AllFreeNovel
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There was silence on the line for a moment. And then, “I guess so.”
“You should lose this guy. He obviously doesn’t care which of you he scores with—and probably he’s hoping for a two-for-one deal.”
Another dramatic sigh. “You’re right, as always.”
Luke appeared in the doorway. “Hey babe, there’s a guy at the front door, claims he’s your landscaper.” He quirked an eyebrow, probably remembering her earlier comment about ogling the guy who mowed her lawn.
“Who was that?” Jennifer asked. “Do you have Luke there right now?”
“Um, I’ve gotta go. Talk to you soon.” And she hung up the phone.
She mentally vowed to herself that she was going to stop playing the role of All-Knowing Big Sister immediately. She had a feeling the advice she’d given to Lacey and now Jennifer wasn’t going to help either of them much.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you were still on the phone.”
“My sisters and their complicated love lives,” Jane offered for an explanation as she climbed out of bed, dragging the sheet with her and using it as an impromptu robe.
“An hour ago I saw you totally naked, up close and personal, and now you’re feeling modest?”
Jane shrugged and let the sheet fall to the ground as she bent over to grab her jeans and top. “What can I say—I’m a modest girl.”
She felt Luke’s gaze on her as she tugged on her clothes without bothering to find her panties and bra. “I like that in a woman,” he said with a hint of teasing.
“I’ll bet.”
She grabbed her purse and followed him to the front door, where he stood ominously at her side as she paid the lawn guy for last month’s service.
When she’d closed the door, Luke said, “So you think that guy’s hot?”
Jane turned to face him and found him wearing a little smirk.
“I think he wears his jeans well, and he walks around topless a lot. It’s hard not to notice.”
“Hard not to notice when you’re a sex-starved relationship guru.”
“I’m not sex-starved. And I never set out to be a guru of anything.” She tried to look annoyed, but her annoyance dissolved as soon as she looked at Luke and remembered the pleasures he’d given her.
“But you are. Women take your word as gospel.” He closed the distance between them and pinned her against the wall with his body. When he spoke again, his voice was soft, his breath tickling her ear. “And what just happened between us? I’m willing to bet that was all about your trying too hard, for too long, to follow your own bad advice.”
Jane ignored the traitorous stirring in her lower belly. She opened her mouth and told the biggest lie she’d produced in a long, long time. “What just happened between us was nothing special. Just plain old garden-variety meaningless sex.”
He slid his hand up her shirt and found her bare breast, her erect nipple. His fingers lingered there to coax and tease. “I never would have pegged you for such a wild one.”
Jane felt her cheeks burn. “Yeah, well…”
She was speechless, unwilling to lie any further, unable to think of any witty reply.
“And it wasn’t meaningless. Trust me on that.”
“We’ve known each other for all of what—forty-eight hours? Do you always spend meaningful, sex-filled afternoons with your new female clients?”
Luke withdrew his hand from her breast and took a step back. Jane suddenly felt cold and braless. His expression went from playful to dark in an instant. “I’ve never even flirted with a client, let alone slept with one. I took a big risk with you today.”
“The biggest risks are the ones we take with our pants off,” she said, repeating a line from The Sex Factor.
“Don’t start quoting to me from your book unless you want me to do the same.”
Jane was impressed that he recognized the line, even more impressed that he might be able to remember anything else she’d written. In spite of herself, she felt flattered. “I know better than anyone all the ways I’ve contradicted my own advice today.”
“Do you regret it?”
Did she? She supposed she should, but memories of a few hours ago made regret impossible at the moment. “Do I have to answer that?”
“You’re afraid to admit it was something special.”
“Why would I be afraid to admit if it were?”
“Because it would mean admitting your whole book premise is flawed.”
Oh, yeah. Good reason.
“I can admit when I’m wrong.” Occasionally.
He smiled. “I’m waiting.”
