Jaded (9 page)

Isabella walked into the kitchen, went to her drinks cabinet, and took out some bottles. Luke watched her, memorized her appearance and the way she moved and all her little nuances. He’d been cataloguing them all night. And now, he was almost insane with desire. He wanted her for reasons he could scarcely articulate, reasons that extended way beyond the bet.

She took out two shot glasses and began mixing drinks. “You like it stiff?”

He sidled up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I think I should be asking you that.”

She laughed and swatted his hands away. “Your drink.”

“
Oh
.” He feigned innocence. “Yeah, the stiffer the better. Although I suppose that could go the other way too.”

He noticed her cheeks redden.

“Here.” She held out a drink. “But swallow fast; it’s a stinger.”

He took the glass, examined it for a moment, and slugged it back. He winced, licking his lips. “What was that, gasoline?”

“No. It was my own creation.” She grinned devilishly. “But you might have to spend the night at my house.”

He liked the sound of that. “I can hold my alcohol.”

“All right then, stud. Take a few more shots of that, and I guarantee you’ll be walking zigzags and slurring my name.”

“I’d much rather get drunk on something else,” he said, advancing on her again. Isabella gulped and stared up at him, not asking what the ‘something else’ was.

Pinning her to the countertop with his hips, he gazed deeply into her eyes, and then took her head into his hands and covered her mouth with his.

His body exploded and just as before, one kiss melted into a hundred more. Sliding his hands around her waist, he buried his face in her neck. He sucked on the side of her neck, and then moved his kisses to her ear. Isabella shivered and he felt her melt deeper into his embrace. She was hooked.

He inched his hand beneath her top and swirled his hands over her rib cage and to the edges of her breasts. Her breath came out in hot gasps near his ear and his skin prickled. His hardness ran into her hip, and he hoped that this time she wouldn’t find a sudden urge to pull away.

“I think the drink’s starting to kick in,” he murmured, his mind suddenly coated in haziness. His experiences at bars had taught him how to navigate situations like these while drunk, so he didn’t fear any lackluster performance.

“Good.”

The way she wrapped her legs around him and started grinding against his hard-on suggested that she had no problem at all with him seducing her tonight. His heart rate tripled and his body was rocked mindless with desire. He had to have her.

“You like that?” she growled into his ear. A flash of her being a complete wild vixen in bed seared through his mind, and he ached to unleash that side of her.

“Babe, if you keep doing that, I’ll be gone.”

Luke teased her hardened nipples through the fabric of her shirt and she threw back her head and let out a moan. He lifted her shirt and tugged it over her head, tossing it to the ground. As he ran his hands over her lacy red bra, he placed hot kisses all over her chest while his fingers inched up her silky thigh toward her underwear. Her eyes fluttered as his fingertips grazed over her most sensitive area. He pushed her skirt back, bunching it behind her, craving the knowledge of whether her panties were made of the same red lace as her bra.

Luke expelled a gasp of pleasure when he found it to be true, in thong form. He ran his hands up and down her legs, cupping the roundness of her backside. She tugged on his shirt, her hot breath on his ear sending shivers down his spine.

Backing away from her, Luke tore off his jacket and laboriously undid each button of his shirt until he shrugged it off onto the floor. She smiled and reached out for him, smoothing her hands all over his torso.

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” she whispered, running her hands down the front of his chest. Her fingers tangled themselves in the mess of hair just below his belly button. He shivered with desire.

“You can keep going,” he said. “I won’t mind.”

She took the hint, slipped her fingers between his belly and belt, and found the tip of his cock with her fingertips. She teased it, sending him even further over the edge of no return. Luke slid his fingers up her thigh, made them dance torturously over the warmth between her legs.

“Do you want to go upstairs?” he asked between kisses.

“Maybe.” She covered his mouth with hers and kissed him so hard he almost fell over. “Yeah.”

Without thinking twice, he took her hand and they ran upstairs. They fell onto her bed, a tangled mess of legs, kisses, and touches. Luke pinned her to the bed, held her wrists above her head, and he couldn’t help noticing the sense of satisfaction this gave her.

“Oh, so you like being restrained? Is that a turn-on for you?”

She stared at him with a gaze so sexy he thought he’d burst.

“I didn’t think you were that kind of girl.”

“You thought wrong.”

Just the thought of all the sexy things she was capable of made Luke’s mind spiral over the edge of control. But he needed to stay focused. He needed to make
her
beg for it—then everything else would fall into place.

He covered her mouth with his and they kissed long and hard. His tongue tasted her sweet heat, and something in the kiss told him that she wanted this—
really
wanted it.

Luke rolled her onto her side so he could unzip her skirt. He delicately peeled it off of her and gazed down at her near-nakedness. She gazed up at him with eyes half-closed, already drunk on the passion surging between them. She licked her bottom lip and pulled him down on top of her, wrapping her legs tightly around his hips. His body trembled and he feared he wouldn’t be able to hold out—there was something about her that rendered his self-control nonexistent. Despite his impressive track record, something about this union made him feel virginal all over again.

Without thinking, Luke began grinding his erection between her legs. She gasped and arched her back toward him. He quickened his pace, sneaking a hand beneath the laciness of her bra and cupping a silky, round breast.

She grappled with his back, trying to press herself closer when it was impossible to do so. Luke moaned and buried his face in her shoulder, but after a moment she wiggled out from underneath him and headed to the bathroom.

He watched her walk away, panting and confused. After he noticed she wasn’t
going for the super-box of condoms, he knew something was up. “Isabella? What’s wrong?” He clambered off the bed and followed her. She hugged herself, leaning against a counter and offering him a weary smile.

“Nothing. I just—” She looked away.

His mind was screaming injustice. Luke didn’t know what to say, except for her to get right back on that bed.

“If it was me, I’m sorry. I guess things got out of hand...again.” He offered a smile, burying his hands in his pockets, trying to ignore the burning sensation in his groin.

“No, I think it was me.” She paused, contemplating something. “I think I felt weird because...I don’t even like you.”

He heard this without processing it. And then her words sank in. “What? Y-you don’t?” He felt wounded; not only had he assumed this whole time that she was crazy for him, he’d also allowed himself to admit that he was maybe...
possibly
...developing a crush.

She gave him a ‘duh’ look. “No. You’re not my type.”

He bristled. “Well you’re not my type, either.”

“Okay. Then I guess this will never happen again.” She offered her hand for a handshake.

He looked at her hand for a second before he shifted his steely gaze to her eyes. “Whatever.”

She looked briefly confused before he spun on his heels and walked calmly out of the room, downstairs, and into the kitchen. His mind was blank as he forced himself to stay controlled until he was safely out of her house and in the open night air where he could start fuming.

When he got into the kitchen and saw their clothes lying in a crumpled heap, his jaw tightened and he felt the anger churning inside his chest. “Not your type, huh?” He kicked at her shirt lying on the ground. “Explain
that
.”

He threw on his jacket, slung his shirt over his shoulder, and grabbed his keys. As he got into his car to drive home, he realized how angry he was. He normally had a quick temper, but he was struck by how genuinely upset she’d made him. She was
lying
to him, and she’d already managed to get inside his heart and tear it up a little. He’d tasted her kisses; he’d felt the hunger in her embrace. If she wanted him, why couldn’t she just admit it?

Luke knew the answer: Isabella was afraid of Luke and what he had on the table for her. Even if it was just sex, he knew her aversion to men and relationships wouldn’t let her concede so easily.

Well, he’d cure her of that fear.

When so much money beckoned to him alongside her graceful, lush body, he almost had to.

Chapter Five

“Hey, Luke. What’s that on your neck?”

Luke was confused for a moment and paused as he took the measurements of the wall to be knocked out that day. His mind’s eye flashed back to the exact set of lips that had left a little token of passion the night before and his eyes darkened. “Nothing.”

Mark and Jimmy were beside him, unloading toolboxes. Jimmy laughed. “Sure don’t look like nothin’, boss!”

“Well it is, so shut up.”

“I take it things are going well then?” Mark stood and stretched next to him. “You won’t be paying us anytime soon?”

Luke narrowed his eyes, avoiding Mark’s gaze.

“Oooh.” Mark got the attention of some nearby workers once it was apparent Luke wasn’t responding. “Big Bad Luke is having trouble with women.”

Competition licked through Luke’s veins and he felt heat prickle at the back of his neck.

“You didn’t get your blowjob last night?” Mark continued, nudging Luke with his elbow. “Is that why you’ve been so pissy this morning?”

“You better watch it, Mark,” Jimmy warned, laughing but with an undertone of seriousness. Luke clenched his fists and bent down to rummage through his tool box, ignoring Mark. If he engaged with him, it might escalate to a place it didn’t need to go.

“Aw, why you so quiet, Luke? It’s only a bet, right?”

Luke stood and spun to face Mark. “Shut your mouth before she hears you. You wanna get us all in trouble? I don’t want to talk about it, so drop it before I make you drop it.”

“All right, all right.” Mark held up his hands in surrender, still grinning like an idiot. “I just wanted to know how the bet’s coming. After all, you said you’d do it in a week.” He made a big display of checking his watch and pretending to be surprised. “And if I’m not mistaken, tomorrow marks one week!”

“Well, we all agreed by a month, so forget about anything else that I said.” He glared at him and turned back to his toolbox.

Jimmy was quiet for a moment, watching him with a smirk on his lips. The other guys receded and it was just Luke and Jimmy. “Mark wants in on it too.”

Luke turned to him, disgusted. “What did you say?”

“Mark’s got the hots for her; he wants to try.”

“No.”

“Why not? You’ve never turned down something like that before.”

The thought of Isabella being approached by another man made his stomach churn. That wouldn’t happen as long as he was involved with her, not if he could help it at least. “No. She would never go for him. Besides, I don’t like that we’re doing it without telling her. I like the old way better.”

Jimmy furrowed a brow. “You gonna tell her?”

“I think I have to.”

“Don’t you think that’s gonna sound a little weird?”

“I do, but I shouldn’t have agreed to it in the first place.”

Jimmy’s brow knitted further. “You backin’ out of this one?”

Luke looked around. Mark was milling around nearby. He turned to Jimmy again and said in a low voice, “I don’t know yet.”

Luke turned back to his work, thoroughly unnerved. He didn’t know how to resolve the unexpected clash of conscience and competition quite yet. Furthermore, he didn’t like what Jimmy had been implying and he didn’t like the way Mark had been talking, so cocky and degrading about the whole thing. He would never let anyone else in on this bet—not because of the money, but because the thought of someone else spending time with her, probing her mind, putting their hands over her, sparked a cold fear in his stomach that both confused and upset him. Jimmy had been right—Luke had never cared about that sort of thing before, but this time it was different.

“It’s noon already,” he said. “I guess we can all break.”

Jimmy left to inform the other workers. Luke realized he hadn’t seen Isabella all morning and wondered if she’d slipped away on purpose after their spat the night before. He wanted to run into her, to at least see her face; he checked the downstairs rooms and found them all empty save for members of his crew. Upstairs was quiet as well. He came back downstairs, noticed her car was still in the driveway, and then remembered her little office nook in the corner of the house. He found the door closed but there was a commotion within; he knocked gently, curiosity piqued.

The rustling ceased immediately. Isabella’s voice called out, “Yes?

Luke cleared his throat, suddenly aware that he had no good reason to be interrupting her. “It’s me, Luke.”

“What do you need?”

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to fabricate something at least halfway believable. “We ran out of window cleaner...do you have any I can borrow?” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt mortified.
Lame excuse, Luke.

There was a pause and then he heard her sigh from inside her office. The door swung open and she was staring back at him, hair pulled back in a tousled ponytail, with red cheeks. He looked her up and down and then behind her into the office. Everything was askew, papers all over the floor; it looked like a tornado had touched down.

“What are you doing?”

She pursed her lips. “Reorganizing.”

“Do you need help?” He noticed a file cabinet in the middle of the room; it looked like she had pushed it halfway across the floor and then given up.