He groaned into her pussy. “Did you think I could resist getting my hands on you when you served yourself up on a goddamn platter? Wandering around in nothing but a shirt and knee-highs. What a naughty girl.”
For some reason, the idea of Luke unable to control himself pleased her. Her response got stuck in her throat as he sharply thrust his two fingers inside her at a faster pace. She moaned, low and guttural, surprised at the rough intrusion of his fingers as they pushed between the dripping wet folds of her naked pussy.
“Sweet Jesus, Lu. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.”
Her brain screamed for mercy, but her body was in control. Correction: Luke controlled her body. Her mind was just along for the ride as he succeeded in his seduction.
The wetness between her thighs was thick, drenching her inner fingers as he stroked inside. Her body was primed and on course to detonate.
Tightening around his tongue, Kennedy gave in to her orgasm. Light and heat exploded behind her eyes as she screamed her release.
Moments later, Luke gave her one last lip as he released her from his hold. Gently, he pulled her sweatshirt down and smoothed into place. Her underwear disappeared into his pocket as he swiped them up off the floor. Finally, he picked up the book and placed it back on the coffee table next to the couch.
Raw lust swirled in his blue eyes, sizzling her skin like she’d been shot by a low-level taser. Her body shivered with the remnants of her release. She hadn’t pieced it together that Luke wasn’t going to bring his dick out to play.
“I already warned you about running,” Luke whispered as he bent down near her ear. “Nothing will stop me, Kenn. Not even you.”
He kissed her forehead, then her cheeks. A chaste kiss on her lips followed. Each kiss was like a red-hot branding iron, searing her skin, marking her his. “See you in the morning, bomboncita.”
And then he did something unexpected. A move he stole from her own playbook.
He stood up, opened the door to the hallway. And left.
Chapter 14
Another night, another endless cycle of erections.
Constantly jacking off for two nights in a row gave his hands the workout of their lives. They were out of shape trying to keep up with the demands of his dick. Luke vowed to research cardio activities for his fingers. The lazy bastards.
He found the object of his desire and sexual frustration standing perplexed in front of the refrigerator. She looked perfectly tousled. Slightly disheveled, with a messy bun and an athleisure track suit to complete look. She was beautiful.
Will there ever be a day I don’t think she’s beautiful? Probably not. A potato sack wouldn’t diminish her innate beauty and sexiness.
Surprisingly, Luke, for his part, managed to keep his erection under control. “Good morning.”
He was greeted by a loud gurgle from Kennedy’s stomach. She didn’t spare him a glance as she pillaged the fridge.
“I take it you’re hungry?” he asked jokingly.
She glared at him. “My stomach is eating itself.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his front to her back. “Do you want to do the honors?”
A pained look crossed her face. “The kitchen is not exactly my area of expertise. I can make a few Sunday dinners. That’s about it. Where has Gretzky disappeared to?”
Luke peeled a sticky note off the open refrigerator door. “He left a note. He’s out in the backyard chopping up firewood. He’ll probably be at it for another thirty minutes or so.”
“Not sure I’ll make it until then.” Another stomach gurgle.
“Your stomach pains must be contagious. I’m starting to get hungry myself.” Luke contained his laughter. Hunger was a serious matter.
She put a hand on her hip. “Well, if you’re waiting on me to cook, you’re better off praying for a miracle.”
“No talent in the kitchen?”
“Only with adult supervision. I can make a few of my grandmother’s classic recipes. I wouldn’t be a good Panamanian if I couldn’t make sancocho and ropa vieja.”
He shrugged, then moved her away from the fridge. “Let me cook for you then. Blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs, and sausage hash sound okay to you?”
“You sure?” he heard her ask, but he had already started inspecting the fridge’s content. It was well-stocked with a treasure trove of fresh ingredients.
It was rare that he got the opportunity to cook for someone besides himself. For the first time in forever, he felt comfortable. No work interruptions, no stress from his family. He was just a boy, staring at a crisper of vegetables and meat, asking them to be a continental breakfast. The kitchen was his safe haven. He rolled up his sleeves and started pulling out all the fixings for the meal.
Kennedy sat down at the kitchen bar. She stared at his hands as he worked, never saying a word. He was grateful to have something to do. Being so close to her after last night had shot his nerves to shit.
All he wanted to do was eat her all day. The only reason he didn’t try again was because he was playing the long game. Just sex wasn’t going to do it for him. He wanted inside her pretty little mind and inside her booby-trapped heart.
Luke realized he only knew a few details about Kennedy’s past. She grew up in New York with her grandmother but went to undergrad at UVA to study American history. Then decided she wanted a different experience before gaining admission into Yale Law School.
Her brilliant mind and dogged dedication to excellence resulted in a near perfect GPA. Briggs and Bancroft swooped in to recruit her as a summer associate. She graduated summa cum laude and then he lost track of her until a week and a half ago.
“Pears and cream for dessert?” he asked her, breaking the silence. He was pleased with himself for not accidentally saying ‘pussy and cream.’
She propped a voluptuous leg up on her chair. “Dessert after breakfast?”
He wanted another type of dessert altogether. The desire for more of her cream stunned him. Luke wanted a repeat of last night. He wanted to consume her. For now, he was stuck with breakfast. “You have a problem with that?”
She broke out into a smile. “I love it when you talk dirty to me. You win. Feed me.”
“I’ll whip it up for you, if you promise to do the dishes. If you’re lucky, I’ll even let you be my sous-chef.”
“You’d trust me with a knife, Lu?”
She had a point.
Luke changed his mind. “You’re right. No knives for you. Entertain me. Tell me how you’ve been for these past five years. How’d the barracuda in Balenciaga come to be?”
Her head fell into her hands. “For fuck’s sake. I never asked for that stupid nickname. I can’t even afford Balenciaga!”
He chuckled at her modesty. He rummaged through the cupboards and drawers looking for the appropriate kitchenware.
“I’ve been good. Briggs and Bancroft treated me well during my summer associate days, so I stuck with them after graduation. The experience has been spectacular. Killer on my social life, but them’s the breaks. What about you?”
“Come on, Kenn, there’s got to be more than that.” He stared at her empty fingers for a beat. “No husband? No fiancé?” He steadily mixed together the ingredients for the blueberry muffins.
He shouldn’t push. If history had taught him anything, there was a 99.99 percent chance she would absolutely clam up. Ice him out. But in the end, he couldn’t help himself. He had to know.
“No. And no.” She emphasized her words with a definitive head shake.
In for a penny, in for a pound. “Why not? You’re gorgeous, kick ass at your job, and you’ve got the sexiest brain I’ve ever seen.”
Crimson stained the apple of her cheeks. “Guess I just haven’t found Mister Right. Plus, I don’t have any time for love.”
He folded in the blueberries. “What a shame. Punishing your body by going without sounds terrible. No one to slake your urges. Give you what you need.”
A smile
twinkled in her eyes. “You weren’t listening. I didn’t say I wasn’t having sex. I said I don’t have time for love. Two completely different things.”
Luke poured the blueberry batter into the muffin pan. He wasn’t satisfied with her answer. There had to be a reason why she was alone. No man in his right mind would let her get away. Unless, she pushed them away.
“Sex. Love. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that it’s hard to have one without the other.”
“Bullshit. Men are about as useless as a submarine with a screen door. Except for a good backbreaking session.”
“One day you’ll change your tune, Kenn.”
He’d see to it.
The thought of her with another man shredded him. She was his. Only. Always. Forever. He had to get through her shell. Every minute he was in her presence increased his craving for her a hundred-fold. At this rate, he’d die of extreme blue balls.
He checked the blueberry muffins then prepared the rest of breakfast.
She rested her chin in her hand. “It’s not my fault that men can’t handle me.”
“What do you do, scare them away? Threaten to eat them?” he asked teasingly.
“You joke, but I’m serious. Something about me intimidates most men. Then the ones that aren’t afraid just aren’t boyfriend material.”
He stopped stirring. “Look at me.” He waited for her to lock eyes with him. “You’re not intimidating. The problem is, you’re dealing with boys. Not men. Boys scare easy. Men don’t.”
He waited for his words to sink in to her pretty little head. She was a handful, true. But a real man treated his woman like an equal, not superior nor inferior. A partner. Kennedy needed a man that could match her tit for tat. Word for word. Someone who wouldn’t cower yet wouldn’t constrain her independence.
Someone like him.
She came around to his prep station and popped a piece of cooked sausage in her mouth.
“I forget that Type A, headstrong women were exactly your type. It’d be so much easier if damsels in distress were your cup of tea. Too bad that’ll never be me.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“That’s rich coming from someone who can’t even handle a long-term relationship.”
She flicked his shoulder. “Fuck off. You don’t know shit about me.”
Bullshit. There was a time when he knew her almost as well as he knew himself.
“Tell me when your last relationship was then. Did it last more than a year? Hell, did it even last six months?”
“What does my dating history have to do with anything?”
She was getting defensive and he wanted her relaxed. But the little devil in him prodded her anyway.
“I bet you haven’t even been serious with anyone recently. Barracuda can’t let anyone get too close, right?”
She slapped the bar top. “Wrong. I already told you why. I’m busy. Men are pathetic. And I don’t need a relationship. I need dick.”
Speaking of dick, Luke’s made an appearance through his basketball shorts. He needed to steer this conversation back on track. Ruining the day when they only had four nights left was stupid.
He cleared his throat. “Forget I said anything. Give me a hand here, will ya?” he asked, holding out a platter of eggs and sausage hash for her to put on the kitchen bar. “I’ll grab the muffins.”
The next hour floated by as they ate. Luke could barely eat another bite but Kennedy’s ravenous hunger propelled him to make good on his promise to make a morning dessert.
Chuckles swelled to full-blown roars of laughter as they reminisced about law school horror stories. It was easy and simple. Just like old times.
He cocked his head and listened. Like always, her laugh made his pulse jump. Of course his cock jumped too. The throaty sound was both erotic and satisfying.
She popped the last bit of pear in her mouth. “I think my taste buds have fallen in love with you. They’re pretty damn particular so take the compliment as high praise.”
Choking. He was choking. She loved him.
Rather, her taste buds did. It was a start.
She reached for his hand and stroked the inside of his wrist. “Thank you for the meal, Luke. You’re so good to me. I missed this. I missed –” She cleared her throat, putting a stop to her inadvertent attempt at vulnerability.
You.
He knew that’s what she wanted to say. What she refused to say. After all, saying that she missed them, missed him, would require her to be emotional. Kennedy Notyce didn’t do emotional. Not then, not now. Luke learned that lesson all too well. But against all hope, he thought there was a chance that history wouldn’t repeat itself.
Chapter 15
The early afternoon air was perfect. Cool, crisp, with no trace of clouds. It had snowed nonstop since their arrival and Kennedy was bursting at the seams to get outside.
Cooped up in a cabin full of pent-up sexual tension was like waiting for someone to light a cigarette near an oil tanker. On went her hiking boots, coat and mittens to explore the massive backyard connected to the cabin.
He hadn’t even tried to make a move on her at breakfast. She’d had to initiate everything. What’d you want him to do, feed you then screw you into oblivion?
Her pussy answered ‘yes, please’ instantly.
It was a simple question with a simple answer. She recognized that Luke was the only man that could give her what she needed. What she craved. That brought her up short.
Kennedy had never felt so on edge before. Beneath the easy banter at breakfast, a sexual hunger clawed to break free. But that wasn’t what concerned her the most. The physical desire for Luke was overwhelming, but the desire to know him on a deeper level scared the living shit out of her.
She stepped outside and breathed in the fresh air. As she twisted her mass of raven curls into a bun, she realized that everything she could ask for in a partner was waiting for her in the cabin. She’d meant what she said that relationships weren’t on her radar but with someone like Luke? Kennedy could make an exception.
Handsome, considerate, dripping in sexual prowess, and a whole bunch of other things.
She wanted him. Her assortment of vibrators didn’t hold a candle to the hunk of man waiting back for at the cabin. Luke had dangled his dick in front of her like bait since the first night they arrived. So, why did she keep denying him, and herself, the opportunity to play?
She made up her mind to stop running. At least while they were here in their private winter wonderland. What would happen after the week was up? She bit her lip. That wasn’t important.
The reason for her even coming to the cabin was a frail woman lying at CaringHands Senior Facility. Abuelita was her focus and priority. Everything else came secondary. Winning the competition was her key to taking care of her grandmother and paying off her loans. Being stuck with Luke was just a coincidence.
A very convenient coincidence.
Kennedy contemplated the situation at hand. She could handle sex without becoming too attached to Luke. She’d done it with previous lovers, why would he be an exception? A niggling feeling hinted to Kennedy that she was underestimating the depth of their attraction.
Like a woman on a mission, she immediately did an about face. She estimated she was less than a mile away from the cabin. By her calculations she could be back, naked, and writhing under Luke in less than fifteen minutes.
City girl that she was, Kennedy wasn’t watching out for any predators on the prowl. Her tunnel vision set her on a warpath.
She bent down to tie the laces on her hiking boot.
Kennedy heard the tell-tale sign of someone, or something, approaching. The footsteps were too light to be a human.
“Hello? Anyone there?” she called out still crouched down over her boot.
A feral hiss returned her welcome. The footsteps were now louder and closer.
Was it a wolf? A lion? A fucking hyena?
After a beat she logically deduced it had to be a wolf
. Lions and hyenas were too friendly. At least that’s what Lion King had taught her.
She didn’t move. The Discovery Channel always warned against sudden movements when dealing with wild animals.
One hiss became two. Then the noise multiplied to a cacophony of menacing snarls.
“Fuckity fuck fuck. Becoming wolf-chow was not how I wanted to die.”
She took a deep breath. Something waited for her. It didn’t make sense to be cowered in fear if she was going to be minced meat. Deciding to face her foes head on, she stood up and turned around.
Kennedy smacked herself internally. Wolves don’t hiss! They growl. Five pairs of beady eyes stared at her. Five sets of teeth gleamed in the sun. She did the only thing she could think of.
She screamed.
Luke was in a funk. Kennedy had left the cabin twenty minutes on a walk to explore their winter wonderland. On the surface, her rationale made sense. Still, he wondered if she was running again. Was she trying to get away from him? Had he done something wrong?
He moved quickly to the dining room since it had a view of the backyard. “Gretzky, there’s no dangerous animals out there, right?”
“No sir. The wildlife is rather tame. There’s an occasional fox but haven’t seen any wolves or coyotes recently.”
What should’ve been reassuring set Luke on edge. He needed to lay eyes on Kennedy, make sure that she was safe and sound. Luke’s internal alarm told him that something was wrong. No clue how he knew, but he knew he had to find her.
Luke grabbed his coat and scarf from the hall closet. Then he picked up an axe leaning against near the front door. He wasn’t an outdoorsy person by any means. But he had upper-body strength that could come in handy. Kennedy, on the other hand, was a quintessential city-girl with no hope against the wilderness on her own.
A scream pierced the air and he took off running. Minutes later, Luke heard grunts, hisses, and a few more yelps. He raised the ax over his head to thwart off whatever threat Kennedy was facing down.
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