Page 54 of Luke

"You're not changing your mind, are you?" he asked in shock.

"No. But we need protection."

"Right. Hang on."

He got up from the bed and walked into the adjoining bathroom, and she had to admit she enjoyed the view.

She heard him rustling around. "Any luck?"

He came back into the room with a rather triumphant smile, holding two condoms in his hand. He tossed them onto the bedside table, as he settled down next to her with a smile. He kissed her as his hand settled on her breast. "We have two chances to get this right, Lizzie."

"That seems appropriate," she murmured, as she pulled him down on top of her. She loved the feel of his weight on her, the way their bodies came together so naturally. It was as if not a second had passed between this time and the last time.

Luke gave her another long kiss, then made his way slowly down her body until every nerve ending was strumming a song that was all him. Luke liked to go fast in every other part of his life, but not this. With love, he'd always been tormentingly slow, making sure she was as ready as he was, and damn if he didn't still know how to touch her better than anyone else.

And she knew how to touch him, too. She pushed him onto his back and took the same tantalizing journey across his chest before they finally stopped teasing and playing and settled into a rhythm that was all theirs. It was exciting, amazing, fulfilling…and terrifying.

How was she ever going to love anyone but him?

* * *

Luke couldn't let go of Lizzie. They'd made love for hours, exploring each other's bodies as if they'd never been there before. And as the dawn light streamed through a parted curtain, he wanted her again. He felt like he was twenty: impatient, insatiable, and crazy about her. The last thing he wanted to do was get out of this bed.

Lizzie snuggled against him, her eyes closed, her cheeks touched with pink, her silky blonde hair tangled from his fingers. He loved looking at her—the sweep of her dark lashes, the fullness of her soft lips.

He drew in a deep breath, realizing he needed to exercise a little self-control, but where Lizzie was concerned, that had always been difficult. He'd never felt like he could get enough of her, and that hadn't changed.

But what now?

Normally, he didn't worry about the morning, about the next day or the next week or the next month, but being with Lizzie wasn't normal. Walking away from her…saying good-bye—how the hell could he do that again?

He groaned and rolled onto hisback, staring at the ceiling, his mind going back ten years.

Waiting for her to show up at the airport, he'd paced back and forth in front of the terminal. He'd texted her, called her, imagined the worst when she didn't answer. When he hadn't heard from her twenty-four hours later, he'd called her mother, and she'd told him that Lizzie was fine, but she'd decided to stay in town for the summer. She didn't know why Lizzie hadn't told him that; he didn't know why, either.

He'd gotten on the next plane. He'd spent years burning off his anger and heartbreak. He'd told himself he was better off without her. He'd put all his energy, all his focus into his work, into his adventures. It had paid off on the career front, but personally…

He thought he'd forgotten her, gotten over her…

"Luke?" Her soft, questioning voice brought him back to reality. "What are you thinking about?"

He turned back onto his side, hiding his thoughts behind a smile. "You." He touched her lips. "This mouth."

She grabbed his arm. "We can't start that up again. It's morning."

"So?"

"So, we can't." She gave him a thoughtful look. "That wasn't really what you were thinking about, was it?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I think it might."

"Just remembering the way we were," he admitted.

She nodded, understanding in her eyes. "How can it feel like we were together yesterday instead of ten years ago?"

"I don't know, but it does feel that way."

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