He starts to laugh and I hope I’ve said enough he’ll drop the subject. “Well, since we’re going to make a go at this, famous singer or not, treat every guy that comes up to you like a creeper.” He winks at me and I can feel my cheeks start to heat up the way only he can make them.
Am I really doing this? Going out with Lucas Masterson? I take another quick bite of my cake, trying to fill my mouth with food so I can avoid answering him. He leans forward and swipes his thumb over my bottom lip. “You had a little chocolate there.” Then he puts his thumb to his mouth and sucks it off. Before I can stop myself, I utter what can only be described as a cross between a whimper and a moan.
Oh. My. God. What the hell is wrong with me? I look up to see if he noticed my slip up, only to find him staring at me with such heat in his eyes I’m surprised my ice cream didn’t liquefy immediately. Jesus Christ, this man oozes sex and deliciousness. I really don’t know what’s gotten into me. I used to not give a crap if a guy was interested in me, or even if he tried to hit on me. They all seemed so irrelevant, but Luke is a whole different story.
I look down at my plate only to see that my brain has been working so frantically to keep my mouth busy that I’ve finished the entire slice of cake in less than a minute. God, what am I? Some kind of barbarian who’s never had food before? I hear Luke start to laugh and look up to see him staring at me. “Want me to order you another piece?”
Ugh! Way to make yourself look like a damn pig, Becca! “No, I um…I’m fine.” I get up and set the empty plate on the table, then go and sit back down on the bed. As soon as I do, Luke moves over so he’s right next to me. “So tell me about yourself, Lucas Masterson, or I can just look you up on Google.”
“I would definitely rather you not look me up…ever.” He chuckles and looks up at me. “I’m from Texas; my family has a farm out there. I know, I know, a hillbilly turned rock star—hysterical, right?” I laugh at the thought. “My mom, dad, and grandparents all still live out there and if I ever really want to get away, that’s the first place I go. I’m the type of person that will do anything and everything for the people that I care about, but unfortunately, a lot of times that’s how you get taken advantage of. I usually don’t let people in very easily, except you. There’s just something about you that’s drawing me in and telling me to trust you. I know I’ve said that several times now, but it’s the best way I know to describe this feeling I have.” Well, that makes me feel like an asshole. I really need to tell him the truth.
“Luke, listen, I…”
“No, wait, I know that I might be moving a little fast for you and I’m sorry. You told me earlier that you didn’t want to just jump into things and I will respect that, or at least I’ll try to.”
He goes to take the last bite of his cake and then stops. He holds the fork up to my mouth and I open it, letting him slide it in. I don’t know why, but there is something so sensual and hot about having him feed me. I close my lips around the fork as he gently slides it out of my mouth. His stare is melting my insides and I have to force myself to look away. I can feel some excess cake at the corner of my mouth and reach for a napkin to wipe it away.
Luke grabs my hand and stops me. “Let me.” He leans over and puts the empty plate on the nightstand and turns back to me. He kneels in front of me, and since I’m still sitting, he’s a good five or six inches taller than me. He slips his hand behind my neck and his other grabs my waist, pulling me closer to him. When he leans down, I hold my breath because I knew what’s coming. His tongue slides lightly over the corner of my mouth, erasing any trace of the dessert that was left. I put my hands on his chest and grip the t-shirt he’s wearing in my fists.
I can feel myself getting wet and he hasn’t actually kissed me yet. I look up to find him staring at me with those captivating eyes that make me want to strip off every piece of clothing I’m wearing. This is so far from the person that I am, but whoever this person is, she wants Lucas Masterson, and she wants him bad.
When he touches his lips to mine it’s almost like a current of electricity runs through me. I sigh, causing my lips to part, and give Luke the opening that he needs. His tongue expertly slips into my mouth, massaging me with a tenderness that’s also burning with need. The man knows what he’s doing, and he has me coming completely undone. His hand grips my hip even tighter and he starts to lower me to the bed.
He moves so his body completely covers mine. I can feel myself arching into him, and at the same time my mind is yelling at my body to stop; I’m not ready for this. When his hand starts to move down my body, I panic. I go stiff and he immediately stops to look at me.
“Becca? What’s wrong?”
I sit up, forcing him off of me at the same time. I need to get out of here; I can’t let him see me freak out. I run over to my bag, grab some pants and a shirt and then head straight for the bathroom.
He grabs my arm before I make it all the way. “Wait, I’m sorry. I know you said that you didn’t want this to go far tonight. I just…you seemed okay with it. Please stay.”
I look up at him, cursing myself for ever agreeing to go out with him. He’s going to be my undoing; the one person that can crack me open and make me surrender all of myself to him. The very thought of that happening scares the shit out of me. I’m not really sure why, but I have always had this issue with sex. Whenever I get close to being intimate with a guy I freak out. I really think it’s just because I’m terrified of letting someone in and actually trusting them.
His eyes are pleading with me to stay and not walk out. Why is it so hard for me to leave? I barely know him. This is the part that scares me the most; somehow I’m already so attached to him. Love always happens so fast in movies and books, but not in real life. Right?
He takes the clothes out of my hands and throws them on top of my bag. Then he takes my hand and leads me back over to the bed. I look at him warily, knowing that I should run; I should leave and never look back because he’s dangerous for me. I don’t, though. He pulls off the t-shirt he’s wearing, folds back the sheets and climbs into the bed. I sit down next to him and let him pull me close to him, so my head is lying on his chest. We just lay there for a few minutes, both of us at a loss for words.
I bring my hand up and start to trace the lines of the sun and the hawk on his chest. I look up at him only to find him studying me. “What does your tattoo mean?”
“Well, the hawk is a symbol for being able to see things from a different perspective and being able to see them for what they really are. The sun is from a story in Greek mythology. Icarus was trying to escape an island with his father who was a great inventor and he had made them wings that would help them fly away. His father had told him to follow his path, but Icarus got cocky and took his own route. He ended up going off track and flew too close to the sun, which destroyed the wings and caused him to fall into the sea and drown. I got both of them together to remind myself to always try to see people for who and what they are, but to never be too cocky about it because it could destroy me.”
All I can do in this moment is lay here and hope that I’m not going to be another person in his life that destroys him.
Lucas
I fell asleep with Becca in my arms last night and it felt so good. Usually girls would come over, we would have sex, they would leave, and I would be left alone in a cold, empty bed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I ever really wanted any of those girls to stay the night, but it was a totally different experience with Becca. I think back to how amazing it felt to have her in my arms kissing her, but then I remember her reaction to it. There’s something there; something that’s stopping her from letting herself go. I want to find out what it is so bad, but at the same time I don’t want to push her.
Waking up and knowing that I don’t need to deal with Samantha, Jackson, or any of the bullshit politics that go along with them, makes me happy. Jackson knows that I like her and I know that now he’s going to be after her constantly. That asshol
e can never have something original—he always needs to take something from someone—maybe it makes him feel like a man or some shit. If he thinks he’s just going to swoop in and take her, though, he has another thing coming to him.
I sense Becca starting to wake up—she’s curling into me even more than she already was—when she opens her eyes she seems startled at first. Once she realizes where she is, her body relaxes and she looks up at me. When she sees me looking at her she smiles and a blush starts to form on her cheeks.
I lean down and place a kiss on her lips. “Good morning.”
“Good morning, have you been up for a while?”
Usually, even if I did wake up early, I would keep falling back asleep until it was almost lunchtime, but not now when I only have her for a week. “No, just a couple of minutes. Do you have anything that you want to do today?”
She shakes her head no. “You’re the one who’s new in town, what do you want to do?”
I smile at her question, because if I tell her what I really want to do, she’ll pass out. “I’ll take any suggestions from you; it’s supposed to be really nice out today, though, so I wouldn’t mind doing something outside.”
“Okay, I’ll try and figure something out, then. Do you have anything you can’t stand doing?”
I can’t stand not being able to have her the way I want to, but I won’t tell her that right now.
Rebecca
Where do you take a rock star? I don’t even know where to begin. I know he probably isn’t going to want to go somewhere he’ll be recognized easily, so the mall, movies and probably theme parks are out. What if I take him to the PA Renaissance Faire? Is that really uncool? Ugh! I have no idea what to do so I pull out my phone to text Jen.
Me: So I’m trying to figure out somewhere to take Lucas today…what do you think of the Renaissance Faire?
Jen: Really Becs? The Ren Faire?
Me: Yeah…why?
Jen: I’m just saying if I was with that boy the only place I would be taking him would be back to bed ;-)
Me: You’re not helping!
Jen: I’m trying to but you’re a prude!
Me: Have you ever heard of the saying “Why would he by the cow when he can get the milk for free?”
Jen: Bitch don’t kid yourself he gets tons of milk but he wants you, you stupid cow!
Me: Ugh! Whatever! Thanks a lot!
Jen: Welcome!
“So, did you think of anywhere you want to go?” I jump when he comes up right behind me. I can feel his hot breath on my neck and his hard muscles against my back. Sagging back into him, I wonder if Jen’s right. He puts his hands on my hips to steady me and my skin catches fire. What the hell is my problem? Am I really going to let other people’s actions affect what I want? Then that little annoying voice in my head starts to remind me that he isn’t sticking around forever.
I step away from Luke and turn around to look at him. There’s a fire in his eyes that makes me want to throw away every reservation I have. “I did, but I don’t know if it’s something that you’ll be interested in doing.”
“I’m up for whatever you want to do, Becca.” He steps close to me, pulling me against him, and I can’t help but think we aren’t talking about our date anymore. He drops his head down and kisses me; it amazes me how soft and full his lips are for a guy. We stand there for a couple minutes just holding and kissing each other; I’m running my hands up and down his back while his are gripped firmly on my hips. When he pulls back I wanted to protest but know it’s for the best. I love that he’s respecting what I want and have asked of him. “I’ll tell you what. I want you to surprise me; just put the address in the GPS and I’ll drive.”
“What if it isn’t something that you want to do?”
“Don’t worry about that; I’m sure whatever it is, we’ll have a good time doing it.” He swoops down and gives me another quick kiss. “If you want to get dressed we can leave whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay.” I grab my bag and head into the bathroom. I’m really going to kill Jen; every single thing she packed me was a low cut, short dress. I finally pick one and slip it on. The dress is light blue, which looks good against my tanned skin, and is cut into a V, making my boobs look at least two cups sizes bigger than they actually are. The material is very lightweight, which is good since it’s supposed to be hot out today.
When I walk out of the bathroom Luke is sitting on the bed playing with his phone. He looks up at me and his eyes get that fiery look in them that makes me want to lock this hotel room door and never leave. He gets up and walks over to me, placing his hands on my lower back and pulling me against him.
“How in the world am I supposed to go anywhere with you looking like that?”
Embarrassment comes over me. I knew I couldn’t pull this dress off; this was Jen’s style and she’s built so much better for it than I am. “I thought it wasn’t right; Jen only packed me dresses, though. I’ll see what else I can find.” I turn away to retreat to the bathroom and try not to die of humiliation when he grabs my arm and turns me to face him.
“Hey, I meant that you look gorgeous and I don’t know how I’ll be able to deal with guys looking at you all day. Becca, you’re beautiful.”
I can feel my cheeks start to heat up; a guy has never called me beautiful before. Sure I’ve gotten the cat calls, and the occasional “you’re hot”, but no one has ever said anything like that to me and made me feel like they meant it.
“Come on, let’s go.” He grabs my hand and leads me toward the door. The entire time we’re driving, I’m second guessing my decision. I really hope he doesn’t think this is stupid.
When we pull up, he looks over at me with a quizzical look on his face. “Where are we?”
“Well, you said you wanted to do something outside and I figured you would want to go somewhere that you wouldn’t be recognized as easily. This is the PA Renaissance Faire; I’ve only been once before but I had a lot of fun and I thought it might be something different we could do. If you’re not into it, though, we can totally go somewhere else.”
He grabs my hand and I peer up at him. “Hey, I was just asking ‘cause I didn’t recognize it. I promise I’m not some mean jerk, Becca; don’t always think the worst.” He takes his baseball hat from the backseat and slips it onto his head; it’s the same one he had on the first day I met him. “Well, I’m still not sure what we’ll be doing, but let’s get in there.”
He gets out of the car, and before I can, he’s at my door opening it for me. I really need to learn to let myself relax around him, and as much as it scares me, I need to start letting my guard down. Luke is nothing like I expected him to be; I would’ve thought someone like him would be a cocky, rude womanizing jerk. Surprisingly, he isn’t and I need to stop treating him like he’s already done something wrong.
When we walk into the Faire I can’t help but smile; it’s just like I remembered it from when I was a kid. People are dressed in period clothing and are walking around in character. I look over at Luke and he looks like he has no idea what to say, and right now I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. He wraps one hand around my waist, pulls me close and looks down at me. “This place is actually pretty cool; do you want to start exploring?”
We walk around and look at the different shops and food stands, just getting a grasp for everything that they have to offer. When we come to one stand, Luke grabs my hand and pulls me over to where they have some big barrels. I look at the sign and see it’s a booth where you can make wax molds of your hands. There were many different molds of people’s hands in different positions placed around the booth: two hands being held together like they were praying, a thumbs up, a peace sign, a fist, and just a regular hand. They all look so cool and I’m entranced by all of the different colors and designs when Luke grabs my hand.
“Do you want to make one?” I look up at him, smile and nod my head. When I start to let go of his hand to walk over to the barrels, he pulls m
e back. “I want to make one together; the guy said that we can do one holding hands. I thought it might be something cool to have.”
We walk over together and the guy who’s running it explains how we need to keep our hands very still. There are giant barrels filled with different liquids. He tells us to place our hands into the first, which is really hot wax, then into the next, which I think is just cold water. We do this process a couple of times, trying to keep our hands still and trying not to trip over each other. After we do it about three times he comes over and lifts our hands out. The wax mold looks so cool! He gently shimmies the mold off and our hands are finally free. He tells us to let it sit and harden and we can come back to pick it up before we leave.
Luke and I walk around the rest of the day, stopping to eat here and there. When he decides to try to eat a drumstick that was half the size of his head, I have to snap a picture. Toward the end of the day everyone starts making their way over to the big arena to watch the red and blue knights get into a fight and a joust. I start to sit down next to Luke when we get to the stands, but he pulls me down to sit on his lap and wraps his arms around my waist. I tense up at first, wondering if I might end up crushing him by the end of the show, but quickly get over it and relax.
I lean back against him, amazed at how comfortable I already feel in his arms. Something about having him wrap his arms around me makes me feel so safe and protected. I turn my head to the side to find him looking at me; he smiles and leans in to kiss me. We sit like this for the rest of the show, and when it’s over, I dread having to get up and move. I’m so comfortable when I’m with him and I really can’t understand why because it’s totally not in my character to be this way with any guy.
I’m really surprised that no one has recognized him all day. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this is the last place anyone would expect him to be, but his only disguise is a tattered baseball hat. We stop by the stand to pick up the wax mold before heading back to the car.
Surrender to Me Page 5