However, God help him if he was some damn criminal.
“Okay. What should I do in the meantime?”
“Wait to hear from me and carry on with the rest of the work,” he told her. This actually felt good, like it gave him some purpose outside of his current worries.
“Okay. I can do that. Luke…Jessica was really mad at me.” She looked at him with sadness. “She thought I wanted to ruin her relationship.”
“That was the anger talking, baby. Take no notice. You guys will be good again in next to no time.”
“She’s going to kill me when she finds out I came to you.”
“Or thank you if we find out that her fiancée isn’t all that he seems to be.” He nodded.
Jessica would be the same with him, but he didn’t care. When it came to his sister, he would do whatever he had to to protect her.
There was a moment of silence in the space between them that became slightly awkward.
“I should go,” she said, turning to go.
“Or we could take a walk by the lake,” he suggested. “It’s a fine Saturday afternoon, why waste it? Plus, look at the lake, baby.”
He motioned over to the lake in the distance. From here they could see nothing but sparkles dashing across the lake’s surface, created from the radiant beams of the sun.
It was beautiful with that calm serenity that reminded him of her and how he felt when he was with her. As if everything was perfect and always would be.
“It looks beautiful. I can’t believe you actually live here.” She smiled, still gazing out into the distance.
“Well I do, we should make the most of the place.” He moved away and started walking in the direction of the lake. He then stopped when he was a few paces away from her, looked back and said, “You coming?”
He stretched his hand out to her.
His heart warmed when she came to him and took hold of his hand.
Chapter 16
Natalie
* * *
Her hand in Luke’s felt like it belonged there.
Like it always would, and she should never let go.
She followed him into the woods where they walked slowly, enjoying the scenery of the vibrant green leaves of the oak and sequoia trees.
It reminded her of a scene from a fairytale. She marveled that she thought the same as she did when she was a child running through the woods, of being on some adventure with Captain Luke.
Like now, this felt like an adventure.
But it wasn’t the crazy childhood adventures they used to have, filled with the pirates and monsters Luke used to create.
This was an adventure of emotion that started back at the apartment when she contemplated whether or not going to Luke with her worries about Joshua was the right thing to do.
She should have done some further checks on the company, which would have probably resulted in them being investigated by the IRS. Since she wasn’t sure what it all meant at the moment, just that the records didn’t match, she wanted to do things on a lower level.
Particularly because of Jessica.
She was the only reason why Natalie hadn’t taken things further, and the only reason why she was here now. Here with Luke.
Jessica’s accusations last night really got to her. It plagued her in a way that she didn’t expect, and got her thinking about how she felt about Luke, and how much she missed being with him.
And feeling like this, like everything was perfect when she was with him. It didn’t matter how much she resisted or reasoned, the facts were all in the way that she felt.
Jessica was right on some level. Natalie wasn’t trying to ruin Jessica’s relationship with Joshua. But she had on some level ruined her own with Luke.
Because of fear.
That was what it was. Fear.
It was the biggest obstacle that threw a person off their course. Particularly one like her who liked to have control of what she was doing. Natalie considered herself to be a strong-willed woman who was level headed and prided herself on being a realist. To be that way, she had to know when she needed solitude. That meant that when faced with an obstacle or something she wasn’t used to, she retreated to her cave until she knew what she was doing.
She almost always came back with a plan of action that she herself could control. Like how her parents wanted her to study law and she took the bull by the horns and insisted that she wanted to do finance. That was probably one of the most challenging times in her life because she had to defy them and enforce what she wanted most.
She was efficient about it and didn’t procrastinate to see how things would turn out if she just went along with what her parents wanted.
She knew what she wanted, was serious about it, and did what she had to to get it done.
Love was different.
She’d never felt love for anyone except Luke, and she didn’t know how to do love.
She saw it as something that was beyond the limits of her control.
Her feelings for him scared her, and only grew deeper every time she was with him.
That kiss…
That kiss felt like it reached her soul, and now this.
A simple walk in the woods that felt like something she’d waited for her whole life.
They stopped by the lake and sat next to each other on the bank. That sparkle on the water’s surface did indeed look breathtaking.
It was the kind of scenery that could captivate you for hours with its beauty.
“Do you remember when we tried to build that ship?” Luke asked with a broad smile on his face.
She immediately started laughing and couldn’t stop. He must have been about sixteen, so that made her ten. How on earth she remembered something that happened so long ago signaled how ridiculous it was.
Not to mention the trouble they got in after.
He and Evan tried to build that ship, which looked more like an ark. It was for some science project at school that had to do with energy efficiency.
“I remember.”
“Do you really?”
“Who could forget something so bizarre?” She laughed.
“We were experimenting, baby. It called for some trial and error.”
“But you thought it could really sail.” She giggled.
“Trial and error, baby.”
“It sank.” She laughed even more. Months of working on this thing—with her and Jessica gathering wood and all manner of stuff, getting home late and having him tease them that the woods were haunted with evil spirits—all that sunk before them when she and Jessica watched him and Evan push the ship out to shore. It didn’t even float. It just sunk like a rock, and they didn’t attach it to ropes or anything because they thought they could manage it on the water.
Jessica and Natalie laughed them to scorn. It was the funniest thing ever.
They got in trouble for their attempts to retrieve the damn thing. After that, their parents stopped them from coming out here for awhile.
“That’s the most that I’ve seen you laugh, baby.”
“It was hilarious.”
“I know. Who would have thought a guy like that would become a Marine.” He chuckled uneasily.
“That guy had imagination and believed he could do anything, even if it was ridiculous.” She thought he would appreciate her saying that.
It was true, though. Luke was just like that, and that was probably why they’d gotten on so well. They shared the same intuition and passion to achieve what they wanted. No matter what anyone else thought. What mattered was what they thought and felt about the thing they were going after.
“Yeah? You think so?”
“Yeah, how else would he manage to escape from a group of militants who wanted to kill him?” As she said that, it felt like she was somehow breaking through that bubble she’d surrounded herself with to protect her heart.
He straightened up and really focused his gaze on her.
“You read about what happened to me?”
That seemed to trouble him.
She nodded. “I wanted to know.”
“You shouldn’t have done that if you’re already scared to be with me.”
“I had to,” she insisted.
“Nat, you’re trimming down the little piece of rope I have to hang onto.” He smirked with the same uneasiness as before.
“No, I’m not.” She gazed at him longingly. Longing for his touch and that possessive hold he had on her. She longed to feel like his and she wondered if she could just allow herself to let go of the fear and be with him.
Could she do it?
Could she make herself step outside the bubble and take the chance?
He made her want to try.
“Come here,” he said with a glint of wonder in his eyes.
She went to him and this time forbade any hesitation that flickered through her mind to kiss him.
Luke swept her up, weightless, into his arms, and his lips covered hers, hungrily sending spirals of ecstasy throughout her body.
His lips on hers set her aflame, and her heart hammered in her chest with all that she felt for him.
She straddled him, feeling the hard length of his arousal pressed against her center, and her body recalled what it was like to be joined to him.
He pulled back out of the kiss just like he did before, but this time he kept his hold on her waist.
“Break over, baby. This is torture, it’s damn torture. I want you.” His soft breath fanned her face and her body tingled from the tenderness in his touch.
Who could resist him?
As she looked at the uber gorgeous, beautiful man who held her, telling her that he wanted her, Natalie thought she’d have to be completely insane to turn him down.
Insane and stupid.
“Then take me.” Her voice was breathy, barely above a whisper.
“With pleasure, baby, with pleasure.” He smiled, recapturing her lips.
He ran his hands over her breasts, squeezing her gently and taking his time to play with her nipples.
“I missed these,” he said in a husky voice, trailing hot, fiery kisses down her cleavage.
She moaned when he moved the fabric from her top and her bra, exposing her left breast.
“Luke.” She giggled and pulled back when he took her nipple into his mouth. “Someone could see us. We can’t do anything here.”
As wild as it would be to allow him to take her right here, she didn’t think getting caught by someone walking their dog through the woods or kids playing around would be good at all.
And the chances of that happening was likely. Luke would have owned most of the grounds with the house, but the woods had always been open to the public, no matter who owned it. That was how they ended up venturing in them as kids.
“Nat, right now I don’t care.” His eyes never left her exposed breast, which she placed back inside her top.
“You can do whatever you want to me inside the house,” she told him with a saucy stare, all thoughts of restraint going out the window.
She wanted him, too. Screw the logic she’d formed in her brain and everything else.
Mischief filled his smoldering eyes and he gave her a wicked smile.
Before she could even say another word, Luke stood up, took hold of her and hoisted her over his shoulder, caveman style. Just like weeks ago, back at his parents’ house.
This time, though, he ran with her back to the house.
She couldn’t stop laughing.
“Luke, you are crazy.” She giggled as they got inside the house. “I can walk now.”
“No, no. I’m locking the door first just to be sure.”
“I’m not going to leave,” she assured him.
“I’m still securing the perimeters,” he said, running his hand over her behind. “Just to be on the safe side.”
She was laughing so much she had to catch her breath.
He set her down once the door was locked, giving her the chance to look around at what he’d done with the place.
It was beautiful when it was practically barren, but he’d completely transformed it since she was last here. Now it actually looked like a home, like someone lived here.
She could see white leather furniture in the living room with a mahogany coffee table in the center. The floorboards also had a glossy finish and the smell of citrus filled the air.
“Wow, look at the place.” She beamed.
She took one step forward to go and look in the living room but he caught her.
“You can look at the place during the break,” he said insistently, taking her hand and pulling her towards the stairs.
To tease him she pulled back. “We don’t tend to take breaks.”
The impatience on his face made her laugh, but also made her feel in awe at how much he wanted her.
“Baby, please don’t kill me here. Feel me.”
To her shock, he took her hand and placed it at his crotch, and her knees buckled when she felt the hard length of his cock.
He kept her hand there.
“This is all for you. Only…for you.” Excitement was vivid in his eyes, and in the rich brown hue she saw tenderness, passion and love.
He moved her hand and brought it too his lips to kiss. “Be mine, Natalie.”
Something strange happened to her as the words drifted to her heart. She realized that it didn’t matter what she told herself or what happened, she couldn’t be without him.
She couldn’t.
She’d fallen in love with this man years ago, probably from the first time that she saw him, and he was it for her.
“I am yours,” she told him, and the way that he looked at her then spoke his feelings for her.
The wicked smile returned to his face and he picked her up again to carry her up to the bedroom.
She saw that he wasn’t joking about the pink set. It was very much real. There was a pink satin pillow on the left side of the bed, and the bedside table next to it even had a pink notebook.
She would have said something, or commented on how sweet it was of him to do that for her, if they hadn’t stumbled onto the bed and started kissing.
She gave a breathy little moan into the kiss as his hands covered her breasts and started squeezing. Natalie responded to his touch eagerly, feeling desire pool between her thighs.
“God, I just need to do this,” he grunted hoarsely, lifting himself up so he could pull her top and bra down.
His hands cushioned and massaged her breasts as they popped out and he started rolling then pinching her nipples.
Hunger crawled through her. Hunger for him and for more of his touch. It pulsed through her, heating up her blood and making desire race through her veins.
He could see it, see her reaction, and it seemed to excite him more.
A smile danced on his lips as he leaned in to nuzzle his face into her cleavage and savagely lick at her nipples, working the tips to life.
She just about came right there and then, moaning out loud as her already diamond-hard nipples tightened, full of desire. Instinct took over, arching her back and pressing her breasts into his mouth.
Another moan escaped her lips as he took her nipple into his mouth and sucked, taking her in deep. His mouth moved to her neglected nipple and that was when the world faded away.
Her breath grew ragged and she had to gasp for air when he moved away.
“I need you now, baby,” he told her.
“Wait, I want you like this.” She moved forward and tugged on his shirt. She wanted to see those amazing muscles and the perfect, godlike being that he was.
“Your wish is my command, baby.” He smiled, taking off his shirt.
She didn’t think she would ever stop being stunned by how he looked. His hard, muscled body, with planes and contours sculpted into his chest, arms and shoulders, would always be the source of her admiration.
He was sheer gorgeous perfection.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“I�
��m ready.” She smiled.
“Keep this on. I like this look.” He winked at her.
She looked at her ruffled clothes. Her top was pulled down and her skirt rode up her legs so he could see her panties. She didn’t think she looked sexy enough like this, but he could have her however he wanted.
Fire raced through her body as he ran his fingers across her thighs and rubbed at her center, pressing into her clit, teasing the hard nub.
He gave her a break when he stopped to remove his pants and unleash the full length of his cock. She looked and felt herself grow wetter just from the sight.
In an instant, her panties were gone and then the head of his hot erection was pressing into her center.
He thrust in and she winced, but then she started to enjoy it as the thrusts kept coming.
Her eyes fluttered shut, glittered with lights that flashed behind her closed eyelids, and that was all she remembered of reality. The rest was raw, primal emotion and passion that consumed them.
The tangible bond that sealed them leapt to life and became something neither of them could deny.
His touch was more personal than last time. She realized that it was because they were lost in the throes of love.
He made love to her all night, and she was right—they never took a break.
She vaguely remembered falling asleep, and she woke up to the bright sunlight piercing through the window.
Natalie shuffled, feeling Luke’s arm around her waist. She was lying on her side so she turned to face him.
The poor guy looked exhausted.
“Luke, hey.” She smiled up at him and loved the sweet kiss he gave her.
“Morning, baby,” he cajoled against her lips.
She ran her hands through her tousled hair. “I have bed hair.”
“You look sexy with bed hair, baby. Looks like I should take you again.” He nuzzled against her neck.
“Luke, why do you look like you haven’t slept?”
“I haven’t.” He looked up and smiled, one eye closed, the other barely open.
“Why?” She winced.
“Because, baby, I didn’t want to miss this.”
“What?” She didn’t know what he meant.
Only You Page 13
