flanks, seeking an anchor to keep her from soaring away from him.

  “What?” Maintaining the rapid rhythm of his body, Luke lowered his head to suckle at her breast. “What do you want that I’m not giving to you?”

  Barely aware of what she was saying, Selena moved her head in denial, “Nothing,.,! mean...! can’t bear it. The tension...it’s too much. I can’t... Oh!” she cried out as he increased the rocking

  “You can. You will” Arching over her like a pillar of flame, Luke stared into her face, feeding his own passion by looking at hers. “You’re so soft, so silky.” His hands skimmed over her body from her shoulders to her ankles to the satin smoothness of her inner thighs. “Outside.” Drawing a ragged breath, he thrust deeper within her. “And inside.”

  Breath suspended, exhilaration warring with exhaustion inside her, Selena sank her nails into his flesh and arched into his plunging body.

  In the throes of acute arousal, Luke’s face was drawn, a study in intense passion and iron control. Feeling a sense of elation and power, Selena realized she was the instrument of his obvious pleasure. In her euphoric sensuously saturated opinion, he had never looked more handsome, or more devilish.

  “Luke...Luke!” The cry was wrenched from Selena’s throat as her inner tension reached fever pitch.

  “Hang on!” he gasped. “One... more...moment!” His fingers bit into her hers as he surged forward “Now!”

  The invisible cord snapped, flinging Selena into a cascading maelstrom of pulsating sensation. She heard her own cry of exaltation echoed by Luke’s triumphant shout.

  Conquered yet victorious and thoroughly spent, Selena lay curled within the haven of Luke’s embrace, positive the ecstatic experience would be impossible to duplicate.

  * * * *

  But it was happening again. She was on fire for him, burning for him. Forgetting where they were, Selena raked her fingers through Luke’s hair and returned his kiss with voracious fervor.

  Obviously aroused by her touch, Luke inserted his leg between her thighs. The rough material of his jeans abraded the skin exposed below the hem of her shorts. The feeling was delicious, sending shards of excitement streaking to the recently awakened and sensitized core of her being. Without thought, caution or consideration, Selena parted her legs in a silent invitation to him to step inside.

  Deepening the kiss, Luke brought his hard body into contact with hers. Bubbles of sensation exploded inside her and Selena moaned a protest against their confining clothing, arching with a convulsive need of more of him.

  “Oh, my goodness!” The surprised-sounding female voice pierced the haze clouding Selena’s mind. “Ladies, I think we must visit the rest room.”

  Luke was shaking with laughter when he released her mouth and set her from him. “Very accommodating of them.” He jerked his head to indicate the hasty retreat of the three matrons who had been trailing them through the museum.

  “And very indiscreet of us,” Selena muttered. Appalled and embarrassed by her behavior, she averted her face and spun away from him.

  “Selena, wait” Snagging her wrist with his long fingers, Luke brought her up short. “Why are you so rattled?” Though his expression was bland, his eyes fairly danced with inner amusement “It was only a kiss.”

  “No,” she said in sharp denial. “It was not only a kiss. It was a display more blatant and vivid than any of these, here in the museum.” A flick of her hand indicated her assertion. “It was also juvenile,” she continued, stalking blindly along the section devoted to historical scenes. “The kind of exhibition put on by teenagers who want to be noticed.”

  “All that?” Luke asked. “And here I was, thinking it was nothing more than a friendly kiss.”

  He was deliberately taunting her, trying to tease her out of her disconcerted mood. Selena knew it, and yet she couldn’t control her emotional response.

  “Nothing more than a friendly kiss, my foot!” she exclaimed, coming to a dead stop and staring at him in astonishment. “Luke Branson! We were all over each other! Why, if it hadn’t been for those women, in another moment we’d have been tearing our clothes off and—’’ She broke off, her face flaming in response to the explicitly erotic images flashing into her mind.

  “And...what?” he asked in a silky drawl.

  “You know damned well what,” Selena retorted, turning away from his knowing eyes. Agitated and abashed beyond endurance, she strode from the historical section and down the stairway leading to the horror section.

  “I wouldn’t have let it go that far,” Luke called after her in a tone of reassuring conviction.

  I would have.

  Keeping the revealing acknowledgment to herself, Selena pushed through the doors into the horror section of the museum. Luke caught up to her before the doors squeaked shut behind her.

  “Look, Green Eyes, nothing happened,” he said in a soothing tone. “So we had a hot kiss and an audience.” He captured her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “So what? It probably made their week.”

  Tugging futilely against his grip, Selena shot a fuming look at him. “You really think this is all very amusing...that I’m very amusing, don’t you?” she demanded. She was so upset by her own emotional conflict that she hardly noticed the shrieks, rattles and bangs that were the sound effects of the section.

  “I think you’re making too much of it,” Luke replied, glancing with disinterest at a rather gory display. “We just happen to have discovered that we turn each other on something fierce.” He shrugged. “It’s as simple as that.”

  Unable to refute the first part of his assertion with any degree of honesty, Selena pounced on the second part. “The only simple thing about it is that it was simpleminded,” she snapped, pushing through the doors leading out of the section. “We are supposedly two mature, intelligent adults,” she went on, mounting the broad stairs that led to street level.

  “And mature, intelligent adults never get the hots?” Luke asked with amazement

  In the spacious lobby at the top of the stairs, Selena turned on him, hands on her hips, her green eyes flashing fire. “How should I know? I’ve never...” Her voice deserted her at the sight of his complacent expression.

  “I know you’ve never,” he murmured in the same silky tone he’d used before. “I’ve been in a position to know.” His smile was suggestive. “If you’ll recall?”

  If she’d recall? She hadn’t been able to do anything all morning but recall the position he had been in, not once, but twice since they’d returned to the hotel last night. And the recollection was not only wreaking havoc on her senses and turning her into a veritable basket case—it was undermining and eroding her serf-image. Having taken great pride in believing that she was above the sexuality that directed the actions of others around her, Selena was having a difficult time accepting her surrender to him—and to
the clamoring dictates of her own newly-discovered sensuality.

  “Se—lee—na.” Luke’s soft call and the gentle yank he gave her braid scattered her reverie.

  She had been quiet too long. He was waiting for a response to his question, waiting for her to admit to her own susceptibility. The devil. How could she answer? What could she say...other than the obvious? He had her cornered and she knew it. What was worse—he knew it. The unvarnished truth was tainted by the taste of humble pie.

  “Yes,” she muttered, lowering her eyes to the brightly patterned lobby carpet. “I recall.”

  ‘ ‘Believe It or Not.”

  His drawled remark brought her head tip with a snap. “What did you say?”

  “The exhibition.” Luke flicked his hand to indicate the banner above the entrance. “Since I’ve paid the admission price, don’t you think we may as well go in?”

  “Oh!” Selena glanced from him to the banner, then back to him. With sudden insight, she realized that by changing the subject, Luke was offering her a reprieve, time to collect herself. “Oh...yes! Of course.” In return, she offered him a faint, whimsical smile. “But, Luke, please—no more dark corners or hot kisses in public.”

  * * * *

  Luke was fighting a laugh—but he was losing the battle. His lips twitched, then parted. It was no use, try as he would, he couldn’t repress the sense of good spirits that had been with him all morning. His soft laughter erupted as he held out his hand to her. ‘Then let’s go.”

  At any other time, Luke knew, he would have been fascinated by the assortment of odd and interesting articles and facts. But on this particular morning, his concentration was limited, focused entirely on Selena and the events that had occurred since he’d arrived in San Antonio.

  Had he thought she was beautiful? Luke mused, compulsively stroking the pad of his thumb over the warm skin on the back of her hand. He had been wrong. Beautiful wasn’t nearly comprehensive enough. Of course, in face and form, Selena was beautiful, but she was also so much more than merely that. Selena was...was...

  His thumb stroking, stroking, Luke glanced at her, then around at the displays, while inwardly searching for a word or words to describe her. A smile curved his lips when he glanced absently at a sign and saw the perfect word, right there in bold-face letters.

  Unbelievable.

  Yes, Luke decided. In regard to Selena, unbelievable said it all.

  She was unbelievably beautiful.

  She was unbelievably her own person.

  She was unbelievably exciting.

  She was unbelievably sexy.

  And he had never before felt so unbelievably satisfied—yet still hungry for the taste of her, the feel of her, the sheer joy of being one with her.

  A tremor of arousal quaked through Luke’s body, waking the sleeping tiger of need. He wanted to look at Selena. No, he wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to be inside her, part of her, experiencing again the silky heat of her.

  Moisture slicked Luke’s brow and the nape of his neck. He was on fire. It was hellish. It was heavenly. It was confusing as the very devil.

  What had—was—happening to him? Luke asked himself, applying considerable willpower to control the immediate response of his body. He had wanted other women, before and since he had been married. But never had he desired any woman as much as he desired Selena—including his former wife. What was it about this cat-witch woman, what was her appeal, what was the allure she possessed that turned him on so fiercely?

  Though it was true that before last night he had been celibate for some months, Luke acknowledged without conceit that his celibacy had been self-imposed. His empty bed had not been due to disinterest on the part of the female sex, both since his relocation to West Texas six months ago and before leaving his home state of Pennsylvania.

  If there was one thing Luke couldn’t tolerate, it was an enigma. And for him, Selena McInnes was an enigma, a puzzle to be solved. Besides her obvious attributes—her beauty, her competence, her personality—she had been a virgin, for God’s sake! Not even to himself could Luke deny the thrill that had streaked through him at his moment of discovery. There had been an instant of surprised shock, and then a wave of pure masculine satisfaction.

  He was the first! Selena had been a virgin. But what a magnificent, wanton virgin. And she had admitted to choosing him because he possessed the qualities and characteristics she admired in a man!

  His muscles clenched in remembrance, forcing him to repeat the cool-mind-over-sensuous-performance.

  And yet, supremely confident that once he had solved the mystery of her, his fascination would wane, Luke relished the challenge she presented.

  He would have her, take everything she offered, as often and for as long as it took for him to decipher his attraction to her. And then he would walk away from the encounter, unscathed and untouched in any personal way, exactly as he had walked away from every woman since the bitter awakening of his divorce.

  Eyes narrowed to conceal his thoughts and the raw desire smoldering in their depths, Luke sliced a glittering look at Selena. She was studying a wall decoration constructed entirely from chewing-gum wrappers. He was beginning to suspect the intensity of her stare when, as if she felt the heat and intent of his gaze, she raised her eyes to his.

  “Hi.”

  Luke bit back a groan. One soft, tiny word and he could feel his cold, calculating theory sinking into the tide of emotions pooling in his throat.

  Maybe, just maybe, walking away from Selena wouldn’t be quite as easy as he’d believed it would be. Yet, either way, in that instant, Luke was determined to enjoy every moment, every nuance of their time together.

  “Hi.”

  Luke’s low, sexy-sounding response activated the liquefying mechanism inside Selena. Squashing an impulse to melt into his arms, she drew a deep breath and worked up a bright smile. “Seen enough?” she asked in a surprisingly normal tone, considering she felt decidedly abnormal. “The Alamo opened about fifteen minutes ago,” she went on, heading for the exit. “Besides, I’m getting hungry.”

  Luke laughed, but allowed her to lead him out of the building. “How can you be hungry after the breakfast you demolished this morning?” he inquired in a teasing tone, falling into step beside her.

  Selena gave him a look. “I can be hungry because of what occurred after breakfast this morning...if you’ll recall?”

  “Yeah,” he drawled, grinning at her. “I recall giving you quite a workout.”

  Heat unrelated to the brazen Texas sun spread over Selena’s cheeks and dried her throat. In an eternity of an instant, she relived their morning romp. She could taste the combined flavors of coffee and grape jam on his greedy mouth, could feel the imprint of his hard body crushing her softness into the mattress, experienced again the thrill of being joined with him in an ageless ritual. Selena made a strangled sound deep in her throat.

  Luke’s bark of laughter sent heat streaking to more southerly, sensitive regions of her body, reigniting fires of excitement and arousal.

  This was getting ridiculous! Selena chastised herself, increasing her pace. Never in her life would she have believed it possible to feel such an intensity of physical and emotional awareness of any man. But with Luke, Selena had the uncanny sensation that she could actually feel the sting from the electrical charge sparking between them.

  “Care to tell me where we’re heading?”

  “The Menger Hotel,” Selena replied without faltering or breaking stride. She didn’t need to see his head swivel around to know he was looking at her with eager anticipation.

  “We’re going to take a room?”

  “We’re going to have lunch,” she retorted.

  “In a room?” he persisted—pushing his luck.

  “In the restaurant!” Selena exclaimed, at her wits’ end as to how to cope with his amorous teasing. “They prepare a cheese soup there that’s to die for.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that.”

&nb
sp; Allowing a superior expression to speak for her, Selena didn’t reply as she swept into the restaurant located in one corner of the old, elegant hotel.

  But there was no escaping the tormenting gleam in Luke’s eyes. He was having the time of his life teasing her, and his intention to continue in the same vein was apparent. Desperate to steer clear of the topic, Selena went into her tour-guide routine the moment their lunch order was taken by the pleasant Mexican-American waitress.

  “A German brewer named W. A. Menger began building this hotel in 1858, just twenty-two years after the fall of the Alamo,” she said in a blurted rush.

  “Indeed?” Luke arched his eyebrows satanically and grinned at her knowingly.

  “Yes, indeed.” Selena gulped for breath then hurried on. “This was the finest hotel on the frontier and has housed some famous historical people.”

  Luke sipped the steaming coffee the waitress had served while Selena was speaking and stared at her over the rim of his cup. “And you’re going to tell me the names of every one of them, right?”

  “Yes.” Selena’s smile was pure confection. “Or at least everyone that I can remember.”

  “I had a sneaky hunch you would.”

  “Chalk one up to your sneaky hunch.”

  Laughing, Luke set his cup on the table and settled back in his chair. “Okay, lay the history lesson on me.”

  Deciding he could be as devastating out of bed as he was in it, Selena laughed with him. “You promise you won’t be bored?”

  “Selena, I think I’ve already told you that you couldn’t bore me if you worked at it,” he said. “And you are working at it, aren’t you?”

  “It shows?” She fluttered her eyelashes.

  Her display of exaggerated innocence broke him up. His roar of laughter drew smiles from nearby patrons. After he regained control, he stared at her in consternation and wonder. ‘ ‘You know, I just realized something,” he said, frowning.

  “And what’s that?” Selena asked.

  “I haven’t laughed this much or enjoyed myself as much in years. You’re fun to be with.”

  “Really?” She was melting again, but she didn’t care. Pleased and flattered by his compliment, she lowered her eyes and murmured, “Thank you.”