Chapter 26
CLARA
Luke had been tempting me all night, dressed in his impeccably tailored suit, looking like a movie star. He had swept me off my feet, first by taking off from work specifically to spend time with me. That alone had been a surprise.
Then a world-class dinner, a terrifying subway ride, and a jaw-dropping show put on by my personal hero Ganymede Raye. I couldn’t have asked for a better evening, and I couldn’t have asked for a better man to accompany me.
Luke had planned things he knew I would enjoy, and the fact that he cared that much made me feel blessed. And now that he was kissing me in my bed, he was taking me right to heaven.
His hands found my breasts while he kissed me, teasing my nipples into sensitive points. Then he yanked the bodice of my dress down with a growl. I wasn’t wearing a bra, and I gasped at being exposed like that.
Luke licked at my bare flesh, and I grabbed a fistful of his hair, needing something to grab onto so I didn’t float off into outer space. His roving tongue lit my veins on fire. Heat pooled in my core like molten lava, and I ached with an emptiness only Luke could fill.
Luke feasted on my breasts while his hand skated down to my knee. His fingernails traced light circles there, and my thighs opened for him with no conscious thought from me. His fingers spiraled up and up, inching closer to my center and making my hips squirm uncontrollably.
He ran a thick finger over my seam through my lacy underwear. I inhaled sharply, almost coming apart right then. The whole night had been foreplay and I was worked up like a thoroughbred before a race.
He kissed me again and his blue eyes burned into mine. “You look so fucking gorgeous tonight. I could barely control myself.”
“Oh, yeah?” I smiled. “Let me be the judge of that.”
I reached down between us and found his hard cock in his pants.
It was thick and throbbing, and my body begged me to free it from its prison.
I attacked his belt, fumbling with it in my excitement.
I growled with frustration and he chuckled, deep and low in a way that made me gush without him even touching me.
“Need some help?”
“No, it’s my present and I’m going to unwrap it myself,” I told him, not knowing where the words came from and not caring, either. I was a woman on a mission.
He chuckled even more at that and rolled onto his back. “Here. Maybe that’ll make it easier.”
It did. In seconds, I had his pants and boxers around his thighs and his cock sprang free. I took a moment to admire it, thick and alive, then wrapped my lips around him. I groaned at the taste, which was all man.
“Holy shit, Clara,” he growled, jerking his hips.
“Relax.” I looked up at him. “Let me have my fun.”
“You’ll get no arguments from me.”
I licked up and down his shaft until he was writhing beneath me, groaning and cursing like I was torturing him. It made me even hotter, knowing I could make him feel like that. I felt powerful.
Luke’s hips tensed. “You need to ease up or I’m going to lose it.”
In response, I took him deeper into my throat, stroking him at the same time. His strong chest and arms flexed as he fought to maintain control. I loved every quick breath coming from him. The sweat beading on his forehead. The way his jaw clenched.
Like a gentleman, he warned me. “I can’t hold back, beautiful.”
I didn’t pull away, instead taking every drop of him in my mouth. When the last spasm ended, I looked up at him, met his gaze, and swallowed. I thought he might come a second time.
“You are full of surprises, Clara.”
Before I could think of something sexy and witty, he flipped me over onto my back and leaned over me. “I might have to tear this dress off you now,” he said, voice raspy.
“You paid for it,” I said, staring into his glittering eyes. “Do what you gotta do.”
His strong hands grabbed the fabric and he tore it in half like it was made from tissue paper. Luke’s eyes drank me in, naked except for the cute panties I’d worn just in case our night ended like this. I shivered under his gaze, feeling vulnerable but also sexy.
He caressed my body like he was deciding what he wanted to do to me first. I leaned back on the mattress and enjoyed the sensations he awoke in me. It was nice to be spoiled like this, to let a skilled man like Luke take control of my body.
It was even nicer when he buried his face between my legs and yanked my panties aside. Luke just looked at me for a moment. I covered my face shyly.
“You’re beautiful,” he said. “So fucking beautiful.”
Then his tongue parted my lips, tasting me. He groaned and the vibrations went right to my clit. I moaned and my hips arched off the bed, desperate for more.
Not put off by my bucking hips, Luke dipped a finger into my wetness and then swirled it around my clit. It was like throwing gas on a fire. Pleasure whooshed through me like white-hot flames. Every nerve ending sang with it as wave after wave flowed over me, through me, inside me.
Luke stroked me gently as I rode out my orgasm, whispering words I couldn’t comprehend through the haze of lust. I clung to him, reeling.
When I let him go, he got up, grabbed a condom, and rolled it on. Then he was back on the bed with me, his body over mine. His cock was hard and ready again, and it nudged at my entrance, making me wet with anticipation.
“I want you so badly, Luke,” I breathed, sounding like a needy little slut and not caring at all. For him, I was. He made me crazy, daring, wild. I loved it.
I loved him.
The realization made me freeze. My mind examined the words from every angle, but I couldn’t see any lie in them.
We had only been hanging out for a week or so, but somehow, I had absolutely fallen in love with this man.
It had snuck up on me when I wasn’t looking, but there was no denying it.
I just wasn’t sure what to do with that realization.
Luke thrust his cock deep with a single expert thrust, and all rational thought scattered like leaves in the wind. A noise came out of me I had never made before. It was like a moan but it came from deep in my soul.
“Damn, Clara,” he groaned over me. “What are you doing to me?”
I almost laughed, but then he moved his hips, and the delicious friction became my entire world. He started gently, coaxing pleasure from me until I was panting beneath him. He kissed me without his hips breaking rhythm. His hands caressed my breasts, adding to the storm growing inside me.
I dug my fingers into his arms, and it just seemed to make his hips move faster, winding me up even more tightly. Every delicious stroke of his cock sent me higher and higher.
It was amazing but I needed more. “Lie down,” I told him. “I want to be on top.”
He pulled out of me and did as he was told. Hating how empty I felt, I straddled him, lined him up with me, and then sat down as far as I could go. The feeling was electric. I threw my head back, moaning, and my hips ground over his, setting the perfect pace to get me where I wanted to go.
Luke’s strong hands clamped on my hips, holding me close to him as I rode him. “Come on, baby. Just like that.”
His words urged me on. I fucked him faster, breathless, mindless. His hips rose to meet mine, hitting a spot that I very much liked. That was it. I went flying over the edge into sweet oblivion. Luke’s hips jerked beneath me and he joined me.
Time stop and we floated in endless bliss.
He sat up, not breaking our connection, and kissed me. We melted into one another, not ready to be apart. Luke stroked me and pressed his forehead into mine. “You are a very special woman, Clara. You make me happy in a way I didn’t even know I could be.”
I smiled and looked into his eyes. “You make me feel things I didn’t know I could feel. So I guess we’re even.”
He chuckled and kissed me. “You’re welcome to get even with me anytime you want.”
“Good to know.”
He pulled away gently and got rid of the condom. Then he slid back into bed with me and put his arm around me, snuggling me up to his chest. His heartbeat was loud in my ear, still beating quickly.
“Thank you for tonight,” I said sleepily.
“Anything for you.”
I drifted off like that, and when I woke in the morning, neither one of us had moved at all.
I took a shower, and when I came back to the bedroom, Luke was gone. I threw on some yoga pants and a sweater and went looking for him. The smell of something burning led me to the kitchen.
“Everything all right in here?” I asked.
He stood in front of the stove and he spun around at the sound of my voice like I had just busted him doing something wrong. “Everything’s fine. Just don’t come over here.”
Obviously, I did the opposite and strode over to the stove. A couple pieces of bread were simmering in a frying pan.
“I’m making French toast,” he said. “Ignore those.”
I saw the stack of charred bread slices he’d piled off to the side on a plate. “What happened there?”
“It’s been a while since I made this.” He shrugged. “This batch ought to be all right. But I can make you something else if you’d prefer?”
I smiled and patted his shoulder. “French toast sounds great. Thank you. I’m just surprised you know how to cook at all.”
He laughed. “Mom insisted we all knew how to cook the basics before we went off to college.”
“That’s smart.”
“But I have to be honest, I rarely cook anymore.” He shot me a dazzling smile. “Don’t tell my mother, though. She worries about me.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
While he tended to the stove, I made us each a cup of espresso. The machine no longer fought me, as if it had finally accepted me as a member of the household. It was starting to feel that way for me too.
That was a problem because this wasn’t my home.
I would almost certainly be moving out to the city at some point. The chance to work on Broadway was too good to pass up, and I would have the money from Luke’s arrangement to get a decent apartment and keep myself afloat for a while.
But even if I moved out here, I couldn’t just move in with Luke. We weren’t even boyfriend and girlfriend. That was all fake. Now, something real was happening between us, but that didn’t mean we could just jump into living together.
Clearly, Luke and I liked moving fast with each other, but even for us, that would be jumping way ahead.
I knew the smart thing would be to have a conversation with Luke about what we were and where this was going, but we were having such a nice morning that I didn’t want to spoil the mood. We could have the conversation some other time, probably after Christmas.
Our arrangement ended on Christmas, and I would have fulfilled my obligations as his fake girlfriend. At that point, we could sit down and discuss if we wanted to move forward as the real thing.
Right then, I was going to devour some mildly scorched French toast and enjoy the company of the sexy man who’d made it for me.