by Kit Reynard
“Luke?” Hannah reached out towards him as she took a small step forward.
“Hannah.” Luke sounded pained as he raked his hands through his hair, his face twisted in frustration. “Hannah, stop. We can’t.”
Hannah felt like she’d been hit, like she’d been sucker punched in the stomach and all of her air had left her lungs. Like she couldn’t breathe. Stop? Luke wanted to stop? He didn’t … he didn’t want her after all?
“Oh.” To her horror, Hannah felt tears prickle at the corner of her eyes, anguish quickly chasing the lingering threads of arousal from her system. “I thought …”
She’d thought he’d wanted her, she’d thought that he’d wanted her like she wanted him, had always seemed to want him.
“Okay. I’m … I’m sorry then.” Suddenly she was desperate for escape again, desperate to run, to get away from him and the humiliation of making herself vulnerable and then being rejected. Only for some reason she felt like if she started running now she might never stop. “I’ll just … go. I’ll go.”
Hannah whirled around, intent on heading to the bathroom to grab her suitcase and figuring out what she was going to do next. She couldn’t stay here with Luke, didn’t want to. Honestly by this point she’d rather face the others knowing how they felt about her than spend the night with Luke after practically throwing herself at him.
“Stupid.” Hannah muttered to herself, shoulders hunched and hands twisted in the fabric of her sweatshirt as she moved. “Should’ve known better than to think he’d want me.”
She’d lived with that knowledge for years already and she should have just been satisfied with that. Now that she’d had a taste of Luke she knew he’d haunt her even more than he already did.
But, she couldn’t help but think, that’s what she got for being even a little bit reckless.
****
Kissing Hannah was everything Luke had ever imagined it would be and more. She tasted sweet. Hints of coffee and something else teased his tongue as he kissed her deeply. Having her body, all sweet curves and sensuous lines, pressed against him was enough to make him shudder and ache with the need to get even closer.
In that moment all he wanted to do was lay her out on the kitchen table, or the couch, or even the floor, and press himself between her thighs. He wanted to strip her down, put his mouth and hands on her. God he wanted to fuck her until neither one of them could remember their own names.
But he knew he couldn’t.
So he pulled away. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much he didn’t want to, Luke forced himself to pull away from her.
He wasn’t prepared for the hurt that washed across her face when he did though, or the way she seemed to deflate and fold in on herself. He especially didn’t expect her to talk about leaving, or to hear her mutter to herself about him not wanting her.
That was so ridiculous that he couldn’t let it slide past him no matter what.
So he reached out again and this time grabbed her gently by the wrist.
“You think I don’t want you?” His voice sounded rough even to himself.
“Luke …” She seemed shocked, either surprised that he’d heard her or surprised that he’d responded. Luke wasn’t sure and didn’t particularly care.
“You honestly think that’s the problem?” Luke stepped closer to her again, unable to help himself. He couldn’t have her tonight, he knew that, it wouldn’t be right, but he couldn’t stay away from her either. “Don’t be stupid, Hannah. I think we both just saw that wanting you is not something I have a problem with.”
“Then what is it?” Hannah asked, voice husky and just a shade off desperate. Luke liked the sound of her like that, liked the way her voice had gone smoky even if he regretted the sadness he could still see in her face.
“You’ve had a long night.” Luke told her as he lifted his hand up and rubbed the pad of his thumb across her cheek. “You’re hurt and you’re angry. Vulnerable. I don’t want to take advantage.”
“I …” Hannah’s face was flushed still as she seemed to struggle to find her words. “It wouldn’t be taking advantage. I mean, I brought it up, Luke. We could … I wouldn’t … I still want to.”
“So do I,” Luke admitted roughly. God, did he still want to. More than anything. But he knew it wouldn’t be right. Not yet, not like this.
Not if he was going to get what he wanted out of Hannah. Not if he wanted it to be more than a one-time experience created from hurt feelings and a need for comfort. He wanted her, yes, but he wanted more than that from her. He wanted more than to be a balm for the hurt his brother and his friends had caused her.
For that, for the chance to truly have Hannah now that he knew she wanted him back, Luke was more than willing to wait.
“Luke.” Hannah whispered his name and all Luke could think was that he wanted to hear her say it again every chance he got and in a million different ways.
“I don’t know what you heard them say.” Luke leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss against her forehead. When he drew back enough to look down at her again, he could see the way her eyes were shining. “But whatever it is wasn’t true and they aren’t worth you doing something you might regret later. I want you, Hannah. I want you bad. I have for a lot longer than I’d like to admit. But I want you, not whoever you think you need to be to prove them wrong. Don’t give them the satisfaction of having that much influence over you. Over us. They’re not worth it.”
The dawning brightness on Hannah’s face made everything worth it in Luke’s opinion even as the soft smile she levered up at him caused his heart to skip a beat. Fuck, she was beautiful.
“I want you too,” Hannah told him softly, cheeks pink and eyes almost bashful. “Have for a long time. I just never thought you’d be interested in me like that.”
“I think we’ve established that’s not an issue,” Luke added dryly and was rewarded by the quick chime of her laugh that she smothered against his chest when he pulled her close to him again. Luke sighed softly and buried his face in her hair. It felt so good to hold her, torturously good in fact.
They stood there together for a long moment, wrapped in each other’s arms. Want still reverberated in the air around them but it was softer, less desperate and shallow than before.
“Come on, pretty girl.” Luke pressed another kiss to the crown of Hannah’s head as he finally pulled away from her. She blinked up at him and he couldn’t resist swooping down to kiss her softly again. He was already addicted to the way she tasted, to the way her hands clenched in his shirt and the way she tried to follow him every time he pulled away. “I promised you food, didn’t I? I’ll get everything squared away and we can relax in front of the fire for a while. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds good.” Hannah nodded, a small smile on her face. “Need any help?”
“No.” Luke needed a few minutes alone to center himself but he didn’t need her help. At least not with the food. “You go sit down and let me get this cleaned up and I’ll be in there in a minute.”
“Alright,” Hannah agreed. She pushed herself up onto her toes to press a kiss against his cheek, and then turned back towards the living room and the warmth of the fireplace.
Luke watched her go, eyes drawn helplessly to the unconscious sway of her hips as she moved. He sighed even as he turned to grab the broom so he could clean up the mugs he’d broken.
Hannah was going to be the death of him. Luke just knew it.
He also knew she’d totally be worth it.
****
They ate curled together on the couch in front of the fireplace, light chatter and scattered laughter flowing easily between them. A part of Hannah was surprised at how comfortable and right it felt to sit with Luke like that.
It didn’t take long, though, for the events of the day to truly catch up with her. Her eyelids felt heavy and it took all she had to keep them from slipping closed. Nestled safe and warm against Luke’s side, she barely even wanted to fight the urge to let sleep
take her.
Eventually she couldn’t hold off any longer and she fell asleep to the soothing rumble of his voice and the security of his arm around her shoulder.
****
Luke trailed off and went silent when he felt the way Hannah slumped against his side. He smiled slightly at the way she’d curled into him, one hand wrapped around her empty mug and the other tangled in his shirt. He’d been watching her fight a losing battle with sleep for a while now and he was glad she’d finally given up and passed out.
She’d had a long, emotional day and deserved the rest.
Content to enjoy the feel of her against his side Luke stayed where he was for a while, staring at the crackling fire and listening to Hannah’s soft breaths and the sounds of the storm that raged outside.
Finally, though, he knew he had to get up. He eased himself out of Hannah’s grip, laid her down on the couch and took her mug from her carefully so he could take it into the kitchen to be dealt with later. Conscious of the chill in the air he checked the thermostat on the heater and then built the fire back up to a roar and settled the screen in front of it. At least if the power went out, the fire would keep the cabin warm for a while through the night. That settled, he turned to scoop Hannah carefully up off the couch and into his arms.
The cabin only had the one bed after all and Luke wasn’t about to pass up the chance to spend the night with her in his arms.
She made a small noise of protest when he tugged back the thick quilt and laid her down on the bed. Still, she settled down easily enough when he crawled in behind her, and pulled her back against his chest.
Luke buried his face in her hair, tightened his arm around her waist, and let himself be drawn into sleep with the feel of Hannah’s soft body pressed against his own.
Chapter Four
It was the cold that woke Luke. The cabin was quiet and still, and the air unforgivingly cold outside the shelter of the quilt. The power had obviously gone out and the fire had died down while they slept. Hannah was curled up tightly against him, her feet twin blocks of ice where they were tucked beneath his ankles.
With a soft curse, Luke slid out of her hold and from beneath the protection of the quilt. He practically jogged to the fireplace and set about getting the still smoldering coals built back up into a roaring fire. It didn’t take him long to get the fire back up to a blaze but it was still apparently long enough for Hannah to notice him being gone.
He heard a soft noise behind him from where he was crouched in front of the fireplace and turned. Hannah stood behind him, the quilt from the bed wrapped around her shoulders, two pillows stuffed under one arm and another blanket from the linen closet under the other. As sleep worn and rumpled as she was, in Luke’s opinion she looked warm and inviting, soft and tempting.
“I got cold,” Hannah mumbled, obviously still half asleep. Luke chuckled as he stood and made his way over towards her. He pressed a light kiss to the top of her head and then grabbed the extra blanket from her to spread it out on the floor in front of the fireplace.
Hannah was quick to toss the pillows down and it only took a little coaxing to get her to unravel herself from the quilt so they could both curl up together again. Laid out in front of the fire, Hannah’s head on his chest and his hand stroking up and down her spine, Luke was hard pressed to remember a time he felt happier.
All he could think in that moment was that he wanted that happiness, that sense of contentedness, to last. He wanted to wake up to it every day, wanted to go to sleep with it every night. He wanted it, wanted her, in his life.
“Hannah.” Luke rolled slightly onto his side so that he was facing her.
“Hmm?” Hannah hummed. Luke brought a hand up and smoothed back an errant lock of hair from her face as she blinked drowsily up at him.
“Wake up, pretty girl.” Luke rubbed the pad of his thumb across the swell of her bottom lip and then dipped down and pressed a soft kiss against her mouth.
“Luke.” Hannah sighed against his mouth and Luke didn’t even bother to bite back his smile.
“You feel better this morning?” He hoped she did because he had something he wanted to ask her. He just hoped it wasn’t too soon for something so serious.
“Mmm.” Hannah hummed lightly. “Yeah.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.” Her voice was still husky from sleep but she seemed alert enough.
“Be mine?” Luke whispered the question only to feel Hannah stiffen against him. He pulled back from her far enough to look down into her eyes again. To his surprise, they were soft and slightly damp, like she was on the verge of tears. “Hannah?”
“What did you say?” There was a hint of disbelief in her voice then and a quiet kind of surprise on her face.
“Be mine?” Luke repeated quietly. “Please, Hannah?”
****
Instantly awake Hannah sucked in a shallow breath and let it out slowly. Hearing Luke talk about wanting her, having him admit to having wanted her for a long time was one thing. Having Luke want her to be his was another. That was something that Hannah hadn’t dared to hope for.
She’d been prepared for this to be a onetime thing even before Luke had stopped them the night before. Afterwards, she’d thought maybe there was a chance for something more between them but she hadn’t let herself focus on that hope too much.
So to have him come right out and ask …
“Are you serious?” Hannah had the unrelenting urge to pinch herself just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
“Yeah.” Luke grinned crookedly down at her, hair sleep mussed and expression open. “I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t.”
Hannah reached up, wrapped her hand around the back of his neck, and pulled him down towards her and into a kiss. It was all she could do, all she wanted to do in that moment. Luke didn’t disappoint her either. He kissed her back, a slow almost sweet meeting of lips and tongue that kindled a low, smoldering heat in Hannah’s stomach.
“That a yes then?” Luke asked when they finally broke the kiss and he bent his attention to her throat. Hannah shuddered at the feel of his mouth, at the way he dragged his teeth ever so gently across the sensitive curve of her neck.
“Yes.” Hannah hissed her answer out as Luke latched onto the curve of her shoulder with his mouth and sucked hard enough that she knew she’d have a mark later. She relished the thought, practically reveled in the idea of Luke marking her like that.
Luke moved until he was leaning over her and kissed her again then, mouth hard and insistent, a switch from the almost lazy way he’d kissed her before. Hands coming up to grip at his shoulders, Hannah spread her legs and urged him to move in between her thighs. She wanted to have him on top of her, wanted his weight and his heat pressed against her again.
She could feel him against her then, the hard line of his cock tenting his pants as he pressed himself deeper into the v of her legs. Hannah just splayed her thighs open wider in welcome, urged him closer with tugging hands and the upward tilt of her hips. She inhaled sharply against his mouth the first time he ground his hips down against her without even breaking their kiss.
Luke pulled back from her for a moment then and his hands were at her waist, fingers wrapped in the material of her sweater, a question in his eyes. She nodded her agreement and he grinned, quick and boyish, as he tugged her sweater up and over her head. Bare from the waist up beneath him, nipples pebbled from the cold, Hannah watched his eyes darken as he stared down at her.
Her back arched and she pressed herself further into his touch when his hands finally traced their way up her waist, to cup the weight of her breasts in his palms. He scored her nipples lightly with his nails and she couldn’t bite back the hiss of air that escaped her as heat pooled in her gut.
“Look at you,” Luke murmured right before he ducked his head down and took a nipple into his mouth. Hannah saw stars for a split second as he sucked at her, mouth hot and wet and teeth scraping deliciously acro
ss the sensitive bud.
She squirmed, hips shifting restlessly even as her hands came up to tangle her fingers in his hair, desperate for more but desperate to keep him where he was as well. She was wet she knew, she could feel the material of her panties becoming soaked, could tell that her thighs would soon be damp as well. She didn’t care though; it felt too good for her to care.
Her legs wrapped around his waist and she tugged him closer. It didn’t take them long to establish a kind of broken rhythm, his mouth on her breast as they rutted desperately against one another without a care for the barrier of their clothes.
It was good, good in a way that shocked Hannah, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted more. She wanted more of Luke, wanted the hot press of his cock deep inside her as he fucked her.
Her hands gripped at his shirt, eager to tug it up and off like he had her sweater. Luke moved with her, mouth trailing up away from her breast to nip at her throat again as he tugged his shirt off and slung it to the side. When he reached for the waistband of her pants she didn’t even think to protest, just unwrapped her legs from around him and arched her hips up enough for him to pull them down and off as well.
Clad only in her panties, Hannah couldn’t help but moan at the feel of Luke’s skin, hot and smooth against her own, at the way his muscles clenched beneath her hands, and the feel of him as he pressed down against her.
“Fuck,” Luke rasped from where he was propped up on his elbows above her. “You look even better than I imagined you would. Bet you taste better too.”
Hannah didn’t get a chance to really process what he meant before he’d grabbed the quilt in one hand, lifted it above his head, and then ducked down beneath it. Luke pressed teasing kisses down her torso as he slid down beneath the blanket until she could feel his breath on her through the damp lace of her panties.
“Luke, please.” Hannah writhed in need at the feel of his breath against her, her fingers gripping the edge of the quilt he’d made sure to cover her with. She felt the way his breath puffed out against her as he laughed, but before she could say or do anything his tongue swiped, hot and wet, across her lace covered slit.
