Skin Deep (20 page)

I smiled shyly and handed the mic back to
Jeremy, who was grinning from ear to ear. He asked if I was going
to do another one later and I shook my head no. I’d had enough of
the spotlight tonight. I headed back to the table and was met
halfway across the floor by Luke, who grabbed me up in his arms and
kissed me.

“Whoa….” I breathed against his lips when he
barely pulled away. He grinned at me and kissed me again.

“What was that for?” I asked him softly,
smiling back at him.

“Cause you’re so damn beautiful and talented
and every note you sang sent shivers through me,” Luke replied,
resting his forehead against mine.

I pulled back a bit and rolled my eyes at
him. “I don’t know what you were listening to,

but it wasn’t that good. Let’s go home,
okay?”

He grinned at me again. “I know what I heard
and you were good. But yeah…let’s go home. I love how you call it
that, sugar.”

“Don’t read too much into it, lover boy.
Figure of speech.” I shook my head at him and started walking
toward the table again.

“Nah…I don’t think so.” Luke was still
grinning at me, and I ignored his words.

Stepping up to the table, I pointed my finger
at Calland, who was gazing at me innocently.

“Yeah, don’t give me that look, Calland
Andrew. You’re an asshole. Why? I don’t know. I keep hoping you’ll
grow out of it one of these days, but no! You’re still a spoiled
little ass!” I threw my hands up, giving up because there’s nothing
else I could say. I’d said it all before. It didn’t matter. It was
never gonna change.

We gathered our things and headed out to the
parking lot. Calland actually was sweet for once and gave me a
slight one-armed hug before punching me in my arm and heading back
into the bar. Apparently he was trolling tonight. Brandon rode with
Jackson and I got into the car with Luke and we all headed home.
Er…to Luke and Brandon’s house. Damnit!

Halfway home, Luke reached over and ran his
fingers lightly up my thigh to where my hand was resting. He twined
his fingers in mine and gave my hand a sweet little squeeze. I
smiled up at him, and turned on the radio. Usher’s
Scream
came on. Have you ever listened to the words of that song? Its
dirty! But so HOT!

I caught Luke mouthing the words, and that
sent tendrils of heat curling through my body. I pressed my thighs
together as Luke softly sang,
Now relax and get on your back, if
you wanna scream
…I stared straight ahead, unaware that my
fingers were steadily tightening on Luke’s. I didn’t realize that I
had gasped, either, when he sang,
If you want it done right, I
hope you’re ready to go all night
…

I laid my head back against the seat, letting
his warm, soft voice wash over me, the words of the song creating a
pulsating beat between my thighs that was begging for relief. I
slowly slid my free hand between my thighs, moaning softly at the
slight pressure of my fingertips against my aching flesh. Luke’s
harsh groan broke through the haze of desire wrapped around me and
I sat straight up, jerking my hand away from myself guiltily. I
closed my eyes, afraid to look at him.

Luke jerked the car to the side of the road,
and I looked at him in bewilderment.

“What’s wrong, Luke? Why are we-” Luke
stopped the rest of my words with his lips. He kissed me roughly
and deeply, not caring about the traffic passing by as we sat on
the side of the road.

“God, Emma…I gotta get you home, baby,” Luke
gritted out between clenched teeth as he pulled back from me.

I just nodded, unable to speak. He jerked the
car back into gear and pulled back into traffic, flooring it. I
said a little prayer that the No-Ticket Gods would be good to us
and they must have been in a giving mood because we made it back to
Luke’s in record time without getting pulled over.

Luke jerked to a stop in front of his house,
barely getting the car in park before he reached over and hauled me
into his lap. It was a really tight fit, but I didn’t care. All
that mattered was that I was straddled over Luke, pressing into his
hardness that fit so perfectly between my thighs. I moaned out a
thanks to the Skirt Gods, too, glad that I had decided to wear one
today to work as Luke slid his hands up under it and tore
(LITERALLY! OHMIGOD!) my panties away from my hips. Making quick
work of his zipper, he pushed up into me and pulled my hips down at
the same time, slamming every inch of his thick, hard, length
inside me as deep as it would go.

I rode him hard, gripping the headrest of the
seat tightly to anchor myself as I did, loving the feel of his
hands hard on my hips, his heat scalding me deep between my thighs.
I thrust myself down on his hardness one last time, screaming as my
orgasm shot through me, coming so hard I saw stars. I heard Luke’s
shout as he stiffened and poured himself into me, crushing my hips
tighter to his as he rocked his hips in short, sharp thrusts,
drawing out our pleasure until we were both gasping for breath and
limp.

I lay slumped on top of him for a minute
before we both realized that there was a constant beeping noise all
around us. I pulled up and away from Luke, sitting in the passenger
seat again and the noise stopped. Oh, shit! I’d been laying on the
horn with my ass!

We looked at each other and busted out
laughing before putting our clothes right and getting out of the
car to go inside. When we got in the front door, both Brandon and
Jackson were sitting on the couch, laughing so hard they had tears
in their eyes.

Luke glared at them, though his lips were
still twitching with laughter, and I couldn’t help but grin
shamelessly.

Of course my shameless grin turned into a
heated flush as Brandon started stuttering, “We…we knew you must be
finished when the horn stopped…stopped beeping and just held!” He
double over with laughter again, but Jackson took over.

“Yeah, and we knew when they were getting
close, too! Beep…beep…beep…beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!”

I collapsed into the chair and buried my face
in my hands. I could even feel the tips of my ears burning, and I
knew I was red from head to toe in embarrassment. I felt Luke come
stand beside me, his hand rubbing my back, trying to comfort me. I
looked up at him and my embarrassment faded as he grinned down at
me.

I shrugged my shoulders and muttered, “It was
so worth it…” before I stood up and we headed up the stairs to go
to bed, Brandon and Jackson’s laughter following us the whole
way.

The next day, Luke took me to my house after
work to grab some more clothes. I threw a few things into my duffel
and then gasped in shock when Luke grabbed the bag out of my hand
and started going through my drawers, methodically emptying each
one into it.

“Luke! What are you doing?” I cried, trying
to take the bag from him. He moved it out of my reach and once my
drawers were empty, he turned toward my closet. I’m not sure how he
was thinking he’d get anything else into my bulging duffel, but I
wasn’t about to let him try to shove my good work clothes into it
as well. When he opened the closet door, I rushed up behind him and
jerked the bag out of his hand. He shrugged and, spying my suitcase
on the top shelf of my closet, pulled it down and unzipped it so he
could start loading it up.

“Luke! Stop! I don’t need this many clothes!”
I steadily tried to close the suitcase, but he wasn’t having
it.

“Emma, baby, it doesn’t make any sense to
keep coming back here every couple days when we’re gonna just stay
at my place. Just get all your clothes.” Luke said this to me in a
matter-of-fact tone, and I couldn’t help but gape at him. What the
hell was he getting at?

“Luke, if I have no clothes here, I’ll just
have to move them all back here when we stay here. You act like I’m
moving in with you!” I yelled.

“You are. Now pack!” He smiled at me and
started pulling stuff out of my closet and tossing into the
suitcase on the bed.

I stood there, my mouth opening and closing
like a fish before the red film descended over my eyes. “Lucas
Tyler Crimshaw, you are seriously mistaken if you think you are
just gonna move me out of my house and into yours without us even
discussing it. I’m not moving in with you. You can leave now. Do
you hear me?” I shrieked, my voice getting higher and louder with
every word. “Leave!”

Luke turned slowly to look at me, his
eyebrows raised high in astonishment, eyes wide open and blinking.
That didn’t last long, though, and his eyes were suddenly blazing
with heat. He dropped my clothes in a heap on the floor (Damnit,
now I’m gonna have to iron!) and stalked me as I nervously backed
away from him. The backs of my legs hit edge of my bed and I sat
down hard on the edge of my suitcase.

My fingers began twisting in my lap as Luke
crowded me, not saying a word. He reached out and

wrapped his fingers in my ponytail, jerking
my head back as he stood over me. I let out a gasp, unable to hide
the spark of fear in my eyes; I was afraid I had pushed him too
far.

Luke lowered his head until his lips barely
brushed mine as he spoke, each word clear and concise, sending
shivers down my spine, and making me gasp for breath. “You. Are.
Moving. In. With. Me. I want you in my bed, every night. I want to
wake up with you in my arms every morning. And sugar? Next time you
order me around, I wont take it so lightly. I’ll have you tied up
in no time and you will feel the bite of my hand as I spank that
tight little ass of yours until its hot and red and you’re
screaming for me to fuck the shit out of you.”

I swallowed, and it sounded loud in the
silence following his words. Then he continued. “I saw the fear in
your eyes, Emma. I’d never hurt you. Ever.”

I nodded, instinctively needing to tell him
that I knew that, that I trusted him implicitly. I opened my mouth
to tell him with words too, but he lightly pressed his finger to my
lips, effectively stopping me.

“A little fear is good, though, baby. I like
when you run. But know this- I’ll always catch you. And if you run
for too long, then you’ll face the consequences. You wanted to see
my darkness, Emma. You haven’t seen anything yet.” He pulled his
finger back from my lips and pressed his mouth to mine again,
sinking his teeth into my lower lip before laving it with his
tongue.

I moaned, my hands coming up to pull him
closer into me. I tried to deepen the kiss but he wouldn’t let me,
teasing me with his tongue and sharp nips of his teeth, driving me
wild.

He pulled back from me. “I want you to live
with me. Will you?”

“Luke, we haven’t known each other that
long-”

He cut me off. “No excuses, Emma. Will
you?”

I was left with no choice, and deep inside, I
really didn’t mind. He was so fuckin’ hot! “Yeah, Luke. I’ll move
in. But I’m not giving up my house.”

“Never said you had to, sugar.” He leaned
close in and pressed his lips to mine again, whispering, “Thank
you, baby. You’ve made me a very happy man.”

I rolled my eyes at him and pushed him away
to finish packing up my clothes. Since he had packed most of my
wardrobe up already, I finished the closet, and headed into the
bathroom to pack up a few more things there. When I walked back
into the bedroom, Luke had already lugged my suitcase and duffel
out to the car and I stood there by my bed, feeling a little
unsettled, but knowing that my life was taking the turn that I had
always dreamed of.

“You okay, Emma?” Luke said from behind
me.

“Yeah. I’m…good.” I said it softly, but I
realized I meant it.

Luke sighed, walking over to wrap his arms
around my waist and press himself to my back. “I’m not trying to be
an overbearing ass, sugar. I…if you don’t want to move in to my
house, that’s fine. I’ll move in here with you. But we’re gonna
live together no matter what, because I don’t want to be apart from
you.”

I turned in his arms and, raising my eyes to
his, I asked, “Why, Luke? Why is it so important that we do this so
soon?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” he
asked.

I shook my head in confusion. He leaned in
and kissed me lightly, telling me between kisses,
“Then…I’m…Not…Telling.”

Ugh. Men.

Chapter 14

Allie walked into my office at work on
Wednesday evening and like a freight train, the idea for my
Halloween costume hit me. I jumped out of my chair and ran around
the counter to hug her, kissing her loudly on the cheek as she
yelled, “Hey! What the hell?”

I released her, grinning and nodding my head
at her while she looked at me like I was crazy. Then, like always,
she had my back.

“Whatever it is that has put that evil light
in your eyes, I’m in! Now what is it?”

I started breaking my idea down to her, and
she immediately jumped in with both feet, tweaking my idea and
taking it to places I hadn’t thought of. “Allie? You…are a
genius!”

I called Luke to let him know not to pick me
up tonight because I was going to Allie’s. He asked what we were
going to do, but of course, I wouldn’t tell him. I hung up, telling
him that Allie would bring me home later, but I didn’t know what
time.

Allie and I spent the evening putting our
plans into place, and when she took me home at midnight, we were
giggling gleefully and praying that Friday came quick.

When Friday came, I was almost giddy with
excitement, and asked Floyd if I could leave at noon. He agreed,
and I called Luke to let him know that I was leaving work, and that
I would meet him at the party that night. He and Brandon and
Jackson had refused to tell us what they were going to wear for
costumes since Allie and I wouldn’t tell them.

Allie picked me up and we headed first to the
hall she had rented for the party to decorate. It was a big open
room, with a smaller kitchen/banquet area attached and we went
crazy with spider webs, caution tape, fake blood, and everything
else we would find. We hung black material over the windows in the
big open area to darken it, and placed black lights at intervals on
the tables and around the room. We also filled a few cylindrical
vases with tonic water and sat them on the tables. Instant glow
lamps! Tonic water glows under black light, fyi. Allie had hired
Jeremy to come in and DJ for the party tonight, and he was setting
up in the corner with a little lamp over his computer and equipment
so he could see to do his job.