Never Over You

by Ryleigh Andrews

  “I promise—probably even more.”

  “I need you, Ethan. You ground me,” she spoke, her vulnerability not hidden. He could see the panic swimming around her.

  “You have me. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Luke

  Keeping Mia entertained took more effort than Luke thought possible and the fleeting glances at Allie over the past few days had built up to the point that he thought he’d explode. So, despite the tiredness he felt, he decided to push himself in Mia’s gym. After his workout, he took a quick shower in the gym’s bathroom and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. When he reached the second floor, he found Allie working in the open office area between the bedrooms. Luke had to go past her to get to his room.

  Instead of ignoring her, he felt compelled to sit down in the empty seat next to her. She continued to work but he saw the twitch of her mouth that gave him a sense of satisfaction. He got to her. She wasn’t as indifferent as she tried to appear. And he liked that—immensely.

  Sitting in silence, he stared at her profile. Her long, blonde hair was held back from her face in a tight bun, a pair of dark rectangular frames perched low on her nose. He really liked those glasses on her. Hell, he really liked this all-business Allie, but he also loved the way she was in the bedroom. Sultry, carefree, open … and his.

  In the bedroom she wasn’t thinking about whatever the fuck caused her to bail on him. No—she focused on what he did to her body.

  He turned her chair to him and pulled it closer, her legs finding a home between his.

  “Luke,” she said quietly.

  He didn’t know if it was said in protest or anticipation. Maybe a combination of both. He reached out, his thumb following the contour of her cheek down towards her pouty mouth, sliding over her lower lip. She held her breath a few long moments before releasing it in a shaky huff. Leaning in closer but careful not to touch her, his lips hovered near her ear.

  “The way your body reacts to me is in direct contrast to the way you treat me. Your body craves mine,” he said with a long pause. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. My body craves all of you.”

  The moment his lips fell to hers, he felt the flutter of her breath—her surrender. At that point, getting her on his lap was no problem. With her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, his tongue swept out against her upper lip, demanding entrance. Allie accepted him with a moan in the back of her throat, dialing up the urgency level. His kiss was deep as he explored her mouth, tasting her, memorizing her.

  She thrust her fingers in his hair, tilting his head to a better angle. He was fine with her controlling the kiss. He wanted to see what she would do. Plus he had more important things he wanted to concentrate on, like exploring her body with his hands. His fingers skimmed up and down her arms and settled momentarily on her waist before he pushed up under her blouse, the tips of his fingers finally on her hot skin. Her torso seemed to go on forever but he eventually got to his destination—her full breasts.

  The contact had her pausing her kiss, but just for a second. With that hesitation, he swept his thumb against her nipple, and she made the sweetest little moan.

  “Ah, your body so likes this,” Luke said against her neck before he went lower to her collarbone and then to the top of the valley that was her contained cleavage. He slid one hand out of her shirt and went about unbuttoning it. He had to get his mouth on her breasts again. Once unfastened, he popped the front clasp to her bra, freeing her heavy breasts so he could feast upon them. He held one up in his hand as he lowered his head. The instant he touched her taut nipple with his tongue, a shrill sound startled him. He ignored it and went back to her breast, but the damn noise kept repeating.

  “What the fuck is that?” he murmured against her soft breast.

  Allie steadied her hands on his shoulders. “It’s Ethan. I have to get that,” she stated breathlessly as she scrambled out of his lap. She reached for her phone and quickly answered it.

  “Hi, Ethan,” she said, out of breath. She pulled the two halves of her shirt together to cover herself and Luke sighed. They’d be going no further tonight. “No, I’m fine … Uh, yeah. He’s right here,” Allie said and handed him the phone.

  His eyebrows furrowed together as he accepted the phone from Allie. What the hell did Ethan want with him? The moment he put the phone to his ear, Allie started buttoning up her shirt.

  “What’s up?”

  “I need to hear from you how my wife is. She’s pretty much all smiles for me, but I see the anxiety beneath the surface …”

  With a sigh, he adjusted his pants, watching Allie sneak away to her bedroom. “She doesn’t want you to worry. Allie and I have been on her like a hawk. For the most part, she is doing fine, but the unknown is eating away at her. She needs you.”

  “Two games in five days couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

  “She’ll be home on Friday.”

  “You’re confident.”

  “I am. She’s following orders. She’s very determined to get back to you.”

  “I have a private jet secured for Friday to get you back. Allie has all the details.”

  “Don’t worry, Ethan. Win another game. We’ve got this for you.”

  Luke

  Luke had never been so happy to have a plane touch asphalt. That was the flight from hell. The turbulence was the worst he’d ever experienced. Not only was he worried about hurling all over the cabin, he was worried about how this was affecting Mia. When the plane plummeted what seemed like twenty thousand feet in three seconds, he thought she had had it. She was breaking. She’d been trying to be strong, but this flight would’ve tested the most seasoned traveler.

  When the pilot announced they’d be landing outside of Chicago, the three of them let out a collective sigh of relief. Allie made quick arrangements to get a limo for them. Luke took care of all the luggage while Mia beelined it to the bathroom where he hoped she was just going to the bathroom and not throwing up.

  As they got in the limo, Mia’s weariness seeped from her body. “Are you sure you want to go to Indy tonight? We could stay at your place and head on back tomorrow morning after some rest. You must be exhausted …”

  “No. I want to go home to Ethan,” she insisted again, though a yawn escaped her lips.

  “Okay, but rest—please.”

  “Fine,” she grumbled.

  “Come here,” he said, bringing her close. As Mia snuggled into him, he threw his jacket over her like a blanket. Within a minute, she was asleep and her head slipped to his lap.

  “Have you told Ethan about the continued bed rest?” he asked Allie. At Mia’s doctor appointment, she had been given the all-clear to return home because her blood pressure had gone way down, but the doctor had still ordered bed rest for the foreseeable future.

  Allie raised her eyes and shook her head. “No, I haven’t had the chance to with all this travel. She’s going to go stir-crazy.”

  “Looks like you’ll be busy. Better hire yourself an assistant!”

  “I need to broach that with everyone actually. Ethan uses up most of my time, but I still have to do stuff for the band, too.”

  “Speaking of Ethan,” Luke said as his phone buzzed. He slipped it out of his chest pocket and answered it. “What’s up?”

  “Why has no one contacted me? How’s my wife? Where the fuck are you? I thought you were supposed to be in Indy, but I was told the plane never landed there. Can you imagine what I thought?” Ethan bellowed.

  “Dude—sorry. Honestly. Those storms were awful and we all agreed that the pilot should land in Chicago. Your wife was scared. We’re on the road now, just getting on the Skyway.”

  “How was the appointment?” he asked and Luke could hear his apprehension. Poor guy.

  “Her blood pressure was down but still higher than it has been, so the doctor told her continued bed rest. She has an appointment on …” Luke paused, looking at Allie, hoping she remembered.

  “Monday afternoon,�
�� she supplied.

  “On Monday afternoon. The doctor sent over his notes and talked with her doctor here. He was in agreement with the bed rest. She now goes weekly to get her blood pressure checked.”

  “Fuck,” Ethan said quietly and then he was silent for a moment. “Can I talk to her?”

  “No, she’s fast asleep. Unless you want me to wake her?”

  “Uh … no. Don’t do that. When should you guys arrive?”

  “I’m thinking around two.”

  “How scared is she?” Ethan asked. Luke had wondered when he was going to ask that.

  “She’s doing everything that Allie and I tell her to do, except when we suggested spending the night at the brownstone. She is determined to get to you tonight. So what does that tell you?”

  “She’s scared out of her mind!”

  “I mean, don’t get me wrong, Allie and I are loving that she’s being so agreeable.”

  “I prefer the ornery Mia to be honest,” Allie piped in.

  “Are you nuts?” Luke exclaimed, his eyes locked on her.

  Ethan laughed. “Ornery Mia is never boring.”

  Luke relayed what Ethan said to Allie. Her laughter bubbled out. “It’s true.”

  “Well, Ethan … and Allie, you guys better prepare because Mia is not going to like bed rest and she’ll be one ornery motherfucker. Excuse my language.”

  Ethan sighed in response.

  “Yeah, you know I’m right!”

  “I don’t even know what to do,” Ethan admitted, frustration lacing his voice.

  Luke motioned for Allie to get her phone and then quickly added her to the conversation. “Ethan, I’ve added Allie to the call.”

  “Hi, Allie,” Ethan said.

  “Hi.”

  “So …” Luke began. “How do we help Mia through the next couple months?”

  “Couple months?” choked Ethan.

  “Oh, didn’t I say that?” Luke answered, looking at Allie. “You tell him the rest.”

  As Allie went into all the details, Luke observed the sleeping face of his best friend. He tenderly moved her hair out of her face. Right now, Mia seemed peaceful. She needed to stay that way. He didn’t like what he had read about her condition. Seizures. Death. It scared him. Everyone had good reason to be scared.

  “How about we discuss this more tomorrow? I’m not going in the office until late, maybe not even at all. So, how about lunch?” Allie and Ethan agreed. “Okay. See you in a few hours, Ethan.”

  “Poor Ethan,” Allie sighed. “He’s flipping out.”

  “He needs to rein that in. We all do. We can’t let her see how much this gets to us.”

  “Between the three of us, we should be able to handle whatever needs to be done,” she said, her voice lacking its normal confidence.

  “I’m going to get you that assistant,” he said, determined not to have her stressed out over this.

  “No, now’s not the time.”

  “Now is the perfect time,” he countered. “Ethan and I travel a lot. You can’t be expected to do it all. Plus you shouldn’t be doing their grocery shopping. Let’s have someone else do that.”

  “I don’t mind doing that if it needs to be done to help.”

  “I know you don’t and Ethan knows that too. After we figure things out tomorrow, we’ll conference Marty and the rest of the guys and talk about it. It’ll be fine.”

  “If you say so …” His eyebrows rose at that. She doubted him? How the hell could she doubt him? He liked the small bit of vulnerability she’d been showing him the past few days. But he wasn’t kidding himself—they still had a long way to go to get to something more than sex. There was something she was holding close to her chest, blocking her heart.

  “What? It’s easy?”

  “Ha! No! Definitely not easy. It’s a lot managing the band—four individuals, even though they are a band, they each have their own things. And now throw in their new record label. We’ve all been busy finding potential artists to sign. More than likely, I’ll be managing them or at the very least guiding them. My workload has definitely picked up,” she admitted. Luke saw her under this stress while in close quarters in L.A.

  “You can’t continue to manage the band, the record label, and be Mia and Ethan’s personal assistant.”

  “I don’t mind …”

  “I know you don’t. I know you do it because you care.”

  It was hard to see in the dark interior of the limo but he swore he saw a smile on her face. It changed her face so much—so carefree.

  “Let’s talk to Ethan and the band tomorrow.”

  “Now’s not the time.”

  And stubborn … maybe that’s why Allie and Mia got on so well together.

  “Mia and Ethan need their own personal assistant. Someone else to do the grunt work. You are so above that and Mia knows it. They won’t be upset. They care for you. In the coming months their demands on your time are only going to increase, taking more time from the band and the record label. This needs to happen.”

  “I know you’re right but …”

  “But what?” he challenged her.

  She stewed it over for a few moments before answering him. “I’d be happy with an assistant now. A PA for them can wait. I can help. I want to help. Ethan is like a brother to me. Mia is one of my best friends. I don’t want that hired out. If I can get an assistant, I can still help my friends. We can worry about the PA later.”

  “I’m glad that’s settled,” Luke laughed.

  “So optimistic,” she replied.

  “I am. You can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing. You’re going to drive yourself nuts.”

  “Maybe I’m already there,” she said followed by a sleepy yawn.

  “I think you are …”

  “What?”

  “Let me clarify. You were on twenty-four seven this past week, and from an outsider’s point of view, this didn’t seem to be a rare occurrence. It seemed like the norm. Do you ever relax?”

  “Maybe I don’t want to relax …”

  Even though she yawned again, there was some bite to her words. Luke was beginning to think there was a reason she didn’t want to relax. And he wanted to find out why.

  Not too long after that, Allie fell asleep too, snuggled up in her coat. Luke decided to follow the lead of these two ladies of his heart. When he woke up, the limo had just pulled into the neighborhood where both he and the Christophers lived. Both Allie and Mia were still asleep. He checked his phone and saw that it was just a little after two in the morning. They’d be at Ethan’s in a few minutes.

  “Allie,” he whispered a little loudly but not loud enough. She didn’t budge. “Allie, we’re here.”

  He watched her wake up. The way she pushed out her chest, those fantastic breasts straining the fabric as she stretched. Fuck—he wanted her.

  “God, I’m tired,” she groaned as she righted herself in the seat and his cock immediately sprang to life.

  Luke didn’t have time to dwell on his hard on. The limo turned onto Ethan’s road. As they pulled into the driveway, he realized he had no car. He so didn’t feel like walking to his place right now. “Fuck, my car is at the airport.”

  She giggled softly. “So is mine.”

  When the vehicle stopped, Luke saw Ethan waiting for them. He needed Allie as a buffer so Ethan didn’t wake Mia in his haste to get to her. “You get out first.”

  “Ugh, I don’t want to!” she pouted, putting on her jacket to guard against the chill. As she exited the limo, Luke’s eyes strayed to her ass, the way the fabric hugged her had his cock waking back up. God, he needed to get laid. The moment she got out, Ethan stuck his head inside, instantly deflating his hard-on.

  That’s what friends were for.

  But Ethan didn’t care about that; his focus was on his wife sleeping in Luke’s lap. “She’s still asleep,” Luke informed him.

  “Okay,” Ethan said as he knelt into the car to take Mia from Luke. Ethan slipped h
is arms beneath her and drew her to him.

  “Ethan,” Mia sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Hi, suga. Welcome home,” he said, kissing her forehead and removing her from the limo. As Luke climbed out, Ethan addressed them as he walked towards the house, his wife secure in his arms. “You two just spend the night. I’m not driving you anywhere. Get the luggage and just bring it inside.”

  Luke looked at the chauffeur pulling the many bags out of the trunk. He looked over at Allie, resting against the passenger side, looking utterly exhausted. “Go on in,” he said, handing her one of Mia’s bags. “I’ll get all this.”

  “You sure?” she asked, pushing off the car.

  He nodded and she headed off to the house without another word. It took him a few trips but he got all their suitcases into the foyer. He closed the door and decided to go to the kitchen, but stopped when he saw Allie, resting on the couch in the great room. She had taken off her coat, but that was as far as she’d gotten before passing out.

  “Come on, Allie, off to bed with you.”

  “No,” she mumbled.

  He bent down and lifted her in his arms. She didn’t put up a fight. Exhaustion had a deep hold on her. Luke brought Allie to the guest room. Pulling down the blankets, he gently placed her on the bed. He never thought his experience doing this for his daughter would ever come in handy with a woman he was trying to sleep with. Carefully removing her heels, his fingers lingered on her bare feet before tucking them and her beneath the blanket.

  Her sigh was such a lovely sound and before he could think about it further, Luke placed his lips upon her forehead and kissed her. “I’m going to fight for you, Allie. Know that. Get ready.”

  Mia

  A smile came to her face as she realized she was in the safe cocoon of her husband’s embrace. Mia was beyond happy to be home. Being with her husband again brought her a sense of peace she hadn’t had the past week. Ethan grounded her. When panic and anxiety tried their best to dig their claws into her, all she had to do was picture him, feel him, and smell him—especially now that she was pregnant. There were no anti-anxiety drugs to take—it was all her and the tools she’d learned over the years.