by Amy Davies
“I’m just going to grab Carter and go home.” I step away when it’s clear he isn’t going to speak to me. I thought he was one of the good guys. Over the last few months, he has never showed me any sign that he wasn’t in this for the long haul. He was always telling me that he wanted forever, but now… now he seems to have changed his mind. Well, fuck him.
My steps are halted when his large hand grasps my wrist.
“Stay. Let me explain.”
“Then talk, because I am not feeling very welcome right now, Luke.” He winces when I use his birth name.
“When I said what I did to Nan, it didn’t come out right. I meant, hell no to right now. Fuck, baby, I would be the happiest man in the world if you were to carry my baby, but I know we aren't there yet. Soon though. When I saw how my words hurt you, I couldn’t take it. That’s why I came out here. Baby, I would never hurt you intentionally.” I nod because I know he is telling the truth.
“Well, well, look at what we have here. Long time no see, cousin,” comes a voice from behind us. I turn my head to see a couple about our age walking towards us. He is in a suit and she is in a long red sparkly dress. They look out of place here at this laidback party.
“Bobby, Sarah,” Luke says, but I can hear the strain in his voice. Why though?
“How are you, Luke?” Sarah asks.
“Fine. You?” Luke replies, but I can tell he is holding back his anger. His body has started to vibrate. I close the tiny gap between us and wrap my hand around his bicep, holding him close. I watch as the girl’s eyes track the movement, twitching a little.
“I haven’t seen you around much. Maybe we could meet for coffee or something. I could stop by Castle Ink and see you.”
“I would rather you didn’t. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we need to check on our boy.” He steps forward, when his cousin speaks up.
“Still bitter I see, cousin.” He smirks at Luke and slides his arm around the Sarah girl. Then it hits me, she is an ex-girlfriend of Luke’s. Beast scoffs and pulls his arm free from my hold before wrapping me in his embrace.
“Have you seen my girl? No bitterness needed, cousin. I have my own perfect peach right here. To be honest, Bobby, you did me a favour. Now, we need to go and check on our boy.”
“Boy?” Sarah says, a little too high-pitched. I’m sure dogs a few miles away heard it.
“Yeah, boy, our boy. He’s inside, playing with my sisters’ kids.”
“But you don’t have kids, Luke.”
“He may not be mine by blood, but he is mine in every other way. Catch you later.” Beast leads me away, but stops when Sarah speaks up again.
“I am sorry, Luke—for what I did.” She looks at me and a little smirk appears on her fake face. “He’ll get bored, it’s what he does. So enjoy him while you can.” She turns back to Bobby and they laugh. My stomach churns as we walk away.
“Don’t,” Luke grinds out.
“Don’t what?” I say, peering up at him.
“Don’t listen to her, hell, them. I wasn’t in love with her. She always believed I was, but I wasn’t. The pain they saw when she cheated was because my cousin had gone behind my back and shagged my girl. It had nothing to do with my feelings for her, okay?” I nod.
“Okay. I believe you.” Luke looks around before darting into a small room. He slams me against the door and takes my mouth in a molten kiss, savouring me, branding me.
“Beast,” is all I can get out before his mouth takes mine again. God, this man can kiss. I get lost in the feeling of his lips searing mine. He drops a hand and slides it up my thigh, taking the material of my dress with it.
“I need you, babe. I need to feel you, to make sure we’re good.”
“Oh, Beast, we’re always good, babe,” I pant out. I grip his hair as he lays kisses down my jaw and neck, making my skin pebble. In a flash, Luke drops to his knees and lifts my dress over my hips. He kisses my stomach before sliding my tights down my legs, taking my knickers with them.
“God, you smell amazing, like peaches and heaven.” He buries his nose in my sex, and my head goes back and hits the door. The music from inside the party room slides through the whole building. Ellie Goulding’s ‘Love Me Like You Do’ plays, making me think of a certain Mr. Grey while my Mr. Baker is loving me like he does. I giggle and Luke lifts his head, bringing his dark eyes to mine.
“What’s got you giggling while my nose is buried in your pussy?” I shrug and explain.
“The song that’s playing, it’s from a film I saw once.”
“And?”
“I was remembering the scene where the guy is going down on the girl and how fake she seemed. It made me giggle.”
“Well then, I’m clearly not doing my job if you’re thinking about a fictional character while I’m tasting you. I will have to remedy that.” He keeps his gaze locked on mine as he drags his tongue through my wet lips. I gasp at the sensation but relish the buzz racing through my body.
“God, Beast.”
“Let me hear you, baby.”
“Make me come, but I want to come with you inside me,” I pant out. He always knows how to take my breath away with the simplest of touches. Beast abruptly stands and lifts me off my feet, my legs wrapping around his narrow waist. We kiss like we are starving for each other. With one hand he gets his shaft free, and slams into me in one swift thrust. I cry out, not caring who hears me. This is what Luke Baker does to me.
“Fucking hell, every time. Every-fucking-time,” Luke grinds out.
“W-what?” I ask between gasps.
“You feel amazing, every time I’m inside you. I’ll never get tired of this feeling, baby. You are never leaving me.”
“Oh, God,” I cry out as my body tightens in all the right places. My head bangs against the door as Luke keeps thrusting into me, making my climax last forever. I lose track of time, but it’s Luke’s growl that brings me back into the room.
“Fuck,” he growls, his hot cum filling me up, coating my womb. He buries his face in my neck, laying gentle kisses on my skin.
“So good,” I force out. Luke chuckles and I giggle with him. I hold him tight to me, his dick still deep inside me.
“Always good, babe. Mine. My peaches,” he brags.
“Mine. My beast,” I inform him.
“Hell yeah.”
He helps me get myself sorted, but you can tell we’ve just done something naughty. Beast winks at me as we exit the small room, before his eyes go wide. His father is standing by the open fire exit, smirking at us. My shame goes from zero to a freaking million in a matter of seconds. I turn to go back into the room but come face-to-face with a wall of pure muscle.
“Hey, Dad. Mum will kick your arse if she sees that in your hand.” I know without looking that Luke is talking about the cigarette in his dad's hand.
Gary chuckle and says, “But she won’t find out, will she, son? I mean, unless you want me to tell her that you took advantage of poor little Ivy here at your grandmother's birthday party.”
“Bastard. Fine, I’ll keep my mouth shut. For now.” He winks at his dad and leads me back into the main room where everyone is enjoying the band playing on the stage. They are doing covers, but they’re pretty good.
“Dance with me,” Luke orders, not asks. He pulls me onto the dance floor and we dance with his family. His aunt and uncles are cracking me up with their moves. The kids come and join us, and it’s clear that Luke’s niece’s, Polly and Ria, love him to bits. His nephews, Josh and Rory, groove with the rest of the adults. They’re actually quite comical. Carter fits right in. He’s jiving with the oldies, as the kids say.
I’m holding hands with Polly, jumping and dancing, when I catch a flash of red moving closer to Beast. My movements stop and my body tenses. He’s going to let her touch him? He wouldn’t, surely. Polly is dancing, tugging on my arms, but I can’t stop looking at Beast and his ex. She touches his arm and he flinches away. She frowns at him, but I just smile to myself. Luke says
something to her and she huffs and walks away. Before he can catch me staring, I start dancing with Polly again.
The fast tempo song finishes, and a slow song comes on. The Script’s ‘I’m Yours’ plays into the room. I feel him before I see him, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. His arms wrap around my waist and pull me back into him.
“Do you mind if I borrow Ivy for this dance, Pol?”
“Yeah, Uncle Luke.” She skips off and joins her cousins at a table that’s filled with crafts items. I turn in his arms, loving how safe I feel surrounded by him.
My beast.
“Perfect,” he whispers. I hide my smile in his chest. I can hear his heartbeat, and it soothes me. I am stunned into stillness when I hear Luke sing the lyrics to the song against the top of my head. It’s like we are in our own little bubble, as cheesy as that sounds. His voice is deep and gravelly when he sings. You would never think a man like Luke would sound like this when he sings. Shivers rack my body when he says, ‘I’m yours’. I know I am his, and he is mine. The looks and the feelings that we share show that. The ‘L’ word hasn’t popped out yet; I’m not sure if he’s ready to hear it. I’m ready to both say and hear it, but I’m worried I’ll scare him away if I say it first. Stupid, I know. But if there’s anything my mother and Tim have taught me, it’s to live in the moment.
I gaze up at him and see that he is looking down at me, a perfect smile on his handsome face. I lift my hand and cup his jaw, his stubble feeling amazing under my fingertips. I smile up at him and get lost in his mismatch-coloured eyes. We sway back and forth to the music, letting the lyrics smother us. I know I need to tell him, but again, my fear surfaces. I lean back into his chest again, getting lost in the music, and pray that when I do tell him, he feels the same way.
Chapter 15
Luke
It’s date night. Carter is staying over with Jay and Cassie, and I’m taking Ivy out for something to eat, a few drinks, and a few games of pool. We got an Uber into town so we both could have a drink, and are now sitting in the Copper Hill having something to eat before we move on to the pub.
“Is that any good?” I ask, pointing to her steak and ale pie, with mash and gravy.
“Yeah, it’s good. Yours?” she asks, and then lifts her glass of wine to take a sip. I have a ten-ounce steak with chips and veg.
“Yeah, it’s alright.” I take a big gulp of my pint of lager and continue eating. The conversation flows easily between us, and even when we’re not speaking, it doesn’t feel awkward. We finish our food and Ivy excuses herself to go to the toilet before we make a move. I fold the piece of paper on the table and scribble down a quote for her. I set it by her place setting and wait for her to come back and read it. I smile to myself, knowing Peaches loves them. I do them as much as possible, just little things to let her know how I feel about her. I watch her walk across the room, smiling at her when she smiles at me. I watch as she notices the aeroplane and picks it up to read it.
Want to know a secret?
I kinda like you and can’t stop thinking about you.
Ivy doesn’t say anything, she just leans in and kisses my cheek. That action says it all. We make the short walk down to the Ship and Anchor, Ivy nestled tight against me, fending off the wind. Her coat is wrapped tight around her, making sure she is warm enough.
We walk into the pub, and the smell of smoke and stale beer hits my senses. The place is pretty packed for a Monday night. Ivy takes her coat off and I follow, removing my leather jacket, and we hang them by the door. It’s a small town, and no one really steals anyone else’s stuff. With my hand on the small of her back, I guide her over to the bar and help her onto a high stool.
I order us a round of drinks; a lager for me and another wine for her. I take in her outfit and my dick reacts to what he is seeing, but then again, he’s been reacting like a fucking teenage boy since I laid eyes on Ivy Bilson. She’s wearing grey suede knee-high boots with a high heel, making her come up to my chin now. Her tight grey jeans fit her arse to perfection. I’ve had to fight with my self-control to not grab it with both hands. The black and white checked shirt she’s wearing cups her tits, making them look more round and delicious. I can see the white vest she has on under the shirt peeking through.
Me, well, I’m in my usual white t-shirt, black jeans, and biker boots. Millie, the bartender, comes over and gets us new drinks. She winks at me, but I pay her no attention. We hooked up once, but she got a little clingy after and I had to set her straight.
“Let’s play pool,” Peaches says, pulling me back to the present.
“Sounds good.” I give her my hand and help her down off the stool. God forbid she falls in those boots and breaks something. I don’t want anything getting in the way of me taking her again tonight.
I rack the balls up and Ivy adds chalk to two pool cues. She offers me a seductive smile and adjusts the way she’s holding the cue. Puckering her lips, she blows the excess chalk away, making my dick—any dick within a ten-mile radius, for that matter—hard.
“Baby, you are gonna make me punch some poor bastard tonight if you keep that up,” I tell her, pointing a stern finger at her. She takes my large hand in her smaller one and brings my finger to her mouth.
Fuck me. I hope she isn’t going to do what I think she’s going to do.
And she does.
“Fuck,” I mutter as she sucks my finger into her mouth. The wetness coats my finger, making my body shudder and my cock harden. She smirks at me and steps away before I can grab her.
“Now, let’s play.”
“Oh, you are on, babe.”
I break and pocket two balls. Ivy smiles at me from her position against the wall. I pot another one but miss the next. I stop her with a hand to her flat stomach and kiss her gently as she walks past me towards the table. To my absolute surprise, she clears the table, one ball at a fucking time.
“Fluke, Peaches.”
“That’s crap and you know it. Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” she says in a shitty American accent. I burst out laughing and she giggles with me, before taking a sip of her drink.
“Okay, fine. Let’s place a bet.”
“What kind of bet, Beast?” I think about things I can do to her, or she can do to me. This needs to be a fair winnings, where we both technically win. There is something I think we would both agree on.
“Okay. The loser gets any tattoo the winner chooses,” I state, folding my arms across my chest and widening my stance, making myself just a little bit bigger. Well, she does call me Beast, after all.
“Tattoos?” she squeaks.
“Damn, you sounded like a penguin just then. But yeah, it will be fun. Or are you that scared you will lose to me?”
“Oh, Luke, I never lose.”
“Bring it on, Peaches. Bring it on.” I smirk at her and set the balls back up for the next game. I see a few lads watching Ivy as she moves around the table. When she bends over to take a shot, I growl at two guys that are standing close to us. They take the hint and piss off. I take the opportunity to step up behind her and put my hands on her hips, pulling her flush against me.
“You planning on making all the dicks in the room hard for you, babe?”
She straightens and pushes back into me. I’m sure she can feel how hard my dick is for her. My peaches is turning into a little minx.
“Are you jealous, Luke Baker?”
“Hell yeah, I am. You’re mine, Peaches.” She chuckles and bends back over to take her shot, potting the ball in the top corner pocket. She is a fucking pool shark, I tell you.
“Welcome to my world,” she says, and walks around the table to pot the next three balls before her words sink in and I register their meaning.
Well, fuck me.
“You know I didn’t sleep with them, right?”
She nods. “Yep. But it still hurts to see.” She misses the next ball and it’s my turn. I plan on clearing the table.
“Shit.” I line
up my shot, when a whistle sounds in the room as Ivy leans over the other end of the table, watching me take my go. Ivy turns her head and smiles at the bloke. What the fuck? The cue slides over my hand and scuffs the ball, sending it bouncing around the table and not where I want it.
“My turn. Time to end this game,” she states. I shake my head at her, still slightly pissed that she smiled at the bloke by the bar. I take it this is Karma being a fucking bitch and getting me back. I lean against the wall and finish off my beer while she finishes off the balls on the fucking table.
I fucking hate pool anyway.
The guys clap when she pots the last ball, but I stay brooding against the wall. She can come to me if she wants a something. Fuck, why does she make me feel like this? She curtsies to the men and makes her way over to me. She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and checks the time.
“We should be going. It’s eleven-thirty. I have to get Carter up in the morning for school.” I nod.
“Okay, let’s go,” I say, and we walk to collect our coats. The silence is killing me, but I’m pissed at her for flirting with men while I was standing there.
“So, I win,” she mutters as we wait outside for a taxi.
“Yeah. I guess so,” I say, looking up and down the street. I can feel her eyes on me, but she doesn’t say anything at first.
“You are a class act, Luke Baker. A bloody class act.” My head snaps in her direction, but I only see the back of her, walking down the street.
“Where the hell are you going?” I call after her. I jog up to meet her, but she doesn’t stop walking. Clearly my broodiness has pissed her off. The street lights are on and some frost as settled over the parked cars on the street. Shop windows have their display lights on, showcasing different things. We walk a few streets before she says what she’s been wanting to say but didn’t.
“Tell me something, Luke.” Fucking hell, she’s calling me Luke, not Beast. She hasn’t called me that since we left the pub. “Are you pissed that I beat you? Or are you pissed that other men were paying me attention? Because, I have to say that you are acting like a bloody toddler if it’s for either reason. You set the bet, Luke, not me.” She stomps away, but I catch up with her and grab her arm.
