Page 25 of Just Trouble

Not this time.

I watch Luke as I part my lips slightly and slide the tip of my tongue across my bottom lip, very, very slowly. He seems to be frozen in place, his gaze locked on my mouth. I’m not even sure he’s breathing before I see him inhale sharply, then his gaze flicks to mine, checking that I’m not putting him on.

His eyes are brilliant blue, his voice deeper than the ocean.

“Careful what you wish for, Daph,” he warns, but I don’t need to be warned off the one thing I want. In this moment, I want a kiss, and I want it with all my heart and soul.

I want it from Luke.

So, I slide my tongue back the other way, counting on not having a chance to do it a third time.

I’m oh-so-very right on that.

6

LUKE

Bloody hell.

I never thought of Daph as a temptress, but clearly I have it all wrong. She looks sultry and seductive, a siren whose call I can’t resist. When something seems too good to be true, it often is, so I take my time easing closer, savoring the view.

She doesn’t move away.

Her expression doesn’t change.

The ice queen has evidently been given her marching orders.

If anything, Daph’s smoky eyes fill with anticipation.

I put one hand on her waist, letting my fingers curl around her, and she sets a hand on my shoulder. She gives me a little squeeze, checking out the shape of me, and I’m glad I haven’t given up on my daily work-outs. We take it slow, slower than slow, staring into each other’s eyes like we’re both mesmerized.

There can only be one first kiss. I’m going to make it one to remember.

She looks like she has the same plan and I like it.

Two minds as one.

My other hand is on her shoulder, my fingertips sliding to the exposed skin at the neck of her sweater. She’s soft, of course, softand warm and smooth, and my fingertips ease higher of their own volition. I feel the tiny hairs on her nape and push my hand into her hair.

Daph reaches up and pulls out the clip, shaking her hair free so it falls in waves around her face. She looks disheveled then, even more inviting, and I can’t resist her. My hand is wrapped around her nape, her hair tangled around my fingers, and I lean in to capture her lips in a kiss. She’s trapped between my hips and the lip of the farmhouse sink, which means she has zero doubt how much I’m loving this.

She wriggles her hips, message received, which sends a jolt through me. That’s nothing compared to the moment she opens her mouth to me, flicking that mischievous tongue across my bottom lip. Seductress in spades. I pull her up to her toes and slant my mouth over hers, claiming her with a kiss that demands a response.

Daph gives me one, arching against me, kissing me back with an enthusiasm I didn’t expect. I slide my other hand beneath her sweater and find bare skin under my hand. I can smell her shower gel and her arousal, and it’s the most potent aphrodisiac known to mankind. I deepen the kiss and she’s right with me, her hands locked in my hair pulling me closer, her foot rising up my leg, then her leg twining around mine. The heat of her is right against me and she rolls her hips again in silent demand, making my blood run white-hot. I find her nipple beneath the sweater and it’s both bare and hard as a pebble. I tease it with my thumb and she gasps and moans into our kiss, grazing my mouth with her teeth as she leans on the sink and wraps her legs around my waist.

I’m thinking about the sturdiness of the counter, before I catch myself.

This isDaph. This is my lawyer, my sister’s friend, the one person who is trusting and helping me. I break the kiss andremember that her windows are bare, that the whole town could see us if they were looking.

I want more than sex, more than this minute.

I want special.

Her cheeks are flushed and her lips are swollen, her eyes shining and her expression welcoming. We could do this thing, maybe without regrets—probably not slowly enough, given my recent abstinence.

But then it will be over, and it won’t have been enough.

I straighten, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “You need some drapes,” I whisper to her and she almost laughs. I lift her up and set her feet on the floor then she studies me.

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