by Desiree Holt
“I hear you.” She exhaled a long breath.
“All right.” Claire stood up. “I’ll be crossing all my fingers for you.”
Julia finished her work with Claire’s words echoing in her head and closed up for the day. At home, she showered, dressed, and applied her makeup, the words repeating over and over like a mantra. Images slammed into her of Luke unexpectedly meeting Courtney and the shock on his face. Of Andy and Beth looking at her as if they’d never seen her. Of Rod Maguire as he was each time she ran into him, intense dislike blazing in his eyes.
She sprayed herself with perfume, applied lip gloss, and stared at herself in the mirror. Who was she, anyway? Who was the real Julia Patterson? Mother? Widow? Business executive?
Lover?
Had she been so busy finding herself that she’d again lost the real Julia?
She had a chance with Luke again. Did she have the courage to reach out and grab it with both hands?
She checked her watch. No time for mind-bending ruminating now. She wanted tonight just for the two of them. Tomorrow, at breakfast, maybe in a restaurant where he’d have to keep his outrage under control, she’d tell him everything.
* * * *
Mardi’s was a fairly new, upscale casual restaurant that Claire raved about all the time.
“Great steaks and great drinks,” she’d enthused. “And as many people in jeans as anything else.”
The restaurant, on the far north side of the city, was filled on Friday night. Thick carpet muted footfalls and dark paneling halfway up the walls absorbed sound, softening the buzz of conversation. Waiters and waitresses moved deftly among the tables balancing large trays, and glasses clinked as people kept the bartender busy.
Eyes scanning the room for Luke, Julia gave her name to the hostess and tried to still her nervousness.
The woman smiled at her. “Right this way, please.”
She led Julia to a table in the far corner, almost tucked out of sight from the rest of the room. Luke rose to meet her as she approached. He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently, then held her chair for her.
“How much did it cost you to get this much privacy in a public room?” she teased.
“I’d have paid any price to make you comfortable.” He smiled. “Crowds seem to make you nervous, so I figured this was a good compromise.” He looked across the table at her. “Or is it me you’re afraid of, Julia?”
She was saved from an immediate answer by the arrival of their waiter with her drink.
“Been watching for you,” he told her. “The gentleman ordered and said to bring it as soon as you got here.”
The aroma and color told her it was her favorite amaretto. She smiled her thanks, picked up the glass, and sipped, hoping the liqueur would settle her nerves.
“Okay, then.” The waiter placed menus in front of them. “I’ll give you some time to decide on your choices.” He melted away into the crowd.
“I hope it was okay for me to order for you?” Luke was studying her with eyes that saw far too much.
“Absolutely. Thank you.” She sipped again, then carefully placed the glass on the table.
She drank him in with her eyes. She hadn’t seen him for a week but it seemed more like a year. He wore a long-sleeved sports shirt, but the sleeves were rolled back to reveal the soft dark hair on his arms. Heat surged through her and she squeezed her legs at the throbbing in her cunt that just his presence seemed to ignite. His slow, sexy smile did nothing to calm her racing pulse or ease the sudden need that gripped her. The other night was proof in fourteen years her overwhelming desire apparently hadn’t cooled one bit.
Luke reached across the table and took the fingers of one hand. “I see such heavy thoughts weighing down your mind. How about if we just have drinks, dinner, and a nice evening and take it from there?”
The touch of his hand sent familiar sparks shooting through her. “That’s exactly what I’d like.”
“And it will be. No protests, no arguments. Okay? Sound good to you?”
She couldn’t help smiling at him. It seemed even the most insurmountable problems didn’t quench her desire for him.
The conversation got easier after that. Luke talked about his life during the intervening years, his continued uneven relationship with his sons, his progress through the industry to reach his position at Connell Wilson. The food was as good as Claire had promised, the atmosphere relaxing. Little by little, Julia felt her nerves and muscles relaxing and the tension easing from her neck.
Luke pushed his plate away at last and leaned forward on his elbows. “I have to admit, the fact you live here was a factor in my taking the job.”
“Luke,” she began.
“Don’t say it, okay.” He picked up the fresh drink the waiter brought and took a healthy swallow. “I don’t know what happened all those years ago that you broke it off so suddenly. Not even a phone call. I tried running away from it and that didn’t work so I’m not going to stop until I find out. Until I get answers. Until I can push aside whatever obstacles you think will keep us apart now.” He set his glass down and leaned forward. “I love you. That hasn’t changed. You told me you love me. So what we have to do next is find a solution to whatever problem has got you stuck.”
“I know, I know.” She fiddled with her dessert fork. “It’s just… There’s so much I don’t know how to tell you.”
His voiced wrapped around her like a warm blanket. “How about if we take it one thing at a time? For right now, let’s just take tonight.” His gaze caressed her face. “How late can you stay out?”
She could lie to him and tell him she needed to be home, but Julia wanted this night as much as he did. If she finally blurted out the truth, this might be the last time they were together.
“I’m good until noon tomorrow.”
He visibly relaxed. “Good. Then how about coming home with me? If you promise not to change your mind, you can follow me in your car and park in one of the guest spots.”
Julia took a last sip of her drink and looked across at him. “All right. And I won’t change my mind.”
Although on the drive across town, she was tempted to several times. But the need to be with him overrode everything else. She followed Luke into the underground parking and into the parking place he indicated. Taking a deep breath, she got out of her car and let him lead her to the elevator.
Chapter 20
“Nothing for me, thanks.” She shook her head when he offered her a drink. She’d had wine with dinner and her senses were already on high alert, her brain a little fuzzy, except for registering the man standing in front of her in his big bedroom. They faced each other, inches apart, the heat crackling between them filling the room.
Luke took a step closer, placed his palms on her cheeks, and proceeded to seduce her with his mouth. His lips whispered back and forth against hers. It was nothing more than the merest touch of mouth on mouth, but it cloaked her in the voluptuous feeling of black velvet. She wrapped her fingers around his wrists, not to push him away but to hold him in place. Every nerve in her body seemed centered on her lips, the throbbing in her cunt a metronomic beat in time with the movement of his mouth.
She was so wet she could feel moisture on the inside of her thighs. What was it about Luke Buchanan where just a touch carried her to a plane of sexual arousal demanding more? Much more. Breathing in through her nose, she inhaled the wonderful scent of him, the scent that was pure Luke.
Almost tentatively, he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, a back and forth motion demanding she part for him. When she did, the sweep of that tongue was light and graceful, no longer demanding but seductive. It flicked and danced, tasting first here, then there, leaving tiny bonfires every place it touched. Automatically, she tried to suck him deeper into her mouth, but he was too quick for her, following his own choreographed path. When she met his tongue with her own he nipped at it lightly with his teeth, and the thro
bbing in her pussy, the ache in her breasts, grew even more intense.
She wanted to cry out in protest when he lifted his mouth from hers, but in a moment she felt him working his hot lips in slow motion along her jawline and beneath her ear. He paused to bite gently on the soft lobe, sending shivers skating over her skin. Julia moaned, a tiny little sound vibrating at the back of her throat and increasing when he trailed his mouth down her neck. He slid one hand back to the collar of her sweater, giving himself access to the erogenous zone where her neck and shoulder joined. She tightened her fingers on his wrists, balancing herself as the floor seemed to fade away beneath her feet, leaving her floating in space.
Luke spent long moments paying homage to her neck, moving his mouth to the hollow of her throat where her pulse pounded erratically. Then at last—at last!—he shifted his hands to tug at the bottom of the sweater and broke contact with her long enough to pull it over her head and toss it to the side.
Now she flew into a frenzy for intimate contact. Her fingers trembled as she fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, finally pulling it open, buttons flying to the floor. She pushed it down his arms and he obligingly shrugged the rest of the way out of it. Frantic with the need to touch him without the barrier of clothing, she ran her hands over his thick pelt of soft hair. A sound of raw need rumbled up from his throat when she raked her fingernails over his flat nipples.
He trailed kisses from her throat down between the valley of her breasts and tweaked her nipples through the flimsy silk of her bra. His tongue was a sensual weapon he drew lazily across the upper swell of her breasts before moving his head to pull one distended nipple into his mouth, fabric and all. Julia sucked in her breath, squeezing her thighs together in an effort to contain her growing need, but it surged through her with the speed and force of a lightning bolt.
Somehow, her bra disappeared and she was skin to skin with Luke, her sensitized breasts pressed against the wall of his chest, the fine mat of hair abrading her nipples like tiny branding irons. She was hot all over, her skin too tight, her body soft and pliant and somehow not even her own any more. And still Luke continued his slow, seductive torment, tasting here, nibbling there.
“Oh, please,” she breathed, a small sound of satisfaction bubbling from her as his fingers moved over the button and zipper of her slacks.
Moving the material out of the way, he slid a hand inside her panties and cupped one cheek of her ass with his long, hot fingers. Her blood raced at the contact, muscles quivered and the scent of her musk drifted up to her nostrils. When he glided his warm palms over the surface of her cheeks, more nerves sparked and sizzled, fed by the continued assault of his mouth on her breasts. That talented, clever, seductive mouth was everywhere, sliding over every surface of her skin, while he continued to stroke her buttocks. When he slipped his fingers into the hot cleft between the cheeks she gasped, a jab of lust spearing her. She remembered the erotic burn of his cock inside her there and wanted it—craved it—again. She surged into his touch and felt the curve of his smile against her skin.
She trembled, wanting him everywhere in and out of her body, yet still he took his time, touching, caressing, licking, nipping, until she was half out of her mind. Her hunger for him was so strong it threatened to engulf her. She pressed herself against his body, smiling at the thick feel of his hard cock, evidence of his arousal. She slipped one hand between them and closed her fingers around his shaft, fabric and all. His strangled moan was her reward.
Lifting his head, he brushed his mouth over hers again. Against her lips, he whispered, “I’m going to fuck you, Julia. In more ways than you can imagine. And when I’m through, the last thing you’ll think about is walking away from me.”
He broke their contact long enough to rid them of the rest of their clothes and rip the covers back on the bed. Then she was lying on the cool crisp sheets, her legs over his shoulders, him lapping with unabashed desire at her slit. He licked her labia with deliberate strokes and probed at the entrance of her pussy. With strong yet gentle fingers, he opened her outer lips to his invasion, and ate her like a starving man. The flick of his tongue was like an electric torch wherever he touched her, blazing through her bloodstream. Julia fisted her hands in the sheet, anchoring herself as he worked her, touching every inch of her slick tunnel. Soft ragged sounds of pleasure drifted on the air and she realized they were hers, signs of the ragged edge on which her body was perched.
When he found her clit with his thumb and rubbed it gently, she was done. The orgasm ripped through her like a cyclone, shaking her until she thought her bones would disintegrate. He stroked and sucked, keeping her in an erotic whirlpool, body convulsing, until the spasms weakened into aftershocks. But instead of taking her down gently, waiting until the throbbing faded, he rose to his knees, positioned his cock against her still throbbing flesh, and entered her with one stunning thrust of his hips. In an instant, she felt desire growing again. The hot spiral of need burned low in her belly, unwinding and rippling through her.
His movements were steady but hard, each forward thrust bumping the head of his cock against the mouth of her womb. She scrabbled to hold him with her hands, raking her nails across his back. He pounded her with a steady rhythm and strength a younger man would have been proud of. He rode her, pushed her, until the next climax grabbed her like a fist and she quaked with the incredible power of it. The walls of her pussy clenched around his hot erection, gripping it as her climax roared through her.
When she lay there sweaty and panting, head tossed back against the pillow, it suddenly occurred to her Luke held back on his own release. She could only imagine the kind of control it took. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
“You didn’t—”
“No.” He smiled, and reached for something on the nightstand. “But I’m going to now. Tonight I’m prepared.”
He flipped her over to her stomach and pulled her to her knees, bracing her with pillows beneath her stomach. He touched his lips lightly to each curve of her ass. Her body hummed in response but she tensed slightly when she felt something cool and smooth at her rear entrance.
“Gel,” he whispered. “So I don’t hurt you. Relax and let me get you ready.”
Using one lean finger, he rubbed the lube into the tissues around that opening before easing inside. The coolness of the gel radiated out to her inner tissues. She closed her eyes and leaned into the pillows as he added a second finger to the first, more lube, more stroking. Despite the coolness of the gel, the sensation spreading through her body was fiery hot. Her body wanted him, softened for him, eagerly accepted the fingers as he worked the lube into her hot channel.
In a voice ragged with his own hunger and need, he whispered, “Breathe, Julia. Breathe deep.”
She didn’t need him to tell her. She still remembered the feel of him there. She arched her back to thrust her buttocks out at him, pulled in a breath, and readied herself for his penetration. When it came, the familiar mixture of ice and heat fractured through her. Her blood drummed in her ears and her heartbeat sped up. Luke gripped the soft skin of her ass and he began the ride.
In and out. Deeper, deeper. Harder, harder. And incredibly her body responded again. She matched his tempo, rocking with him, until she felt him spurting inside her and one more orgasm overtook her. She hadn’t thought her body could stand another onslaught, but Luke managed to drag it out of her, this one more powerful than the others. Nothing existed except the two of them and this incredible connection, the erotic sensations racing through her, the climax that shook her with the force of an earthquake.
“I’m dead,” she murmured, when he finally let her collapse, the sounds of ragged breathing punctuating the air.
“No, just satisfied.” She heard the smile in his voice as he eased himself from her body. Rolling to the side, he skimmed a kiss over her face. “Come on. Shower.”
“Nooo,” she whined, so limp she wondered if she’d ever be able to move again.
“I promise you I can’t get up. Go ’way.”
He laughed, the throaty delicious sound she loved. “I’ll help. I want to make sure to clean you up and ease those sore muscles. You’ll sleep better, I promise.”
“I’ll sleep in the shower,” she protested.
But he dragged her unwilling body from the bed into the huge shower, adjusted the spray so it was almost a fine mist, and bathed her like a baby, kissing her now and then.
Finally he crawled into bed with her, pulled her up against him, and she fell asleep, hoping tomorrow wouldn’t come crashing down on her head.
* * * *
“We’re going out to brunch,” Luke announced when he brought her coffee in bed. “I’d cook, but you wore me out.”
“Oh?” She sipped at the hot liquid. “Exactly who did the wearing out?”
“No matter. We’re still going out to eat before you disappear for the day.”
Julia set the coffee mug on the nightstand. It was time to talk. For a moment, she thought she should do it here. But then, if he got angry, at least in public he’d have to use some sort of control, enough for her to make a quick exit. “All right.”
“Wow.” He grinned. “I was all prepared for an argument. “ He leaned down and gave her one of those feathery kisses on her cheek. “We have a lot to talk about and I always plead my case best on a full stomach.
“All right.” She blew out a breath. “But let’s take both cars so I can leave from the restaurant.” Make a quick escape if she needed to.
“I’d argue with you but I’m sure I’d lose, so okay. Let’s do it. I found a place that serves the best all-day restaurant breakfast I’ve eaten in ages.”
He took her to Paul’s Pancakes, another place Claire had raved about. And she discovered she was extremely hungry. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and got out of the car.
Luke linked his fingers through hers. “I meant it about needing to talk, Julia. Whatever problems you think you’ve got, whatever happened all those years ago, we’ll face it all together. I’m not an unreasonable man. Or a weak one. I can face anything with you.”
