Chapter 22
aimee
Pulsing, aching need filled parts of my body while Lukas kissed me. Pressed against the wall, trapped against his body, and his thigh finding its way between mine, I whimpered.
He took that as a cue to devour me further.
I could still feel the sharp sting of him slapping my ass earlier, and it added to the heady lust I was currently feeling.
I hadn’t been aware of just how much I liked having my ass smacked, until Lukas had done it.
And if I were being really honest, I’d been hot and bothered ever since—especially after he’d trapped me on the bed, hovering over me.
He pressed his thigh harder, and my hips bucked.
I felt him grin against my lips, before his tongue was delving deep, tasting every part of me.
His hands were on my face, then tangling in my hair, angling my head back—in whatever position that gave him the best access.
My arms moved from his sides, and up his back.
He shivered and it was his turn to moan, and press closer.
I was on my tiptoes, hips bucking ever so slightly, unable to move much with how I was positioned. I moved my arms, winding them over his shoulders, around his neck, and lightly scraping my nails over his scalp as my fingers tangled in his hair.
Fuck.
He invaded. Tasting, licking, consuming. I felt his hands pushing at the fabric of my shirt, until I felt his warm palms on my skin.
God.
This was insane—I barely knew him.
I shouldn’t like him like this.
I shouldn’t be letting him kiss me like this.
I shouldn’t be fantasizing about him, how he could make me feel, and what it would be like to wake up in his arms.
My therapist would say that I was making him a crutch—an easy way to deal with the blow of the news about Asher’s infidelity.
And maybe she’d be right, but that didn’t mean I was going to stop.
Lukas broke the kiss and I whimpered, until his lips trailed along my jaw, down my neck, behind my ear. I tilted my head back and to the side to give him better access. I felt his hands move from my back to the back of my thighs.
For a brief moment, he stopped his delicious torture. He bent down and picked me up. My legs wrapped around his waist as he nibbled, licked and sucked on my neck, my jaw, sweeping back up to my lips and back down again.
My body was on fire, and the leggings didn’t provide much of a barrier. He was firm and solid wherever my body touched his, and I wanted him closer. I tugged his hair, and he groaned against my neck and I gasped. His fingers gripped my thighs and it was a dangerous feeling.
“Kiss me,” I breathed, and his mouth crashed into mine.
I was trapped between him and the elevator wall and that’s all that mattered. I was lost in the feeling of him, breathless and wanting, when a voice crackled into being.
“Do you need assistance?”
Lukas pulled back and my head fell against the wall.
Both our chests were heaving. He grinned at me, and then without dropping me, reached over and released the emergency stop.
The elevator whirred back to life, and after one more searing kiss, he let me down.
My legs trembled and his grin just got bigger.
He quickly picked up my phone and my jacket, and the doors opened just as he grabbed my hand and walked out of the elevator. I looked back and I could still see us pressed there, and my whole face flushed scarlet. I picked up my pace, and tucked myself against him.
“I swear everyone is staring,” I whispered. “They know why you stopped the elevator.”
Lukas stopped walking and looked at me.
“Maybe they do, but I don’t think a single person is going to blame me when they see you.” He leaned forward and kissed my nose.
I melted.
“Besides, you shouldn’t care what they think. The only thing that should matter is that you enjoyed it, that you wanted it.”
“I did,” I breathed.
“I know,” he said, and we started walking.
Lukas had already arranged our lift tickets, and some snow pants for me—they were waiting for us down in the lobby.
I’d spent way more than 15 minutes getting ready, and that’s why he’d come up. We walked into the ski rental room, and within 30 minutes I was equipped with boots, skis and poles.
Lukas was letting me borrow a pair of his goggles and a knit hat. He pulled out my bun and shoved the hat on my head, covering my eyes. He held it there while he kissed me, before folding up the excess so I could see. I let him attach the lift pass to my jacket and he deemed me ready to ski.
After grabbing Lukas’ very professional gear, it was a five minute walk to the cable car that would take us up the mountain.
At the top, I let Lukas walk me through tightening my boots and getting hooked into the skis.
I let him show me how it all came together, even though I already knew—it had just been awhile.
This was his forte, and I had time later to show him I wasn’t completely useless on the slopes.
But for now, I let him show me the ropes.
“Okay, toe in, and then step down hard with your heel to lock in,” he said.
He was crouched at my feet, and using my poles to balance. I locked in my left and then right boot.
“I’m a pro,” I said, grinning.
He checked to make sure everything was secure before standing up. He gave me this amused grin and rolled his eyes. I moved my legs back and forth and gave him a big cheesy smile.
“We’ll see,” he said.
Lukas quickly locked into his own skis, and reached over to pull my borrowed beanie down over my eyes.
I laughed and pushed it back up and when I could see again, he was already half way down to the lift, so I chased after him.
We moved through the line until it was our turn.
The bench hit behind my knees and I sat down. He pulled the lap bar down over us.
“I haven’t been skiing since before the accident,” I said, staring at the snow covered mountain around us.
The evergreens were bowing under the weight.
The sky was crystal clear blue and the sun was a bright pale yellow high in the sky.
The occasional bird flew above, but most of the sound was skiers and snowboarders carving into the slope.
“We’ll take it slow to make sure your knee feels okay,” he said.
“It’s fine. It’ll be fine,” I said, my grip tightening on my poles.
“I told you about how I had a similar injury, right? It takes time to heal, and if you’ve not been on skis in years, we’re going to take it slow.”
I huffed. I knew my limits.
“I don’t need you to baby me,” I said, my voice a little sharper than I’d intended.
The bench shook as it rolled over a support, and I stared straight ahead, feeling Lukas’s eyes on me.
“Aimee, look at me,” he said softly.
I ignored him—which might have been childish, but I didn’t want him treating me like I’d break.
Everyone did it on some level, and I was trying to be better, get back to before the accident.
That interview changed things, even more so than watching the performance for the first time in over two years.
“Your brother already threatened to end me if you got hurt on the slopes.”
I gripped my poles tighter and made a mental note to kick Orion’s ass for being such an overbearing jerk.
“Also, if you get hurt up here because you pushed past the limits of what your knee can handle—which could happen to you. Hell, it could happen to me.”
Fear spiked at his words. Nothing—and I mean nothing—could happen to Lukas. Just the idea that something could happen made my heart rate skyrocket.
“But if you get hurt, then that will derail all the plans I have for you…”
The tone of his voice snapped me out of my panic spiral, and my head whipped in his direction. His goggles were up on his forehead, and his eyes shone with a little bit of mischief, heat and promise.
And once again I was wondering if maybe this was all too fast, too much, too soon. Because the way I felt around him, about him…
With Asher, it had been gradual and natural. We started as friends, and grew into something more, and then apparently something else. It made me wonder what went wrong—what had changed so much that he thought I’d be okay with him hurting me in that way, intentional or not.
But with Lukas, it was hot and bright. I found myself wanting things I’d never even imagined.
It scared me. How much he occupied my thoughts was a bit terrifying.
The way I dreaded the end of this vacation—hell, I didn’t even know where he was located.
Our meeting here after all these years was a coincidence.
A chance encounter, and the fact that he was there that day—that he’s been tangled in my life without me even knowing.
It feels like I should be concerned, but it also feels like it might be a little inevitable.
Like maybe the world was telling me that I’d suffered enough, and had put him in my path to help ease the pain.
“Plans?” I squeaked.
He smirked and his eyes turned to promises that had me wanting.
“Plans,” he said and gripped my leg with his free hand.
He yanked me towards him on the bench, and I yelped. He was so close now, despite all the gear we were wearing.
“So…many…plans,” he said softly and slowly.
I wanted to moan. I wanted to be anywhere but right here—well, no.
I wanted to be somewhere where layers of clothes didn’t bar us from each other, where one wrong move would send us falling onto the slope below.
And this intensity of wanting him, to feel him touching me—this is what was terrifying.
I barely knew him, and all I wanted was to sink into him, feel him on me, around me… in me.
I swallowed hard at that thought.
“I’m a virgin.”
My face flushed hot, and oh my fucking God. Why the hell did that just pop out of my mouth? Falling off the chair lift sounded like a perfect idea now. I quickly looked forward, not wanting to see whatever look was on his face. Nope. I cringed and inwardly berated myself.