if Luke didn’t dial quickly, she might start doing it before he ordered the pizza.
“Huh,” Luke said, staring at his phone rather than dialing.
Kris crossed back to the bed. “What is it?”
“Your brother,” Luke said, looking perplexed. “Looks like we have his blessing.”
“Seriously?” she said moving onto the bed behind him so she could see the text. Rori left for New York. Don’t worry, she’s chill and sends her best. I’m taking the Mac to a motel to get some work done. Mom and dad think we’re all out together, so tell them what you will, when you will. I’ll be back in the morning. Be fully dressed when you come to the top level or I’ll shoot you both.
“Sounds like a blessing to me,” she said, hugging him from behind and loving his quick inhale when she pressed her breasts against his back in an attempt to distract him away from the part about Rori. They’d have to deal with that soon, but not then. Now was about the two of them.
“Oh, man,” he breathed. “That shouldn’t be turning me on as much as it is.”
“No?” she teased, walking her knees up so she could bring her body flush against him from behind. “What about this?”
In a flash, Kris was on her back with Luke on top of her, his mouth headed for hers and his hips one tilt away joining them.
“Uh-uh!” she chided. “Not until you order the pizza. If we have all night, I want to make sure you’re fueled.”
She watched Luke’s eyes register the challenge. And while his head moved away, his hips stayed right where they were, all but daring her to make the move for him as he hit a programmed number on his phone and waited for someone to pick up on the other side.
“Hey, Eric,” he said after Kris heard a voice on the other side. “Luke here. Get me a Luke special. Delivery. Gotta go.” Then he hung up.
“That was fast,” Kris said as he tossed his phone to the side.
“One of the perks of being their most frequent customer,” he said before covering her mouth with his and rolling her to the top.
Chapter 27
Exiting the baggage area, Rori inhaled the tang of smog and unwashed bodies. Ah, New York. She made her way to a man wearing a simple black suit and holding a paper with her name on it. When he made eye contact with her, Rori gave him a nod of acknowledgment. His response was to fold the paper in half and turn to throw it in the trash.
Rori’s mom would have had a fit in the face of such matters, but Rori had come to a point where she found brusque New York manners charming. What the city lacked in refinement it more than made up for in diversity. It was the one place in the world where Rori smiled when someone was outrageously inconsiderate. Because it was New York. A place where most people either looked at you and saw either a buck or a speed bump. A place where you earned respect one person at a time, without anyone really cutting you any breaks along the way.
Rori didn’t know what it said about her that she liked the challenge of that mentality.
It was also a place where friends sent town cars to pick you up at the airport rather than picking you up themselves. Who had the time?
In New York, no one.
Unbeckoned, the image of Mike Cannon leaning against a faux marble wall in the Salt Lake airport sprang to mind. She’d spotted him from the top of the escalator as he scanned the crowd for Luke’s face before looking back down at his phone.
She could have sketched the scene from memory—a massive lobby where everyone moved to and fro, toting luggage, and talking. A large, extended family at the bottom of the escalator holding a sign that read in large letters, Welcome home, Nate! The entire lobby had been alive with energy, which was why Mike had stood out, reclined and resigned against the far wall. Loyal, but annoyed.
Mike would never send a town car to pick up a friend.
“Miss Townsend?”
Rori blinked herself back to reality, and sent a smile to the town car driver. “Yes.”
“Your bag,” he said, holding out his hand to take her luggage. She handed it over and followed him to the car. She took a deep breath once they stepped outside, then quickly let it out again. Smog. For