by Mandy Baxter
“Kayleigh and I already have plans for tonight,” Luke interrupted. “You two have fun.”
Crap. Once again, he’d steamrolled her, refusing to give her an out.
“Back at ya, brother.” Ryder winked at Kayleigh before turning to leave. “You two have a good time tonight.”
As Luke walked by and shut the door on Tallulah’s stall, he said, “You should know better than to think I’d let you get away that easily. You’re mine tonight. Don’t even think about trying to weasel your way out of it, either.”
Mine.
The word settled as a deep ache in her chest. Kayleigh rubbed at her sternum and gave him a weak smile. “I wouldn’t think of arguing with the Lucifer Blackwell. You always get your way.”
“Damn straight.” He crossed the space between them and chucked her under the chin. “And you’d best get used to it. Because I won’t be happy until I get everything I want.”
That’s what she was afraid of.
NINE
You’d think he was going to the prom or some shit with the way he’d preened before leaving Ryder’s house. Hell, he hadn’t taken this much care with his appearance when he went to the Grammy’s last year. Luke wanted tonight to be perfect, though.
Kayleigh could put up all the walls she wanted, but he wasn’t stepping a foot out of town until she admitted that they belonged together. Nothing was going to stop him from making her his, once and for all. He wanted her, he was going to keep her, and that’s all there was to it. He’d gone too goddamned long without her and he wasn’t wasting another hour, let alone another day. Nothing she could do would change his mind or scare him away. He knew her better than anyone. Probably better than she knew herself. There would never be another woman for him.
When he pulled up to her house, his heart began to race and the damned thing slammed against his rib cage like a bass drum. All he could think about was this afternoon in the pasture and how damned good it felt to be with her again.
Kayleigh stepped out of the house before he could cut the engine and Luke’s breath stalled in his chest. The woman was raw sensuality in a pair of heels. To-die-for gorgeous. She’d talked about herself as though she were already a withered old hag. So not the case. As she strolled down the front steps, a smile playing on her full mouth, she put all of L.A.’s beauties to shame.
Her short, billowy skirt showed off her shapely legs and the light cotton fabric of her V-neck top showed off the tantalizing swell of her breasts. He swallowed hard as he thought about teasing the hardened peaks with a flick of his tongue. A long necklace hung between them, something with a flirty silver tassel that swung with every step she took. A wide leather cuff graced her left wrist and she’d pulled her hair up into a ponytail, letting her thick curls trail down the center of her back.
Fuuuuck.
Focusing on a civilized meal was going to be nearly impossible when all he could think about was hiking up that skirt and burying his face between her thighs. He hopped out of the rental and rounded the front end just as she hit the driveway.
“Gonna open my door for me, Mr. Blackwell?” He could practically taste the sweetness of her tone on his tongue. “Aren’t you a gentleman?”
“Hardly.” He flashed her a wicked grin as he pulled open the door. When she stepped past him, he slid his palm around her waist and let it trail down her thigh and around to the curve of her ass. He put his mouth close to her ear and whispered, “I was just looking for an excuse to get my hands on you.”
“Talented and resourceful.” She flashed a saucy grin and climbed up into the Escalade giving him a tantalizing view of the very ass he’d just been admiring. “I might be in over my head with you.”
“Baby, you have no idea.”
Luke shut the door. Walking the few feet to his side of the truck was already posing a problem, considering he was currently sporting a hard-on the size of the Florida panhandle. Come to think of it, any brain function whatsoever was going to be next to impossible thanks to his blood supply being rerouted to his dick.
He climbed up into the driver’s seat and readjusted several times until he found a position that was marginally comfortable. Kayleigh cocked a brow, her lips pursed. “Having a little trouble?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
Her answering smile knotted his stomach. Sweet Jesus, she was perfect.
As they drove to Angus—a newer steakhouse Ryder had suggested—in companionable silence, Luke marveled that even though things had changed since he’d left, they’d also stayed the same. The familiarity—or the rut as he’d thought of it—that Kayleigh wanted to live in didn’t seem quite as distasteful now. Was it a sign that he was maturing that trading in night after night of heart-pounding excitement on the stage for a quiet life of routine didn’t seem so bad?
“I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty excited to eat here,” Kayleigh remarked. She looked over at him, her eyes sparking with heat. “They’ve only been open for a couple of months.”
On the outside, Angus looked swanky enough. The sort of place couples went to celebrate anniversaries or engagements. Not quite the sort of high-end dining he’d been used to in L.A. and New York, but still, nice. “You mean Super Spencer didn’t wine and dine you here?”
Her expression fell and Luke wished he could take back the words. He’d tried not to think about the fact that Kayleigh had been seeing someone prior to his reappearance.
“He said that eating out was a waste of money,” she remarked in a quiet tone. “We usually just ate at my place.”
Real progressive making the little lady sweat over a hot stove after a long day at work. What a douche. Luke hopped out of the Escalade and opened her door for her. He offered his hand and she took it, sliding down from the seat in a way that hiked her skirt up dangerously close to her hip. He swallowed down the lust that clouded his brain and focused on pretending he was housebroken. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get some eats.”
As the hostess led them to their table, Luke endured the usual commotion that accompanied a public outing. Whispers. Curious stares. Cell phones pointed at him as people snapped off pics that would inevitably end up on Facebook or Instagram. Kayleigh stiffened beside him, her shoulders hunching in and gaze directed at the floor. Her discomfort angered him, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. This was his life. Maybe it was better that she see it on a smaller scale now before she experienced the batshit craziness of L.A.
* * *
If Luke got this much attention at a local restaurant far from the city, she could only imagine the sort of commotion he caused when he went out in L.A. A nervous tremor skittered up Kayleigh’s spine. How could she possibly think of a life with Luke beyond the little bubble she lived in here? Sure, when contained in this microcosm of a community, Luke had eyes for her and only her. But what would happen if she allowed him to take her away from here? How long would it be before an eager fan showed up on his bus, sans panties and up for anything?
“I’ll be right back.” Kayleigh slid her chair out from the table. Adrenaline buzzed through her system, making her a little light-headed and her breath sped in her chest. Passing out at the table: not cool.
“What’s the matter?” Luke’s brow furrowed and he leaned across the table. “Talk to me, Kayleigh.”
Damn him for being so in tune with her emotions. “Nothing.” She tried to laugh it off but the sound was more like a choke. “I just have to use the restroom.” He frowned at her answering smile as she deposited her napkin on the table and took off in the wrong direction. Crap. “Oops,” she said as she turned back past their table. “Wrong way.”
By the time she made it to the bathroom, Kayleigh thought she might throw up. She didn’t suffer from anxiety but what she was experiencing right now was a full-blown panic attack. What in the hell was wrong with her?
She turned the faucet on to cold and bent over the sink. The door creaked behind her and Kayleigh looked up at the mirror to see Luke standing ju
st behind her in the reflection. “Jesus, Luke.” Her hand came down on the lever, shutting off the water. “This is the ladies’ room!”
He didn’t seem fazed. “What’s wrong, Kayleigh? And don’t tell me ‘nothing’ because I know better.”
“Luke, I…” Why was it so hard to be up-front with him? In all of the years she’d known him, he’d never pulled any punches. Was always 100 percent honest with her. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Dinner?” The smile he gave her didn’t reach his eyes. “If that’s the case we’ll order to-go and take it back to Ryder’s house. I’ve been dying to see what you’re wearing under that skirt.”
Kayleigh let out a sigh that did nothing to loosen the knot that lodged in her chest. “When we’re alone together … we’re us. You know?” She jerked her head toward the door. “I don’t know if we can still be us out there.”
Luke backed up to the door and turned the lock.
“Luke! You can’t do that.” He smiled at her scandalized whisper and she rolled her eyes. “What if someone has to use the bathroom?”
“They can wait.” He moved toward her like a lion stalking a gazelle, all sinewy grace and silent power.
“We can’t just abandon our table.” His eyes pinned her in place, blazing with a heat that left her breathless. “Our waiter will be back to take our order any time.”
Luke hiked his shoulder in an unconcerned shrug. “That,” he mimicked her head jerk toward the world outside, “doesn’t mean shit to me.”
Kayleigh backed away, the natural state of prey in the presence of a predator and stopped when the counter met her lower back. He continued to advance on her until they were chest to chest, his long, muscular arms braced on either side of her.
“Do I like the attention that comes with being a celebrity? Yes. I’m an entertainer, Kayleigh. It’s what I do, it’s not who I am. Those people don’t know a fucking thing about me apart from the words I’m singing and the notes I’m playing. You treating that attention like it’s some sort of relationship is as bad as them treating my private life like it’s theirs to invade.”
She’d never thought about it that way. To her, Luke’s life in the spotlight made her think that there was no division between Public Luke and Private Luke. And here she was, having a stupid panic attack over that attention as though she were fighting the world for a piece of him when she had more of him than anyone else ever had.
“I don’t want to share you.” Admitting her selfishness caused a flush of shame to heat her cheeks. “And I don’t want to come second.”
Luke’s gaze burned through her, the intensity sparking a low thrum in her core. He seized her by the waist and hoisted her up on the counter, spreading her legs wide as he took a step away from her. “I’ve been gone for eight years, Kayleigh.” His palms passed up her inner thighs and her breath hitched. “And there wasn’t a day of that time that you weren’t the first thing I thought about every morning and the last thing on my mind before I went to sleep.”
Oh.
His hands found her underwear and he gripped either side, jerking them down over her hips. She rose up, letting her hands brace her as he whisked them from her thighs and stuffed them in the pocket of his jeans.
Looked like she wasn’t getting those back anytime soon …
Luke didn’t look away as he feathered the pad of his thumb over her already swollen and throbbing clit. Kayleigh shuddered as pleasure rippled through her as a whimper escaped her lips. His nostrils flared and he grabbed her by the waist again, this time lifting her as though she weighed nothing until she had no choice but to stand on the counter.
“Luke,” she said with a nervous laugh, “What are you do—Oh. Oh, wow.”
As he fisted her skirt and lifted the hem well above her waist, Luke buried his face between her thighs. The heat of his tongue plunged between her labia and Kayleigh bit down on her cheek to keep from crying out. Her hips thrust out as her shoulder blades came to rest on the mirror behind her. She spread her legs wider and Luke gripped onto the backs of her thighs to steady her, his fingertips digging deliciously into her flesh.
He lapped at her hungrily, his tongue swirling over the sensitive bundle of nerves. Kayleigh’s jaw hung slack, her breath coming in desperate pants as her fingers dove into the soft, tangled locks of his hair. “Luke. Don’t stop.”
His mouth on her felt so good, Kayleigh didn’t give a crap about where they were or who might be standing on the other side of the locked door. Luke was her entire universe, there was nothing—and no one else. His tongue swirled over her clit, flicking out before he took her in his mouth and sucked. Her thighs trembled and her stomach muscles went taut.
Only Luke could evoke such raw, unabashed passion in her. She reached down and grabbed one of his hands, guiding it up her shirt. He jerked down the cup of her bra and rolled the hardened peak of her nipple between his thumb and finger. The roughened calluses from years of strumming only heightened her pleasure. A low moan vibrated in her throat as she rolled her hips in time with each pass of his tongue.
His hand left her breast and Kayleigh let out a disappointed whimper only to gasp as he gripped her ass, his fingers venturing downward through the crease. He dipped his fingers into her pussy, spreading her slick arousal upward as he ventured back up between her cheeks and the tight ring of nerves that clenched with his questing touch.
“Luke.” It was a breathy gasp. No one had touched her there before, not even him. But the sensation was amazing as he continued to tease her there, lapping at her pussy while he increased the pressure on her ass. “Don’t stop what you’re doing.” He was driving her insane with lust, his finger venturing past the tight ring just enough to elicit a low moan of pleasure. Kayleigh’s breath caught somewhere between her lungs and throat as her muscles contracted and her body coiled in on itself. “You’re going to make me come.”
Luke pulled away and Kayleigh continued to thrust her hips at empty air. She was wound tight and if she didn’t find release soon, she’d lose her damned mind. He snatched her down from the counter and set her on her feet. His mouth found hers in a ravenous kiss and the taste of her on his lips only drove her further past reason. He spun her quickly around and bent her over the counter.
“I’ve gotta fuck you, baby. I don’t want you to come until I’m inside of you.”
She was mindless. Wanton. Past the point of rational thought. She’d scream her pleasure right here for everyone in the restaurant to hear if that’s what Luke wanted her to do. Anything as long as he gave her what she needed.
He kept one hand tightly wound around her waist while the other jerked at the button of his jeans. The hiss of his zipper echoed off the tile walls and Kayleigh looked up to find him watching her in the reflection of the mirror.
“Oh god, Luke. Hurry up and fuck me.”
TEN
Luke was abso-fucking-lutely mindless in his need to take her, his cock throbbing and tight and his balls aching. Kayleigh worried about having to share him with complete strangers? He was going to make her believe once and for all that no one else mattered to him but her. He shoved his jeans down around his hips and grabbed his cock, so sensitive that he shuddered from the contact.
He drove home in a forceful jerk of his hips that coaxed a moan from Kayleigh, resounding through the small bathroom and shivering down his spine. Her pussy squeezed him like a fist and he fucked her hard, steadying her around the waist while his other hand came around to hold her gently by the throat. Her eyes locked with his in the mirror and the rush of excitement surging through his bloodstream was gasoline on a raging fire, fueling his lust. He couldn’t take her deep enough. Hard enough. Desperation welled up inside of him and intensified with every drive of his hips. Without her, he’d never be whole, never feel a sense of calm again. If they parted ways this time, it would kill him as surely as a bullet to the head.
“Tell me you want me.”
Kayleigh’s lips parted, her hands sp
layed out on the smooth surface of the countertop. On the heels of her sharp intake of breath, she exhaled the words, “I want you, Luke.”
He pounded unmercifully into her and Kayleigh brought her balled fist to her mouth, biting down to muffle her passionate cries. The sight of it spurred Luke on and he drove his cock as deep as it would go into her slick heat. “Tell me you need me.”
“Yes,” she gasped. “I need you.”
Harder. Faster. His jaw clamped down. He fucked her with mindless abandon, the only gentleness his delicate grip on her throat. Luke’s balls tightened and his shaft swelled inside of her, the pressure building to an unbearable level. His eyes held hers in the mirror, wide and wild. “Tell me you love me, Kayleigh. Me and no one else.”
Her pussy constricted around his shaft and she collapsed on her arms as the orgasm took her. Pulse after powerful pulse drew his cock deep inside of her and Luke came in a violent spasm, rushing on him too fast for him to have the good sense to pull out.
“I love you, Luke,” Kayleigh rasped as she came. “I’ve always loved you.”
Another powerful wave stole over him, shaking Luke to his foundation. He gulped in lungfuls of breath as he buried his face in her neck to muffle the sound of his own victorious shout.
“I love you, baby,” he murmured in her ear. He gave shallow, disjointed thrusts as his cock twitched inside of her. He’d never come so hard, the sensations so intense. “And I’m never letting you go.”
The moment some semblance of clarity returned to him, Luke regretted taking her like this, like some random hookup after a show in a public restroom. Jesus fucking Christ, what had he been thinking? She deserved so much more than this. Being with Kayleigh was sort of like being an addict, though. His need for her overrode common sense, self-preservation, his own well-being. Consequences be damned.
“Don’t move. Let me clean you up.” He tended to her as best he could, and then himself, making them both presentable before they returned to their table. He kissed her neck, the small of her back as he pulled down her shirt, and the mouth-watering swell of her ass as he yanked her skirt back into place.