She glanced up as the door to their room swung silently inward and Luke slipped inside. He reminded her of a cat, moving soundlessly through the night. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see his golden eyes glowing in the dark. He bolted the door and stood with his back to her, motionless at the window as he stared out into the darkness.
“Is everything all right?”
He didn’t turn around. “Yeah. Just following my gut, being cautious. I don’t like leaving anything to chance.”
“This place seems pretty quiet, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” He finally seemed satisfied that no one was outside that shouldn’t be and he turned around. “Sometimes quiet isn’t good.”
She sat on the end of the sofa near the door and stared at the flickering screen of the muted television. She’d stuck her head into the bedroom and heard the deep, even breathing of the boys. Over the soft whirring of the air conditioner, she caught Sarah’s quiet, steady snuffling and her heartbeat tripped a little faster. It had only been a week, but those precious babies had already taken ownership of her heart and she would do anything to keep them safe. She finally raised her gaze to Luke’s and smiled. “Sometimes quiet is wonderful.”
She sensed rather than heard him as he materialized by the couch and carefully sat beside her. His every movement seemed controlled, almost calculated and she wondered if he ever did anything without first analyzing it from all sides.
His hand drifted slowly over to hers and he slipped his fingers between hers, giving them a little squeeze. “You’re right. It can be very peaceful.” He sighed as he tightened the grip on her fingers. “Look, about what happened in there. I’m really sorry.”
“Forget it. You frightened me, that’s all.” And saw her stark naked. And made her so damn aware of him that she was ready to self-combust.
“I guess I’m not accustomed to peaceful. I like things predictable, organized. I like to make plans and then stick to them. And everything lately feels so damned disorganized that it makes me edgy. I apologize if you think I’m overreacting.”
“I guess in your line of work, you must have to prepare for anything.”
“Yeah. You could say that.”
Jillian gently slid her fingers from his. Touching him right now was definitely not a good idea. “My whole life has been planned, everything scheduled out for me down to the smallest, most absurd detail.” She absently patted Luke’s hand on the cushion. “And I’m so bloody sick of it,” she admitted with a smile.
“I promised myself when I left home that I would—I don’t know, wing it a little.” Her smile was halfhearted and she felt her stomach twist with the need to touch him. Lord, he was absolutely stunning. She took a deep breath and looked away.
“You’d already decided to come over here?”
“Yes. I’d accepted the position at Dartmouth before I knew about—” Her grip on his hand tightened convulsively. “Originally, I’d planned to take my time getting to New Hampshire. For the first time in my life I was going to be free. No one telling me what to do or how to do it.” She sighed longingly. “I had big plans to explore a bit on my own.”
“Dartmouth? No way! Not a professor? You can’t possibly be old enough to teach.”
She smiled at his stunned expression. “No. Sorry to disappoint you. I’ll be working in the library there. I’m an archivist.”
“A what?”
“Archives. You know old records and documents? I was hired to catalog the library’s collection of rare seventeenth-and eighteenth-century papers.”
He appeared to give her the once-over and Jillian felt herself stiffen, despite the teasing smile of disbelief on his face. Why did everyone assume she was a complete ninny? Why, even her own mother thought she was a scatterbrain.
“I am qualified, you know,” she said icily. “In spite of the fact that you think I’m completely without a brain, let me assure you I’m one of only a handful of people—”
“Whoa there, honey.” Luke sat up straighter on the sofa. “I never said you weren’t qualified to do anything.”
His tone and his expression were suddenly earnest, all traces of teasing gone. “Perhaps not,” she conceded, “but you were thinking it.”
“So far, the only thing you stink at is directions.”
She turned on him in mock exasperation. “You know, sometimes you need to go with the flow. In your whole life, have you ever done one spontaneous thing? You know, deviated from your master plan, done something frightfully rash?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not a ‘rash’ kinda guy. In my line of work, rash equates to dead. The reason I’ve lived this long is because I play out every scenario. And when all else fails, I trust my gut.”
“Your gut can be wrong—”
“Sweetheart,” he interrupted, “my gut is never wrong.”
“Sometimes veering off course a tiny bit is good for you,” she argued.
“And sometimes veering off course is deadly. Like a car wreck.”
Luke’s smile faded and she felt the searching scrutiny of his gaze as he explored her face, as he delved for secrets she wasn’t quite sure were safely hidden. Her pulse quickened when she acknowledged the burning intensity echoed in his beautiful molten eyes.
She swallowed nervously. His message was as clear as if he’d spoken. That it was wrong. That they shouldn’t be considering what they were clearly considering. But, dammit, she wanted him anyway. Her nerves were strumming with awareness. If she so much as looked at him…
He released her hand suddenly and shoved himself away from her. “We should get to bed. I want an early start tomorrow.”
She glanced up, startled by his sudden movement. “You’re right, of course. And Sarah will wake again in a few…”
She forgot the rest of her sentence as their eyes made contact. The thought that had been forming flew out of her head and died on her lips as she met the blast force of desire that was visible in Luke’s mesmerizing gaze. Desire that he wasn’t bothering to hide from her. Her eyes widened in shock, with the knowledge that he was suffering, too. That he, too, was about to explode. She inhaled a ragged breath and blew it out.
“Jill, this has disaster written all over it.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“I don’t want entanglements. I—I can’t do a relationship.” His eyes were still desperate, but there was a deliberate edge to his voice, one that clearly told her how it would be. Luke would suffer no illusions on her part. “I won’t promise anything.”
She nodded in understanding. “I don’t think I can handle anything more myself.”
He jerked his head back, glancing to the ceiling in sheer frustration. “This is ridiculous. I can’t believe we’re contemplating…” His gaze swung back to meet hers. “This is a one-shot deal. Tomorrow we’re outta here and heading in opposite directions.”
“I’m not asking you for…more.”
“You’re sure about this?”
Jillian nodded carefully in the affirmative, aware that his bone-melting stare missed absolutely nothing. “No, I’m really not.”
Then she smiled at his double take, when his eyes belied his confusion over her words. “But I simply can’t help—”
She was in his arms so fast she wasn’t quite sure who had moved first. And a millisecond later she didn’t care, because when Luke’s mouth came down on hers—the very moment their lips touched—she went up in flames.
He kissed her hard, his mouth ruthless, as though he’d been pushed to the limit of his control. As though he’d been waiting forever to kiss her. She opened to him on a groan and when his tongue thrust past her lips, she nearly fainted from the exquisite sensation. Just the feel of his lean, strong arms holding her, the sensual aura of danger he exuded, had her reeling. The mere suggestion of what was yet to come made her dizzy with the urge to feel him. He hadn’t even touched her yet and she was already so close—so near the edge.
She moaned his name while h
is mouth moved over hers, when it left her face and traveled down her neck, as his tongue found the pulse beating wildly at the base of her throat. His hands cupped her breasts and when he stroked her sensitized nipples, she bit back a cry of sheer wonder. “Oh, Luke. I can’t wait. Please.”
He raised his head to stare at her and she read the surprise in his eyes. Surprise that she was already so out of control for him. And he had the nerve to smile. Her eyes widened as his smug smile turned quickly to a grin…and wasn’t that devastating? Still, it frosted her that she’d given herself away so quickly. And there he was, not even breaking a sweat.
She gave him a little shove. “Never mind. What I meant was—”
“That you want me inside you?”
Yes! She closed her eyes and bit back a groan while she thought of him thrusting into her. She forced her eyes open when she heard him chuckle. “No, damn you,” she croaked. “What I meant was—”
“That you’re so hot for me you’re ready now?”
That got her blood stirring. The bastard. He was playing with her now. “It’s more like, let’s get on with it because I’m tired and I’d like to get some sleep.”
Luke’s grin grew even wider, if that were bloody possible. “Really? So, like, if I were to stroke you right here—” One magnificent hand reached down to glide over her stomach, his fingers slow and lazy as they stroked even lower. For the life of her, Jillian couldn’t contain the shudder that ripped through her body, leaving her nearly sobbing for more. She barely managed to summon the will to slap his hand away while the other ninety-nine percent of her brain rebelled, wanting desperately to pull it back.
“That if I did this—” Luke leaned toward her slowly, his gaze never leaving her face until they were mere inches apart. Then his focus dropped to her breasts. He bent his head, nudging her back against the couch and placed his mouth where his hand had just rested. She gasped a breath of air into her lungs and bit down to stop the ragged moan of wonder. She closed her eyes as her brain short-circuited, as a bolt of lightning zagged down from the heavens and detonated inside of her. He took her nipple into his mouth and suckled her, right through her cotton T-shirt and Jillian felt the tugging sensation all the way down to her toes.
“Luke, oh, yes. Yes, don’t stop.”
He waited until she was on the verge of completely shattering before he raised his head.
“So, you wouldn’t come apart in my hands?”
She writhed beneath him on the cushions, then reached up and pulled him down. Her hands were wild in his hair and she tugged him down to her mouth. She opened her eyes then, willing to witness his smug satisfaction if he would just get on with it. “Yes, yes, dammit. Are you happy?”
His grin was still evident, but so was his increasing tension and she smiled with the knowledge. He might be toying with her, but it was damn near killing him to do it. Despite his smile, his eyes burned with the white-hot intensity of the sun. The perspiration that formed at his brow had nothing to do with exertion and everything to do with control. A control that was eroding rapidly.
“Not yet,” he rasped, “but I’m pretty sure I will be soon.”
It was her turn to smile when she reached out, stroking him through his jeans. She was surprised that she was able to chuckle at his instantaneous reaction. He was hot and hard and so very ready for her. She could barely wait.
“Oh, Jill.” He groaned as a shudder ripped through him. “Don’t do that.”
“So, are you saying that if I did that again—”
Her question was cut off as he scooped her up from the bed and carried her back to the bathroom. Her head fell back as his mouth continued to torture her through her shirt. She wrapped her legs around him as he pushed through the bathroom door, and then leaned back against it until it shut.
“Why are we—” She was surprised that she could formulate words.
“Condoms. In the bag on the counter.” He set her on the counter in question and quickly tugged her shirt over her head. She grabbed his face in her hands and brought him back to her mouth. Jillian would have been content to kiss him for the next ten years, right here in the bathroom, with her legs wrapped around his waist. Luke however, had other plans. He gently pried her legs apart and took a step back to gaze down at her.
“Jill, you are the hottest-looking woman I’ve ever seen.” He reached out a hand, and damned if it wasn’t trembling. He knew she was gonna be great. He couldn’t wait to be inside her. It was all he could do not to tear her clothes off and take her right there on the counter. Yet, thankfully, from somewhere deep inside him, another Luke surfaced, another more civilized part of him somehow managed to step in and take over, commanding him to go slow.
Luke wasn’t certain it was him controlling his hand as it reached out and cupped her breast. It was as though someone else watched Jillian through his eyes, noticing everything about her, every reaction, every shuddering breath she took through that luscious mouth. He saw her eyes, those beautiful stormy eyes, watched them dilate with passion for him as they first widened with shock and then deepened gray-blue in anticipation of what he would do.
He felt her breast in his hand, felt it swell to his touch, felt the nipple tighten in reaction, felt himself harden in response. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. This was about sex. About hot, steamy, wild, way-the-hell-overdue sex. It was about rewarding himself. About finally taking something that he hadn’t allowed in so freaking long that he was surprised he could still remember how to do it.
Just for tonight, he wouldn’t feel guilty over Linda. Tonight he could finally release the godawful build-up. He would work off years of sexual frustration with this one very willing woman who sat naked and ready in front of his eyes. Jillian—a woman he’d just met, a woman he’d never see again. They could use each other up and then move on.
“Luke, hurry.” He felt the smile form on his lips and groaned as she unzipped his jeans. He heard her throaty laughter as she tugged him down for another soul-scorching kiss.
“Here, let me help you with that.” Jilly turned slightly to delve into the bag on the counter. He allowed himself a moment to breathe in the soft, fresh perfume that clung to her hair and her skin.
“Baby, you smell so damn good.” It was the scent of a spring rain, so clean and new. So innocent. He wrapped his hands around her shoulders and let them slowly drift down her long, slender arms. “You’re so soft, so beautiful.”
She was still wrestling with the box of condoms and he took the opportunity to kiss the side of her neck, to tug at the fragile skin he found there, to revel in the throaty gasping sound Jilly made in response. It was getting harder to maintain any semblance of control, but the civilized Luke knew if he wasn’t gentle, he’d leave a bruise. The civilized Luke knew if he really let loose, he would devour her.
“Got them.”
His brain registered her cry of delight at the same moment he felt her hands fumbling with his belt. Damn, she was gorgeous—so healthy and alive. He was dying to get the rest of her clothes off, to thrust himself into her and explode, so deep inside her that it would take the rest of the night to recover. Yet something about this didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like a one-night stand. Jillian didn’t seem like the kind—
Yeah, right. Like it was every day that a totally hot sexy woman threw herself at him. Was he freakin’ nuts? He didn’t know anything about this woman. Maybe she’d slept her way across the Atlantic. Her sister obviously had. Who was he to question her motives?
“Luke—what are we waiting for?”
She raised her gaze to his and he swallowed hard. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. And tonight she was all his. He would take what he could get and—
“Nothin’, baby. Nothing at all.”
His hands shook as he ripped the foil packet and he groaned with pleasure when she took him into her hands and stroked him. Luke didn’t recognize the sandpapery voice that ordered her to stop the exquisite torture.
And just like that, it was over. Luke jerked back away from her, breathing hard, his limbs heavy and weak, as though he’d completed a marathon in record time. The blood roared in his ears, matching the rhythm of his pounding heart.
“I can’t do this.” His eyes captured the picture of Jilly’s eyes widened in bewilderment, as her face registered shock and then slowly drained of color.
“W-what? Luke? What is it?”
“It’s nothing. It’s me.” He turned abruptly, unwilling to face her as she shivered in comprehension, unwilling to see the scorn that would be in her eyes the moment her brain finished processing what had just happened.
“Luke, can’t we—”
He zipped his pants and wheeled around to face her. “No, honey, we can’t. This was a mistake. There’s nothing to discuss.” He jerked the door open and strode through it, unwilling to risk catching the disgusted look in her eyes. He crossed the room quickly and flung the chain off the door. The only thing that kept him from slamming it in absolute frustration was the soft, fluttery breathing of the kids. Jilly’s three kids. Jeez, what the hell had he been thinking?
He heard the door open ten minutes later as he leaned over the railing outside their room. The parking lot was poorly lit and nearly empty, the pool deserted, save for the sound of the filter humming in the reflective water. The motel rooms had gone dark and still. This was farm country and mountain people retired early, apparently even while on vacation.
“Luke? Are you out here?”
He closed his eyes and dropped his head down to touch the railing. God, he didn’t want to have this conversation. “Yeah, I’m here.”
He felt her move closer, sensed her hesitation as she stopped a few feet behind him. “You should get to bed. It’s getting late.”
“Are you coming inside?”
For Her Protection Page 10
