Skin Deep (12 page)

I didn’t say anything to him, just leaned in
and pressed my lips to his softly. I pushed myself up again,
intending to slide off of him, but he tightened his arms and said,
“Stay.”

I looked down at him again, intending to call
him on being overbearing again, but he just added a whispered,
“please,” and I relented. Not that it wasn’t a really easy decision
anyway, because quite frankly, I loved the feel of him still inside
me.

We laid like that for a long time, not saying
anything, each lost in our own thoughts. After a while, I shifted a
little, intending to move to Luke’s side, but the slide of him
inside me made my breath catch. Luke heard it and slid against me
again. I felt him stretching me as he hardened, completely filling
me once again, and I moaned at the fullness.

Luke pressed his hands to my shoulders,
urging me to sit up astride him, and I complied, seating him even
deeper in my wet heat. Holding my hips, he sat up until we were
face to face, then, completely taking me by surprise, he swung his
legs off the edge of the bed and stood, supporting my weight like
it was nothing, and still keeping our bodies connected. He turned
back to the bed, laying me down on my back at the edge and, leaning
back, grasping my ankles where they rested against the back of his
thighs and pulling my legs up. Since I am so much shorter than him,
my feet rested against his shoulders; he pushed my legs together
and crossed my ankles, holding them up against his right shoulder
with his hand, his left hand gripping my thigh as he began
thrusting deep into me.

Having my legs so tightly closed around him
made me feel every inch of him that much more, his hardness against
my softness, grinding against me. Luke quickened his pace, pounding
himself inside me over and over, the silence of the room broken
only by our heavy breathing and the loud slap of his flesh against
mine. I felt the pressure building as I soared higher and higher,
coming closer and closer to the sweet edge of satisfaction and
hanging there, not quite able to reach that peak that would set me
free, send me flying over the edge.

I whimpered in my throat, my hands coming up
to close over my breasts of their own volition, palming them
roughly and squeezing before rolling my nipples between my fingers,
pinching them hard. The sharp bite of pleasure-pain coursed through
me, bringing me even closer to the edge, but still not quite taking
me there. I let go of my right breast and slid my hand steadily
down my body, but before my fingers could reach their destination,
Luke dipped his head, turning it and sinking his teeth into my leg,
just above my ankle. I screamed, exploding immediately into a
million pieces, my body clenching rhythmically around his, which
brought him instantly, pulsing and twitching deep inside as he
ground his hips hard into me.

When the aftershocks faded, Luke pulled out
of me and we crawled up to lie on the bed, wrapped in each other’s
arms. My legs felt like jello and I was exhausted and energized all
at once. Luke ran his hand down my body, slipping his finger
between my thighs and playing in the wetness there. Then he froze,
his muscles tightening against me.

“Emma,” Luke said frantically. “I forgot
protection. Today and last night! Oh, God, baby I’m so sorry!”

“Luke, its okay, I promise. I’m on the pill.
And if you’re worried about other things, you don’t have to. I
haven’t been with anyone in a long time and I’ve always been
careful.”

“I wasn’t worried about that, sugar, but you
don’t have to worry about it either. I swear. But, we’re good? I
don’t have to go buy stock in Trojan?” Luke grinned down at me, his
fingers beginning to slowly circle my clit again, making me buck my
hips against his hand.

“Luke!” I moaned, pressing my thighs together
around his hand, stilling his questing fingers.

Luke smiled softly at me, dipping his head to
kiss me before asking, “Too sensitive?”

I nodded. “Sorry…just need a minute.”

Both of us jumped then as we heard a door
slam downstairs, and Brandon yelled, “Yo, Luke! Hey, bro, you
upstairs?” We heard footsteps hit the first stair and begin
ascending.

Luke and I looked at each other, our eyes
wide. Ohmigod! Brandon was seriously about to see so much more of
me than he bargained for, or, for that matter, more than I’d ever
want him to see! I waved my hand frantically at Luke, silently
entreating him to do something.

“I’ll be down in a sec, man!” Luke
yelled.

We both sprang from the bed and got dressed
before heading downstairs. My face was flaming, knowing that I was,
essentially, doing the walk of shame; something I had avoided for
the entirety of my life thus far. I ran my hands nervously through
my hair, hoping to tame at least some of the freshly fucked look
out of it, but I had a sinking suspicion that I failed
miserably.

We hit the last step and I heard Brandon
whistle long and low through his teeth, before he grinned and said,
“Well, well, well. What have we got here?”

I blushed even harder, unable to force any
words past my lips. I settled for giving him a small wave as Luke
just shook his head at him.

I tuned both of them out as Brandon began
asking Luke questions about the shop and what had happened there
last night. Since neither of them were paying attention to me, I
wandered through the living room, looking at the few pictures that
were hanging intermittently throughout the room. Most of them were
of Luke or Brandon bent over someone, working on a tattoo. There
were a couple with Luke and Brandon standing in front of the shop
with an older man, heavily tattooed, with a grey handlebar mustache
and a bald head. I assumed that this was the infamous Lenny.

On the wall by the downstairs hallway, there
were two diplomas hanging there, and beside each was a picture of
the boy receiving it. My heart swelled as I read the names neatly
typed on the diplomas, Lucas Tyler Crimshaw and Brandon Joel
Crimshaw, because I now knew just how hard they had each worked to
get them, never letting life stand in their way.

I looked over my shoulder at them, both of
them so mouth-wateringly sexy, and reality began to sink back in. I
knew more about Luke now, but it still wasn’t enough. He was
so…
hot
, and I was so…me. We were from two completely
different worlds, and he still expected me to just accept his
decree that I was his. (I must admit, though, that it did funny,
fluttery things to my insides when he said it.)

Luke glanced over and caught me staring at
him, a slow smile spreading across his face, even as he continued
speaking to Brandon. Brandon followed his gaze and grinned from ear
to ear as he saw the way Luke and I were staring at each other.
Interrupting Luke in mid-sentence, Brandon clapped him on the
shoulder, nodded once, and took off down the hall.

Luke turned to watch him go, surprise
flitting across his face before he turned to me and shrugged, the
smile that had slipped when Brandon walked away returning in full
force. He took a step forward, I assume to come to me, but all of a
sudden a yellow blur jumped off the couch and stood blocking
Luke.

Luke said, “Not now, Doug.” He stepped to the
side to walk around the large animal, but Doug followed, blocking
him again. Luke sighed and stepped back to the other side, and Doug
followed again. Luke threw his hands up in the air and asked,
“What? What the hell is wrong with you, dog?”

At Luke’s words, Doug sat on his haunches,
threw his head back and began howling out all his doggie woes.
Apparently there were quite a few of them, because this continued
for a good two minutes. When he got out everything he needed to
say, he shut his mouth with a snap, and I swear to you, nodded once
at Luke, just like Brandon had a few minutes before.

I lost it, cracking up laughing when Luke
just nodded back and said, “Okay. We done?”

I guessed they were when Doug stood up,
sidled close to Luke, and nudged Luke’s thigh with his nose,
earning a quick pat from him, before Doug trotted off down the hall
in search of Brandon. I heard Luke mutter, “Damn dog!” before he
started towards me again.

Before he got to me, I held up my hand, palm
out, saying, “Wait. I…you…just…will you take me home, Luke?” I
finished quietly.

He froze, his eyes becoming shuttered, and
then he turned on his heel and headed out to the car. I followed,
feeling like a total bitch, knowing that I had hurt him
somehow.

Chapter 9

Monday proved to be a disaster. Hands down,
it had to be the worst day of my life so far. It even topped the
Bushzilla incident, and the only thing that topped that was when
Calland had snuck about six of his friends into the bathroom where
I was showering when I was sixteen. Calland had stood with his back
to the curtain, his hand covering his eyes as he ripped the curtain
back to reveal a (now hysterically screaming) naked, soapy me to
six slobbering, perverted fourteen year old boys. As if that wasn’t
enough, I found out later that one of them had snuck his mom’s
camcorder over to our house and they had managed to be quiet and
still long enough to hold it up over the shower curtain rod without
me seeing.

Imagine my surprise when, during a very nice
slideshow put together painstakingly by my mother for my high
school graduation party, my senior picture was suddenly replaced
with a shaky video of a very naked, soapy me dancing around singing
“Man! I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain at the top of my
lungs.

So yeah. Bad day. It started when I didn’t
wake up with my alarm. I didn’t really fall asleep until almost
four in the morning; I couldn’t get Luke’s face out of my mind, the
way he looked at me as I got out of his car and then pulled away
without looking back. He hadn’t said a word the whole way, the car
filled with tension so thick you could taste it.

I got to work an hour and a half late. Floyd
was standing beside my desk frantically throwing files around. When
I walked in, apologizing profusely, he just held up his hand and
demanded I find the file he was missing. I couldn’t find it, and he
had to go to court without it.

Then, in an effort to wake myself up, I made
a pot of coffee. I carried my cup to my desk and stubbed my toe on
the corner, which made me spill coffee all down the front of my
favorite white cable knit sweater I had decided to wear that
day.

I managed not to maim myself or anyone else
for a while, but at lunchtime, I realized that I had forgotten my
purse at home in my mad dash to get to work. Therefore, I had no
way to eat lunch because I for damn sure didn’t have time to pack
anything that morning. So, stomach growling, I munched on a roll of
mints that I had found shoved in the back of my desk drawer.

The day continued downhill from there, and
I’ll just hit the highlights for you. I smashed my finger in the
file cabinet drawer, got a paper cut on my thumb, dropped my pen
under my desk and hit my head coming back up, misplaced two more
files, hung up on another attorney that had called to speak to
Floyd (accidentally, I swear!), and dropped a whole box of small
paperclips all over the floor and had to crawl around to pick them
all up. Not to mention that I keep getting hang up calls all day
long. Then, when I went out to my car to leave for the day, I
realized I had locked my keys in my car. Since I didn’t have my
purse, I didn’t have my cell phone or my wallet. Thank God I had my
work keys so I could call my dad to bring my spare car key that I
kept at their house just in case. Too bad that I had to wait two
hours for him to get there because he was in the middle of
something.

I finally walked in my front door just after
seven, but my day of horror didn’t stop there. My heel caught on
the edge of the carpet where the tile entryway ended and I pitched
forward, my arms wind milling to try and catch my balance. That
didn’t work and I went down hard, clipping my cheek high on my
cheekbone by my eye on the edge of the coffee table.

Which is why I was now lying on the floor,
half under the coffee table, sobbing uncontrollably. Any why my
face hurt so frickin’ bad! After a minute, I got up to check my
face because when I put my hand up to wipe my tears away, I
realized that it wasn’t all tears running down my face. I ran to
the bathroom and looked in the mirror, staring in horror at the
small cut in my cheek that was bleeding down my face, now dripping
onto my sweater that was already ruined by coffee. A dark bruise
was already forming.

I cleaned myself up, took a hot bath to try
to relax, and wrapped myself up in my robe before curling up in the
corner of my couch with my cell phone to see if I had any missed
calls. I had one from Allie, but no one else. Not that I really
expected otherwise.

I called Allie back to see what she wanted,
but also to vent about my day. I wasn’t expecting what I got when
she answered.

“Emma?” Allie asked as she answered the
phone.

“Yeah, Al, sorry I didn’t have my phone on me
because I forgot it at home with my purse today. You wouldn’t
believe the day I had-”

“Yeah? You had a bad day? Well so sorry to
hear that, Emma, but maybe its your karma. What the hell is wrong
with you?” she yelled at me.

“Allie, what are you talking about? I don’t
need you yelling at me after the day I’ve had, that’s for sure, so
talk fast before I get pissed!” I hollered at her.

“Emma, you’re a moron. I ran into Brandon
today and he asked what the fuck happened between you and Luke. So
that’s what I wanna know! How could you fuck this up already, Em?
We had this conversation yesterday, Leah and I both told you to go
for it because you’re stupid if you didn’t! He’s told you clearly
that he’s into you, but you’re letting Douche Bag Brad effect what
could be something good, something right for you!”