6. Olive #2
“You have no idea, Cookie, how much I want you. If you did…”—his lips tipped upward in an almost wolf-like smile—“you wouldn’t be here.” I blinked, and my head tilted as I watched him a little closer. “You sure as fuck wouldn’t let me touch you.” I shivered at the dark threat in his voice.
For some reason, his usual nice-guy-next-door aura wasn’t there. Suddenly, I realized maybe the guy I’d judged as too sweet, too nice, too vanilla for me might be something else. Maybe he is the perfect guy for us? that voice in my head suggested. I blinked.
“You’re making a lot of big promises before we’ve even stepped foot inside your house,” I sassed. My defenses were trying to hold on.
“You’re not going to distract me, beautiful,” he said, making my brow drop.
“I got carried away in the parking lot, but fuck if I have it in me to regret it. I needed to taste you; It was a long time coming. Like us.” I shivered.
“I need to hear you say you understand what we started back in the parking lot of the brewery is more than us scratching an itch.”
“Luke...” I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry.
Luke March was the first man in a long time who I’d want something more than a roll in the hay with. The things I could imagine with him terrified me. I’d lost myself the last time I’d let someone in.
“I promise you’re safe with me, Olive,” he said, almost like he could read my thoughts.
“Luke…” I started to say but shut my mouth.
It would have been so easy to agree, just to get what I wanted, but something stopped me. I wasn’t na?ve or lying to myself so much to not realize there was something different when it came to the man who was sitting next to me.
“At least promise me you’re willing to take things day by day with me.” I had no idea how he knew I needed a compromise of some sort, but he did.
“I promise,” I agreed, probably way too easily. He leaned forward, his lips so close to mine, and my mouth tingled as his hand cupped the back of my head with a firm yet gentle touch.
“Good girl,” he praised and rested his forehead against mine. “Such a good girl for me.”
“Luke,” I mumbled, aching for more. His kiss. His touch. His lead.
“Wait here for me, understood?” I nodded, and before I could open my eyes, he was gone and the driver’s door of his truck slammed shut. I didn’t get to see him round the truck because he walked behind it. I felt like my entire body from head to foot was covered in goose bumps.
What am I doing? I wondered, ready to tell him I was about to change my mind when he opened the door. But when his eyes locked with mine, something inside of me started to wash over me. Something calm. Soothing. And when his hand took mine? My mind quieted completely.
And the moment we were in front of his door, I knew I was right where I was supposed to be.
We stepped inside, and the sound of him turning the lock on the front door almost felt like an echo around us.
I braced, waiting for him to pounce on me, to push me against the wall and have me every which way he wanted, but he didn’t do that.
He stood behind me as I tried to look around.
My eyes might have caught the couple of paintings he’d hung, some what I assumed were family pictures that sat by the mantle.
But I couldn’t think.
My mind and body were both hyperaware of where he stood.
Imagining that he was staring at me. More than likely taking in the sight of me inside of his home.
But for some reason, I couldn’t turn around.
With anyone else, in my past, I wouldn’t have thought twice about taking control and getting things moving.
With Luke, it was different. He is different. It was why it scared the hell out of me just as much as it excited me. Both my body and heart, hell, even my mind were at peace around him and more than ready to let him take control.
I heard the heavy footfalls of his shoes hitting the floor beneath us and felt his body heat radiate off my back. His nearness had my eyes fluttering shut when he wrapped his arm around my waist, carefully pulling me flush against him.
“Dance with me?” he rumbled into the shell of my ear, and I swear gooseflesh grew on top of my already existing goose bumps.
“Dance?” I repeated carefully. “But there’s no—“ I didn’t finish my sentence before the somewhat bare living room filled with a slow song that sounded vaguely familiar.
“That’s a cool trick,” I said as he started to sway side to side, and I let him lead. His deep chuckles tickled the shell of my ear as we danced slowly. His front pressed flush up against my back, his hand open-palmed on my stomach while the other one gently stroked my arm.
“I heard this song right after seeing you the first time. Immediately thought about having you here, in my place, dancing with me.”
“You’re a smooth talker, Sheriff.”
“I’m just being honest,” he drawled seductively. “This is one of many fantasies you’re making come true.”
I turned to face him, secretly loving the way both his arms wrapped around my waist as I toyed with the buttons of his shirt. I bit down on my bottom lip.
“How old are you?” I asked, and he smiled.
“How old do you think I am?” he responded, answering a question with a question.
“Older than me,” I sassed, but he didn’t seem offended.
“I think I have a pair of running shoes older than you,” he joked. “Come on, take a guess.” He winked, and I laughed.
“Thirty-five?”
“Close. Thirty-six. Is the age difference a problem for you?” His eyes observed me so closely I doubted he ever missed anything. He was probably great at his job.
“Well, according to you, if it was, I’m screwed since I crossed your threshold.” His hand went down from my waist to grip my ass.
“Brat,” he mumbled. Those beautiful blue eyes dropped to my mouth.
“You like it, though.” I called him out on it, and he didn’t bother to deny it. “Is this your thing?” I asked, wondering out loud.
“My thing?”
“A play from your sexy, guy-next-door handbook?”
“First off, I can tell you for certain I don’t have a handbook.” He grinned, flashing that sexy dimple.
“You never had one?”
“I mean… I’m thirty-six. I’ve learned a thing or two but…”
“But what?”
“I can tell you without a doubt what I’m doing with you feels like something I’ve never done before.” His voice dropped, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “This thing between us, Olive, feels like a first.”
“And secondly?” I turned us back to the subject.
“I’m a cop.”
“I know that.”
“I’m not exactly the guy next door.”
“Luke.” I grinned at him. “You look like you could have walked out of a Taylor Swift music video.”
“I don’t know what that means but, fuck, I love hearing you actually say my name.” My face heated up, and I pressed my lips together.
“Are you always so open and honest? I mean, to get what you want?” I was flustered! Luke got me all flustered!
“Olive, when I tell you I’ve never wanted anything or anyone like I want you, I mean it. Shit, that’s a fucking understatement.” Butterflies started to come to life along with the heat that coiled in my belly.
I knew how he felt.
Luke had inspired all sorts of aches and wants since I’d first seen him.
Things I’d tried to fight, yet here we were, in his house, about to cross boundaries we’d never come back from.
When his hand rose, I didn’t flinch. I stayed still, waiting for his touch on bated breath.
His hand was calloused and warm and somehow exactly what I needed.
“I don’t know how you’re so damn soft all the time.
” I rolled my eyes because it felt like a lie.
He hadn’t touched me before. “And you smell like sin and mercy and—“ His jaw clenched as he leaned in closer.
“And mine.” His words were rough against the side of my face.
“Tell me I can kiss you, Cookie. Tell me I can have you.”
“For tonight?” I’d meant to say it for clarification, but it came out as a question.
The raw vulnerable underside of me was showing my heart.
Something about the way he stared back at me made me feel like he knew that.
Like somehow, Luke March could see right through me, all the way through to the jagged, frayed edges, and for some reason still wanted me.
His hand stroked the side of my face, his face set as if he had an endless amount of patience.
“Forever, Cookie. I want you forever.”
“That’s a long time, Sheriff.” Something in his gaze dimmed.
“Back to sheriff, are we?” I opened and shut my mouth, but he smiled at me like it wasn’t a big deal. Almost like he had expected it. Maybe would have been disappointed if I hadn’t.
“One day at a time, and you’ll see that even forever won’t be enough for me when it comes to you,” he added, making me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Shit. How the hell was a girl supposed to stay strong when a man like Luke said things like that?