In Love by Design (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod)

by Ellen, Tracy

  Rising up on my elbows for a clearer view of my own private runway show, I couldn’t help if this position brought my chest closer to Luke’s attention and caused my thighs to fall open wider.

  “You lied to me today,” I stated flatly, dragging my eyes up Luke’s body to glare into his veiled eyes.

  A Greek God come to life, Luke stopped by the side of the bed and looked down at me. He cupped my foot in his hand, squeezed lightly, and he didn’t pretend to not understand what I meant.

  He responded evenly, “No, I didn’t. It’s not lying if I choose not tell you every thought in my head.”

  “Ha! Why did I know you’d say that?”

  His hand trailed along my calf and over my knee. He squeezed high on my thigh. His grip was warm, but Luke’s voice was cold. “You didn’t keep your word, Anabel.”

  I didn’t pretend to not understand, either. Ignoring the large hand cupped around my thigh the best I could with four knuckles grazing Queen V, I haughtily lifted my chin. “I always keep my word.”

  Luke moved his hand from resting within tormenting range of wildcat kingdom and I let out the breath I’d been holding. His finger began to trace over the swirling lace flowers on the tights. My stomach involuntarily sucked in and trembled when he traced all the way up to the thin elastic band an inch below my navel. Continuing to lightly draw circles on the bare skin of my stomach, his finger paused before moving lower again and down my thighs.

  “The deal was you’d come back this afternoon and do as I instructed.” Luke’s voice was calm, but I knew him well enough to understand that the less emotion he displayed the more he’s feeling underneath. I was getting the message that he’s very, very disappointed in me.

  “Mmm, no, actually the deal was that I promised to do what you said for the rest of the afternoon when I returned.” I smiled provokingly up at Torquemada from under my lashes. “Well, I didn’t return in the afternoon, now did I?”

  According to my research on the internet, it’s the general consensus that evening officially begins at 5 p.m., and we all know the internet was always right about these things. I found out quite a few more interesting things on the internet, but now was not the time to bring them up with my boyfriend.

  Mr. Tricky’s roving hand had wandered up to my breasts and this required my immediate and full attention. His fingers fondled a pink nipple and he pulled gently before releasing the hard point to travel to my other breast, proving he’s not into favoritism. This was in Luke’s favor, considering he’s low on brownie points with that despicable double-talk response on lying to me.

  “Huh, I guess you’re right.” Luke squatted down to eye level on the side of the bed, both hands now fondling and caressing my breasts. Rolling my head to gaze his way, I hold in my moans of pleasure. His eyes were lowered under dark lashes, but the expression on his face was regretful. “But it’s too bad you didn’t return in the afternoon.”

  “Oh, why is that?” Turning onto my side to face Luke where he kneels, I propped myself up on an elbow. Running a hand up his arm to cup and massage his neck, I managed to keep my voice light. This wasn’t easy because lying on my side in this position intensified the incredible pleasure of having my breasts touched.

  “I wanted to spend time doing this,” Luke answered, sliding his arms around me to grip my ass and pull me towards him. His face nuzzled my breasts, the days’ worth of unshaven beard abrading my sensitive nipples, as he kissed first one and then the other. He looked straight at me with eyes darkened by desire. “And a lot of time doing this.”

  He drew a tip into his mouth and sucked hard, his tongue curling around the peak. I wrapped my arms around his head to hold him closer. I said his name on a long sigh, rubbing my breasts against his lips while images of lying back, spreading my legs, and begging to be fucked flashed through my mind.

  Luke was right; I don’t know the meaning of the word slow.

  His licking and biting of my nipples before sucking them into his mouth was driving me crazy and I tried to coax him onto the bed, but Luke resisted my pulling hands and soft entreaties.

  True to his word, he spent hours, days, years, kissing and fondling me while his hands stayed still cupping my butt. He wasn’t touching anywhere else, no matter how I writhed, begged and then threatened in urgent whispers, trying to stay quiet.

  Lifting his head, his smile was pure Genghis when he said, “And especially this.”

  Not that Pam will ever know, but I now get what she meant when she said, “HE SMELLED ME!” because Luke had pulled my legs over his shoulders, raised me up with hands under my ass, and buried his face between my thighs. Kissing and licking my cha-cha through the sheer lace, I was being feasted on. I had to bite down on the pillow to muffle my screams of ecstatic frustration when Luke pointed his tongue and penetrated me through the tights. The tight barrier only had so much give and was keeping me from climbing the stairway to Heaven. I was on the landing and wanted so badly to race up that last flight.

  So I pulled his hair and yelled, “Rip the tights!”

  Luke laughed against me and slowed down his gobbling me up until he was only taking a gentle sip here and a light lick there, but never quite where I needed it most. I was a quivering, throbbing puddle of need and shouting directions like a traffic cop during rush hour, complete with hand motions, all of which Luke ignored. He rubbed his arrogant nose against me and then kissed me right there. I was about to go up in flames and could feel the burn building. I tightened every muscle in my body in anticipation of the wonderful explosion and an alarm did go off, but it was not from inside me.

  Dazed, I felt myself being lowered onto the bed. Luke’s hands slipped out from under my ass, and more importantly, his lovely mouth that was just getting the hang of things, lifted from doing its sacred duty as a boyfriend.

  “Is it seven already? Empress,” I said, still in bewilderment, as I focused on Luke standing up by the bed. I saw him give my body one last, lingering look before turning away.

  Luke’s smile was more of a small smirk, as he pulled on his jeans. “That wasn’t your phone alarm, but mine. I only had fifteen minutes to spare, but I did want to come and say hello.”

  Past the unfulfilled throbbing in my cha-cha and the sight of my personal penis being zipped up carefully into his pants, I finally understood that Luke was leaving me not so high and definitely not dry.

  Whipping the pillow from behind me across the room, it harmlessly bounced off his crossed arms while I retorted, “Oh well, hello to you, too, Mr. Tricky, but I think you forgot the “come” part!”

  Luke shouted his laughter.

  I glared. “You’re ditching me tonight for my brother’s poker party. Thanks for choosing not to share that, too!”

  He was smiling while shrugging back into his shirt, slowly buttoning the front. His drawl was lightly mocking. “Actually, I was supplying the beer for your brother’s poker party with no intentions of playing.” He raised a black brow in my direction and added pointedly, “Until you ditched me this afternoon and didn’t come home.”

  Sitting up on my knees on the bed and snatching another pillow, I hugged it to my chest and replied sweetly, “No, I didn’t. It’s not ditching, if I chose to not explain why I wouldn’t be home in the afternoon to follow your instructions.”

  Green eyes glinting, Luke saluted me with a jaunty wave and a dry, “Touché!” He opened the door, but paused. “Text me, and have a fun evening with Jazy and Tre.”

  I stared blankly at the closed door for one second wondering what just happened before I growled, “Grr…Anna told him!”

  Jumping up and flinging the door open, I saw Luke rounding the corner and I called out, “Thanks for stopping by to say hello, but I can take it from here! Good luck conning everyone out of their money tonight!” I heard his deep laughter and yelled, “Yes, I’ll be with Jazy and Tre J, so don’t expect me to text you all night!”

  I slammed the door shut with all my puny upper body strength and swa
n dived onto the bed to bury my face in the pillows, cursing up a storm.

  ‘My, that went well,’ commented the mean mommy voice snidely. ‘The last part was especially edifying.’

  ‘Did you see the size of that erection when he left? Isn’t a man with such iron control absolutely to die for?’ purred the sex kitten voice.

  “No, but I wouldn’t mind killing him!” I muttered, flipping onto my back.

  It took me a minute to get my raging lust under control and another two for my rueful disgust to simmer down that I needed to do so. It wasn’t fun being left alone on the altar of sacrifice, but knowing he walked away unhinged, too, went a long way to bringing back my sunny good nature. I got off the bed, pinned up my hair, and took a quick, cold shower.

  Strategically reapplying coconut oil, I didn’t think much more about Luke because with the perspective of ten minutes, I now considered this last skirmish a draw. He didn’t tell me the truth about what was on his mind and I didn’t come back this afternoon. He wasn’t going to ditch me and play cards, but I had made plans for tonight anyway. He showed me what I missed, and I didn’t miss seeing his impressive wood.

  Dressing in jeans, a black shirt, and running shoes, I firmly directed my mind towards my plan for the Night of the Ninjas. I was having a good hair day—it was hanging perfectly straight to almost my waist and shiny, but it’s too distinctive. I decided to do a long braid and wrapped it around my head shield-maiden style. Opening Luke’s double closet doors, I found a purple Minnesota Vikings ball cap sitting on a shelf with several other team hats. I borrowed it for part of my disguise. I also borrowed a small duffle bag to pack a few items for tonight.

  His closet was neatly organized by category and I rubbed the wool silk fabric of a black sports coat. Luke in black leather will always be a sight to behold, but dressed up in a suit? With wire rimmed glasses maybe?

  ‘Holy Fireballs!’

  I hung up my dress for Saturday night in Luke’s closet, and then I got out of that bedroom den of iniquity before I started doing bad things that could make a girl go blind.

  I’d been curious what Luke said to keep Anna quiet for this long. I’d expected her to be knocking on the bedroom door the minute she heard Luke leave the house. I went in search of her.

  Carrying my purse, the small duffle bag, and a lightweight Nano Puff jacket from Patagonia, my latest find in the quest to find a winter coat that keeps me warm without making me feel swaddled, I entered the kitchen through the dining room. There was no Anna in the kitchen, so I set my stuff down. I looked back through the dining room and into the dark living room. This was basically one big area separated into two rooms by a wide archway. I called out her name and got no response.

  I may have missed that Anna was in the bathroom. Walking back into the main hall, I glanced towards the back entry and noticed the basement security door was standing ajar.

  Intrigued, I peeked around the opened door to see the light was on at the bottom of the steep stairway. Going cautiously down the stairs, I heard muffled laughter and the tension left my shoulders. Luke had brought Anna down into the Bat Cave.

  “Hello, hello wherever you are! Who’s having fun down here without me?” I called out, entering the large room.

  I immediately saw Anna sitting alone at the desk under the bank of security screens and watching the gigantic computer monitor. I heard a dog howling faintly, and Anna was hysterically laughing her ass off with tears streaming down her face. She looked back over her shoulder at me and then urgently motioned me forward, as she touched the screen in some command. Anna’s cheeks were apple red from laughing and her eyes were shining with happy tears.

  She shot me an arch look. “Luke said he needed some time to straighten you out and set me up down here. How cool is this room?” She scoffed, but was smiling when she said, “I told you that Luke does some sort of secret agent stuff, but as usual, would you listen to your bestie?” She pulled a Kleenex from a box at her elbow and dabbed at her streaming eyes. She was distracted from her complaints by the screen. “Oh Jesus, will you look at that? You guys could make a mint if these were out on YouTube. I have been watching this video over and over again. I can’t decide which one is funnier; this one of you howling like a wild animal in heat, or the one where you guys are talking on the front porch and Svettie slaps you.” She added staunchly, “That bitch!” Then she rather ruined the effect of her loyalty by laughing uproariously again. “My God, the look on your face is priceless!” Her hand paddled the desk and she gasped out over her mirth, “And that crazy get up you’re wearing! What was that all about?”

  “I’m so glad Super Agent Luke was kind enough to keep you entertained with our home video collection,” I murmured dryly, but then snorted in spite of myself when I saw the action on the monitor. This stumpy little brown thing in a long coat and huge boots was attacking snowdrifts like an angry, evil munchkin. I watched in appalled fascination to see this character then throw their arms up to the sky, throw their head back, and howl plaintively loud again on the video.

  The frightening howl lasts for a good thirty seconds and I shuddered while remarking, “Wow, and to think Luke believes he can set that shit straight!”

  Anna dissolved into laughing, hiccupping tears again while nodding enthusiastically. She can’t talk yet but managed to utter, “Right!”

  I shook my head and laughed, too. “I hate to tear you away from your cartoons, but we’ve got more important things to do.”

  “Wait! We have to watch this other one before we go,” Anna insisted, sitting up and touching the screen again.

  The monitor was now showing the empty front porch of the house. Then that stumpy little brown thing appeared in the frame and was reaching up to ring the doorbell. The huge boots were planted far apart and the body was swaying back and forth, but there seemed to be a helmet pulled low over the evil munchkin’s face and only the moving lips could be seen. Laughing almost as loudly as Anna now, I had to agree when she screamed out that I looked like a bumbling tard. I defended myself and explained that I was singing while waiting for the door to be answered.

  Seeing the replay of getting girly slapped by the Russian, I got pissed all over again that she caught me off guard, but now understood a little better why my charm didn’t work so well that night. Anna and I had a fun few minutes critiquing my performance and jeering at Svettie’s day-glo undies. Anna repeatedly played the video on high speed, too. The talk, the slap, my expression of astonishment, Svettie crying and slamming the door in my face, and the following evil munchkin rage, as I go stomping off and cursing out of camera range was pretty funny.

  I seriously think Anna would be happy to stay put and watch these videos all night, but I reminded her that we have family business to take care of and needed to get going.

  Anna’s eyes were innocent when she declared, “If this were Reggie’s house, I would want to watch all the security videos I could while I had the chance. You know, just to see who comes and goes from his house to make sure nobody’s casin’ the joint or vandalizing…”

  Choking back my laugh, I retorted, “I think you just saw who’s been doing that at Luke’s!” Still, Anna does have a valid point. It was the job of a fabulous girlfriend to ensure the safety of her man from all threats. “Do you have access to all the stored tape?”

  Anna shrugged, but her smile was mischievous. “Should we find out?”

  I was tempted, but shook my head. “No, let’s get going.”

  “You’re no fun. Wait! Have you seen this?” She quickly queued up another video and I murmured that this was the first I’d seen any of these, but my voice trailed off when Luke’s image came on the screen. He swept the mad, stumpy little brown thing off its feet and jogged down the lane with it bundled in his arms. Their heads were so close together that it was hard to tell where one started and the other began.

  Anna sniffed and grabbed another Kleenex. “Look at that, Junior. Have you ever seen anything so sweet in your life
? Let me see your ring again.”

  “Okay, that’s it!” I reached over and shut down the computer. “I’m not wearing my new ring to go Ninja’ing, so you’ll have to wait.” I didn’t add that not wanting to be bugged by Jazy and Tre was a good reason to leave the ring off, as well. Appealing to Anna’s fixation on romance which I prayed was only a temporary hormonal upheaval, I cajoled, “Now come on, we have to go help save Mac’s marriage before she castrates Diego.”

  Besides, Anna hasn’t had time to find the video of me falling down into the ditch when jogging up to the barn and I’d like to keep it that way.

  “Wait! You’ve got to see one more thing!” Anna jumped up and ran over to the panel wall on the right side of the stairway. “Look at what I found when I got mixed up looking for the hidden refrigerator.” She pressed her hand flat on a spot and a section of the wall quietly split open. Each panel automatically slid easily into the wall and a large bed frame lowered slowly downward and settled onto the floor.

  Anna exclaimed with a flourish, “Voila! Instant bedroom.”

  Walking over, I peered into the wall cavity from where the head of the bed was hidden from view. The Murphy bed was made up with pillows and blankets, and the headboard had a recessed shelf containing several paperback books, an iPod docking station, and a swinging lamp on an extended arm, currently folded closed.

  I whistled soundlessly and complimented my friend, “Holy Moly, Nancy Drew, you’ve been busy down here!”

  Anna beamed proudly and quoted, “She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.”

  My head whipped back and I stared at Anna. Quoting Proverbs is not one of her typical conversational gambits. Her eyes were round with amazement, too.

  “That better be coming from your hormones being whacked out,” I warned in dire tones, “because if you’re possessed by Aunt Lily, our friendship is over, finished, done,” I did the Viggo V, “caput!” Upon further thought, I added judiciously, “At least, until after the exorcism.” I had one more thought and stressed, “A successful exorcism.”