“I’m sticking to the spirit of the rule,” Luke murmured as he continued to work his lips down her torso. When he reached the hem of the midriff top, he nudged it out of the way.
She thought to protest.
He kissed the soft flesh of her belly.
She opened her mouth to tell him to stop.
His tongue found her navel.
Nothing came out of her mouth but a soft moan.
He scraped his teeth on the flesh along the low rise of her skirt. Sensation bolted downward and suddenly Helen’s legs felt like rubber. She was grateful for the solid furniture behind her.
Closing her eyes, she thought to allow herself to be swept away just for a tiny moment. She felt Luke’s hands stroke her ankles, then work their way up the sides of her calves.
Reveling in the pleasure he was giving her, she realized he was kissing his way downward through the silks of her skirts. She was so hot, she could hardly stand it.
“Uh, Luke?”
“Hmm?”
He made the sound with his mouth right over her pubic bone and it vibrated straight down to her center. His hands were on her thighs now, smoothing the flesh as he moved his fingers between and parted them.
She opened her eyes to see him kneeling before her and she knew what he was about to do. She should protest, tell him he was taking his creativity too far.
Instead, she gripped the couch harder, spread her legs wider and said, “Yes, yes, kiss me there.”
He pushed her skirts out of his way and kissed her as she’d asked, his lips brushing her center, his teeth moving her thong to the side, his tongue slipping into the creamy folds now revealed to him.
Unable to help herself, she encouraged him by rocking against his mouth. His hands cupped her tush, tilting and opening her more fully. Then his mouth covered her and drank her in like a thirsty man who’d found an oasis in the middle of a desert.
Her kissed flesh swelled and pulsed and yearned for something just out of reach.
And just when she thought she couldn’t stand it another second, his mouth was moving again, upward, skimming her belly and the valley between her breasts. His lips followed the length of her throat, tested the line of her jaw, then settled over her mouth.
Tasting herself on him, she was ready for anything, but he broke the kiss and stepped back.
“Good night,” he whispered.
Dazed, she thought she heard wrong. “What?”
He brushed his lips over hers once more. “I said…good night.”
He was going to leave? Now? Her body protested. She was speechless.
He started to pull away.
“Wait!”
It was Luke’s turn to be speechless. He stared at her, eyebrows arched in silent question.
Helen stewed, not wanting to seem too easy, not wanting to flagrantly break her own rule.
Not wanting him to leave…not wanting this incredible experience to end…not yet.
“Basically, you were doing all the kissing,” she pointed out.
His lips curled into a smile that shot straight through her. “What do you suggest?”
“A little reciprocation is in order.”
“Fair is fair,” he agreed.
She stepped closer and his smile faded. Tension wired from him to her as their mouths met in a deep, hungry, soul-searing kiss. She tangled her fingers in his hair and held on for the ride.
When they broke away, panting, foreheads pressed together, Helen nipped at his lower lip. Luke grunted but didn’t move away, so she scraped her teeth along his jaw and aimed for his ear. She tested the lobe with her teeth, then lined the shell with her tongue.
Luke pulled her hips closer so that she could feel the length and strength of his erection against her belly. She kissed the side of his neck, then bit the soft flesh where it met his shoulder. His erection stirred and she felt wet warmth pool between her thighs.
She wanted him in her, drenched and slick with her juices. She could see it in her mind’s eye as she kissed the base of his throat and worked her way down his body, as he had hers. Fishing out the tab with her tongue, she used her teeth to unzip his pants, her hands to undo the hook. It took every fiber of strength not to touch him as she longed to do.
The thin silky briefs couldn’t hide his reaction to her. She ran her lips along the bulge and felt him stir. Wanting to give as good as she’d gotten, she worked him with lips, teeth and tongue as he’d done her until she was certain he was close to coming.
Then she rose, sensuously drawing her body along his, kissed him on the mouth and murmured, “Good night.” She hooked his trousers back together.
“That’s it?” he croaked.
“Fair is fair,” she said, echoing him.
Luke nodded and zipped up his pants as he backed toward the door. His voice was tight as he said, “See you in your dreams, darlin’.”
“You, too.” She kissed him again, lightly this time, and opened the door.
He brushed his lips over hers one last time before walking out into the night.
Helen closed the door behind Luke and leaned back against it, thinking, orgasm or no orgasm, that was some of the best sex she’d ever experienced in her life.
6
“WAIT A MINUTE, wasn’t last night date number two?” Annie asked after Helen told her all about her evening with Luke.
Well, not all about it, just the dinner and beach part.
“That’s the way I would have called it, but Luke didn’t exactly agree. Since we talked business that first time, he said it didn’t count as a date.”
Having left his computer station where he’d been surfing the net, Nick twirled a chair around backward and sat. “Since when does the guy get to screw around with your rules?” He gaped at her. “Uh-oh, you like Luke DeVries.”
“Of course I like him or I wouldn’t go out with him in the first place.”
“No, not that kind of like. I mean like with a big L that also stands for lusting after the guy…getting lucky…falling in love…”
“He has his, um…charms…but don’t get ahead of yourself,” Helen said, hoping that Nick would drop it.
Not a chance.
His expression smug, he locked gazes with Annie. “Well, what do you know about that? Our Helen has finally taken the tumble. About time, wouldn’t you say?”
“No one’s tumbling here!”
But Annie rode right over her objection. “Maybe we should throw a rule-burning party in Luke’s honor.”
Sorry that she hadn’t immediately changed the subject when Annie had asked for details, Helen protested, “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“How far would you go?” the other woman asked.
“How far did you go last night?” Nick wanted to know, looking something like a vulture focusing on a potentially tasty meal.
Helen felt heat creep up her neck and into her cheeks. “I follow my own rules, thank you very much.” She pretended interest in the dregs in her coffee cup.
“If you did follow your own rules, then last night should have been the second date,” Annie insisted.
“Well, it just wasn’t, but don’t read something into it that’s not there.”
Nick shifted his chair closer and lowered his voice as if he didn’t want to be heard by the handful of customers spread around the café. “So you didn’t do anything more than kiss the guy good-night?”
Why had she ever explained her damn rules to Nick? Helen wondered. “Um, pretty much.” She never could lie to her friends.
“You ‘pretty much’ kissed him?”
“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” Before they could hound her for more intimate details, Helen said, “Don’t either of you have work to do?”
Annie checked her watch and practically flew to her feet. “Yikes! Gloria’s coming in late today.”
“Wait a minute,” Nick said. “I’m previewing my new video footage at Club Undercover Friday night. I thought maybe we could all go t
ogether.”
“Sure,” Annie said.
Helen added, “Sounds like a plan.”
Annie kissed Helen’s cheek. “I’ll have my fingers crossed for you where Luke is concerned.”
“Not necessary…”
But Annie was already gone. And Nick was standing there, grinning at her. He was enjoying her discomfort, that was for certain. She could practically hear his strategies to get to her rattling around in his head.
“Don’t.”
He simply grinned harder.
“Helen,” Kate called from behind the counter. “I need your help with a problem.”
Just in the “nick” of time, she thought. “Coming.”
Nick sauntered toward the door. “Later.”
Not if she could help it. She wouldn’t put it past Nick to hound her about Luke…which would be just retribution for the hard time she always gave him.
Relieved at the reprieve, even a problematic one, Helen rounded the counter. “What’s up, Kate?”
“Something with the espresso maker.”
“What is it doing?”
“That’s the problem. Not a thing.”
Helen checked the equipment over herself. Kate was right. Nothing.
Suddenly feeling a little warm, Helen realized it wasn’t embarrassment this time. “You know, the air-conditioning doesn’t seem to be running, either.” Though it did go off and on to keep the temperature level in the store, she had a bad feeling. They’d had electrical problems barely two weeks before. And now this…“Could be the main circuit. Let me go check the breaker box.”
But it couldn’t be the main circuit, she realized. The lights were still on and the computers were running. She hurried through the back room where a door exited into a small hallway. The breaker boxes, one for each floor, were located in the janitor’s closet.
Indeed, some kind of power surge had switched off one of the breakers. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Helen flipped it back on. But her relief was short-lived. When she returned to the café, she told Kate to turn the espresso machine back on, but nothing happened.
“Sorry, Helen, it’s simply dead.”
The air conditioner, however, chose that moment to go on and send a chill straight down Helen’s spine.
“I don’t understand. This machine isn’t even a year old. How can it be dead?”
Kate shrugged. “Equipment breaks down. As my mother always says, they don’t make things the way they used to.”
If only that were true. If only she hadn’t had a string of bad things, including the talcum powder prank, happen to her in the space of a few weeks.
Putting aside her paranoia for the moment, she said, “Okay, I’ll go in back and put in a call for a repair.”
But her luck continued to run bad. No one was available to come out that day. What was she going to do now? Lunch hour was almost upon them.
“What are we going to do?” Kate asked. “Close for the day?”
“No!” If someone was messing with her business, she wouldn’t give that person the satisfaction. But not Luke…Surely Luke couldn’t have sabotaged her. “I guess we’ll just have to serve regular coffee with a smile and hope we don’t lose any more customers.” Her mind raced for a way to compensate for disappointments. “Free coffee.”
“Free?” Kate echoed.
“Right. I’ll make up some signs apologizing for the temporary lack of fancy coffees. Offering a cup of regular or decaf coffee free should make most people happy.”
Kate appeared as unhappy as Helen felt. Her assistant manager stared at the dead machine and shook her head.
And Helen tried to shake away the sense of doom. The repair person would be there the next day. But what if he didn’t have the part? That could mean another day. Or what if the part had to be special ordered? That could mean disaster.
One day at a time, she told herself, though it was hard to fight her growing sense of doom.
Helen sat before one of the computers and made up a flyer offering free coffee.
What if she went out and bought another machine—a smaller, less expensive one? The hulk taking up her counter space had cost her nearly six thousand dollars. No, another machine was out of the question. She could bring in her personal machine, but it wouldn’t come close to doing the job. Maybe she could rent one.
By the time lunch customers started coming in, Helen had posted the Free Coffee signs prominently in several places. Things went smoothly, with some of the regulars expressing sympathy for her plight, but giving her encouraging words for her generosity.
And then in the middle of the rush, a familiar and not-so-welcome redhead walked in.
“What? No espresso?” Flash Gordon raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows and spoke in a voice loud enough to be heard in the far reaches of the now busy café. “I can’t believe this place doesn’t have a backup system. This would never happen at Hot Zone.”
Biting her tongue lest she say something sharp in front of her other customers, Helen tried to pretend the situation didn’t bother her.
“Lucky we have loyal customers who understand things can go wrong in the best of businesses.” Helen pasted on her most winning smile. “Now, what can I get you? Decaf?” Maybe that would bring the public relations woman down a notch.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Flash said. “If I can’t get what I want…well, I’ll simply go elsewhere. Someplace more…reliable.”
With that, Luke’s employee swept out of the store. Unfortunately, several customers followed.
Helen tried to put Flash Gordon out of her mind, but the woman’s too-convenient appearance in the middle of a rush sat there like a black cloud in Helen’s mind. It was as if the public relations woman had a purpose in showing up. And she’d definitely seemed disappointed by the smooth way Helen had chosen to handle the crisis.
Because she’d been hoping for another outcome?
Had she known?
Somehow, they got through the lunch rush without any other disgruntled customer making a complaint.
Then, when the place was about empty, and Helen was about to collapse now that her adrenaline high was over, the bell over the door dinged. She turned to see Luke walk in and hold the door for someone behind him.
“This way,” he said.
One guy wearing paint-splattered overalls backed through the door. Brow furrowing, Helen rounded the counter to see what was going on as a second workman followed. When she saw what they were carrying, she stopped dead.
“What’s going on?”
Luke’s gaze met hers and he gave her a slow, syrupy smile that shot butterflies through her stomach.
“Afternoon, darlin’,” he said, his voice low, husky and even more thrilling than the equipment he was delivering to her door. “I heard you needed some rescuing.”
LUKE PUT the espresso machine he’d brought over through its paces to make certain it was working properly. Hot Zone had two machines. This was the smaller one, the extra to be used on the busy weekends at the service station located at the bottom of the former swimming pool.
He made two Breves and handed one to Helen, whose green eyes held a touch of confusion.
“You’re my hero.”
He clinked cups with her. “We aim to please.”
“Luke, this was so generous of you….”
“And you find it hard to believe that I’m helping the competition.”
“Well…”
“I told you to trust me. There’s room enough in this neighborhood for both of our cafés.”
While Helen appeared relieved, she also seemed exhausted. Stress could do that to a person, as he well knew. And her day was not yet done.
“You could use a break,” Luke said. He looked around. The last of the stragglers had left and, for the moment, the café was empty. “Why don’t we get out of here for a little while? Some fresh air and sunshine would do you good.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Helen admitted, looking around. “Kate,” sh
e called. “Did you see where she went?” she asked Luke.
“Can’t say that I did.”
When he’d walked in that door, he hadn’t noticed anyone but Helen. Then again, she was all he’d been thinking about since the night before. Well, pretty much since he’d made her acquaintance in the picket line.
Now she was looking puzzled and heading for the rear doorway. “Let me see if Kate’s in back.”
Luke watched her go. He was fascinated by her walk, by the way her body moved with an effortless sensuality, as if she was confident of herself without feeling like she had to prove it to everyone.
When she disappeared from view, he felt as if the room had dimmed, but of course that was his imagination.
The workmen had moved the broken espresso maker to the side of the preparation space. The cord was dangling, the plug lying on the floor. Luke grabbed hold of the cord, intending to wrap it up out of the way lest someone trip over it. And the problem became clear.
“Kate’s in the rest room,” Helen said, coming back, shoulder bag in hand.
“Hello.” He held up the plug for Helen to see. “I think I found our problem.”
She shrugged. “What?”
“The third prong. The ground is missing. I’m assuming you didn’t know about this.”
“No, of course not.”
“All you needed was a good surge and the espresso machine got overloaded.”
“What kind of surge?” she asked.
“If something else with a lot of power turned off, this baby would get the brunt of the extra power.”
“Like an air conditioner going off when the store got cool enough.”
“That might do it. But there’s still the question of how this happened.” He waggled the damaged plug.
“Got me. Who knows how long it’s been that way? I’ve had a half-dozen different kids working here the past month. Maybe one of them had an accident. Or maybe it was the janitor. Whoever it was obviously didn’t want to fess up and face the music.”
Thinking she sounded like she was trying to convince herself, he said, “Which could be a pretty serious tune, depending on how much of the electronics got fried.”
Helen groaned. “This doesn’t seem to be my lucky month.”
Hot Zone Page 7
