“I don’t know. Those are all qualities I appreciate. It’s good to ask questions, to be curious. You don’t bother with small talk. You get right to the point—the hard stuff. That’s refreshing. People who don’t have opinions of their own are boring. Where’s the conversation if all you do is agree all the time?” Luke leans forward, closing the distance between our bodies. “And what’s wrong with high expectations? Shouldn’t youwanta partner or a friend who carries their weight? Makes you feel you have an equal in this life?” His deep voice rumbles, eyes intense.
“Well, when you say it likethat.” My eyes dart to the side. Luke’s hand reaches out, his finger under my chin turning my face back toward him.
“Imeanit like that. You’re exceptional, and anyone who tries to make you think otherwise… Well, they’re idiots.” His hand drops from my chin, fingers trailing down the column of my neck, down my arm, and settling on my exposed thigh while his other hand threads through my hair, pulling my face closer to his.
I’m intensely aware of every slight movement of his fingers, the soft stroke of his thumb, and the faint clench of his hand. Each touch whispers against my skin, sending tingles racing through my body.
“Luke,” I say breathlessly.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmurs, eyes roaming my face, landing on my parted lips.
“Do you want to stop?” My heart thumps wildly, threatening to burst from my chest.
Luke swallows. “No, but I will if you tell me to.” His gentle caress along my leg sends a zing of pleasure up the inside of my thigh.
My eyes fall closed, mind racing, heart pounding. Our faces are so close now. His breath mingles with mine as he waits for my answer.No more thinking.
“I don’t want you to stop.”
His mouth crashes into mine, hand cupping my head, holding me close.
With soft lips, his tongue teases along mine to see if I’ll let him in. I do, and I’m rewarded with a kiss that has me sighing into his mouth, drunk on this feeling.
My hands grip his face, our mouths tangling together. He pulls me into his lap and somehow the kiss becomes more.
More frenzied.
Needier.
Like we can’t get enough of the taste of one another and needmore.
Luke’s hands run under my shirt along my lower back and up between my shoulder blades, easing me closer, pressing my body against his hard length. I release the kiss, allowing my head to fallback, soaking up the pleasure building between my legs with the friction of our bodies rocking against one another.
“Do you have any idea how much I’ve thought about doing this?” Luke whispers, his lips dragging against the column of my neck, nipping gently, followed by the sweet caress of his tongue. My hips grind against him shamelessly. He’s impossibly hard, and I’m so sensitive.
He kisses along my jaw until his lips find mine once more. A zing of pleasure courses through me when he brings his hands to my ribs, climbing higher and higher, grazing my skin with his thumbs so achingly close to my peaked nipples.
I suck in a breath, anticipation making me squirm, pushing my hips into Luke. I arch my back hoping to coax his hands higher.
“You like that, huh?” Luke breathes against my mouth.
“Yes.” I kiss along his jaw, his trimmed beard prickly against my lips.
I run my lips along the sensitive spot under his ear, eliciting a soft hum from Luke that makes my heart soar. Finally, his fingers graze against the hard buds of my nipples, and my hips grind deeper against him. I hiss out a breath through my teeth.
“God, it feels so good to be touched like this.” My mouth finds him again, but he abruptly stops, pulling back to look me in the eye.
I freeze, eyebrows scrunched as I look down at him.Did I say something wrong?
“Trip…”
My heart is pounding, certain I said something wrong.
“I’ve thought and fantasized about all the ways I want to touch you, taste you, worship you and your beautiful body.” His hands trace along my ribs, up and down, sending goosebumps across my skin. “From the moment I first saw you in the city, and then when you showed up here. It’s taken everything in me to keep control of myself. You’ve consumed more of my mind than Icare to admit.” Luke releases a soft laugh, and I relax into his touch.
“So you’re a creep.”
Luke tickles me, and I squirm in his lap.
