Rocked by the Billionaire: A Billionaire's Club Story (2 page)

And after eight years, it seemed that his effect on her hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

Her eyes snapped open but she kept her gaze averted. “Funny, I’m the one buying the wine tonight. So I guess that means I’m trying to get someone out of their … uh, panties.” Well, that was smooth. Rather than backpedal, Kayleigh sprung to action like a reanimated corpse, digging through her purse in a disjointed, frenzied effort to keep her gaze anywhere but focused on him.

“Sounds like a party,” Luke remarked, smooth as aged bourbon. Even with her gaze averted, she knew his eyes had narrowed with humor, his full mouth spreading in a sensual smile.

“Let me pay you for the wine.” She’d let him continue on with his current train of thought over her dead body. “I’m sure I’ve got a few twenties in here somewhere …” She felt like an animal caught in a trap, readying to gnaw its arm off in order to break free. “I just have to find my wallet …”

“Are you going to look at me anytime soon or are you going to keep pretending that I’m not standing right in front of you?”

Damn it
. Kayleigh let out a gust of breath that did nothing to slow the pace of her racing heart. Her eyes met his torso first, every bit as lean and muscular as she remembered, and up past the wide breadth of his chest and shoulders. She’d forgotten how tall he was. How overwhelming his presence. He towered over her, and she had to crane her neck up to meet his face. As though she couldn’t help it, her eyes narrowed into a squint as she took in his whiskey-brown eyes, strong, square jaw, and full mouth. Exactly like looking into the sun.

“So, how’ve you been, Luke?” It took an actual effort to push his name past her lips. It felt stiff and rusty, like an old screen door that hadn’t been used in a while. Her heart clenched at the sight of him as memories—mostly painful ones—assaulted her. It wasn’t fair that he could look so self-possessed, so goddamned
gorgeous
after so many years living the fast and loose life of a rock star while she was the one who looked as though she’d been ridden hard and put away wet. What in the hell was he doing here, anyway? Shouldn’t he be off in some hotel somewhere, sleeping off a night of hard-core partying beneath a pile of naked groupies?

“You’ve got something in your hair.”

Kayleigh’s breath left her lungs in a nervous rush as Luke reached out. His touch was gentle, slow as he brushed his fingertips through the length of her hair. Heat rose to her cheeks and she thought she might pass out from embarrassment. God only knew what was floating around in the tangle of wild curls. Dried macaroni? Tissue paper?
Glue?
A groan rose in her throat and she swallowed it down. Somehow, almost a decade later, Luke found a way to add insult to injury.

He inspected the glittering plastic disk and a smile lit his handsome face. “Sequins? You leadin’ a double life I don’t know about, Ms. Taylor?”

Sweet Lord, that drawl. It was like fresh honey out of the comb, sweet and thick. The sort of cajoling tenor that could convince a woman to do just about anything. “You don’t know a damned thing about my life.” His sultry Texas charm might have coaxed the panties off droves of women—her included—but not anymore. Sexy and as tempting as the devil himself, he’d earned the nickname “Lucifer” long before he’d become famous. Though at thirteen, the moniker had been given to him more for his mischievous nature than his sex appeal. She dug through her purse, working hard not to lose her cool and finally found her wallet. Tucked in a side pocket were three twenties—her latte and snack money for the next couple of months—and she slapped the bills into his palm. “For the wine.” His fingers grazed hers and Kayleigh suppressed a pleasant shudder as she turned away.

Luke wrapped his long fingers around hers and held her fast, pulling her gently back to him. “I just got into town and you’re gonna turn away, just like that? Let’s go get some dinner.” He flashed her a wide grin. “Maybe we could share the wine after?”

So,
so
confident. Typical. It was her turn to feel smug for a change though. Kayleigh squared her shoulders and returned his smile. “No can do, Blackwell. I’ve got a date.”

A fucking
date
? The smug confidence he’d felt evaporated under the fiery heat of her rebuff. Luke fought the urge to rake his fingers through his hair in frustration, opting instead to sling his thumb casually through his belt loop. Kayleigh’s gaze wandered to his hips, her eyes lingering a bit too long and it stirred his cock into instant awareness. Not even five minutes in her presence and all he could think about was stripping her bare and pounding into her.

“A date, huh?” Kayleigh tried to pull away but he kept their joined hands between them. Her skin on his was a balm that quieted his racing mind and troubled soul. Luke took a step, completely closing the space that separated them and a flush of pink colored her cheeks. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

She hadn’t changed much. Sure, her auburn hair was longer and she’d lost a bit of the girlish innocence that had accentuated her wide brown eyes. Now her body was graced with supple, filled-out curves and a sensual maturity that stole Luke’s breath. Still had a smattering of freckles across her nose, though. Thirty-two of them. Luke had spent an entire afternoon counting them as they lounged by Milton’s Pond under the shade of an oak tree. If it was possible, she’d grown even more beautiful in the time that he’d been gone.

“Can I have my hand back?” Her eyes met his, and a spark ignited deep in the center of his chest. She could always get to him with nothing more than a look. Women threw themselves at him nightly. Hell, some of them vowed never to wash their hands again after one touch. But the one woman that had mattered—the only woman—treated the contact as though he were trying to spread some sort of communicable disease.

Awesome.

“All right.” He released her hand, but damn, he didn’t want to let her go. “Don’t want to keep your boy waiting, do you?”

“No.” Kayleigh’s voice dropped to a murmur and she looked away. “I don’t.”

For a moment, she stood perfectly still and Luke’s heart pounded in his fucking chest. The urge to crush her to him, to make her remember how good it had been between them was almost too powerful to resist. Deep down, she had to feel it, too. Why else would she still be standing there with indecision marring her brow?

“Don’t get into too much trouble while you’re here, Lucifer.” Her body turned though her eyes lingered on him as she headed for the door. “This town is too small for the broken hearts you’re bound to leave in your wake.”

A gust of cool spring air wafted over him with her exit and Luke inhaled the scent of sage and lilacs, all Kayleigh.

“That was sort of rude.”

Luke swallowed an agitated sigh and turned back to find the expectant cashier leaning over the counter toward him. Sometime between him paying for the wine and turning to talk to Kayleigh, she’d applied a metric fuck-ton’s worth of lip gloss, making her lips look like plastic monstrosities. He was pretty sure there was a song in there, somewhere …

“Not everyone’s a fan,” Luke replied with a tight-mouthed smile.

“You’d have to be crazy not to be.” She leaned over the counter, her arms hugged tight under her breasts giving Luke an unhindered—not to mention enhanced—view of her cleavage. “Good thing for you, Lucifer, that you’ve got a bona fide fangirl right here in front of you.”

She wasn’t even trying to play coy at this point, giving Luke a smoldering fuck-me gaze that traveled the length of his body and settled on his crotch before working its way back up to his eyes. A slow, seductive smile curved her mouth before she drew one corner of her over-glossed bottom lip between her teeth. “My shift’s over in a couple of hours. Wanna stick around until I get off?”

The double entendre was about as subtle as a smack upside the head. There was no doubt that Luke could screw his way through town and leave a few happy—and probably a couple of pissed off—women in his wake on his way out. But the thought of taking Glossed ‘n’ Ready to bed was as about as appealing as eating a handful of gravel after seeing Kayleigh again.

“I appreciate the offer, honey,” Luke said, careful to keep the disdain from his voice, “but I’m already—”

“Not even in town an hour and you’re
already
gettin’ yourself into trouble?” Luke breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of his brother’s voice. Talk about divine intervention. “Maybe I oughtta be carrying my checkbook for the next week or so. You know, in case you need to be bailed out of jail.”

Ha. Ha.
Okay, so sophomore year he got pinched joyriding with Tommy Davis’s dad’s tractor. But that was the one and only time Ryder had ever had to come get him from the county jail. He turned to face his older brother and gave him an appraising stare. “You look a little thicker since I saw you last. I guess the little lady is feeding you all right.”

Ryder responded with a snort and a bright smile that belied his show of annoyance. Luke had only met his brother’s girlfriend Lara once—at the Super Bowl—but it had been clear from their love-struck grins, possessive expressions, and over-the-top grabby hands that this was a relationship that was going to go the distance.

“If you ask me, it’s you that’s lookin’ doughy, little brother. A few weeks out on the ranch would do you some good.”

Good-natured ribbing was the foundation of the Blackwell brothers’ relationship. Something that Luke had missed while on the road. “I can still buck more hay than you.” He sized up his slightly shorter “big” brother and shook his head. “You’re not as young as you used to be.”

“Neither are you,” Ryder pointed out. “I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

“Yeah. I got antsy. Had to get the fuck outta L.A. I booked a room at the Holiday Inn for tonight since I didn’t give you a heads-up,” Luke said. “Pretty swanky digs, huh?” The cashier perked up at the mention of his hotel and Luke stifled a groan. He probably should have taken this conversation outside and away from eager ears.

“Like I need a heads-up,” Ryder replied. “Just give me a sec to pay for this wine and we’re out of here.”

Thank. Fuck. The last thing Luke needed was a surprise visit from the lip gloss brigade at one in the morning or for a greedy hotel employee to tip off the paparazzi as to his whereabouts. “Thanks, man. But seriously, what is it with everyone turning into wine fanatics? What’s wrong with a cold beer?”

Ryder chuckled. “When you have a woman to impress, we’ll talk about it.”

Much to the cashier’s disappointment, Luke headed for the door as he waited for Ryder. Running from his problems wasn’t ideal, but maybe he’d be able to shoulder the stress a little better with family at his back—and if he had anything to say about it, Kayleigh by his side.

***

“Okay, what in the hell is wrong with you?” Kayleigh’s friend Rachael leaned in close and snatched a square of Beaufort cheese and a slice of pear from the tray. “And don’t try to tell me it’s work stress because you are straight-up rattled. There’s no way those adorable little kidlets have you this distracted.”

Why had Luke chosen tonight of all nights to show back up into her life?
Let’s go get some dinner. Maybe we could share the wine after?
Just the memory of the low, suggestive timbre of his voice sent chills dancing over her skin. After so much time had passed, it pissed her off that he could still affect her so instantly. And with such raw intensity, turning her body traitor as she’d fought the urge to lean into him and get a hell of a lot closer.

“Kayleigh?”

“Sorry.” She gave herself a mental slap to the face. Rachael was wearing a giddy, knowing grin that tied Kayleigh’s stomach into knots. Did she know that Luke was in town? If so, who else knew? She swallowed down a groan as she pictured the gossip spreading like wildfire. “You’re right. I am rattled.”

“How did you find out?” Rachael whispered, her eyes as big as dinner plates.

Kayleigh’s eyes slid to the right, where Spencer was chatting with Rachael’s husband, Colton, and she brought her voice down to a whisper. “How did
you
find out?”

“Colton told me.” Rachael picked up the fruit-and-cheese tray and followed Kayleigh from the kitchen to the dining room. “Spencer told him yesterday.” She set the platter down next to the roasted game hens and rosemary-seasoned new potatoes and put her wineglass next to a plate.

Spencer knew Luke was in town?
The churning knot of nerves in her stomach unfurled and took flight, rocketing right up her throat. “How in the hell did Spencer find out?” She damned near choked on the words as she tried to keep her voice down to a vehement hiss.

“What?” Rachael’s brow furrowed. “Are we talking about the same thing?”

Her panic quickly turned to confusion. Were they? She had no idea …

“Okay ladies, what are y’all gossiping about over here?”

Kayleigh sloshed the wine over the lip of her glass as she set it down on the table. She’d only been seeing Spencer for a couple of months but he knew about her history with Luke. Hell, anyone who’d grown up in the county knew about it. Even though Spencer had graduated high school before Kayleigh was a freshman, and he didn’t really know Luke, he’d always had a strange grudge against the Blackwell family. The fact that Kayleigh was still friendly with Ryder even rubbed him the wrong way. Needless to say, Kayleigh did her best to keep any talk of the Blackwells—or her history with Luke—off the table.

“Girl stuff. None of your business,” Rachael teased.

Spencer eased up behind her and placed a kiss on Kayleigh’s cheek. Rather than lean into the contact, every muscle in her body seized up. She’d rubbed her “date” in Luke’s face and she was ashamed of it. And now, she was ashamed of the fact that she was standing next to an attentive, successful, generally decent guy and all she could think about was the not-so-decent one she’d left staring after her at the bistro.

“Hey?” Spencer asked close to her ear. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” Kayleigh gave a nervous laugh. “Just starved. Let’s eat.”

By the time her third glass of pinot kicked in, Kayleigh wished she was more interested in eating dinner. The table tilted at an angle and every word out of Spencer’s mouth seemed a thousand times funnier than usual. Rachael was giving her some serious side-eye and after she’d served up a few pieces of poorly sliced cheesecake, Kayleigh was more than ready to put this miserable evening behind her and go to bed.