Chapter 14 #2
When it came to bedroom play, I didn’t need to be in charge. In other aspects of my life, that control was becoming more and more important, but here in Luke’s arms, I relinquished it completely.
Because I trusted Luke to never abuse the power I’d handed over.
Luke grinned and opened the shower door, turning on the water. Steam quickly enveloped the space, clouding the walls lined with square, stone tiles. Their color was so much like the cliffs from the Smith River that I suspected Luke had picked them out for that reason.
“Naked,” he ordered, reaching behind his neck, fisting a handful of the T-shirt he’d worn today and yanking it over his head.
The combination of Luke’s broad shoulders, his taut abs and that delicious V at his hips was intoxicating.
“You’re not moving,” he warned.
“I’m appreciating the view.” I smirked, then obeyed. The bikini I’d worn underneath my clothes fell away with quick tugs at its strings.
Luke’s gaze zeroed in on my pebbled nipples.
I cupped my breasts in my hands, pinching the hard buds between my fingers. That earned me a growl.
The steam from the water escaped the open door as Luke stepped out of his jeans, his cock bobbing free. He’d barely kicked his pants free when I was swept into his arms again, his length hard and thick against my belly as he swept us into the shower.
“Hmm.” I closed my eyes, leaning into the warm water as it cascaded down my face.
Luke’s hands roamed my ribs and my breasts until he took my face in his hands. “Tip back.”
With the top of my hair wet, he untied the elastic at the end of my braid. With gentle efficiency, he worked the strands free before letting me go to squeeze shampoo into his palm and massage it into my hair.
“Wow,” I moaned as he worked up a lather. “I should make you do this every day.”
“Feel good?”
After a week of marginal showers and sunshine, Luke’s hands in my hair were a miracle. I hummed my agreement as he rinsed the shampoo free.
He stretched for the soap next, lathering a shower puff. Then he traced my body, dragging it in a torturous trail across my heated skin. He worked down and up, my arms and my legs. The suds collected on my small breasts, sliding with the water down over my nipples and into the drain.
When the puff came to the apex of my thighs, I let my neck loll to the side, enjoying the feel of Luke washing me clean.
It was erotic. Trusting and intimate. I stood bare, vulnerable and exposed, letting him clean my most sensitive place. It was maybe the most tender gesture we’d shared.
The puff made a splat as Luke dropped it on the floor. Then he cupped me, his palm pressing into my clit as his deft fingers slicked through my folds and inside my body.
My knees shook and I fell forward, leaning against his body for balance.
His other hand stretched down the line of my spine, his arm holding me against his side as he reached my ass and squeezed, all while his fingers toyed with me. Played me.
“Baby,” I gasped as my orgasm came on fast and hard, shaking against him as I shattered into a thousand pieces. When the white spots in my vision cleared, I opened my eyes to find Luke staring at me.
“Damn, you are beautiful.”
I smiled, falling into him as he slid his hands free and reached for the bottle of my conditioner. Its citrus scent filled the shower as he kneaded it into my hair.
“My turn.” Bending, I picked up the puff and moved past Luke to let him under the spray.
He tipped his face to the stream, his eyes closed as I started with his shoulders, washing him from neck to arms to the dimples above his ass. The muscles in his back strained with every one of my strokes. His hands were in fists and his cock so rigid it made my mouth water.
I made it to his ass and let the puff drop over the perfect globes. Then I took one of his wrists, pulling him to turn. With his broad shoulders blocking the spray, I dropped to my knees.
The soap forgotten, I took his shaft in my hand, stroking the velvety flesh as I dragged my tongue across the tip.
“Scarlett,” he groaned, his hand coming to my cheek.
Then I took him in, all the way to my throat, sucking and licking and stroking and savoring, until his legs trembled.
“I’m gonna come,” he warned.
I kept at him, hungry for his pleasure, until he groaned my name and gave me his release, fucking my mouth as I swallowed every last salty drop.
When I popped my mouth free, I looked up at him through wet eyelashes. Maybe I was the one on my knees, but the power was mine. This sexy man was at my mercy.
Maybe I hadn’t given up complete control after all.
Luke’s fingers found their way to my wet hair and he opened his mouth, then closed it without a word. Instead, he helped me to my feet and turned me to the water to rinse out my hair.
“What were you going to say?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Tell me.”
He sighed. “You’ve ruined me.”
“Is that such a bad thing?”
“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You are the best thing.”
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me too.”
There was so much adoration in his blue gaze, so much awe, it stole my breath.
The urge to blurt three little words rushed through my mind, but I shoved it aside. It wasn’t time. Not yet.
So instead of telling Luke that I’d fallen in love with him, I memorized every line on his face. Every sparkle in his eyes. Because that look was the look I was going to fight for.
I was fighting for this man. For fishing trips. For sexy showers. For the chance to tell him that I loved his pure and gentle heart.
For us.
Luke framed my face with his hands and dropped a kiss to my lips, the water cascading over us as we clung to one another. We kissed and kissed, holding on to our naked and slippery bodies until the water turned cold.
Then we reluctantly released one another to dry off and make our way to the bedroom. Luke didn’t need to ask if I wanted a nap. Though we’d slept plenty on the river, I was exhausted and fell into bed beside him, curling into his body.
“I need to ask you something,” I whispered.
“Okay,” he whispered back.
“If we do this, if we convince the Warriors that I didn’t take their drugs, you’ll be letting murderers go free. Don’t you want justice?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then why?”
“Because it means I get to keep you.”
That answer should have made my heart leap out of my chest. If there was ever a moment to tell Luke I loved him, it was this. Except a deep, aching sadness spread through my soul.
He was going to go back on everything he knew. For me. He was going to put the oaths he’d sworn as a cop aside. For me.
Was I asking too much?
“What if they come after you?” I asked.
“Then we’ll deal with it.”
“They could kill you.”
He scoffed. “They could try.”
“Don’t be cocky.” I shot him a frown. “This is dangerous.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “It is dangerous. So is being a cop. But I knew what I was signing up for when I earned my badge. I know what I’m getting into here too.”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
Luke tucked a lock of my damp hair behind my ear. “You won’t.”
Please, let this work.
But if it didn’t, if we failed and I lost the battle, I’d let Luke go. I’d turn myself and that video in to the FBI.
It would be heartbreaking to walk away. But Luke deserved to have that dog one day. He deserved to get his wife pregnant on a rainy day and have her at his side beyond these walls.
So I’d walk.
Because if I didn’t have dreams of my own to fight for, then I’d fight for his instead.