Page 72 of Rockstar Next Door Neighbor

About an hour later, I stand up from the couch without turning on the lights and turn toward my bedroom. A shadow moving on the back deck catches my eye. My heart jumps to my throat as panic rushes through me. But when I see it’s Luke, the moonlight revealing his shaggy blonde hair, I give a sigh ofrelief and move to the glass sliding doors. Unlocking them, I slide them soundlessly open.

His eyes are dark and dangerous. I’ve never seen him like this—coiled anger radiating from every inch of him.

“Were you going to tell me?” His voice is deceptively quiet.

I lift my chin. “Eventually.”

He stalks into my apartment, and I take an involuntary step back. Not from fear—Luke would never hurt me—but from the raw intensity rolling off him.

“Jaxson just called.” His jaw clenches. “He told me everything. About how you were involved in tonight’s operation.”

“Luke—“

“Do you have any idea what could have happened if you were caught?” He advances until I’m backed against the wall. “Any concept of the danger you put yourself in?”

“I knew what I was getting into.”

“The hell you did!” His palm slams against the wall beside my head. “You’re a chef, Lila. Not a goddamned trained operative. Not someone who knows how tohandle—“

“I’m also not a child!” I push against his chest, but he doesn’t budge. “I saw an opportunity to help, and I took it.”

“To help?” He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “You could have been arrested. Or worse.”

“It was worth the risk.”

“Nothing is worth that risk. Nothing.”

“Your father is worth it,” I snap. “The people who’d lose their jobs if Marcus succeeds—they’re worth it. And you...” My voice catches. “You’re worth it.”

Something flashes in his eyes. “I didn’t want your help. I never asked you to risk yourself for me.”

“You didn’t have to.”

The admission hangs between us, charged and heavy. Luke’s breath comes fast, his body caging mine against the wall. I should be intimidated by the barely leashed violence in his posture, but all I feel is heat.

“If anything had happened to you...” Hisvoice is rough.

“It didn’t.”

“But it could have.” His fingers thread into my hair, gripping just shy of painful. “Do you understand what that would do to me?”

“Luke—“

His mouth crashes into mine, desperate and demanding. There’s nothing gentle about this kiss—it’s all teeth and tongue and furious passion. I meet him with equal force, my fingers digging into his shoulders as he presses me harder against the wall.

When he raises his head, his eyes are still burning but with a different kind of heat. One that makes my heart pound inside my chest and my panties dampen. He roughly leans his weight against me as his hands hurriedly strip off my clothes and shoes, leaving me naked and vulnerable before him, my back still pressed against the wall.

I feel his hot breath as he leans forward, his hand still tight in my hair as he urges my face upward. His hand reaches out and boldly squeezes a breast. He gives a light nip as he closes his teeth around a nipple, and I give a soft gasp at the slight sting.

As he continues to ravish me with his mouth and lips, his free hand travels between us, and I hear the sound of his zipper. Before I can even think, he lifts me farther up the wall, slidinghis thigh between my legs. Holding me in place, suspended above him. He rubs his fabric-covered leg suggestively against my core, eliciting another gasp from me.

Without letting my feet touch the floor, he grips me around the waist and raises me higher before bringing me down onto his hard, thick shaft, filling me completely.

The fullness of him stealing my breath. He begins to move, his hands tight around my waist, anchoring me between him and the hard wall as he surges into me. His thrusts are rough, forceful—and thrilling.

The only sound is our harsh breathing, my helpless whimpers, and his occasional low growl as he continues to relentlessly pound into me. Taking me roughly up against the unyielding wall.

Only when the storm is over, and he slumps against me, his forehead resting against mine, can I take a breath. His smell, mixed with the musky scent of our lovemaking, fills the air around us, making it hard to think as our breathing slows.

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