“Why?” Lucky stood.
“I just told you. Because it’s getting late.”
“No, why won’t you go to my cousin’s wedding with me?”
“It’s not a good idea,” she said with a finality in her tone.
But he wasn’t done. “Why?”
Her voice rose as she waved her hand between the two of them. “Because we are not a good idea.”
“Why?”
Her shoulders dropped, and she let out a sigh. “Do we really have to do this?”
“Yes.” He wasn’t used to being the one on this side of “the talk.” It had always been the women in his life who’d wanted to force this conversation. Oh, how the tide had turned.
Pulling her full lips between her teeth, Deanna lifted her gaze to the celling like she was trying to figure out how to say whatever she was thinking.
“Just say it,” Lucky prompted. He wasn’t going to like whatever she told him. But, until he heard her reasons why they weren’t a “good idea,” he had no idea how to talk her out of them.
She spoke slowly, almost like she was trying to explain something to an upset child. “Look, I like you a lot and you’re a great guy, but—”
He let out a forced laugh. “Are you seriously going to give me the ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ speech?”
Her jaw twitched, and she crossed her arms. Her stance had gone from frustrated to defeated to irritated in the span of sixty seconds. “No, actually, I wasn’t. Because it is you. Just as much as it is me. I don’t want to be on headlines. I don’t want to date an athlete, and I don’t want any of the things that come with your lifestyle.”
“What things?”
She started ticking reasons off on her fingers. “The groupies. The traveling. The instability.”
“I already told you that I’m seriously considering retiring—”
“It doesn’t matter,” she interrupted, and her hands flew up in the air. “Because it’s a mentality. I know athletes. Believe me. The athlete in you likes a challenge, a chase, getting the win. That’s all that matters. And I know that you think you care about me, and you really are a great guy. You are romantic, chivalrous, and gallant. But I’ve seen what happens after an athlete gets the prize. They lose interest and they need their next challenge. It’s never enough.
“When my dad won his first World Series, he was happy for about a month. Then he started talking about wanting two rings. After his second win, the high only lasted about half the time of the first. Two weeks after the parade, he was talking about wanting number three. He retired after winning four—four—World Series and it wasn’t enough. He still talks about regretting not having one for each finger of his hand.
But I promise you, if he would’ve won the fifth, he would’ve wanted six.
“That drive is what made him a great athlete. Never settling. Always pushing for more. But that mentality bleeds over. From what my mom said, my dad pursued her relentlessly for over a year. Until she got knocked up. And then he lost interest. And it wasn’t just him. I traveled with the team. I saw that same pattern repeated again and again.”
“I would never do that,” Lucky said, recognizing the sincerity in his own voice. And he hoped she felt it. “I’m different. You’re different. What we have is different.”
She shook her head.
Lucky had no idea how to prove to her that he wasn’t that guy. He wasn’t like her father or his teammates. Maybe he had been before, but not anymore. Not with her.
“Look, I know that nothing I say to you is going to convince you, so let me ask you something. Do you like me? Have feelings for me?”
“It doesn’t matter!” she exclaimed.
“Just humor me.” He grinned, hoping to ease her defensiveness. “Hey, I already told you I loved you. I think the least you can do is check the yes-or-no box on the ‘do you like me?’ note I’m passing you.”
The corners of her mouth twitched, and Lucky’s entire body relaxed. If he could keep her smiling, keep her amused, he had a shot. And that’s all he needed…one shot. If he got that, he could make her see that this was worth fighting for.
They were worth fighting for.
Chapter 20
‡
The man standing in front of her was irresistibly incorrigible. That truly was the best way to describe him. Even after she’d pointed out all the reasons why nothing could happen between them, he still looked hopeful. Hopeful and so sexy that she had no idea how she was possibly going to resist him.
But she knew she had to. She wasn’t going to end up like her mother.
Even though she had a very bad feeling about answering his question honestly, he deserved the truth, especially considering he’d just brought up the fact that he’d told her that loved her and hadn’t even flinched.
“Yes. I do like you and I do have feelings for you,” she said.
When his lips pulled up, a fluttering started in her heart, and it quickly migrated south as he stepped closer to her. Now, the coffee table was the only thing separating them.
“You said that the other night was incredible, amazing, and there were no words to describe it, right?”
She had a feeling she knew where he was going with this, and though the right thing to do would’ve been to leave and not discuss this, she heard herself answering with, “Yes.”
With one step, he maneuvered around the coffee table with an agile grace someone of his size shouldn’t possess. Her pulse raced, and her mouth was watering so much that it felt like a dam had burst. If she lifted her arm, she could touch his chest, his arms, his rock-hard abs, and other parts of his body that she saw, from the tent beginning to pop up, were hard as well.
His eyes grew serious as he ran his thumb across her cheek. She loved the rough pads of his fingers. Loved the way it felt when he touched her soft skin.
Without running the idea by her brain for approval, she tilted her head into his sweet caress. Their labored breathing was the only sound in the room. It cocooned them. The air between them grew heavy and intimate, thick with heartbreaking tenderness. Their closeness was like a drug lulling her like an erotic lullaby.
“I want you to stay tonight. We can worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. And the next day, the next day. I’m not asking you to make me any promises. I’m just asking for a chance. A chance to prove to you that I meant what I said. I do love you. I want to be with you. I know the only way that you’ll ever believe me, that I’ll ever earn your trust, is if I show you. Please. Please let me show you.” His deep voice grew even raspier as he pleaded.
Her heart ached beneath her heavy breasts. It was telling her to leave. Get out. She was already in way too deep with Lucky. If she spent another night with him, she was scared she would never recover.
This week, it’d been so hard not to answer his calls and the door when he’d come by, and his texts, which he’d sent several times a day. The only reason she hadn’t was because she’d been scared. Scared of getting even closer than she already was. Scared to turn into her mother, waiting for scraps.
Victoria Lane was a supermodel and Doug Bishop had strung her along for years. If that could happen to a supermodel, what shot did Deanna have?
Her hormones were saying the opposite. They were firmly Team Stay the Night, reasoning that she’d already spent one night with him. What would another one hurt?
She was trying to quiet her hormones and her heart in hopes that her mind would be the logical voice of reason. Basically, she needed a tie-breaker. But while he was cupping her jaw, brushing her cheek with his thumb, and smelling so good, it was impossible for her to concentrate.
All she’d thought about all week was how good his mouth felt on her. How amazing his touch was. How full and right it felt when he was inside her. How perfect waking up in his arms had been.
And tonight? Tonight had been pure torture. For six hours, she’d sat across from him while fighting the urge to jump over the Scrabble table and straddle him. She’d tried t
o concentrate on what words to make when all she’d wanted to do was kneel in front of him and take him in her mouth.
Lucky rested his forehead on hers. Then he repeated his request, his gravelly voice shooting straight through her like a lightning bolt of bliss. “Please let me show you.”
Tie broken.
“Okay,” she agreed breathlessly as her heart pounded wildly against her ribs.
A harsh breath fanned over Deanna’s face before Lucky’s mouth covered hers. Hungrily. Possessively. He wasn’t just kissing her—he was claiming her.
She instinctively parted her lips, wanting more. His tongue swept inside her mouth, tangling with her own, and a wild swirl built deep in her belly.
Need like she’d never experienced before flooded her. Urgency rose in her to a critical level. She needed more. More touching. More kissing. More of Lucky. She needed to feel the heat of his skin against hers.
“I need… I want…” Deanna could barely speak as her trembling hands began pulling at his shirt.
Either feeling the same thing she was or sensing her desperation, Lucky swiftly removed his shirt. Before it even cleared his head, she was already pulling his sweats down. As soon as her fingers dipped beneath his waistband, he hissed and the muscles of his rock-hard abs trembled. She loved that her touch had that much of an effect on him. In a frenzy, they undressed and were both completely naked within seconds.
Then one arm wrapped around her waist and he hauled her against him as his mouth crushed hers. She poured every ounce of pent-up passion and desire she’d been trying to ignore and push down into that kiss. They might not have forever and happily ever after ahead of them, but they had tonight and she wanted to enjoy each second of it. She didn’t want to waste a moment of it by holding back or second-guessing her decision.
She ran her fingers over his rounded shoulders, across his muscled shoulder blades and down his strong spine. His hands roamed her back before settling below it. Both of his large palms held a butt cheek as he flexed his fingers, kneading her flesh.
When his finger slipped lower and dipped between her thighs, her legs opened for him. He began teasing her with his fingers, and she shamelessly spread her legs farther apart to give him better access. Then his hard shaft jumped against her belly, and she moaned at the shock of sensation that erupted in her core.
“Damn, I love how wet you get for me,” he whispered against her mouth as he intimately massaged her seam.
She shivered at both his words and his touch, and she felt him smile against her lips.
“Does that feel good?” he gritted out.
“Yes. It feels so good. I love when you touch me.” Her hands threaded through his hair, and her fingers fisted in the soft, silky strands to hold him in place.
Their bodies were pressed against each other, no barriers between them. His mouth was on hers, his fingers sensually stroking her center. She wanted this to last forever, and at the same time, she wanted more.
Lucky smoothly guided them to the couch. She was so enraptured that she didn’t realize it until she felt herself being lowered onto the cushions. The knowledge that, in just a few moments, he was going to take her up and over the edge was still not enough to erase the carnal image that’d been flashing in her mind’s eye all evening.
“Wait.” Deanna lightly pushed against his muscled shoulders.
He froze. Not moving, just staring down at her.
Using her elbows for leverage, she lifted up to a seated position. Lucky, who had been hovering over her, moved with her and sat beside her.
“What’s wrong?” His calm and concerned tone contradicted his tense body. His sculpted chest was rapidly rising and falling, and his jaw was clenched. The muscles that ran up his forearm were protruding, and his rippling abs were contracted, which showcased the dips and contours of his torso.
He looked like a man teetering on the brink.
And a thrill ran through her at the thought of just how far she could push him before he fell over it.
In her past relationships, she’d enjoyed sex, but it had never been like this. She’d never talked dirty or said what she’d wanted. The way Lucky touched her, spoke to her, and looked at her made her feel like she was some kind of goddess. Before him, sex had never been this exciting, this stimulating, this fun.
“I’ve been wanting to do something all night,” she began, holding on to the power he inspired in her.
His mouth turned up in a naughty grin, and he moved towards her again. “So have I.”
She held her hand up, and he instantly stopped.
“Me first.” Her heart raced like it was trying to win the Kentucky Derby as she licked her lips, lowered to her knees, and positioned herself between his legs.
Okay, so it wasn’t the sexiest thing she could have said, but it had gotten her point across. His erection was jutting straight up in the air, and a primal groan rumbled out of his chest.
Her breathing was shallow as she lifted her hands to his knees. Slowly, she ran her fingers up his thighs. There was so much power in his legs. So much strength. Her gaze fixed on her fingers as they trailed along the dip of his inner thigh muscle, which was surprisingly erotic. Just rubbing his legs had lust whipping through her like the twister in the Wizard of Oz.
When she reached the top of his legs, her eyes landed on his hard column of flesh. During the night—and morning—they’d spent together, she’d seen it, but not like this. Not this up close and personal.
He was so big. So hard.
Her palm tingled as she wrapped her fingers around his shaft. His skin was as soft as satin, but beneath, it felt like steel. When she began moving her hand up and down his member, it pulsed in her hand and a tiny drop of clear liquid appeared on his tip.
Leaning forward, she licked his arousal off his swollen head.
“You’re killing me,” he gritted out.
Her eyes lifted to his, and when the heat of his stare shot a full-bodied shiver through her, unbearable pleasure built between her legs. She licked him again, and the flame of desire burned brighter. So she did it again and again, licking him from base to tip, as she stroked him with her hand.
“Fuck, baby. That feels so good,” he growled as he cupped her jaw and his thumb brushed her cheek.
The feeling of his hand on her face while her mouth was on his member made for a heady combination. Need rushed through her, and she sealed her lips over his crown and sucked him into her wet mouth.
“Oh shit.” His hand moved to the back of her head.
With her lips firmly sealed around his shaft, she moved her head up and down. At first, his fingertips lightly massaged her scalp as she enveloped him in the slick, wet heat of her mouth. But when she increased the pressure of her suction, his fingers fisted and the sting sent a sharp jolt of ecstasy straight between her legs. She swallowed a guttural groan as she continued sucking him in and out of her mouth.
His shaft swelled and her own body responded, clenching with need. He wasn’t even touching her, yet she was dangerously close to climax. Then her fingers tightened around his girth, sliding easily from the saliva she’d coated him in.
He hissed loudly, and the next thing she knew, he’d pulled her up off the ground and onto his lap. Her legs were on either side of his as she straddled him. His hands gripped her hips, and her damp core was pressed snugly against his straining dick.
“I wasn’t done yet,” she protested weakly.
“I didn’t want to come like that,” Lucky gritted out as his fingers dug into her hips, rolling them slowly so that her wet folds slid up and down his member.
Looking down, she saw their bodies rubbing against each other. The sight was so erotic and it felt so good that her own release threatened to burst. As good as it felt, she wanted more. Which seemed to be the running theme of the evening.
“I want”—she paused to gather her thoughts, not sure how to tell him what she wanted—“you inside me.”
Yep. That about summed it u
p.
*
Lucky battled with wanting Deanna to come before they had sex, because he knew he wasn’t going to last long. Not after she’d almost made him explode in her mouth. Blow jobs had never really been Lucky’s jam. He’d always preferred to be a more active participant.
But that had been before Deanna had kneeled before him and touched him like his dick was the Holy Grail. The way her fingers roamed over him had been so exploratory, like she’d never seen a cock before. Add to that the fact that she was naked and on her knees, and he’d almost come before she’d even put her mouth on him.
Then, when she’d licked him like a lollipop as her hands worked his shaft… Damn. He’d honestly thought that it couldn’t get any better. She just looked so fucking beautiful that he’d had to touch her face. His balls had tightened up and tingled with release.
Somehow, he managed to hold out, and he was glad he did, because if Deanna’s touching him and licking him was a ten out of ten on the pleasure scale, her taking him in her mouth was a hundred thousand out of ten. He’d actually gotten lightheaded from the intense pleasure of her sucking him off.
That’s when he had known he had to stop or this was going to be over before it had started.
Now, he watched where their bodies intimately touched as she seductively rocked against him. Her slick core was pulsing with need against his throbbing erection as she slid along the underside of his shaft, brushing against his balls, teasing them. It was torture, but the hottest, sweetest torture there could possibly be.
“Please,” she begged as her hips rolled faster. “Please.”
His fingers tightened on her hips as she moved, keeping her exactly where he wanted her. He knew how badly she wanted him, and that knowledge intensified his desire to see her satisfied. Leaving his partners hanging had never been his style, but with Deanna, it was more than just wanting to perform well.
In fact, with Deanna, it wasn’t a performance. He’d never understood when people talked about feeling like one and not knowing where you ended and your partner began, but that was because he’d never experienced it before now. That’s exactly how it was with Deanna. Her pleasure was his pleasure. They were connected, and not just physically. She was part of him and he was part of her.
Lucky Kiss Page 21
