Crap, I really did wanna know what else. I was thankful when Luka didn’t make me admit it before he continued.
“My parents have never regretted a single moment of the forty-plus[AO10] years they’ve had together, Michelle. In the whole of their marriage, there have been exactly three nights that my father hasn’t been in my mother’s bed,” he confided, jamming three fingers of his free hand in the air. “Those were the nights that Mom gave birth to my two sisters and me.”
Oh. Oh, wow. That was probably the single most precious thing I’d ever heard. “Th-that’s beautiful,” I breathed, my eyes burning as I blinked back tears. I didn’t want to show any extreme emotion, but damn. That was a love story for the ages. That was stuff you only read about in the romance novels I wouldn’t admit to reading.
“Yeah, it is. My parents’ love story is why I’m not alarmed that things are happening so fast for us… or rather for me. I grew up hearing that when love’s lightning bolt hits you…”
“Things go BOOM,” I murmured softly, as I nervously rubbed my finger along the edge of my desk, silently thinking about my best friend Ashlyn and her family’s penchant for finding their soulmates in exactly the same way Luka described. But as sweet as I thought that was, I was a realist. And if my life so far had proven anything, it was that that kind of love didn’t find its way into families like mine. I had to keep reminding myself of that. I also needed to put a pin in the happy bubble Luka was trying to build around us. I wasn’t expecting a BOOM. I honestly thought I’d be happy for a mild pop or two.
“You look like you’re about to start arguing with me,” Luka noted, sighing heavily when I turned my eyes toward him. Eyes that, because he was neither completely blind or a bumbling moron, he could see were extremely doubtful.
“That’s because I am. Wonderful story aside, Luka, just because things worked out for your mom and dad doesn’t mean that’s what this is happening between us. I mean, odds are it isn’t. See, while you’re momma and daddy’s tale taught you to believe in the power of love, my own parents’ relationship was not the stuff of fairytales. Believe me, their story wasn’t even close to being as sweet as the one your parents had.” I mumbled, feeling my shoulders stiffen as Luka shifted closer to me as he let the strand of hair he had twisted around his finger go so that he could curl it under my chin and tilt my face up to his.
“Maybe you should unload some of that heavy burden your heart has been carrying on somebody that wants to carry the load for you,” Luka suggested, his penetrating black-as-coal eyes glued to my face. “It’s clear your folks’ relationship has distorted your outlook on finding a love of your own, Michelle. Let me help you untangle some of those feelings. Share your parents’ story with me,” he urged.
“No, thank you,” I denied quickly, shaking my head. I wasn’t ready to dig up all those past hurts. Especially not sitting in my office at my desk on a Monday morning. No, that kind of conversation would require more privacy than I had here at work, a couple dozen boxes of tissues, and copious amounts of wine. None of which was available right now.
“Okay, I’ll let it go for now, gorgeous, but the time is coming for us to have that conversation sooner than you’re going to like.”
“Why?” I whispered, swallowing hard as I gnawed on my lower lip, agitation eating away at my soul like acid. Why the hell couldn’t he leave this alone? Leave me alone? There had to be hundreds of women in this town that would simply love this man’s dedicated, focused attention. Though, the thought of him looking at another woman did make me feel like my blood was set to boil. Jesus, I couldn’t have it both ways! Either I wanted him or I didn’t!! My confusion was going to drive me out of my mind. Get it together, Chells, I chided myself.
“Because somebody hurt you, babe, and because of what they did to you, you refuse to trust me. You’re choosing to paint me with the same ugly brush. The fact that your parents were clearly unhappy together is coloring your outlook on everything. Their fuckups are impeding my ability to show you just how different a relationship between us would be. You’re so scared of being hurt that you aren’t able to see that I’m the last man that would ever harm a single hair on your head.”
“It’s not my hair I’m concerned you’ll screw with, Luka,” I grumble quietly, reaching out to pluck a paperclip from my cute little heart dish. “And I’m not scared!” I declared, twisting the malleable metal between my fingers. I bit my lip as I heard Luka’s snort. Clearly, my belated denial had fallen flat.
“Yeah, this I can see,” he mocked, his firm lips pursing as he glared at me.
“I’m not!” I felt compelled to insist as I kept my hands busy fiddling with the paper clip, twisting[AO11] the metal into a variety of shapes. Otherwise, I was terrified I was going to reach up and pull his sinfully gorgeous face down to mine and kiss him silly. Jeez, why the hell did that mouth of his have to look so supremely kissable? Now, of all times?
“Hummingbird, being afraid isn’t a crime, but lying to a man that cares about you should be. I’m gonna let that go, though. For now, what you need to understand is those worries you have are baseless where I’m concerned, Michelle. I will not let anyone, not even your mom and dad, have that kind of control over you—over us. It isn’t healthy!”
“Thank you, Dr. Phil,” I ground out, clenching my teeth as I concentrated on reforming the mangled metal between my fingers into something resembling the clip it had been. How the hell had he gotten so far inside my head that he was able to identify my deepest secrets and fears? I knew I wasn’t a transparent person, so I could only assume that in addition to being drop dead delicious, Luka Templeton also had extrasensory perception. That had to be it. And while that might have been creepy in anybody else, he definitely was making the spooky vibe work for him.
“Listen, I knew from the moment I met you Friday night you were gonna be special to me in a way that would change the trajectory of my life. Our time together this weekend only strengthened that conviction. I’m gonna give you real right now, hummingbird, and I pray you can handle it. I’m done dicking around.”
Holy, hell! I met the guy on Friday and it was only Monday, and he thought he was dicking around? Although, after hearing his parents’ love story, I could almost say I understood him. Almost, but not quite.
“I’m not gonna take things slow with you,” he announced, charging on before I could crack the first sarcastic comment. “Slow would give a woman like you way too much time to think of all the things that could go wrong if you put your heart on the line,” he reasoned, stunning me with the depth of his grasp on my psyche. “So, I’m going a different route,” Luka proclaimed in a no-nonsense tone that dared me to disagree with him—a challenge I was more than willing to accept if he’d just shut up. “I’m moving full steam ahead with you, gorgeous. I’m gonna use every weapon at my disposal to storm your defenses and climb those walls you’ve built around your heart.”
Good luck with that, buddy, I thought to myself. I had to give the guy props for his blunt delivery of his bold plans, though. That took balls—balls that I almost hated to bust. Almost. But not quite. “Sounds like you’ve got yourself some big plans, cowboy. I just hope you’re carrying a pretty big gun. Because that’s the only way you’ll be taking this heart hostage,” I warned, carefully keeping my voice steady as I tried to coax myself into remaining calm when all I really wanted to do was scream. Sadly, hysteria had never been a very becoming look on me.
Luka’s resonant laugh calmed my nerves slightly as I watched him bob his head in agreement. “Baby, you’re gonna love the size of my gun. I promise you it’s fully locked and loaded. At all times.”
Shit, I mentally wailed. Maybe my gun analogy wasn’t as witty as I’d hoped. “God, you’re… you’re so….”
“Confident? Cool? Controlled?” he supplied with an arrogant smile.
“Cocky!” I blurted.
“Yeah, you could say I’m that, too. But I’ve got good reason. I know you’re as attracted to
me as I am to you.”
“Am not!” Christ, now I sounded like a pissy three year old!
“That throbbing pulse in your neck and heaving bosom say you’re lying,” he said, gesturing at my breasts. “You can control a lot of things, Michelle, but you can’t hide your body’s reaction to me.”
Oh, how I wanted to stab his ego with a very pointy knife.
“It’s okay,” he consoled smoothly, lifting a hand to tenderly pat my cheek. “See, I get it. Remember, I’ve tasted those sweet rosy lips of yours. I’ve filled my hands with those fantastic curves you own. I’ve imagined sinking into your pussy a thousand times since we met. So, you better believe my body reacts to yours, too,” he offered, dropping his gaze to offer his groin a meaningful look.
My eyes followed Luka’s gaze down the tented bulge in his pants. And holy hell, was he packing a monster python behind his fly, I wondered as my jaw dropped.
“Maybe now you can see why I’m not gonna stop and I won’t accept defeat,” he remarked pointedly, lifting his eyes back to mine and laughing when he saw my face. Reaching out to helpfully close my dropped jaw, his panty-melting smile only got wider. “You and me? We’re a done deal, Michelle; you just haven’t acknowledged it yet. It’s time to wrap your head around it. For both our sakes. I swear to you, we’ll figure it out together. While we do, here’s what’s gonna happen. You ready?”
“Hit me with it,” I choked, unable to get much else out through my tightened esophagus. Apparently when a body went into shock, it mostly paralyzed your vocal cords. Who knew?
“You and I are going to find a house around this area where you can see us building a future together, and then I’m gonna buy it for us. Because when I finally do convince you to let me in there,” he growled, tapping my sternum with a light tap, “You should be aware I’m not gonna waste a single second before I put a ring on you that tells the world you’re mine.”
Blinking furiously, my vision swam. He couldn’t mean that. Surely, I’d heard him wrong.
“You didn’t,” he announced. “You heard me just fine.”
Startling, I bit my lip again as I realized I must have spoken out loud. Evidently, Luka’s crazy was catching. The lunacy had gone airborne!
I knew I needed to do something to dissuade his dogged pursuit. But dear God, how the hell was I going to remedy this man’s unhealthy fascination? And why the hell did it suddenly hurt so much when I thought of curing his curious condition and losing his interest? Crap, had I somehow contracted some weird, flip-flopped version of Stockholm Syndrome? Whatever; it didn’t matter. I needed to regain control of the situation. “Okay, Luka,” I forced myself to chirp, “I can see you’re resolved and there’s really no way to refuse you that won’t cost me my job. So you win. This time. I’ll show you some houses,” I offered with a stiff nod and a smile that didn’t reach my eyes.
“You will?” he replied with a near blinding smile that transformed his face from merely beautifully to absolutely breathtaking. Damn it!
Seeing the happiness shining in Luka’s expressive eyes, I felt a moment’s shame for what I was planning to do. This finely honed male specimen seemed to be an authentic Nice Guy, and there was no doubt in any woman’s mind with a working pulse that he was beyond hot. We’re talking the kind of hot that doesn’t just melt panties, but incinerates them. From his good-looking face to a body that could only be defined as chiseled perfection, Luka would be a normal girl’s (or homosexual man’s) idea of near perfection. Unfortunately, my past had shaped me into a woman that was far from ordinary—at least where my outlook on love was concerned. (With make-up and shoes, though, I was entirely normal. I could never have enough. Pri-OR-ities!)
So, while I was eager to shed my virginity like a poorly sewn knock-off purse, I had definite hang-ups when it came to having a meaningful relationship with the opposite sex. That wasn’t Luka’s fault, but regrettably, I wasn’t equipped to offer him what he wanted.
Since that was the case, I needed to turn his ardent interest into something a whole lot less nice.
That meant I needed to piss him off. Which, considering I was me, shouldn’t be much of a challenge. When it came to ticking off the male species, I far exceeded expectations. I just needed to work out a feasible plan.
But that was what the rest of today was for.
“Tomorrow, yes, I will help you. Selling houses is what I do. In fact, I’ll block off my schedule for the entire day,” I agreed with a bland smile, my devious mind already mapping out some of the places I wanted to show Luka. “We’ll even get started early,” I added, almost feeling guilty for what I was about to do.
Though I could see the hopeful gleam in his eyes, I could also see suspicion whirling in those obsidian depths. His instinctive optimism waged a bitter war with the very real concern he had that I was setting him up for something. “This is almost too easy, hummingbird,” he noted carefully. “Should I be worried?”
Pasting an affronted look on my face, I let out an annoyed huff. “Did you not just spend the last twenty minutes informing me that no matter how much I resisted, you were going to march your way into my life? Seriously, I’m conceding the battlefield here—at least for the next couple of days. You might try expressing a little gratitude.”
“I am grateful if your offer is legitimate, and you’re truly agreeing to give me the chance to show you how serious I am about you.”
Rolling my eyes, I tossed the paperclip I still held back in the heart-shaped dish on my desk. “What do you want, Luka? A blood oath? Can’t you just be appreciative I’ve accepted my fate for the foreseeable future? I think purchasing a home for an ‘us’ that hasn’t exactly come to fruition is a bit extreme, but in my line of business, I tend to see rich men making impulsive decisions on a fairly regular basis. Just be at my house early tomorrow morning dressed comfortably and ready to work.”
“There’s a dress code for house hunting?” he teased.
“I know you like your fancy suits,” I replied, nodding at his designer duds, “but outfits like that won’t exactly hold up when we’re riding around in the mid-August Tennessee heat. You can, of course, choose to ignore me. But don’t blame me when your Armani is sticking to your body like wet velvet.”
Luka nodded. “Alright. How early would you like to get started?”
“Be at my place by six,” I ordered, enjoying the disgusted look that descended over Luka’s face.
“Six? Like six in the morning, six?” he balked. “Why so early? The sun won’t even be up yet, hummingbird,” he complained, offering me a sullen, insulted look that assured me that despite his early morning visit to my office, Luka was categorically not a morning person.
I didn’t feel the slightest bit apologetic about his early wake-up call. Everybody should be able to appreciate the pure beauty of watching a new day dawn, I triumphantly rationalized even as my own body shuddered at the thought of that early morning wake-up call. It didn’t matter that I avoided early mornings whenever and wherever I could. I was so happy at doing something Luka so clearly hated that I barely resisted doing a little victory dance in my chair. “Unlike you, I enjoy ushering in the dawn,” I lied easily. I loathed mornings as much as he did, but his discomfort was worth the price of getting up before the day dawned. “I suggest turning in early tonight if you need your beauty sleep so badly,” I advised unapologetically, keeping my features schooled into a mask of indifference.
“Christ, baby, you gotta know I’m totally gone for you, but you are quickly becoming a huge pain in my ass. You’re damn lucky that resting bitch face you’re wearing right now makes me hard as a rock.”
“Yeah. I’m so sorry. It must be hard work to harass and stalk an innocent woman,” I goaded him, becoming ruthless in my drive to piss him off.
Luka’s face went hard, “Not funny, Michelle. My youngest sister had a stalker her first semester in college, and I am nothing like that fucker. If I thought you didn’t want my attention, even for a second, I wou
ldn’t be here right now. If you tell me to go and mean it, I’ll be out that door faster than you can blink. Go on; say it. Tell me to go.”
Feeling like an ass, I had no choice but to relent. Calling him a stalker was out of line, especially when I’d done nothing to seriously discourage his company. “Okay, I was out of line,” I admitted, holding up my hands in a sign of surrender. “Stalker was too strong of a word. But you have harassed me,” I grumbled, pointing at him. “And you know it.”
“Never in a way that demeaned or hurt you, gorgeous. And I never will,” he growled back, leaning forward to stare into my eyes. “If I do cross a line, you tell me, and I’ll stop. Immediately”
Oh, fuckity fuck fuck, my inner bitch moaned. He’s such a great guy. Can’t you get over your issues and let this one bang us, Chelly Belly?
The answer to that was a resounding NO! I was firm on that, darn it. My whiny inner slut could just shut the hell up and get used to a world where the only dick she’d be seeing in the near future came in the shape of my vibrator. After this morning with Luka and his sex on a stick body, I’d make a mental note to stop and buy more batteries after work. For now, however, I needed to concentrate on evicting Luka from my office so I could regain my equilibrium and come up with a game plan for tomorrow. “Okay,” I acquiesced. “I’ll make sure to let you know if you step across a line with me, Luka.”
“Glad to hear it,” he stated with an air of satisfaction I couldn’t miss. “Now that we’ve got that cleared up, let me take you to an early lunch,” he urged, pressing his advantage.
Happily Ever Alpha: Until Sunrise (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 8