Chapter Nine
Luke
Trying to find a place where I was happy with the designs and so was Meredith was tricky, but I seemed to be on the right track.
Individual but marketable.
Unique but trendy.
It was close to midnight before I got the last design done to my satisfaction. Okay, so I only did twenty-five and not the thirty that was requested, but Roxy or one of the other artists could always add a few to top it up.
I stood up and raised my arms above my head, stretching my back. I had been hunched over my desk for too long. I twisted to one side and caught Meredith staring at the space where my shirt had slid up.
Damn, I wanted her. Sure, we were at each other’s throats only hours ago but we had worked it out. Compromised. Surely, we could celebrate that naked?
“I think we should can call it a night,” I said.
She nodded and yawned. “Good, I’m wiped out.”
She bent to pick up her things, and I moved closer. “We work well together.”
She nodded. “When we aren’t ripping each other’s heads off.”
“We’re both passionate people. It is bound to come to blows sometimes.”
“Well, I’m not blowing anything tonight,” she deadpanned.
Her words went straight to my cock. I swallowed, watching the sway of her ass as she gathered her things, every shift of her hips taunting me. “Do you ever think about it?” My voice was low, rough. “Our night together, I mean?”
She froze for half a beat. When she straightened, she moved so quickly her ass brushed the front of my jeans. Soft and warm, deliberate or not, it didn’t matter. I hadn’t even realized I’d stepped that close.
“You know I do,” she said, still not facing me. Her voice was steady, but I heard the breathless edge under it. That little tremor that told me everything.
I did know it. Hell, we’d been circling the subject all night, pretending it was a joke. It was safer that way. Not touching her was easier than touching her and stopping. “We can’t fight this forever,” I murmured. “It was so fucking good last time.”
She exhaled shakily, and then her shoulder blades eased back until they met my chest.
“I don’t want to keep fighting the way you make me feel.” I pressed my hips against her so she could feel exactly what she did to me.
Her breath hitched, the sound tiny but devastating.
My hand found her hip, sliding over the curve of it. I dragged her closer, my palm settling low on her stomach, feeling her shudder when my thumb stroked the edge of her waistband.
She didn’t pull away. She pushed back—slowly, purposefully—until my aching cock throbbed against the perfect heat of her body.
The room felt too small, too warm, too charged with the kind of tension that had rules and consequences, but not enough to stop either of us.
I lowered my lips to her neck, letting my breath roll over her skin before my mouth touched it.
She sighed, a sound that shot straight through me, tilting her head, offering more.
Her fingers slipped over mine, holding my hand there like she didn’t want it to move away, or maybe she wanted it to move lower. Both possibilities wrecked me.
She turned her head to face me. Her cheek brushed my lips before her eyes met mine over her shoulder.
That look dragged me down to her. She rose onto her toes, meeting me halfway, and her mouth found mine.
She groaned or maybe it was me. Her lips were familiar but somehow hotter than I remembered, more urgent.
When she parted them, I didn’t hesitate.
I deepened the kiss, stroking her tongue with mine until she melted against me and those little sounds spilled from her again, the ones that made me want to forget every reason we’d promised we wouldn’t do this.
Then, just as quickly as it started, her mouth pulled from mine. Her hand slipped away. Her warmth disappeared, leaving cold air where her body had been.
And I stood there, breathing hard, every nerve in my body reaching for her as she stepped out of my arms.
She took a few steps away. She looked wide-eyed and breathless. Her lips were red from the heat of our kiss. “I can’t, Luke. This is…I can’t.” She looked ready to bolt.
“Hey, it’s okay.” I took a step forward, and she retreated some more.
She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and avoided my gaze. “This is just…I’m sorry.” She bent and grabbed her bag, then hustled past me and out the front door.
The door closed behind her with a conclusive bang, and then it was just me and my hard-on in the quiet shop.
I shut the lights off and grabbed my jacket before hopping into my truck and heading for home.
The streets were nearly empty. The yellow light of the street lamps gave the road a sickly hue. I clicked on the radio, hating the silence after a day spent surrounded by people, and that one perfect moment when her body rested against mine.
What had spooked her? I assume she was worried about the fact that we worked together. I had never asked her what brought her back to Springwood, now that I thought about it. I had just been happy to see her.
I unlocked the door to my apartment to be greeted by more darkness and silence. I set my keys on the table and headed straight for the shower. My muscles were tense from a combination of shit posture and sexual tension, and I needed to rub one out, or I would never sleep.
I tossed all my clothes into the hamper in my room and walked naked to the bathroom. I lived alone, so what did I care? Besides, the situation below the belt was getting uncomfortable. I needed to take care of it and fast.
The water wasn’t even hot yet when I stepped under it, turning my face to the spray to wash away the day.
I regretted that I hadn’t had Meredith in the shower when she’d been here over the summer.
We’d messed around in the living room and had sex in my bed.
But we’d never made it here. I could picture it.
Slippery naked skin, her lips parted either in ecstasy or to welcome my cock between them.
I grabbed for some body wash, knocking shampoo to the floor in the process. I groped wildly for my dick and tugged it hard, the mix of pleasure and pain a replica of what I was feeling.
The whole workweek had been torturous foreplay, so I knew this wasn’t going to last long. No point in trying to finesse it. No teasing touches over my nipples or fondling my balls.
I just roughly grabbed myself and jerked hard, like I was fifteen years old again and discovering how to make myself feel good.
My lower back ached, but I pushed it aside as I slapped a hand on the wall to keep my balance.
My brain was occupied with thoughts of her skin, her smell, her touch and in minutes I was shooting my load all over the wall of my shower.
I let out a series of grunts as my cock pulsed in my hands.
Once I had caught my breath and rinsed all signs of my orgasm down the drain, I got clean and crawled naked under the sheets.
As much as I wished she were here beside me, I knew it was the right decision on her part not to take things further again.
I wasn’t willing to risk my little corner of sanity that the shop provided.
Maybe if I told her why I was so protective of my artwork and its integrity, we would understand each other better and the risk of my tongue ending up in her mouth would decrease.
Assuming that was what she wanted. Even if it wasn’t what I wanted.
Despite my night ending with my cock in my hand rather than in Meredith, I slept like the dead.
I had to go over to Road Ready Mechanics first thing, and some distance from the shop was a welcome one. I had been spending extra time at Think Ink lately and was behind on some paint jobs for Asher.
“Well, hello stranger,” Asher said as I came through the door.
“Miss me?”
He snorted. “Yes, actually. You work here, and I couldn’t help but notice the empty paint booth.”
I winced. Having two jobs was pretty well a necessity in this economy.
Juggling them when the volume of work varied so much at the mechanic’s shop was sometimes tough.
The fact that I had been distracted by a certain new staff member at Think Ink was an added complication I really didn’t need.
“I get it. It’s my fault.” I filled him in on what had been going on.
“So, I’ve been working with Meredith to try to get this event together for this weekend. ”
Asher seemed to be only half listening until the name Meredith passed my lips. “Hold on. Vi said her friend, Meredith, came here for a job. Is this the same Meredith?”
I nodded.
He smirked. “Didn’t you two spend a little one-on-one time together when she was here over the summer? Or did you both just happen to leave the photo shoot at the same time to go to completely different places after flirting all day?”
My face must have answered his question.
“Dang, man, how’s that going? Awkward?”
“You could say that, yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Are you going to ask her out? We could have a double date.”
I snorted. “Man, Violetta has made you soft.”
“No, Violetta makes me hard. Hence why I’d be willing to endure a double date with your dumbass to make her happy.”
He was aiming for bravado, but we all knew the girl had him tied in knots. The feeling was clearly mutual, and I was happy for them both. “I don’t think we’re destined for happily ever after like you two. Too complicated.”
“She turned you down, huh?” He cocked his head in mock sympathy.
I grabbed a stack of work orders and glared in his direction. “No, not exactly. I don’t know. I need to talk to her later to figure out where she’s at. All I know is that her job is to save Think Ink, and I need that creative outlet to stand working this job.”
“I get it, man. Better get to work then.”