Darci laughed loud enough to startle the dogs. They ran into the kitchen barking up a storm.
As Jenna soothed one of the yapping mutts, she cocked a brow at Darci. “You want to let me in on what’s so funny?”
“You, Luke, this whole no-sex, kissing-only stuff…I’d love to see how he handles himself once he sees you in a bikini. I’m picturing him jumping into the lake to hide his raging hard-on.”
Jenna cracked a smile. “I told you, I’m not going to go.”
“C’mon, why not?” Darci asked as she tossed a crumpled napkin at her. “Quit psychoanalyzing things and let them ride. Luke’s a great guy. For once, stop letting your head mess with your heart. For once, let things get messy.”
She didn’t like messy, didn’t like letting things ride, because it left her feeling out of control. And after the way her body and heart had responded to Luke’s kiss, right now, she was definitely feeling very out of control.
Darci rested her hands on the table. “Be honest, you want to take things to the next level.”
She tossed the napkin back at Darci. “I do and I don’t.”
Darci caught the napkin, then balled it in her fist. “Jenna, you’re my best friend, I’d do anything for you, except watch you keep beating yourself up for something you had no control over. People divorce, men and women cheat, but not every relationship has to end that way. Quit avoiding a serious relationship. You can’t keep worrying about those what ifs, when they might never happen. And, no offense, but if you keep this up, you’ll end up like your mom.”
Jenna looked away. After her father had left, her mother had spiraled into a deep depression, and still lived like a recluse. “I’m nothing like my mom.”
“Really? You don’t date, you spend your weekends cleaning, your nights organizing your hutch or sock drawer or watching reality shows.”
Oh God, shehad turned into her mother.
Darci stood, then rested a hand on Jenna’s shoulder. “You’re a great catch. And you deserve a great guy. Promise me you’ll go with Luke this afternoon. It’s such a gorgeous day and you’ll have so much fun on his boat.”
Still floored over the idea that she’d been subconsciously following in her mother’s footsteps, Jenna muttered, “Okay, but you have to promise me you won’t try anymore Cupid crap.”
Darci sent her a triumphant grin. “Deal. By the way…how was that goodnight kiss?” she asked with a waggle of her dark brows.
Fabulous and absolutely toe-curling.“Nothing big, it was just a kiss.”
Darci shook her head, then took her dirty dish and mug to the sink mumbling, “Yeah, right. Just a kiss, my butt…”
*
Luke inwardly groaned. Jenna’s yellow sundress revealed bright blue straps and the outline of her bathing suit.
Not a one piece.
As he climbed aboard the Sea Ray, Jenna toed on her flip flops and moved toward him. With no make-up, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she looked sexy, summery, and way too tempting.
She gave him a broad smile, then eyed the ropes at the dock. “Are we ready to go?”
The boat was ready, but he wasn’t, not entirely. Asking Jenna to spend the afternoon with him on his boat hadn’t been his brightest plan. They’d be stuck out on the lake. Alone.
“We’re all set,” he said as he untied the Sea Ray from the dock.
She moved next to him. He flinched at her closeness, battled the need to pull her against him. Instead, he dropped the rope and pushed off the dock. The boat rocked and she grabbed his forearms. Smiling, he wrapped his hands just below her waist, until she gained her balance. Man, did she feel good, soft and curvy. Her flowery scent made him want to bury his face in her hair. Lick the smooth arch of her neck, nip her small earlobes, and kiss her lush, tempting lips.
A pretty, pink blush stained her sun-kissed cheeks. She nervously shifted her gaze to the sky. “I thought I saw a chance of rain today. Maybe we should hang out here for a while and make sure it’s safe for boating.”
Luke eyed the blue sky. Fat, puffy white clouds drifted with the breeze. Although the weather off the lake tended to be unpredictable, he suspected Jenna was looking for an easy exit. Maybe she felt the same apprehension he did. Other than last night on her front porch, they’d never been truly alone.
“The weather’s fine. If you’d rather not go, I understand.” He did and would respect her wishes. He respected her, damn it.
She relaxed and grinned. “Well, after the way Darci worked me like a dog this morning, and how you slaved at the office, I think we both deserve a little fun and relaxation.”
He gave her ponytail a quick tug. “Yes we do,” he said, then led her to the cockpit, offering her the cushioned seat next to the captain’s chair.
He turned the ignition, and the motor came to life, twirling and churning the water. Waving to a passing boat, he then shifted gears, taking them along a small finger toward the open lake. He veered the boat out of the No Wake Zone, and once he reached Lake Erie, he moved the throttle, then took the Sea Ray up to forty miles per hour. With the motor humming and the wind whipping, they fell into a comfortable silence. As they passed other boaters, Luke caught every guy ogling Jenna. Tempting and gorgeous, he couldn’t blame them.
She leaned back in the passenger chair. The sun’s rays highlighted her golden head, kissed her tanned cheeks. She flashed him a smile, then slipped on a pair of sunglasses, making her look very Hollywood.
Damn, how he’d love to see that smile every day. Wake up to it, go to bed with it. Any other time, that thought would have scared the shit out him. But he’d grown tired of playing the scene.
Up until a few years ago, he’d never cared if he went to bed alone or woke by himself, as long as he’d gotten laid. Then the quick satisfaction sex had offered began to become too quick for his liking. He’d started to feel as if something was missing.
While searching for that missing link he’d met Monica. She’d turned out to be a total gold digger. As a Senior Manager for the accounting firm Dryscal & Myers, he did well for himself. He had a great condo, a boat, could take nice vacations, but apparently he still hadn’t met Monica’s social climbing standards. Then there was Tina. She was cute and fun, until she told him she was carrying his baby. One thing Luke prided himself with was playing it safe. He never had sex without a condom. Besides, Tina claimed to be six weeks pregnant and they’d only been dating for three weeks. He hadn’t needed a calculator to do the math. The baby wasn’t his.
After his disastrous, albeit brief, relationships, he went back to unfulfilling one-night-stands. Then, one by one, his friends started getting married and settling down. He’d meet those buddies out for beers, and they’d tell him how lucky he was to still be single. How they envied his freedom. As they expanded their families and switched from muscle cars to minivans, he hardly ever saw any of them. And no one was telling him how lucky he was anymore.
Luke pushed those thoughts from his head and maneuvered the Sea Ray along the shoreline. They passed other boats anchored off the water’s edge, where people swam, sunbathed and picnicked on the beach. He navigated a bit further until they reached a secluded area where the unpredictable and harsh waters of Lake Erie had carved jagged cliffs, exposing smooth bedrock and dangling pines.
Jenna nudged him and pointed to a private, watery nook. Message read, he swerved toward the area then killed the motor. The boat bobbed and gently rocked against the waves they’d created. He stood, grabbed the anchor then dropped it over the side.
“It’s so beautiful here,” she said with a sigh. “Cleveland gets a bad rap, but when you look at it from this angle…”
“Couldn’t agree with you more.”
“Mmmm,” she hummed and relaxed into her seat, a lazy smile played across her lips. How he’d love to taste them again.
In time, he told himself. Jenna didn’t date much — he still couldn’t wrap his brain around the ridiculous concept — and she needed time to grow use
d to him, to the idea of them. Last night, he’d meant to give her a chaste kiss, instead he’d assaulted her mouth.
Real smooth. Luke scratched the back of his head, then looked over his shoulder.
Jenna stared at him for a moment, then hitched her sunglasses on top of her head. “Is something wrong?”
“No, I’m just making sure we’re secure.”
She watched him for another moment then shifted her head toward the controls at the cockpit. “Hey, is this the radio?”
Luke made his way toward the cockpit. “Yep, I have some CDs, too.” He used the key from the ignition to unlock the storage box next to her leg. Inadvertently, he brushed her calf and dropped the keys. They both bent to retrieve them and knocked heads.
“I’m sorry. I…” He lifted his head. Their gazes collided. Mouths inches apart, her warm breath burned a path across his lips. Tempted, he reached for her head, then curled his fingers and pulled away.
She took the keys from his hand and sent him a shy smile. “Here, let me.” She unlocked the box then flipped through the CDs. “You know,” she began with a nonchalant tone. “I get this feeling that somethingis wrong.” She turned and cocked a brow.
“Not true,” he said and plopped on one of the cushioned seats at the stern of the boat, drew his t-shirt over his head, then leaned back and let the sun heat his skin.
“I dunno,” she sang, then inserted a disc.
Music broke over lapping waves. Jenna rose, swerved around the coolers, then moved to the opposite bench. “What kind of goodies do you have here?” She pointed to his cooler. “I packed some sandwiches and fruit in mine.”
He leaned forward and opened his cooler. “There’s wine, beer, sodas and water in this one. There’s also a bunch of other junk in the cabin.”
“I love junk.” She winked. “Sooo appetizing. But first I’ve got to get rid of this cover-up. I think I screwed up my tan lines while I was working at Darci’s, and I need to rectify that. You don’t mind, do you?”
Last night, he’d imagined what Jenna would look like in a bikini. He had a feeling his fantasies would never justify reality. “Um, no. Knock yourself out.”
Jenna gripped the midsection of her sundress and drew it over her head. “Ah, much better,” she said with a smile, then folded the dress and set it next to her.
Man, what had he gotten himself into? He tried not to gape and hoped to God drool hadn’t formed around his mouth. Jenna could give aSports Illustrated swimsuit model heavy competition. Tanned and tone, with full breasts, flat belly and shapely hips, he desperately wanted to run his hands over her long legs. Peel away her bikini, then lick, kiss, and taste every tantalizing inch of her. He shifted on the cushion, cleared his throat and looked out at the shoreline. “So what do you plan to do with your Ph.D.?”
Jenna drew her legs under her. “Where’d that come from?”
Hell, he’d discuss the whole, long, tedious auditing process…anything to keep his cool and his eyes off her tempting body. “I’m just curious.”
She shrugged. “You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked.”
Her mouth tilted with a quick smile. “Okay, so I have this little nest egg.”
“You’ve managed to save, even with paying for school?”
“I had some help. My grandparents set up a trust fund for me when I was a baby. Although I bought the house on my own, I’ve been using the funds to pay for my education. When I’m done with my degree, I’ll still have quite a bit left over and no loans, thank God. So, I’m thinking about buying a big house and turning it into a group home for young women. I’ll offer them counseling as well as a place where they can stay until they get on their feet.”
Luke shook his head. “You are an amazing woman. I admire your selflessness.”
She waved him off as if her plans weren’t a big deal.
“Seriously, you’re like this little Mother Teresa. I had no idea.”
“Whatever,” she said with a smile. “I’m hoping to obtain government grants and donations to help keep the place afloat. But, no matter what, I’d like my group home to be private, where a young woman can go when she has nowhere else. There’s so many women who are running, from their past, an ex or a bad home life…” She shook her head. “At the youth center, I counsel troubled teens, and for the most part, they come out okay. It’s the few that slip through the cracks I want to help.”
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I can help you with the accounting end of things. Nate’s a great attorney, and between the two of us we could handle all the nitty-gritty details when you’re ready.”
She looked away. “Nate already volunteered to help me with the legal stuff, but I wouldn’t want to put you through the trouble.”
“No trouble,” he replied, and couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. Not necessarily of Nate, but because she’d depend on his friend over him.
“Look, at this point I still have another year before I can consider —”
“Not so,” he interrupted and decided to push the issue further. If she were to rely on anyone, it would be him. Not Nate. “If you can afford it, and I’ll run the numbers for you, you might want to consider purchasing a home now that we’re in a buyer’s market. Plus, if you’re planning on obtaining government assistance, you’ll have to wade through a bunch of red tape. Then there’s making sure the building is up to code, so you’ll need to worry about renovations, contractors, your business license, your —”
“Okay, okay,” she laughed. “I get it.”
“I’ll help you set up a business planand get a timeline together. If you want to do this within a year of obtaining your Ph.D., now’s the time to start.”
Jenna couldn’t think straight. She stared at him for a second, then at her lap. How the hell could she even contemplate a business plan with Luke stripped down to his khaki shorts, the hot sun glistening across his tanned, smooth chest. What a chest. A sucker for big pecs, she itched to run her hands over the hard slabs of muscle, not to mention his flat abs. He was ripped, his arms, his shoulders, his legs.
She shifted her gaze to the lake and tried to refocus on what he’d said. She’d be a fool not to take him up on his offer. After all, she did need an accountant. From what she’d heard, Luke was very good at what he did, and not just in bed, either. Darci had mentioned that Luke took care of all of Nate’s accounting needs, both personal and professional. While tempted by his proposition, she worried how it might interfere withtheirpersonal relationship.
“Listen,” she began, picking and choosing the appropriate words. “I think I’ll hold off on all this just yet. What you’re offering is very generous, and I appreciate that, but —”
He furrowed his brows, and pushed off the bench. “When things go sour between us, where will that leave you, right?”
He’d read her mind. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t need to. It’s written all over your face.” He looked past her and raked a hand through his hair. “Look, I meant what I said last night. I’m going into this with the intent to make it work. But I don’t think we’re on the same page.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and dropped her feet to the floor of the boat. “What’s that mean?”
“It means that I think that you think…” He closed the distance between them, then knelt in front of her and ran the back of his knuckles along her arm. “Don’t write us off before we have a chance to get started.”
“I’m not.”
He gently caressed her — glided his fingers over her shoulder, played with the tie of her bikini top, and ignited a flare of sexual heat inside her. With his big body hovering close, the scent of him, and his soft touch, she couldn’t think straight.
“Then what are you afraid of?” he asked and trailed his fingers along her cheek, then stroked her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.
“Nothing,” she lied. While she’d burned for his touch for four lon
g months, she feared it as well. What it would do to her, to her emotions.
After this morning’s conversation with Darci, she’d told herself she would no longer psychoanalyze her relationship with Luke, and decided, instead, that fun would be her new buzz word. Fun was what this was supposed to be. The seriousness, the sincerity and intensity in his eyes had said something entirely different. Luke wasn’t out for just fun and games. He honestly thought they could make a relationship work. Jenna didn’t. She knew better. Commitment led to nothing but heartbreak and headaches. Maybe Luke wasn’t like her father or her ex, but she wasn’t willing to take a chance and let him prove otherwise. Damn, she was psychoanalyzing things. Again.
He took her chin between his fingers and swayed forward. Unable to stop herself, she did too.
“Are you sure?” he asked and brushed his lips against the corner of her mouth. “Last night, I had the impression you wanted to date me. Now I’m wondering if dating is the last thing on your mind.” He trailed feathery kisses along her jaw until he reached her ear. “What’s on your mind, Jenna? What do you really want from me?”
Sex. That’s what she wanted. Hot and raw. Sweaty and primitive. Never in her life had she wanted or desired anyone as much as she did Luke.
With his breath burning a path down her throat, his firm, but gentle lips, sending goose bumps along her arms and legs, she wasn’t worried about rejection. She worried about the emotions Luke evoked. Lust, she could handle. The other emotions, the ones that would mess with her head and heart, made her want to belly flop into the lake. If only she could keep him focused on the physical side of their relationship, they could share a hot, summer fling. One she’d keep locked in her memory, and when needed, conjure up on the coldest and loneliest of nights.
He moved his lips across her forehead, down her nose, then to her mouth. He hovered there, so close, but not touching. His breath came in short, hot puffs, searing her lips and making her ache for his kiss. Moisture pooled between her thighs. Her nipples grew hard and tingled for his touch.
Kiss Me Page 3
