Author: J. Saman
Category: Contemporary
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Giggling, I say, “Okay then, I’d like that.”
“We never ate our lunch.”
“Oh yes we did.” I give him a devilish grin.
He laughs, bouncing me slightly on his chest. “Who knew you were such a dirty girl?”
“Me?” I say with mock outrage. “You’re the one who told me over and over again how desperate you were to fuck me. And I’m greatly paraphrasing, leaving out the naughtiest bits.”
“I never said I wasn’t dirty. You have no idea the depravity I have floating around in my head when it comes to you.”
“Tell me something real, Luke, something not many people know about you.” I have no idea why I just asked him that. It wasn’t my intention to turn our playful moment into something serious.
He looks up at the ceiling for a beat before turning back to me with a small smile that has me blowing out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding in. “I hate Indian food. Can’t stand any part of it.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s pathetic.”
“Okay, I’d rather read than watch television.”
That surprises me, and he nods, correctly interpreting my expression.
“I think it’s because I spend so much time in front of a monitor. The idea of watching more doesn’t do it for me. Reading soothes me.” Who is this man? Never before have I met someone who is more of a walking contradiction.
“What do you like to read?”
“Almost anything. I got really into the Pillars of the Earth series for a while. I haven’t had much time to read lately, so I’m a bit behind.”
“I like old movies. You know, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock—blokes like them. I also have a huge thing for eighties films.”
He leans up to kiss the tip of my nose because that’s all he can reach. “Which eighties movies?”
“Nearly all of them. There was a theater close to us when I was growing up that used to have an eighties night. I would make Dad and Mum take me every week.” I grin at the memory. I’m going to miss my parents so much when I move. I don’t see them all that often because of work, but I try to whenever I can.
“Sounds like you had a nice childhood.” Luke’s words are soft and kind, but there’s a fleeting flash of heaviness in his eyes. I must have imagined it.
I nod, my chin rubbing against the smooth hard muscles of his flawless chest. “I did. We weren’t well off, but that never seemed to matter, and I never felt like I went without. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realize just how much my family struggled. Especially after we moved here when I was a young teenager.”
“I bet you were an adorable kid.”
“Nope, I was scruffy and more of a tomboy than anything else. Dad was big into sport, especially football, so I played a lot. Was always caked in dirt.”
“Football as in soccer?”
I roll my eyes. “No. Not as in soccer.” I say the word with the most acerbic tone I can muster. “Soccer is soccer in Australia, just as it is here. I’m talking about Australian Football League or AFL. It’s huge at home, and Dad loved to watch, so I used to play in our garden a lot with him. You know, since he only had girls and no boys. Not so much once we moved here. Did you play sports growing up?”
Luke looks off, away from me, focusing on nothing. “Not really.”
He sits up, taking me with him, and though we’ve been lying in very little clothing, his abrupt end to our conversation has me feeling exposed.
I pull my shirt and sweater over my head before tugging up my trousers and tights. Luke gets dressed too, and before I can even comment, he walks off toward the washroom.
What just happened?
A minute or two later, I hear his bare feet slapping against the wood floors. “You want to order some dinner?” he asks from behind me. I’ve been stuck sitting on the couch with my hands folded in my lap, just staring down at them, unsure of what to make of the way he shut down on me the second I mentioned his childhood.
Maybe he doesn’t want us to get too intimate.
Probably for the best.
So I turn to him, plastering a smile on my face that I’m not sure I totally feel and say, “Absolutely. I’m starved.” Even though my gut suddenly feels like it’s filled with led.
10
Ivy
* * *
I’m warm and comfortable, so very comfortable, as the dull outside light fans across my face. Shifting in bed, very strong muscular arms wrap around me, pulling me into an even stronger chest.
“What time is it?” I rasp, sleep still heavy in my voice.
“Time to get up,” Luke says, but he’s making no move to do so or allowing me to either.
His nose buries in the space between my neck and shoulder, his mouth peppering me with sweet soft kisses. “How is it you can taste so good?” I giggle as he tickles me a little. “I’m serious here, Doctor. I want a medical explanation for it, because my mouth is watering and it’s taking all of my limited self-control not to roll you onto your back and devour every single inch of you.”
“Um . . .” Did he just ask me a question? Oh, right. “I just taste good?” Worst response ever.
He laughs against my fevered skin. “I think I’m muddling your mind.”
“I think you’re muddling more than just that.”
“Good, I like you like this. Thoroughly under my spell and helpless to resist.”
“We should get up.”
Puckering his lips, he blows cool air on the moist skin he has been kissing, causing chills to rise everywhere.
“Always the voice of reason,” he sighs, rolling off of me until he’s flat on his back. “I don’t want to go to work today,” he whines like a small boy would about school. “I want to stay in bed with you.”
“Up you go now.” I push his heavy side, barely moving his solid mass an inch. “Time to be a responsible adult. You can join me in bed another day.”
“I’m holding you to that.” Luke sits up in one quick motion before climbing on top, hovering above me on all fours. “Is it weird that I almost don’t want to brush my teeth after having you in my mouth last night?”
I laugh, wrinkling my nose. “Not weird, more like gross, and I’ll feel sorry for everyone you speak with today.”
“Fine,” he groans. “I’ll brush my teeth, but you should know that you taste so much better than my toothpaste.”
I blush everywhere as he dips down to kiss me as if trying to prove his point.
Luke pulls back with a wink and a lopsided grin before hopping off me and heading for the shower. I would join him, but I have a feeling he’s already running a bit behind, and I don’t think my presence would help that.
Not even ten minutes later, he’s showered, dressed, and ready to go.
He hasn’t shaved, and the result is the beginning of a scruffy beard. I run my fingers through the bristles as he passes, enjoying the way they tickle my skin.
“Don’t get attached to it; I’m shaving later.”
“You don’t like having a beard?” I ask as we walk out the door and down the stairs that lead us back to the parking lot.
“Not even a little. It itches like crazy and makes me look too much like Ryan, which is something I strive never to do.” He pauses as he holds the outside door for me. “Why, do you like it?”
“I don’t know. I’m normally a fan of clean-shaven, but it adds a bit to your bad boy mystique.”
His eyes widen, finger pointing at his chest. “Bad boy mystique? No way. I’m a fucking prince, maybe even an angel.”
“With the mouth of the devil.”
I get a wicked grin for that as he opens my car door, allowing me to slip in.
“You like my devil mouth, Doctor Green, don’t pretend otherwise.” He shuts the door and saunters around to his side, exuding confidence and . . . contentment. He looks so unbelievably happy, like he couldn’t wipe that grin off his face if he tried.
I like that I’m the one who put it there.
I like that a lot.
We drive the fifteen or so minutes in rush hour to my flat, listening to NPR and lost in our own thoughts.
I still haven’t gotten to all the laundry that is waiting for me at home. No doubt that will take up the majority of my day, but I also need to try and get some rest before my night shift tonight. That’s really the hardest thing to do—sleeping during the day before you start working a series of nights when your body is still used to the grind of day shifts.
My circadian rhythm is a disaster because of this.
“What time are you working tonight?” Luke asks as we pull up in front of my building.
“My shift starts at eight, so I have to leave around seven-thirty.”
“Can I bring you an early dinner?” He laughs lightly. “I know you said you don’t like eating at five-thirty, but that may be the only time to do it.”
“Sure, dinner would be great.” His smile grows even bigger as he undoes his seatbelt, moving like he’s getting out of the car too. “You don’t have to walk me up. I’m sure you’re already late.”
“I want to walk you up.” It’s that simple and I don’t argue as I wait for him to open my door. He seems to appreciate playing the part of the gentleman.
I unlock the door, and Luke dutifully trudges up the four floors behind me, his eyes glued to my bottom the entire way.
Maybe not such the gentleman after all.
After unlocking my door, I hesitate on the threshold, knowing he has to leave, but not wanting him to go.
It has only been one weekend with him, but the ever-present giddy sensation in my chest, coupled with the fact that I can’t get enough of being around him, means I’m in trouble. This feels too much like fledgling relationship excitement. This feels like the start of something momentous and life-altering. This just feels too much.
The longer we stand here, staring at each other with easy smiles, electricity builds, popping and crackling between us, leading us up to a brilliant crescendo. My body is humming with the current, and I know he feels it too. It’s pronounced and explicit and if he doesn’t leave this very moment I—
“Fuck work, I can be late,” Luke growls as he comes at me predatorily. His mouth crashes into mine almost painfully as he wraps his arms around my bottom, lifting me effortlessly and walking us into my apartment. His foot kicks back, slamming my door shut, and before I can even make sense of anything, he presses me up against it. My legs hug his waist, one foot crossed over the other, dangling above his perfect backside.
Our need is primal, our movements sloppy as he tries to rip my jacket off my shoulders without dropping me. I laugh into his mouth, pushing back on his chest for him to release me so I can aid in his effort. My jacket hits the floor with a loud slap, followed by his, and then his mouth is back on mine.
My fingers yank his dress shirt from his trousers, before greedily attacking each button, needing to touch his gorgeous chest and sculpted abs.
My sweater doesn’t stand a chance as he rips it over my head, tossing it somewhere behind him. His mouth comes down to the tops of my breasts as his hands cup and squeeze, pinching my nipples through my bra. Heated lips continue to trail down before pausing above the snap of my leather pants.
“No fucking way am I’m going to be able to get these things off of you while you’re standing.” With that declaration, he scoops me up into his arms, bride-style this time, carrying me across my apartment and into the bedroom, never once removing his mouth from mine.
Tossing me on the bed with a heavy bounce, I laugh before it stutters and dies in my throat. The look he’s giving me is like nothing I have ever seen before. This one expression could set the room ablaze with the amount of heat it’s producing.
I don’t wait for him to go after my leather pants, I do the honors myself as he watches, his eyes at half-mast and practically black with desire.
Never in my life have I ever felt so wanted.
The second everything is off, including my bra, Luke is back on me, everywhere. His fingers slide inside my pussy as his mouth suckles and claims my breasts.
He is relentless and hungry, pumping into me with his fingers and circling my clit with his thumb at an almost punishing pace. It’s too much. I’m building too quickly. I claw at his back, whimpering and moaning until I shatter, splintering off into a million tiny pieces.
“What the hell is that?” I laugh as consciousness slowly comes back to me.
“A condom, baby. As a doctor and a woman, I would hope you’ve seen these before.”
“You said you didn’t have any.”
He lifts a shoulder in a shrug, smiling playfully. “I lied.”
I smack his chest, but my ire instantly evaporates as he removes his pants and opens the condom with his teeth.
He hovers above me, his cock nudging my entrance. “So beautiful,” he whispers reverently as he slips inside of me, inch by inch until he’s so deep I can’t tell where he ends and I begin.
The moment he starts to move, everything changes.
His hand cups my jaw, forcing my eyes to his as he slides out, slowly, only to thrust in hard and deep and rough. My legs hike up, one climbing up his shoulder, the other around his waist, needing him so much deeper.
“Ivy. Ivy. Ivy.”
This is nothing like the sex we had ten years ago. This is nothing like sex I’ve ever had with anyone.
Luke is primal yet gentle, tender yet unrelenting. He is everything and everywhere, and as we move together like the practiced lovers we are not, I feel myself letting go completely.
Sweat clings to our bodies, his hand squeezing my breast and pinching my nipple before it slides lower, down my belly until it finds my clit, where he begins to rub in delicious circles in time with his powerful thrusts.
This isn’t lovemaking or even fucking.
This is something new we’re creating, leading to a finish that I am both urgent for and desperate to stave off. He picks up the pace, adjusting me so I’m half off the bed, cradled in his arms. The sound of skin slapping against skin coupled with our heavy pants and delirious moans are the only sound.
“Ivy. Jesus hell, Ivy,” he groans in my ear. “You feel so good. So fucking good.” I can only nod, my speaking voice nowhere to be found. “Tell me you feel this. Tell me you feel just how absolutely profoundly incredible this is.”
“Yes,” I breathe. “Yes,” I moan. “Oh, god. Yes,” I cry out as my climax spirals out of control. Luke follows me over the edge, an animal as he fucks me until there is nothing left of either one of us.
My eyes cinch shut as I try to steady my racing heart and slow my breathing. I’m smiling. It can’t be helped, and there is no sense in trying to hide it.
Luke growls, and I slowly open one lid, peering over at him. “How on earth am I supposed to get anything productive done today?” He props himself up on his elbow, gazing down at me. “All I’m going to be able to do all day is think about the phenomenal sex we just had, and the fact that I’ll be able to smell you on me isn’t going to help that.”
“So this is my fault?”
“Yes. Unequivocally.” His lips find mine, but it’s just a brushing of them before he draws back and begins to get dressed. “I want to stay here with you so fucking bad, but I have a meeting, and if I don’t show for it, Ryan will be pissed as hell.”
I sit up, grabbing my lavender robe from the chair and wrapping it around myself. “It’s fine; I’ve waylaid you enough.”
“You have, but it was one hell of a waylaying. You can do that to me anytime.” Luke jumps off my bed, reaching down and bringing me with him, enfolding me in his arms. “In fact, I plan on waylaying you a lot. Every chance I get. Now that I’ve had you again, Ivy Green, there is no way I can stop. You’re like heroin, crack, and meth all rolled up into one perfect package.”
“That’s oddly flattering, considering the reference.”
He kisses me long and hard, bending me back like they do in old movies for effect. “
I gotta go,” Luke whispers against my lips. “I’ll see you at four-thirty.”
I laugh, pushing him back as I walk him to the door. “I thought you said five-thirty?”
“I did,” he confirms. “But that was before the mind-blowing sex. I plan to get here an hour earlier and spend that entire time inside of you.”
“Who can say no to that?” I muse.
Cupping my face, his lighthearted expression turns serious and genuine. “I’m having way too much fun with you, Ivy. And it’s not just the sex. All I seem to want to do is be near you. I can’t get enough,” he says, mirroring my thoughts from earlier. He kisses me again, conveying something so deep I’m afraid to put a name to it, before pulling back and walking out the door.
“Me too,” I whisper to myself, shutting and locking the door behind him. I scrub my hands up and down my face. Suddenly terrified. What am I going to do now?
11
Luke
* * *
“A night away doesn’t fall under the no-strings sex realm, does it?” Ivy asks as we head north toward Mt. Baker. “Especially, to survey a house your best friend is getting married in.”
“What do you want me to tell you, sweetheart? Ryan wanted to show Kate the cabin and asked for my opinion as well. You just so happen to have the night off. I’m not missing out on that for this stupid fucking thing, and I can’t really say no to him either, so here we are.”
“But Kate mentioned skiing. I don’t ski, Luke. I thought I made that one clear.” She’s flustered now. And a little nervous, I think. She considers a night away to be a big deal. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t, but I believe the real issue is that the good doctor here likes me. In fact, I think Ivy likes me a lot.
But she really doesn’t want to.
I reach for her hand and intertwine our fingers. “You don’t have to ski, baby. In fact, that’s not on my agenda.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ivy’s lips bouncing, though she looks like she’s trying to hide her smirk.