Chapter Eight

“What kind of girl do you think I am? And how could you tell so fast.”

-Blanche Devereaux

Luke had really enjoyed himself today. He always did when he was around his family. Sure, they were intrusive and nosy and kind of annoying. But when push came to shove, he knew that he was lucky as hell to have them.

Seeing Lola in that pavilion had been interesting. He hadn’t anticipated how natural it would feel to watch her laugh with his sisters, hug his mother, and interact with his cousins.

At times, it had felt like she’d always been one of them.

He overheard his mom invite her to their barbeque the next week. That would be fun, too. They were also planning to go to King’s Dominion in July. The whole family enjoyed amusement parks. He wondered if Lola did…

His thoughts trailed off as the gravity of what he’d been thinking sunk in. He was contemplating seeing Lola next week. Maybe even next month, too.

Then what? What would be next? Would he see her next year? In two years? Did he want that? Did she? It wasn’t like they could keep this ruse up for that long. Besides, they weren’t supposed to. The deal was that Lola would pretend to be his significant other until the end of his family reunion. When they got back in his car and drove out of the park, the reunion was officially over.

He snuck a peek at her as he drove through the streets of Arlington. Would she even want to go to the barbeque next week? And what was one week anyway? It wouldn’t be a big deal to keep pretending for seven more days.

He shook his head. This had to stop. Which shouldn’t be hard because it wasn’t even real. She was his pretend girlfriend, and the jig was supposed to be up. Although, he did like hanging out with her. Maybe they could remain friends. He slipped a glance at her in the car. How would she feel about that? How would his family?

Damn, this had gotten way too complicated. And besides, Lola… He turned to her as he pulled up at a red light. That’s when he realized something. Lola had been insanely quiet on the ride back. Eerily and completely silent.

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Tired?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Do you feel okay?” They’d all had a ton of food. His stomach was sure to start hurting at some point.

“I’m fine.”

Uh-oh. A woman saying she was fine never boded well in his opinion, although he was glad she wasn’t sick. He didn’t know what to ask next. But he wanted to know what was wrong. He needed to know. Finally, Lola broke the silence.

“Don’t you feel bad?”

“About what?”

“For deceiving your family. Your mom and sisters are so nice and you’re…really lucky. You know, lucky to have them.”

A pit formed in the center of his stomach as her words sunk in. Not only the words, but the meaning behind them. He felt like a first-rate insensitive idiot. He’d brought Lola to an event with a million family members. That had to bring up issues for her.

Luke wasn’t sure what to say. How could he make this better for her? As he continued driving toward Lola’s apartment he struggled to come up with something to say.

She angled toward him. “Your mom hugged me before we left. Really hugged me.” Her voice broke.

“Lola?”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

But clearly she wasn’t. Luke was happy they’d reached her place. He didn’t want to continue this conversation in the dark car.

He found a parking space across the street from her apartment building. Before he could even get his seatbelt unbuckled, Lola had opened her door and sprung from the car.

“You don’t need to walk me inside.”

“Lola, wait.” Luke quickly exited the car, then ran back to grab the leftovers his mom had put together for her. He sprinted across the street. She was fast.

“Lola,” he called again. When he reached her, he wrapped his fingers around her arm, forcing her to face him. His breath caught. Tears had pooled in her eyes.

“Hey,” he said gently, “it’s okay.” He pulled her in for a hug, attempting to balance the leftovers as he did.

“You don’t understand,” she mumbled against his chest.

He realized she was right. Obviously, this was about her family, or lack thereof. How could he fathom what she went through? What she was still going through.

“Tell me,” he whispered.

“I can’t keep lying. I despise lying.”

Luke nodded at a couple passing by on the sidewalk. They eyed Lola with concern, and he tried to convey that everything was okay. He pulled Lola to a bench next to the steps that led up to her building.

“I know lying is difficult for you. You’re so sweet.”

She made a sound that was somewhere between disgust and annoyance.

“But you are, Lola. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

She pushed a finger against his lips. “Shh. That’s not it. I hate lying because of what a lie did to me when my mother was dying.”

He froze. Out of all the things he expected her to say, bringing up her mother’s death was definitely not one of them.

“What happened?” he asked.

She twisted her fingers together. “My mom was the worst about going to the doctor. She’d always make a joke about it or brush it off. To be fair, she didn’t get sick very often. But still. My dad and I used to argue with her about going for a normal checkup. She was always so concerned about everyone else.”

Lola closed her eyes, taking her time before she continued. Luke tried to give her the time she so obviously needed.

“She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when I was in college. It was…too late.” Her voice faltered.

“I’m so sorry, Lola.” His words sounded hollow and inadequate. But it was all he could think to say.

She smiled briefly. “She didn’t tell me about the cancer.”

“What?”

“She didn’t tell me. She was diagnosed with a fatal disease and given a very short time to live, and she kept it from me. Her only child. Her only living relative.”

Oh holy shit. Luke couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This certainly put a different slant on things.

“Every time I called from college, which was like every single day, she was all, ‘I’m great, nothing to worry about.’” Lola shook her head. “I get it. I do. She didn’t want me to worry, and she didn’t want me to leave school.”

“Would you have?”

An exasperated expression crossed her face. “Of course. I would have done anything to spend every single second with her that I could. But she took that away from me.”

Lola ran a hand through her hair. “By the time I learned what was going on it was almost too late. I had two weeks with her. Two short weeks.” Her gaze flicked up to meet his. “Do you know how hard it is to cram a lifetime of memories and love into a two-week goodbye?”

He tried to swallow down a large lump, but his throat had become very dry.

“I was angry. Really angry. But it wasn’t like I could say that to my mom.”

“So you’ve kept all that anger bottled up all these years?”

She shook her head. “Not really. I don’t know. All I can say is that I realized back then how important it is to be honest, especially with the ones you love.”

Luke felt like such an ass. “And here I’ve made you lie to my whole family.” He stifled a groan.

Lola shrugged. “I went along with it. It’s bothered me from the beginning, and I could have backed out at any minute, but I didn’t.”

“Why?”

She studied something on the ground. Her feet, her sandals, the sidewalk. Luke wasn’t sure. Finally, he pressed. “Lola? Why did you go along with my plan if you’re so against lying?”

“I guess because I wanted to be with you.” She coughed and bit her lip. “I mean, I wanted to get to know you.”

He pulled in a deep breath at the admission.

Lola had hit him with such a myriad of information and feelings today. It had to be hard for her to be around his big, loud family, especially when she didn’t have any family to speak of. Then, to learn more about her mother’s cancer and her dislike of lying, really made his heart hurt for her.

Not to mention how he’d felt watching her with his family. How nice it was to see her interact with his sisters and mom. Now, having her admit that despite having a deep propensity against lying, she’d simply wanted to be with him, it was almost too much to take.

“Come on. Let’s go inside.” He took the key from her hand and let them in the outer door. They made their way to her apartment, and he unlocked that door as well.

Once they were inside, he put the leftovers away in the kitchen. When he returned to her, Lola was wringing her hands.

“Thanks for…well, thanks. You don’t have to stay. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

It was as if all the air left her body. She crumbled into a nearby chair. “It’s hard to see such a big, loving family. To know that I don’t have that.”

She cast her eyes downward, and Luke’s heart broke for her.

“You’re not alone, Lola. You have Frankie and all your friends from bocce. You have your coworkers. And anyway, look at The Golden Girls.”

Her gaze snapped up to meet his with a distinct are-you-kidding-me expression. “Oh no. Not that again. Have you been talking to Frankie?”

“Well, she followed me on Instagram and Snapchat. She snapped the two of you watching an episode the other night.”

Lola sighed. “She’s ridiculous.”

“Hey, it’s a pretty good show. Ahead of its time.”

“What do you know about it anyway?”

“I used to watch it with my grandma,” he said proudly.

She sighed. “Me too. What’s your point?”

“But it’s been years so I started watching it again. Frankie sent me some of her favorite episodes. My point is that The Golden Girls made their own family. Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia weren’t related.”

“Dorothy and Sophia were.”

“Stepping on my point here. The rest weren’t related, and they didn’t let that small detail stop them from being a family.”

He saw her acceptance of his point. But she remained silent. He crouched in front of her chair. Grabbed her hands.

“I repeat, you have Frankie, the bocce league, your coworkers. And you have me.”

Behind her glasses, her brows furrowed. “Do I?”

“Yes.”

“I thought you didn’t get close to people.”

“I don’t.”

“Then what are you doing?”

What was he doing? He just told her that he didn’t get close to people, and yet that was the one thing he wanted to do with her.

“With you, I can’t seem to stop myself. I try to put a wall up, and I find myself wanting you more.”

She stood up. “This isn’t going to end well.”

Probably not. But right now, Luke couldn’t think further than the end of tonight.

“I can leave,” he said, but even as he did, he stepped closer to her.

Lola closed the distance between them. “I don’t want you to leave,” she whispered.

He gulped. His heart was pounding hard, reverberating throughout his body. Even after the long day, the heat, the water battle, he could still smell her intoxicating scent. Her chest was rising and falling, beckoning him to focus his attention there.

“What do you want?”

She fiddled with her glasses before meeting his gaze. Strongly, confidently, she said, “I want you.”

That was all he needed to hear. Luke grabbed her and crushed his mouth to hers. Finally, he was getting what he’d craved all day long.

The kiss was heated and heavy, soaking into his very being. He felt sated in a way he never had before.

Luke told Lola multiple times that he didn’t do relationships. But when she kissed him like this, it was hard to remember that tiny detail.

…

Lola didn’t think. She allowed herself to feel and to enjoy.

And what a thing to enjoy.

Luke was kissing her wildly, and she was meeting him beat for beat. She fisted her hands in his shirt, yanking him closer to her. She wanted to feel him. All of him. Was he as dizzy as she was? Was his pulse hammering away?

Suddenly, he stopped kissing her. “Frankie,” he mumbled against her lips.

Lola pulled back. “You know, I’m not too picky. But calling out another girl’s name while you’re kissing me might be my limit, especially when it’s my roommate.”

He grinned. “Sorry. I was just checking. Is Frankie home?”

“What?” Relief washed over her. “Oh no, she went to the beach for the weekend. She won’t be back until late tomorrow night.”

“We’re alone then?” His eyes darkened.

She bit her lip and nodded. “Yep.”

The implication was out there. It was just the two of them, and need hung heavily in the air around them. They were going to do way more than kiss tonight.

It wasn’t like Luke was the first guy she’d been with. Lola had been dating since high school. Yet, nerves swirled around her.

“Come here,” he said, his voice husky.

Despite his words, Luke didn’t make a move, either. Maybe he was nervous, too. The two of them stayed like that, staring at each other. Their chests were rising and falling, and the air around them had thickened with the anticipation of lust and longing.

Suddenly, as if the spell had been broken, they reached for each other. More like hungrily grabbed for each other.

Their mouths fused together. Her lips parted, and he took advantage by plunging his tongue inside. She ran her hands up his back and into his hair. She pulled him closer to her, knowing that she could never get enough. Never.

Someone moaned and for the life of her, Lola had no idea who it was. Didn’t care.

On a shaky breath, she said, “Should we move this to my bedroom?”

“Yes,” he said against her lips. “God, yes.”

They began walking, their mouths still devouring each other, their hands still grasping for any skin they could find. They made it a couple steps before they tripped. Luke landed in the oversize chair, pulling her with him. Lola was only too happy to take advantage of the position. She straddled him, immediately reaching for his belt. Her fingers skimmed the sensitive skin just above his pant line, and Luke sucked in a harsh breath.

As she undid the belt and began working the button and zipper of his pants, she moved her lips along the column of his throat. He smelled so good. Whatever cologne he wore smelled like rugged man, all musky and masculine.

When she nipped his earlobe, he bucked. Lola chuckled. She couldn’t help it. “You like that?”

“Just a bit.”

She realized she still had her glasses on. She raised her hand to remove them, but Luke’s hand covered hers.

“No, leave them.”

“My glasses?” She scrunched her nose.

“Oh, hell yes. They have to stay.”

With that, he locked his arms around her bottom and stood, bringing her with him. Momentarily stunned that he could lift her as if she weighed no more than a stack of books, she clung to him. Then she wrapped her legs around his waist as he began to walk toward the bedrooms.

Her mouth found his again. The kiss went deep. His taste was intoxicating, and she knew she could kiss him forever. She did a little trick she’d learned at summer camp where she circled her tongue around his. He stopped walking as he shivered and moaned. One of his hands came up to the back of her head, encouraging her to keep doing her little tongue trick. She was only too happy to oblige.

After teasing him for a long time as they stood in the middle of the living room, he grunted. “Remind me which bedroom is yours.”

“You were in it this morning,” she said on a laugh.

“Right now, with your legs wrapped around me like that, I couldn’t tell you my own name.”

In that case… “It’s the one on the left. No, the other left,” she said as he began moving again.

The next thing she knew, her back hit something hard, and there was a crash. The wall. She was in the hallway outside the bedrooms, against the cool wall as Luke’s body plastered against her. One of the framed photos she and Frankie had put up had fallen at the force. Oh well, she’d deal with that later.

Luke released her legs, and she touched the carpet with her toes. She couldn’t wait anymore. They were close enough to the bedroom. She yanked his pants down. As they pooled around his feet, she took a peek. Black boxer briefs that were more than a little filled out. In fact, they were bursting with his need. Yum.

She grinned as her hands cupped his firm ass and gave a little squeeze. He was busy doing something wonderful to her neck. Her fingers made their way around his body until they snuck under the band of his underwear. When her hand found him, she gasped. He was long and thick and hard.

She wrapped her hand around his length with just the right pressure. Luke made a sound like a growl and wrenched her shirt to the side.

Had it just ripped? Whatever, she didn’t care, especially when his mouth found her breast. Even through her lacy bra, the sensation of his warm mouth had her nipple hardening into a tight little bud. She threw her head back as he continued to suck her into his mouth.

The rubbing of the lace against her puckered nipple was too much. She quickly unhooked her bra and threw it to the side.

“There,” she said triumphantly to Luke.

He grinned. “Thanks for the help.” And then his mouth was fused to her other breast.

He bit and sucked and kissed and nipped, and Lola thought her legs would turn into a puddle of mush on the floor. Good thing she was trapped between Luke’s hard body and the cold wall.

She threw her head back as far as the wall would allow, letting herself accept all of the pleasure Luke was giving her. She felt his hand travel down over her stomach, eliciting a small whoosh of breath as he passed over her ticklish spot. Then it kept going until it reached the waistband of her leggings.

His clever fingers wasted no time moving lower until they were under her pants and circling her panties. Next thing she knew Luke had cupped her. His mouth moved from her breast to kiss her long and soundly as his hand stayed steady covering her center. He was much more patient than she was, and she let him know that by letting out a full moan into his mouth. She thought she heard him chuckle in triumph, or maybe that was her imagination. But when he took the opportunity to push his tongue into her mouth at the same time as one of his fingers slid inside of her, she didn’t care who was winning.

His tongue mirrored what his finger was doing between her legs. In and out, in and out. Lola arched her back against the wall, trying and failing to steady herself. Then Luke pushed a second finger inside her, and she knew she was close to losing it completely.

“Luke,” she murmured against his lips.

“Yes,” he answered. “That’s it. Come for me, baby.”

If she must. Lola closed her eyes and let the overwhelming sensation of pleasure wash over her as her body emptied into Luke’s waiting hand.

He made a purely male sound. A sound of satisfaction. Then his hands were at her hips and those fingers once again became busy wrapping around her waistband. In one fast, fluid movement, Luke yanked both her leggings and panties down to the floor. She obliged him by stepping out of them.

She felt his mouth on her legs, as he laid gentle kisses over every inch of her. First one leg, then the other, starting at her calves and moving up to nip at her knees. His tongue licked at her thighs, as his hands came around to explore the shape of her ass.

He traveled all the way up to the vee of her legs, which was pulsing with need, with want, with a yearning to release the most exquisite of pleasures. His mouth covered her, and she bucked against the wall. Her hands went to his head, trying to grab his hair. But he had a short cut and that wouldn’t work. As his tongue flicked out to tease her, she clasped on to his head, holding him against her wanton pussy.

She felt a vibration and realized he was doing something beyond amazing with his lips. She gripped his head tighter. My God, she was going to suffocate him, but she couldn’t worry about that now as his tongue was darting in and out of her center, causing stars to form behind her eyes.

She was close, very close, yet torn about whether she wanted this delicious pleasure to end giving her what was sure to be an earth-shattering release or if she wanted Luke to stay just like that, doing just that, for the rest of her days.

When his finger pressed against her nub, she knew the decision was out of her hands. She couldn’t hold on any longer. His name ripped from her lips in a loud moan as she came.

Spent, she willed her breathing to slow down, but she was helpless to do anything but lean against the wall and wait for Luke’s next attack. He immediately complied by trailing feather-soft kisses across her stomach. His hands were busy exploring every inch of her.

“You’re so soft.” He leaned his head back, and she looked down to see him lick his lips. “So sweet.”

He fondled her breasts again, but gently, so gently. Then his mouth covered one and he pulled her taut nipple into his mouth, sucking hard. He stood, returning to her mouth, leaning in for what was sure to be another hot kiss, but Lola stopped him with a finger to his mouth. “Uh-uh,” she said. “Your turn.” She reached down and plucked the waistband of his boxer briefs, pulling and let them gently snap back. “I think you deserve some attention now.”

He shook his head and bit her lower lip. “Nope. Baby, if you go down there I won’t be able to make it. And I need to be inside of you. Now.”

He leaned over and grabbed something out of his pants pocket. She recognized the foil wrapper. He ripped it with his teeth, shoved his boxer briefs to the floor, and quickly covered himself.

“Are you ready?” he asked, his voice sounding deeper than she’d ever heard it.

His eyes had gone dark with need. Want for her.

“Yes,” she said. “Oh yes.”

She felt the tip of his penis at her center. His arm came out and wrapped around one of her legs, yanking it around his waist.

There was a brief moment, where they stood like that, eyes boring into each other. They were naked and about to be joined in every way possible. Right there, in the hallway of her apartment.

Lola should feel embarrassed, but she didn’t. She should feel exposed. Instead, she felt more wanted than she had in her entire life.

“What do you want, Lola?”

She didn’t have to think twice. “I want you inside of me. Now, Luke, now.”

With that, he pushed into her, wrenching a moan from her trembling lips. He sighed deeply and kissed her.

“Are you okay, baby?”

She took stock of her body, allowing it a moment to accommodate his considerable size. “Yes.” The word was half spoken, half moaned.

He began to move inside her. One arm still held her leg, the other was braced against the wall next to her head. He pulled out slowly, torturously. She thought he was going to exit her body completely, then at the last possible moment, he slammed back into her, hard. Then he repeated the movement over and over again. Slide out gently, slowly. Push back in with such force as to make her legs weak. It was a decadent combination between massive pleasure and exquisite pain.

“Luke, yes.”

He began to move faster then. She tried to meet him thrust for thrust, but she was positioned at an awkward angle.

As if reading her mind, Luke reached down and grabbed her other leg. She gasped. She was wrapped around him, her body spread open to him in every way.

He pushed into her with reckless abandon, her back slamming against the wall. A sheen of sweat had begun to bead on his skin, but Lola did her best to hang on, her arms twined tightly around his shoulders. Her nails were digging into his back as he fucked her thoroughly and completely.

“Lolaaaaa,” he screamed as he rammed himself into her.

She’d never been taken like this before. It was as if Luke couldn’t get enough of her. Like she was driving him as mad as he was driving her.

He was losing it. She could tell. But then again, so was she. How could she climax for a third time in such a short period of time? There was no time to think on that as her body began to tremble, her pussy clenching around his warm, hard cock.

She panted his name over and over.

“Yes, baby, come for me again.”

Without hesitation, she did. Her body shook, and she let out a guttural moan that she’d never heard before. Then with one final move, Luke pushed her against the wall, his fingers tightening around her legs as he experienced his own release.

Lola’s arms fell loosely, limply, from Luke’s shoulders. She felt the wall. Thank God it was still there. She wouldn’t have been surprised if they had dislodged it.

After what transpired between them, Lola knew that everything she had held onto had been dislodged.

…

Luke woke to the most wonderful feeling. Something soft and smooth was up against him. A scent of sweet flowers surrounded him.

That something shifted and let out a cute little half sigh, half yawn.

Lola.

He was spooning her. She was on her side with her backside up against him. His arm was anchored over her waist. He ran a hand up her arm.

The sunlight was streaming through her window. He took a minute to observe her bedroom. They sure hadn’t had time for that last night, what with him taking her up against the wall, on the bed, at the end of the bed, on the chair in the corner. They’d loved each other in every way possible, and his body was feeling heavy and sated now. He wanted to let out a contented yawn and stretch his arms high over his head. But he also didn’t want to wake Lola since they hadn’t fallen asleep until very late.

He pulled the white comforter with blue flowers over her since he could feel the AC kick on again. The sheets on her bed were a basic white, but there was an array of throw pillows scattered across the floor in varying shades of blue, from baby to navy to turquoise. They picked up all the hues in her comforter and also matched the curtains on the two windows in the room. Her furniture was white, and very girly lamps with feathers stood on them, along with a couple books.

He recalled she’d said last night that she had the bigger bedroom in the apartment and he could tell that now. At the end of the bed, there was room for a large dresser with a big oval mirror hung above it. To the left, there was a matching bookshelf, crammed to the gills with books of various sizes and shapes. There were also picture frames. He noticed Frankie and some of the other girls he’d met at her bocce game.

On the end table closest to him, there was a beautiful black frame with the word FAMILY embossed on it in silver. Lola was smiling at him from the photo. She was much younger, but still adorable. She wore different glasses than she had now. They were thinner, made of little gold frames. A man and a woman had their arms around her, and there was a Christmas tree in the background.

Her parents. A lump formed in his stomach. It was still hard to believe that she had no family left in the world. Luke couldn’t fathom it. They’d had such a great time with his the day before. Until, of course, Lola had grown sad in the car. And wasn’t that how he’d ended up in her bed?

His arm tightened around her protectively. He nuzzled her neck, and she let out another adorable sound. Did it matter how or why he’d woken up here? He’d wanted her last night. Badly. He’d wanted her since the first time he met her when she was wearing that uncharacteristically sexy dress at his reunion.

He didn’t do relationships, but this wasn’t a relationship. Not yet, anyway. They’d had fun last night. Fun and mind-blowing sex. He grew hard again just thinking about it.

He wanted her again. Right here, right now. Did he need to analyze that? He could just live in the moment. Take it day by day.

But could she?

Luke didn’t want to hurt her. Then again, she was a big girl, and she’d entered into last night willingly. Then there was no more time to think about it, because Lola yawned, her eyelids fluttering open. She took a moment to orient herself with the new day and the body still fit snug around her own.

She rolled to face him, rubbing against his ready appendage as she did. Her eyes grew wide. “Well, good morning to you.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Yes, it is good.”

She laughed and kissed him deeply. She let out a purr against his lips. “I can’t believe that, um, thing down there,” she said, casting her eyes toward his now-throbbing penis, “is so eager already.”

“Oh, he’s a spry little guy.”

“I’ll attest to that, but I would have thought he’d be tired after such an energetic night.”

Luke ran his fingers through her hair. It was tousled and messy. Her makeup was smeared under her eyes. She was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

“Nah,” he said. “It’s a whole new day. Speaking of, you said Frankie wouldn’t be home until later tonight?”

She smiled. “She’s at Dewey Beach for the weekend. With all that beach traffic coming back into the city, she probably won’t get home until really late.”

“That means you have the whole apartment to yourself.”

“For the entire day.”

“What will you do with all that freedom?” he asked, inching his hand down her body.

“Hm, I don’t know. Any suggestions?” She shoved at him gently until he was on his back. Then she climbed on top of him, her hair falling over her shoulders, blanketing her face in the sexiest way.

“I think I might have a few.”

With that, he began to show her exactly what he had in mind.