He pulled back. “See? I knew you wanted to kiss me.”
He made her crazy. He had some kind of hypnotic effect on her that rendered her powerless. “I can’t believe what you do to me.”
He put his lips to her ear. “Come to my room tonight.”
The idea of sneaking out of bed and meeting him in his room, like a prowler in the night, ignited a small fire inside of her. But she knew she could never go through with it. She needed to get ahold of her senses and rein in her wild side. She shook the haze from her head. “No. I can’t.”
“You can. And I know you will. Deny it all you want, but I know you’ll be there.”
She couldn’t stop thinking about the excitement of slinking around the huge mansion in the middle of the night. Tiptoeing through the hallway, her bare feet on the cool marble floor. Slipping into Lucas’ bed . . .
He kissed her again, harder than before, and all the breath left her lungs. She sank into the wall as he pressed his body against hers. Her fingers found their way into his silken hair while one of his hands traveled down the length of her torso, over her hip and stopping on her thigh. She wondered if he was going to move it between her legs, and, if he did, if she’d stop him.
“Get a room,” a guy said as he walked by.
It broke the spell that Lucas cast over Sindy, and she finally came to her senses and pulled away. “I can’t do this, Lucas. Please. Just let me go back to the table.”
He stepped back and gave her room so she was free to go. So why was she still standing there, unable to look away? What kind of magic did this beautiful man possess? She couldn’t move, as if her feet were glued to the floor, and she couldn’t break his gaze.
He displayed a lecherous grin. He knew the power he had over her, the cocky bastard.
With a surge of defiance, she darted away and rejoined Tessa and Mason, never looking back as she fled. A few minutes later, Lucas slipped into the booth across from her. While Tessa went on about her vision for cover art for the CD, Lucas stared at Sindy. She ignored him by pretending to be riveted to what Tessa was saying, but in reality not paying attention at all.
Something nudged her foot, so she pulled her leg back a little further and out of the way. She felt it again, then it curled around the back of her calf. She looked up and met Lucas’ gaze. No smile. No emotion. Just a blank stare. But the look in his eyes made her suck in a breath. They were trained on hers like two blue searchlights. They looked into her soul, not searching for an answer but delivering a message. Telling her what he wanted – her.
Sindy’s temperature rose. It was suddenly sweltering in the bar, so she took a long drink of her beer. It was ice cold, and she ended up finishing it too fast. The alcohol made her lightheaded, or maybe it was the arrogant, gorgeous blond-haired guitar god across the table that made her dizzy.
They played footsie for the next hour or so before they left the bar. Mason took an Uber to his apartment in Manhattan, and Sindy went back to the mansion with Tessa and Lucas. She went straight upstairs with Tessa, thankful that Lucas stayed downstairs and didn’t follow them. She washed up, changed into shorts and a tank top, and arranged the bedding on the couch, hoping to be fast asleep by the time Lucas came up the stairs.
Fifteen minutes later, Sindy still fidgeted. Her mind wouldn’t settle down, especially since she heard Lucas’ bedroom door shut shortly after she laid her head on the pillow. She stared at the ceiling from under the chenille blanket, alternating between listening to the music coming from Lucas’ room down the hall and the sound of the TV coming from Tessa’s bedroom. It was a waiting game to see who turned off the sound first. She could tell herself over and over again that she wasn’t going to sneak out and go to Lucas’ room, but she knew it was a lie.
She watched the clock. Twenty minutes went by, then 30. Both were still up playing their respective entertainment. Her phone buzzed on the end table and she quickly grabbed it before it alerted Tessa. She didn’t need to look at the screen. She knew it was Lucas.
LUCAS: My door is unlocked.
She tucked the phone under the blanket without leaving a reply. The initial tingle of excitement that the message brought quickly slipped away, and it grated on her. Was he that egotistical that he assumed she was automatically going to climb into his bed because they shared a kiss earlier? Change of plans. She was going to sleep.
She punched her pillow, pulled the blanket up to her chin and breathed in the deep scent of lavender. Only it wasn’t just the scent of lavender that overtook her senses. It was lemongrass and mint – the scent of Lucas’ hair. They had two brief kisses. How could it be all over her? Or maybe she was remembering the scent because she was rememberinghim. The way this guy got under her skin drove her crazy. This was madness. She shook her head to clear Lucas from her mind and released a deep breath. Just as she settled down and started to drift off to sleep, Tessa’s TV clicked off, causing Sindy’s eyes to flip wide open. Fuck.
Sindy hadn’t had a steady boyfriend since she left Baltimore. She’d had the occasional date and one-night stand when she first moved to New York, but for the last few months she’d been concentrating on getting her life together. She reflected on the men she’d dated in the past. None were the caliber of Lucas Blade – on any level. None made her insides churn equally with frustration and lust in some kind of love/hate battle of wills. This was a disaster. She told herself to stay in bed. Close her eyes. Go to sleep. Forget all the crazy thoughts inside her head. Because they were insane. She wasn’t going to fuck up her life, just like she always did. Lucas Blade was off limits.
She must have fallen asleep, because the vibration of her phone woke her.
LUCAS: I’m waiting.
Oh my God. Didn’t he get the hint that she wasn’t interested? He was so damn persistent. And arrogant. And that’s exactly what she planned on telling him. Annoyed, she flipped the blanket off and quietly slipped into the hallway. Barefoot, she padded lightly down the darkened hallway. When she hit the turn that led to Lucas’ room, the glow coming from under his bedroom door illuminated the way. As she neared, she saw that the glow wasn’t coming from under the door. It was partly open. Waiting for her. Expecting her. This guy was too fucking much.
She swung open the door, ready to tell him to go fuck himself, but he surprised her by wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his mouth against hers. It happened so fast that she didn’t resist. Her knees buckled from surprise, and she went limp in his arms. If he wasn’t holding her against his chest so tightly, she may have ended up on the floor.
He wasn’t even wearing a shirt, just a loose-fitting pair of sweats. Heat bled from his pores and warmed her body. Her cheeks flushed, consumed by the fire this man stirred inside of her. As soon as she felt his erection against her, she came to life and eagerly pressed her body into his. She ran her hands up his bare chest, around his neck and into his hair, inhaling the scent of lemongrass and mint that she recalled while lying under the blanket. She couldn’t remember the anger and frustration she had toward him only moments ago. One touch from this bewitching man transformed all of her emotions into pure want, and she couldn’t get enough of him. She wanted to touch every inch of him. With her mouth. “Oh my God, Lucas. How do you do this to me?”
“I’m not doing anything. You want me. Don’t pretend you don’t.”
“Be quiet.” He was right. She did want him, but he was so smug about it that she refused to admit it. She silenced his arrogant smile with her lips while she continued to push her fingers through his thick long hair. If was unfair that a man should possess such luxurious, full locks of pure blond which exuded an alluring aroma.
The door shut with a push from Lucas’ foot, and he lifted her in his arms as if she were weightless. She clung to the round muscles atop his shoulders which flexed as he cradled her. He carried her into his bedroom and set her down on the mattress. He pulled her shorts and panties down to her ankles and slipped them off her legs without pausing. Crawling up the bed, his lips left a soft trail of kisses on her flesh starting with her ankle, moving to her knee, and settling on her inner thigh. She took in a deep quivering breath and exhaled with a shudder as his mouth inched up higher. Biting her lip, she waited and whimpered. He took his time, caressing her upper thigh with his tongue. First the right, then the left. She felt his breath on her mound, hot and teasing. She opened her legs wider and jutted her hips upwards, begging him to touch her.
The moment his mouth made contact, she gasped at the current of sensations that shot through her. She felt him smile against her body, gloating that he had such an effect on her. Damn him and his perfect mouth.
