KATIE TOSSED and turned in Luke’s big, empty, spare bed. Luke’s bed. That was what kept popping into her head. Luke’s house. Luke’s bed. Luke’s mockery of a girlfriend. Her desire for that man was mocking her.
She sat up, her cotton gown rasping over her bare breasts, the friction chasing a path straight to her core. Good grief, she was losing her mind and it was Luke’s fault. It had been a lifetime since she’d had sex, and then he’d come along and kissed her. And Donna hadn’t helped. Now she couldn’t stop conjuring images of Luke’s nice, tight backside in his baseball pants. Or better yet—without them. Him on top of her, naked, a nice mirror over the top of them, while he flexed those steely buns, buried inside her.
Katie fell back against the pillows, her body flushed with desire. How was she going to deal with Luke’s advances when it was all she could do to keep from orgasming just thinking about the man. She swallowed. “You take the edge off yourself, Katie,” she whispered. Right. Like that was going to work. Then again, lying here fighting the need wasn’t going to work, either.
Her lashes lowered and she began unbuttoning the front of her gown. Giving in to the need for a good fantasy. And though she doubted seriously that any amount of fantasizing would satisfy her desire for Luke, she had to try. She had a job to do. Lusting after the man she was protecting was a distraction she didn’t need.
So she wouldn’t lust. Or she would. Right here and now in bed. But that’s all she would allow herself. Starting with a fantasy about that magic tongue of his. Her hands traveled to her breasts, over her nipples. Oh, yeah, they needed that tongue. Lots of licks, lots of kisses. Lots of hotness.
Her eyes went to the ceiling. What if there was a mirror there? Why didn’t people put mirrors above the bed? She blinked, imagined it there. Again, imagined Luke’s nice bum. Her hands traveled along her body, slid between her legs, fingers gliding over sensitive flesh as she dreamed of Luke pumping into her, his backside flexing. She squeezed her eyes shut. Seeing it. Feeling it in the ache growing between her thighs.
If only he were here, stretching her. Taking her. The ache was building, the pleasure thrumming through her. Suddenly, too soon, way too soon, Katie shattered, her body quaking with the much-needed release.
Chest heaving, she turned her head to the clock. Oh, wow. “Katie, you’re pathetic.” She’d come in four minutes flat. And rather than consider how extraordinarily badly that spoke of her sex life, or lack thereof, Katie found herself wondering instead about Luke. Could the real man make her come that fast? Would she want him to? Katie laughed. Of course, she would. As long as he made her come again right after.
It was a thought that turned dangerously in the wrong direction fifteen minutes later, when Luke’s suggestion that she simply give in to her temptation to be with him started sounding good. Katie decided self-satisfaction was not the way to get over this lusty want for Luke. Instead, she decided she’d hit the track surrounding Luke’s property, and donned her shorts and running shoes.
That he, too, was obviously a runner didn’t help matters; she didn’t need anything they had in common bouncing around in her head right now. She took the stairs with tentative, soft footsteps, careful not to wake Luke. This was a good opportunity to check out the cameras on the grounds anyway—analyze where they were positioned and where she might suggest her team place new ones. She’d seen enough of his limited security system to know that an upgrade was an absolute must.
Katie turned off the alarm system long enough to slip out the back patio door, a rainbow of colors streaking the early morning sky as the sun began to break what had been a pitch-black horizon. She loved this—simply going to the backyard to take a run rather than taking the subway to Central Park as she usually did at home. Katie stretched first and with her iPod attached to her hip she weaved through a courtyard, complete with pool and hot tub, and found the edge of the track.
And then she was off, running but not escaping her thoughts. Donna’s words bounced around in her head as readily as the memory of Luke’s lips on hers, his powerful arms around her. And though Katie was so completely over Joey he wasn’t even a consideration, Donna’s lecture that Katie had not moved on held some truth. Because the impact of what she’d been through with him was far from gone.
Katie needed to get over her fear of being hurt as much as she needed to get over her prejudice. She’d judged Luke unfairly—if Luke was a jerk, he deserved to earn that label all by himself, like any guy. But working through those feelings while on an assignment didn’t seem smart, though Ron had all but handed Luke to her on a silver platter—and handed her to Luke. They were both on the rebound from a nasty past. Both perhaps were using that “silver platter” to push the past, to the past. Katie wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Rocks outlined the path, fancy spotlights nestled between them, illuminating her path and allowing her to inspect the area, but as she cut a corner while noting a camera not properly rotating, she suddenly blasted into a hard object.
Katie gasped as she was knocked off her feet and hit the ground, scraping her leg down one of the light fixtures as she landed. Pain shot through her leg, but Katie instinctively rolled, assuming attack, ready to fight. She was in a squatting position, her palms bracing her weight when she brought Luke into focus, towering above her, hands on his hips, breathing heavily.
“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath as he knelt down in front of her. “Katie, are you all right? I’m sorry. I didn’t expect anyone else to be out here.” He reached out and steadied her, his hands on her bare thighs. “You’re bleeding.”
Instant awareness raced through her body. His broad, well-chiseled chest evident in his snug T-shirt, his hands warm on her legs. Her mind was still a cluttered mess that left her body in control. And her body wanted Luke.
“I… I’m fine,” she said, summoning her voice, and some mental wherewithal. “Why are you out here in the first place?” She started to stand up, and realized blood was gushing down her leg. “Damn.” Still, she wanted to make her point. “You have to tell the person responsible for your security before you go running around in the dark. That person would be me. That’s a new rule. You have to follow it.”
“You need stitches, Katie,” he said, ignoring her rule, as he did all the others, which she would have complained about, yelled even, if not for what he did next. Luke ripped his shirt over his head, his broad chest bared to display rippling muscle and a sprinkle of light brown, mouthwatering hair. “Sit,” he ordered. “I need to tie off the wound to stop the bleeding.”
So, aside from itsy-bitsy running shorts, the man was naked. Almost gloriously, wonderfully naked. “You’ll ruin your shirt,” she insisted. “And I’m fine. Just grab me some paper towels before we go in the door so I don’t get blood on your floor.”
“Sit down and let me do this, or I will sit you down, Katie,” Luke said, fixing her in a steady stare. “Don’t be stubborn.”
She inhaled, still breathless from her run, and sat down. He wiped off the cut, his head tilted down to study the gash along the side of her calf, which didn’t worry her nearly as much as the throbbing of her bad knee. She knew the routine well. Ice and lots of it. Pain reliever. Lots of it. Take it easy for a day.
“It’s deep,” Luke said. “Have you had a tetanus shot lately?”
“Yes,” she replied. “What I need is up.” And away from his bare chest and temptation, so she could tend to her knee. “Tie the shirt or whatever you are going to do and let me get up, please. I’m feeling claustrophobic.” Translation—hot—for him.
“We should go to the E.R.,” he said, doing as she wished, tying his shirt around her leg.
“Not a chance,” she said. “I’ll be fine.” She pushed to her feet. Her damn knee wobbled, and Luke caught her a second before she was going down. Pain rocketed up her thigh. She rested her head on his shoulder. “Not now,” she murmured, emotion wrenching her chest the way the tendons were her leg.
Inhaling through the pain, she cursed the vulnerability that her knee created. She was going to have to have help getting inside, but it felt bigger than that. She’d spent the past year working to be strong, to deal with losing her parents and to help her sister do the same, and her new career had offered a positive way to do that. And now her sister was in trouble and the assignment she was on, which would get her out of that trouble, was fast tumbling into disaster. She glanced up at Luke, holding on to his arm. “It’s my knee, Luke. But I’m supposed to be taking care of you, and—”
“Why don’t we take turns?” he suggested, his arm wrapping around her waist, a solid foundation that was comforting and secure. The fingers of his free hand slid under her chin. “I’ll take care of you now. You can take care of me later?”
Something about the way he looked at her, the way he said those words, made her melt inside. It was definite: Luke got to her in a big way. Though she was quite certain that right now, in pain, with him shirtless and holding her, was not the time to make any conclusions about how to deal with their relationship, or lack thereof. Especially since in that moment, she really could not bear the idea of never kissing this man again.
“Okay, then,” she conceded. “I just need to lean on you to get inside.” Suddenly, she was gasping as she was scooped up in his arms. “What are you doing, Luke?”
“Letting you lean on me,” he said. “Now let’s get you to the E.R.” He was already walking toward the house.
“No!” she blurted, clinging to his neck. “No E.R. I just need ice, something to kill the pain and a bandage. That’s all. I’ll be fine. It’s too close to your first game for us to be in the E.R. rather than dealing with the reason I’m here—those letters.”
Luke keyed the security code, shoved open the door to the kitchen and set Katie down at the informal dining table. He quickly grabbed another chair to prop her leg up on.
“I’m going to get blood on the chair.”
“I don’t care about the damn chair, Katie,” he said, lifting his shirt and checking her wound. “You’re going to the E.R.”
“No, I—”
He lifted the shirt all the way off and wiped the wound, which filled with blood instantly, but not before she saw the huge gash. “Okay,” she agreed in frustration. The cut was deeper than she’d thought. The pain in her knee had overshadowed the rest. “I’ll go to the E.R.” She motioned to his bare chest and long, muscular legs. “But you might want to consider putting some clothes on first.”
He tied his shirt back around her leg. “I’d really hoped to have you ordering me to take my clothes off, not telling me to put them back on.”
“It must be a sign,” she said. “You’re meant to keep them on.”
“I don’t believe in signs,” he assured her. “Just hard work. I’ve always worked hard for what I want.” He leaned down and kissed her hurt knee. “And I want you, Katie.”
***
A LITTLE PAST EIGHT in the morning, with Katie lying down in the passenger seat sleeping and a new day’s sunshine already promising to be scorching hot, Luke pulled his truck into his driveway and parked.
Though he wasn’t one to throw his weight around and ask for special privileges, when he was given the chance to slip Katie into a private E.R. room for fast attention, neither of them had complained. She had six stitches in her calf and a swollen knee she refused to have X-rayed, insisting no E.R. would be able to help her. He hadn’t been inclined to disagree. It was a chronic problem, and she needed a specialist. Being that she wasn’t at home near her regular doctor, Luke intended to lend her the team doc later in the day. For now, he wanted to get them both some rest.
Katie sat up and stretched, a moan following that she tried to hide. “I guess that pain pill they gave me knocked me out,” she said. “I hate those damn things.”
He chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me.” She’d been unable to watch them stitch her leg, but she’d asked for a second-by-second explanation of what was happening. She was a control freak in the worst way. “Stay put and I’ll come around and help you.”
Of course she didn’t. He’d barely made it to the hood of the truck to come around the vehicle, and already she had her door open.
Luke rushed to her side and stopped her from getting out. “You don’t listen,” he complained, and wrapped his arm around her to pick her up.
“I can walk,” she said, her hand pressing to his chest to push him away, her mouth so damn close to his.
He kissed her, a soft brush of his lips over hers that was inviting and sent blood right to his groin. “We both know your knee is far more an issue than those stitches,” he said. “You’re exhausted and in pain. Stop beating yourself up for being human.” He brushed his knuckle over her cheek. “I’m going to carry you inside and get you some ice for that knee so you can sleep this off. Once you’re back to normal, you can be in charge again. Fair enough?”
“You said ‘I’m in charge,’ so I’m going to hold you to that.”
Luke lifted her. “I think I might enjoy that,” he teased, and kicked the door shut then started walking.
“Wait!” she said. “Lock the truck.”
He gave her an are you crazy look. “My hands are full.”
“We have to lock it, Luke.”
“I’ll come back and lock it, once you’re inside.”
“No, you won’t,” she accused.
“You’re right,” he said, taking the stairs to the front door. “I won’t.” He slid her down his body, unlocked the front door, and then pointed the keys at the truck and hit the automatic lock. His eyebrow inched upward. “Happy?”
“I just want you to be safe,” she said, as he helped her in the door and shut it, keying the security code into the panel.
“Stop worrying about me,” he ordered.
“It’s my job, Luke.”
He turned her to face him, suddenly irritated. “I don’t want to be your damn job, Katie,” he said. “I want to be a lot of things to you, but not a job. And when you are feeling better, we are going to talk.” Before she could object, he carried her up the stairs and straight to her room. He set her on the bed, and bent down on one knee in front of her.
“I’m trying to do what is right, Luke,” she whispered.
“I know, Katie.” He suddenly felt guilty for being so rough on her. “I’m just not sure if I’m capable of letting you do it, under the present setup. I want you too much to keep this just business.” His mouth went dry thinking about where they were, but the white line around her mouth that told of pain, plus the dark smudges beneath her eyes, quickly had him checking his desire. “I’ll get you that ice.”
Luke made fast tracks to the kitchen, lust pumping through him and beating on him with desire. He had to face the facts. He’d told himself he had agreed to this dating facade with Katie because his management had forced his hand. But he’d agreed, because as soon as Katie had walked into his den, he’d wanted her.
His agreement to publicly date her was self-serving, self-rewarding, and he wasn’t one for games—didn’t appreciate being played, so he didn’t do it to other people. He had to make sure Katie knew exactly where he was coming from and where this was going. It was easy to see Katie would find all kinds of reasons to question what was cut-and-dry to him. He wanted her. She wanted him. Hell. Ron had practically shoved them into bed together.
Tossing ice into a plastic bag, he decided he was probably twisting Ron’s instructions a bit there, but people dated those they were involved with professionally all the time. Right. Now, if Katie would only see it that way.
His hand tightened on the refrigerator door, an odd sense of not being alone sliding down his spine. Remaining still, he listened but found nothing but silence. He walked to the back-door security panel and checked it. All was intact. He glanced out the window. Nothing but sunlight and flowers. He shook his head, scrubbed his thickening stubble. All this security stuff was making him crazy. Still, he walked to the front door, staying silent, and again checked the security panel, again glanced outside. All was clear.
Shaking off the unease, he redirected his thoughts to Katie and took the stairs two at a time, returning to the guest room. He found Katie lying on her side, her leg stiff and awkward, her eyes shut. He sat down next to her and her eyes opened. “I hate pain medicine,” she whispered. “I couldn’t seem to make it to the pillow. Can you hand it to me?”
Luke scooted Katie to the top of the bed, taking one of the pillows and putting it under her knee, propping the ice around it. And then he lay down beside her and pulled her head onto his shoulder. “Rest,” he said, and he ran his hand down her hair.
But she already was. Her small hand curled over his heart and her hair sprayed over his chest. Luke swallowed hard, feeling some sort of profound rightness about this that he couldn’t begin to understand. He absorbed the moment, Katie sleeping in his arms, a woman who’d stormed into his life like a raging hurricane.
Luke studied the ceiling, not seeing it but seeing himself. He had every reason to be guarded, every reason to hold back with her. He’d been royally screwed over by his ex and by his manager. But he’d always been one to take life on the chin, to make the most of his blessings and not wallow in the negative.
That’s why he refused to let the letters and threats steal his focus from the game. Being in the spotlight was part of getting the blessed chance to do what he loved and get paid for it. Shit happened in the spotlight. Shit happened in life.
But after meeting Katie, he was finding some perspective with respect to his behavior in the recent months. He’d become reserved, on guard. And he wasn’t going to allow that to happen. No doubt, that left him exposed to manipulation, but every step he’d taken to get where he was today in his life had come with risks. He didn’t want to let bad experiences, bad people, change who and what he was. A ballplayer who was grateful for every single opportunity he had in his life, and every person who’d believed in him on the way there. He didn’t want to start thinking everyone was out to get him, or get something from him. And he had. He had started feeling that way. No more of that. He wasn’t going to stop taking risks. Not on the field and not in his personal life. And he sure wasn’t going to miss out on discovering why Katie felt so damn good lying here in his arms.
***
KATIE FADED in and out of sleep, clinging to the warmth surrounding her. So pleasant. So comfortable. A ringing sound in the distance forced her to leave it behind, her eyes peeling open, bright sunlight piercing her pupils. Her cell phone. Katie sat straight up. Her eyes went wide.
“Luke!” Luke was in bed with her. “Ouch, ouch.” Her leg. She reached for it and heard the ringing again. “My phone.”
Luke started laughing. “You’ve managed to panic over me, your leg and your phone in about thirty seconds of being awake. I think you should lie back down and start over.”
She forgot her phone and her leg. “You’re… We’re…Did we?”
He leaned up on his elbows, his T-shirt stretching over his broad chest, muscles flexing beneath the soft material. “I’d like to think you’d remember if we had.”
“Good point,” she said. So would she? It would be damn near criminal to live out that fantasy and not remember.
“Besides,” he said. “I don’t take advantage of women while they are drunk or on drugs.” He chuckled as if remembering something she could not. “You really weren’t kidding about not doing well with pain pills.”
No telling what she had said or done when she was groggy. “Hate them,” she said. “Same reason I don’t drink. I hate that fuzzy, out-of-focus feeling.”
His laughter faded, but the cute dimple in his right cheek did not. “Myself, and most of the hospital staff, gathered that fairly well,” he said with playful sarcasm. “Which is why I stayed close—in case you needed anything.”
She tilted her head, studied him and his motives. “Close is within hearing range,” she said. “Close is not in bed with me.”
He didn’t seem fazed by her observation. “You were tired and so was I.” He dismissed it, as if sleeping in the same bed meant nothing, but they both knew it did. It was intimate. It was…sleeping in the same bed! He glanced at the clock, which read ten-thirty. “We slept about two hours.”
Two hours—for two hours Katie had been snuggled close to him, wrapped in those big, strong, wonderful arms, and she didn’t remember. That was wrong on so many levels.
“How’s your leg?” he asked, snapping her out of her silent regret.
His hair was rumpled and sexy, his eyes full of what appeared to be genuine concern. She didn’t answer the question. Instead, she asked one of her own. “You stayed in case I needed anything?”
“Sure. I was worried about you.” He sat up, his gaze traveling to the pillow by her leg. “Though I forgot about the ice when I fell asleep.” He grabbed the dripping bag that was filled with just water now and carefully placed it on the nightstand by the bed.
Katie had never had a man take care of her like this. Her parents would have, if they were around. Her sister, yes, before she’d gotten married to her loser husband. Donna would take care of her, if she needed help. But never a man. It felt nice and downright terrifying. She didn’t want to feel this, to want this, to rely on someone who wouldn’t be there later. If the past few years had taught her anything, it was that.
“We need to switch to heat now anyway,” he said, turning back to her, onto his side. Katie quickly tried to wipe away any remnant of emotion as he added. “I’ve got a heating pad I use on my arm when it gets stiff. You can use that. How often does that leg flare up?”
“Not often really,” she told him. “It’s unpredictable. Staying active helps, but I have to be careful. I should have been wearing a knee brace and I wasn’t. But then, I can be doing absolutely nothing and still aggravate it.” She hesitated. “Thank you, Luke.”
Their eyes locked, held, the electricity between them instant, intense. “You don’t owe me any thanks,” he said. “And you didn’t answer my question. How is your leg?”
“My calf is throbbing from those damn stitches,” she said. “My knee—well—I’ve learned to live with that during flare-ups. Though the limits it represents—that’s harder than anything. It’ll calm back down in the next few days.”
The air shifted and seconds passed. Seconds laden with sexual tension. Thick with the attraction that had snapped between them from the moment they’d met, the same tension they’d funneled into harsh words and arguments. But there was no argument now. There was only desire. Only need.
“Tell me to go get that heating pad before I don’t go at all, Katie,” he said, his voice low, gravelly.
Katie’s chest tightened, her cheeks heated. She was drowning in the clear promise in his stare. She shut her eyes, tried to block it out. But the instant she looked at him again, the intensity in his gaze pulled her right back in. How had this happened? How had she fallen this much in lust with a man she’d thought she hated only two days before? There were a million reasons to send him away, but suddenly, the lines of right and wrong weren’t so black-and-white. Suddenly, there was simply her and Luke. And that felt right; they felt right.
“Stay,” she said. “I want you to stay, Luke.”
Luke didn’t move, didn’t blink. “You’re sure?” he asked, his voice as intense as his stare. “You want me to stay? Because last night you didn’t even want me to kiss you.”
“I wanted you to kiss me, Luke. You know I wanted you to kiss me.” She reached out and ran her hand through his hair. “And I want you to kiss me now.”
He scooted closer, his hand going to her thigh, the calluses of his fingers skimming her bare leg, goose bumps rising in their wake. His lips closed in on hers, but still he held back. “No guilt, Katie. It’s like stealing a base—once you commit, you have to own the decision. There are no regrets.”
Katie let those words fill her, let them expand with all the possibilities they held: the guilt, the self-doubt, the punishment after the fact that she could manage to dish out to herself—and Lord only knew, she was good at that. But she’d done so much guilt and responsibility these past few years. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel alone. She didn’t want more of that. She wanted Luke. She did. But… “I need to know you understand this changes nothing. I am here to do a job and I plan to do it. I need to know this isn’t about you thinking I’ll quit the security issue if this happens.”
“If I thought for a minute that being with me would distract you from doing your job,” he said, “I probably wouldn’t want you. It’s your strong will and determination that turns me on, Katie. I expect nothing less than you riding my ass about security when we have our clothes back on. Maybe before. But you better damn sure bet I’ll likely be complaining about it, too.”
Katie found herself smiling inside with those words, because she believed him completely. He would grumble. But she also appreciated his honesty about that fact. He continued, “This here, now—us together—it’s about a man and a woman who not only want each other, we have chemistry, Katie. It’s not about Ron’s agenda or management’s or even about a stalker. It’s you and me.”
He’d said exactly what she both wanted and needed to hear, and Katie allowed herself to let go—to let herself reach for pleasure. She pressed her lips to his, lingered as she absorbed the feel of him, the taste of him. His lips were firm but soft, his restraint evident in the tension of his mouth, his body. He didn’t believe she’d committed. “No regrets,” Katie whispered, her fingers tracing his jaw as she pulled back to stare at him. “I want this, Luke. I want you.”
Seconds snapped by, heavy with sexual tension—as if he was somehow silently measuring her commitment—before Luke’s hand weaved into her hair, before his lips found hers, his tongue dividing the seam of her lips and plunging into her mouth. Passionate hot kisses followed, his tongue teasing her, pleasing her. She could barely breathe for the rush of need that climbed through her body, expanding within her chest. Her nipples ached and her breasts were heavy. She wanted him to touch her there, wanted to touch him. Her damn leg throbbed and wouldn’t move or she would have lifted it over his hip, arched into him. He seemed to sense her need, inching closer, his hand gliding around her scantily clad backside and squeezing.
She moaned into his mouth, slid her hand under his shirt, reveling in the feel of taut, warm skin beneath her palm, the muscles flexing beneath her touch.
“Take this off,” she said, shoving the material of his tee upward, her fingers splaying in the springy hair of his chest, nails scraping over his nipples. She could feel the raw need in him building, and it drove her wild. Drove her to demand more. She was going to absorb herself in Luke, keep herself from thinking about doubts, about guilt. She wanted it all—she wanted all of him, and she wanted him naked.
His lips stole away from hers as he maneuvered to take his shirt off. While he did, her hand found his crotch, stroking the hard ridge of his erection. “Katie,” he moaned, lying back down. She pressed a hand over those flat, rippling abdominals, and followed with her lips, tracing one muscle after the other, even as her fingers dipped beneath the denim of his pants. Exploring this man’s perfect body was exactly the kind of experience and reward she needed.
But suddenly, Luke gently but surely shackled her hand. “My turn, sweetheart,” he said, easing her carefully to her back. “You rest that leg, and let me do all the work.” He grabbed the pillow and propped her leg up.
“My leg is fine,” she argued.
“And we’re going to keep it that way,” he said, leaning down and brushing his lips over her knee, easing her good leg wide so that he could slip between the V. He peered up at her, dark lashes veiling eyes laden with a mischievous, sexy promise—the promise of pleasure. Promise of satisfaction.
His lips went back to her sore knee, his tongue flickering seductively against her delicate skin, his hand slowly riding up her thigh as his mouth followed. His teeth and his tongue alternated with delicate, sizzling manipulations until he shoved her shorts up, nipped beneath the hem—licked. Heat pooled low in her stomach, and Katie could feel her core clench with anticipation, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip.
But he kept her waiting, a new pleasure unfolding. He slid that rock-hard body up hers, hands caressing a path beneath her shirt, over her rib cage. Kissed her. Seduced her. Katie faded into a haze of desire that she didn’t want to ever leave. And in that haze, somehow her shirt was gone, Luke’s hands over her breasts, where her bra had once been, her back arching into his touch. His thumbs stroking her nipples, his tongue gliding along hers with hungry thrusts and deep, passionate demands. She wrapped her free leg around him, arched her hips, wanted more of him, wanted him closer. She could feel the hard length of his erection stretching his jeans, pressing into the center of her body. She wanted it stretching her.
“I want you inside me, Luke,” she whispered.
“Soon,” he promised, and she realized suddenly she’d said the words out loud.
“Not soon enough,” she said hoarsely.
She could feel him smile against her neck. “I don’t want to miss one delicious spot.” His lips trailed kisses along her skin, causing wicked sensations, until he pressed her breasts together, suckling one nipple and then the other. The points became stiff peaks as he was nipping and biting and then gently licking them, teasing her until she was aching with the need to feel him fill her. Aching to the point that her womb was spasming. He trailed downward, kissing as he went. She trembled with anticipation as he kissed her stomach, when his tongue dipped into her belly button.
Gently, he eased her shorts down her legs, and as aroused as they both were, he was miraculously, amazingly careful of her injuries. He tossed the shorts aside, his hand sliding up her uninjured calf and thigh, and before she knew his intention, Luke lifted her leg over his shoulder. Suddenly, his tongue lapped at her clit, then closed down on it. Katie gasped as he drew her deep into his mouth, his tongue sliding along her sensitive flesh, two of his fingers entering her, stroking her. Katie’s hands dug into the blanket, her hips rocking against his mouth, his fingers.
“Luke,” she panted, her breath hitching, stealing her thoughts, or maybe that was his breath, intimately warming her. She tried again. “I…” want you inside me. But she couldn’t say it. She couldn’t say anything. She could only feel. She could only need. Her fingers stretched, reaching for his head, even as his fingers stretched inside her, taking her further into that place of no return. But, damn it, she wanted to push him away and make him undress, to feel his body above her, around her. At the same time, her body was making a desperate appeal for him to continue, humming in response to the sinful play of his mouth, tongue and fingers.
In some distant place she heard her own moans, her own breathing. She tried to hold his head exactly where he was, all thought of stopping him gone, but she couldn’t quite touch him. Not with her leg up over his shoulder. She lifted her hips farther. She wanted her other leg up there, too, but it was stiff; it wouldn’t move.
Her head twisted from side to side, her hand molding her breasts, pinching her nipples. The other resorted to the blanket again, curling her fingers in the cloth as tension coiled in her core. Tighter, tighter. Every muscle in her body tensed, and then it happened. The spasms exploded low in her belly, and then it was as if a gate opened and a flood of pleasure washed over her—her body clenched around his fingers, her breath exploded from her lungs in a gasp. And then another. Luke rocked his mouth and fingers with her, lapped at her with his tongue, fast and then slower, and slower, until he brought her down, eased her to completion.
Katie collapsed with the final moment of release, every bit of energy she possessed gone. Every ounce of her sated, satisfied in a way that consumed her as much as the pleasure had. Luke carefully put her leg down, then kissed her stomach. Her fingers went to his hair as he stared up at her, his eyes tender rather than demanding.
“Luke, that was… I am—”
“Luke! Katie!” It was Ron’s voice, and all that sated, wonderful, amazing pleasure was gone.
“Oh, no!” Kate whispered, trying to sit up.
“How the hell did Ron get into my house?” Luke murmured. “Unless Maria showed up and let him in.” His hand settled on her shoulder. “Easy. Don’t hurt your leg.”
“The door!” she whispered fiercely, holding herself up on her hands. “Luke, I’m naked here. Please. Shut the door.”
“Easy, sweetheart,” he said. “Everything is going to be fine.” He slid off the bed and shut the door, locking it, as well.
It was not fine, she thought, nor was it going to be fine. In a matter of hours, she’d gone from a professional who’d landed a job that would get her sister out of hot water, to being injured, drugged, seduced and now humiliated.
Door secure, Luke scrubbed his heavily shadowed jaw and snagged his shirt, slipping it over his head. Katie scrambled for her clothes. Luke found her shorts on the floor and handed them to her.
She struggled to find her shirt, frustrated when she couldn’t move well enough to find anything, which only served to remind her that her crazy libido had landed her in this hot water. She threw her hands in the air. “Where did you put my bra?”
Luke arched a brow. “Where did I put your bra?” he challenged. “I seem to remember you were involved in disposing of it, as well.” He scooped up her bra and shirt and tossed them at her, frustration in the hard set of his jaw.
Katie glared at him, catching her things, wishing like hell he wasn’t watching her as she attempted to get the bra over her arms. The act of putting on the damn undergarment made her feel somehow far more exposed than when he’d taken it off, and she couldn’t get it hooked.
Suddenly, Luke was sitting beside her. “Let me help.”
“No, I—” Her words lodged in her throat as he turned her and hooked her bra. It was such a small thing, but so large—an act of intimacy a couple would share. They weren’t a couple. He was a job. She should have remembered that.
Luke offered her shirt to her, and she fumbled around and managed to get it on. Immediately, she started for the edge of the bed. She didn’t look at Luke. She couldn’t deal with him now. First, she had to deal with Ron.
“You did nothing wrong,” Luke said softly. “We did nothing wrong. If Ron says otherwise, I’ll damn sure tell him so, too.”
“No. Please don’t. You’ve done enough. Just let me handle it.”
Luke was on his feet in an instant, facing her. “You’re obviously upset, so I’m not going to take that remark like the slap it felt like.” He stared at her, his gaze fixed, steady, assessing. He read through her tension. He knew what she was feeling. And his words proved it. “No regrets. That was the agreement.”
“That was before Ron showed up while we were in bed together,” she spouted back tightly. “That wasn’t in the plan.” Not that she’d had a plan. That was clear.
“We are not children caught by Dad,” he said. “We’re consenting adults.”
He had nothing to lose here. But she had a reputation and a way to pay her sister’s debt off. “I’m here to work, Luke. Not become one of your groupies.”
“Is that what you think this is?” he demanded. “Me turning you into some sort of groupie?”
That was when Ron’s voice sounded from the hallway. “Katie! Luke!”
Luke ground his teeth. “The man needs to learn to knock at the door,” he grumbled irritably as he stalked toward the door.