Her stomach clenched and Luke’s hand moved to her waist, gently tightening there. “My family’s not as close as yours.”
Luke’s mother stared at her a long moment, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Then I’m glad you have us, dear.”
Julie was completely blown away by the statement. She didn’t have them. Did she? She had Lauren. Before she could completely digest the words and respond, Senator Reynolds, Lauren’s father, appeared.
“Eleanor, my dear, let’s dance.” The Senator, who knew Julie well, gave her a quick wink.
Eleanor smiled. “You never get tired, but I do, so one more dance.”
The senator looked at Julie and Luke. “Have fun you two.”
Julie smiled as they moved to the dance floor, both grinning like children. She looked up at Luke. “They are cute together.”
Luke made a face. “She’s already seeing someone.”
Julie laughed. “I’m sure she’s just enjoying the party.”
“I want her to be happy, but another man in her life, to be completely honest, doesn’t thrill me.”
Julie giggled. “She’s just dancing with him.”
Luke didn’t laugh. He didn’t smile. He stared at her, his eyes suddenly so intense, she gulped. He took her hand and started walking, pulling her along with him.
She didn’t question him. Never got the chance. He was full speed ahead. Before she knew it, she was in a dark hallway. Luke leaned against the wall, feet spread wide as he pulled Julie into an embrace. He slid one hand around her waist, and the other behind her neck as her hands rested on his chest.
Their lips touched in a gentle brush, a feather-light caress so tender she felt a shiver clear to her toes. “Luke,” she whispered.
“Um,” he murmured as brushed his lips across hers again. “You taste like chocolate icing.”
“And you taste like chocolate cake.”
He smiled against her lips, brushing gentle knuckles down her cheek. “You aren’t alone, you know. My mom was right. You have us. You have me.”
He didn’t give her time to respond. He took her mouth fully under his, dipping his tongue into her mouth with slow thoroughness, tasting her, tempting her, making her melt. His hands pressed her closer, making her ache with heat as the hardness of his frame seemed to consume her softness.
When he lifted his mouth from hers, his voice was husky as he said, “I swore I wouldn’t touch you. Not yet. Not now, but I am coming home with you tonight.”
Not now and not yet? She wanted to question his choice of words, but she didn’t. Not now. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Instead, she reveled in familiar territory, a place she had some control with Luke she desperately needed. “To sleep on my couch?”
“No couch,” he murmured, his breath teasing her lips. And then he kissed her with such intensity she forgot where she was, why Luke was dangerous. She was shaking with desire and she could only wonder if her control wasn’t a facade. Luke had seduced it from her.
Chapter Nine
Luke didn’t take Julie to her place, as he’d initially said. He pulled into his parking lot instead and killed the engine.
“I thought we were going to my place?” she asked, a little too late at this point.
“Safer,” he said. “And I doubt we’ll see Blake tonight. He doesn’t bring women to his place and Royce and Lauren are off to Hawaii.”
He opened his door and slid out of the truck before she could say more. He’d decided well before the wedding ceremony that staying out of Julie’s bed was an impossible undertaking. He wasn’t, however, prepared to relinquish control to her. Allowing her to make their physical attraction a way to distance herself emotionally wasn’t an option. His approach was everything and he knew it, or hell, maybe he was trying to justify his actions. He only knew that if he didn’t manage the encounter just right, any hope he had of breaking down her walls would be destroyed the minute he slept with her.
He chose to bring her to his place: his home, his rules.
He needed the control with Julie.
Standing outside his apartment, he put the key in the lock. Anticipation thrummed through his veins. Damn if he wasn’t getting hard just thinking about what was about to happen.
He pushed open his front door, but didn’t move to enter his apartment. Instead, he turned to Julie, pulling her close. Brushing a lock of her hair from her cheek, he gave her a soft smile. Slowly, he lowered his head, bringing their lips close as he spoke, “I’m glad you’re here.”
He kissed her before she could respond, a slow, heated kiss full of invitation. He wanted her to let go and feel, to just be with him without any fears or walls.
Need heated his blood, burned a path through his veins, demanding and fierce, but still he held back, committed to his agenda. Julie was going to know this thing between them was more than sex; she was going to see, feel, and understand that he was in this for the finish line, that he intended to find out why he’d never forgotten her. Why no other woman compared.
Forcing himself to pull back from their kiss, he took her hand, leading her into his apartment before shutting the door behind them.
He flipped the hall light on, but no others. Despite her bold seductress persona, he knew he was going to test her, to push her, and somehow thought that tonight, she’d prefer the sanctuary of shadows. He planned to expose far more than her beautiful body before this evening ended.
She walked past him into his living room, the steady stream of moonlight glistening off her silky blonde hair, giving it a silvery quality. Her hips swayed in a slow, sultry motion as they stroll through his home, the only one he’d had in years, a place she felt right inside, just as she did by his side.
He let her explore, standing back and watching her as he loosened his tie and tossed it onto the hall table. He loosened the top buttons of his shirt at the same time he willed the urgency in his body to calm.
He wanted Julie like nothing else in this world, in a way he couldn’t continue to ignore. He itched to peel off her dress, to once again touch that silky skin of hers. Patience, he reminded himself. Good things come to those who wait.
Slowly he walked into the living room, closing the distance between them, feeling like an animal stalking his prey, never taking his eyes off her. She picked up a picture of him and his brothers from the mantel. She stared at it a moment, and then looked up at him.
They stood a mere foot apart as their eyes locked. “I never knew you were so sentimental,” she said in a soft voice.
He took the picture from her hands, setting it back on the mantel. “Runs in the family,” he said as his hand settled on her hip. The air in the room seemed to crackle. “Sentimental and protective. You bring out those things and more in me. For instance, I remember every second of the weeks we spent together years ago, even when I tried to forget.”
Her hand went to his jaw, tenderly, a soft look in her eyes. He pulled her close, tangling their legs together, melding his hips to hers, his thick erection to her stomach where she’d know just how hot he was for her.
Her teeth scraped her full bottom lip and his cock jerked. Damn, every time she did that he felt it in every inch of his body.
“How do I feel about it?” she asked softly.
“Mmmm,” he said staring down at her, fighting the desire to just kiss her and ask questions later, when he knew it would be a fatal mistake.
Her dark lashes fluttered to her pale cheeks as if she was surrendering to some feeling. Her lips parted before she looked back up at him. “At this very moment, I’d say I feel pretty good about it.”
She barely had the words out before his mouth was on hers, his tongue parting her lips, teasing and tasting, and God, she tasted good. Like chocolate and champagne, and temptation. The flavor sent a rush of blood through his veins that settled heavily, thickly in his groin.
His hands caressed a path down her waist, to cup her full, high, perfect ass. “I want to see you. All of you.”
One
side of her mouth lifted in a sultry little smile that played with his cock even as her fingers played with the buttons on his shirt. “And I want to see you.”
He gently shackled her wrists with his hands, making her gaze lock with his. “You first. I want you way too much to be naked just yet, and way too much for you not to be.”
Her eyes narrowed and he drew her wrist to his lips, feeling the thrum of her rapid pulse against his mouth before he moved to kiss her palm. “I’m, hmmmm, all for getting out of this dress.”
His hands traveled down her neck, over her shoulders, and then gently over her breasts. She pressed his hands against her, molding them to her chest. “I need help with my zipper,” she said. Slowly, she turned and gave him her back.
He brushed her hair over one of her delicate shoulders and tugged the metal clasp downward, each newly revealed inch of skin setting his pulse to a quicker pace. No woman had ever affected him with nothing but a slash of ivory skin. He kissed the sensitive spot at her nape and then slowly skimmed the material off her shoulders, then followed the dress down to her waist. She shimmied her hips, helping him pull it down until it pooled at her feet. His hands settled at her waist as she stepped aside and kicked away the garment.
She tried to rotate but he held her there. “Let me look at you,” he said, sounding gruff, his voice thick with arousal. And look he did. Damn, the woman had a fine backside, that the ivory thigh highs and strip of silk did everything to accent.
He popped the hook to her bra, and she shrugged it forward and tossed it to the floor. He stroked one lush butt cheek, and turned her to the fireplace. “Put your hands on the mantel,” he ordered.
“Luke–”
He wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed his lips to her ear. “Tonight I’m in charge. Let me be in charge of your pleasure. You trust me enough to do what I say.”
She rolled her head forward a moment, and while he could feel her resistance, he could also smell her arousal. He ran his hand over her breasts and then caressed one, teasing her nipple.
She moaned, and her head lifted and fell against his shoulder. “Put your hands on the mantel, sweetheart.” He turned her toward the fireplace and held onto her while her hands curled around the ledge. Her silent submission, her willingness to trust him, held meaning he didn’t miss, that he’d craved for far too long.
He didn’t immediately let her go, sensing that she needed him to hold her, that she needed to go slow. He knew the implications of her letting go of her control. He knew how hard she clung to it. He even thought he was beginning to understand why. That she felt it made her stronger, that it kept her in control of life. Kept her from getting hurt.
He kissed her shoulder, trailing love bites, licks, and caresses down her arm, over her back, until he was on his knees, palms sliding down her thighs, then back up. His lips found the delicate skin of her backside, his hands pressed her legs apart, settling her the way he wanted her. The sight of her in panties, thigh highs and heels, and absolutely nothing else, was just a little piece of heaven.
He stroked between her thighs, beneath her panties, finding her slick and hot, the sounds of her moans making him hot. Yeah. Keeping his clothes on was smart, otherwise he might just stand up and bury himself exactly where he wanted to be – deep in the tight recesses of her perfect body. And she was perfect to him, the perfect woman in ways no other had ever been.
“Fuck me, Luke. Now,” she murmured. “I want you.”
He stilled.
Her words were like a slap. Reason told him it was just sex talk, but it wasn’t enough. It pissed him off. He wanted ‘make love to me.’ She gave him ‘fuck me’. Ironic really, since as a SEAL he’d always kept his relationships on the short term, no strings, no future ‘fuck me’ variety.
A surge of something he was pretty sure was anger blistered through him. He ripped her panties from her, then slid between her legs and rotated so that she stood in front of him, so that his mouth could come down on her clit with punishing pleasure. He lapped at her clit, the gasp she rewarded him with only driving that boiling feeling inside him. She wanted to be fucked, he’d fuck her all right. He’d fuck her like she’d never been fucked in her life.
He suckled her, drawing deeply on the swollen nub, delving two fingers inside her, caressing her. The taste of her arousal, the salty sweet flavor of woman, his woman who didn’t know she was his, but he intended to show her, filled him. He intended to convince her. He felt it, them, their bond, and he wasn’t going to let her run away.
Her fingers brushed through his hair, threaded through the strands and tugged almost roughly. His balls tightened and his dick stood at attention, stretching against his zipper. Still, he licked and teased and tested his own willpower until she gasped and her knees went weak. He wrapped his arm around her thighs, holding her up as he felt the ripples of release tighten on his fingers, reminding him of just how good it would be to bury himself inside the hot, tight enclave of her body. But there was still anger inside him, frustration and boiling hot emotion. Fuck me, she’d said.
Fuck me, he thought.
He eased her into a complete sated meltdown and picked her up, carrying her to an oversize leather lounge chair. He could feel her stare, but he didn’t make eye contact. Not now, not this upset. But when he set her down, she pressed her lips to his and he found himself locked in a drugging kiss he didn’t want. They’d kiss at the same time they went to his bedroom. When they made love.
She slid her hand over his crotch. He wanted her hand there but he pulled it away, his eyes meeting hers now. “Face the edge of the chair.”
Uncertainty flared in her pretty blue eyes. “I can do much more facing you.”
“And I can fuck you much better if you aren’t. Turn over and let me look at you.” He pressed her toward the end of the chair, leaned her over it, pulled her ass into the air and spread her wide. “You want to seduce me, you stay just like that while I undress, all wide open and ready for me.” They’d delved into a bit of BDSM in the past and he used that now. He smacked her backside, just hard enough to remind her he was in charge.
She yelped and glanced over her shoulder and quickly. “That wasn’t nice.”
He smacked her again. “I’m not nice. Not when you don’t do what I say.”
“All right Luke,” she said softly. “But you better remember how good I am at this game.”
“I remember how good you are at games, sweetheart,” he promised. “I remember really damn well.”
He pushed away from her and made quick work of undressing, sheathing the thick pulse of his erection with a condom he’d made sure was in his pocket before the wedding.
She didn’t move. She just kept that fine ass in the air for him to drool over. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. His cock didn’t think it was bad, but then, he never seemed to think with the right head where Julie was concerned.
He moved to her, feeling like that wild animal again, framing her hips with his, his shaft settling between her legs. She moaned and arched towards him. He dragged his fingers through the wet heat of her sex, and then followed with his cock, before pressing inside her.
They moaned together at the first penetration, and he drove into her, until she had all of him. He fought the urge to lean in, to wrap himself around her and tell her what he felt, to tell her how much he’d craved this, and her. But he was human, and for the first time in a very long time, since the first time he’d been in a war zone and known he might have to pull the trigger – kill or be killed – he felt vulnerable.
He reached for the anger again, clung to it, and with it, pulled back and then pumped back into her. His hands settled on her slender backside, the sound of her moans ripping through him, driving him onward. He pumped and pumped, thrust, and ground into her. Faster and harder until their breathing filled his ears, and pleasure was all there was.
And somehow, he forgot the anger, somehow he wrapped himself around her, and was kissing her shoulder, her ne
ck, whispering her name, touching her everywhere, anywhere. And he wanted to turn her over, he wanted to kiss her, to make love to her, but they were too far gone, too deep into each other, into the passion. He felt the rise of release in her, in him. Felt her body tense a moment before she clenched around his shaft, sending a rush of pleasure through him. His orgasm came with hers, hard and fast and unexpected, ripped from deep in his body.
When they both finally stilled, he collapsed gently around her, careful not to hurt her. He laid there for long moments, completely sated, blown away by how damn good sex was with Julie. Sex. God. He didn’t know how he’d come to hate that word, when before Julie, he’d loved it so much.
Then, suddenly, he heard her muffled sobs. Crying. Julie, who put on this power chick facade, who made him believe she felt nothing, was crying. She’d buried her face in the chair, trying to muffle the sound, but she was absolutely crying. He’d done everything wrong with her, let emotion he wasn’t used to experiencing drive his actions. And now he had to figure out how, and even if, he could fix this.
Chapter Ten
Julie tried to bite back her tears and failed. She had never been so confused and emotional in all her life. In fact, the past few days were all about confused. She was crying in front of Luke, or well, in his presence, and she really didn’t want him to know.
He buried his face in her hair. “Don’t cry.” His voice was a gentle whisper against her neck. “Please baby, don’t cry.”
So much for hiding her face, so much for being the strong, in control woman, that she’d always been.
“Sweetheart, turn around,” he urged, sliding away from her.
She turned all right, and tried to scoot off the chair before he saw her face, hoping for a mad dash for her clothes. No such luck. He tossed the condom in a trashcan and still managed to stop her progress, only to hug her and say, “I’m sorry.”
He was sorry? Oh God. Now, she was so pathetic she’d made the man feel he had to apologize for having sex with her? She pushed back from him.