What the hell was wrong with him tonight? Why was his brain playing tricks on him?
He needed to shut off the voice of reason that said to get the fuck out while he still had his pants on and stick with the plan. What had happened in the trauma center tonight had made him a different man. One he wasn’t sure he’d like in the morning, but one who knew exactly what he wanted.
Janica.
He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone, or anything, his whole life.
For the first time in thirty-five years he was completely lacking in moral fiber. But what did it really matter in the end? His twin, Travis, had been the biggest dog Luke knew. And even though he'd simply used women for their bodies, disrespecting their feelings all the while, he’d found true love with Lily anyway. Now he had a wife. Kids. A family.
Travis had real happiness.
What had being the good guy ever gotten Luke?
A couple of “perfect” girlfriends that he hadn't been able to fall in love with, no matter how hard he tried. And a job that was slowly killing him.
The dark side reeled him in and he no longer bothered trying to resist.
“Everything’s different tonight,” he told Janica and when she simply said, “Yes,” then kissed him, her mouth on his was all it took to seal his deal with the devil.
Luke Carson's saint days were through.
Chapter Four
Janica couldn't get enough of Luke.
She could feel the warmth of his skin beneath his clothes as her hands roamed down his back, then back up and across his broad, muscular shoulders, but it wasn't good enough. She wanted to know the feel of him beneath her fingertips.
Skin on skin.
Let the love begin.
Oh yeah.
She couldn't remember ever feeling like this, so utterly consumed by a man, so frantic to get him naked, to feast her eyes and hands and mouth on every inch of his body. Sex had always been at the top of her favorite-things list, but this desire—this total, all-encompassing need—was something else entirely.
So different, in fact, that as she yanked his T-shirt out of his pants and broke their kiss long enough to pull it up over his head, she started freaking out a little bit.
Because with his torso bared before her, with all of that hard heat at her disposal to caress and run her tongue across, she wanted so many things so powerfully all at once that instead of being able to do any of them she found herself paralyzed.
Pressing her hands flat against his chest, she could feel the beating of his heart against her palms. A hard, fast pounding that mirrored her own heartbeat.
So many years she'd dreamed of this moment, so many years she'd thought it would never come, and now that it had, she felt almost frightened.
She lifted her eyes to his at the exact moment that her heart said, I love you.
No.
She stumbled back from Luke, or tried to, but his arms were faster than she was.
She hadn't read love in his eyes at any point so far tonight, only lust. Pure lust. And now he was saying, “Yes or no?” in a low voice that rumbled through her entire body like a sensual earthquake.
Oh god. It couldn't be true.
She couldn't be in love with Luke.
Of all the stupid things to feel for him, love was definitely the stupidest.
She swallowed hard, made herself locate her voice, which felt like it had dropped way down deep into her toes.