So, when they’ve finished helping, I’m relieved. Walking away, Claudia turns to me and smiles, and I mouth, “Tonight?”
She nods and turns back, rushing up to Dani’s side.
Chapter Eighteen
CLAUDIA
“Why did you have to bring David up in front of your father?” I ask Danielle as soon as we’re back up in her suite.
She plops down on the couch and tucks her legs and feet up underneath her. “Because I think something happened, and I wanted my dad to be aware, just in case he needs to get involved.”
“Nothing happened,” I say, sitting down next to her. “And the more you try to say something did, the more you’re going to piss David off.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “And why would he be pissed off if he didn’t do anything wrong?”
I sigh. “Fine… he was grabby at the diner, and he forcibly kissed me at the shop today—I totally had to fend him off. He’s a jerk who doesn’t like being rejected.”
She tightens her lips and shakes her head. “I should have known. I’m going to have to tell Carlos, and he’s—”
“Please don’t. That’s what got him pissed off in the first place.”
“But I introduced you to him!”
“Yeah, but how he acts isn’t your fault.”
She’s silent for a few beats too long. “There were some rumors junior year, that he kind of forced himself on a girl?” She looks toward the floor. “She was just here for the summer, working… an outsider. Nobody believed her.”
“He raped her?” I knew David wasn’t a top-notch guy, but I’d hoped he wasn’t capable of something like that.
She shrugs, looking meekly up at me. “I really don’t know. I’m not sure that word ever came up. He’s a good-looking guy—I didn’t think he’d have any reason to force anything on anyone, but what he did today with you? That’s not cool.”
“I don’t want to talk about it… not for now at least.” I know that maybe I should, that if David had forced even a kiss on me, he might be capable of more and would need to be called on it. But I don’t want him coming after me again like he did today. I just want to forget, want to move on and focus on the other stuff that is currently complicating my life.
“But we will when you’re ready.” She puts a comforting hand on my thigh. “And I’m still going to tell Carlos. I have to.”
I don’t argue with her. She’ll do what she feels she has to. “Just try to keep me as out of it as you can, okay?”
“I’ll try, but I kind of tell Carlos everything,” she says, and I can tell we’re about to shift gears again. “He and I don’t keep secrets.”
“That’s probably a good thing… since you guys love each other.”
“We do. We really, really do.” She slips her legs out from beneath her and inches over on the couch. “Can you keep a secret, Claudia?”
Of course I can. I’ve been keeping a pretty major one from her, that I’ve been having sex with her dad and have fallen in love with him. “Yeah, of course.”
She smiles and lets out a breath. “Carlos and I are going to elope before we head back to school. He’s going to transfer to WSU, and I think you might need to find a new dorm mate.”
I should be shocked and a little angry we won’t be rooming at WSU in the fall, and I would have likely felt that way if she’d told me this three weeks ago, but now? My own life is so up in the air that I have no room to pass judgment.
“What are you thinking?” she asks me when I don’t say anything.
“Does your dad know?” It’s the first thing that comes to mind.
“No. He’d think I was too young.”
It’s one more secret between them, and I’d like to tell her that he wouldn’t think that, that he doesn’t think I’m too young, but of course I can’t say that.
“So, you’re going to get married behind his back? Like he won’t even have the choice to go?” That doesn’t seem fair to me.
She eyes me, and I’m not sure she likes my tone. “I love my father. He’s amazing and wonderful, but he also got married really young, and it didn’t work out, so I figure it’s better I prove that Carlos and I can last the long haul before I tell him, and we can always have a big wedding later.”
“How long is that going to take? A year? Five?” I’m suddenly getting really pissed off. “I guess your parents got married young but you wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t met each other, would you?”
“You don’t know anything at all about my parents. It would have been better if my dad had steered clear of Isabelle,” she says, her tone matching mine.
“What? That doesn’t make any sense. Danielle, you wouldn’t be here if—”
“Just stop.” She puts her hand out and closes her eyes. “Let’s just not go there, okay? There are things you can’t understand about how fucked up my childhood actually was.”
I’m thrown at that, at a loss for words. I’d been jealous of Danielle from the day she’d first mentioned her dad and how great he was when I had two parents who could be less than stellar. And even with a mother Danielle wanted a tsunami to wipe out, I figured one great parent could make up for the deficits of the other. But Danielle’s reaction just now sort of cements what Emily said today, that Isabelle Prescott has some kind of illness, one that keeps drawing Luke back to her and one that might have made Danielle’s childhood more miserable than I’d allowed myself to imagine.
“I’m sorry.” That’s what I finally say. “But I just don’t want you to feel like you have to keep your plans with Carlos a secret.”
“We’ll figure that out,” she says sternly and shifts away from me. “Anyway, I should be heading out. I told Carlos I’d come over after dinner.”
I let an annoyed sound slip out between my lips.
“What?” she snaps.
“All you do is spend time with him. Maybe it’s not healthy. You and I haven’t spent one whole day and night together since I’ve gotten here.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Okay… well, I’m sorry, but you seem to be filling your time up.”
“Sure, like getting left alone with David at the diner?”
“Look, I told you I was sorry. I said I’d talk to Carlos.”
“Forget it.” I raise my hand at her, still aware that this is her house and that I’m here because of her invitation. “I don’t want to fight. I’m sorry… let’s just talk about this tomorrow or something. Cooler heads and all?”
She looks ready to fight it out right now, but she loosens the grip of her arms around her chest. “Fine. You know, we never once fought in Pullman. This kind of sucks.”
“It does, but it will be fine. We just need some space.”
She nods, then quickly changes out of her T-shirt and sweats and into a simple cream-colored shift dress, slips on some sandals and gathers up her purse. “I’ll let my dad know I’m leaving so you don’t have to lie for me, okay?”
“Sure. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, see you then.”
Left alone, there won’t be any need to sneak away and into Luke’s room. While I’m missing the time alone with Danielle that I’d hoped to have once she’d offered to let me stay here for part of the summer, her disappearing so often to be with Carlos makes things easier. She hadn’t really been around enough to notice how much Luke and I had made a point to stay away from one another until just the other night when neither of us could stand it any longer. It took her forever to see what a creep David was, even when he’d been forceful and annoying with me right in front of her and Carlos. They’d just been so preoccupied with one another to take note.
So, as I leave her suite, I don’t feel guilty about my destination. If she’s willing to marry Carlos in secret and think that nobody will notice, then why can’t I be with her father and expect the same thing? As I near his room, I try to shake that feeling off, the one where this is some kind of tit for tat, where one lie makes the other okay.
On my way to his bedroom, I see Luke. He’s in his large office off the hallway. He’s among his computers, turned away and doing what looks like paperwork. Before he can notice me, I take a few moments to scan the room and all of the pictures on the walls. Many of them are of the outdoors, pictures I think Luke himself may have taken, some of them probably right outside his door. But most of them are of Danielle in various stages of childhood, including one taken at her high school graduation. A very handsome Luke stands proudly next to her with Carlos flanking her other side. There is no Isabelle.
There are other people, two sets of older adults, perhaps the grandparents Danielle isn’t all that close with. Several photos of a young boy at first make me think they are of Luke when he was a child, but on closer inspection he’s excitedly holding up a video game console that I know couldn’t have come out more than a decade ago.
I’m scanning the other pictures with the boy who can’t be more than five or six when Luke suddenly turns around. “Hey,” he says. I thought I heard you.
He’s in those gray sweatpants that look so cute on him along with a clean white T-shirt that conforms perfectly to his broad shoulders and toned torso. It makes me forget all about the boy in the pictures.
“I was wondering when I’d see you again.” He’s up and out of his chair and pulling me into a hug.
For a moment, I just allow myself to ease into him, let him put his arms around me, holding me tight to him, making me feel safe and like nothing can hurt us.
“Did Danielle let you know she was leaving?” I ask him, not wanting to get her in trouble if she didn’t but wanting to make sure he knows we have the house to ourselves.
“She did.” He pulls back from me, keeping his hands on my hips. “I guess this is what it feels like when your kid finally grows up. I’m not going to be the most important man in her life anymore.”
He looks kind of sad about that, and I don’t want to burden him with Danielle’s plans with Carlos, even if I think he might deserve to know.
“I know that she loves you.” It’s a simple truth I think he needs to hear.
“Yeah, I get that. And this is just part of parenting I guess… letting go.” He looks at me thoughtfully. “I’m sure your own parents aren’t going to be too happy once they find out about you and I.”
I press a finger to his lips. “I’m not ready to tell them, Luke.”
“And I’m not ready to tell Dani. But I’ll be there for you when you decide it’s time. I wouldn’t let you go through that alone. Just like I don’t want you to deal with whatever is going on with David on your own.”
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
“If he hurt you, I’ll make him sorry he did.”
I shake my head and take his hand. “Can we please just go to your room? I kind of just want to forget today.”
A quick glance down at his waist shows an instant hardening at my suggestion.
“We don’t have to…” He pauses. “I don’t want you to think this is only sexual, Claudia. I can control myself, and I’m capable of just holding you tonight if that’s what you need.”
“That’s not all I need,” I tell him, tracing my finger over his muscled chest.
At that, he’s the one taking the lead and pulling me into his bedroom, closing the door behind him even though Danielle is gone. And when I turn away from him and start to unbutton my blouse, his hands come around my stomach, his hardness at my backside, his lips on my neck, his breath warm and heavy. My body thrills at his touch, and I close my eyes, already feeling my worries about today melt away.
His kisses are like stones skipping across a lake, each touch of his lips sending a hum of warmth that reverberates through my entire body and shoot back up and between my legs where I’m hot and yearning for him. Easily, he pushes his hands up against my bare skin, lifting and disposing of my blouse first, then my shorts, my panties and my bra. I’ve grown used to being fully naked in front of a man, naked in front of this man, and part of the excitement of us being together is that he revels in my nakedness just as much as I do in his.
Briefly, he takes his hands off of me, but it’s just to whip his shirt off, and then I’m feeling his heated chest and firm stomach against my back as he brings one hand around to cup a breast, the other delving far lower, dipping between my legs and massaging with his fingers over the part of me that had once only been touched by my own hands.
With his lips still tracing along my neck and my shoulders, the fingers of one hand toying with my nipples while the other causes my clit to engorge, I’m sent into another world of pure pleasure, one where I’m fully under his control, one where I wash all of the bad away. I nearly lose my breath at his continued massaging, and I stand high on my tip-toes when my muscles tense to the point that I’m on the very edge of a precipice, one that I then very quickly fall of off, my body relaxing in shudders of joy and pleasure.
He keeps my body against his as I float between this world and the next, and when I recover, I force myself around and see the need in his eyes. I push both of my palms up against his chest and kiss him harder than I ever have before. When I pull away, I tug at the band of his sweatpants and lead him toward the bed where I sit, then lie down, presenting myself to him to do whatever he wants with me.
He swallows hard and quickly pulls down and then steps out of his sweats. And before he moves forward, I just look at him, look at his amazing body, the strong chest, the wide shoulders, his flat, muscled stomach and the hair that covers him, perfectly placed, perfectly manicured and glistening with his sweat. His face is gorgeous too, the kind of guy who could be a movie star, who could be an action hero or play James Bond, who could make women buy tickets just to see him.
But he wouldn’t belong to them.
He belongs to me.
He steps forward, the muscles in his thighs seeming to flex as he does, his cock standing at full attention, so big, so perfect.
And then he’s on top of me, kissing me, spreading my legs and, with a great groan of relief, he enters me, pushing his hardness to my edges, making me smart at first, but eventually I ease to him, my body conforming to his size and pleasuring at his thrusts, deeper and deeper into me.
I wrap my arms around him while he kisses me, his eyes hungry and full of need and desire. But he’s so patient, keeping his thrusts metered and slow, this liaison more about connecting to one another than it is just about sex.
I’m the first to go, to roll into another sweep of orgasm when his pubic bone rubs just the right way against me, and I’m filled with immense pleasure along with immense love, wanting to keep my arms wrapped around him forever, for his manhood to be lodged deep inside of me just as long. Before I finish completely, his face reddens and contorts, and then he’s pushing deeper and comes hard into me, again and again until he’s breathless and his heated, spent body is partially on top of mine.
“I love you, Luke,” I tell him, tracing the line of his jaw, after we’ve both had time to catch our breaths.
“I love you too, Claudia,” he tells me easily. “There, I’ve said it.” He chuckles. “I’ve gone against my own advice, but I do. I love you, and I want to take care of you.”
“We can take care of each other,” I tell him, dragging a finger across his sexy bottom lip. “Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about?”
He smiles. “So it is.”
Chapter Nineteen
CLAUDIA
I should be more careful. While Luke put on a condom the two times we’ve had sex this morning, he didn’t put one on last night. I hadn’t even thought about it, hadn’t even worried about it until he’d slid a condom over his hardness when we’d woken up, and kissing had led to more. This is twice now we’ve had unprotected sex, and while I get that my chances of getting pregnant from just those two times isn’t huge, they are still very real. And while I’m ready for love, think I’d even be ready for marriage, I’m not ready for a child and not ready to make the choice I might
have to if I get pregnant and don’t want it.
“You’re pretty deep in thought there,” Luke says, coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist while I’d decided to stay behind in his bed.
“Not really,” I tell him, smiling, sitting up and keeping my nakedness covered up with his comforter. “I’m just trying to figure out what to do today. I don’t have to work, and Danielle is probably going to spend the day with Carlos, so—”
“So you and I will spend it together then.” He bends over and kisses me, long and sweet, before he disappears into his walk-in closet.
“But don’t you have to work?” I call out, knowing how busy he’s been these past few weeks, perhaps some of that being about his ex-wife, a thought I don’t want to have to focus on for too long.
“It’s nothing that can’t wait until this afternoon.” He reappears from his closet. He’s put on some cargo shorts and is just pulling a clean, snug T-shirt over his head. “How about I make you breakfast and then we go for a hike. I’d love to show you the property and landmarks.”
I can’t hide the smile I know is forming on my face. I love the outdoors, have loved the fact that this house is surrounded by forest and mountains the moment I walked into it. “I’d love to, actually.” I hop out of bed, completely naked, and start searching for my discarded bra and panties from last night. I find my panties and am lifting one leg at a time to get into them when I turn to see Luke watching me.
He shakes his head and takes in a deep breath. “Man… you make it so hard to be good.”
“What?” I laugh and then finish pulling on my panties, the only stitch of fabric on my body.
“It’s hard to keep my hands off of you,” he says, stepping forward and threading his hands around me and then pulling me toward him.
I push my hands up and over his chest before resting them on his shoulders, taking in his fresh clean smell, that light scent of masculine body spray that drives me wild. “It’s kind of hard for me too. Do you want to?” I drag my hands down between us and snap open the top button of his cargo shorts.
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