Tempting the Artist (12 page)

Luke raised up slightly, his elbow
holding his weight as he undid the top two buttons on the shirt she
wore. Though he loved it when she put on his clothes, he loved it
better when she wasn’t wearing anything.

His hands went lower.
Smoothed, toned skin peeked from behind the twill fabric as he
undid yet another button and slowed. Opening the material, a smile
crept across his lips. “A nose ring
and
you have your belly-button
pierced … I like.” He fingered the diamond hanging from a gold
stud. He never knew what to expect from his little seductive vixen,
but Christina never disappointed.

Luke glanced up and their gazes
collided. His pulse galloped as he stared into clear, dark eyes
that held so much love and desire, tugging hard on his
heartstrings. He was a goner. One look, one incredibly sexy woman,
and a pierced belly button had him falling deeper and unequivocally
in love with this woman.

He cleared his throat and returned his
attention to the task at hand. “What other treats do you have for
me?”

Christina caressed the back of his
bare arm that was bracing him up. “Let your gaze and your fingers
take you lower…” Her voice trailed off and he did as she
suggested.

He arrived at the last button. The
button holding together the portion of the shirt that covered the
part of her body he couldn’t wait to dive into. He unfastened the
shirt and let the halves fall open. Warmth spread through his body
and his penis leaped to attention.

“
Damn, baby.” His gaze
steadied on the short curls leading to the V between her firm
thighs. “You’re just full of surprises aren’t you?” He ran his hand
from her flat abs on down to her pubic hair, formed in a perfect
heart-shaped design.

“
You have no idea,” she
said on an unsteady breath, her lower body arching to his touch.
Unable to help himself, his fingers went lower, not stopping until
he was at the entrance to her core. He entered her with one finger
and she whimpered and moved against his hand.
Wet and hot
. “Lu…” Her words hung in
the air, her nails digging into his arm.

“
You like that?”

“
Lu…Lucas don’t play with
me. You know I do.” Her voice held a husky edge as she moved with
each thrust of his finger. “Please,” she begged. He added another
finger, this time going deeper and harder, massaging her interior
walls.

Luke captured her lips again, sucking
on her tongue as he picked up the pace sliding his digits in and
out of her. Hearing her soft moans, a hot tide of lust built within
him. Desire pulsated through his veins and straight to his
erection. There was no way in hell he’d be able to take this
reuniting of their bodies slow with the way her hips lifted higher
on the bed, her moves more frantic against his hand. She was close.
She was close to her ….

Christina snatched her mouth from his.
“Lucas!” Her hips rose fully off the bed bucking and jerking
uncontrollably. Her head thrashed against the pillow. “Ohmigod.
Ohmigod.” She locked her thighs shut and clung to him as she
shattered around his hand, her eyes tightly shut.

Not waiting for her to come down off
her high, Luke reached over and pulled a condom from the drawer
next to the bed. He rid himself of his pajama bottoms and quickly
sheathed himself.

“
I’m not done with you
yet.” He nudged her thighs further apart, moving between her
legs.

“
Good.” Her breathing came
in short spurts and she smiled up at him, a light sheen across her
forehead. “We have some time to make up for and I’m planning on us
going all night long.”

Luke laughed and positioned himself
above her, bracing his hands on each side of her head. “I love how
ambitious you are.” If anyone could go all night long, it was
Christina. Luke had never met a woman with her sexual appetite and
stamina.

He trailed kisses from her cheek, down
the column of her neck and didn’t stop until he reached her
breasts. The feel of his tongue swirling around a taut nipple sent
lust sweeping through her body like a runaway train barreling down
a steep hill. Christina knew she would lose it again soon when he
caught the harden peak gently between his teeth, sending a sweet
thrill to the soles of her feet.

“
Baby, I need you inside
me.” She wiggled beneath him and placed her hands on the side of
his face, getting his attention. Her nipple popped out of his mouth
and he grinned up at her.

“
Impatient are
we?”

“
Yes.” She pulled him to
her and kissed him with a hunger that let him know just how her
impatience had grown to explosive proportions. She loved that he
liked to take his time making love, but her sex throbbed for him,
longed for what she’d been missing.

Luke gripped her left butt
cheek, lifting her hip slightly off the bed as he slowly entered
her moist opening, sending erotic jolts of pleasure to every nerve
in her body. Christina held the back of his head firmly, increasing
the pressure of his kiss as their bodies rocked in harmony.
Just like old times
.

Luke moaned against her lips as he
plunged deeper, and harder, picking up the pace with each thrust.
Christina rotated her hips and grasped his butt, feeling him grow
thicker inside her. She squeezed her thighs around him as
adrenaline coursed through her veins. This is what she wanted, what
she had missed.

“
Chri…stina,” he growled
when he yanked his lips from hers. Fierce hunger lurked in his eyes
as his stiff shaft pounded in and out of her with such force, she
could barely hold on to his sweat slicked shoulders.

Christina bit down on her bottom lip
as she held his intense gaze, matching him stroke for stroke. But
with the pressure building in her core, there was no way she could
hold on much longer. No sooner as the thought entered her mind,
Luke hit the spot that always pushed her over the edge.

She cursed under her breath and
slammed her eyes shut. Her arms flung out and she fisted the sheets
as her heart hammered and a frenzy of pleasure shot through her
core. Christina couldn’t hold on. Luke’s name flew from her lips
and an orgasm rippled through her body like a seismic sea wave
washing out everything in its way.

Luke’s moves grew more frantic and
with one final thrust, his body stiffened and he roared her name
before collapsing on top of her. Panting hard, they lay that way,
shivering in each other’s arms, struggling to catch their
breath.

Minutes ticked by, neither mumbled a
word. So many emotions bounce inside of Christina as she marveled
at the peace that had washed over her. She had dreamed, hoped for
this moment for months, not knowing whether they would ever be
joined together again. And here they were.

“
God I’ve missed you,” she
whispered into the quietness of the room.

Luke lifted his head and kissed her
sweetly. “Not as much as I’ve missed you.”

*

“
Lucas?”

“
Hmm?” Luke didn’t open his
eyes. As long as she was curled up next to him, her smooth legs
intertwined with his lounging on the bed, all was well in his
world. Besides, over the last two hours she had worn his ass out.
“I’ve missed hearing you call me that.”

“
When you’re dressed in
your expensive suits, designer ties, and shoes so shiny I can see
myself, the name Lucas fits you better than Luke.”

“
But at the moment, I’m not
wearing a suit, tie, or shoes.” He turned his head to look at her,
fatigue keeping him from opening his eyes completely.

She grinned. “Funny.” Mischief
shimmered in her eyes, as her gaze remained steady on him. He had
no idea what she was thinking, but he could look at her all day
lo…

“
Shit
,” he gasped and practically leaped off the bed when her cold
hands wrapped around his shaft. He slammed his eyes closed and
cursed under his breath when her grip tightened. They had already
gone three rounds and for the first time in his life, he was going
to have to turn her down if she insisted on another go at
it.

He slid his hand beneath the sheet and
covered her hand. “Are you trying to kill me?” he asked through
gritted teeth.

That wicked little grin she flashed
whenever she was up to no good, slid across her lips. “Are you
saying that you can’t hang?”

“
That’s exactly what I’m
saying.” She laughed and loosened her grip, but didn’t remove her
hand completely. “I’m not proud of it, but I’m a little out of
practice.”

That seemed to get her attention.
During their separation, no other woman held his attention long
enough to want to talk her out of her panties. That’s because this
beautiful woman staring down at him now had his heart.

“
I’m glad you’re out of
practice,” she said softly and climbed on top of him, kissing him
with so much passion. At that moment, she could ask for anything
and he’d try to deliver. Though he didn’t think he had another
round in him, the way she was making love to his mouth was sure to
get a rise out of him.

“
Mmm, Christina,” he
mumbled against her lips.

She lifted her head and smiled.
“Lucas,” she spoke his given name again as if testing it out on her
tongue.

Before his mother died, she was the
only person who called him Lucas. He had to admit, he liked when
Christina called him by his given name.

“
My mother would have loved
you,” he said pushing her hair away from her face, relishing how
silky soft it felt between his fingers. “I don’t remember
everything about her, but in some ways you remind me of
her.”

Christina caressed his cheek. “In what
ways?”

Luke’s mother had died of ovarian
cancer. Watching her day after day, fight the disease, enduring
chemotherapy and then radiation, took its toll on her, as well as
him and his father. Since they didn’t have much family, once she
was gone, his whole world had changed. It was one of the loneliest
times of his life.

“
She was really sweet and
smiled a lot. Everyone who knew her loved her.” He placed a
lingering kiss against Christina’s cheek. He wasn’t sure why, but
he’d been thinking about his mother more lately. “She did so much
for others. Buying groceries, giving folks money to get their
lights turned back on. Whatever people needed, she was there for
them. It’s not that she and my dad had much money, but the little
they had, she used to help others. I often told her that I was
going to make a lot of money so that she wouldn’t have to use her
money to help others.”

“
I know she’s looking down
on you, proud of the man you’ve become.”

He could only hope. There were so many
things he had done over the years that he wasn’t proud of. Things
he wished he could do over. Then maybe he would be more confident
that his mother was proud of the man he had become.

“
You were right about me
having another reason for leaving New York.” Christina lifted her
head from his chest and met his gaze. When he didn’t continue, she
climbed off of him and reclaimed her space on the bed next to him,
as if sensing his discomfort in what he was about to tell her. She
pulled the sheet up higher over her naked body and propped up on
her elbow.

When he didn’t speak right away, she
said, “If you’re not ready to tell me, I understand. Look how long
it took me to tell you about Sasha Knight.”

“
I had a brother.” He
twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.

She lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow.
“Had?”

He nodded. “My half brother. My father
had an affair about a year after I was born. I don’t know all the
details, but while I was in my sophomore year of high school, I
found out about him.”

“
How did you find
out?”

Luke turned onto his back and stared
up at the ceiling, his hand caressing Christina’s smooth thigh. She
was soft in all the right places and he felt a sense of calm fall
upon him whenever his hands were on her.

“
We attended the same high
school,” he finally said. He told her how some of his classmates
had mentioned that there was a guy who favored him in their
classes. After a few weeks of hearing this from different people,
he finally met Scott. They had different last names, but the
resemblance was strong. It turned out that his father didn’t even
know Scott existed.

“
That had to be wild. Did
you guys become friends?”

“
Not really. We were
friendly, but we didn’t hang out. Scott ran with a different crowd.
A group of guys that were bad news and spent more time on the
streets than they did in school. My father wasn’t having that with
me. After my mother had died, he rode my ass to get good grades,
saying she wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer. Now, I’m glad my
dad stayed on me, but back then, I hated him for it. I couldn’t
catch a break with the old man. B’s weren’t good enough. I had to
bring home A’s or he’d beat my ass.”

“
What about Scott? Did your
father have a relationship with him?”

Luke shook his head. “Nah. He tried,
but Scott wasn’t interested. They didn’t hate each other, but since
neither of them knew about the other until Scott was almost grown,
they never did establish a bond.”