to my crazy schedule. I wasn’t sure who’d told Luke that Mercury was in retrograde but maybe he was onto something.
It was on that thought my doorbell shrilled and I wondered why the planets hadn’t aligned in my favor to make Luke back off.
I wanted him to back off and go away, right?
Maybe.
Sorta.
Kinda.
But not really.
Can you say, hello straitjacket?
I tromped to the door preparing to kick Luke square in the gonads, rendering his sperm useless for the rest of his life. I opened the door and upon seeing him, I had second thoughts. But only because it would be a shame if he didn’t pass his superior good looks to his offspring, populating Georgia with beauty.
Then he opened his mouth to say, “Shocking. I thought I’d have to break the door down.”
Which caused me to have a third thought; I’d be doing the citizens of Georgia a favor by sterilizing him so he couldn’t spread his pushy, macho arrogance. Something he had in abundance thus would pass from father to child without the mother’s input.
“Shocking,” I spat. “You didn’t listen when I told you not to come over.”
He smiled. Big and broad and so damn sexy I was momentarily stunned.
That was how he pushed into my house.
“Hey!”
I got that one word out, then Luke’s hand came up, hooked me around the back of the neck, and he yanked me to his chest. And since I was still stunned by his smile I was catapulted straight to dazed when his arms wrapped around me. Dazed and confused and bewildered. My cheek was pressed against his hard pectoral muscle. Not knowing what to do with them, my arms dangled lamely at my sides. Luke didn’t have this problem. One of his arms was low on my back, his hand resting on my hip. His other was diagonal across my back, his hand resting on my shoulder. He didn’t allow an inch of space between us.
I should’ve protested but my mind was too busy soaking up the feel of him to tell my mouth to form words.
This was a problem.
A big, honking problem.
Not only did I like the feel of him, I liked the way he smelled. Man and Georgia sunshine. I liked how I fit perfectly in his arms. Like I was made to be right where I was. And I felt safe. Not safe like when my brothers hugged me. Safe like the man holding me would prop me up and never let me fall.
I never wanted him to let me go. But even scarier—I never wanted to let him go.
“Sorry you had a shit couple of days.”
I heard his assertion but my fuzzy, stupefied brain was still on the fritz—more so now that I felt the rumble of his words on my cheek. So all I did was nod.
Luke, having all of his faculties and none of the current issues I was having, was in full command of his extremities. The arm that had been around my waist was now gone and I felt his hand grab my wrist, then he twisted his arm behind his back and placed my hand on his hip. He repeated his actions, only using his other hand to grab mine. Once he had my hands where he wanted them he kept me close.
This was nicer.
Having my hands on him, albeit loosely, was oh-so-much better. I wanted to dig my fingertips in—no, scratch that—I wanted to allow my hands to roam over his back. I wanted to turn my head and feel his chest under my lips. Actually, I wanted to pull his tee off so my lips would be met with bare skin. After I explored all of his hard muscles with my mouth I wanted him to pull my clothes off and return the favor. I wanted this so badly I forgot he wanted to be friends. I forgot he scared me. I forgot he’d made it clear he didn’t want me to kiss him or see him naked. I forgot a lot of things when my body started to tingle, so Luke didn’t miss the full-on body quake.
This was unfortunate. His arms got super-tight around me and he dropped his mouth to my temple and brushed his lips there. They lingered a little too long and I trembled again. That broke the spell.
“Gonna feed you, then we’ll watch a movie and relax. Are you on call?”
There was no way I’d be able to relax in front of a movie with Luke.