Page 48 of Lukas

Chapter Nineteen

Reina leftLukas’s softly snoring form in the bed and pulled on the gray t-shirt he’d been wearing when he’d met her down in the lobby.

She brought the hem up over her face and breathed his scent deep into her lungs. Good gravy, she had it bad if just the smell of him on a shirt could both turn her on and make her feel safe.

She padded from his bedroom out to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Three days without him had seemed like forever, especially in light of the seeds Peter had planted. But after the hours they’d just shared—not just the sex, as mind blowing as it had been, but the talking and dinner Lukas had made and laughing together afterwards—she knew hanging on to feelings of doubt was absurd.

Lukas didn’t want to go out. Fine. But she refused to think it was because he didn’t want to go out with her. The man liked to keep his private time private. So did Reina.

Grabbing a glass from the cabinet, she filled it with cold water from the fridge and then walked over to look down at the French Quarter from Lukas’s window. The night was young—especially for New Orleans—and the city was still active. Reina opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony.

The sultry warmth hit her right away. NOLA didn’t like to give up her heat, even at night or as fall was tipping closer to winter than summer. Yesterday’s newspaper was sitting on the table and she sat to glance through it, enjoying the gentle breeze on her skin.

Until she got to the society section and saw a picture of Lukas in a tux with his arm around the slender waist of a petite blonde in a gorgeous red dress. Reina’s eyes flew over the story, a charity event for the city, trying to find a date for when it had occurred.

Thursday.

Two days ago. Lukas had told her on Wednesday that he had to work and would be unavailable for a few days. The Rinaldi family were important business leaders not just here in the city but all over the state and beyond. Going to a charity event could definitely be considered a part of Lukas’s job. A beautiful woman on his arm would be a part of that.

Reina dropped the paper back on the table. She and Lukas weren’t exclusive. They’d never so much as talked about a relationship. And Reina was never going to look like that woman in the picture. Was never going to be the perfect petite feminine complement to his masculine strength.

She walked over to the balcony railing and leaned her arms on it. She had no right to be upset because Lukas had taken someone else to the gala. If their time together ended right now, she would’ve gotten so much more out of this than she’d ever expected. He’d forced her to embrace aspects about her sexuality she might never have otherwise.

She hadn’t thought of herself as cold for weeks now. How could she when she’d nearly burnt to ash every time she’d been in his arms?

But she was honest enough with herself to know that she didn’t want this to end. That part of the heat ignited in her recently had been because it was Lukas, and hell, she’d been half in love with him since high school. It hadn’t taken much of a push for the other half to fall.

Regardless, she would not freak out over this, would not demand things from him he was unable or unwilling to give. She would enjoy this experience and—

Fingers trailing up the outside of her hip under her shirt and lips nipping at her neck cut off her thoughts.

“I like you in my clothes,” Lukas murmured in her ear before gripping her lobe between his teeth and tugging with just enough pressure to have her hips rocking back against him. “Although I didn’t like waking up and not knowing where you were.” His hand moved up over the curve of her waist to splay wide over her stomach.

“I just needed some water and wandered out here.”

“I like it out here too. It makes me feel like I’m connected to the city but still not thrust into the middle of it.” His fingers drew gentle circles on her belly.

The thoughts she was trying to force away came barreling back. She wanted this. Wanted conversations out on the balcony. Going out on dates. Damn it, she wanted to be the one on his arm when he went to a gala. Wanted him to be smiling down at her when the camera snapped a picture.

Had he fucked that other woman the night he’d taken her to the party?

Had he not brought Reina back to Deeper Threat because he had other women he played with there?

Was he getting a little bored with her? Was the three days they’d been apart an indication of how things would start happening now? A day or two of sex then a few off? The sex days becoming more and more sporadic until it was just every once in a while then not at all?

Jesus. Was he just trying to let her down easy and she was too relationship stupid to even realize it?

“Hey, what’s wrong?” The fingers on her stomach pulled her back more tightly against him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her words sounded clipped even to herself. She felt the slight tightening of his fingers against her skin.

“You don’t sound it, princess.”

“Well, maybe you don’t know me well enough to know what every exact tone of voice means.” As soon as she said the words she wanted to take them back. What was she doing? Reverting back to her old defense mechanisms when she knew she wasn’t living up to a man’s expectations. It had happened with every other relationship. Why would she think this one would be any different?

She gripped the balcony railing hard. Ice Queen was not how she wanted to be, not with Lukas. He’d been nothing but attentive to her needs and desires since they’d first started this… escapade. If he was easing back now, she should be glad he was at least being kind about it. He was acting like a gentleman. She was acting like a bitch.

She let go of the banister and turned to face him, finding him studying her with narrowed eyes.

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