Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
R ain beat against the window in Jamie’s old bedroom, but it didn’t wake Luke up. He’d spent a relatively restless night on the futon, both because it wasn’t his comfortable queen-sized bed and because said bed currently housed his alluring new roommate.
Luke had insisted that she take his bed and he’d sleep on the futon. She’d fought him on it, but in the end, he’d said that her refusal meant they would both sleep on the futon. Together.
Sadly, she’d decided to use his bed.
He rolled over and looked at his phone. It was way early. He should try to sleep a little more. Ha. His morning wood was already raging, and thoughts of Kelsey across the hall weren’t doing much to quell that.
There were ways to ease that discomfort—ways that wouldn’t violate their no-sexy-times pact. Ways that didn’t involve her. Sigh.
Realizing there was no point in trying to sleep, he got up and took a shower. After getting dressed, he went to the kitchen to make coffee.
He heard the telltale creak of his door as it opened and looked up to see Kelsey stretching as she emerged from the hallway. She wore long, plaid pajama pants and a dark red Henley. As she raised her arms, the shirt pulled against her chest, clearly showing that she was not wearing a bra. Her breasts curved deliciously beneath the fabric, their nipples drawing his hungry gaze.
“Morning,” she rasped, and her just-woken voice did a number on his already taxed libido. What was the point in jacking off in the shower if you were going to get pent-up fifteen minutes later?
“Morning.” He sounded as if he’d swallowed a bag of glass. “Coffee?”
“Sure, thanks. What time do you usually head to work?”
“Depends. I’ll probably take off soon.” Because if he didn’t, he might have to take another shower.
He poured her a cup of coffee and set it on the island in the center of the kitchen. “Milk or sugar? I think Jamie might’ve left some vanilla creamer.”
She padded into the kitchen. “That sounds great.”
He opened the fridge to check the bottle. It also gave him something to do besides stare at the sexy mess of her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. “Hmm. The date on it is today.” He set the creamer next to the steaming mug.
“I’ll risk it.” She opened the bottle and poured a healthy dollop into her coffee. “Thanks.” She smiled as she lifted the cup.
What the hell had he been thinking inviting her to stay here and then agreeing to no sexy business, not even kissing?
He abruptly spun about and found a travel mug for his coffee. After filling it, he turned. “Time for work. I’ll, uh, see you later?”
She nodded. “I’ll be late. I work at the library today and then a shift at The Arch and Vine until eleven thirty.”
He felt a mixture of disappointment and relief. It meant they wouldn’t spend time together, but it also meant he wouldn’t be tortured. In fact, he’d try to get to sleep before she even came home.
“The spare key is hanging over there.” He pointed to a row of three hooks on the wall next to the coat closet.
“Got it. Thanks again. I really appreciate you letting me crash here.” She smiled again, and he decided he really needed to get the hell out of there.
“Okay then, see you later!” He grabbed his jacket from the closet and his phone and keys and took off.
After immersing himself in a few hours of strenuous outdoor work and driving his tractor around, Luke went into the winery to do some office work. He climbed the stairs to the upper level where he and his brothers and Hayden, and soon Brooke, had office space. Hayden’s and Cam’s offices were on one side, while Luke’s and Jamie’s were on the other. The middle area was broken up with a couple of offices, one of which would be Brooke’s, space for future cubicles, and a conference room overlooking the vineyard.
As he approached his office, Jamie practically ran him down in the corridor.
“Hey, Luke, so, uh, I stopped by the house this morning.”
Well, crap. He hadn’t planned to keep Kelsey staying with him a secret, but neither had he meant to put her on the spot by having Jamie drop by unannounced. Furthermore, he didn’t really want to talk about the situation. Best to just keep this to a minimum.
Luke didn’t pause, just kept going to his office, knowing Jamie would follow him. “So you ran into Kelsey, then.” He turned when he reached his desk. “She needed a place to crash for a few days, and I had a spare room. No big deal.”
Ha, it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it was wreaking havoc on his life. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“Something wrong with her apartment?” Jamie asked.
Luke latched on to that excuse—her personal life and the reason she was staying with him weren’t anyone’s business unless she decided it was. “It has issues. She’s actually looking to move. She’d been hoping to get Brooke’s loft, but you beat her to it.”
Jamie winced. “Oh, yikes. Well, now I feel bad. Is her place terrible?”
“Like I said, it has problems. She’ll just keep looking.”
“Are you sure? Because I could just come back to the house, I guess.” He sounded disappointed, but Luke knew the offer was genuine.
“That’s really cool of you, Jamie.” Luke shook his head. “But don’t worry about it. I know how much you love the loft.”
Jamie smiled a bit sheepishly. “I really do. Reminds me a bit of my flat in London.” He’d lived over there for a couple of years while going to the London School of Economics.
“That’s great.” Luke smiled at him as he sat down and opened his laptop, hoping Jamie would buy the clue and leave.
But he didn’t. “So it seems like there’s something between you and Kelsey, no?” He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “She’s pretty cool.”
They were kind of dating. Had at least been on a date or two, and she was coming to the wine dinner with him on Saturday. “There’s…something. We’re taking it pretty slowly. Just checking out the landscape.”
Jamie nodded slowly. “Good plan. All right, then, I’ll leave you to it.” He turned and left.
Luke scrubbed a hand over his face and read through his e-mail. Then his phone pinged.
Kelsey: Wanted to let you know that you’re out of milk. I can pick some up, but you’ll likely beat me home.
Home.
She’d called it home. It was a simple word, one that didn’t necessarily mean anything except the place you planned to lay your head that night. How many times had he referred to a hotel room as home when on vacation? Why then did her usage of it give him a little jolt? A warmth that pressed into his chest and spread.
He responded to her, saying he’d pick some up. He wanted to ask how she’d slept, whether his bed was comfortable. Damn, imagining her in his bed was a thoroughly captivating image. The dark waves of her hair cascading over his pillow, her long, lithe legs tangled in his sheets… He needed to get a serious grip.
And get back to work.
He’d make himself so tired that he’d fall asleep long before she came home from work that night.
And there was that damn word again: home. Something about it evoked Kelsey. That had never happened with Paige. She’d mentioned moving in together several times, and he’d always balked. Somehow, Kelsey was different.
But how? It wasn’t as if they’d been together a long time. Hell, he hadn’t even made love to her yet.
Yet.
He dropped his head into his hands and stared, unseeing, at his desk. They were taking it slow all right. He just hoped he could survive it.
Kelsey rushed into Luke’s house after working at the library on Saturday. She’d had to dash back to her apartment to pick up her dress and shoes for tonight. It was a warm fall day, and after running around—on foot—she needed a shower.
She glanced at the clock on the wall near the kitchen, saw that it was already five forty, and dumped her stuff to jump in the shower.
As she turned on the water, she thought about how she didn’t remotely miss her apartment. In less than a minute, she’d step into nice hot water here, whereas at her apartment, she’d have to wait a good five minutes to reach a moderately warm temperature.
In three short days, Luke’s house felt more like home than her apartment ever had. It wasn’t hard to figure out why—the adorable bungalow was cozy and possessed several amenities her apartment didn’t, such as the hot water heater from this century, a dishwasher, and a washer and dryer. The luxury of not having to go to the Laundromat was practically swoonworthy.
Then there was Luke’s bed, which was about the most comfortable thing she’d ever slept on. And it smelled like him. It was, in a word, torture.
She stepped into the shower and quickly scrubbed up—she didn’t have a lot of time. It was a good thing Luke was at the winery so she could run around half-naked as she got ready.
She’d barely seen him—they’d crossed paths briefly Thursday morning and then again this morning. She’d worked late the past two nights, which had probably been for the best. She wasn’t sure she could handle spending time with him in these close quarters without taking things to the next level.
Why had she wanted this stupid no-sexy-times rule? Because she was trying to take this relationship—or whatever it was—slow. She liked Luke. A lot. But the specter of Noah, especially now that he was out of prison, loomed large in her mind.
Still, did that mean she couldn’t have sex with Luke? Because, good Lord, she wanted to have sex with Luke.
But sex opened up the potential for new feelings and a deeper connection. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Even if she wanted it.
Which she did. She was tired of being alone, she realized. And wasn’t that a revelation?
She turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry off. Wrapping it around herself, she padded from the bathroom to the living room where she’d left her dress draped over the back of the couch.
She didn’t make it that far, however, because Luke was standing there staring at her. His gaze snapped to her face, but not before checking out her barely covered, still-damp body.
“I, uh, left my dress there.” She inclined her head toward the couch, but Luke didn’t follow her gaze.
“Yeah, you might need that.” His gaze dipped again. He abruptly took a step back, as if to give her ample space to grab the dress.
She snapped her free hand out—the other was holding the towel in place because she didn’t trust it to not fall away—and plucked her dress up. “I thought you were at the winery already.”
“I was, but I had to come home to change.” He was holding a garment bag, so she was confused.
“Those aren’t your clothes?”
He looked momentarily dumfounded, then nodded. “Yes. I forgot my shoes. Work boots wouldn’t look so great with my suit.”
She couldn’t wait to see him in a suit. Or in nothing. She swallowed.
“I was going to shower real quick,” he said, finally averting his gaze. It seemed to take a great deal of effort. “Are you done in the bathroom?”
Now it was her turn to stare and say nothing. What had he said? All she could seem to process right now was that if he’d been a few minutes earlier, he could’ve joined her in the shower.
Oh, man, this was not good.
She jerked herself back to their pathetic attempt at a conversation. “Bathroom, yeah, I’m done.” She turned and forced herself to walk to her bedroom. Her body didn’t really want to move.
“So, uh, we can ride up to the winery together, then. Can you be ready in a half hour?”
That didn’t give her a lot of time, but she hadn’t needed to wash her hair again, thank goodness. She glanced back over her shoulder and took in his tousled hair, rugged jaw, and intensely dark eyes. “Sure. I’ll hurry.” Yep, couldn’t wait to see him in that suit.
She took off for the bedroom and got ready as quickly as possible. She heard him shower and tried not to imagine him wet and hard and… Never mind . She let her imagination run rampant, and by the time she went to get her heels from the living room, she was ready to ask him to be late to the damn dinner. But of course he couldn’t be. It was their first wine club event, was being catered by Hayden’s brother and celebrity chef Kyle Archer, and would be attended by the customers who were putting their winery on the map.
Luke came out of the bathroom wearing crisp navy slacks and a white tee with his dress shirt thrown over it, still unbuttoned. Even though he wasn’t “done,” he looked so different out of his more casual clothes. “You, uh, left your clothes in the bathroom.”
She blinked as she realized he was holding the clothing she was wearing before she’d showered. She’d completely forgotten about it. Wow, she had it bad. As she took the bundle from him, she thought of him collecting the various pieces, which included her bra and undies. Heat flamed her face. “Thanks.”
He only nodded and then went into his room. She spun around and went to hers. Rather, his. She stood there and stared at his bed, which she’d made up very nicely that morning. But it needed a few throw pillows. And him. Lying across the throw pillows.
She put her clothes away and sat on the bed to put on her strappy heels. Then she stood and went to the mirror to finish her makeup. A few minutes later, Luke came to the open doorway.
He gave her a weak smile. “I don’t suppose you can help me with my tie? I really suck at them.”
“Of course.” She’d tied plenty of Noah’s. Not that she wanted to think about that just now. Or ever.
He stepped closer. He’d buttoned his white shirt to the collar, and the vibrant red-and-purple tie lay against the stiff cotton.
She couldn’t help but get a huge whiff of his freshly showered scent, and the effect was a burst of heat that spread through her belly and much lower. It suddenly seemed as if she had fifty thumbs as she tried to grasp his tie.
“Looks like we planned our outfits,” he said, keeping his chin up. “You look amazing.”
Her dress was purple, so yeah, it did look like they’d coordinated. “We can pretend we’re going to homecoming.”
He laughed. “I don’t have a corsage.”
“We can stop and get one.”
He started to shake his head, but seemed to think better of it since she was tying his tie. “No time.” Something about his tone told her that if they did have extra time, he wouldn’t waste it buying a corsage. Need, stark and hungry, pulsed between her thighs.
Her knuckles grazed his neck as she knotted the tie. She realized he was clean-shaven for the first time.
“You shaved.”
His shoulder lifted slightly. “It seemed appropriate.”
“I kind of like the stubble. Scratch that, I love the stubble.”
He chuckled. “I get it—scratch that.” He tipped his head down as she finished, and their eyes locked. “Duly noted.”
More heat skittered up her spine. She smoothed her hand down the front of his tie. “All done.”
“Not quite.” He turned, and she followed, waiting for him in the area between their bedroom doors. He emerged again, shrugging into his navy coat. “Now I’m done. What do you think?”
She drank him in head to toe and clenched her hands into fists lest she pounce on him and ruin how great he looked. “I think I’m an idiot for insisting we keep our hands off each other.”