Steal My Breath (Elixir #1) (16 page)

My stomach does somersaults.

What do you say to that?

To a man practically telling you he’s giving you his heart.

Mrs Harper was right when she said time means nothing where love is concerned. Because I’m sure that Luke Hardy is getting my heart in return.

“
C
allie
! Thank you so much for this,” Paris says when I knock on her front door Tuesday night.

Luke called me before I left work to ask if I could drop by Elixir and collect the new asthma puffer he had there for Sean and drop it off to Paris.

“Anytime,” I reply, handing over the medicine.

She waves me inside, and I follow her down the hall into the kitchen. I’m surprised to see Alanis there. She stares at me, her expression neutral.

“I’m just going to check on Sean to see how he is. His asthma has been playing up today,” Paris says as she leaves us.

Alanis and I stand in silence until I finally break it. I struggle with awkward silences. “How are you, Alanis?”

She ignores my question. “Let’s cut the pleasantries. I’m trying to figure out what you want from Luke.”

“I don’t want anything except him.” Not that it’s any of her business.

She places her hand on her hip. “Really? I’m wondering if you’re thinking you’ve found a rich guy who owns his own business, a gorgeous house, and a nice car and thinking you might want to get your claws into him.”

My blood boils and as much as this woman is a friend of Luke’s, I won’t stand for being spoken to that way. “I’m thinking you’re a bitch who knows nothing about me and what I want. And I’m also thinking you need to back off and leave us alone.”

Her lip curls up in a sneer. “I’ve known Luke for a long time, and I look out for him. His first wife was after his family’s money. I won’t ever let another woman do what she did to him.”

“I can assure you I’m not after his money, and I’m not a murderer. All I’m after is his body and his heart. Swear to God.”

Her eyes widen when I mention his body.

The woman clearly has no sense of humour. I should have said cock instead of body. We could have had some fun with that.

“Well, good luck getting his heart. Luke swore off love years ago.”

God, she is fucking infuriating. I’d like to just reach out and slap some sense into her. “Turns out you don’t know him as well as you think you do, then.”

“Oh, I know him
very
well. You’ll get his body all right. He gives that willingly whenever asked. But his heart isn’t on the table.”
Lying bitch.
I don’t believe her for a minute.

Paris joins us again, right after Alanis spews her venom. “He’s nearly asleep. Finally,” she says as she enters the kitchen.

Alanis’s sweet mask falls back into place. “That’s good to hear. I have to go now, honey, but please, if Luke needs me tomorrow, just holler and I’m all his.”

Oh, I bet you are.

“Thank you,” Paris says before hugging her goodbye.

She gives me a fake smile before leaving us. Not soon enough as far as I’m concerned.

“Why was she here?” I ask Paris once we’re alone. “Did she look after Sean today?”

Paris shrugs. “No, she didn’t, and I’m not really sure why she dropped by. I think she just wanted to see that we were doing okay and to ask if we needed help. Alanis is just like that—always looking out for Luke. It’s nice that even after she lost a best friend through all this, she’s still close with our family.”

I’m not sure what to make of Alanis. Maybe she really is just looking out for Luke, but I can’t help think that she’s interested in him. The less I see of that woman, the better.

L
uke
:
I have tonight off work.

Me:
You’re taking a lot of nights off lately. Your boss might get cranky.

Luke:
He knows what’s at stake if I don’t have time off.

Me:
Oh, what’s at stake?

Luke:
You might get bored and take up internet dating again.

Me:
Mmmm… let me think about that.

Luke:
No need to think. I’ve got everything you need, including the night off.

Me:
Is there pizza involved in this night off? A girl would never go back to internet dating if she was assured of pizza. Just sayin’

Luke:
Is that code for cock?

Me:
You’re a funny man, Luke Hardy. No, I just want pizza.

Luke:
Pizza is at seven.

Me:
I’ll be there. And Luke?

Luke:
Yeah?

Me:
I’ll take a side of cock with that.

Luke:
So demanding.

I
knock
on Luke’s front door just before seven that night and hope like hell not to see Alanis here again. Last night was enough for a long time.

Luke opens the door and hits me with a sexy smile. I trail my gaze down his body, taking in the long-sleeved black shirt he’s wearing that sits firm against his muscles. This shirt isn’t as thin as his other T-shirts that do good things to me, but he still can’t hide those muscles. Meeting his gaze, I say, “You just shouldn’t wear clothes. I mean, I don’t see the need for them when what you do wear doesn’t even hide what’s underneath.”

He grins. “I’ll give them up if you do, too.”

“Could get tricky. I’m not sure what Sean would think.”

He nods as if he’s putting a lot of thought into this. “True.” He scoops me around my waist and pulls me in for a kiss. “When it’s just you and me, no clothes. Deal?”

“Deal.”

He lets me go and closes the door behind me. “How was work?”

“It’s getting better. They gave me another article to write. Seems the sugar tax one was popular. This time, they want me to write about refugees.”

“They like to give you the hard stuff, don’t they? Is this one for Sunday’s paper?”

Warmth spreads through me. He bought last Sunday’s paper and cut my article out to keep. My parents still haven’t acknowledged it. “Yeah, hopefully. It’ll depend if they like what I write, I guess.”

We round the corner into the kitchen and dining area. Sean’s face lights up when he sees me, and he runs my way. He barrels into me, and I pull him up for a hug. “You came!” he exclaims.

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss a night with you guys.”

His little arms tighten around my neck, and he kisses me. “Daddy’s making us pizza. And we made juice.”

I let him down. “You made it?”

He nods excitedly as he points to the juicer sitting on the counter. “Yes. With the juicer.” He turns to look up at Luke. “Can we have some now, Daddy?”

Luke shakes his head. “No, we’ll have it with dinner. Why don’t you show Callie the drawing you did today?”

He runs off to find the drawing, and I grin at Luke. “He’s excited tonight.”

“He’s been counting down the hours until he got to see you.” He pauses for a moment. “Seems to be something the Hardy men share.”

“I think they also share their charm. The way they know just what to say to mesmerise a girl is killer.”

“Callie, Callie!” Sean races back into the kitchen with his drawing, thrusting the piece of paper at me.

He’s drawn two people who appear to be a small child and a woman. I’m not sure, but I think the child is sitting on a swing. I crouch down and point at the child. “Is this you?”

He nods. “Yes, and that’s you.” He points at the woman. “You’re pushing me on the swing at the park. See the trees?”

I can see them now, but I had no clue what they were until he told me. “I can.” I face him. “I love this drawing, Sean.”

His smile reaches from one side of his face to the other. “It’s for you. You should put it on your fridge like Daddy does.” He gestures at their fridge. Luke has a few photos of Sean with him and his family stuck to it, along with two drawings.

I wrap Sean in a hug. “Thank you, I definitely will put it on my fridge.” A feeling I’ve never experienced is snaking its way through my body. It’s like happiness but magnified to a degree that I actually feel like I might burst. My chest feels crowded as if I can’t possibly fit all my emotions in there.

When I stand, Luke gives me a concerned look. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, why?” I reply a little hesitantly. I’m more than okay, but at the same time, I’m not sure why.

“You looked a little blank just then. Is this too much, too soon?”

“Absolutely not. I just need a moment to catch up to my emotions.” God, that sounds weird. He’ll think I’m some crazy woman soon.

Sean interrupts. “How do you catch your emotions?”

I laugh as I glance down at him. “I really don’t know, buddy, but when I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

“Sean, can you please go and wash your hands for dinner?” Luke asks.

When we’re alone, I move close to where he stands. “I promise I’m not as loony as I sound. I was just a little overwhelmed with emotion when Sean gave me that drawing. I’ve never had much to do with kids, and I have to say they have this way of sucker-punching you with affection.”

He reaches up to run his finger down the side of my face and into my hair. “I’ll take your loony.” His mouth moves to my ear and he whisper-growls, “Especially if this no-clothes deal goes ahead.”

“You only want me for my body,” I say as he shifts away from me to open the oven.

He smirks. “Like you wouldn’t believe, baby.”

I smack his ass playfully. “You could at least pretend to be interested in my mind.”

As he places the pizza on the counter, Sean comes back, and I bite my tongue on further sexy banter.

Sean and I set the table while Luke cuts the pizza, and soon we’re all sitting around the table laughing and eating. I love the memories Luke is making with his son. Fun family dinners, breakfasts together, and orange parties are things I never experienced with my family. Conversation was stilted at best and happy times over meals were pretty much non-existent.

Once dinner is done, Luke puts Sean to bed after some protesting. Sean wanted to stay up to spend time playing with me and then he moved onto begging for time reading with me. Luke held strong and didn’t give in. I’m in awe watching the way he parents; I’m not so sure I would be as steadfast with the routine.

I’m on his couch flicking mindlessly through channels when he returns from settling Sean. “Is he asleep?” I ask as I mute the sound on the television.

Luke sits next to me and drapes his arm over the couch behind me. He lifts my legs to rest over his and places his hand on my thigh. He then meets my gaze and kisses me. Just a quick one, but it’s enough to thrill me. “He’ll be asleep in about fifteen minutes, so you have that amount of time before the clothes have to come off.”

I slip my hand under his shirt and rest my palm against his abs. “I like this new deal we have. I think we should renegotiate so it states the time leading up to no clothes must be filled with kissing. Lots and lots of kissing.”

His eyes glitter with desire. “You’re a tough negotiator Miss St James. Lucky for you I’m an easy mark.” With that, he bends his face and kisses me again.

It doesn’t take me long to succumb to Luke’s kiss. Within a few minutes, I’m straddling him, and he’s running his hands up my back under my top. The chances of us lasting fifteen minutes with clothes on are slim-to-none if I’ve got anything to do with it.

He slides his hands under my ass and pulls me closer, grinding his erection against me. “Fuck,” he rasps as he tears his lips from mine. “Fifteen minutes is a long fucking time.”

My hands are still under his shirt. I move them up to his chest. “Surely it would be okay if
you
didn’t have a shirt on.”

He only thinks about that for a split second. His shirt hits the ground, and my breathing picks up as I feast my eyes on his bare chest.

When he tries to kiss me again, I resist, pushing against him. “Gimme a minute… I’m studying your muscles.”

“Study time’s over,” he says as he removes my hands from his chest faster than my brain keeps up. Not giving me a chance to protest, he takes possession of my mouth again.

I give in, and we’re soon consumed by the kiss.

Hands everywhere.

Breathless.

Crazed by lust.

And then Sean cries out.

I scramble off Luke, and he stands. Staring at me through wild eyes, he orders, “I want you in my bedroom, naked. Now.”

God, yes.

He leaves to take care of Sean, and I do exactly what I’ve been told. After I strip, I lay down on his king-size bed and wait for him. Glancing around the room, I decide it needs a makeover. The cream paint is bland, as are the beige curtains. His walls could do with some artwork, and I’d love to see some colour splashes throughout. Maybe red pillows on a black and white doona cover.

It hits me that his wife probably decorated the room. And that this was their marital bed.

God, how have I not thought of this before?

I scramble off the bed fast, unsure of exactly what I’m feeling, but needing a minute to think.

“What’s wrong?” Luke asks as he enters the room. He must be concerned, because I’m naked, but his gaze is focused solely on mine rather than on my body.

“Ahhh, I was just thinking… Well, the thought hit me that… Fuck…” I can’t get my words out, and as each second ticks by, I’m growing more flustered.

He walks closer. “What were you just thinking?”

I take a deep breath.

I just wanted easy sex, God.

Was that too much to ask?

No baggage would have been awesome.

“Callie.” Luke’s voice sounds again. Deep. Commanding.

I find his eyes. “I was just thinking about Jolene. And the fact she probably decorated this room. And that this was her bed.” My cheeks heat as I try to explain myself. Nothing is coming out right, because although those were my exact thoughts, the deeper meaning of my thoughts is something else.

How will we ever get past his wife?

How long will it take?

Will I be enough for him to heal?

He stares at me for a long time, taking all that in. I want to say more, but I can’t bring myself to. This feels like a pivotal moment for us, and my heart beats so hard in my chest I can hear the rush of it in my ears.

“Fuck,” he mutters as he shoves his fingers through his hair. “I never wanted this for you, Callie. I wanted to be clear of this…” His voice drifts off, and I’m pretty sure Luke’s struggling with his words just as much as I am.