by Mandy Baxter
For a moment Luke just stared. Took in the sight of her, absorbed the calm that she projected. He’d taken more deep breaths in the past twenty-four hours than he had in the last five years. And each one of them smelled of lilacs and sage.
“Do you remember that time we made a fort with Jase in Rich Davis’s wheat field?” Luke asked as he led his horse down to the creek. He tried to dismount without looking like a fool, but his foot got caught in the stirrup and he damned near fell flat on his face. If Kayleigh noticed, she didn’t let it show. Thank fuck. “I thought the old man was going to have a heart attack when he saw what we’d done.”
“I remember thinking that it was so beautiful. A sea of gold and so thick you couldn’t see through it.”
Luke could barely remember the field. But he remembered the way she’d looked that day, her cheeks flushed from running and her smile wide with laughter. He left his horse to graze next to hers and walked to the tree. She’d found a bed of spring clover to sit on.
She looked out across the field and tucked her legs beneath her. “I also remember the split lip Jase ended up with after you hit him.”
Jase was his twin and there was no one on the planet he was closer to. But that day, Jase had pushed him too far. Teasing Luke about his crush. Of course, Luke had denied it. When Jase threatened to kiss Kayleigh though, Luke had lost his cool and popped his brother in the face. They’d been fifteen at the time and that was the moment that he realized Kayleigh meant more to him than a simple friendship. Lying in the circle of wheat that they’d laid flat, her hand resting in his, Luke knew that he was in love with her.
“I don’t sleep much anymore.” He sat down beside her, his back against the tree and angled away from her. He’d been nothing more than a cocky, horny asshole with her since the second he’d laid eyes on her. He missed the ease with which he could talk to her. The way he could lay his soul bare to her without the threat of judgment. Talking to Kayleigh was like going to confession: just by listening, she lifted a burden from his soul. “Not for the past year, anyway. I can’t get my brain to quiet down. It just runs and runs until I feel like I’ll fucking explode if I don’t do something to make it stop. I tried pills but all they did was give me fucked-up dreams and make me feel like shit. I haven’t written anything in as long. I feel like everyone wants a piece of me. Wants to tell lies about me. The guys told me that if I didn’t get my shit together they were going to replace me.” A bark of disdainful laughter erupted in his chest. “Can you believe that shit? I founded Riot 59 and they’re going to kick me out?”
Kayleigh remained quiet beside him, but he didn’t need her to talk. He knew she was listening and that’s what mattered. It’s what loosened the knot that had been lodged in his chest for months.
“My manager suggested one of those spas where celebrities go to get over exhaustion. Meditate. Get two or three massages a day. Live on apple and kale juice for a couple of weeks to ‘cleanse my system.’ I stayed at one place for a full forty-eight hours before I started to unravel. All the meditation did was give me more time alone with my thoughts. And I can’t live on juice.” One thing would never change and that was his love of a perfectly grilled T-bone. “Food fads and new age bullshit weren’t going to center me.”
Luke let the sound of the breeze in the grass fill his ears and his eyes drifted shut. It felt so damned good just to sit beside her. There wasn’t a drug on the planet that could calm him the way she did.
“And you thought that after almost ten years, you could come home and everything would be the same?”
The words weren’t much louder than the breeze, but he heard them. “Not at first.” His hand found hers and Kayleigh let him twine his fingers with hers. “But then I saw you crossing the street…” How could he possibly explain to her that by simply seeing her, she’d set his careening world right? “No one knows me like you do. Nothing can calm my mind like you can. I missed you, Kayleigh. Every fucking day. It damned near killed me to walk away from you.”
Her fingers twitched as though she wanted to pull away. “It seemed easy enough for you at the time.”
The lyrics of the song he’d finished last night left his lips, not quite singing, not quite speaking: “Part of me stayed behind that day. The part that couldn’t bear to let you get away. Through the noise and the chaos, you found me. And I was a fool not to see that everything I’d ever needed was right here in front of me.”
When the last word faded into silence, Kayleigh pulled her hand away from his. “Don’t do that do me, Luke. It’s not fair to use your pretty words against me.”
Maybe not. But since when was life fair? “Every song I’ve ever written has been about you. You’re my muse.”
A strangled sound escaped her throat and Luke glanced over to see Kayleigh push herself up from the ground and take off at a near-run. “Kayleigh, wait!” Luke used the tree for leverage and sprung to his feet to chase after her.
“That’s the problem, Luke!” Kayleigh whipped around to face him, her eyes full of fire and her cheeks flushed. The breeze stirred the loose curls of her hair, sending strands across her face. God damn she was fucking breathtaking. “I’ve been waiting! For years! Waiting on fantasies. Memories. For something that was never going to happen. You didn’t show up out of the blue because you’d left your heart behind. It sounds to me like what you needed was a little goddamned inspiration and you knew you’d find the drama to make it happen here.”
“Kayleigh…” If only his reason for coming home was that simple. But was she right? Was everything he felt just an echo of some creative drive?
“I was trying to move on.” Her voice broke with emotion. “And now I’m going to have to start from square one when you leave again.”
* * *
Could she be more pathetic? Luke Blackwell was the prime example of why girls fell for musicians. His artistic soul, willingness to push boundaries, and fearlessness to lay himself bare was like catnip and wasn’t she the horny feline to go after him?
“I don’t want to hurt you, baby. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I’m not your baby.” Who in the hell pined after their high school sweetheart for eight years? A drug she couldn’t quit, the second she’d laid eyes on him he’d held her rapt. “In fact, I’m pretty sure you’ve called a fair share of women ‘baby’ since you left.”
She wanted him to deny it even though she knew better. To profess his faithfulness. If only to give her a good reason to walk away from him once and for all. She’d seen proof of his many hookups plastered all over the media. A space of silence stretched between them and Luke’s dark brows came down sharply over his eyes. “I fucked my way from one end of the country to the other and not a single one of those empty encounters could come close to even five seconds with you.”
God damn his honesty. He’d never lied to her. Not once. And apparently he wasn’t going to start now. Kayleigh hadn’t exactly been abstinent, either, but a pang of jealousy speared her heart just the same. “You know, it would hurt less if you’d just blown into town for a quick fuck. At least I would’ve known where I stood with you. What you’re doing now is a thousand times worse.”
“What am I doing, Kayleigh?” God, the way he said her name. A low, seductive caress that she felt on every inch of her skin.
“I don’t want to care about you, Luke. I can’t.”
“I can’t not love you,” Luke replied without guile. “No matter the distance or years between us. I won’t ever love anyone else.”
He was killing her. Plying her with emotion that she couldn’t resist. Words that she’d been dying to hear for too long. Tears stung at her eyes but she refused to let them flow. “And because you won’t let me go, I’ll never be free to love anyone else.”
Luke rushed at her, cupped her cheeks in his hands. He searched her expression, his own pinched with pain. The air sizzled between them and Kayleigh’s chest tightened as Luke seized her mouth in a brutal kiss.
P
assion had never been their problem. They’d had it in spades. There was a synchronicity between them that Kayleigh had never experienced with another man. His arms came around her, one gripping the hair at the base of her neck, the other curled around her waist. Their mouths slanted, tongues meeting in a wild tangle that caused Kayleigh’s stomach to twist into delicious knots. Kissing Luke was like riding a roller coaster. Always had been. One exciting twist and turn after another.
He took a few stumbling steps back and she followed, their mouths joined in a frenzy of hungry kisses. The shade of the oak blocked out the reflection of sunlight behind her lids and a cool kiss of spring air caused a chill to ripple over her skin. Luke released his grip on her, fumbling with the buttons on her shirt. The last one released with a pop of thread as he shoved it down over her arms. Her bra went next, the clasp unhooked with a simple flick of Luke’s hand.
Their lips parted as Luke stripped his T-shirt off and Kayleigh drank in the sight of his naked torso, covered with tattoos. She reached out, traced the outline of her name in swirling black ink, nested in a pattern of swirls on his left pec. “I doubt many of your other girlfriends were crazy about this tattoo.”
His eyes smoldered. Embers in a dying fire. “I told you, Kayleigh, no one else matters. I’ve never given a shit about any other woman but you.”
She should have felt bad for the trail of broken hearts Luke had no doubt left in his wake. But had she treated any of her past boyfriends any better? Hell, she’d broken up with Spencer the second Luke showed up in town. Mid-proposal! Luke had branded his body with her name. A piece of her that he always carried with him. She might not have had any ink of her own, but he’d branded her heart. And it was a mark that would never fade.
“Luke, touch me.”
She needed the reassurance of his hands on her. She craved this man she’d tried to send away. Wanted him as badly as she feared the emotional damage he’d inflict on her. The breeze kissed her naked skin and her nipples puckered into tight, aching peaks. Luke took her in his arms and pulled her close. He eased her back, supporting her with his strength as he bent and covered one pearled nipple with his mouth.
“Oh god.” He scraped his teeth over her sensitive flesh and she gasped. His hands kneaded her shoulder and hip as he held her and with each pass of his tongue, Kayleigh became more mindless in her need of him. Her underwear dampened and her clit throbbed with each frenzied beat of her heart.
Luke’s knees bent as he shifted and scooped Kayleigh up in his arms. He abandoned one breast for the other, licking, biting, sucking until she could no longer take a deep breath. Gently, he set her down on the bed of clover, his eyes devouring her as he unfastened her jeans and jerked them—along with her underwear—free of her body.
A moment of uncertainty sent a burst of adrenaline through Kayleigh’s bloodstream. She wasn’t an old hag by any means, but she wasn’t that tight-bodied teenager anymore, either. Her hands crept up to her abdomen, a little rounder than it used to be and Luke reached down and seized her wrists.
“Don’t.” Luke’s brow furrowed as he guided her arms high above her head. “Let me look at you.” A sigh that ended on a groan left his parted lips. “You’re so beautiful, baby.”
“Compared to the barely-legal hard-bodies who throw themselves at you nightly?”
“Compared to every other woman on the face of the fucking earth,” he replied in a rough, sensual tone that made her break out into delicious chills. “Christ, Kayleigh, just thinking about your pussy makes me hard. The way you taste, how tight you are, the way you squeezed my fingers when you came last night.” Luke reached down and cupped her breasts, kneading her flesh in his large palms. “And don’t even get me started on these,” he groaned. “The most gorgeous tits I’ve ever seen.” She arched into his touch and he bent to suck one taut nipple, and then the other into his mouth, releasing it with a wet pop. “Cotton-candy pink and oh, so sweet.”
Another jolt of excitement shot through Kayleigh’s body. The roller coaster climbing its way to the top of the track. A renewed rush of warmth spread between her thighs and she moaned, rubbing them together as though the simple act would release some of the tension that wound her body tight as a spring. Slick with her own arousal, all she managed to do was apply pleasant pressure to her sensitive clit. God, if he didn’t take her soon, she’d explode! She sat up and worked loose the button and eased down the zipper of Luke’s pants. “You’d think I was sixteen again with the way you’ve got me all wound up.”
His finger slipped beneath her chin and he guided her face up to meet his. “Every time I look at you, I’m sixteen again.”
Kayleigh’s stomach lurched up into her throat as she prepared to speed down the steep incline of the virtual track, her heart thundering in her ears. Oh, boy. This was going to be a wild ride.
SEVEN
Luke shook with the need to take her. He shoved his jeans and underwear off, kicking them somewhere behind him. Kayleigh’s gaze warmed and his cocked throbbed from the attention she bestowed on him. Hard to the point of pain, if he didn’t find release soon, he’d go out of his fucking mind. He took his erection in his fist, just a stroke or two to ease his discomfort …
“Let me.”
Kayleigh’s voice was a low seductive purr that vibrated down his spine. A shudder passed over him as she replaced his hand with her own, stroking from the thick base to the top of his swollen head. She came up on her knees and they faced each other, naked under the shade and mottled light of the oak. Luke couldn’t remember another moment in his entire life that was more perfect than this one. God, the way she stroked him … Her closed fist glided over him, squeezing just tight enough to cause him to swell in her palm. The pad of her thumb caressed up and over the head of his cock and Luke sucked in a breath. She repeated the motion, the sensitive skin there prickling with thousands of nerve endings that sparked to life all at once. So damned good. Her small, pale hand wrapped around his shaft and pumping with slow precision was a sight he could watch all day.
They’d both been a couple of kids the last time he saw her. Nervous, unsure, and inexperienced. The woman whose palm slid up and down the length of his cock was confident, a force of sex and nature. Skilled. Her eyes locked with his as he thrust into her hand. The intimacy between them, the soul-deep connection, shook Luke to his foundation. He’d always felt too deeply, his emotions too close to the surface. But Kayleigh never shied from the intensity of his personality and she didn’t shy away from him now.
He took her face between his hands and crushed his mouth to hers, lips slanting, tongue lapping at hers in a desperate frenzy. There wasn’t an inch of her that he didn’t want to taste, touch, explore. His mouth wandered from her lips to her throat and Kayleigh’s head lolled back, a cascade of auburn curls spilling over one shoulder. “I can breathe again,” he whispered against her fragrant skin. “Think again.” How could he possibly convey to her how being with her made him feel when there weren’t any words worthy of the explanation? “You make me whole.”
He’d lied to plenty of women in his life, but he’d never once lied to Kayleigh. Lying to her would be like lying to himself. And just like that day in the wheat field, Luke knew without a doubt that his heart would sit still in his chest if she wasn’t there to make it beat.
The wind picked up in earnest, whipping her hair around them in a wild tangle. Luke latched his mouth over her throat and sucked. Nipped at her tender flesh. Goose bumps rose on Kayleigh’s skin and he moved lower, tracing the swell of her breasts with the tip of his tongue.
“I want to taste you, Luke.”
The desperate plea in her ragged voice sent him over the edge of his control. Wanton and sweet all at once. “Oh, hell yes.” He rocked his hips against her, thrusting into her hand. “I want your mouth on my cock.”
Luke leaned back on his heels, bracing his arms behind him on the ground. His erection stood out proud and thick from his thrust hips and Kayleigh continued to stroke h
im, the glide of her hands like silk as she lowered her mouth to the engorged crown. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the thick base as her tongue flicked out. “Fuck,” Luke ground out on a sharp exhale. The sensation rippled down his shaft and tightened his sac. “That’s so good, baby.”
She took him deeper, enveloping his shaft in the wet heat of her mouth. Luke gave a shallow thrust of his hips and was answered with a low moan from Kayleigh that vibrated down the length of his cock. He continued to thrust, urging her to take him deeper, meeting every plunge of her mouth. She sucked hard, swirling her tongue over the sensitive head before gliding down his shaft. Luke panted through the intense pleasure. “Mmm. Just like that, baby. Feels so fucking good.”
She cupped his balls in her free hand, massaging the delicate flesh. A low, drawn-out moan escaped from between his teeth as she tugged gently, causing a surge of sensation to rocket through him. “You’re driving me crazy.” It wouldn’t take much to make him go off. Just a few deep pulls of her mouth. “Kayleigh.” Her name buzzed around in his head, rushed from his lips in a desperate moan. “Kayleigh.”
His sac drew up tight as she continued to fondle him and he sunk back on his heels. She released him with a wet pop that damned near sent him over the edge but he was unwilling to finish before she had her pleasure as well. He snatched her up by the waist and repositioned her so she lay on her back. Her legs fell open, revealing the swollen pink lips of her sex, glistening with arousal that coated her thighs.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Luke said on a shuddering breath. He settled himself between her thighs and took his erection in his hand, guiding it to her opening.
