“Please don’t talk.” I begged, wrapping my arms around his neck, I used his body as leverage to lift my legs up around his waist. As I moved, the hem of my bridesmaid dress lifted to my hips and I felt the roughly calloused skin of his hands move against the smooth, delicate flesh of my thighs to cup my ass.
I linked my feet behind him, holding him tightly in place against me. With only the fabric of my panties and his slacks separating us, I could feel the swell of his cock pressing against my core - and it was enough to push me over the edge.
I announced on a breathy whisper between fierce kisses. “I want this.” Kiss. “You.” Kiss. “Tonight.”
“Pretty girl,” Luke pulled back to kiss his way down the line of my jaw. Tipping my head back, I breathed in the warm night air and closed my eyes - feeling him. I expended no amount of energy for anything else. The only thing I wanted in this moment was Luke Donnelley. The only thing I needed was Luke Donnelley.
His lips trailed a path of searing desire down the length of my neck, over my chest and between the swell of my breasts. My weight in his arms didn’t seem to affect him as he kissed every inch of flesh my dress exposed.
I wanted to tear the bodice of the dress in two - and I knew Luke possessed the strength to do it. I was a moment away from pleading with him for exactly that when he spoke. “Are you sure about this, Ember? We don’t have to do this until you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.” I looked into the dark of his eyes and nodded. “And I’m sure.”
He didn’t say another word as he lowered his head to mine. His kiss wasn’t the passion filled kiss like the one before, but instead, it was slow and almost - sensual. His lips moved in sucking, tasting, and teasing, motions against mine. And then I felt his tongue slide against the crease of my lips and I didn’t hesitate, for even a moment, to give him entrance.
The taste of him in my mouth was world-changing. He tasted of crisp wine - although I knew he’d only had a glass. I had a feeling he had remained sober to ensure he was the one who took me home. I definitely wasn’t complaining. However, I’d complained that we needed to stop at my cabin for a bag of clothing rather than going straight to his house. I didn’t want to have to wear the elaborate gown again tomorrow for any amount of time. Plus, I was through with the walk of shame I walked every morning - leaving Luke’s house in the clothes I came in. Nope, it was time for a new leaf to turn - and this was a new leaf I was determined to ride for all that it was worth.
The feel of his teeth nipping at my lower lip brought me back to the here and now, and the sound of a soft, heady moan filled the silence. I realized with only a small amount of shock, that the moan had been mine.
“I’m taking you inside now, pretty girl.” Luke announced as he pulled me from the wall, and I tightened my legs around his waist. As he moved forward, I felt him shift against me with every miniscule movement - and nearly every shift elicited a moan I fought to restrain.
Once we were inside, Luke wasted no time moving to the bedroom. Setting me down on solid ground, Luke peered down into my face with an expression I knew could satisfy the ache inside of me every day for the rest of my life.
With the gown now covering my legs and his hands no longer on my skin, I suddenly felt embarrassed. I know, odd, how covered and clothed I could possibly feel embarrassed, but I did. Pink painted my cheeks as I lowered my eyes to the floor.
Luke slid his finger beneath my chin. “Your blue eyes, Ember, they’re perfect.” His chest rose and fell with slow, even breaths. “And for reasons I’ll never know, you insist on hiding them from me.”
“I’m sorry.” I whispered. “I’m suddenly...”
“Unsure?” He asked, his voice deep and calm.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Then what is it?” He asked softly, bending at the knees slightly, he dipped his head to connect his eyes once again with mine. “Let me in, pretty girl.”
“I’m embarrassed.” I sighed, feeling a thousand shades of silly. “I’m just - embarrassed.”
Luke raised to his full height and I watched a muscle in his jaw tick as his mind worked to process the words I knew he didn’t understand. Then, instead of asking me why, he asked. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love me?”
“I do.”
His lip twitched with the formations of a smile. “I love you too, pretty girl. I think I’ve always loved you.” He looked down. “When you didn’t come to the Ranch last summer, I thought you were never going to come back.”
My breath hitched. “You knew who I was?”
I’d known Luke knew my name that day I’d awkwardly applied in the barn, but I had never been certain if Gracie had called ahead to warn Luke that I was coming.
“Of course I knew who you were.” He moved his fingers through my red hair. “How could I forget hair so red and eyes so fucking blue?” He breathed deeply. “Ember, I knew that as soon as I saw you this spring, I had to have you. I wasn’t willing to let my insecurities of you turning me down win over my want for you. When I found out you were staying for the entire summer, I made winning your heart my mission.”
I felt tears sting my eyes. “You succeeded, Luke. It’s all yours.”
“Don’t cry, pretty girl.” He shook his head before asking a second time. “Do you trust me?”
“With everything inside of me.”
Placing his hands on my shoulders, he turned my back to him. I felt his hands sweep my hair over to my left shoulder, before he pressed a slow hot kiss to my right. His hands tickled the skin of my back as he fluttered them across the exposed flesh to the zipper holding my dress in place - and then he tugged.
The sound of the zipper meshed with the quick sounds of my panting breaths as it travelled slowly down the length of my spine. And then the dress fell in a puddle of chiffon to the floor around my feet. I felt Luke lower himself and then I felt his lips press against the small of my back, kissing me tenderly there. Shivers pulsed like shockwaves across the expanse of my body as butterfly soft flutters swept through my entity.
His hands were on my waist as he urged me silently to turn to face him. My heart leapt in my chest at the thought of him seeing me in only the pink lace of my thong. I wasn’t wearing a bra - the dress had been enough to hold me up and it was strapless. Lifting my arms to cover my breasts, I spun.
Luke was kneeling on the floor in his mocha colored suit. The white dress shirt had been unbuttoned a few buttons and his pink tie was gone. His dark hair was messy and his eyes were shimmering as he looked up at me. The chisel of his jaw was firm as he angled his face up to mine. God, he was so handsome. Perfect.
“Do you trust me?” He asked for the third time tonight - or was it his third time?
I nodded. “Yes.”
Slowly, his hand moved over my hips, up the hourglass curve of my waist, over my ribs to where my hands covered my swollen, throbbing breasts. Then, he hooked his fingers around my wrists, and tugged. When my hands were dangling by my sides, and my heart was beating so loud in my chest I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, Luke moved to press his lips to the skin of my stomach above my belly button. Then, he kissed a slow trail up my stomach, through the valley of my breasts, all the way to my lips.
“You’re beautiful, Ember.” He stated gruffly. “You have nothing to fear - not with me. Never with me.”
I breathed in deeply, hating the trembling in my breath. “I do trust you.”
“But you’re still nervous?” He asked.
I nodded through my frustration in myself. “I’m sorry.”
His eyes searched my face and then a slow smile appeared. “I’ll be your first?”
Blushing, I nodded. “Yes.”
“Fuck,” He bowed his forehead to mine. “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I’ll be the first and the last, Ember. If we do this, I’ll be the only.”
“What
are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I want nothing more than the chance to spend my forever with you, pretty girl.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Say you will.”
“I,”
“Marry me.”
“Luke?” I shook my head.
“Not now - not unless you’re ready for that.”
“I’m not.”
He sighed. “I’ll wait.” He vowed determinedly. “I’ll wait for you forever if I have to.”
A tear slipped from my eye, but his thumb was quick to chase it away. Through the emotion in my voice, I managed a strangled, “I love you, Luke.”
“I love you, Ember.” He kissed me slowly and then he stepped back, his hands moving to the buttons of his shirt.
With agonizing slowness, he popped each button through the holes of his shirt, and although I had seen him with only his boxers on before, watching him bare his chest was a treat. All his defined muscles and golden skin was mouth watering and I couldn’t help but stare at him as his shirt met with my dress on the floor. And then I watched as his large hands moved to his belt.
My heart raced.
The belt unbuckled.
His hands pushed the button through the hole and then lowered his zipper.
His cock, hard and proud, strained against the fabric of his boxers as he pushed his pants down to then remove his socks. When he stood to hook his thumbs into the band of his boxers, I heard a whispered breath rush into the silence. It wasn’t until the words had sounded that I realized they were my words.
“Oh God.”
Luke’s eyes flickered to mine and he released the band of his boxers as a rush of air left my lungs. He spoke. “Do you trust me?”
“Luke,” I begged for him to stop asking me that. “I do.”
He smiled, sensing my annoyance and confusion at the ever present question. Then, he took my hand in his. Guiding me from the bedroom, he led me across the hall and into the intimate bathroom. Walking to the tub, he turned on the shower. I watched as his eyes connected with a candle and lighter on the vanity and a slow smile appeared. After he’d lit the single candle - strawberry scented - he flicked off the lights.
“Better?” He asked as my shoulders fell and tension I hadn’t even realized I was holding fell away.
“Yes.”
“Can I touch you?” He asked lowly.
My belly tightened and I rasped. “Yes.”
Moving slowly, Luke’s hands found my jaw. One hand slid beneath my hair to cup the nape of my neck as the other remained on my jaw. He kissed me with slow, heated passion and it didn’t take long for my eyes to flutter closed and my senses to heighten to a new plane of existence - a plane where desire prevailed over all else.
As though sensing he’d worked me into a state of ease, Luke’s hands moved slowly down my body to the lacy band of my panties. Dipping his fingers between my skin and the fabric, he tugged them from my hips. As my panties lowered, so did the man who was removing them. Slowly, as the lace tickled my legs in their descent, he kissed his way south.
As my panties met with the floor and his lips with the V of my thighs, I gasped. “Luke!”
Jumping back, I breathed shakily as a blush of pink tainted the entirety of my skin. Luke didn’t laugh at me, and he didn’t reach out for me. Instead, he raised slowly onto his feet and I watched as he dipped his own hands into his boxers. My eyes widened as he removed the fabric to release the beast within. And I mean beast. His cock was thick and hard and long and - intimidating as all fuck.
I shook my head. “I don’t think,”
“Shhh.” He commanded, stepping forward. “Get into the shower, pretty girl.”
“Luke...”
He pinned me with serious, no-nonsense eyes. “Shower.”
I nodded. “Kay.”
As I moved, I remembered how easy it was for me when Luke took control. As the warmth of the water connected with my skin, I realized exactly what I needed. Spinning around to find Luke standing behind me in the shower, I asked. “Do you know me?”
“Without doubt.” He answered without pause.
“Then you know,” I paused on a sharp inhalation. “Then you know I need for you to take control now. I can’t - I can’t have it. I can’t - be in control - because I’ll run.”
“Shhh.” Luke pulled me into his chest, and then he slammed his mouth over mine. “I know you, pretty girl.”
I nodded against his mouth, kissing him, drinking him in - getting drunk off the high that he was. When my entire body sang with the pulsing throb of desire, Luke positioned me against the wall. I felt his hand press into my belly, holding me in place as his mouth moved to my throat, kissing me below my left ear. When his teeth nipped gently at the lobe, I gasped into the steam wafting in the air surrounding us. Then, slowly, he moved his mouth to my breasts. I felt tensed as I felt his mouth pull a nipple into the warmth of his mouth, and Luke stiffened. I saw his jaw clench as he rose to his full height.
“You’re afraid.” He announced.
I shook my head. “I don’t know what to do.” I whispered.
“Let me touch you. Let me taste you. Let me do all the work, pretty girl. Let me love you.” His words were a plea and I wanted nothing more than to fulfill them.
Bending down, I plucked the strawberry scented body wash from the lip of the tub. “Will you wash me?” I asked on a shaky breath. “I need to feel your hands on my body.”
His eyes heated to an impossible shade of ebony and my heart throbbed painfully in my chest as I waited for his reply. Finally he nodded.
Taking the body wash, I heard the cap, and then I heard the sound of his hands moving together. “Turn around.” I did as he commanded and felt his hands move my hair over my shoulder before his fingers massaged the suds into the skin of my back. His movements were deliberately slow as he washed my back, before moving to my ankles. He washed up my legs, taking care to get both their front and back before sliding his hands from the front of my thighs to my back. The slippery feel of his soapy hands moving over the swell of my rear made my breath catch, but I didn’t move away from him.
When he was finished with my backside, he commanded lowly. “Spin.”
Again, I did as he asked and turned my front to face him. His eyes were still the heated black of pure coal and I felt a thrill pulse right in the center of my core. To my surprise, I felt a small aching between my legs for the man in front of me and I squeezed my thighs together tightly.
Luke didn’t miss my silent plea for release, because a slow, confident smile curled the corners of his lips. But he didn’t tease. Actually, he didn’t say anything at all. Instead, he continued with what was working. He reapplied the soap and placed his hands on my chest above my breasts. Massaging the suds slowly into my skin, I felt his hands move lower over the swell of my breasts and in spite of the heat in the room, my nipples pebbled beneath his rough hands and shivers claimed every inch of my skin.
He worked the body wash into my breasts with a thoroughness they didn’t need, but God, they loved. By the time he’d moved to my belly, I’d been worked into a panting mess of a woman. Stepping toward me, Luke caged me against the wall with his body as his hands moved lower - to that place I’d kept to myself for so long. My body twitched with the new sensation of being touched somewhere so delicate and untouched as his fingers moved slowly down the V to the crease of my thighs.
“Spread your legs for me, love.” His voice was gruff and the sound alone was enough to call the wetness of my desire for him between my legs - never mind the meaning of his words.
Slowly, I moved my legs apart and I felt his fingertips move ever so tenderly over my lips. He didn’t spread me. Instead, he moved his index finger over the line of my lips, tracing it back and forth until I was trembling with need.
“I can feel your wetness, love.” His voice shook and my belly clenched with want. “I haven’t even spread you and I can feel how wet you are for me - already.”
“I am.�
�� I nodded, for the first time not caring about embarrassment.
Again and again, his finger moved back and forth over the crease of my lips, until I couldn’t stand still for another second. Moving my hips forward, I rocked myself over his hand and gasped in instant stillness when I felt his thick fingers part my folds and slip inside.
“Oh God, Luke.” I gasped. “Oh my, wow.”
“Shhh.” He pressed his mouth to mine. “It’s okay.”
I nodded against his lips, kissing him hard as his fingers continued exploring the place only he had been. And then, as his fingers circled over my swollen clit - I exploded.
Chapter 19
“Oh my God.” I cried as something inside of my body snapped. My knees locked and my toes curled as my chest heaved with every deep rough breath I took into my starved lungs. Luke didn’t stop swirling his fingers around my clit as my body descended from its sudden high.
When I opened my eyes, he was gazing down at me with a heat in his expression that I longed to capture and then sate. I wanted to do for him what he had done for me, but even though I’d found the release my body had been begging for, it was already climbing again - striving for that very same high it had found only seconds prior.
“What are you doing to me?” I moaned, dropping my head back against the wall.
“Making you mine.” He answered with a grin.
I felt his hand move away from me and I almost cried out, but when he moved my body into the water to rinse me of the soap, I didn’t protest. With the soap gone, I waited for whatever else it was this man had in store for me. Honestly, if every new thing he did was as good as the last, I would kick fears ass my damn self before I let it turn me away from this man.
“I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you right now, love.” Luke announced on a husky breath.
Looking down at the member standing erect between us, I felt my heartbeat quicken in my chest - but it wasn’t with fear. It was with anticipation. His cock was a darker color than the rest of him and it was beautiful. Veins pulsed over the granite of his cock and every now and again, it jumped as though begging for my touch. Slowly, I felt my hand move toward him as though it had a mind of its own. And then I wrapped my fingers around the thick circumference. It was hot. And smooth. Never had I thought that it would be so smooth - almost silky - by just looking at it. It was the perfect blend of soft and hard and I decided that he was beautiful. Perfect. Mine.
A Tender Touch: A Donnelley Brother's Novel (Logan Point Book 4) Page 15
