Chapter 12 #2
“I just happened to recognize a name,” I continued. “I hope we’re on the right track. If it’s not Moira in the wall, I don’t know who it is. None of the other women seem to have a connection to Parker’s Landing.”
“We’ll find out soon enough. I’ll locate her family tomorrow. Hopefully, they’re still in the area.”
“Do you want me to look? I have a computer in front of me.” I raised my hands, ready to type.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll look in the morning. It’s getting late, so we should all get some sleep.” The pointed note in his tone told me that while he was grateful for the info, I needed to let him do the rest.
And I would.
Mostly.
I would still do my own quick search. It was all public knowledge, after all.
He didn’t need to know that, however. “Okay. Will you at least let us know if you make a positive ID?”
“Of course. The department will release a statement.”
I narrowed my eyes at the phone. That wasn’t what I meant.
“Get some rest, Mina. I’ll talk to you later.”
A quick huff puffed past my lips. “Fine.” Bidding Ozzie goodnight, I hung up. Not skipping a beat, I typed Moira’s name into the web browser.
Luke chuckled. “You’re googling her family, aren’t you?”
“Yep.” I had her parents’ names from the articles we found at the library. With a few clicks, I found out they lived in Juneau.
The laptop lid slowly closed. I glanced up from the screen at Luke, who used one finger to shut the lid.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You found your answer. Ozzie’s also right. It’s getting late, and you still need to drive home.”
My lips twisted, annoyed at his logic. I wanted to keep digging.
It was no longer about getting back to my café renovations.
I mean, sure, I still wanted that, but now that I had a face to go with the sightless eyes staring back at me from the void in the wall, I wanted her and her family to have closure.
“Come on.” Luke pushed away from the table to stand and took my hands in his. “You can come back tomorrow, and we’ll do more digging.”
I wanted to answer. To tell him that sounded like a great idea. I wanted to know more about Moira and what happened to her.
But I couldn’t.
The feel of his work-roughened fingers against my skin short-circuited my thoughts and sent me on a spiral of need that descended straight to my core.
My muscles quivered as all thoughts of Moira and her unsolved death were pushed to the dark recesses of my mind by the zing of desire his touch provoked.
He felt it too.
Those storm-gray eyes turned turbulent and a muscle in his jaw ticked silently as our gazes caught and held.
His hands turned in mine, lacing our fingers together. “You should go. So you can get some sleep.”
Should I? Sleep was overrated. This deep-seated desire, though… it needed my attention.
“Yeah, probably.” My voice came out breathy, choked by the rising heat stoking in my belly. I raised our hands, drawing our bodies closer.
His head dipped.
This was insane. Was I really about to kiss a man I’d known for a week?
The first touch of his lips on mine scrambled my thoughts.
You’re about to do a whole lot more than kiss him, my inner voice said, then whooped.
She was right. I was.
The feel of his mouth on mine was as addictive as any drug. Even as I parted my lips so he could gain entry and deepen the kiss, I wanted more.
More kisses.
More touches.
Just… more.
Untangling our fingers, I speared them into his hair.
The little grunt he let out sent a ripple of giddy pleasure through me. A moment later, a different sort of pleasure slid through my body when he wrapped his arms around my waist and hauled me into his chest.
Yes!
Heat from the fire burning deep in my belly suffused my skin. I needed out of my clothes before I burned alive where I stood.
Tearing my mouth away, I stared into his turbulent gray eyes, now the same shade as the summer storm clouds. “This is insanity, but I don’t want to stop.”
Fingers clenched and unclenched against my waist. He swallowed hard. “I didn’t bring you here for this.”
“I know.” The simple sincerity in his voice and in his eyes was all I needed to understand I wasn’t leaving any time soon.
Throwing my misgivings and all the reasons why I shouldn’t stay into the wind, I closed the gap to kiss him once again.
There was no grunt of surprise this time. We were on the same page now.
Luke’s hands climbed up my back to grip my hair. The pull on my scalp amped up the need swirling in my veins, and I pressed closer.
Tightening his grip, Luke lifted me off my feet as he backed away from the table. His mouth left mine but stayed close enough to brush my lips as he spoke.
“I plan to carry you upstairs now, unless you want to leave.”
For a split second, the sane, pragmatic part of my brain reared her head and said I should consider that.
I told her to shut up, then gave a little hop to raise my legs and wrap them around Luke’s waist. “What are you waiting for? I’m not going anywhere.”
A predatory hunger blazed in his eyes, sending a delicious ripple through my body.
“Yes, ma’am.” Spinning on his heel, hands still on my back and wrapped in my hair, he hightailed it to the stairs.
Anticipation built in my belly as he bounded up the steps, two at a time. Once we reached the second floor, we were turning into his bedroom in four long strides.
The door shut with a bang as he kicked it closed on the way to his bed. Light from the street filtered in through the window, casting silvery shadows through the room.
Though his steps were hurried, he placed me gently on the bed against the pillows.
But I didn’t want gentle. I was already wound tighter than a corkscrew. Clutching the sides of his face, I pulled him in for a deep kiss.
Madness, my mind whispered.
Pure and utter madness gripped me. I knew this was fast. That I barely knew him. But I couldn’t bring myself to care. Not when his soft, lush mouth plundered mine, and his work-roughened hands tunneled beneath my shirt to skim my sides.
Tugging at the hem of his shirt, I practically begged him to take it off without saying a word, too caught up in his kisses to speak.
He understood the message, though, and sat back long enough to yank the shirt over his head.
The filtered glow from the street shone in ripples on his muscled chest. Dark blond hair glittered silver in the light.
Reaching up, I ghosted my palms over his chest. Hard work had sculpted his body, not a gym, and it showed in the firm, sinewy muscles.
“Your turn.”
The low rumble of his words washed over me, sending shivers racing down my limbs. Even my toes tingled. With a moan, I let my hands drop away from his body so I could peel off my shirt.
As soon as the fabric left my hand, Luke’s hands curled behind my back to unsnap my bra. Cool air dusted over my chest as the black lace fell away.
“I like this.” My bra dangled from Luke’s finger as he held it up, sparing it a glance.
A crooked, rakish smile spread over his face, making his eyes glitter with mischief and need in the low light.
“Though I like it better off of you.” With a quick flip of his wrist, the scrap of fabric sailed over the side of the bed to the floor.
A soft giggle slid past my lips. “You ought to like my underwear, then, too.” I had a thing for matching bras and panties. No one typically saw them, because I rarely dated, but they made me feel sexy, and I liked the confidence boost that feeling gave me.
The smile on his face froze, then slowly died as his gaze drifted down my torso to my hips. His throat worked as he swallowed. “Oh yeah?”
I nodded, biting back a smile. Feeling emboldened by the heavy smolder in his eyes, I raised my hands to the waistband of my shorts and flicked the button with my fingernail. “Wanna see?”
His low laugh rumbled through the room. “Hell, yeah. But I get to take these off you.” He batted my hands out of the way, deftly unsnapping the button and pulling down the zipper.
I raised my hips so he could tug the denim down my legs.
The soft hum he let out, followed by the stroke of one finger over my lace-covered core, was enough to make my eyes roll back and the breath leave my body.
“Gorgeous. But they’ll still look better on the floor.” Hooking his fingers over the top, he yanked.
They didn’t get very far before his fingers took their place.
With one touch, he pulled a sharp gasp of pleasure deep from my soul.
Leaning close, his mouth brushed mine. Waves of pleasure rippled through me from both points of contact, meeting in my stomach to bounce around and ricochet down my limbs.
Then he added his other hand to the mix, cupping my breasts and teasing the tips. It was too much, and the waves of pleasure broke like a tsunami, crashing over me, inundating me with a flood of bliss.
Holy moly…
Maybe the secret to the best sexual encounter of my life was a younger man.
Almost as soon as I had the thought, I waved it away. It had nothing to do with Luke’s age. He was the deciding factor.
While I lay basking in the warm glow of my orgasm, I watched through hooded eyes as he climbed off the bed and shucked his jeans and boxer-briefs, then reached into his bedside table for a condom, sheathing the viper he unleashed.
I was more than happy to let it bite me.
Heat warmed in my blood once more as he put a knee on the bed, then crawled toward me.
“Do you need another round to warm you up?”
“Only if you want to kill me.” The first one about did me in, and he barely touched me.
“Can’t have that. I’m not into necrophilia.”
The chuckle that comment drew from me died a swift death as he angled his way between my thighs and joined our bodies.
A spear of white-hot light pierced my brain, blinding me to everything. All I could do was feel.
And hang on as Luke spiraled us up to the heavens so we could hang with the stars.
For long moments, we moved together, rolling over the bed, finding new ways to heighten the need coiling like a tightly wound spring.
Any second, I knew the tension would break and I would fly apart, harder than the first time.
I still wasn’t expecting it, though. When the spring broke free of its bonds, the immediate, fiery blaze of passion that hit me stole my breath and rendered my body immobile as my muscles tensed, then released on wave after wave of the most intense pleasure I’d ever known.
As I sank, boneless, into the mattress, Luke’s dark growl against my ear as his own climax engulfed him sent a final surge of bliss through my now pliant body.
Like a cocoon, I wrapped myself in the feeling. It had never felt like this before. Never been this good.
Even as I enjoyed the afterglow, the first misgivings cropped up in my mind.
This was supposed to be just great sex, but it already felt like the start of something much, much more.
Was I ready for that?
Was he?
We probably should have talked about where this would go after we did the deed before we did it. I didn’t typically put the cart before the horse, but for whatever reason, Luke short-circuited the rational side of my brain.
But boy, did it feel good.