Skin Deep (23 page)

He got up and walked to the door, throwing
one last parting shot over his shoulder. “Nice rack, by the way.
Now get in the kitchen and make me some pancakes, woman!”

I lobbed a pillow at him but he ducked out
the door into the hallway before it connected and I sat there
shaking my head at his audacity, listening to his laughter fade as
he ran down the stairs.

I showered and got ready for work, foregoing
my usual attire for a tight fitting pair of faded jeans and an
oversized hot pink hoodie. Floyd didn’t care if I went casual
sometimes, and I really wasn’t anticipating much traffic in the
office this close to the holiday.

I headed to the office still grinning at the
image of Brandon’s face as I left him sitting at the table. He’d
been in his bedroom when I came down and I had knocked on his door,
telling him his pancakes were getting cold. He’d come flying out of
his room, babbling that he had been kidding, but since I was so
nice and really made him pancakes then he was going to love me for
all time and Luke could just get over it.

I didn’t think Luke would have anything to
get over, since I didn’t make him pancakes. Instead, I had popped a
couple of blueberry waffles I had found stuffed in the back of the
freezer into the toaster and slapped them down on a plate in front
of him, laughing out right at the shocked and almost pained
expression on his face when he realized he really wasn’t getting
what he wanted.

Tuesday was a decently slow day and I was
finishing up lunch at my desk when my cell phone chimed in my
purse. I looked at it and smiled when I saw that Luke had
texted.

Hey, sugar. Sorry I didn’t get to see your
smiling face this morning. I miss you.

I hit reply and began to type.
It’s okay.
I just wish I could have seen your face when Brandon told you what
I did to him this morning! =)

Emma? What do you mean what you did to him?
Should I be jealous?

No! Luke, come on! Seriously?
That’s
why I hated texts because you never really could tell when someone
was playing around unless they came out and said it.

No. You know who you belong with. I’ll just
spend even more time tonight making sure you know it. In fact…

What?
I replied when he didn’t say
anything else.

It was about fifteen minutes later when I got
the reply, and it made a shiver work its way up my spine.

Just be ready, baby.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I closed up
the office for the week and headed out to my car. Luke had texted
about twenty minutes ago, letting me know to head over to Skin Deep
because he was still finishing up a client and had another one
booked.

I got out to my car and completely melted
when I saw the white rose tucked onto my windshield. I grabbed it
and held it to my nose, smiling at the thought of Luke sneaking
over to do something sweet like that.

I pulled up at Luke’s shop and headed inside,
clutching the rose in my hand. He was standing behind the counter,
finishing up the aftercare instructions with his client, and when
the man walked away, I went directly to him and wrapped my arms
around him, tipping my face up for his kiss.

“Thank you for the rose, Luke. You’re so
sweet…” I whispered to him.

Luke drew himself out of my arms, pushing me
back and holding me at arms length with his hands on my shoulders.
“What rose?”

I blinked up at him in confusion. “The white
rose you left on my windshield today.”

“Emma, I didn’t leave the shop all day today.
I’ve been busy.”

“Oh…okay? Well someone left me a rose on my
car. Oh, God! What if it was meant for someone else and they put it
on the wrong car? That’s so sad…” I shook my head and then
shrugged. “Well, its pretty anyway.”

Luke pulled me in and kissed my forehead
before calling his client back. He shot me a look of concern over
his shoulder as he walked away.

I wandered back down the hallway to Brandon’s
office to see what he was doing. He was sitting at an angled
drawing table, sketching out a design. I peered over his shoulder,
watching as he shaded a curving line.

“Its really good, Bran,” I said by his
ear.

He jumped, twisting around on his stool to
stare at me in surprise. “Emma! I didn’t hear you come in. What’s
shakin’, bacon?”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him.
“Nothing, Luke just took someone back so I wandered down here to
see what you were doing.”

“Eh, just working on a design for this lady.
This is the fifth time I’ve drawn something because she keeps
Googling tattoos on the internet and changing her mind. If she
doesn’t like this one I think I’m going to scream and tell her to
get fucked!” He grinned at me.

“Yeah, right. You’re too nice to do that.
Well, you’re nice to other people, anyway.” I grinned back at
him.

“Speaking of nice, you witch! How could you
toy with my stomach’s emotions like that? You promised pancakes and
left me with frozen waffles! You could have at least buttered them
and put syrup on ‘em!” Brandon whined, pouting like a child with
his lips stuck out.

“No,” I replied laughing. “That was just
funny! You should have seen the look on your face!”

We sat in companionable silence as Brandon
worked on his drawing, stopping every so often to see what I
thought about something he had added. Luke popped his head in a
little later and I looked at my watch, surprised to see that an
hour had gone by.

“Ready, guys?” he asked.

I nodded, and with a devilish twinkle in my
eye, nudged Brandon with my shoulder as I asked Luke, “So, did
Brandon tell you what he complimented me on this morning?”

Brandon’s head came up with a jerk, his eyes
widening as he looked at me with an I’m-gonna-kill-you-you-bitch
look. I laughed as Luke turned to Brandon, asking him what I was
talking about.

My grin widened as I interjected Brandon’s
stammering. “He came to get me up this morning. Maybe next time
you’ll make sure I have a shirt on or something before you send
someone in and then I wont get complimented on my ‘nice rack’!”

I laughed as Luke swatted Brandon in the back
of the head. “You ass! I told you not to go in, just to knock on
the door and she’d get up! You ogled my girlfriend’s tits?
Man…”

“First off, dude…ogled? What are you, eighty?
And I only saw them for a second. Trust me, didn’t give me a
stiffy, just maybe half a bone! She’s hot and she has a nice pair
but-”

“Brandon! You’re digging a hole here, man!” I
said, laughing even harder at Luke glaring at Brandon and Brandon
trying to justify himself.

“Luke, its okay. He really didn’t have time
to see anything and I got him back. Ask him about the pancakes this
morning and I’m gonna go stop by Griff’s and get us a pizza to take
home for dinner. Meet you guys there.” I stood on tiptoe to kiss
him before heading out to my car.

As I walked away, I heard Luke say, “You saw
my girlfriend’s girls
and
she made you pancakes? You are so
dead!”

I waited for the pizza at Griff’s and then
swung by my house to grab my mail on the way home. Leah had been
staying there since I was living at Luke’s now, and Calland even
crashes there sometimes if he’s close by instead of going home to
his apartment. Leah has been collecting my mail for me and putting
it in the decorative bowl on the sideboard table by the door. I
keep reminding myself that I need to go ahead and just change my
address, but I was a little afraid to take that last step.

I got to the house and Luke was walking down
the stairs, fresh out of the shower when I walked in the door.
Brandon was watching tv on the couch with Doug, who was cuddled up
on his lap. Geesh. Over one hundred pounds and he thinks he’s a
lapdog.

I sat the pizza down and Brandon pushed Doug
off his lap before we all crowded around the table and ate. I had
just taken a drink of my pop when Luke glanced at me and asked, “So
you tortured my brother with frozen waffles this morning after he
ogled
(he glared at Brandon as he said it) you in my
bed?”

I choked and barely managed to swallow the
mouthful of pop as I started laughing. “Yeah. His face was
classic!”

Luke smiled at me while Brandon glared at me
and said, “You owe me pancakes, woman. And this time they better be
REAL pancakes. With blueberries. And whip cream!”

I rolled my eyes at him. We finished eating
dinner and Brandon pushed back from the table, winking at me and
disappearing into his bedroom. He came out a few minutes later
wearing tight, dark rinse jeans and a tight white t-shirt with the
shop’s logo written across the chest in tribal style black
lettering. He’d put on his black leather boots and had his black
leather jacket in his hand, his car keys in the other.

“Going out for a while. Don’t wait up!” he
said teasingly, before he grinned at us and walked out of the
house.

Luke and I cleaned up dinner and I headed
upstairs to take a shower while he lounged on the couch for a bit.
I lingered under the hot water, and when I finally stepped out of
the shower to dry, there was a large towel laying on the sink
counter and my clothes that I had brought in with me were gone.
Under the towel was my corset from my Halloween costume and a very
small pair of black lace panties that Luke must have dug through my
drawer to find.

Anticipation shot through me when I realized
that Luke was making good on his words from earlier. I put on the
outfit and took the time to brush out my hair and twist it into a
knot on top of my head. I brushed my teeth and when I reached for
the doorknob to leave the bathroom, there was a black satin scarf
hanging on it with a note stuck to it that said, ‘put me on and
open the door, but don’t move.’

My pulse sped up as I complied, covering my
eyes with the silky material and tying it at the back of my head. I
reached out with my hand to open the door, and I barely turned the
knob before I felt it slowly open towards me and Luke’s hand
touched mine. He checked the blindfold to make sure I couldn’t see
anything and led me into the hallway. From the way he turned me, I
could tell he was leading me toward the bedroom.

When we finally stopped walking, I felt
Luke’s lips press against mine in a fleeting kiss, barely there and
gone in a heartbeat, before placing tiny kisses along my jaw line
until his lips were by my ear. “Do you trust me, baby?” he
whispered.

I couldn’t get my throat to work, so I
nodded. “No, Emma. Tell me, out loud. Do you trust me?”

“Yes…” I whispered.

His lips brushed my ear with every word,
making me shiver as he said, “Good. If anything gets too much, just
tell me and I’ll stop.”

His lips pulled away from my ear and I heard
him move around the room. I stood still, not knowing where exactly
I was in the room and unwilling to risk face planting (again) in
front of Luke. I felt the air swirl by my shoulder a split second
before I felt Luke’s hands settle something cold and metallic
around my neck. I gasped at the coolness resting on my flushed skin
and raised my hand to feel what it was. Before I could get my hand
all the way up, Luke grabbed my fingers, tsk-ing under this
breath.

“Ah-ah, Emma. Stay still and no
touching.”

I gasped as his hand came down sharply on my
ass with a stinging slap, then rubbed it gently. He turned me and
one of his hands grasped my hip as the other urged me to bend
forward. I instinctively put my hands out to catch myself and felt
the softness of the mattress give beneath my palms. He pressed me
down until I was bent over the bed, cheek against the coverlet, my
arms trapped under me. He whispered for me not to move and I felt
him draw away from me.

I heard him walk away and come back to me
after a second, his hand reaching down to bend my legs one at a
time, guiding them until I was kneeling on some sort of padded
bench. He ran his hands between my thighs and down them, sliding my
legs further apart on the bench, before tracing back up until his
fingers brushed the lace that was quickly becoming drenched at the
juncture of my thighs.

I jerked at the light contact, pushing back
against his hand, moaning softly and wordlessly entreating him to
press harder, deeper into my heat. Instead, I felt the stinging
heat of his hand on my ass again, harder this time than it was
before, and it made that secret part of me clench and spasm, the
dark seduction of it pulling me under.

Luke’s breath hissed through his teeth before
I heard him growl, “You’re not listening, Emma. Don’t. Move.”

At the low, barely controlled heat in his
voice, I writhed against the bed, my hips thrusting forward,
seeking to ease the ache between my thighs. My lips parted as I
gasped for breath and my heart pounded with desire. I moaned loudly
when Luke shoved his fingers beneath the lace covering my tender
flesh and slid them deep inside me without warning, thrusting them
in and out roughly once, twice, before pulling them out and sliding
them forward to circle over the hard bud of my clit.

“No!” I groaned as he quit my aching flesh,
wanting, no-
needing
to feel him thrusting into me
again.

“Mmmm…you taste so good, sugar,” Luke groaned
behind me, and the mental image of him sucking my wetness off his
fingers made me moan and buck my hips again, which in turn, meant I
felt the sting of his palm meeting my tender flesh once more.

I cried out at the contact, but not in pain.
I heard Luke groan again, and then he grasped the sides of my
panties and ripped the lace until I was bare to his gaze. I knew
that he was staring at the pale globes of my ass and the wetness I
knew was glistening on my silky pink folds peeking from between my
thighs. I arched my back, thrusting my ass further up in the air,
sliding my legs apart as far as I could before my knees hit the
solid arms of the bench.