VICTORY WAS SWEET.
Toe-curling, mind-swirling and heart-racingly sweet. Tori swayed on her feet and clutched Luke’s shoulder to steady herself under the spell of his kiss.
Heat streaked through her limbs, jacking up her temperature and steaming her rain-soaked trench coat. She hadn’t expected such immediate results from Barbara’s crazy plan to re-create the sexy photos that had sent Luke bolting from the house the other night. But apparently, still waters ran deep. A wellspring of hot passion lurked behind his teasing smile and lawyerly shrewdness. Maybe Luke Owens had an impulsive streak of his own. He kissed her like a man who knew exactly what she wanted and how to give it to her. Like a man far more skilled at this game than she was.
His mouth played over hers, tugging her lip between his teeth before he licked the same spot. He cupped her jaw, holding her still and tilting her where he wanted her. The base of his hand rested on the throbbing pulse in her neck while his fingers spanned her cheek. His thumb urged her mouth open to deepen the kiss.
A wave of pure want weakened her knees and her hips fell forward to meet his in a carnal invitation she hadn’t fully intended. But now that she was there, his thigh parting hers as he backed her against the window, she couldn’t imagine pulling away. His chest pressed hers, the hard expanse of muscle giving no quarter. She reached to open the lapels of her coat wider, wanting to feel more of him.
Just then, he ended the kiss.
She had a vague mental image of herself, dazed and confused, as she groped around for his shoulders again, blindly seeking more. Wrenching her eyes open, she found him watching her through narrowed lids, his breathing as hard and fast as her own.
Not sure what happened, she slipped her hands around his waist, close to the place where their bodies still touched. He seemed to snap out of the daze then, and eased away from her gently, prying her fingers from his belt to hold them between his palms.
“Was there any chemistry for you?” he asked politely, shades of his usual reserve coming through the steaming-hot new side of him she’d discovered in the past five minutes.
How could a man speak to her with such ruthless control when she’d nearly stripped off her clothes to get close to him a mere moment ago? And holy Trident’s staff, had he been looking at her like this before and she’d never seen the intense attraction until now?
The possibility knocked her even further off center. Only now, she didn’t have the benefit of Luke holding her up.
“Did you know that was there this whole time?” She couldn’t even think how long they’d known each other.
“Is that a yes?” he pressed, pursuing the answer to his question like the attorney he was.
“I’m breathing like I’m hyperventilating and my lips are so tingly it’s like I stuck my finger into an electric socket.” She planted her hands on her hips, irritated with his calm rationality in the face of this monster revelation. “You tell me if that’s a yes.”
He gave a clipped nod.
“Then you can appreciate why we shouldn’t play with fire.”
She blinked, sure she missed a whole sequence in the conversation.
“Excuse me?”
“The chemistry between us is another reason we shouldn’t mess around with some hare-brained short-term affair.” His dark hair grazed his left eye, just above the scar that made him look like he was contemplating seduction. “You can’t play around with that kind of heat. Someone will get burned in the end.”
“I’m sorry.” She tipped her head sideways and pounded on her temple. “I must have rainwater in my ears. Did you just say that we shouldn’t sleep together because we’re attracted to one another? I must have misheard you since that defies every biological law of nature.”
“Tori, I want you. Badly.” The simple truth of his words was still evident in his eyes now that she knew what to look for. God, she’d been blind not to have seen it before. “But I’m not going to settle for a night or two with you to scratch some itch you’re feeling just because it’s Valentine’s Day.”
If her skin hadn’t still hummed with the raw power of his touch, she might have given him hell for that comment. As it stood, she was simply determined to make him see the light. Drawing in a steadying breath, she wondered what Barbara would have suggested. They hadn’t brainstormed past the point of re-creating the scenes from Tori’s shoots.
“Most people would say that attraction is an excellent reason to explore an affair.” Swallowing her pride and the warm remnant of the sensual buzz he’d inspired, Tori gathered the belt of her coat and tied it. “But if you’re not interested, I’ll just go see the lawyer about my paperwork and get out of your way.”
She picked up her leather binder and headed for the door, hoping Luke would act on whatever chemistry he apparently felt and take her on the desk. Against the wall. Anywhere would be fine.
But he remained where he was.
“Friends respect each other too much to have meaningless affairs,” he called after her. Confusing her.
“Friends also don’t tease each other with sex,” she reminded him.
“I’m not the one wearing the trench coat.”
Ah, damn.
Beaten in this round, Tori retreated until she could figure out what to do next. Because there wasn’t a chance she’d walk away from chemistry like this without trying to make Luke see things her way. Today only proved she’d been right to pursue him. But if he thought she’d serve up her heart on a silver platter for him first, or give up her man hunt before she knew if there could be anything more than sex between them, he had another think coming.
“WHO WAS THAT AND DOES she have a sister?”
Luke had still been trying to screw his head on straight when the law firm’s only resident senior partner barged into Luke’s short-term office. DanWalker had been with the firm for as long as Luke. They’d started at the New York branch together and had been friends ever since they’d been stuck doing a few overnight stints in the firm’s law library during those early years.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Luke picked up his phone and pressed some random numbers while rattling around the papers on his desk. “I’m really swamped.”
Dan walked to the desk and depressed the button to disconnect the call Luke hadn’t really been making anyhow.
“We reviewed case loads this morning, remember? You’re not busy.” He pulled the receiver out of Luke’s hand and returned it to the cradle. “Now fess up. Who’s the hot chick?”
“No one you need to know.” Luke knew how Dan dated. The guy had a new girlfriend every other month. There wasn’t a chance in hell he’d let him near Tori.
“You’re seeing her?” Heedless of the high-end suit he sported, Dan dropped into a chair on the other side of the desk and propped his feet on a low table. “Because if you’re not, it’s unfair to keep her away from the rest of us who actually live in the same town as her and could show her a good time.”
Memories of the kiss he’d just planted on Tori’s mouth returned with a vengeance. Judging by the way she’d sunk into his arms and wrapped herself around him, he’d say she’d been having a damn good time with him. The moment had been so hot and so sweetly gratifying, he’d been hard-pressed to find the will to let her go.
“I’m not seeing her.” He damn well wouldn’t until she got over the insane idea to just sleep together for the fun of it.
Too late, he realized Dan wasn’t the best confidant for that bit of honesty.
“Then you’d better pass along her digits before anyone else takes a crack at her.” Dan yanked a sticky note off a pad and slapped it on top of the papers in front of Luke. “Women like that don’t stay single for long.”
Possessiveness fisted in Luke’s gut.
“Maybe when hell freezes over.” He tossed the notepaper in the trash. “She wouldn’t be interested.”
“Why don’t you let her decide?”
Luke shot him a warning glare that—thankfully—shut him up. For all of two seconds anyway.
“You like her.” Dan sat up straighter. “Don’t leave me hanging here, dude. Who is she?”
He shook his head, unwilling to discuss Tori.
“She’s someone I need to look out for, okay?” He stood, irritated with Dan and keyed-up from seeing Tori. He was about to usher his colleague out the door when a woman cleared her voice at the entrance.
Tori stood there, still clutching that leather binder.
“Sorry to interrupt, but the attorney you recommended has left for the day—”
“I can help you.” Dan was by her side in a flash. “My office is right this way.”
Luke saw the guy’s tactics for the shove in the back that they were. Still, he had the feeling if he didn’t get Tori out of here right now, Dan would ask her out by the day’s end.
And what if Tori decided his buddy would make a good candidate for her Valentine’s Day hook-up?
“Does it look like hell has frozen over to you?” Luke asked, picking up his keys off his desk and tapping the switch to shut off his desk lamp.
“What?” Tori appeared confused, looking from Luke to Dan and back again.
Dan, on the other hand, didn’t appear all that surprised. He gave an easy grin, one that had won over lady law clerks and random happy-hour females alike back when they used to hit the bars after work.
“We’ll talk about this on the way home,” Luke clarified, ignoring his friend as he ushered Tori past Dan and out of the office. “I’ll give you a ride and we’ll get the paperwork settled in the car.”
Shutting the door behind him with a slam, Luke hit the button for the elevator, more than ready to have Tori to himself.
Dan’s interest helped Luke realize that if he was serious about protecting this woman, he didn’t trust anyone else around her before Valentine’s Day. Anyone but him, that is. Luke couldn’t deny that his old attraction for her had flared up with a vengeance.
And while they weren’t right together for the long-term, maybe she’d be better off with him in the here and now. At least until he could convince her that this was no way to start a real relationship. That she deserved better than a temporary lover.
Damn, he was just rationalizing something he flat-out wanted like his next breath.
“I don’t understand.” she protested, peering over his shoulder…
…looking toward the womanizing showboat who would scoop her up in ten seconds flat if Luke didn’t get her out of here fast.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close as the elevator doors opened.
“I’m taking you home.”