Page 32 of Keeping You
“Okay. What do you want to talk about, then?”
I’m off-kilter, my thoughts scattered, certainty about Harper’s betrayal slipping. Could I have misjudged everything?
What I need now isn’t more questions or explanations.
Luke is solid, real. His eyes hold something that quickens my pulse and charges the air between us.
I don’t want to think about the past tonight. I need to recalibrate. To know I’m wanted. I need to see if he wants me as much as I want him.
“I don’t want to talk at all,” I whisper.
Chapter Ten
Callie
Idon't wait for him to make the first move. The pressure between us has been building like a balloon ready to pop since the moment our eyes connected that first day he arrived back in town, through dinner with stolen glances across the table, to this moment. When my eyes flick to his mouth for the third time in as many minutes, I know exactly what I need. What I’m hoping he wants.
“Callie.” Luke reaches for me at the same time, one hand cupping my cheek while the other slides around my waist.
Curling the fingers of one hand into the soft cotton of his shirt, my breath catches as he slowly draws me close, allowing me to pull away if I want to. But I place my other hand on his thigh, flexing my fingers around the muscle, and lean toward him, my lips parting slightly in invitation.
Our mouths meet in a kiss that's nothing like the awkward performance at Pete's or even the unexpectedly sweet one in my car. This one is deep, and desperate, like we're both trying to erase years of distance in a single moment. Even though it’s been years, his taste is familiar, and I hear myself make a sound I thought was buried with all those other memories that I tried so hard to forget.
Doubts swirl in my mind about whether I'm making another mistake, but I push them far away until they fade into the background, determined, for the first time, not to consider anything other than my own selfish needs. For once, I want to be the one in control.
I slide my hand over his defined abs, up the middle of his chest, and around his neck, threading my fingers through his hair.
Before I know it, I'm practically in his lap, the fabric of my dress riding up my thighs.
“Luke,” I breathe against his mouth, his name carrying all my conflicted emotions.
He breaks the kiss long enough to search my eyes. “Are you sure about this?”
Am I sure?
This isn't part of our arrangement. This is crossing a line we can never uncross. If we do this now, I'm opening myself up to the heartbreak all over again.
But God, I want him. I've always wanted him.
“I honestly don’t know if this is a mistake or not. But I don't want to think anymore tonight. I want to feel.”
That's all the permission he needs.
Luke stands, lifting me effortlessly in his muscular arms as I wrap my legs around his waist. The solid warmth of his body presses against my inner thighs, sending delicious tingles through my core, and I shamelessly grind against him, seeking relief as my lips find the salt on his neck.
His breathing turns ragged in my ear, each exhale a hot caress against my hair as he carries me down the hallway toward the bedroom.
The distant ticking of the kitchen clock fades beneath the thunder of my heartbeat and the soft rustling of our clothes brushing against each other.
Luke digs his fingers into the flesh of my thighs, leaving imprints I know I'll feel tomorrow.
I don’t care.
When he reaches the two doors facing each other, I whisper a breathless “left,” my lips pressing against the sensitive spot below his ear, delighted when a quiver runs through his muscular frame. I’m immediately tossed back to that night when I did the same thing and received the same reaction. I remember feeling incredibly powerful in that moment, having such a profound effect on a man.
Luke sets me down gently beside the bed; the room is silent, except for our ragged breathing and the distant sound of cicadas through the open window. The blinds in my bedroom are angled, allowing soft moonlight to slip between the navy slats, creating an intimate setting for what’s about to happen.
For a moment, we gaze at each other, both aware of how the rules of our arrangement, rules I set, have completely shattered. But as I hold his gaze and reach for the tie around my waist, I know that neither of us cares about the rules anymore. At least not tonight. Tonight, we're just a man and a woman with years of unfinished business between them.
