A Heart Decision

by Laurie Kellogg

  “Take human bites, fellas.” Luke shook his head and grinned at Sabrina. “Look what you’ve done. Now that they know there’s food here, they’ll never leave.”

  His easy camaraderie with the kids, and obvious affection for them didn’t fit a man who’d done something as drastic as having surgery to make sure he’d never become a father.

  She could only think of one reason a guy, who was so well suited to parenting and liked kids as much as Luke clearly did, would be so determined not to reproduce.

  He had to believe it would be wrong to bring a child of his own into the world.

  ~*~

  Luke had made the comment about feeding the boys in jest, but unfortunately, there’d been more truth than humor in his teasing. A package of cookies, a large carton of ice cream, and a bag of pretzels later, the three teens were still entertaining Sabrina with stories of his devotion to them and their friends.

  He didn’t begrudge the boys the food. And it wasn’t that he minded Sabrina hearing the kids’ hero worship of him. In fact, he loved the way she’d looked at him when Damon told her how Luke had helped him and a couple of other members of his previous gang turn their lives around.

  None of that mattered. He just wanted them to leave. Tonight was supposed to be the night, and the longer the kids stayed, the less it looked like it would be.

  Sabrina gathered up the ice cream bowls and loaded them in the dishwasher while Mopsy and Dusty both sniffed at the open appliance. “I’d better take the puppies out.”

  “Did you call your brother?” Luke asked Damon.

  “Yeah. He’ll be here any minute.”

  A few moments later, when Sabrina came back inside with the dogs, Luke pulled her down on his lap and slid his arms around her waist. Normally, he would avoid any physical display of affection in front of the kids, but he hoped they’d get the message to leave without him actually kicking them out.

  He glanced pointedly at his watch. “It’s almost nine-thirty, guys. Aren’t your mothers gonna wonder what happened to you?”

  Kevin waved his hand. “As long as I’m home before eleven, she’s happy.”

  Luke rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath, “Great.”

  “Almost nine-thirty?” Jamal frowned at Kevin. “Wasn’t the Gladiator supposed to be on TV tonight?”

  “Yeah.” Kevin smiled at Luke, his dark eyebrows drawn into a pleading arch. “Can Jamal and I stay and watch it here? Puleeeeze?”

  It wasn’t an unreasonable request. The kids frequently hung out at his house to watch ballgames and videos. It was part of the reason he’d invested in the huge home theater system for his living room—to keep them off the street.

  Sabrina’s mouth drew into an amused pucker as she squirmed against his swollen fly. “Yumm. Now that’s my kind of movie. Two and a half hours of Russell Crowe in a toga.”

  “Don’t encourage them,” he muttered in her ear.

  Jamal shoved Kevin. “Do you two got eyes? The Lieutenant wants to be alone with his lady.”

  Thank you, Jamal.

  “Plus the movie won’t be over in time for you to make your curfew,” Luke reminded them.

  “Uhhh....sorry.” Kevin lifted one shoulder in an abashed shrug.

  A horn honked out in the driveway. “That’s my brother.” Damon waved as he opened the back door. “Thanks for the eats, Miss Sabrina.”

  “Yeah.” Kevin nodded. “Thanks. It was great.”

  As Sabrina attempted to stand, Luke yanked her back into his lap and whispered, “Stay right where you are, Princess.”

  Once Kevin followed Damon out the door, Luke gave Jamal a high-five and held him back. “Buddy, your astute power of observation and natural leadership ability suggests you’re ready for a promotion.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup. Just as soon as you stop smacking your pals around. You need to command their respect without bullying them.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And I meant it about you taking only one passenger in your car. You’re the driver, so it’s up to you to say no. If you lose your license, how will you get to work to help your mom with the grocery bills?”

  “You’re right. I won’t let you down.”

  “Okay, drive safely.”

  The moment the boy closed the door and sprinted after his friends, Luke turned Sabrina in his arms and lowered his lips to hers, murmuring, “I thought they’d never leave.”

  He slid his tongue into her mouth while his hand slipped under her knit top and cupped her breast. She arched her back and plowed her fingers through his hair, moaning into his mouth.

  “If you’d gotten up a minute ago, those guys would’ve seen why it’s a good thing I don’t wear a toga,” he murmured as he drew back.

  A flash of movement at the corner of his eye jerked his gaze to the back door where Jamal stood, watching them, his jaw hanging. Luke yanked his hand out of Sabrina’s shirt.

  The teen opened the door and stepped inside. “Uhhh, sorry. I forgot my hat.”

  “And you couldn’t knock to let me know you were there?”

  “I was....umm....waitin’ for you to come up for air.”

  The kid could’ve had a long wait and gotten a real eyeful if Luke hadn’t noticed him when he did.

  “It won’t happen again. Sorry.” Jamal snatched his cap off the counter and dashed out of the house.

  Luke flashed an apologetic smile at Sabrina. “First thing tomorrow, we’re buying a curtain for that door.”

  “He was just trying to pick up some pointers from his hero.”

  He pushed the electric control on the arm of the chair and steered it over to the door to lock it. “I have a tiny problem.”

  Wiggling her bottom, she smiled. “Yes, I feel your problem, and it’s in no way tiny.”

  “I’m being serious.” He flipped off the lights. “If my ankle weren’t broken, I’d carry you upstairs to bed. But it’s a little hard to—”

  “No, I don’t think so.” She chuckled and traced his ear with her tongue as she ground her fanny on his erection. “That’s like saying titanium is a little hard.”

  He tangled his fingers in her hair and turned her head to look at him. “Keep sassing me, woman, and I’ll dump you on your fanny and give you a taste of wild monkey sex right here on the kitchen floor.”

  “Mmm....that sounds pretty good except for the lack of privacy.”

  If she didn’t stop wiggling on him, in thirty seconds, he wouldn’t care if the whole damn neighborhood watched.

  She wound her arms around his neck and cuddled against his chest while he steered them down the hallway and through the living room to the steps. The two puppies danced around the wheels, daring him to run them over.

  “Didn’t you hear the lady, Dusty? She wants privacy. You have Mopsy to keep you warm. Go sleep with her.”

  “Afraid he’ll steal your sheet again?”

  “No. I just don’t want our canine audience to witness me giving in to your begging. They’ll think I’m a soft touch.”

  “Begging?” She sputtered. “I don’t think so.”

  “Oh, no? We’ll just see about that.” He brushed his lips over hers. “I would’ve liked to sweep you off your feet, but that’s slightly difficult, confined to this chair.”

  “You’re doing just fine.” She slid off his lap and helped him stand.

  “Wait. Before we go upstairs, I need to do something.” He wiggled her engagement ring off her finger and stuck it in the pocket of her shorts. “That’s better. Tonight, you’re all mine.”

  “I’d be yours every night if you—”

  He pressed two fingers over her lips. “Please, don’t ruin this, Princess.”

  Once he parked his butt on the second step, he grabbed her wrist as she tried to squeeze past him to go up before him. “Forget it. I’m taking you up.”

  After scooting up to the next step, he twisted her to face him and pulled her onto his lap, straddling his hips. She rested her h
ead on his shoulder and kissed his neck, her lips as soft as flower petals. “I love you, Luke.”

  “Brina.” His throat tightened as she nestled her crotch over the throbbing ridge straining his zipper. Gritting his teeth, he winced at the incredible pressure in his groin.

  Whose bright idea was this? At the rate they were going, if anyone ended up begging, it would be him. As he pushed himself up to the next step with his good foot, Sabrina rocked on his hard-on like a kid on a hobbyhorse.

  “I think I like this.” She giggled as she stripped her shirt over her head, revealing a filmy peach bra.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the ten stairs still behind him and groaned. Control and stamina in the bedroom had never been a problem for him. But Sabrina was different. She made him ache for her—not just his lower half, but his whole body....and soul. No other woman had ever affected him that way.

  As he raised himself to the next step, he concentrated on unclasping her bra to distract himself from the mind-boggling sensation of her body rubbing against his. He pulled the nearly transparent scrap off and grabbed her hips to stop her gyrating. “Princess, if you want me to make love to you when we get to the top, you have to sit still and let me run this show.”

  “Party-pooper.” She stuck her lip out in a sexy pout. “The least you can do is take off your shirt so I’m not the only one who’s half undressed.” She yanked on the threadbare T-shirt. It tore like tissue paper in her hand. “I’m sorry.” She laughed. “How many times have you washed this thing?”

  “Too many, obviously.” He let her rip the rest of the shirt away and immediately regretted it. Her bare breasts pressed against his naked chest as he pulled her up another step.

  Only eight more to go.

  Biting his lip, he took the next three steps as fast as he could. She ignored his warning and rocked frantically on him, her rosy nipples bobbing in his face, driving him closer to the edge every time he lifted his hips.

  Finally, he couldn’t resist her bouncing breasts a moment longer. He stopped and covered one of her luscious peaks with his mouth. Damn, she tasted incredible. Her gasps and whimpers said she was as close to the edge as he was.

  The smell of dish detergent and lasagna mingled with her sweet powdery scent, giving birth to thoughts of home cooked meals and babies.

  Dear God, what he wouldn’t give to make her his wife and keep her forever. To see her belly swell with his child. To hold her at night while she nursed their ba—

  Damn it. He shook off his senseless regret. No way would he ruin this night by mourning what he could never have. At least, for right now, Sabrina was all his.

  CHAPTER 8

  Her heart beat so fast, she feared it might explode. Could too much pleasure be fatal?

  Sabrina writhed in Luke’s arms as he laved her nipple and ground his hard shaft between her legs while he scooted up three more steps.

  Nearly at the top, she climbed off his lap to help him into his waiting wheelchair.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” He clutched her ankle and dragged her down to the floor of the upper hallway. Kneeling two steps below her, he shoved her back on the plush carpet and tore open her zipper. “I’m sorry, Princess, but, at the moment, the bedroom seems a thousand miles away.”

  To her, too. “So will this be the wild monkey sex you were threatening me with downstairs?”

  “No, way,” he whispered as he struggled to peel her slacks and panties off with his good hand. “I want to make slow sweet love to you. But it’s gotta be right now.”

  Once he finished removing her underwear, with her help, he tossed them down the steps with the rest of her clothing. His muscular chest heaved like the bellows on an accordion as he gazed down at her lying stark naked on the rug.

  “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” The hot passion in his hooded eyes generated a fresh wave of shivers through her.

  “Not nearly as beautiful as you are.” She sat up and inched forward on the top step until their noses nearly touched. Luke’s ribs pressed against her knees, spreading her legs to hug his body as he tipped his head and captured her lips in a long, deep kiss. The rough fabric of his Ace bandage grazed her nipple as he cupped both her breasts in his hands. If he didn’t take her soon, she’d go out of her mind.

  The moist throbbing between her thighs reminded her of a flashing vacancy sign on a cheap motel urgently seeking an occupant. However, even as desperate as her need was, she didn’t want anyone but Luke filling her.

  His mouth gradually trekked down her throat to her breasts. He licked and teased her nipples as he pushed her back on the carpet, leaving her hips perched at the edge of the step.

  Kissing his way south on her stomach, he moved down a step. She threaded her fingers through his hair and gasped as his mouth moved lower.

  “Luke?” she squeaked, every muscle in her tensing in anticipation of his lips on her most intimate place.

  “Shhh....just relax, Brina. You have got me so turned on, if I don’t love you this way first, I’ll—”

  “Relax? That’s easy for you to say. No one’s ever done this to me before.”

  “Good,” he whispered, hooking her knees over his shoulders. “You have no idea how much I love being the first to treat you to this.”

  Oh, jeez, she was so wet. “Wouldn’t you like me to shower before—”

  “Unh-uh.” He flicked his tongue at her aching heat. “I want to taste how much you want me.” She trembled as he sucked her sensitive flesh and groaned into her slick heat. “Damn, you’re luscious. The best dessert I’ve ever had.”

  “Pleease.” The ache inside her intensified with each flick of his tongue. Gripping his hair, she wiggled her hips and squeezed her eyes shut. What had made her think she’d made love before? The two men she’d slept with had definitely had, but her? No way. Her experience had been nothing remotely like this incredible pleasure.

  Her body felt weightless as bells rang persistently in her head.

  Luke lifted his head and chuckled. “Should I stop so you can answer that?”

  “Answer what?” She shoved his face back down.

  “The phone?” he mumbled into her curls. “Wasn’t Ben supposed to call you tonight?”

  Was he saying the bells weren’t in her head? The phone continued ringing, on both floors, in a stereo effect, as Luke moved up onto the landing with her and stroked her with his fingers.

  She gasped, unable to think straight with the delicious tingles rippling through her. “Who?” She panted. “Pleeease, more.”

  Luke smiled down at her. “Remember Ben, your fiancé? What if it’s him?”

  “He’ll call back,” she murmured and shuddered as her whole body cheered his fingers on, chanting ‘Gimme an O, gimme an O, gimmee a great big—“Oh-OH-ohmigosh,” she squealed, clawing at his shoulders. “Faster, pleeease. Whatever you do, don’t stop.”

  ~*~

  Awestruck, Luke stared at the utter surprise and delight in Sabrina’s eyes. He’d never known a woman’s orgasm to last this long. The phone rang several more times before her body finally finished convulsing. She always looked beautiful, but in the throes of her climax, her flushed cheeks and kiss-drenched lips made her breathtakingly gorgeous.

  “You look as if you’ve never come before,” he whispered.

  She shrugged wordlessly, as if she were too stunned to speak. Her breasts bobbed in time with her panting as she found her voice. “I haven’t with anyone else. Sure, I’ve had some minor orgasms when I’ve touched myself, but nothing like that.”

  If he wasn’t inside her in the next ten seconds, he’d explode right in his boxers. After ripping his fly open, he pushed down his cargo shorts and underwear, shoving them off with his good foot.

  He moved to the step that allowed him to kneel between Sabrina’s legs and leaned on his right elbow while bracing himself with his left hand. “I don’t mean to rush you, Princess, but I’m gonna burst.”

  “Then what’re you waiting for?�
� She shimmied her hips a little closer to the edge of the landing and gasped as he entered her halfway. Damn, she felt so good—so slick and tight. Being inside her was like coming home. With no condom between them, it wasn’t going to take much to push him over the top. “Are you all right, Brina?”

  “Uh-huh. I’ve just never....oh, please.” Her hips undulated beneath him, urging him to give her more of himself. As he thrust deeper, she gripped his shoulders and wrapped her legs around him. She dug her heels into his haunches, pushing him inside her to the hilt. “Oh, I can’t believe how good you feel.”

  Pumping his hips, he gazed down at the love shining on her face, and his throat constricted. As he increased his tempo, tears shimmered in her eyes. He froze and buried his face in her hair. “Oh, baby,” he murmured, “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “You’re not hurting me, silly.” She bucked beneath him. “Please, don’t ever stop loving me.”

  Apparently, their joining had affected her as deeply as it had him. He resumed his thrusting and immersed himself in the ecstasy of her body squeezing and stroking his screaming flesh.

  The same blasted music that’d interrupted them that morning played in her purse in the living room below. “Should I sto—”

  “Don’t you dare.” She panted as the music ceased, indicating the call must have gone to her voicemail. “If you do, I swear I’ll break that night stick of yours so you can never torture me like this again. Faster, damn it.”

  He loved this woman so much. Way too much to pound into her deep and hard the way his body ached to. But with each thrust, her moans and eager whimpers grew louder until he couldn’t restrain himself.

  Serenaded by the phone’s infernal tune a second time, Luke closed his eyes and unleashed his pent-up passion. He pumped his hips full tilt, driving into her like a machine run amuck.

  “Yes, yes!” she shouted as he tweaked both her nipples. “Oh, Luke, you make me crazy.” She yanked his head down. Their lips merged in a frantic battle of tongues and teeth, nipping and licking, while he continued his rapid-fire thrusting.

  Her nails raked his back as her body clenched around him seconds before his control blew like an improperly sealed pressure cooker. His eyes rolled back in his head as he burst inside her, reveling in the sweet release.