“My neighbor,” she says, her voice a breathy tone that drives me wild. “He’s driving me to distraction.”
“And?” I can’t let her get off that easy.
Another scowl, she thrusts back. Testing.
I raise one brow.
She licks her lips. “All I can think about is how good he licks my pussy.”
“I see. Like this?” I dive for her cunt, licking into her, thrusting my tongue in and out before flicking her clit.
“God yes, like that.” She rocks back on her heels.
I suck. Prod. Tempt and torture until she shakes with the need to come.
And then I deny her.
“What else?” I demand, rising to my full height.
Her hips move, swaying, beckoning me. Like a siren’s song luring me into breaking. Despite my overwhelming need to take her, I have no intention of giving in to her silent demands.
A strangled breath escapes her throat. “I think about him fucking me.”
“Hmm…” Jaw aching from the effort of my restraint, I deliver a series of hard, rapid slaps to her ass until we are both panting and she pushes into each blow. “Too bad you’re not ready to be fucked.”
“Oh, I am.”
“I don’t think so.” I circle her clit before plunging two fingers into her hot, wet depths. “You’ve been very naughty.”
I keep my strokes shallow, and when her climax builds, I ease off.
She groans, banging her fist on the wood of the bench.
I yank her up and, standing behind her, I undo the knot at her rib cage, spreading the fabric to reveal her bare breasts. “You came here naked?”
“Yes.”
“You are a bad girl.” My bad girl. I run my thumbs over the tips before dragging my knuckles up and down her nipples.
She strains, twists. Rubs her ass along my cock.
I don’t relent, skimming one hand down her stomach, over the curve of her hip before dipping into her pussy. I slide into her wet heat, and I listen to her breathy moans until I can’t take it anymore. Slick with her arousal, I return to her breasts, circling her puckered nipple. Repeating the motion with my other hand.
When the hard buds glisten, I pinch and roll, pulling her nipples until she cries out.
I trail a path down her stomach. “Open those legs wider.”
She complies without hesitation.
“Aren’t you a good girl.” I play with her, stroking until she bows under my hands.
Her head falls back against my chest. “Please, Lukas, I am so, so ready.”
“Look at me.” My voice sounds foreign somehow, as though it belongs to someone else.
Her head tilts up, meeting my gaze. Her eyes are glazed over, her cheeks flushed, full lips parted. Her beautiful face is filled with passion, her expression open and trusting.
I stroke her jaw. “Mine.”
“Yes.” A whispered admission.
And just like that, the game is over.
I spin her around and claim her mouth in a hard, possessive kiss. She plasters herself against the length of my body, wrapping her arms around my neck while she gives back with wild abandon.
So Abby. So addictive. I don’t think I can ever get enough.
Our mouths fuse and I need closer.
I fist her hair to anchor her in place, ravaging her mouth.
She unbuckles the belt of my pants, her fingers no longer hesitant like the first time, but sure and confident. She reaches into my boxer briefs and my cock strains.
I break the kiss, gripping her fingers to stop her.
In confusion, her brown eyes meet mine.
Chest squeezing with unnamed emotions I shake my head. “You can’t touch me right now. Just let me inside.”
Abby
I drop my hand. Lukas’s dark, intense gaze stares down at me, making my heart pound so hard it might burst from my chest. Tucked into the elastic of my stockings, I pull out a condom and press it into his hand.
Everything’s turned silent between us. The air is heavy with desire, and something else I can’t quite name. Without a word, he lifts me up on the tool bench, sheathes himself and drives into me with such force it takes my breath away.
My head drops back as my body clamps around his welcome invasion.
“Don’t come yet.” His voice is strained, hoarse.
Every nerve on fire, my body screams for release. I’ve been on edge so long, and I’m so ready. I promise a meager, “I’ll try.”
He moans. “So, hot and tight and wet.”
My back bows as I meet his thrusts. His strokes are hard and sure, driving me crazy. I cry out when his cock drags along an exquisitely pleasurable spot.
“Do not come, Abby.” His demand only makes me more desperate. More needy.
I fight the impending orgasm.
He slows his rhythm.
The frantic inevitability abates but I tingle all over, poised on the very edge of exploding. It’s the most delicious feeling.
He grinds his hips, catching my clit. I pull him close, wrapping my arms around his waist, digging my nails into his ass.
I tighten around his shaft.
He stills. “Not yet. Jesus, your cunt feels good.”
I throb. Pulse. On the brink of climax, he fills me and I will my body to calm.
The sound of our ragged breathing fills the small room.
I plead, “Lukas.”
Something dark and untamed passes across his face.
He slams into me with one brutal thrust.
A cry rips from my throat. I’m invaded. Possessed. Utterly claimed. And I love every second of it.
He grips the back of my neck. “Watch.”
I shift my attention off his face to stare down at him plunging deep inside me.
In that second something breaks between us, spilling into the air surrounding us.
I’m pushed beyond my control. Beyond reason.
He drives harder. So hard I slide against the table. He yanks me back. “So fucking good, Abby.”
The sounds of our bodies slapping together, the wet suctioning as he fucks me, the smell of sex filling the air is all too much.
Sweat beading my temples, I shake. “I can’t wait.”
“Now.” On a grunt, he quickens his already frenzied pace.
The orgasm coils hot and tight in my belly.
I explode.
Intense waves of pleasure rack through me with such force I scream. His mouth crashes on mine, swallowing my loud groans. The contractions go on and on, and I lose myself in the climax.
He shudders and comes, breaking the kiss with a low, harsh growl against my lips.
Air humid with the sweat of our bodies, I pant for breath. For sanity.
Something indefinable shifts and clicks into place inside me.
Before I can examine it too closely, Lukas lifts his head, his brown eyes assessing. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come,” I say on a puff of air. Maybe showing up at his work hadn’t been the best idea, but he hadn’t seemed to mind in the moment. I’d thought a long time about this particular item on my list and decided this was one fantasy I wanted to take control of. Lukas has done so many great things for me; I’d wanted to give something back, so I concocted my plan. Once decided, I hadn’t been able to wait to act, so I’d impulsively gone shopping and here I was.
His dark brows draw together. “What are you talking about?”
I’m boneless, and content, and can’t work up too much worry. “Aren’t you mad I came to your work?”
“Are you kidding me? Feel free to show up in any costume you want.” He grins, lowering his voice. “Shit, come in a burlap sack, I don’t care.”
“So what am I never supposed to do again?”
“Scare the shit out of me. The way you came in here, I thought something terrible had happened.” He pulls out, tossing the condom in a nearby trashcan.
I slide off the tool bench
, smoothing my minuscule skirt back into place. “How about this? I’ll give you a signal. If I show up in a sweat suit, no makeup and my hair in a ponytail, you’re screwed.”
He laughs. “Good plan.”
The tension is gone from his face and he looks relaxed and happy. Eyes bright, his broad smile with its lone dimple makes him almost boyish. Completely adorable. No longer the unobtainable sex god, bad boy—he’s just Lukas. Mine.
He trails one long finger along my jaw.
My chest tightens. The truth hits me like a ton of bricks.
Oh no… I’ve gone and done the unthinkable. After telling myself to keep it simple, do I listen? No, of course not.
Like an idiot, I’ve fallen in love with him.
10
Abby
I’m in hell. Pure hell.
The devil himself couldn’t have devised torture this effective.
From across the table, at the restaurant where my family is meeting Lukas for the first time, my dad frowns at him. “So you don’t have a backup plan?”
“Dad!” I shake my head, appalled and embarrassed. Why had I thought this was a good idea? Because it’s an utter disaster. My conservative father hasn’t stopped obsessing on Lukas’s career for the last twenty minutes and takes every lull in the conversation to bring it up.
Lukas smiles cordially. “Nope, I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.”
The guy is a trooper; I’ll give him that. He’s taken all the questions with a good-natured affability.
At least my mom is charmed, albeit distracted. She’d normally be more help in keeping my dad in line; only she’s preoccupied with counting how many mimosas Eden has slugged back in the last hour.
“Personally,” Eden says, a dazzling smile highlighting her perfectly white teeth. “I love a man who’s spontaneous.”
My mother isn’t the only charmed one.
I dig my nails into my palms resting on my lap and pray for a quick death. My family is not normal. This is not normal. My dad’s obsessing. My mom is fretting over Eden. And my big sister, well, the drunker she gets, the more she flirts with Lukas.
It’s sickening.
I’m so tense you could probably snap me in half. I can feel Eden’s venom directed at me. The competitiveness that demands she obliterate me. That I have something she thinks should be hers.
In her eyes, I can see she believes she can take Lukas away from me. Her intention to steal him, it shines in her gaze and I feel powerless to stop any of it.
Lukas has politely ignored her fawning, but really, he’s got to be flattered. All men are smitten with Eden. I can’t believe Lukas will be the exception. It’s impossible not to fall deep in lust with her, I don’t even blame him, it’s biology.
It doesn’t matter that she has no depth to her personality, or that her choice in a career is her next sugar daddy, or even that she has a tiny drinking problem.
Nope, none of that matters when she looks like that.
“It’s a dangerous job, a backup plan would be prudent.” My dad continues, scratching his salt-and-pepper head, looking as though he’s calculating some complex mathematical equation. He is an actuary, assessing risk is in his blood, but still, this is beyond humiliating.
Lukas’s fingers slide under my hair and settle on the curve of my neck, rubbing a little but it does nothing to ease my tension. “I’m very careful, sir.”
My father opens his mouth, but I hold up a hand. “That’s enough, Dad. Not everyone has a five-year plan.”
“Besides, Daddy, a little danger never hurt anyone,” Eden purrs, fluttering thick, sooty lashes at Lukas. “You’re very brave.” She shifts her attention to me, a smirk on her full, pouty lips. “Really, Abby’s such a bookworm and so careful, how’d she ever manage to catch such a daredevil like you?”
It’s not a compliment, and despite my best efforts, I feel the sting.
I’m close to the breaking point. All I want to do is get out of this seat and run until nobody can find me.
Lukas’s thigh presses against mine. “Abby is the smartest, most interesting woman I know.”
I squirm in my chair. I’m trying, I swear I’m trying my very best, but this is triggering the worst of all my memories. I’m trying to be logical, telling myself that Eden will only push my buttons if I let her. But my heart isn’t buying any of it. No, it keeps reminding me that Eden is a carbon copy of the type of woman I’d seen traipsing down Lukas’s sidewalk a million times.
I’m miserable. All my hard work over the past six weeks evaporates like a mirage. The corners of my eyes sting and my throat burns. I won’t cry now. I’ll wait until later, when I’m alone.
Eden flashes another sly smile at Lukas, like they share some sort of secret. “Abby’s the brains in the family and always so proper.”
My mom pats my hand. “We’re very proud of all Abby has accomplished.”
I offer my mom a shaky tilt of my lips.
“All those numbers.” Eden laughs, waving her long fingers through the air before shrugging. “I mean, they are so boring, but at least you get paid decent.”
I shrug, unable to work up any pithy, sarcastic comebacks. I blow out a deep breath and accept my fate. It’s easiest that way. It’s not worth it. I can’t compete. All I want is to fade into the woodwork until this horrible brunch is over.
Which shouldn’t be difficult, I feel beyond invisible.
To think, this morning when I’d put on a new red-and-pink print sundress, and strappy sandals, I’d thought I looked nice, even pretty. But now, in the face of my sister, with all her glamour and oozing flirtation, all I can think about is how frumpy I must seem.
Since Eden always makes an entrance, she’d arrived twenty minutes late. Long waves of copper-gold hair set off her tanned skin and big green eyes as perfectly as her white halter dress set off her size-two figure.
There hadn’t been a man in the room who hadn’t stopped to gape.
Lukas tried to cover it, but I’d seen him look at her. Seen the way his eyes widened. The quick intake of breath. I don’t blame him. I get it. I’ve seen that look my entire life.
In that moment I realize I’m not realistic and pragmatic like I’ve been telling myself all these years, I’m insecure. My first thought is to wonder if Lukas regrets getting stuck with the ugly sister. That it had been silly of me even to try, because every time I tried, I got pushed back down to my proper station.
I hate myself for it.
No matter how much my brain tells me I’m being crazy, my heart doesn’t agree. Logically I know Lukas isn’t superficial, that he likes me for me. I believe it, really I do, he’s a good man with a strong sense of honor. But with every flirtatious glance and remark Eden tosses in his direction, I can’t help remembering the look on his face when she walked in. I clutch at my napkin.
As soon as she gets him alone, she’ll hit on him. There’s no question about that.
My one serious boyfriend I’d dared bring home hadn’t been able to resist her. Eden made sure I caught them kissing too. There’s no way she won’t move on Lukas the second she gets the chance.
Will he be able to resist?
I want to believe, but…
My mom smiles at Lukas. “So you and Abby are neighbors?”
“Yes.” Lukas clears his throat. “I moved in about a year ago.”
“If I’d known that, I would have visited my baby sister more often, but then Abby likes to keep things to herself.” Eden gives him a slow once-over then smirks at Abby. “I can’t blame you for wanting to play with the big boys.”
I cringe. Lukas’s fingers tighten on my neck as an uncomfortable silence descends.
“Eden,” my mom says. “That’s enough.”
“What?” Eden takes another sip of her cocktail. She’s already on her fourth drink. “I’m just making conversation with Abby’s neighbor, what’s the big deal?”
That she’d referred to Lukas as my neighbor instead of my boyfriend confirms m
y suspicions that she’s waiting to strike.
“You’ve had enough, young lady.” My dad scowls at his oldest daughter, and I can’t help feeling terrible at the deep sadness in his faded green eyes.
I brace myself. Because I know what comes next. This is when everything becomes about Eden.
Eden chuckles, low and throaty. “Daddy, it’s brunch, you’re supposed to drink mimosas.”
My parents have tried to get Eden into rehab a couple of times, but she insists she doesn’t have a problem. And until she wants help, there isn’t much we can do. My parents are good, kind-hearted people and they don’t have it in them to cut their oldest daughter off. So they enable her and the problem continues.
Eden glances at me, her expression cold. “You’re just used to Abby who’s so busy being perfect she doesn’t even know how to have a good time.”
My spine straightens.
Lukas leans over and I flinch as his breath falls across the shell of my ear. “I’m going to say something.”
God no, that will just make it worse. I understand his need to rescue, but it won’t help. I shake my head and whisper, “Please don’t.”
He cups my jaw and turns my chin to stare into my eyes. He assesses me for a long, silent moment before nodding. “One more word against you and nothing you say will stop me. Understood?”
And just like that, I snap out of it.
What am I thinking? This is Lukas. He’s not going to get swept away by a pretty face.
I nod. “Yes.”
“We’ll talk about this when we get home.” His words soothe me, calm me down.
Home. Lately, he’s taken to doing that. Treating our houses like a mutual dwelling. It makes me ache for a real future with him, one I’m scared to reach out for and grab. But I’ll think about that later.
For now, I need to get through this meal.
I take a deep breath.
I can do this. All I need is a moment to compose myself. Get back on my game.
I turn to the table. “Please excuse me.”
The Burn List Page 11