by Mandy Baxter
* * *
Kayleigh had come to terms with the fact that life wasn’t fair a long time ago. If it had been, her parents wouldn’t have saddled her with a house that was rotting into the ground while they retired on a beach in Mexico, she wouldn’t have to tutor snotty middle-schoolers over the summer to make ends meet, and she’d be living happily ever after with the man of her dreams, not kissing every frog within a hundred-mile radius only to be disappointed time and again.
It only added insult to injury that the man she’d thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with was standing in her living room in the exact same spot he’d been in eight years ago when he broke her heart and told her he was leaving. She’d dreamed for countless nights that first year that he’d come back. That was the thing about Luke, though. He was every woman’s dream. Sensitive, yet aggressive when it counted. Raw. His emotions always close to the surface. He didn’t lack for words; they flowed from his tongue like the sweetest nectar. And even after so many years, the memory of his kisses left her flushed and breathless. He was everything Kayleigh had ever wanted. After he’d broken her heart into so many pieces, she’d feared that she’d never be able to put herself back together again.
“You’re right,” he said in that confident tone that gave her chills. “I am a son of a bitch.”
Luke closed the distance between them and snatched Kayleigh by the wrist, hauling her up from the couch. The blanket covering her waist dropped to the floor between them as he wrapped his free arm around her. Her breath raced, heart thundered as she jerked her wrist free from his grasp. Big. Mistake. Luke used the opportunity to his advantage, reaching around to cup her nearly bare ass. Dear Lord, how was it possible for something so simple to feel so good? Luke held her gaze, his nostrils flared with his heavy breaths as he searched her face, drank her in with a laser intensity that made her pussy wet as though on command.
She was a switch that only he could flip. Her body was fine-tuned to Luke Blackwell’s touch and it didn’t give a shit about past heartaches. Only this moment, and getting as much of him as she could.
A very male smirk accentuated his full mouth. He had her and he knew it. Damn him. “God damn, baby,” he murmured as he lowered his mouth to hers. “It’s been a long time since a woman made me want to lose control.”
How could eight years feel like a lifetime and a matter of hours all at once? Luke’s mouth on hers was a homecoming. It filled her with a sense of rightness that Kayleigh had never felt with anyone else but him.
“Fuck.” Luke’s breath brushed her mouth in a warm whisper that caused a ripple of chills to slide down her spine. “You taste like heaven.” His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she opened her mouth to him. Such a simple act and yet, that intimate welcome ignited something between them. A spark that flared to life and burned through his body into hers. “I’m gonna taste every inch of you, too.”
What was she doing? The day he’d walked out of her life, Kayleigh had vowed never to let him back in. Their breakup had been brutal. Emotionally crippling. She’d taken an entire year to heal from the wounds he’d inflicted on her heart. Starting college long after all of her friends just to get her head straight. How could she let him do this after everything that had happened between them?
“Luke…” She turned her head to the side and placed her palms on his chest. Tried not to lose herself in the warmth of him that soaked through his T-shirt into her palms. Kayleigh took a steadying breath and gave a weak shove at the wall of muscle pressed up against her, a totally futile effort. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“Sure you can.” His heated breath caressed her neck and Kayleigh shuddered. “Just follow my lead.”
For as long as she’d known him, Luke had always played to win and he wasn’t going to make putting him at arm’s length easy for her. As convincing as the devil himself, he could coax a nun right out of her panties if he set his mind to it. Getting Kayleigh out of hers wouldn’t exactly take a whole lot of effort on his part.
“Come on, baby. Let me touch you. Kiss you. Lick you. Ever since this afternoon, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. Your hair…” He stroked his fingers through the tangle of curls. “Your breasts…” He ventured downward, his fingers brushing the aching points of her nipples. Kayleigh sucked in a breath that caused a wicked grin to spread across Luke’s sensual mouth. “Your tight, sweet pussy…” His fingertips teased the low waist of her shorts and a tremor vibrated through her causing that very part of her body to throb. “I remember how wet you used to get for me. Are you wet right now, baby?” He dipped one finger below her waistline, the heat of his breath tickling her lips as he spoke. “Is your pussy dripping for me?”
Rather than push him away like she’d intended, Kayleigh’s arms wound around his neck. He reached around to cup one palm over her ass while his other hand came up to wind in her hair, holding her firmly in place as he brought his mouth back to hers.
Holy shit, could Luke Blackwell kiss! Like the perfect composition, his kisses struck chords in Kayleigh’s body, crystal-clear notes that resonated through every inch of her in a harmony that left her weak and gasping for breath. He’d learned a trick or two over the years, no longer hurried and unsure, now he took his time with her as though each soft caress of his lips had been well rehearsed beforehand. She was shameless, her body responding to him in exactly the way he knew it would. Her underwear grew damp with arousal and her sex was so swollen with want that the brush of fabric over her skin was torture. Luke always could play her like a finely tuned guitar.
Yeah, and he’s probably rehearsed the same song on every woman over eighteen from L.A. to New York City.
The thought helped to wake her from her lust-induced stupor and Kayleigh pulled back, only to have Luke hold her fast against him. “Don’t. Stay with me, baby.” He released his grip on her hair and brushed his thumb across her jaw, feather light. Her stomach clenched at his dark, seductive tone and a renewed rush of wet heat spread between her thighs. “Let me taste you, touch you, drink you into my soul.”
She trembled under the onslaught of his words. Pure seduction. Raw sex. Her pussy clenched and Kayleigh was sure he could talk her straight into an orgasm if he wanted to. “Luke…” She couldn’t draw a breath deep enough to talk. “Please…”
The hand cupping her ass slid around her hip, teasing the waistband of the spandex booty shorts. He slid his fingers past the elastic barrier and Kayleigh sucked in a hissed breath as the heat of his skin met her mons. “Soft as rose petals against my skin,” he murmured as he continued to pet her. Her clit began to throb, aching for the same attention he paid to her clean-shaven mound. “Lie to me, baby. Tell me this is for me. This soft skin. Tell me it’s mine.”
Was there ever any part of her that hadn’t belonged to him? Her thighs trembled, her knees dangerously close to giving out. She clung to him, spreading her legs wider. The words were little more than a whisper when she said, “It’s all yours, Luke.”
He rewarded her for her words by sliding his fingers through the slick, swollen flesh as he worked them over her clit. Kayleigh cried out, the intense sensation rippling from her core, outward with a heat that made her break out into a sweat. Luke groaned into her ear as he circled the tight bundle of nerves, light, teasing strokes that coaxed desperate moans from Kayleigh’s throat, each one hitching on a pant of breath.
“Come for me, baby,” Luke crooned in her ear. “Let me feel you break apart.”
FOUR
The fire that sparked to life inside of him from simply touching this woman could never be replicated. Faked. Kayleigh was his. She’d always been his.
His cock throbbed behind his fly as his fingers slid through the slick, swollen lips of her pussy. The scent of spring clung to her skin, intoxicating him, and his head swam in a giddy, drunken blur. He stopped his ministrations only long enough to free her of the restricting fabric and urged her legs to spread as he cupped her dripping pussy once
again. Her mouth parted on a moan and he swallowed the sound, tasting of red wine. He thrust his tongue past her lips. He’d meant what he said: he wanted to drink her in, take her passion into his soul when she came apart. Keep a part of her. His.
No longer the shy, awkward girl, the woman in his arms was a creature born of fire and passion. She gripped onto the back of his neck, her nails biting into his skin as he deepened the kiss. The sting spurred him on and he wanted more. Wanted her to break the skin and pull his hair. Demand that his pain was equal to her pleasure. Sick? Probably. But Luke’s mind was always clearer when he hurt a little.
So fucking wet.
He guided her to the couch and urged her to sit. Kneeling on the floor beside her, Luke drank in the sight of her, naked to his gaze, her legs spread wide so he could see the glistening arousal coating her thighs. God, he wanted to bury his face in her gorgeous tits and suckle her until he marked her skin. Branded her as his and no one else’s. He wanted to tie her up and tease her with gentle strokes and soft kisses, touch her with whispers of caresses that would make her beg for his cock. But all of that would take time that Luke wasn’t willing to spare. His need to bring her to that point of abandon that already consumed him, raging like wildfire. With the pad of his thumb, he circled her clit and Kayleigh gave a desperate thrust of her hips in time with each pass. She groaned with frustration and pushed herself away from the couch, clinging to him as her nails dug into his neck. “God, yes. Just like that, baby. Stay with me and I’ll give you what you need.” He increased the pressure on her clit, sliding one finger inside of her tight channel. The answering sounds that vibrated in her throat were pure relief. His cocked pulsed hot and hard and Luke welcomed the discomfort. A sweeter torture, he’d never known …
Kayleigh’s back bowed. A tremor vibrated up her thighs through Luke’s arms, lewd and raw in its intensity. She tried to pull away but Luke wouldn’t let her, thrusting his tongue in her mouth in time with every deep thrust of his finger. Her pussy clenched and he slid a second finger in, maintaining a slow, steady pace to prolong her pleasure as he swallowed down every desperate whimper that accompanied her orgasm.
Time ceased to exist in that moment. Nothing had changed in eight years. Not a goddamned thing. Kayleigh still belonged to him every bit as much as she owned him. She had to have known it, too. Felt it right down to her bone marrow like he did.
He brought her down with slow, gentle caresses and she became liquid in his embrace. He missed the bite of her nails in his skin, her hard edges as she strained against him. Even her mouth had softened, her lips swollen and pliable from his kisses. Luke kissed her once. And again as he withdrew his fingers from her constricting heat and reveled one more time in the petal-softness of her sex. And he couldn’t wait to feel that satin heat hold onto his cock.
For a moment Luke held Kayleigh in his arms, listening to the sounds of her heavy breaths. He brushed the tangles of her hair away and cupped her face in his hands as he took in the sight of her dark, glazed eyes and flushed cheeks. “I’m gonna love you so good that no other man will ever have a chance to break your heart ever again.”
In his arms, her body went rigid. She pulled away and looked at him, her brows furrowed and her expression dark, making Luke wish he could take back the words. The hurt he’d caused her was obviously still close to the surface and unlike the countless other women who’d fallen for his lines, all he’d managed to do with Kayleigh was reopen wounds that hadn’t completely healed.
Fuck.
“Oh my god.” The words left her mouth with a rueful laugh. She scrubbed her hands over her face. “I am such an idiot!”
“Kayleigh.” An apology sat at the tip of his tongue. A tome’s worth of purple prose that would dampen the panties of droves of women. But Kayleigh would see through those trite words. Even after all this time, she knew the barest parts of him. The exposed and raw nerves that he’d never shown to anyone but her. “Come on, baby. Let’s leave the past where it belongs, yeah?” He tried to pull her close once again but she resisted. “Can’t we just be in the moment? Enjoy each other? There’s nothing wrong with living in the present. Let me make you feel good.”
She stared at him, aghast. Yup, he’d fucked that up royally. Goddamn it. Kayleigh had his number. He wasn’t going to get away with shit.
She disengaged from his embrace, snatched the discarded blanket from the floor, wrapping it around her body like a shield. It didn’t matter that she’d blocked her body from his view though. Luke knew every inch of her. All he had to do was close his eyes to be back in that moment when she’d been his.
“Why are you really here, Luke?” Tears glistened in the dark depths of her eyes and his heart clenched. “You don’t get enough of playing with women’s emotions on tour so you came home to fuck with mine? Or are you running from something?”
Yep, she had his number all right. He took a step back to give her a little space. How could he possibly make her understand? “Baby—”
“Don’t call me that.” Her hurt flared into an indignant fire in an instant. “I’m not that fifteen-year-old girl anymore that you can manipulate with your pretty words. It was stupid of me to invite you in. I should have turned my back on you like you did on me. It’s a mistake I’m not going to make again, though.”
Fire and ice. That was Kayleigh to a tee. He deserved every one of her harsh words. All of her anger and then some. He wanted it all from her. He wanted to feel something real and honest for a change. “I told you I was a son of a bitch, baby. I won’t say I’m sorry for coming here tonight or for what just happened. But I will apologize for what went down when I left you. I owe you that much.”
She gave a derisive snort. “Well, isn’t that big of you. You know, Lucifer, that whole ‘it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission’ thing was cute when you were a kid but it’s not going to fly now. I don’t want or need an apology for what happened a lifetime ago.”
“Jesus, Kayleigh. We were kids!” Was she going to hold what happened against him forever? “The ranch had just barely started turning a profit and Ryder had Jase’s tuition to pay. What in the hell was I supposed to do? Sit around here and play at the fucking coffee shop? I had to go out there and make something happen. You’re going to hold my ambition against me?”
“I never had a problem with your ambition, Luke. Or your bank balance. What I have an issue with is the way you left me in your wake as soon as you had your diploma and your mama’s blessing to leave town. You didn’t even try to include me in your future. Do you know how that made me feel?”
Her angry shout only served to fuel Luke’s own ire. Walking away from her had been like tearing out his own goddamned heart and leaving it behind. “You didn’t want any of it! You wanted to stay! For someone not interested in an apology, you’re sure enjoying rubbing the past in my face.”
Kayleigh backed away until she was nestled in the corner of the couch. She let herself fall back on the armrest and let out a forceful sigh. “It’s not the apology I don’t want, Luke. It’s your empty, poetic words that I don’t give a shit about.”
* * *
It wasn’t fair to take her anger with herself out on Luke, but it was what it was. Truth be told, those pretty, poetic words were one of the things she’d loved the most about him. Luke had always worn his heart on his sleeve, even when they were in middle school and he’d had to endure the malicious teasing of their classmates. Growing up poor in a tight-knit community hadn’t been easy on any of the Blackwell brothers. But they’d overcome adversity with a fierce determination that was admirable. Luke could’ve let the unkind ribbing of his classmates tear him down. Despite his hotheadedness, he’d turned that hurt into something beautiful. His music had elevated him above ugly pettiness. And now Kayleigh was throwing it back in his face, condemning him for a decision that simply didn’t matter anymore.
If anyone recognized the power of words, it was Luke. And Kayleigh knew she’d cut him to the quick with he
rs.
His warm whiskey eyes hardened and Luke’s jaw squared. Leaner than his twin brother, Jase, Luke was no less imposing. He towered over her, all six and a half feet of him corded with unyielding muscle. No matter how she felt about him showing back up in her life, he was a sight worth her admiration.
“I’ve never once lied to you. Never played games with you. I was straight with you when I left and you’re going to hold my honesty against me? What the fuck is up with that?”
Even tinged with anger, his voice was a seductive purr that caressed her from head to toe. Kayleigh suppressed a pleasant shiver as she wrapped the light blanket tighter around her waist. “I don’t hold your honesty against you. Hell, I’m not even mad that you left. It’s the fact that once you were gone, you never looked back! Jesus, Luke. Did I cross your mind at all after you blew out of town or were you too busy with the revolving door of willing tail to give me a second thought?”
Her voice broke on the last word but Kayleigh refused to let him see how badly she hurt. It was her own foolish pride that took a hit tonight and she was so angry with herself that she had no choice but to project that anger on the first available target. Good Lord, she’d spread her legs for him as eagerly as any hopeful groupie. Hadn’t even batted a lash when he stuck his hand down her shorts as though it was a common occurrence for men to bring her to orgasm while she sat in the middle of her living room.
Kayleigh had humiliated herself tonight and opened the door for Luke Blackwell to break her heart all over again. If she didn’t steel herself against his charm now, she’d be nothing more than a lump of clay in his palm. Malleable. His to shape and command. As if you wouldn’t love to be worked by those hands again.