Wrong (12 page)

While beautiful, this room is not lived in. Looking around, I wonder if Luke's ever put a Christmas tree up in here. I giggle at the thought. There is no way, which is too bad, because there is an empty alcove in this room in front of a huge window with views of the park. I imagine the architect pictured a grand piano in this space, but it's perfect for a Christmas tree.

I sit in one of the armchairs and surf the internet on my iPad before the office door clicks open, finally. Luke tells Gina to call his office on Monday if she needs anything as he walks her to the front door. I'd rather hear him tell her to call him never, but at least she's leaving. I stay put in the chair.

The front door closes and the house is quiet. I know Luke didn't leave with her, but I don't hear him. A few minutes later Luke walks into the room with a handful of cookies.

"You made cookies?" He winks at me as he stuffs one in his mouth. He's in athletic pants and a short-sleeved tee shirt. His hair is tousled, like he ran a towel through it after his workout. I hate that Gina saw him like this.

"I did," I reply, not sure what to make of him right now. I guess we're not fighting about condoms anymore.

"What are you doing in here?" he asks, inhaling another cookie and glancing around the unused room. "I couldn't find you."

I shrug. "I didn't know what to do with myself while I was waiting for you to finish with your ex-fiancée."

"Miss Tisdale, is that sarcasm I'm hearing?" He leans over me and places his now empty hands on the chair arms, pinning me in place. "I'm very finished with my ex-fiancée, Sophie." He leans in and kisses me lightly on the lips.

"Why is she always around then?" I ask before I can think better of it. I trust Luke. I'm not even going to say it's because I don't trust Gina, because she's irrelevant. She can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do. I simply don't like her, or her intentions, but it's none of my business.

"It's just… work stuff, Sophie," he says, straightening. "I'm going to take a shower. Do you want to go shopping? Gina said something about you wanting to go to Target?"

I laugh then. She's such a bitch. "Yeah, Luke, let's go to Target."

W
e do go to Target
, and let me tell you, Target with Luke is a lot of fun. I ask him if we can get a tree and he looks a little bewildered by the request but agrees. And when I mention while we look at the pre-lit trees in Target that I've never had a real tree because my grandfather is allergic to them, Luke looks at me for a moment, his gaze moving across my face like he's imagining me as a child, and then pulls out his phone and makes a call. By the time we finish shopping there's a ten-foot balsam fir tree set up and strung with lights in Luke's great room.

He tells me to pick out "whatever trees need," but I refuse, only agreeing to pick the tree decor once he admits that he's partial to blue and that the elf ornaments are funny. Which leads to my discovery that Luke has never seen the movie
Elf
.

While Luke goes to locate a DVD of
Elf
I scour the seasonal department picking all the blue ornaments and elves that I think Luke will like. He comes back with an armful of stuff and dumps it in the cart like a kid with a black American Express card. Then he smacks my ass right in the middle of the aisle and asks what else we can buy at Target.

I laugh and ask how he gets food and paper towels without ever shopping and he tells me that Mrs. Gieger takes care of all of that. I look at him blankly, having no idea who Mrs. Gieger is, until he informs me that he has a housekeeper who stops in during the week. Apparently she does everything. Shopping, laundry, dry-cleaning runs, cleaning, changing sheets, emptying the dishwasher. Everything. Rich people are weird.

We go back to Luke's with bags of stuff, and looking at the size of his car, it's a good thing he's had a tree delivered. I don't think the engineers at Mercedes had Christmas trees in mind when they built the S63.

Unpacking the bags is even more fun. We carry all the bags into the kitchen and start unloading, but I keep finding things that aren't ornaments.

"You bought red and white striped elf socks?" I ask, holding them up, confused. They're knee-highs.

"Not for me," he replies. "You like funny socks. And pumpkin. You like pumpkin." He pulls a tube of pumpkin spice lip balm out of a bag. He hands it to me and I put it on then tilt my neck back and raise up on my tiptoes to kiss him. Things escalate pretty quickly after that.

My sweater is off before I even realize what is happening. He tosses it on the granite island and then unzips my jeans and yanks both my jeans and panties to mid-thigh before picking me up and sitting my naked ass on the edge of the island countertop.

He slides my bottoms off the rest of the way until they land in a puddle on the floor that he kicks aside before lowering his own pants only enough to pull out his cock. He strokes the length of himself several times while I watch, itching to reach forward and do that for him. He spreads my legs apart and steps between them, hooking my right thigh in the crook of his left elbow, his right hand still stroking himself. He's staring at the slit between my legs, spreading my lips open with his fingers.

My heart is racing and my breathing hitches. I can feel the heat and pressure building and moisture begins to slick my passage. He steps in closer, my thighs spread obscenely wide, my bare bottom on the edge of the counter. I lean back on my hands and watch as Luke places the head of his penis against me. I suck in a breath, not sure I'm wet enough for him just yet. He's so big and he's always had me dripping for him before entering me.

My apprehension is for naught as he doesn't enter me, but instead starts slapping my open pussy with his cock.

"Oh, God." The sight is too much combined with all the blood pumping through me. Every nerve ending is alive with want. I bite my lip and drop to my elbows, looking at the ceiling.

"No." Luke's voice startles me and I move my gaze to his. "You'll watch."

I blink at him and murmur an agreement before he clarifies, "Eyes here, Sophie," indicating where our bodies are connected. His penis is sliding up and down along my spread lips as he coats himself in my wetness.

I can only nod as I pick my elbows off the counter and return to resting my upper body on my hands, the angle perfect for watching. With my full attention where he wants it, Luke grabs himself and guides the head of his penis to my wet, waiting opening. He sticks the tip in, bare, nothing between us. I feel his gaze move from where he's resting just inside of me to my face. I look up and nod before returning my attention to his cock, sliding inside of me one slow inch at a time.

He slides most of the way out then slams back inside of me and I whimper. Not from pain, but from pure pleasure, watching increasing my hedonistic enjoyment. He slips his right arm under my left knee so now I'm splayed open with both legs dangling over his arms, bouncing as he thrusts into me.

It's so good. So, so good. I want to drop my head back in defeat to the pleasure but Luke is insistent, reminding me every time I look away. He's alternating between watching us and watching me.

"I love those noises you make. I think I could come from nothing more than the sound of your voice when I'm fucking you," Luke says above the slapping of our skin and the incoherent noises I'm indeed making. "When you get close you start chanting my name. 'Luke, Luke, Luke.' I almost blow my load early every time, listening to you, knowing you're close. Knowing I did that to you."

"You do, Luke." I'm breathless and so ready. "You always do."

"I'm going to come inside of you, Sophie." He thrusts, yanking my thigh up, changing the angle slightly. "I'm going to come in you so hard my come will be leaking out of you for the rest of the day."

Listening to him describe it while pistoning in and out of my body pushes me over the edge and I come, my orgasm so intense it hurts when he thrusts back in. He stills then for a moment, buried in me balls deep, before I feel him twitch as he moans his own release. It does feel different, warmer, wetter. It feels so intimate. I mean, sex is always intimate, but this is different. It feels like a compliment, if bodily fluids can be described that way.

He leans forward until our lips touch and then I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer while we kiss. He pulls away as he slides out of me. He's still got both of my legs spread open, hooked over his elbows, and he makes no move to drop them, instead focusing on watching his come leak out of me.

"Fuck, that is hot."

I'd be embarrassed, but he is so into it that it just turns me on more. He finally releases one of my legs only to stick two fingers into me, coating them with his release and then moving them to my clit.

"No, no, I can't," I protest. He can't possibly think he's going to make me come again. I'm still pulsating from the last one.

"You can." He drops my other leg now to unsnap my bra and he bends, taking a nipple in his mouth as he works me with his fingers below. Of course he proves himself right, working another orgasm out of me before we're through.

"
L
uke
, you bought
Elf on the Shelf?"
I ask, holding up the box. I'm still sitting on the countertop. Luke just cleaned me up with a paper towel while I about died of embarrassment. It's a lot messier without a condom. I tried to take the paper towel from him and do it myself but he wouldn't allow it.

"I found it by the DVD's," he replies, as if this explains everything. "It's an elf."

This isn't a tradition I did with my grandparents and I can't imagine Luke did either. "I think this is for little kids," I say, reviewing the box.

Luke shrugs and pulls a menu out of the drawer. "Do you want to order in or go down to Serafina?"

"No!" I blurt out. "Not Serafina."

He looks confused. "You don't like Serafina?"

"I love Serafina," I say, then realize I've painted myself in a corner. I don't want to admit I'm feeling weird about Luke always taking me out to eat at a restaurant that's conveniently located in his lobby. I'm behaving like a brat. We just went to Target in public, it's not like he's hiding me.

He looks at me like I'm going to elaborate. When I don't, he puts the menu away and picks my panties up off the floor and slides them up to mid-thigh, then repeats the motions with my jeans before lifting me off the counter and sliding them the remaining way up. He even zips and buttons me back into my jeans and I gotta admit, watching his huge hands dress me makes me want to rip everything off all over again.

"What’s your favorite Italian restaurant, Sophie?" he asks as he holds my sweater up for me to put my arms through.

"Lombardi's," I reply automatically.

"Okay," he says and slides his keys off the counter. "We'll go to Lombardi's."

"Luke! Lombardi's is forty-five minutes away in Horsham. And it's not your scene, it's very casual." I feel like such an ass. "Serafina's is fine. Let's just eat downstairs."

He pulls me closer. "You don't think I'm casual?"

"Luke, please," I laugh. "You're the least casual person I know."

"Hmm, maybe," he murmurs into my hair. "I don't feel casual about you," he says, kissing the top of my head. "So maybe serious isn't all bad."

What is this guy doing to me?

"
H
e bought
you an Elf on the Shelf?" Everly is staring at me like I've just announced we had a three-way with an elf.

"Yeah. Neither of us really knew what it was, but we looked it up and now he texts me pictures of the elf every morning," I say with a big stupid grin on my face.

"Pictures of the elf on his dick?" Everly asks hopefully.

"No! Pictures of the elf doing funny stuff around his house." Everly is speechless. "Never mind." I wave a hand.

"Holy shit. He's in love with you."

"No." I shake my head. "No, we're just having fun."

It's a week after Thanksgiving and the first I've seen Everly since before the holiday. We were slammed with customers this morning and now it's finally slowed down enough to catch up.

"Wait. Would that be a bad thing? If he loved me?" I ask. She seems kind of appalled.

Everly softens. "Well, no, it's not bad. It's just you're so young."

"I'm the same age as you," I point out.

"No, I know." Everly is treading lightly now, which is odd for Everly. "You just don't have a lot of experience with men," she says. "Are you ready to commit to something serious?"

"I don't know," I reply as I examine the ends of my hair. "This conversation is silly. We've been together less than two months."

"Do you think this conversation will be easier in a month when you're so far gone in love with him there's no turning back? Will you be happy being with a man who has to run off to the hospital at all hours of the day and night?"

"His hours aren't that bad, really. Most of his practice is scheduled appointments. Unless he's on call at the hospital."

"Yeah, most of his practice involves him looking at other women's pussies. Right now you're the hottest pussy he sees, but how will you feel when you're forty and you know he's seeing twenty-year-old pussy at work?"

"Everly, eww." Of course, now I'm thinking about it.

"And his family is awful," Everly continues. "Think about all that before you tell me you're just having fun."

"He sounds like such a catch when you phrase it that way," I reply sarcastically.

"You're the catch, Sophie. Don't sell yourself short."

"I'm the child of a teenage mother and I don’t even know who my father is."

"Your mother has nothing to do with you, Sophie. You made yourself who you are, not her. You're a smart, beautiful girl who will be graduating soon with honors. You're the most caring, responsible person I know."

"Okay, enough about me. Tell me about your weekend. Did you make any headway with Professor Camden?" I ask her as I pour myself a coffee.

"I…" Everly starts to say, but then stops. Shaking her head, she says, "I don't know what is going on anymore, Sophie."

"What do you mean?" It's so odd to see Everly anything less than confident. "You always know what's going on. You have a plan, remember? Six months till graduation, six months to make Finn Camden fall in love with you," I remind her.

"I know!" She throws her hands up in the air. "I know, I know, but I'm so confused."

"Is everything okay?" I'm concerned. Everly is off her game and that is rare.

"Yeah." She nods, as if to reassure herself. Then she looks past me to the counter. "Your stalker is here again."

I sigh. "Regular customers are not stalkers, Everly. We're a coffee shop. People come in, they get coffee." I walk past her to help the man waiting at the counter and place a big smile on my face, ready to help.

“Sophie.” The man says my name and pauses, and that split second is all I need to realize that something is not quite right. Why is this man referring to me by name? I know it’s pinned to the front of my apron, but customers rarely use it.

“Could you sit with me for a few minutes?” he asks, gesturing to the empty tables filling Grind Me.

What the heck? I glance sideways at Everly. She’s wearing a smug told-you-so expression on her face.

“Um,” I reply, unsure how to proceed. “I’m working, but thank you.” I give him my best professional smile.

“I can wait until your break,” he offers. “Or meet you after?”

Shit.

I try again. “The thing is, I have a boyfriend. So I don’t think I can meet you after my shift.” I try my professional smile again. I hope I’m getting it right.

The man smiles in response, but it’s not dejected, it’s amused. “I’m afraid I might be giving you the wrong impression. I wasn’t asking you out.”

Oh.

“Besides, I’m far too old for you.”

“A little young for her, actually,” Everly mutters and the man shoots her a look.

He pulls a wallet from the breast pocket of his coat and opens it, revealing a badge and an ID, which Everly promptly swipes out of his hand. “My name is Boyd Gallagher,” he says, still looking at me. He pauses, apparently expecting this to mean something to me.

I shift from foot to foot behind the counter. Am I in some kind of trouble?

“Feds aren’t really her fetish, but I know a girl at school who’d be so into you,” Everly pipes in, still reviewing the wallet in her hand.

“Everly!” The stranger and I reply at the same time and it breaks the tension a little. I smile as the man retrieves his wallet from Everly's hand and places it back into his pocket.

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair before moving his attention back to me. “Sophie, I’m your brother.”