Page 126 of Wicked Sin

“I can’t help it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? I’m sorry. Fuck, this is all my fault.”

He presses his forehead against mine. “I don’t want you to feel that way.”

“Well, I don’t wantyouto feel that way.”

“We’re a pair, huh?”

I sniffle, and he wipes my cheeks.

“What’s done is done,” I whisper.

He nods.

“I’ve really brought the mood down for our date.”

“You’re the counselor. You know that we’re going to be processing this for a long time.”

I blink up at him.

He’s smiling.

“You’re right.” I kiss him right on the mouth. “Finish shaving, Detective. You promised me some dancing.”

We head out of town, to a place in Malibu, and the drive is lovely.

Quiet. Peaceful.

Warm and full of hope, because I’m sitting beside Luke and he’s breathing and smiling and alive.

Our table is outside, under strings of white lights and overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

After we eat, he offers me his hand. It’s not the raucous club scene he promised. That will come later. But it’s still hands-down the sexiest dancing I’ve ever done. He moves me through a few steps, then spins me around, my back to his front.

“One two three. One two three.” He presses his hand flat against my belly, careful to avoid my incisions as he guides me through the steps he’s probably been making since he learned to walk.

“Dancing is in your blood, isn’t it?” I ask, twisting my head to see his profile.

He smiles. “So is lust.”

My breath catches.

“No rush, Princess.”

I’ll be the one to rush things. I miss him.

Spinning in his arms, I show him that I’m okay. Battered, but not broken. Hurt, but not harmed. I can move. I can be moved.

And when we’re ready, I’ll want everything he can give me. Rough, passionate lust. Everything that is in his blood, in his soul.

But I get winded by the time the song is over, and he makes me sit for dessert.

When we’re finished, we drive to a beach access point that Luke knows.

“You know I’ve never come out here? Not once in three years. I’ve never explored up and down the coast at all.”

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