“No.”
“Well, then.” Luke surrendered the tape to the dog and got to his feet. He sauntered over to her and stood so close that she could smell the scant hint of his aftershave still clinging to him from the morning before. He rubbed his hand over the stubble of his chin, making a manly sound that about drove Star to the brink of madness, wanting to throw herself into his arms. “Well then,” Luke repeated. “Tell me, why are you out here in the middle of the night in your bedclothes?” His warm breath hit her on the forehead as he spoke.
“I . . . I . . . saw the lantern on in the barn.”
“And you thought I was in here with someone.”
“Not any more.” Her eyes went back to the mangled device being mauled by her pets. “A – a tape recorder?” she asked. “I didn’t know anyone used those anymore.”
“It’s cheapskate Brent’s alternative to giving me a company cellphone to use to record my lines.” His face lit up and he threw back his head. The light from the lantern illuminated his strong chest going in and out as he laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Star asked, feeling very insecure in this position.
“You are.”
“Me?” She clutched the neckline of her sleep shirt and looked down to her bare legs. She never should have come out here without her robe. “I’m sorry for the way I look. I was in a hurry to get out here.”
“It’s not that,” he told her, sitting down on a bale of hay. Maxi jumped in his lap and Baby flew up next to him. He ran a hand through the dog’s fur. “Star Brighton, you’re jealous.”
“I am not!” She’d never been so insulted in her life. “Why in heaven’s name would I be jealous of a . . . a . . . tape recorder?”
“You tell me, sweetheart. You’re the one who nearly broke down the door.”
“I’m going to bed,” she declared, turning on her heel.
“I’ll come, too.”
She stopped in her tracks and glanced over her shoulder. Luke patted Maxi on the head and ran a finger over her chicken’s head.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me.” He threw on his shirt and buttoned it quickly. Then he grabbed the lantern and escorted her through the stable gate.
“What does that mean?” she asked, feeling her knees going weak beneath her. Did he really mean what she thought he did?
“What do you want it to mean?” he asked in return.
She wasn’t sure right now because she was so confused. Feeling like a fool for thinking he was bedding someone right under her nose, she couldn’t admit to him that, secretly, she wished it were her.
“Luke, what were you doing in here?” She changed the subject.
“Practicing.” He smiled. “My lines, nothing more.” He put his hand on her back and guided her to the door. He blew out the lantern and hung it on the hook before stepping out into the moonlight.
“Everyone missed you at the celebration tonight.” She didn’t look at him when she talked.
“Everyone?” He chuckled softly. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“Well, I don’t know about everyone. Some people did, though.”
They started to walk toward the house.
“Some people? Like who, exactly?”
“Oh, all right,” she said, no longer wanting to play this game of cat and mouse. “I was the one who missed you.”
He turned her toward him and looked deeply into her eyes. “Now, was that so hard to say?”
If only he knew how hard it was for her to show or tell him how she felt. Even harder than that was figuring it out for herself. Feelings of jealousy were new to her. She had never felt such an attraction toward a man that she had at first thought she hated.
The limo was parked in the driveway, and as they passed it, Luke stopped. “Are you in a hurry to sleep?” The way he asked, she wasn’t sure what to think.
“I . . . I guess not. Why?”
“How about a nightcap?”
“A drink? Oh, no, I couldn’t.”
“Then you can watch me.” He opened the back door to the limo and waited. Star took a deep breath, not sure what to do. She’d ridden in the car before and she knew how roomy it was inside. It was big enough to lie down in, amongst other things.
“I don’t know. It’s pretty late.” She wanted to get in the car, but didn’t want to seem too eager.
“Just one little drink,” he coerced her. “We can look at the stars through the sunroof together.”
Maybe it was harmless after all. It could be possible that he just wanted to talk.
“All right. But just one,” she agreed and climbed inside.
Chapter 14
One little drink turned into two and then three. There was an unopened bottle of chilled Dom Perignon in the fridge, and Luke knew Brent was saving it for a special occasion. Finishing the film, no doubt. One bottle was all the cast would see until the end of the next film.
Well, Luke didn’t care. He wouldn’t be there for the next film anyway. Star Brighton had never tasted such fine spirits in her life and probably never would again. He wanted to see that she had a taste of the good life before he left her forever and went on to live his own life at the Circle T Ranch.
Luke kicked off his boots and rested his feet on the seat across from him. It was a bit warm in the car and he reached for his shirt and undid a couple of buttons. Star sat next to him but too far away on those agonizing long seats. She held her fluted glass in her hand, her head resting on the back of the seat as she stared out the open sunroof window.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Very pretty.” He was looking at her, not the sky when he answered.
Star giggled, then threw her bare feet up on the seat next to his. She broke out in an off-tune version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
Luke had never heard such flat singing in his life. He stifled a chuckle and reached for the bottle. Star’s hand shot out holding her glass, ready for more. “I think you’ve had enough, Twinkles.”
“Never,” she said and moved closer. “Never enough of Don whatever the name of this stuff is, and definitely not enough of you.”
Luke poured the rest of the bottle into his own glass and downed it. She was coming on to him but he couldn’t touch her for two reasons. One, she was a fellow employee. Two, he wouldn’t take advantage of a woman who had too much to drink.
“Maybe I should take you to bed now, Star.” He grabbed her glass from her hand just before she dropped it. She scooted up close to him, put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.
“Who needs a bed?” she asked. “Why don’t you just take me right here?”
“What?” he blurted out, not only wanting to take her on the seat, but also on the floor, the roof, and anywhere else he pleased. But he wouldn’t. Not tonight. Not when she probably didn’t realize what she was asking. “Has anyone ever made love to you before?”
Her body stiffened in his arms. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious. Have they?”
“No,” she answered softly and dropped her arms from around him, straightening up in the seat. “No one’s ever made love to me, but I have had sex if that answers your question.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” He understood exactly what she meant. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer. She snuggled back down against him. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“It’s all right,” she said with a sniff, sounding as if maybe she was trying not to cry. “I was engaged once, but it didn’t work out. How about you?
“What about me?” Was she asking if he was a virgin or if he had ever been married? He was far from either one.
“You know what I mean. Have you?”
“I’ve never felt that I wanted to marry anyone, if that’s what you mean. And yes, I’m still a bachelor.”
“Oh,” was all she said, almost sounding confused by his answer.
They sat in silence for a moment. It was an awkward silence that Luke didn’
t know how to end. “What do you want in life?” she asked, staring out the top window.
“I want my ranch back,” he answered automatically. “And a Jeep.”
She pushed up to look at him. “I didn’t know you had a ranch. Who’s got it now?”
“It’s a long story.” He picked up a stray strand of her red hair and rubbed it gently between his fingers. It felt like silk “Actually, it’s not far from here. My dad owned it until he and my stepmother died in a plane crash almost two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.” Silence. “My dad was hit by a beer truck and died last year.”
At first, he thought she was joking about the beer truck. But when she didn’t smile, he realized it was the truth. “I’m sorry, too.”
They were back to having an awkward silence again. Luke nuzzled his nose into her hair and breathed in the scent of herbal soap. It was the same soap he’d used the day he arrived. For some reason it smelled much better on her.
“You can kiss me anytime now, you know.” She looked up at him, her green eyes sparkling like diamonds in the beam of the full moon shining in through the open window.
“I’m trying not to.”
“Don’t you want to?”
Don’t want to? He almost groaned aloud. If only she knew the swelling he was trying to control beneath his jeans. He wanted to do more than just kiss her but he knew he shouldn’t.
“I do,” he confessed.
She reached up and grabbed his head and pulled his mouth to hers. He couldn’t help but surrender. Just one kiss, he told himself. One kiss and then he’d take her into the house and go off to his own room . . . alone.
Well, one kiss turned into two. Then two kisses turned into more, just like that endless bottle of Dom Perignon but twice as intoxicating. Her lips were full and sweet. Just right for kissing. They weren’t sticky and caked with lipstick like Velvet’s. Star was one woman he never had to force himself to kiss. And her kisses only seemed to get better every time he tasted her lips.
“I don’t want to take advantage of you after you’ve been drinking.” He pushed away from her.
“You’ve been drinking, too, and I want to take advantage of you,” was her reply. “Besides, I’m only a little tipsy, and far from drunk.”
“So, I have no choice in the matter?” He raised a playful brow.
“Do you want a choice?”
“Not really.”
“Then shut up and kiss me again.”
“Gladly,” he answered and pulled her closer. “Anything to stop you from slugging me again. I’m running out of eyes for you to blacken.”
He couldn’t believe it when her hands reached over and she undid the rest of the buttons on his shirt. She slipped the shirt from his shoulders and ran her hands over his bare chest.
“I love that chest.” She bent over and kissed him right on the nipple.
Luke’s hormones couldn’t take any more. Her seduction was sending him right through the roof. He knew he shouldn’t bed a co-worker but, by tomorrow, he’d make sure she no longer worked for Valens Motion Pictures. He didn’t want her getting hurt so he’d see to it she was off the payroll as quickly as possible.
He reached over and lightly touched her right breast, fondling it and pulling gently on the nipple right through her nightshirt. “Your chest isn’t bad either.”
“How can you say that?” She leaned into his touch as she spoke. “After you’ve been staring at Velvet’s and even Amber’s cleavages all day long, I’ve got nothing for you to look at.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” He pulled up her nightshirt and settled his mouth over her breast. His tongue circled her nipple and he was pleased by the way she arched and moaned at his advance.
“It’s not the quantity but the quality that counts,” he assured her. “Honey, you are of the highest quality.” He stripped her shirt off in one movement and laid her down on the long, plush seat.
His loins ached for release, and his hunger for her was driving him mad. But he wanted to please her before he pleased himself. He wanted to make it good for her, too.
Star felt so naked, lying in the back seat of the limo in nothing but a scant pair of panties. They were the black silk ones Teddy had bought her for an engagement present. She’d never worn them before now. She’d never wanted to until she’d met Luke.
The moonlight shone down atop his head and she reached up and removed the leather strand that held back his beautiful mane of hair. Oaken locks tumbled to his shoulders and reached toward his wonderfully bronzed chest. He looked at her with his gorgeous blue eyes and, instead of feeling embarrassed, she felt beautiful for the first time in her life. She decided Star Brighton was a woman no different than Velvet or Amber or any of the other women strutting around the filming site. She was a woman who’d never felt equal until Luke took her in his arms and complimented her very small breasts.
“You don’t have to say things just to make me feel good,” she told him, although she longed for more. It was something she’d rarely gotten from her family and never from Teddy.
“I don’t say things I don’t mean.” He lowered his head and ran his tongue down her bare upper half. Then his tongue swirled around her navel, making her squirm with anticipation of what was to come. “Star, I don’t have to say anything to make you feel good. I have other ways of doing that.”
“Y-you do?” Star’s heart pounded loudly in her ears. She was already arched halfway off the seat and wondered what he would do next. Teddy never did anything like this to her. It was exciting. She wanted his mouth on her breast again and, as if he could read her mind, he did it. While he suckled her small mounds and played with her erect nipples, all she could think of was the day they milked the cow in the barn. Foreplay, he’d called it. It was certainly something she didn’t know much about but was dying to learn.
“Do you like that?” he asked in a sexy whisper.
“I do.” The breathless, husky sound of her voice surprised her. “What other stunts can you do?”
“You should see me ride.” He lifted an eyebrow and smiled, showing off his straight, white teeth.
His playful banter made her aroused, and words came out of her mouth that she never thought would. “I’d like to see you ride. But without the pants.”
A seductive moan lodged in his throat as he reached for his belt buckle and then hesitated. “Twinkles, do you know what you’re saying to me?”
That damned cute name falling from his lips made her want to jump him. “I know exactly what I’m saying.” True, she knew what she was doing but was a little nervous about the whole thing because she could see where this was leading. Still, he seemed hesitant and she had to assure him it was all right. “I want you, Luke. Please don’t think I’m drunk and will regret this in the morning, because I won’t.”
That did it. They must have been the magical words because, in record-breaking time, he’d undone his buckle and shed his pants. He wore tight, low-cut red briefs. Just the sight of Luke’s manhood straining to get free was enough for her to start her exploration. She reached out and stroked him through his briefs.
He groaned and closed his eyes. Then he grabbed her hand in his.
“Not yet,” he whispered.
“Why not?” she asked, wondering what he had to do first that was so important.
“You first,” he explained and reached for her panties, slowly, seductively pulling them down as if he were opening a present and wanted it to last.
“Can’t we do this at the same time?” she asked.
“No. I want you to enjoy this more than once.”
His hand cupped her and fondled her in ways she didn’t think possible. His fingers were magic and so was his tongue. She lifted her hips off the seat, straddling his head with her legs. She tingled and vibrated, feeling as if she were blasting off through the sky like a rocket though she never left the car.
He was obviously satisfied with her response because he stripped his briefs and stradd
led her hips with his legs.
“You’re good with mounts,” she said, and eyed up a part of him she’d been longing to see. It was that part just below the tan line, beneath that curly crop of dark hair. He was amazing. Beautiful. Astonishing. She couldn’t help herself from reaching out to touch him.
He threw back his head and moaned. The moonlight splashed on his face and chest, not to mention other parts of his body. She could see every inch of him perfectly now. It was a sight she’d never forget.
Then the lower part of him was in shadow and she felt him enter her slowly, sliding in a little at a time. It excited her so much that she cried out. He leaned over and kissed her, mimicking his lower movements with his tongue in her mouth as he moved it in and out. He filled her completely and brought her to heights she’d never experienced before.
Ecstasy. Glorious sensations rose to the surface and she found fulfillment like she’d never known before.
And when they’d finished, he laid down and pulled her atop him, wrapping his arms around her, holding her like he’d never let her go.
It was that night that Star Brighton had finally gotten in touch with her true emotions. It was also the first time in her entire life that she ever had a really good cry.
Chapter 15
Star woke up the next morning, to her surprise, in her own bed. The last thing she remembered was making love with Luke on the seat of the limo, watching the stars and moon through the sunroof. Rolling over, she half-expected Luke to be next to her.
He wasn’t.
Sitting up, she scanned the room but saw no evidence he’d even been there at all. Was it just a dream? she asked herself. Had she only fantasized about Luke and never really touched his body at all?
As she stumbled to the bathroom, the effects of last night’s little nightcap hit her hard. She slid open the door feeling like she was going out of her mind.
That’s when she saw the evidence that last night wasn’t a dream but reality, after all. Sitting on the bathroom counter was the empty bottle of Dom Perignon. Only now it served as a vase for a bouquet of flowers that she recognized as the ones that were growing in her mother’s flower garden.
Starstruck Cowboy (Working Man Series Book 1) Page 12