Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) (20 page)

Sensing I was close, Luke slowed down, bringing me away from the point of peaking. I broke off the kiss and buried my head in his neck. He sucked gently on the spot beneath my ear and pushed even deeper into me. The pleasure ratcheted up, and Luke gripped my leg tighter. His breath came out sharper, matching my own, and when he groaned into my neck, I knew he was close.

I slid my hands down his back and to his hips, the muscles contracting and expanding beneath my touch. Luke slipped one palm underneath my lower back, lifting so he could hit a new angle inside of me. It was all I needed.

“That’s right, baby. Let it go.”

I did.

Everything inside me tensed, then shuddered as the orgasm ripped through me. I wailed, and his mouth captured the sound. He didn’t stop, just kept pounding and kissing, his hand deep in my hair, pulling until pain mingled with pleasure washing over and through me.

Luke groaned, cursing into my throat and thrust one more powerful time before stilling on top of me. His breath floated down in hot waves against my neck, the feel of his heart pounding against my breasts. That was it. No other movement or sound. Just us. Together. Floating down from the mountain we’d just climbed.

Holding his weight slightly off of me, Luke turned and kissed my forehead. The simple gesture was so sweet that I sighed. His lips moved lower, brushing along my temple and down my jaw.

Slowly, he moved over to lay next to me, one of his strong arms slipping under my back and the other one laying across my chest. I closed my eyes and nestled into the crook of his arm. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been held in such a comforting way — if ever — and it felt like floating away on a soft, fluffy cloud.

Luke’s hand trailed through my hair, gently massaging my scalp. The bandanna I’d put on that morning had mysteriously disappeared, but at what point it had been lost, I had no clue.

Luke moved and I tensed, waiting for him to move away. All he did though was grab the sheet and pull it over us, shielding us from the slight chill as the sweat dried from our bodies.

“Thank you for today,” he said into my hair.

I cocked my head slightly, brushing my cheek across his chest. “You already said that.”

“I know… but I want you to know I really mean it.”

“I think you’ve thanked me enough. Especially within the last twenty minutes,” I joked.

His hand found mine and our fingers laced together. “I’d like to thank you for a lot longer than that,” he responded, making a whole new flush of desire sweep through me.

I didn’t know what else to say. Things were still so uncertain between us, and I didn’t want to ruin the perfection of the moment.

And so I said nothing. Instead, I closed my eyes and focused on the rising and falling of Luke’s chest underneath my cheek, letting it carry me away to a peaceful place where words weren’t necessary.

*

My eyes still closed, I groaned and rolled over, grasping at the edges of the pillow. My body felt sore but deliciously rested. Stretching my legs and arms, I sighed and finally opened my eyes. The light in Luke’s bedroom had dimmed significantly, though it was hard to tell exactly what time it was. An eerie grayness filled the room, the only light coming from somewhere down the hall.

Crickets chirped outside, and a dog barked far away, but the house was silent. Turning my head, I looked at the spot next to me. Luke was gone.

Slowly I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck, which was slightly sore.

The curtains were open and for the first time, I got a good look at the double windows looking out onto Luke’s backyard. Little solar lights on the ground were on, making a glowing path leading to the swimming pool. I could make out a few lawn chairs near the edge of the water, but other than that, it was hard to see much more of the yard.

I gazed around the other walls of the bedroom. The standard furniture was there: a dresser, a bookshelf. Even with the poor light, I could see there wasn’t much else in the room other than books. The shelves were half full with them, some of the neatly stacked together and others laying haphazardly on their sides.

I cocked my head, listening for clues as to Luke’s whereabouts. When I didn’t hear anything, I lifted the sheet off me and climbed out of bed. Feeling around on the floor, I found my shorts and shirt. The bandanna that had slipped from my hair was MIA and apparently so was my underwear. Settling for going commando, I pulled the available clothes on and padded out of the room.

The light I’d noticed before came from the kitchen. Expecting to see Luke, I sidled into the room. It was empty though. I checked the living room as well. No Luke.

“Luke?” I called.

When there was no answer, I set about exploring the house. On the bottom floor were two bathrooms and a gym. The other end of the hallway, past Luke’s room, held the staircase. I walked halfway up it and called his name again.

Still no answer.

Eager to get to the bottom of his disappearance, I headed back for the living room and peeked through the curtains at the front yard. The SUV was gone.

“Hm,” I said to myself.

If I weren’t actually in the house of the man I’d just had sex with, I would have thought I’d just been the victim of a bang and run.

Thinking maybe he’d texted me an explanation, I took a step to look for my purse — and then remembered I’d left it in the SUV.

At a loss of what to do next, I stood there with my hands on my hips. All I could do was wait.

It was extremely odd being in Luke’s house all alone. It also felt kind of good because if he’d been willing to leave me there alone, it probably meant he trusted me.

I began moving slowly around the house, turning on a couple lights here and there as I went. Because the place was so empty, there wasn’t much of interest, so I found myself going through the kitchen and into the backyard.

The pool sparkled under the rising moon, its waters lapping softly against the edges. The temperature had fallen some with the sunset, but the air still felt thick and sticky, and the water looked cold and delicious. Slowly, I sat down and dipped my bare feet in. The water caressed my skin like cool silk. I took a deep breath and leaned back.

After a couple of seconds of relaxing, my mind began racing. So much had happened that day it hardly seemed possible that so much excitement could be packed into ten or twelve hours. First the whole thing with Mr. Cooper… and then Luke.

My chest filled with warmth at the thought of Luke. To say the man had rocked my world would be an understatement. He’d done so much more than that. Not only was I feeling things about him that I’d never felt about another man before, I was also feeling things about
myself
that were entirely new. Luke made me feel like there was a better me hidden somewhere deep down inside — a person I’d never known or considered.

I kicked my heels against the pool’s wall. I was far off from being that person.

If Luke didn’t know the same, then he at least suspected it. What was the last thing he’d said to me before taking me to his bedroom? That I was dangerous?

Perhaps I was.

I gulped nervously. Perhaps he already regretted what happened between the two of us. Maybe he had left the house because he simply couldn’t stand to be around me. Maybe he was driving aimlessly around Crystal Brook, working up the courage to come back and kick me out of his house.

Maybe I deserved as much.

“Enjoying yourself?”

I jumped at Luke’s voice, then turned to see him walking through the sliding doors I’d forgotten to close.

“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s all right.”

I started to stand up, but before I could, he came and settled down next to me, his legs drawn up and his hands on his knees.

The reflection of the water danced across his face. I took a second to study the curves and lines of it, amazed at Luke’s ability to somehow be more attractive each time I laid my eyes on him.

“I went to get your bike,” he explained.

“Oh.” I paused, then outright laughed.

He smiled. “What is it?”

I bit my lip so hard it hurt. “Um, nothing… I just… I forgot all about my bike.”

“Mm.” He reached up and slipped his palm behind my ear, his fingers threading through my hair. I closed my eyes and sighed, relieved beyond belief. He didn’t
seem
angry or frustrated with me.

His other hand rested on my thigh, rubbing up and down and causing little goosebumps to pop up.

“Your aunt called your cell phone.”

My eyes flew open. “Oh no! I forgot all about her. She’s probably worried. I need to go call her back.”

“I already talked to her.”

“You did?”

I studied his face, watching as it flushed slightly.

Was Luke
embarrassed?

“Yeah, your purse was in the car. Sorry. I didn’t notice it till I’d left. When she called, I answered because I thought she might be worried.”

“Why are you blushing?” I asked, laughing.

He threw his head back and laughed too. “Because… because I thought maybe
you
thought I’d told her what you were up to.”

I stared at him. “Did you?”

“I told her you were at my house helping me out after what happened with Mr. Cooper. That’s all.”

I laughed, slightly embarrassed myself. “Oh. Right. Of course.”

“Did you
want
me to tell her what you’ve been up to?” he teased.

“Stop,” I chastised him, not able to stop smiling.

The grin on his cheeks slowly lessened, his face taking on a more serious expression. My stomach lurched.

Oh God.
It was just as I feared. Now came the moment when he was going to let me down. “Thanks, it was fun, but like I said, you’re trouble” or something to that effect. Any second those words were going to come out of his mouth…

“I’m falling for you,” Luke whispered.

I audibly gasped, a sharp inhalation of air that immediately stuck in my throat.

Luke shook his head slightly and ran his hand through his tousled hair… hair that not too long ago I’d had my own fingers threaded in… hair that I ached to grab hold of once more.

“I didn’t expect to,” he throatily said. “And yet I don’t know how I couldn’t.”

I looked down at the water.
Join the club.

A gentle touch brushed against the top of my hand. I looked back up and into his eyes.

“Grace,” he murmured.

I blinked rapidly and tried to keep my cool. “Yes?”

“I…” He opened his mouth, then just closed it before letting out what sounded like a nervous laugh. “I don’t know.”

A feeling so intense it nearly hurt swelled in my heart. It was a culmination of the wanting and the needing, the pain of knowing I should have been better with him but not quite getting how to. It all mixed together and swirled up in my chest, making me feel like I was going to explode.

“You don’t have to say anything,” I answered, my voice breathless before I moved closer to him and took his lips with mine, kissing him like nothing else mattered.

After what might have been the longest kiss in the history of humanity, he pulled away. “How about some dinner?”

“I’m starving.”

“Mm. You worked up quite an appetite today, I suppose.”

I bit my lip, sore from his kisses. “Maybe we could do it again
after
dinner. I do like midnight snacks.”

“Come on,” he grinned, taking my hand and pulling me to standing. “Let’s walk downtown.”

The evening air danced around us as we walked hand in hand down the sidewalk. I pressed my shoulder against Luke’s arm, trying to not be too proud about having him next to me — but also not being able to help it. Every woman that walked by us downtown did a double take of him, and a lot of the male gazes lingered on him for an extra second as well.

We strolled around the shops dotting the courtyard perimeter, taking our time picking a restaurant. Luke already had all of their menus memorized, so gave me the breakdown, letting me know which place had the best salad and which place the fastest service.

“You pick,” he kept saying.

In the end, I decided on a little Italian restaurant called Anna Sophia’s. The place had only a few tables full, and we snuggled into a booth near the front window. After ordering a pizza to share — which was definitely on top of my ‘Do Not Eat’ list, but which I decided I’d go for since it was a special day — Luke penetrated my eyes with his gaze.

“So,” he began but didn’t say anything else.

I could feel myself blush. Despite the fact that the man sitting across from me had literally been inside of me just a few hours before, the present situation felt very much like a first date.

Which I suppose it was.

“So,” I said, picking up the stranded sentence. “This was quite the day.”

Luke laughed. “I know! And its only dinnertime.”

“Right? God,
anything
could happen between now and midnight.”

“We could drive to the beach if we wanted. And back.”

“We could… go on a hot air balloon ride.”

“At night?”

I laughed. “Okay, maybe we couldn’t do that.”

“We could rob a bank.”

“Hey now.” I slapped his hand. “Since when are we turning into Bonnie and Clyde?”

Luke chuckled, and we stopped talking for a moment while the waitress set glasses of water in front of us.

“Thank you,” Luke told her.

He turned his eyes back to me. “I want to hear about your parents.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” he said, and I could tell he was serious. “You’ve already mentioned your father.”

“Right.” The joy sank out of me. “He’s in New York.”

“But what about your mother?”

“She died when I was a baby.”

The smile fell off Luke’s face. “Oh. Grace, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I told him, meaning it. “I don’t even remember her so it’s not exactly a source of pain.”

That part was a lie. At least part of it. No, I didn’t remember my mom. But had her absence left me with an always persistent fear that things could be taken away at any moment?