“Right, the coffee,” he said, sounding unconvinced. “And Flash?”
There it was again, that tension. Like he knew something about his public relations director he wasn’t saying.
Helen shrugged. “I’m not real clear there. But she warned me off you. Basically she told me I was a road stop on your way to The Big Apple.”
“New York next was the plan,” Luke agreed. “But you’re no one’s road stop.” He thought about it for a moment. “Flash’s concern isn’t for me personally as much as it is for the business. I never realized how proprietary her interest was until Alexis said something.”
“That could be it.”
“Jealous?”
He slipped his arms around her and Helen felt something that went beyond sexual attraction.
Pushing the feeling away deep inside her, she said, “Not jealous, worried.”
“About?”
“Someone is trying to put me out of business—and before you go there, no, I don’t think it’s you—but…”
“But you suspect one of my employees.”
“Who else is there?”
“I was beginning to wonder myself.”
She took a deep breath and touched her forehead to his. “Thank goodness you don’t think I’m crazy.”
“Well, I didn’t say that.”
She whipped up her head and met his amused expression. “You’re joking, right?”
“Lightening up the mood.” He trailed gentle fingers down the side of her face. “I know you’re worried. I’m worried. I can’t say that either Alexis or Flash has done anything overtly suspicious. Still, with all the things that have happened to you, I can’t help wondering. And if you were right about someone trying to make you fall on the stairs…”
Luke hugged her close and Helen allowed herself to be comforted for a moment. She couldn’t think of any place she would rather be than in his arms. His hand soothing her spine set her nerve endings on edge.
But they weren’t done discussing the situation, so she pulled away slightly.
“Alexis or Flash or both seem to be in the wrong place at the right time,” Helen said. “Both were in the café right before the coke joke. When my espresso maker was down, Flash walked in and made a fuss. It was as if she knew and purposely used the moment to score a big advertisement for Hot Zone.”
“Slamming another business like that is unacceptable.”
“And the couch that was riddled with fleas—they had both been sitting on it earlier, before I got to the café. I can’t help believing one of them was responsible for everything. How to prove it, though?”
“I don’t know. I’ll talk to them both, see if I can get a handle on it, I promise.” Luke shook his head and sank onto a stool at the counter. “I didn’t want to face this. I didn’t want to believe that my success was built on someone purposely making other businesses fail.”
Helen realized the question of culpability really had crossed his mind before. Not that he’d said anything to her—and apparently not to either of the women.
“That’s not why you’re successful, Luke,” she assured him. “It’s your ideas and your dedication that have put you where you are. I’ve watched you work. You’re a dynamic personality. You’re creative. And your attention to detail—”
“Whoa. I’m convinced.” He smiled as he pulled her into the vee of his thighs. “Thank you,” he murmured, brushing soft lips over hers.
Several somethings stirred in Helen, not only because of the kiss, but because of the bond they’d just forged. Luke believed her and was ready to take action, and she had faith that he would be able to stop the attack on her from continuing.
But another thing had been bothering her. “Luke, when I was doing some research on the history of Hot Zone, I found an article that was odd. About you.”
“What about me?”
“Cooper Coffee Company. You were fired…something about your business practices.”
His forehead furrowed. “And you want to know why I didn’t tell you?”
“Not exactly. I just wanted to know more about it, because it didn’t seem…well, like you.”
“It wasn’t.” He sighed and hugged her tight for a moment, then relaxed. “I was trying to get product from a grower in Colombia and the next thing I knew he filed a complaint about me, said I’d threatened to put him out of business if he didn’t sign with me.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“My boss did.”
“You never figured out what happened?”
“I didn’t try,” Luke admitted. “I was so angry that I immediately got to work on my business plan for Hot Zone. I was going to show Cooper that I could be a success on my own.”
Helen believed him. Odd that he hadn’t followed up on the truth of the matter, but she supposed he could have been so disgusted that Cooper believed the grower that he didn’t care about keeping his job.
Luke kissed her again and she suddenly wanted him fiercely. But not here. Not where it was all a game. Afterward, she wanted to lie in his arms, feel his body stretched alongside hers.
When they came up for air, she whispered, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Your place?”
“Yours.”
For, when the night was over, being in his place would make it easier for her to make the break quick and clean.
13
LUKE’S SUBLET was a nice one bedroom with a metal balcony off the living room, but the furnishings were basic, nothing on the walls. Helen guessed that’s all a man on the move needed. No attention to detail here, not like in his business. Somehow, she felt the business defined the outer Luke, the one in the media, the one to whom people responded. Surface, she thought. Simply surface. The apartment defined him inside—a loner without roots.
And that fact brought home the rightness of her decision to keep to her rules. It was only a matter of time—soon, Flash had said and he hadn’t denied it—before he would be on to The Big Apple and his next conquest.
“Should I make us drinks?” he asked.
“I’m caffeined out.”
“Something stronger, then.”
“All I want is you.” She didn’t want to waste one moment of the time they had left together.
“That sounds promising.”
He picked up a remote and suddenly the room filled with music that came from every corner. Then he stepped closer, his body tantalizing hers.
“Dance with me,” he murmured into her hair.
She didn’t hesitate before bringing her body up against his and sliding her hands up to his shoulders. Inching across the floor together was as much a sensual act as it had been at the club. As she’d thought then, they might as well have been having sex.
And why not?
Helen snaked her arms around Luke’s neck and kissed him deeply, her emotion a combination of joy and sorrow. Joy that she was safe in his arms and would experience more pleasure than she ever had with another man…sorrow that morning would come all too soon.
He slid his hands down her back to cup her bottom, then pulled her into him so they were truly dancing as one. His erection pressed against her belly and for a while she was content as her flesh warmed. Then wanting more, she lifted a leg and slid it around his thigh, opening herself to his power. Stopping, he groaned in her mouth and hiked her higher, lifting her off the ground completely. Not hesitating, she surrounded him with herself, thighs around his hips, arms around his neck, fingers lost in his hair.
Her body felt like it was melting from the inside out. She kissed his face…his ear…his neck.
Luke groaned and danced her in circles and, in her punch-drunk sexual haze, she realized he was dancing her straight into the bedroom.
Good.
Then they were kissing again and tumbling down onto the unmade bed together.
He flipped her, so her back was against the mattress, and then pulled himself free and got to his feet.
“Where are you going?�
�� she asked.
“Inside you and as soon as possible.”
Stripping off his jacket, he threw it on a nearby chair. Faint golden light spilled into the bedroom from the living area and bathed him in a warm glow as he lifted his arms, bringing with them the silk T-shirt he wore. Through slitted eyes, she watched the impromptu strip show and felt her own body respond to every inch he revealed.
Broad shoulders…lean waist…narrow hips…jutting cock.
Her mouth watered at the thought of tasting him.
He slipped off her backless sandals and asked, “How does that dress come off?”
“Peel it,” she told him, then watched him work.
He slid the stretchy material up her thighs…over her hips…along her waist. His hands touched every inch of her, testing her patience. Still, she restrained herself from helping him, made the most of the anticipation. She raised her arms over her head even as he reached her breasts.
“Magic underwear?” he breathed, eyeing her exposed flesh.
“Uh-uh. Couldn’t wear any under this number without it showing.”
Then the dress was magically gone, flipped into the dark, and she was nude and an equally naked Luke was stretched over her, his hands cuffing her wrists up above her head. His erection lay heavy between her thighs. She opened them so he dropped in between, his hot flesh too tempting to ignore. Lifting her hips, she pushed forward, his groan her reward. She rocked against him, created a friction that ignited every nerve inside her.
Opening wider, she rocked again, making her demand obvious.
“No, not yet,” he murmured against her mouth.
He drank deeply, stirring her further. Beneath him, her hands still held captive, she brushed his body with her own and felt his erection stir.
He kissed her lips…her cheek…her jaw.
Then, after releasing her hands, he worked his way down her throat…along the valley between her breasts…over her belly and between her thighs.
Helen arched up to his mouth, gave him easy access, all the while wanting to pleasure him in return. Tangling her fingers in his hair, she tugged at him so that he looked up. She could see his mouth kissed with a slick wetness.
“What?” he whispered.
In answer, she tugged at him until he moved forward. Then she kept him moving until he lifted himself over her and she could grasp his cock and guide it to her mouth.
Her tongue met his tip and licked the drop of pre-come, then burrowed along the tiny slit. His groan spurred her on to give him more pleasure. She rimmed him and took him in her mouth, drawing on the soft fleshy tip until it slid deep into her mouth.
“Oh, darlin’, yes,” he gasped, pushing farther inside.
Then he set a rhythm, slow and sensuous, as he slid out and back in. Her hands found his buttocks and held him from escaping her completely.
Still moving, he groaned. “I want…let me…inside you…”
But she wouldn’t release him. Instead she seduced him with her teeth…her tongue…her fingers. She cupped his balls and gently rolled them together, then circled the base of his cock and squeezed hard. She felt the flesh inside her mouth respond.
But before he could come, he forced himself back from her, murmuring, “Together.”
He trailed his tip down between her breasts and over her stomach until it nestled at her entrance, hot and wet and ready for him. And as he kissed her, she opened wide and he slid inside, the creamy connection making a soft sucking sound that wrenched a gasp from her. He released her mouth and pushed himself up with straight arms on either side of her shoulders and began to move inside her. Sensation spread all the way to her fingers and toes. She wrapped her legs around his thighs and tightened herself inside.
Surely he would come now.
But he kept his movements lazy—slow and controlled. Her tilted hips drove him deeper. Her arched back allowed her to rub her breasts against his chest. No matter the stimulus, he took his time with her.
“You want me to come?” he whispered, nipping her earlobe. “Then help me.”
“Whatever you want.”
“I want to see it on your face. I want to watch as you come with me. Your clit.” He lifted his lower body from hers slightly. “You do it…”
She lowered her legs and she could see him watch her hand disappear in between them. And then as her fingers found her juices and spread them over herself intimately, he watched her face as he’d said he would.
Heat flooded her, sort of an embarrassed pleasure.
“That’s it.” His eyes closed to slits. “More.”
She set her feet on the bed for better access. He pulled out a bit and she moved in her hand so that she could touch both herself and him.
He stroked her with the same rhythm she used to stroke herself. Every time she was close to coming, she slowed—and then he slowed, further drawing out the pleasure. His face grew as taut as the muscles of his arms, still straight on either side of her shoulders. Forcing him in deeper, she quickened her strokes, and he followed suit.
A quaking began deep inside, then spread like lightning to her extremities. She gasped and tried to hold herself back. She wanted more.
But when he urged, “That’s it, come for me, darlin’,” she did.
Great waves of sexual current engulfed her, their intensity heightened by his war cry as he came right along with her for the shocking ride. Somehow he stayed hard enough to draw out her orgasm, giving her a second, prolonged climax.
Then he fell to the mattress beside her. They were both breathing hard, their bodies slicked with sweat.
Luke’s hand found hers and their fingers laced together.
“I don’t intend on sleeping tonight,” he told her. “I don’t want to waste a minute with you. I just thought you ought to know that.”
“Bring it on,” Helen challenged him. “I can take whatever you have.”
He brought it on, making her come twice more before he himself could fully join in. Then he took her lying down…standing…up against the wall in the shower.
But even Luke DeVries was human. No matter his determination, his will wasn’t as strong as the need for his body for rest. Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, his conscious mind gave way while his body remained cocooned around hers.
Content for the moment, Helen relaxed against him and refused to think about the morning.
DAWN WAS SPILLING through the bedroom windows when Luke awakened. Feeling empty, he turned in his king-size bed to seek the comfort of Helen’s body pressed against him.
She wasn’t there.
He sat up and, bleary-eyed, focused on the specter moving around the gray room, stopping in front of the mirror to poke at her wild honey hair.
She was fully dressed.
Filled with a sense of loss he wasn’t ready to face, Luke said, “Hey, darlin’, what’s the hurry?”
“City inspectors.”
“Not this early.”
“I have to go home and change. And then I want to get to the café and go over every inch with a fine-tooth comb. I’m afraid if I don’t they’ll find something not to their liking.”
Swinging his legs over the bed, he said, “I’ll come with you and help.”
“No, really.”
She was holding out a hand, as if that could stay him. As if that could protect her from him. Something inside him tightened. Ignoring her protest, he rose and pulled on his briefs.
“If this happened because of me, I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Luke. You’ve been nothing if not generous and caring.”
“Why does this sound like a goodbye speech?”
“Not goodbye. I’m sure we’ll see each other around.”
“See each other around?” he echoed, picking up his clothes from the floor where he’d left them and throwing them onto the bed. Even though he instinctually knew, he wasn’t going to believe it until he heard it from her own mouth. He climbed into his trousers. “Damn those r
ules of yours!”
“It’s better this way,” she insisted, darting out of the room and crossing the living room as if the hounds of hell were on her heels. “You’ll be leaving for New York soon, and—”
Following, he cut her off. “That hasn’t been decided.”
“Where doesn’t matter.”
As she escaped his apartment, he could see that it didn’t. Still, he followed her straight to the elevator, and when it opened on demand, he got inside with her. He could tell her mind was made up, that she didn’t want him to change it. Still, he had to try.
“You’re really okay with this?”
“I have to be.”
“You have to pay taxes,” he said as they spilled out of the elevator, across the lobby and outside the front door. “You don’t have to end a relationship before it gets off the ground! Why don’t you give us a chance?”
Already on the sidewalk, she turned to him and he could see the torn expression cross her face as she asked, “A chance to what?”
“I don’t know.” He really didn’t. He only knew that already—before she was physically gone—he was mourning the loss of her. “I’ve never done this before.”
“Neither have I. At least not for a long, long time. I still remember how much it hurt to be used and—”
“You think I’m using you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“After everything that’s happened, you believe Flash over me?”
“I believe that you’re a great guy, Luke, but you don’t have a sense of permanence. You don’t have a place to call home or longtime friends or—”
“Then teach me.”
She shook her head and backed off. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” he demanded, but she was already racing down the street, as if afraid he would catch her and change her mind.
He let her leave. Watched her put distance between them. But he couldn’t accept it.
Wouldn’t accept it.
He let her leave, but he wasn’t going to let her go.
THEIR ARGUMENT took away her breath.
Stepping out of the shelter of a tree, she watched a shirtless, shoeless Luke turn in frustration and reenter his building.
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