“You can’t help.”
“Yes, I can! Everybody has help. Women have husbands and sisters and moms and friends. I just… Maybe you have girlfriends. Maybe there are five women at your house every night making sure you know about preeclampsia and…and early labor, but I don’t think there are.”
“Luke…” She dropped her head and stared at the floor for too many heartbeats. When she pressed her hand to her eyes he worried she was crying, but he made himself hold his ground. He wasn’t going to back down. She needed him, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
“Preeclampsia?” she murmured, shaking her head.
“It’s pregnancy-induced high blood pressure that—”
“I know what preeclampsia is, you freak. I just can’t believe you do.”
“I’m a detective. I like to know things.”
“Luke—”
“I just want to be there for you. And for the baby, if you’re keeping it. Shit, I don’t even know if you’re keeping it.”
Both her hands went to her belly. “I am.”
His heart tightened at the thought. She was going to be really good at this, but he could feel the uncertainty crawling beneath her skin. “Are you scared?”
“I don’t know,” Simone breathed. “It’s just… It doesn’t matter if I’m scared, does it?”
“It matters to me. That’s what I want you to know.”
Nodding, she took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ve got it.”
“Listen, I know you were in foster care for a long time, so I assume your family isn’t in the picture. Does someone go to classes with you?”
She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and let her eyes slide away from him. “They start next week. I have a doula. She’ll be there for the birth.”
“Okay, good. Just know that I’m here for you, if you want me. You and the baby. All right? I don’t know anything about babies, but…”
“Neither do I,” she said with a tiny laugh, but the laugh turned into a gasp that sounded suspiciously teary.
Luke put his arms around Simone, moving carefully in case she didn’t want to be touched. He hadn’t put his arms around her since that one night when they’d had too much to drink and made a stupid mistake. But this wasn’t anything like that. This wasn’t a mistake, and she leaned into him, her forehead pressing to his shoulder. He expected her to sob then, to break down completely, but that wasn’t Simone. She was strong, and she simply let her breath out on a slow rush.
“We’ll figure it out together, all right? I know you can do this on your own, but you shouldn’t have to.”
She took another deep breath and nodded. Luke felt a startling relief spread through his chest. After he patted her back over and over, they both stepped awkwardly apart at the same moment.
When she smiled, Luke realized it was the first true smile he’d seen from her in a long time. He didn’t give a damn who the father was. He didn’t even care if people thought it was him, as long as Simone would be okay.
TESSA STOOD AS QUIET as a mouse on the tiny front porch of Luke’s condo. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but it had started out innocently enough. She’d walked up and raised her hand to knock, then realized the voices she was hearing were coming from Luke’s place.
She hadn’t dared interrupt. Luke and Simone were finally talking, and the open window next to the front door didn’t offer any disguise as to the topic. Tessa had frozen. She didn’t want to walk away or even breathe too loudly as Luke had begged Simone to let him help. He was so good. So…noble. No wonder he’d always wanted to be a cop.
Silence fell inside, and Tessa’s skin started to crawl with anxiety. She backed down the step, took two more steps backward, and then she heard the doorknob began to turn.
“Oh, God,” she whispered, backpedaling until she stood just in front of her car’s bumper. When Luke’s door started to open, she lurched forward as if she’d been in midstep.
“Hey!” Tessa called out to Simone. “How are you?”
Simone’s nose was slightly red, but she managed a smile and a few moments of small talk before heading for her car.
“Crap,” Luke cursed from the doorway when his gaze fell on Tessa.
“Nice to see you, too, Detective.”
“No, it’s not that.” As if to prove it, he stepped down and gave her an enthusiastic kiss. The taste of his mouth evoked all kinds of lovely sensory memories for Tessa, and she melted into him like a schoolgirl with her first crush. She draped herself against him, winding her arms around his neck, taking his tongue against hers like the taste of something perfect.
When he broke the kiss, he was breathing almost as hard as she was. “Jesus, woman.”
“Not disappointed to see me anymore?”
“No, but I forgot about dinner. I’m sorry. I was thinking about work.”
“Hmm. Should I take my beer and go?”
“I was kind of hoping you’d give me a minute to shower so I could take you out.”
She dragged her gaze down his body, then back up again. “All right. But only if you promise to put out later. Can you do that, Detective?”
“What kind of boy do you think I am?”
Tessa leaned so close that her lips brushed his ear when she spoke. “The kind who got on his knees for me last night. And this morning.”
“Ah. That kind.”
“Go on.” She gave him a tiny shove. “I’ll put the beer in the fridge. You shower.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
But the minute he was gone, Tessa regretted sending him away. Now that she was alone, it was too easy to replay Luke’s conversation with Simone over and over in her head. Something about it niggled at her brain, though Tessa couldn’t say why. It didn’t contradict anything Luke had told her. Not really.
But Jamie’s words hung over her, haunting like a brotherly ghost. Don’t be one of those girls.
Tessa heard Luke’s shower start up as she put the bottles in his fridge. She thought of the way he’d asked to help Simone…and her baby.
He couldn’t be the father, could he? Surely if Simone were carrying Luke’s child, she wouldn’t be so wel coming of Tessa. But even if he wasn’t the dad, did he care too much about his partner?
She paced the kitchen for a few seconds, pressing her fingers against her lips. “No,” she murmured. That couldn’t be it. The dynamic wasn’t strange enough, was it?
Tessa tried to shake her brother’s words from her head. She didn’t want them there, not tonight. Tonight was her reward. She’d earned it.
But just as she managed to put it from her mind, Tessa wandered back to Luke’s bedroom, and her eye was drawn immediately to the books on his desk. Her stomach dropped, and for a moment she felt the whole evening slip away from her.
But no. She wouldn’t let it. She might be stupid. She might be delusional, but she wasn’t weak. Luke was what she’d come here for, and goddamn it, Luke was what she’d get.
The books seemed to glow against the dark desktop, so Tessa took steps to rectify the problem. She took off her jeans and shirt and laid them over the books. Then she took off her underwear, grabbed a condom from the bedside table and headed for the shower. This moment was not going to get away from her, even if she had to force herself on Luke. Once his hands were on her, she’d forget everything else.
So Tessa left the questions and complications behind and stepped into the clouds of steam that hid Luke Asher’s body. The rest of the world fell away as soon as the glass door snapped shut.
CHAPTER TWENTY
HE JUMPED WHEN the door closed, twisting around with a speed that made her heart flutter in admiration.
“Oh,” he said, his eyes quickly transitioning from alarm to appreciation. He started to smile, started to make a witty remark, but Tessa pressed herself against him before he could speak.
The feel of his body shocked the breath from hers. He was hot and solid, but his skin slid over hers with such liquid heat that her pulse swelled to immediat
e arousal. The shower hit her back in a tingling spray as her breasts flattened into his chest, slipping against him with delicious pressure.
Whatever he’d been about to say, he let the water wash it away. Instead of speaking, he molded his hands to her back, shaping her ribs, her hips, her spine. He explored her in one unbroken touch that seemed like creation, as if she’d been formless before she stepped into him.
She touched him as well, echoing his movements, closing her eyes so she could concentrate on the feel of him. His skin was slick with water and soap, his muscles barely yielding beneath the push of her hands. Then he would tense as he shifted or moved, and those muscles would push back against her fingers like flexing steel. She opened her mouth against his shoulder, drinking the water that flowed from his skin to her tongue.
His cock stirred against her belly. She felt it swell against her, felt it rise up and press into her flesh. She pressed tighter, loving the way it slipped against her, relishing the pleasure he must feel at even the smallest shift of their bodies. Putting her teeth to his shoulder, she pushed her hips harder, sighing at the way his shaft slid along sensitive skin.
His fingers dug into her back with a force close to pain. She licked water from his shoulder, his collarbone, wishing she could swallow him inside her. Her own urgency frightened her. She’d never felt anything like this desperation.
When her mouth found a trickle of water, she followed it down to his chest, licking her way over his nipple and down to his ribs beneath. She bit the muscles of his stomach, making them twitch in shock before she went to her knees before him.
Blinking water from her eyes, she looked at him, at his thick, straight cock, at the rivulets of hot water that snaked down his stomach…and finally at his face as he watched her. His eyes glittered as his jaw bunched with tension. Water dripped from his wet hair. He put one hand to her head, and the other against the wall.
Tessa smiled wickedly up at him, but his expression didn’t budge. She nibbled her way down the gorgeous V of muscle that angled down from his hip. But she teased him, dragging her open mouth down to his thigh, kissing her way back up with sweet, slow deliberation.
Luke’s fingers stayed loose on her head, but his breathing quickened. His shaft grew even thicker.
Humming in anticipation, she nuzzled her mouth beneath the base of his cock, sucking gently at the tender flesh.
He hissed. His fingers wound into her hair. She sucked and licked him until he finally groaned and tugged her higher. As he urged her up, she let her open mouth drag along his shaft; she pressed her tongue to the sensitive skin, pushing her heat into him.
Finally, she closed her mouth around the flared head, but she wasn’t done with her teasing. Instead of taking him deep, she ran her tongue around the ridge, then sucked with just enough pressure that he’d be dying for more. Sure enough, only a few moments passed before he groaned her name.
But today, Tessa wasn’t interested in giving him what he wanted. She was selfish, and she’d only been prepping him for what she needed. She gave him one last slow kiss, then reached for the condom she’d set on a ledge by the door.
Luke looked dazed as she slowly rolled it down. Her heart thundered with wild anticipation as she pushed to her feet and turned her back to him. She braced herself against the wall and looked over her shoulder. “Fuck me.”
His muscles jumped as if she’d slapped him, and the vicious lust on his face looked like anger as he reached for her.
Her boldness paid off. She didn’t want him to make love to her tonight, not as if he cared. She needed to be taken, and Luke obliged.
He grabbed her hips with rough hands, and Tessa smiled. She’d never been one of those girls that men went wild for, but Luke was wild now. He growled low in his throat when she set one foot on the tiled ledge of the shower.
She felt his shaft slide along her, and then he pushed into her and Tessa sighed with happiness. “Oh, God, yes,” she moaned as he pulled out and pushed deeper.
She eased forward until her forehead rested on the tile and she watched her hand spread wide against the cool white surface.
“Jesus Christ, Tessa,” he muttered. He found a rhythm as she arched her back and tilted her hips. He slid against her, inside her, pushing everything else out, and Tessa closed her eyes and relished every thrust. The tile was so cool under her, and his cock so hot inside her, and the water flowed around them, warm and wet.
He squeezed her hips, holding her tight as he took her harder. Yes, she thought, this. He was so big. So strong. His shaft so thick that she gasped at the feeling of being stretched too tight. Before, he’d treated her like she was innocent, but not this time. Not now. Now he used her like she was made for this.
His hand moved up to cup her breast. He squeezed her, tightening his fingers around her nipple.
“Ah!” she cried out, turning her head to the side, pressing her cheek to the tile. “Yes. Yes.”
“Tessa, fuck… You’re so damn tight.”
The thrill of his words twisted through her, spiraling deep into her belly, winding around her sex. She felt the moment he lost control. His thrusts grew as ragged as his breath. His fingers tightened on her breast and her hip. Tessa smiled as he jerked against her, a rough groan echoing against the glass walls.
When his shudders passed, he stayed tight inside her, and the hand at her breast slid lower. When his fingers brushed her clit, she cried out sharply.
“Your turn, sweetheart,” he whispered, tracing circles against that tight bud of nerves.
She bit her lip, straining against him, her brow tightening as the pressure built. Despite that, for a moment, she thought it wouldn’t happen. She was trying too hard, desperate to lose herself. But her tangled worries couldn’t stand up to the skill of Luke’s hands. They were as miraculous as ever, and all of her tension coalesced into that one spot. Her fingers curled into tight fists.
Her body went tight as a bow and she cried out a broken scream as her sex pulsed around his cock. The orgasm crashed through her whole body, rocking her heartbeat into thunder. When it finally faded, Tessa slumped into the wall.
“Holy shit,” Luke whispered.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “Definitely.”
He pulled out of her and collapsed against the other wall. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she whispered, because she wanted to be. This deal she’d struck with Kendall was scary. And falling for Luke was scary, but sometimes maybe it was okay to be afraid.
“I’M SORRY,” HE SAID. “I know this isn’t very romantic.”
Tessa shook her head and followed Luke as he walked along the fence line of the brewery. “It’s fine. The nice thing is that Jamie’s busy inside the bar, so our date won’t be interrupted.”
He tugged on another board. “Maybe we should stop in for a drink.”
“Oh, sure. That’d go over great.”
As he moved on to another board, he shot her a cautious look. “Are we going to sneak around for a while, you think?”
She felt strangely reluctant to commit to that, so she just smiled and pretended not to notice that he’d asked a serious question. Luckily, the next board tilted out when he tugged on it, and Tessa breathed a sigh of relief as Luke turned his full attention to the fence.
He pulled again, and the board popped off. Luke slipped latex gloves on and tested the next board. It slid out so easily it almost slipped to the ground.
“Sorry,” he said. “I just need one second.”
“Carry on. You’re hot in detective mode.”
“Oh, yeah? Maybe I’ll show you my handcuffs later.”
She knew it was just a slightly distracted joke, but Tessa felt a shiver of nervous delight at the thought. Maybe indeed.
One last board slid loose, and then Luke disappeared to the other side of the fence. She peeked through to see him take a few pictures with his phone. He walked slowly around the dead end, then bent to pick up a crushed cigarette box. As if he carried a portabl
e crime lab with him at all times, he tugged a clear plastic bag from the pocket of his coat and dropped the box in there. A few minutes later, he stepped back through the opening and began knocking the loose boards back into place.
“Could I ask one more huge favor?”
Tessa would’ve gladly said yes to anything at that point. Her knees were still weak. Her sex still swollen.
“Could we stop by the department for just a minute? I want to have this printed.”
“Absolutely.” In all honesty, she was curious about his job. Who wouldn’t be? The man solved crimes for a living.
But she tried to act dignified when they got to the police department. She tried not to grin at the uniformed police officer who manned a desk near the door. And she hid her gawking behind casual glances around the big station room as they filed past the few people working the evening shift.
“You can sit at Simone’s desk. This’ll just take a second.”
Tessa sat down and tried not to clap her hands and squeal. Instead, she leaned back in her seat and clasped her hands in front of her, pretending to be a cop. She watched Luke past her lashes as he marked up the evidence bag he’d brought in, then walked off to grab some paperwork. None of his charm was on evidence here. He frowned, his gaze far away and cool. Tessa couldn’t help but think of him in the shower, and how rough he’d been just when she needed it.
She shivered and rocked farther back in the chair.
She couldn’t imagine working in an office like this every day. She’d never done anything like that. Before turning twenty-one she’d occasionally worked weekends at restaurants, just to get the feel for it, but even that hadn’t been common. Mostly, she’d taken care of her brothers. She’d learned how to cook and bake when she was fourteen, and she’d made a meal for them nearly every night, because that’s what their mom had done. The idea of letting that kind of thing go…it had terrified her. Eric had been living in his own place, but he’d moved back home to live with them. He’d given up his privacy and freedom, the least she could do was feed him. She’d begged, cajoled and browbeaten Jamie into doing the yard work. They hadn’t had a mother and father, but they’d had a nice home. And she’d managed to graduate with straight A’s in high school, and nearly a 4.0 in college. But this kind of a normal nine-to-five office life was foreign to her.
Good Girls Don't Page 17
