29. Tell me to stop
Twenty-Nine
TELL ME TO STOP
Liv
“Why croissants though? Of all the breakfast delicacies, that is your favorite?”
“Honestly? I’m not sure. The first time I ever had one though, I was out with my mom. She brought me into this bakery and I remember it smelled so good. Then she handed me a croissant, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. So, I suppose I have my mom to thank for my love of croissants.”
“Are all croissants treated equally? Or is it one of those things where some places have better croissants than others?” Luke asks.
I pull my ankle under my knee and turn my body toward him on the couch. The rain beats against the glass as the wind rattles the window panes.
“I don’t discriminate, though I love the croissants at Bean & Brew—I don’t know what Claire does to them, but they are exceptional. Still, I’ll get a croissant just about anywhere. All I know is the bigger, the better—”
“That’s what she said.” Luke rubs a hand across his mouth, failing at hiding his smile.
“You’re just as bad as Josh.” I swat at his leg.
Luke laughs. A good hearty sound, warming me from the inside out.
“Josh did that?”
“Yup, he and my brother, and my brother’s best friend.
My guess is that’s why Hunter is still out on the West Coast. I think he’s afraid Ma will hand him his ass when he gets home.
He conveniently left to go back to school when all that went down.
” Luke’s arm is resting on the back of the couch, his hand inches from my shoulder.
“Well, yeah, I’d be afraid to come home too. What did she do to Josh?”
“Ma reassigned him for the whole summer.”
“Do I even want to know what that means?”
“I think Ma’s exact words were, ‘You want to do stupid shit? Then you can deal with everyone else's. She had him cleaning every single guest room on his own for the entire summer.”
“Yikes.”
“So you and your dad built your cottage together? That must have been really special.”
Occasionally, thunder rumbles somewhere in the distance, but it’s muffled and quiet. The rain has calmed down too. Still, Luke’s large hand seems to have a mind of its own as it lands on my knee, squeezing gently the moment the thunder begins.
Like a steady presence, he answers. “Yeah. He was quite a carpenter. Built the whole addition on this house—the rooms you and the other guests stay in. He expanded this room right here. And then throughout college we worked on my cottage because he wanted me to have a space of my own.” We seem to have drifted closer together on the couch, his body angled to face me.
“And what about Josh’s place?” My eyes flick to the hand still resting on my knee. He sees me, but doesn’t move it.
I don’t mind.
Luke huffs out a laugh. “Josh’s place was an ordeal. He wanted to help, but he hated being told what to do. It was a nightmare. He isn’t the best with carpentry.” His eyes drift to the shelves of mugs on the wall that were hung too high.
“Why do you think being difficult is a bad thing?” He twirls a lock of my hair around his finger with the hand draped across the back of the couch.
“It is a bad thing. No one wants to deal with someone who asks too many questions, has too many opinions, or has high expectations.”
“Interesting,” he says.
“What?”
“I don’t know. Those are all qualities I appreciate.
It’s good to ask questions, to be curious.
You don’t bother with small talk. You get right to the point—the hard stuff.
That’s refreshing. People who don’t have opinions of their own are boring.
Where’s the conversation if all you do is agree all the time?
” Luke leans forward, closing the distance between our bodies.
“And what’s wrong with high expectations?
Shouldn’t you want a partner or a friend who carries their weight?
Makes you feel you have an equal in this life? ” His deep voice rumbles, eyes intense.
“Well, when you say it like that.” My eyes dart to the side. Luke’s hand reaches out, his finger under my chin turning my face back toward him.
“I mean it like that. You’re exceptional, and anyone who tries to make you think otherwise…
Well, they’re idiots.” His hand drops from my chin, fingers trailing down the column of my neck, down my arm, and settling on my exposed thigh while his other hand threads through my hair, pulling my face closer to his.
I’m intensely aware of every slight movement of his fingers, the soft stroke of his thumb, and the faint clench of his hand. Each touch whispers against my skin, sending tingles racing through my body.
“Luke,” I say breathlessly.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmurs, eyes roaming my face, landing on my parted lips.
“Do you want to stop?” My heart thumps wildly, threatening to burst from my chest.
Luke swallows. “No, but I will if you tell me to.” His gentle caress along my leg sends a zing of pleasure up the inside of my thigh.
My eyes fall closed, mind racing, heart pounding. Our faces are so close now. His breath mingles with mine as he waits for my answer. No more thinking.
“I don’t want you to stop.”
His mouth crashes into mine, hand cupping my head, holding me close.
With soft lips, his tongue teases along mine to see if I’ll let him in. I do, and I’m rewarded with a kiss that has me sighing into his mouth, drunk on this feeling.
My hands grip his face, our mouths tangling together. He pulls me into his lap and somehow the kiss becomes more.
More frenzied.
Needier.
Like we can’t get enough of the taste of one another and need more.
Luke’s hands run under my shirt along my lower back and up between my shoulder blades, easing me closer, pressing my body against his hard length.
I release the kiss, allowing my head to fall back, soaking up the pleasure building between my legs with the friction of our bodies rocking against one another.
“Do you have any idea how much I’ve thought about doing this?” Luke whispers, his lips dragging against the column of my neck, nipping gently, followed by the sweet caress of his tongue. My hips grind against him shamelessly. He’s impossibly hard, and I’m so sensitive.
He kisses along my jaw until his lips find mine once more. A zing of pleasure courses through me when he brings his hands to my ribs, climbing higher and higher, grazing my skin with his thumbs so achingly close to my peaked nipples.
I suck in a breath, anticipation making me squirm, pushing my hips into Luke. I arch my back hoping to coax his hands higher.
“You like that, huh?” Luke breathes against my mouth.
“Yes.” I kiss along his jaw, his trimmed beard prickly against my lips.
I run my lips along the sensitive spot under his ear, eliciting a soft hum from Luke that makes my heart soar. Finally, his fingers graze against the hard buds of my nipples, and my hips grind deeper against him. I hiss out a breath through my teeth.
“God, it feels so good to be touched like this.” My mouth finds him again, but he abruptly stops, pulling back to look me in the eye.
I freeze, eyebrows scrunched as I look down at him. Did I say something wrong?
“Trip…”
My heart is pounding, certain I said something wrong.
“I’ve thought and fantasized about all the ways I want to touch you, taste you, worship you and your beautiful body.
” His hands trace along my ribs, up and down, sending goosebumps across my skin.
“From the moment I first saw you in the city, and then when you showed up here. It’s taken everything in me to keep control of myself.
You’ve consumed more of my mind than I care to admit.
” Luke releases a soft laugh, and I relax into his touch.
“So you’re a creep.”
Luke tickles me, and I squirm in his lap.
“Take it back.” He smiles, continuing his relentless tickling.
“Okay, okay. I take it back.” I rest my forehead against his until my breathing becomes normal again. “So then what took you so long? You had a chance on the patio the other morning, but you didn’t take it. Why?” My hands gently stroke the back of his neck, unable to get enough of touching him.
Luke’s head drops against the back of the couch.
“Because you’re a guest. I shouldn’t be doing this with someone staying here at the house.
” His hand moves between us before settling on my hip.
“If another guest found out, it could be bad for business. And to be honest, it’s been a long time for me.
I had…” He sighs. He doesn’t finish that thought, and I don’t press it.
“But I can’t keep away from you. I’ve tried—God I’ve tried.
But it’s impossible. The other day—” He closes his eyes for a beat, then looks at me, eyes pleading for me to understand.
“I was trying to be a better man. The one who put the B&B before his needs, but fuck, I wanted you then like I want you now.” He pulls my face toward his and kisses me softly.
I work through his explanation.
That makes sense. He wasn’t rejecting me, per se. He was trying to reject this connection we have because I’m a guest at his family’s bed-and-breakfast.
“How about this…” I pull away, and look into his eyes. Their color pales in the darkness. “Whatever this is, it can be our little secret. No one has to know.” My lips tug at the sides.
“You’d be okay with that?”
“If it means you’ll keep kissing me, and touching me like this, then absolutely.” “Mmm…” His hands rub up my back.
“I’m only here for four more days, so you won’t have to keep the secret for long. We can make that work.” I kiss the tip of his nose, a gesture that I realize too late feels more long-term relationship intimate than a quick fling calls for.
To distract, I bring my lips to Luke’s neck, grinding my hips into his, pushing away the insecurity that threatens to take over.
Luke moans. His head falls back against the couch again.
He plants his hands on my waist and lifts his hips, pushing into my center.
My whole body shudders, an intense pleasure building against the friction.
“Deal,” he says. Our mouths collide, fueled by desperation and a ticking clock.
A large furry body leaps onto the back of the couch right next to Luke’s face, startling us both.
“Sunny!” I scold. His response is a broken meow. “Where the hell were you, cat!” Sunny headbutts Luke’s shoulder and climbs between us, tail swishing and tickling my arm.
Our moment, irrevocably cock-blocked by the four-legged beast perched between us.
I click the screen of my phone, and Sunny’s orange face lights up the screen. It’s blinding. “Oh, wow. It’s 2 a.m.,” I mutter, wishing I weren’t about to say what I knew I was going to say.
“I should get to bed.” My vagina would disagree.
“Yeah, of course.” Luke’s hands grip my hips, holding me in place a moment longer.
He’s still hard and pressed against me. I’m still wet and pressed against him. “Are you, um… Are you good?” I swirl my finger in the space between us at the length straining against his sweats. “Are you going to be okay?”
He chuckles at that. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay. Well, thank you for… before. It seems you have a knack for catching me in vulnerable moments.” I’m not sure how to tell him I’m grateful I didn’t have to ride out the storm alone.
“Hey.” He reaches up and caresses my cheek. “If you ever need anything, I’ll be right here.”
Luke doesn’t ask for an explanation. He doesn’t push to understand. I’m so grateful for that.
I lean in, giving him one more long, languid kiss.
I don’t know how to express how much his words mean to me.
Hopefully, he can feel it at this moment.
He thrusts into me, groaning softly into my mouth, sending a renewed flash of need and want coursing through me all over again.
Sunny, still perched between us, knocks his head against my chin.
With a sigh, I brace myself on Luke’s strong shoulders and stand up on weak legs while Luke’s hand grazes along my leg. I scoop Sunny up, snuggling him into me.
“G’nite, Luke.” I peer at him, hair disheveled, lips swollen. Luke stays sitting, head against the back of the couch, watching me leave. I click on my phone flashlight and tiptoe toward the hall.
“Trip.”
I stop, turning my face over my shoulder.
“This”—he gestures between us—“is to be continued.”
“Looking forward to it, Romeo.”