by Maddie Jane
Maybe.
She ran her fingers through her hair, which was in desperate need of a cut. It felt hot and heavy in her hand as she twisted the long curls on top of her head for a second to cool her neck, before releasing it all to tumble down her back. She wished she’d dressed differently, but there was no time to change now, as he stood, hand poised to knock on her front door.
A rush of heat swept over her as she opened up. Partially attributable to the midday summer temperature, the other part pure Luke. The prospect of a glorious day with a glorious man so much more appealing than battling alone with the floor sander.
‘Snap,’ said Luke, grinning as his gaze swept over her faded jeans, black T-shirt and sneakers. ‘We’ll blend in with the roadies.’ They set off down the drive.
‘We’ll take my truck,’ said Luke. He looked up at the sky, which spread perfect and cloudless above them.
‘We’ll never get a park.’
‘It’s too far to walk and I have a VIP parking spot, if that helps. It’s the only reason I drove my new truck today.’
‘You? A VIP? How?’
‘Friends with one of the bands. The Jetts.’ He opened the car door and reached into the car for his sunglasses. ‘You got sunblock on? I always forget my ears.’
Harper laughed. ‘And I was standing here thinking you were The Man. I love the Jetts! They’re my go-to music choice when I’m working at home. So cool.’ She tried to suppress another burst of laughter. ‘But then you start talking about sunblock.’
Amusement flickered in Luke’s face. ‘I’m also friends with the first aid guys at the venue. Half the casualties at these events are a result of too much sun and not enough water.’
‘Good to know, grandma.’
‘You do nothing for a guy’s ego, you know that, don’t you?’
‘The guys I’ve come across in the past are better off for it.’
‘For having their pride smashed underfoot? Seems a bit extreme, even for a woman like you.’ He walked around the side of the truck to stand before her.
‘What do you mean, a woman like me?’
Luke reached out an arm to rest it on the truck, leaning towards her. He made a soft humming sound in his throat, as he chose his words. ‘I mean someone who perhaps doesn’t know her own strength and has more of an effect on others than she thinks she does. A woman who draws people in but is then disappointed when they don’t live up to her own high standards.’ Luke tucked a wayward curl behind Harper’s ear and leaned a little closer. ‘The problem with us, is that I know, on some weird twisty Harper’s-world level, that you really like me—no matter how much you’re trying to deny it to both of us. It’s the only reason I’m here. If you really, really wanted to kick me for touch, you’d have done it by now.’
His thumb trailed down her cheek and along her jaw, a light brush that sent shivers of delight sparking through her system. Slowly dawdling across her bottom lip the caressing fingertip felt rough against her skin. She grabbed his hand, not sure whether her intention was to stop the wandering fingers or to hold them in place so she could freeze the moment. Savour the warmth of his skin, the slight callous on his palm, the scent of coconut sunscreen.
She was like a coconut. Luke had peeled away her outer fibrous husk and exposed the shell hidden beneath, which looked tough but was actually thin; feeble protection against someone undeterred by her defences. She breathed deeply, her eyelids fluttering as his face came closer, knowing he was about to kiss her. His gaze held hers fleetingly before his mouth descended in a crushing kiss. There was nothing gentle or gentlemanly about this kiss. He backed her against the truck, the length of his body pressing against hers as his hands moved to hold her head, angling her to deepen the kiss. The vehicle was hot beneath her back, as hard and unyielding as Luke. Trapped between a truck and a hard place, her last coherent thought was that there was nothing to do but kiss her way out of it.
And kiss she did, her lips meeting his with joyous abandon that washed all sensibility from her mind and wrung moans from her that could probably be heard from across the street. The man knew how to kiss. If he hadn’t had her pressed upright against the truck she’d have slumped to the ground on shaking knees. His magic mouth trailed hot and wet down the sensitive cord of her neck and she threw back her head, flagrantly offering herself up for more.
The resultant tingles ricocheted through her, rocketing down, down, down to her nether regions, where a steady hum had started to build. Luke adjusted his position, pushing his denim-clad thigh between Harper’s legs and she pressed herself against him, suddenly too hot, her jeans too tight. She sighed with frustrated pleasure against his mouth and allowed herself the tiniest wiggle against his thigh. Just one, before reluctantly giving him a shove.
He’d done it again. Reduced her to a sex-crazed beast, only seconds away from goodness-knows-what in the driveway. She was clammy and wanting and he was hard and waiting, his lips still trailing heat across her collarbone, his thigh still a persistent pressure between her legs.
‘The show,’ Harper mumbled.
‘What show?’ Luke’s gaze swung briefly round before zeroing back on her. ‘Oh, you mean the one we’re giving the neighbours?’ His eyes were hooded as he gazed down at her, allowing her a moment to focus.
‘The show—I mean the concert. The one we haven’t made it to because we’re making out in the driveway.’ Harper stared at Luke. His lips looked a little swollen, even as they lifted into the most adorable smirk, compelling her to lean forward on tip toes and kiss him again. ‘The Jetts—remember? Sunscreen?’
‘Oh yeah. That’s right. Though maybe you shouldn’t go out in the sun with such delicate skin,’ said Luke, running his hands up her arms, then down her back until they rested under her bottom. Gently, he pulled her towards him and she placed her slender arms around his neck as he lifted her till they were eye to eye. Forehead to forehead. Together they took a deep, steadying breath.
‘I think I’ll survive,’ said Harper.
‘That goes without saying.’ Luke pulled away and opened the door of the truck for Harper, who noticed for the first time the signwriting on the new vehicle.
‘Colton Construction? You’re Colton Construction?’ Her voice rose in pitch and she stepped back, staring at the truck.
Luke frowned. ‘Yeah. I told you I had a construction company. And my name’s Colton …’
‘That’s not a construction company, it’s a friggin’ conglomerate.’
‘Hardly. Though we do own a few holdings not directly related to the construction industry. What’s the problem here?’
‘Nothing. No problem. I just hadn’t—didn’t click it was you, is all.’ Harper stumbled over her words. She could hardly say ‘everyone will think I’m just using you to get a step up’, could she now?
Chapter 13
Out of the midday heat the temperature in the truck plummeted further as the air conditioner adjusted itself to a bare step up from icy. Luke could see Harper’s mood had also taken a cold plunge. She’d turned away to stare out the window, not even attempting to make conversation.
He drove through the hot tar-baked streets of Auckland city, trying not to appear angry. But the truth was, he was pretty pissed off. How could Harper not have realised he owned Colton Construction? But there was a deeper question that gnawed at him: why hadn’t she cared enough to bother to find out anything about him? Surely it was pretty basic stuff to know what someone did for a living, even if it wasn’t that interesting a job to discuss.
‘What did you think I did for a living, then?’
‘I suppose I thought you were a small-time builder. You know, just a couple of hammer hands, an apprentice, that sort of thing. And I’d assumed it was a quiet time of year for you, hence why you were at your mother’s beck and call, coming to my classes.’
‘A big contract I was working on got delayed and we’re just waiting on a few things before restarting negotiations next week. And I’ve been at Mum’s b
eck and call ever since my father died.’ Luke’s stomach did the familiar dive thing at the mention of his father.
‘When was that?’
‘I was twelve. There was an … accident. An accident at home. Dad fell off some scaffolding.’ Luke’s hands clenched the steering wheel for support. It wasn’t that he never said the words out loud, just that he couldn’t ever say them without the taste of bile in his mouth. And guilt. To him they tasted the same. ‘Dad hadn’t expected to die and he hadn’t set up his affairs very well.’ Massive understatement. ‘The money was tied up for years and everything was held in trust until I was twenty-one. I inherited everything. Mum found it hard to get by and I had to watch her struggle—’ knowing it was all my fault.
‘I’m sorry about your dad. That must have been a terrible thing to go through.’ She swallowed. ‘Particularly so young. It’s probably why you’re so protective of your mother and sisters now.’
Luke stared bleakly ahead.
‘I don’t mean that as a criticism, just an observation. Psych 101 stuff, really,’ said Harper, her raspy voice unusually soft.
‘Thanks, Sigmund Freud.’ Luke forced his head to turn; made himself meet her curious gaze. ‘Looking after people is a responsibility I take seriously and always have. I’m a business owner with employees and the only male in a family of women.’
‘Yeah, but they’re all grown up and responsible for themselves.’
‘Doesn’t mean they don’t need help.’
‘You can’t help everybody all the time.’
‘Why not? Sometimes it’s just being a sounding board, to make sure they’ve thought things through. I help with finances and provide muscle when needed.’
‘I saw that with the macrocarpa sleepers,’ Harper said drily. ‘Those women thought you were Superman the way they loaded you up.’
‘Superman seems a bit glamorous. More of a pack mule. Anyway, that’s what I do. Keep the businesses I inherited ticking over for the next generation and look after everyone.’
‘All achieved with a one hundred per cent perfect health and safety record …’
‘You can take the mickey, but that Kiwi ‘she’ll be right’ attitude can have disastrous consequences. Remember how we met? You were dangling upside down from a ladder, I recall. Flashing your knickers for the world to see and inches from cracking your skull on the concrete floor.’
‘That’s the first time I’ve ever had a close call like that,’ Harper protested.
‘One close call, one slip-up, one foot in the wrong place on a ladder. It’s all it takes to kill yourself or someone else. Believe me. I saw my father after he fell.’
Harper swallowed again, her eyes widening, but she made no comment.
Luke’s truck crawled up the road at a snail’s pace. Traffic was thick, hindered by pedestrians weaving in and out, but they finally pulled into the makeshift VIP parking lot. For a minute or so, neither of them moved or spoke. Then with a shake of his head, Luke turned to Harper, reaching out to take her hand.
‘Hope that wasn’t too much of a downer for you. Listening to me drivel on.’
‘Are you serious? You had to listen to me the other day. I’d say we were about even.’ She squeezed his hand and he realised why she was the worst person in the world he could possibly fall in love with.
‘You remind me of him,’ Luke said.
‘Who? Your father?’ Harper looked startled. ‘Was he short and stroppy too?’
‘No. He was great. But he always thought his way was the only way.’ Luke smiled to soften his words, to soften the memory, then climbed out of the truck.
The blast of heat hit him like an oven wall as he closed the truck door on the aircon. Loud music carried from the stage, drums and wailing guitars from one of the warm-up acts. The smell of hot dogs and chips frying wafted towards them, making his stomach growl. Luke walked round from his side of the truck as Harper ejected herself from the truck’s cab. He beeped the lock and grabbed her hand.
‘Come on. Enough serious shit. Time to rock‘n’roll,’ he said, pulling her in the direction of the stage. The rest of the crowd seemed to be heading the same way and so Luke and Harper, holding tightly to each other’s hands, flowed along in the throng of people. Loud thumping beats of a familiar-sounding band reverberated on the summer air, lifting Luke’s mood. He smiled down at Harper, whose head bobbed in time.
He saw a few faces he recognised in the crowd, but made no move to head over and say hello. He knew a lot of people in Auckland and days like this drew large crowds making the most of the idyllic weather and cheap entertainment. Satisfied for now just to spend time with Harper, he steered her towards a more shaded side of the stage and they found a spot to sit on the grass, out of the crush.
‘The view’s not quite as good here, but at least you won’t get trampled.’
Harper adjusted her bag across her body so the strap sat between her breasts and the bag sat in her lap. Flicking her hair over one shoulder she leaned back on her hands, her legs stretched out before her. Face raised to the sky, she closed her eyes briefly in a sun-worshipper pose that brought a smile to his face and an ache to his heart. She was one damned hard woman to read. If he leaned over now and took those delectable lips in his, would she push him away, or welcome his kiss?
He resisted the urge and instead forced his gaze back to where a singer, dripping in sweat, cavorted across the sound stage, half singing, half yelling into a hand-held microphone. Beside him he felt Harper’s position alter slightly, her leg moving to touch his. Without taking his eyes off the performance onstage, Luke placed his hand on her hip and pulled her closer to his side. He felt her stiffen for a split second before she relaxed in to lean against him. He wrapped his arm around her waist and they sat close, enjoying the music, the atmosphere and each other’s company.
When the Jetts finally came on, Luke hauled Harper to her feet. ‘We can’t sit for this one.’
‘No way!’ She jumped up, excitedly, then let out a wail. ‘I’m so bloody short, I might as well be sitting. I can’t see a thing.’ All around them the crowd surged forward, eager for the main act to begin. Harper gripped Luke’s hand as if terrified of being pulled away into the sea of sweaty, chanting people. Protectively, he pulled her in front of him. Her head hard against his chest, he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Either side of them the crowd continued to push forward for a better view.
‘Could you lift me up?’
Light in his arms, he hoisted her straight up, so her bottom rested against his right shoulder. Her hand pressed against his neck and he stood like that for a minute or so, Harper enjoying her view of the concert, Luke enjoying the sensation of holding Harper in his arms. When she’d seen enough he loosened his hold and he slid her slowly down, breathing her in. Her T-shirt tangled in his hands, which made contact with bare skin. As she stood once again on the ground he kept his hand where it was, across the smooth skin of her stomach. Her hand rose to meet his and they moved in time to the music, their bodies pressed together.
They stayed like that for a long time, connected by touch and by the beat of the music, which throbbed wildly through them. Talk was impossible, the music too loud and the crowd too tumultuous around them, jostling them into a movement that was half-dance, half-bob.
Then the tempo changed, and the crowd slowed, winding back. Luke found himself swaying to a more gentle rhythm, his chin resting gently on top of Harper’s satiny, dark hair.
She felt silky smooth. All of her—her hair, her skin—if he let go she’d slip through his fingers and disappear into the dusk.
They left not long after, satisfied and dusty, neither of them appreciative of the more hard-core entertainment on the evening line-up. Luke drove Harper home, parked the truck in her driveway. His heart leapt as she edged out of the truck, her index finger crooked and beckoning. By the time he was out and round the side of the truck she had made her way up her front steps, where she threw a look over her shoulder, which could
only be described as the world’s most obvious ‘come hither’.
She unlocked the door, taking his hand and pulling him inside. She dumped her bag, her keys clattering noisily to the hard floorboards as she turned towards him. He made a move to kiss her, but she stopped him with a look, part-teasing, mostly serious. ‘We’re going to take it slow this time.’
‘I didn’t know you did slow.’
‘You don’t know what I can do.’ Her hands inched to his wrists, then fluttered to his elbows. He stood still. He didn’t know what she could do, but whatever it was, he was more than happy to let her lead wherever she wanted to go. Heat pulsed off her in beats and his ears still rang from the loud rock music, pushing him off-kilter as her hands slid further up his biceps to reach into the sleeves of his T-shirt. She smiled up into his eyes and he noticed she’d caught the sun; splashes of pink across her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose.
She leaned up on tip-toes to reach her face to his. He bent down and met her halfway, holding back for a gentle, unhurried kiss. He let her set the pace, all the while feeling the building impatience of hands that wanted to strip her bare; body and soul.
Harper stepped away, taking a deep breath that seemed more like a sigh. Her dark gaze burned into his as she led him into her bedroom, her hips swaying gently with every step. He itched to feast his lips on her soft skin, to hear her moan with pleasure as he kissed his way down her neck. Instead, he sat on her bed in the half-darkness and waited for her next move.
He could’ve flipped her onto her back in a millisecond but he let her tease him, enjoyed the burn when she slowly peeled off her T-shirt, tantalising him with the view of her creamy breasts encased in a black bra. With mock severity she pushed his hands back down when they wandered upwards, unable to resist the allure of her naked skin, luminescent in the half-light.