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Katie had never had a man take care of her like this. Her parents would have, if they were around. Her sister, yes, before she’d gotten married to her loser husband. Donna would take care of her, if she needed help. But never a man. It felt nice and downright terrifying. She didn’t want to feel this, to want this, to rely on someone who wouldn’t be there later. If the past few years had taught her anything, it was that.
“We need to switch to heat now anyway,” he said, turning back to her, onto his side. Katie quickly tried to wipe away any remnant of emotion as he added. “I’ve got a heating pad I use on my arm when it gets stiff. You can use that. How often does that leg flare up?”
“Not often really,” she told him. “It’s unpredictable. Staying active helps, but I have to be careful. I should have been wearing a knee brace and I wasn’t. But then, I can be doing absolutely nothing and still aggravate it.” She hesitated. “Thank you, Luke.”
Their eyes locked, held, the electricity between them instant, intense. “You don’t owe me any thanks,” he said. “And you didn’t answer my question. How is your leg?”
“My calf is throbbing from those damn stitches,” she said. “My knee—well—I’ve learned to live with that during flare-ups. Though the limits it represents—that’s harder than anything. It’ll calm back down in the next few days.”
The air shifted and seconds passed. Seconds laden with sexual tension. Thick with the attraction that had snapped between them from the moment they’d met, the same tension they’d funneled into harsh words and arguments. But there was no argument now. There was only desire. Only need.
“Tell me to go get that heating pad before I don’t go at all, Katie,” he said, his voice low, gravelly.
Katie’s chest tightened, her cheeks heated. She was drowning in the clear promise in his stare. She shut her eyes, tried to block it out. But the instant she looked at him again, the intensity in his gaze pulled her right back in. How had this happened? How had she fallen this much in lust with a man she’d thought she hated only two days before? There were a million reasons to send him away, but suddenly, the lines of right and wrong weren’t so black-and-white. Suddenly, there was simply her and Luke. And that felt right; they felt right.
“Stay,” she said. “I want you to stay, Luke.”
Luke didn’t move, didn’t blink. “You’re sure?” he asked, his voice as intense as his stare. “You want me to stay? Because last night you didn’t even want me to kiss you.”
“I wanted you to kiss me, Luke. You know I wanted you to kiss me.” She reached out and ran her hand through his hair. “And I want you to kiss me now.”
He scooted closer, his hand going to her thigh, the calluses of his fingers skimming her bare leg, goose bumps rising in their wake. His lips closed in on hers, but still he held back. “No guilt, Katie. It’s like stealing a base—once you commit, you have to own the decision. There are no regrets.”
Katie let those words fill her, let them expand with all the possibilities they held: the guilt, the self-doubt, the punishment after the fact that she could manage to dish out to herself—and Lord only knew, she was good at that. But she’d done so much guilt and responsibility these past few years. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel alone. She didn’t want more of that. She wanted Luke. She did. But… “I need to know you understand this changes nothing. I am here to do a job and I plan to do it. I need to know this isn’t about you thinking I’ll quit the security issue if this happens.”
“If I thought for a minute that being with me would distract you from doing your job,” he said, “I probably wouldn’t want you. It’s your strong will and determination that turns me on, Katie. I expect nothing less than you riding my ass about security when we have our clothes back on. Maybe before. But you better damn sure bet I’ll likely be complaining about it, too.”
Katie found herself smiling inside with those words, because she believed him completely. He would grumble. But she also appreciated his honesty about that fact. He continued, “This here, now—us together—it’s about a man and a woman who not only want each other, we have chemistry, Katie. It’s not about Ron’s agenda or management’s or even about a stalker. It’s you and me.”
He’d said exactly what she both wanted and needed to hear, and Katie allowed herself to let go—to let herself reach for pleasure. She pressed her lips to his, lingered as she absorbed the feel of him, the taste of him. His lips were firm but soft, his restraint evident in the tension of his mouth, his body. He didn’t believe she’d committed. “No regrets,” Katie whispered, her fingers tracing his jaw as she pulled back to stare at him. “I want this, Luke. I want you.”
