by Cat Miller
“I’m sorry, Luc. I was just thinking about tomorrow when I’ll be leaving,” she admitted. She didn’t want to ruin the moment, what could be their last moment, but he knew she was distracted.
Luc nodded, acknowledging the changes the morning would bring.
“Let’s not think about that now. Let’s just be together. You and me.” He kissed her again. Reigniting the fire in her belly.
He was right. If now was all they had Everly intended to enjoy it.
Luc lifted her against his chest, and she wrapped her legs around his lean waist. In the bedroom, he toppled over onto the bed with her under him. Everly squealed. Luc chuckled against her ear. He’d kept his arms stiff so she wasn’t crushed under his weight.
“I’m going to have my wicked way with you now, Ms. Parker,” he told her against her ear. His hot breath sent chills skittering over her body.
“I thought it was my turn to be wicked.” Everly didn’t care either way. She didn’t want him to stop that thing he was doing with his mouth.
“Later. When I’m ready.”
She had to smile at that. The man totally missed the point of letting someone else have control. He’d never be the kind of man to really let someone else have free reign. That was okay with Everly. He made her feel so feminine, so wanted, when he was in control of her body. In the end, it was always about their mutual pleasure. He left her exhausted and satisfied. Who could complain about that?
Luc let his lips travel over her skin from one shoulder to the other. His tongue lightly traced the lines of her collarbones while his hands ventured lower to free her breast from the extremely expensive lace bra he’d bought her.
Luc crawled further down her body, and he stopped there to stare at her full breasts. She wasn’t a big woman, but she was overly endowed in the cleavage department. She squirmed under his intense stare.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.”
His eyes traveled down her body and back up to her face. Everly couldn’t help preening a bit under his appreciative gaze. Luc was a stunning man, and he found her to be beautiful. It was the kind of thing that could make a girl’s head swell.
“I think I need to take my time down here, baby. Please do make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back to you shortly.”
He grinned devilishly and turned his attention back to her breasts. Luc lightly traced her nipple with his tongue causing it to peak and ache for more thorough attention. He dipped his head a bit lower to give the underside of her breast some attention. It was amazing how sensitive that neglected area could be.
Luc turned his attention to the other breast. Giving it the same maddeningly attention to detail. Everly moaned.
Her hips gyrated. Wanting his mouth on her aching girl bits. But he just chuckled and continued on past her panties to her legs. He kissed the tops of her thighs before flipping her over onto her belly.
He slid her panties down to bear the round globes of her ass. Luc pulled on Everly’s hips until she lifted onto her knees. The panties slid down just far enough to reveal her ass without uncovering her heated core. Again, she might be a petite woman, but a booty she had, and Luc seemed to enjoy that very much. He massaged and groped her muscles. He laid wet kisses here and there. When he finally made it around to cover her womanhood Luc pressed his face against her and breathed heated air through her panties. He gave a lick over the material, and she thought she’d climax right then. She was so hot. Just one good lick to the right spot would set her off.
But Luc wasn’t feeling generous yet. He pushed her forward to lie on her belly again.
“Luc,” she groaned. Everly wanted him deep inside her to relieve the intense ache he caused.
“I know, baby. I know.” He rubbed her ass and moved down to her legs.
Damn it! If he knew, why wasn’t he doing something about it? She was going to go up in flames at any moment.
Luc caressed every inch of her skin from her ass to her ankles, paying special attention to the backs of her knees. Another very sensitive and surprisingly erotic zone. By the time he’d kissed his way back to her neck, Everly was writhing with need.
“Please. Please. Please.”
“This isn’t going to be nice, baby. I need to be inside you now.”
He’d seemed so unhurried. So unrushed that Everly had thought him a bit unaffected until she heard the snarl in his voice. Luc was as close to madness as she was.
“Please. Please. Please.” Everly clutched at the sheets and ground her ass against his erection.
Luc growled. It was times like this when he made those savage noises that Everly knew Luc was beyond the ability to maintain that stoic, cold façade he’d perfected with the rest of the world. In these moments with Everly, Luc was animalistic. She loved his loss of control.
Luc pulled her up to her knees and placed her hands on the headboard of the bed. He bent over just far enough to give him the angle he wanted.
“Don’t you let go. I’m going to give you what you’ve been wanting, Everly. Can you take it?” he asked and positioned the head of his cock against her entrance.
“Please.” Everly pushed back against him.
Luc thrust forward in a steady strong thrust and claimed her fully. He was so deep in this position. He stretched her. The slight burn was so good. Everly gripped the headboard tighter and braced for the coming storm.
“Now. I have to have you now,” he said aloud but she wasn’t sure he was speaking to her. It was just a statement of intent before he did just as he’d promised.
Luc covered her body, arching over her back. His fingers gripped her hips so tightly she was sure she’d wear his fingerprints in the morning. He set a brutal pace that left her unable to do anything but take what he wanted to give her. What she’d begged him for.
Luc did things to her she’d never experienced before. He wrapped a huge hand in her sweat dampened hair and held her still for his invasion. He twisted and turned, changing the position of his hips to come at her from different angles. It was intense. Just like Luc. He was giving her his all, and she struggled to accept it. He was so much man.
Everly knew Luc was close to his breaking point when that big hand slid from her hair to brush against her clit. It was a tender caress at complete odds with his demanding position.
One stroke. Two. A firm tap with those long fingers, and Everly was gone. She collapsed onto the bed. Her arms were no longer able to support her through the intense climax. Luc kept pumping. She knew she screamed his name. She heard it over and over as if from a distance.
Luc shouted then. He was swearing and heaving through his own storm. When it was all over and they both lay incapacitated in the wake of their loving, Everly smiled. He held her tight against him in spite of the heat of their bodies and the sweat. It felt so right, and she never wanted it to end.
They napped for a short time, sprawled awkwardly across the bed. When Everly woke, her body still hummed with pleasure. That was for a good reason. Luc’s hand was between her legs, teasing and playing. She was already heated and ready for more of his attention.
“Mmmmm . . .” she moaned.
“Finally, she’s awake.” Luc rolled them on the bed until she was positioned above him, straddling his hips. “Ride me. Ride me hard, baby. I want to see this fucking you promised to give me.”
She gave him a coy smirk.
“Do you think you’ve earned a fucking, Mr. Christianson?”
Luc growled. Her nipples tightened at the sound. She loved that impatient, animalistic side of Luc that reared its head from time to time.
“Alright. Alright. I guess you’ve been a good boy today.”
He growled again. She tried not to giggle.
Without any further teasing, Everly lifted to her knees to fit him to her already wet entrance.
Everly twisted her hips, slowly screwing her way down Luc’s impressive length. Drawing him in over and over. Easing up and down. Driving them both past the point of reason. Luc moaned her
name and held her hips in a tight grip. Guiding her movements and watching his shaft disappear into her welcoming body.
They breathed together through the rioting sensations. Everly had threatened to fuck Luc and make him scream her name. He was the one who had her screaming. This time, she wanted to take it a little slower. This joining was nothing close to fucking. Everly was giving Luc all that she was. Her body. Her heart. Her hopes for the future. She was giving Luc her love and hoping he would love her in return.
Her orgasm was quickly building, but Everly wasn’t ready to let it take her yet. She wanted to hold Luc this close to her for as long as she could. He was hers for now. Just for now. And she didn’t want to let it end.
She took them both to the sharp edge of bliss and backed off, slowing her pace to hold off the inevitable climax several times before Luc’s blazing dark eyes pleaded with Everly to give him the delicious, consuming release they both needed so desperately.
Then she fucked him. Everly gave Luc the ride he’d asked her for when he pulled her body over his and let her have control. She let go. Together, she and Luc rocked the bed until it was pounding against the wall. They came together in a forceful frenzy of need.
Pushing. Pulling. Giving. Taking. Wanting. Needing. Touching. Kissing. And finally crying out with a pleasure so sharp it was pain. Then they started all over again.
Sometime later after catching their breath and consuming a delicious meal Luc ordered for them, Everly was feeling a little buzzed. There had been strawberries and an expensive bottle of champagne with the meal. She’d had a couple of glasses of the bubbly drink. Luc finished the rest of the bottle.
Drunk on several intense orgasms and tipsy on champagne Everly felt as if she could float away. Thankfully, Luc was holding her tightly to the earth. He was the anchor she wanted to tether her there forever.
Everly leaned back and looked deeply into Luc’s serious, dark eyes. He was thinking too. She could tell by his intense expression. He was going to break her heart. She knew it, but it was far too late to stop it from happening. Their time together was coming to an end. He would leave her tonight. Maybe he’d wait until morning. But when he walked out of her door this time, it would be forever. She couldn’t put off talking to him about her feelings any longer.
Luc was about to say something. His lips parted, and she was so afraid it would be goodbye. While she still had the nerve and before he crushed her, Everly wanted Luc to know she loved him. He needed to understand this wasn’t just a contractual obligation or a way for her to hold on to her family home. This was real for Everly. Even if it wasn’t for Luc. So Everly opened her mouth and let the truth spill out.
“I love you.” They both said in unison. Then they stared at each other in stunned silence.
* * *
Luc didn’t know what had taken him so long to realize that he was in love with Everly. He’d known since he met the woman that she made him crazy. She affected him in a way that no one else could.
He’d been struggling with just what exactly his attitude and behavior toward Everly meant for the last exhilarating week. She made him want things he never had before. Things like a real home instead of a suite in a hotel. She spoke so fondly of her home that it made Luc remember the tidy little house he’d grown up in. Not that he’d ever have a house that small. But maybe he needed something outside the city.
He also wished suddenly he had a job that didn’t require his constant attention. Over the last week though, he’d cut out of the office in time to have dinner with Everly nightly. He’d even taken a whole day off to take her out to Red Rock Canyon. And guess what? Nothing had fallen apart. His people did their jobs, and he got some much needed time with Everly. That had him thinking about a lot of things. Like why was he such a control freak?
It wasn’t until Everly admitted that she planned to leave tomorrow that it had really struck Luc. He knew the contract was ending soon. Knowing it and facing it were two different things. He’d been avoiding all thoughts of how Everly came to be with him and her family. Knowing that he was about to lose her had brought home exactly how much he wanted, no he needed, Everly in his life.
He loved her, and she was going to leave him. She would leave him because he hadn’t given her any reason to stay. He’d told her a week ago that they should just enjoy the time they had together. That was before, though. Before he realized he needed her.
Luc hadn’t believed he was capable of love after the loss of his grandmother. It had only been since he’d met Everly that he was able to admit to himself that the connection he felt for Rourke and Dolce was a familial love he’d had for them since he was a kid. They were like his siblings, and he loved them. He had family. Luc thought himself alone in the world. But he never really had been. They’d always been there for him. Damn it. He was going to give them both another raise.
The problem even now was him, as always. He was a suspicious son of a bitch. While he’d been enjoying Everly’s body and her undivided attention, Luc was still trying to work out her angle. He just didn’t understand why she’d signed that damn contract to start with. It plagued him. But he hadn’t found anything in her background that led him to an obvious answer. And he’d searched hard. She was exactly who she appeared to be.
It all boiled down to one simple, baffling fact. Luc loved her. It didn’t matter why she was there. He loved her. To hell with his suspicious nature. He had to tell her if he wanted a chance to make her love him back.
It wouldn’t be easy. He wasn’t a good man. He’d done many underhanded and frankly vicious things in his time. He’d even taken advantage of her very own father. Though he couldn’t exactly regret that move. It was what had brought the angry redheaded Fury to his door.
Her family would try to turn her away from him. He couldn’t blame them. He wasn’t the kind of man who deserved a woman like Everly. He’d have to find a way around that. She would be worth the fight.
His biggest worry after convincing her not to leave was how he would learn to be the kind of person an upstanding woman like Everly could love. He could do it. He’d never failed in his life. He’d find a way. She would love him eventually. They had a good foundation already.
After the most intense bout of sex of his life Luc understood the difference he felt when he was with Everly. Admitting to himself that he loved her had opened a door for him. He’d loved her body, not just used her for release. That was where the difference was. He used other women. Everly wasn’t other women. She was his woman and he loved her body.
He ordered dinner just to give himself time to think. He needed a plan. His internal caveman, who’d apparently known he was in love with Everly from the beginning, had a great plan. He suggested they keep Everly in bed until she agreed to stay. He would master her body until her heart got with the fucking program.
That might work for a day or two. Until her pain in the ass brother came pounding on the doors of The Inferno again. He’d have Dolce on his ass long before Mills made it back to Vegas. She’d appointed herself Everly’s guardian and was counting down the days until the contract expired. No, he couldn’t tie her to the bed. He had to find another way to convince Everly to give him a chance.
When the kitchen asked if he wanted anything else with his meal, Luc had added a huge bottle of bubbly and some strawberries. That was romantic, right? He could start there. He needed to woo Everly. He was no fucking Romeo. He’d never tried to keep a woman. He never wanted to keep one. Rather the opposite.
He’d have to talk to Rourke. Christ, he’d never hear the end of it, but he was going to go to Rourke for advice on how to treat a woman. Luc cringed.
They ate in companionable silence. She scarfed down her food. She was clearly hungry. It was very late, and he hadn’t fed her. That was something else he’d need to work on, taking someone else’s needs into consideration.
Everly looked over the night lights of Vegas. He wondered if she was thinking of her home. Was she was thinking about leav
ing him? She was probably planning her escape. Luc was planning, too. He was deep in thought when he poured the last of the champagne into his glass and swallowed it down.
After dinner, they wandered back down the hall and returned to bed. Luc was holding Everly in his arms. He was touching her luminescent skin and listening to her breath. She was so beautiful. Everything about her from her deep red hair to her creamy skin and her luscious curves made him want her more. More than that, she was kind and hardworking. She understood people in a way he didn’t. It was like she possessed all the qualities he lacked.
This was what he wanted. Everly in his bed every night. This closeness and intimacy that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with being together. She was the only woman he’d ever actually slept with. Now he was glad.
Everly lifted up and looked down at him. She’d been thinking hard. There was a crease between her eyes that meant she had something serious to say. He didn’t want to hear goodbye. He was out of time and he had no plan for how to keep her with him.
“I love you,” he said it before she could end their time together. He just put it out there.
“I love you,” Everly said at the same time.
She loved him? Wait, what? Everly loved him? He stared stunned into her shocked green eyes. He couldn’t have heard her correctly.
“You love me?” he asked to verify that he hadn’t dreamed it.
“I do.” A shy little smile turned up the corners of her kiss reddened lips. “You love me?”
“Yes. I didn’t think I was capable of it, but I love you. I do,” he told her earnestly. She needed to believe him.
She was smiling down at him with wonder in her eyes. She loved him. They sat there looking at each other with goofy grins on their faces.
