by Lori Wilde
To distract herself, she turned her attention to her job as hostess, making sure everyone was enjoying himself. By the end of the evening, she had lost track of Luke and had no idea when he left the observatory. She stayed until everyone else was gone and the janitorial staff came in.
It was one in the morning by the time she got home. She was getting ready for bed when there was a quick rap on her door. She peeked out the peephole to see Luke standing on the front stoop. Quickly, she opened the door and dragged him inside.
“What are you—” She got no further because his mouth took hers hostage.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and the next thing she knew he was carrying her into the bedroom. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s too risky.”
He laughed low in his throat. “Oh, you’re a fine one to talk about risky. Who was it that lured me into the dome with a hundred people right outside?”
“I didn’t really mean to do it. I was just checking to make sure everything was set up for the viewing and you followed me inside.”
“Best accidental seduction I ever had.”
“That was pretty thrilling,” she said.
“You’re telling me. Good thing I had a robe for a costume. I’ve had a stiffy all evening and it’s all because of you.”
“Show me,” she said.
He clicked on the bedside lamp, throwing a rectangle of yellow over the covers. “We did it in the dark,” he said. “Now let’s go for the light.”
Slowly, he disrobed for her and she watched with fascinated eyes. He had the most amazing body. She held her breath in anticipation, watching the silky material of his costume drape and fall.
He did a little bump and grind that made her smile.
“You could be a professional,” she teased.
“Only for you, darlin’,” he drawled. “Only for you.”
He crawled up on the bed with her, and giggling, she lay back against the pillow as he kissed his way from her foot to her knees to her …
In no time, she was wriggling beneath his hot, wicked mouth.
He seemed to be everywhere at once. His mouth on the inside of her thigh, one hand trailing over her belly, the other lightly tickling the soft flesh on the underside of her arm. His touch was amazing, experienced. Everything he did was designed to elicit a response from her. He’d stroke one spot and she’d groan. Another spot made her whimper. Still another made her beg for more.
His kisses both robbed from her and gave back tenfold. He left her breathless, and yet feeling stronger, more complete than she’d ever felt in her life. His hands roamed over her body, an avid explorer eager for sensation.
Fifteen years might have gone by, but it felt like yesterday. Everything that passed between them was so poignant, so intense. They’d been young together, suffered horribly together, survived and found each other again. It felt like a miracle.
She tried not to romanticize their joining too much. Tried to appreciate what it was right now. Savored every single second because she had no idea if she would pass this way again. It was a time to be cherished. Treasured. And for this night, it felt ordained. Right. Perfect.
“I missed you,” he whispered against her ear. “I missed you so much.”
It frightened her how much his words touched her. How he made her feel. As if she was the only person on the planet. As if a million naked women could walk by and he would never notice because he was transfixed by her.
He covered her with his body, looked down into her face, his hazel eyes clear and bright. “Melly,” he whispered her name like a lullaby. “Melly.”
Her throat tightened. Pleasure swept up her in warm, delicious waves.
His hard-muscled chest was pressed against her soft breasts.
She was acutely aware of everything. His touch. His scent. The sound of his breathing. The acrid burn of her own desire.
She kissed him then, as she’d never kissed him before. Poured everything she had into it. Showing him without having to tell him how unique this moment was to her, what a special guy he was.
“I see you,” he whispered. “I know who you are inside and out.”
A calm serenity came over her, an odd counterbalance to the wild, out-of-control longing beating through her blood.
In Luke’s eyes she glimpsed her authentic self and knew that she was fully accepted for who she was, flaws and all.
It wasn’t some romantic notion. It wasn’t a flight of fancy. It had nothing to do with private sex in a public place or the thrill of the forbidden or the intensity of teenage fantasies. It was a concrete, unshakable knowledge. A deep-down, abiding faith in him.
And it baffled her profoundly.
“Is that wide-eyed look for me?” he asked.
It was only then that she realized she’d been staring at his penis and it was a sight to behold. “You do have bragging rights.”
Luke lay back against the pillows, reached for her, and pulled her over beside him. Cradling her in the crook of his arm, he smiled softly. “You make me feel like a superhero.”
“You are one in my book.”
He kissed her with exquisite tenderness, stroked her skin with the back of his hand. Slowly, leisurely, they explored each other with all five senses. Massaging, caressing, licking, tasting, finding the spots that made each other sigh, moan, and whimper.
“Give me your hand,” he said.
She placed her hand in his and he guided her palm to his chest. She felt his heart thundering underneath his breastbone. Curiosity fused her hand to his skin. She couldn’t pull away.
Mesmerized. They stared into each other.
Magic. It felt like simple magic.
It hit her then, what she was doing. Going down the wrong path, romanticizing this moment. Romanticizing him. She knew better, but the slow tempo he’d set had drawn her into the magic of the moment. She had to break the spell.
Only one way. Sex. Not love. Not tenderness. Not emotional intimacy. Just sex.
Hard and hot and real. Powerful orgasmic sex to blow away the mist of fantasy.
She captured his mouth with hers, pulled his bottom lip up between her teeth, and bit down lightly.
He groaned.
She pulled away to slide her mouth down his neck one hot kiss at a time. She tracked a path from his throat down the middle of his chest—with a quick detour to his nipples—before resuming her trek over his muscled abdomen, past his navel, to his pelvis and finally ending up at his most impressive erection.
He shuddered when her lips touched his hot, moist tip.
“Mmm,” she murmured. “You taste delicious.”
Up and down, around and around until they were both moaning and writhing, consumed by mutual pleasure.
On and on they played. He on her, she on him. Licking, sucking, tasting. Glorious sensations rippled through her body, turning her inside out. They increased the tempo as the pressure built, rising to the inevitable crescendo.
Melody whimpered soft whenever he did something she liked, squirmed when he made a wrong move. He picked up her rhythms, figuring out what she liked and giving her more of it.
She took him deeper until she felt him pressing against the back of her throat, juicy and slick. She rolled her lips back, stretching wider to accommodate his bigness. She wanted to swallow all of him.
Finally, Luke broke away, pulling her mouth from him. “I can’t stand it anymore. I have to be inside you.”
“Condoms,” she gasped, so addled by passion she was impressed that she remembered. Thank heavens she’d remembered. An unplanned pregnancy was not a complication she wanted to deal with.
“I’m on it.” Luke stumbled from the bed, searched for his pants, found them, retrieved a condom from the hip pocket, and already had it on before he got back into bed.
He was so damn beautiful. Hard, lean, a fine spray of dark hair between his nipples. Her hips twitched against his, the muscles between her thighs clenching.
And then he was
inside her, big and hard.
Their breathing changed, getting hoarser, raspier. Their coupling was primordial. Ferocious and famished. He thrust into her. Again and again. As if he could never get enough. Shoving them closer and closer to the limit.
They were almost there. Both of them. Ready to come together.
Melody made a ragged noise of encouragement. More. More.
He kept up the steady rocking, driving her deeper and deeper into the savage yearning that was changing everything she had ever known about herself and what she was capable of.
Luke thrust into her again and again. His entire being seemed to slide deeper and deeper into hers until she could not differentiate where her body stopped and his began.
Something earth-shattering happened. Something she’d never experienced before. It was as if his soul had leaped from his body and shot straight into hers along with his orgasm.
He cried out as his essence poured out of him, imbuing her with streaming currents of his masculine energy.
Together, they soared.
Just the two of them.
He cried out, jerked, just as she contracted her muscles, pulling him into her very center.
A second orgasm sprang up from inside her, flooded her body, drowning her brain. She was numb, wrung, spent.
Luke’s body shuddered, then went limp.
They clung to each other, helpless, as wave after wave of energy rippled through them. Gasping, he rolled over, sinking onto his back and taking her with him. He held her close as her chest heaved and quivered.
Wow.
They lay together for a long time afterward, drifting, coming down from the endorphin high. She flipped over onto her stomach and he curled up beside her, his head resting on the small of her back. She liked the feel of his hair against his skin. Liked the intimacy.
“I love this cute little birthmark,” he said, and pressed his lips to the area on her left butt cheek at the juncture of her thigh were she had a deep brown stain the size of a quarter. Because she couldn’t see it, she mostly forgot it was there.
“My mother calls it a stork bite. Theory is the stork bit me there while delivering me. You know the concept. Flying stork carrying a baby in a diaper. The image is an ad agency icon.”
“Where did they get the idea of babies coming from storks in the first place?” He paused to kiss his way up her heinie to the small of her back. “When the kiddies ask where they come from, and their folks are trying to think of a good lie, how did storks as the culprit leap to anyone’s mind?”
“Who knows.” She chuckled, enjoying the feel of his lips on her bare back. “Someone in creative smoking weed?”
“And this scar on your shoulder.” His lips were there now, tracing the jagged edges of the scar with his tongue. “I love it too. How did you get it?”
“I was in a skiing accident when I was nineteen. Christmas break. Park City, Utah. Night skiing. I don’t recommend it.”
“I never knew that.”
“Why would you? I was living in New York at the time.”
“I hate that you were hurt.” He massaged the scar, his body heat seeping into her muscles. “What happened?”
“I’d taken a spill, and another skier jumped over a mogul onto me and I took a ski pole in the shoulder. It could have been much worse. A few stitches and I was good as new.”
“But scarred.”
“An indelible reminder. A permanent souvenir. I’ll never forget Park City.” She turned halfway to look at him over her shoulder. He was leaning above her, his chin at the top of her head.
“You’re pretty damn resilient, Melly.”
“Aren’t most people?”
“Not really. A lot of folks have trouble letting go of old hurts.”
She poked her tongue against her cheek, thought about the family feud. “Point taken.”
He pulled her around as he fell over onto his side, until they were facing each other on top of the quilt. “But you know what I love most of all?”
She propped her head on her bent arm, elbow sunk into the pillow, stared into his face. God, he had such gorgeous eyes. Part brown. Part green. One hundred percent mesmerizing. “What’s that?”
“That crooked little tooth.” He reached over to run a finger over her lip above the tooth.
Immediately, she tucked her upper lip down over her teeth, hiding it from him. “What’s wrong with you? All the things you like about me are imperfections.”
“But they’re not,” he said. “They’re perfectly you. Anyone else could have straight teeth and unmarked skin and no scar at all, but only you have all three.”
“Oh, I’m certain someone else in the world has a shoulder scar, a big ugly birthmark on their butt, and a crooked tooth.”
“Not like yours. Only you have that special combo.”
“Lucky me.”
“You are lucky.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m here with you.”
“But not as lucky as I am.” He kissed the nape of her neck. “I got the better end of this deal.”
“How do you figure?”
“I’m in bed with a Madison Avenue advertising executive.”
“Not anymore,” she said, surprised to discover she didn’t feel badly about that.
“Why? You kicking me out of bed?”
“No,” she laughed. “I’m not an ad executive anymore.”
“You’ll be back.”
Honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted that anymore.
“Do you miss it something terrible?” he asked.
“I miss the challenge of it, but you know what? I don’t miss the pressure.”
“Really? I thought you thrived on pressure.”
“I am a deadline junkie,” she admitted. “Pressure gets the best out of me, but it also takes a lot of me too. Since I’ve been home, I’ve realized all the things I’ve been missing.”
“Like what?” he asked, toying with her hair.
“Time with family and friends.” She rolled over, looked up at him. “Great sex.”
“You didn’t have great sex before?”
“I was always in such a rush to meet deadlines that sex became just something else to check off my to-do list.”
“Stick around, darlin’, we’re just getting started,” he murmured.
“Mmm,” she purred.
And then they were making love all over again.
Chapter 18
LUKE studied her in the morning light filtering through the curtains. God, but she was beautiful and sexy and irresistible.
And it wasn’t just lust rousing him, although she stirred plenty of that, Luke genuinely liked her. She was quick-witted and professional, eager, goal-oriented, a real go-getter. Of course, that was part of the problem, wasn’t it? There was nothing much to go get here in Cupid. Everything he’d ever wanted was here.
But Melody? This town couldn’t hold her dreams. They were simply too big.
She stretched her arms over her head and smiled at him, guileless as the girl he’d once known, but different too—more beautiful and self-confident in maturity. Multifaceted. His Melody.
She’s not yours.
Crazy. He’d never had thoughts like this about any other woman. Wanting to brand her, make her his.
Yeah, maybe she wasn’t his permanently, but for right now? Yes, she was.
“Why are you looking so serious?” Hair falling over her sleepy eyes, she reached over to trace a finger over his cheek. “I’m usually the serious one.”
He lifted one corner of her mouth, gave her a half smile. God, she was gorgeous. He raised himself up on one elbow, hovered over her, those big brown eyes taking him hostage.
She sank her top teeth into her plump bottom lip. An invitation? Or was she feeling insecure?
Compelled, he leaned in for a kiss—light, tender, testing to see if she was interested in doing more than kissing.
“Nice,” she murmured and slipped slender arms aroun
d his neck, pulling his head down, parting her teeth, darting out her pink tongue in open invitation.
A groan of pleasure rose up in his throat as he slipped his tongue inside her, while simultaneously slipping his hand up the nape of her neck and spearing his fingers through her wild, thick hair.
She wriggled beneath him and he was instantly hard enough to cut sheet metal with his dick. He was in so much freaking trouble and she was killing him, but man, what a way to go.
He nibbled her bottom lip, and then moved down her chin to her throat. She moaned softly, arched her neck. He smiled against her skin. Ah, he’d found a sensitive spot.
“Do you have any idea how damn sexy you are?” he whispered.
She laughed.
Of course she did, the seductive wench. Just for that, he playfully bit the sensitive spot on her throat again, before flicking his tongue over her jaw and following the firm, smooth line up to capture her earlobe between his teeth.
“Oh my.” She breathed.
He went back for a second helping of that delicious mouth. Face it. He was a greedy bastard, devouring her as if she was his last meal, and she didn’t seem to mind in the least. In fact, she seemed just as hungry as he. Giving as good as she got. She ran her palms over his back, stroking him in all the right places.
Things were getting too heated. He wanted to savor this.
“Whoa,” he said, breaking contact. “We better slow things down if you don’t want this over in twenty seconds.”
Her breath came out in short, hot gasps and her eyes widened and he simply could not resist. With a groan, he pulled her into his arms, rolled onto his back, taking her along with him. She ended up straddling his waist, her knees planted on either side of the mattress.
Mischievously, she rocked back causing her buttocks to bump against his erection.
He ran his hands down her spine, stopping when he got to her slim waist.
How had he gotten so lucky?
Enjoy it while you can. It won’t last.
He knew that. Had told himself from the beginning not to expect too much, but damn if he hadn’t already gone ahead and fallen head over heels in love.