***
Luke Walker watched the only woman who’d ever rocked his world sashaying her sexy little behind toward the plane, remembering another goodbye, and wondering if she was remembering it too. It had been two years ago and he’d been headed back to active duty after a month off and in her arms. She’d taken him to the airport, even walked with him inside. They’d stopped at security and stared at one another, long seconds of silence heavy between them, and he’d been unsure what to say. Their time together had been a short-term thing. They’d both been clear about that, no strings, no tomorrows, but he didn’t want it to end. He squeezed his eyes shut, reliving the past.
Julie leaned into him, her hands on his chest, scorching his skin through his shirt. She pressed to her toes and brushed her lips over his and it was all he could do not to kiss her like it was his last kiss in this lifetime. “Don’t die, soldier,” she whispered. “The world needs more men like you, not less.”
He’d wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “And you? What do you need?”
She blinked up at him and he saw the uncertainty in her face for an instant. “One last kiss,” she said, her mouth finding his again for a feather light kiss that was over too soon. She pushed out of his arms and turned away, half-running toward the exit. Regret and disappointment filled him.
Luke scrubbed the tension at back of his neck. As time had ticked on, one thing about that day had replayed over and over in his mind. There had been no goodbye.
An announcement sounded over the intercom, snapping Luke back to the present. His flight was cancelled. The doors to Julie’s plane hadn’t closed. He had a gut feeling she wasn’t going anywhere either.
He walked to the counter and found the attendant. “Is this flight going to take off?”
She sighed. “They’re trying to get clearance but it’s not looking good.”
“If they don’t, since you put them on the plane, will you put them up in a hotel for the night?”
“We won’t pay for the room since weather is an act of God,” she said, “but we’ll get them to a reserved room if they want it.”
“Which hotel?”
“The Royal Blue,” she said. “If you’re thinking about staying there, I’m not sure that will be possible. The airline reserved a large block of rooms. You should check around quickly before everyone is sold out.”
“Understood,” Luke said. “Thank you.” He turned away and started walking. The airline wasn’t the only one with a Royal Blue contract. Airport administration and security had one as well, and he had a security clearance badge that gave him priority reservations. He was headed to the Royal Blue and he wasn’t giving Julie a chance to run away to a different hotel.
He’d see her when she arrived.
Chapter Two
An hour and a half after she’d left Luke behind in the airport, Julie was off the plane and inside a hotel, rolling her bag toward the registration desk. She wondered about Luke and where his flight and the night had taken him. She worried about both of them getting home for the wedding. The temptation to call him would have been extreme if she actually had his number, especially since she just might be needing that charter flight to get out of here quickly. But she didn’t have his number and she wasn’t going to call Lauren and Royce and freak them out about being snowed in when she might well be on an early morning flight. If not, well, she’d find her own charter if she had to, and ignore her own warning issued to Luke to be careful. She’d walk home before she’d miss Lauren’s rehearsal dinner.
Julie stopped at the roped-off area to wait in line for registration, noting that there were a good ten people in front of her, most of whom were from her flight. Thankfully, she’d caught the first shuttle to the hotel or the line would probably be longer already.
With a sigh, she leaned on her suitcase, feeling the ache of the long day, and as time ticked by without any movement, she let her lashes lower. Her mind went back to the last time she’d said goodbye to Luke. To that day in the airport when she’d dropped him off. The end of their affair had come far too soon. She told him the world needed more men like him. “What do you need?” he’d asked in response. It had been all she could do not to say, “You, Luke. I need you.”
A sudden shiver of foreboding swept down Julie’s spine with such intensity that she straightened and cast a furtive glance around the lobby. Her attention was drawn instantly to three men standing with their backs to her near the door to what looked like a restaurant or a bar. They weren’t even looking her way and yet...there was something about them.
Elizabeth Moore’s words played in her head. “He won’t kill me. He won’t kill you. But there are others who’ll kill us all if they find out what he’s hiding.” Julie rubbed her arms, inwardly shaking herself for letting her imagination get the best of her.
The line progressed, and she gladly refocused on getting to a room and out of this lobby. Several more customer service reps took their places behind the counter and in a matter of a few minutes, she was being called forward. Still, she found herself casting a glance towards the three men, only to find them gone. So why didn’t she feel relieved? In fact, she felt more uneasy.
She didn’t have time to contemplate. The customer service rep was quick and Julie was on her way to her room in a snap. She propped her purse on her bag and with key in hand, rolled her way to the elevator, thankfully finding an empty car. She punched her floor and leaned against the mirror, ready for peace and quiet and sleep. Oh yes. Blessed sleep.
A second before the doors would have shut, someone stuck their hand inside the panels and they jerked open with a loud jangle of a bell. That same foreboding chill she’d felt in the lobby travelled her spine.
A man entered the car, his dark stare meeting hers and turning her chill to ice. They were cold, calculating eyes. She cut her gaze and willed her heart to stop trying to jump out of her chest, telling herself to look at him, to get a better description than a tall man, with dark, wavy hair, and a tan jacket, because for some reason she felt she needed it.
He punched a button three floors above hers and she tried to find comfort in that fact. With a destination, a room, and a right to be here, he was likely just another traveller. Still, even with that logic, she counted floors, willing the car to move faster. The doors opened, but not at her stop, and Julie fought the urge to dart forward and just get out of the car.
A young couple rushed forward and joined them. Julie reached for the handle of her bag. She should get off. Get away from the strange man who now held the door for her. But what if he got off, too? There was safety in numbers and she had company now.
The doors started to shut and she let them. One more level up and the couple got out, leaving Julie alone with the stranger, and as uneasy as ever. She stared at the doors, ticking off the seconds until they stopped two levels up. The instant she was able, she rushed forward, eager for escape.
Once Julie was in the hallway, she found her destination a few rooms to her left. Thank you. She was nearly to sanctuary and safety.
Letting her bag settle upright on the ground, she glanced over her shoulder, eyeing the elevator. The doors were just now closing with the stranger still inside, she assumed. Still, had the man held the door open long enough to see which room was hers?
Gnawing her bottom lip, she worried despite assuring herself the rooms were safe, and near impossible to break into. Key in hand, she swiped the plastic through the electronic panel, and frowned when the little light stayed red. “Damn,” she mumbled as she slid it again.
Still red.
No. No. No. Please say this wasn’t happening. She dropped her head to the surface of the door, her hair falling forward, glad it covered her face. Crying wasn’t her style, but tears prickled in her eyes. Seeing Luke had rattled her. Add in her fear of missing the wedding and she was a mess. Then there was Elizabeth Moore’s visit, which clearly had shaken her to the core. Good gosh, she was tired. She was worried. She was not herself.
A return trip to the lobby felt overwhelming.
“Problem?”
The deep, sensual baritone danced along her skin and sparked a familiar, warm feeling. Lifting her head, Julie swivelled around and blinked, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.
“Luke?” He was leaning against the door frame of the room next to hers, his light blue t-shirt hugging rippling muscles she’d had the joy of exploring. And it had been a joy. Her mouth went dry, her fatigue doing nothing to dull the impact of his presence. Heat pooled low in her stomach, and her pulse kicked up a beat. The man was even more sexy than she remembered. For the second time in one night, she found herself questioning the crazy coincidence. “How are you here, right next door to me?”
He gave her a half-smile, his left dimple showing, and his chocolaty eyes just a little sharper. “My luck continues despite a flight cancellation.” He inclined his chin to indicate her bag. “Need help?”
She exhaled a breath that had somehow lodged in her throat. Luke was dangerous, yes. Dangerous to her heart, to her decision-making. But he made her feel safe on a night when she felt far from it. She didn’t know why, just that it was better now that he was here. “My key isn’t working. It’s been a bad night, but I’m sure you guessed that.”
He gave her a thoughtful look as he pushed off the door frame. “Sitting on a runway is no fun. I do believe I got the better end of the deal. I was sitting here, waiting on you to arrive. I reserved your room in advance.” He stopped in front of her. Close again. So close.
“You reserved my room, next to yours?”
His eyes darkened, the air crackled. “That’s right,” he said, closing his hand around her key, his fingers brushing hers and sending heat up her arm. “I thought we might need to plan a way home together and I didn’t want to risk upsetting Royce or Lauren by letting them know we were stranded.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” she said. “I thought about calling you for that charter flight but I didn’t have your number.”
“The dangerous one you warned me not to take?” he asked stepping to her door to swipe her card.
“Yes,” she laughed, surprised she had the energy. “The dangerous one. I hear there’s a brave Navy SEAL who’ll be on it to keep me safe.” Oh God, she was flirting. She needed to stop that. Sex was a resource, a tool to keep things recreational for men. Nothing personal. Only it hadn’t worked that way with Luke. It hadn’t worked that way since Luke. She watched him swipe the key three times. “I tried the door, you know?” She didn’t care that he tried again. She’d just been trying to divert attention from her careless comment.
He shrugged. “It never hurts to try again, though in this case it did no good. The key is a dud. At least it’s not a grenade. Well, unless the grenade lands at your feet.”
“That happened to you?” she asked, delving into the very personal territory she’d sworn not to with this man over and over, but did it anyway.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Fun times, let me tell you. And I checked on a charter. It all depends on how bad the storm is tomorrow. If the weather allows it and the airlines are backed up, it’s an option.” He grabbed the handle of her bag. “Why don’t you call downstairs from my room, and have someone bring you up another key?” He didn’t wait for her reply, rolling her bag, with her purse still on top, toward his room.
Julie stood frozen, her eyes fixed on his powerful shoulders and back. If she followed him she was not coming out of that room without touching him.
Desire flared and pressed her to act, countered only by the worries that fluttered through her mind. His brother was marrying her best friend. There was no fling to this. They were headed to a place she’d never let herself go with a man. A place she’d sworn never to go. This was relationship territory.
He stopped at his door, and eyed her over one of those truly magnificent shoulders, a challenge in his watchful gaze. “You gonna stay in the hall, or what?”
She wanted him. Part of her even felt as if she needed him. She shouldn’t do this, but…. She shut her eyes a moment. Who was she kidding? Walking away from Luke wasn’t possible. That meant she had to find a way to deal with him. Maybe she simply hadn’t had time for the sex in their past to get old. Maybe they were only drawn to each other because he’d left before they worked each other out of their systems, and she’d turned this thing with him into more than it had to be. Right. She could take control again. She’d get this back where it belonged. In the bedroom and out of her head and heart. Heart. Damn. Where did that come from? Head. She’d meant head.
Her lashes lifted and she met his gaze. “Or what?” And she followed him into his hotel room.
Chapter Three
Luke was aware of Julie on every possible level, in every inch of his body, all too conscious of just how much willpower this night was going to require. He wanted her. He wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman, and that was exactly why he couldn’t touch her. Not now. Not yet. But soon, and he knew it was going to feel like forever in the meantime.
The door slammed behind him and he settled her bag in a corner by the closet, easing into the doorway to watch her sit on his king-sized bed, her long blond hair caressing her shoulders. Shoulders he knew were creamy white, skin he knew was soft and silky, and addictive. She reached for the phone. He leaned on the wall, his blood boiling just thinking about how easily they could end up under the sheets, or on top of them, or anywhere in this room, gloriously naked. The mattress separated them, yet he could smell the faint scent of jasmine and vanilla, a perfume so uniquely Julie.
Oh yeah, he was staying on this side of the mattress, and on the opposite side of the room from Julie. He’d given this thing between the two of them one heck of a lot of consideration and was certain that sex was her barrier, the only thing she gave of herself, the wall that hid her from truly connecting. Only he’d gotten past that wall, he’d seen it in her eyes in the past. He saw it there now: the fear, and the knowledge that he was the man who’d seen the real her.
“Yes,” she said into the phone and even her voice radiated along his nerve endings and threatened to unravel his control. “My key won’t work. Can someone bring a new one up to me by chance? I’m in my neighbor’s room. Room-” She glanced at the phone. “813.” She paused and listened, and then sounding disappointed, asked, “That long? Really? Okay. Hmm. Yes. Fine. I’ll be down.” She hung up the phone and stood up, turning to face him. “They’re too busy to come up anytime soon so I have to go down.”
“They said that about room service when I tried to order,” he commented. “I should have assumed the same for this.”
“I guess that means I have to go downstairs now.” She ran her hands down her hips and looked nervous rather than her normal sexy confident self. Nervous was good. Nervous meant she was feeling something unfamiliar. It meant she was aware of what was on the line, and it had nothing to do with pleasure. Well, maybe a little to do with pleasure.
Neither of them moved or spoke, the air thick, the bed the size of a Texas summer sun, threatening to burn them right into high noon. He needed out of this tiny room with her and now.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” he said, pushing off the wall. “Why don’t we head down and get something to eat while the front desk calms down a bit.”
She studied him a long moment, as if his invitation to leave the room surprised her far more than the one to join him here.
“I seem to remember you having a big appetite,” he pressed softly, reminding her of their time together, of just how well they’d gotten to know each other. Of late night pizzas and walks to the corner deli, and a diner near her house that they’d had many a breakfast at. She wasn’t hiding from any of that. She wasn’t hiding from him.
Her lashes lowered, and her hair fell forward, shadowing her face. “Yes,” she said, drawing out the response before casting him a surprisingly shy look. “I probably like to eat a little too much.”
“Says who
?” he asked. “Not me. I prefer a woman who actually eats.” He motioned to the door. “Shall we?”
She smiled and admitted. “I am hungry.”
And so was he. For her.
***
Julie stepped into the elevator with Luke, aware of how big he was, how good he smelled, unsure of what had just happened in that hotel room. She’d thought it would be sex and sin, and forgetting everything but sex and sin. It hadn’t happened. She hadn’t even tried to make it happen even though she wanted it. His cologne tickled her nostrils, alluring and familiar, intimate simply because she knew it so well. Lord help her, she still loved everything about the man. Discreetly, she took a deep breath and inhaled that scent, unable to stop herself. Neither of them spoke, but it wasn’t awkward. Nothing with Luke was awkward aside from how much she wanted him. How differently she wanted him from anyone before him.
When the ding of the elevator signaled they were at ground level, he held the doors and let her step out of the car, reminding her he had always been a perfect gentleman. Something she’d always loved about him. Standing just outside the car she waited for him to follow her.
Luke stepped to Julie’s side just as a busty redhead approached. “Hold the elevator, cowboy.”
Cowboy? Julie thought with a frown. Luke wasn’t a cowboy at all. The woman sashayed past Julie as if she didn’t exist, focusing solely on Luke. Her short skirt left little to the imagination, as did her actions. She offered Luke a flirtatious smile and a wink.
He held the elevator door for her and she paused in front of him. “Need someone to keep you warm, honey? I know just how to handle a wicked winter night.”
Julie sucked in a soft breath, feeling the bite of the woman’s words, unable to stop her reaction. It wasn’t like she didn’t know how women responded to Luke. He was the proverbial tall, dark, and handsome with a rock-hard body and gorgeous eyes. To make matters worse, the woman was actually quite attractive with legs that could reach to China and a slender, lean body, so very unlike Julie’s. Suddenly, Julie felt short and stubby, and lost.
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