Page 88 of Just Trouble

I’ve been making love. Is he just having sex?

It’s a question that doesn’t fade away.

When I bite back on my confession, he knows I’m holding back something. There’s a tension between us that wasn’t there before, but I don’t want it gone badly enough to confess the truth.

Somewhere there’s a song about how much it bites to be alone in love.

I could ask Luke, but then he’d know my secret.

I have to smile at his comment about me approving of the packaging. He is gorgeous, but I know that it’s not any of these things that make me love Luke Jones. Because I do love him. The package made me look; it might even have made me want.But it’s the man inside who has stolen my heart. I love how Luke defends what he cares about, how he’s determined to do the right thing, how much he wants to make the world a better place. I love that he’s not afraid to take a chance, that he doesn’t worry about the cost to himself when he decides that something needs to be done. The man is an open book, completely lacking in guile: if he says a thing, he believes it. The vee is good stuff, but it didn’t make me love him.

“Your turn,” I says, trying to keep it light.

He rolls me to my back, bracing his weight over me. His gaze sweeps down and even that sultry look makes me arch my back a little, wanting.

“I love your eyes,” he confesses. “And how they reveal your thoughts.”

“Windows to the soul?”

“If you only knew,” he teases and one more time, I wonder how much he has guessed.

Then he bends close and touches his lips to my earlobe. “I like this here, how soft it is under your ear.” He kisses it, then grazes the lobe with his teeth so gently that I tremble. I think of butterflies here causing hurricanes on the other side of the world. “And I love how you shiver when I touch you there.”

His breath is warm on my skin, his fingertips sliding up my spine to my nape. I deliberately shut down my thoughts, close my eyes and enjoy. “I love the back of your neck. When you twist up your hair, it feels like seeing a secret.” He kisses me there, his hands closing over my shoulders and pulling me back against his chest. He rolls to his back with me on top of him. I squeal in protest and he chuckles darkly. His hands slide around me and cup my breasts. “You know I like these, in lingerie or not.” He eases his thumbs across my nipples and they stand up to salute.

“I think they like you, too,” I say, a little breathless. Then I’m on my back on the bed again, Luke leaning over me with his hairtousled and a glint in his eyes that makes my heart skip. I watch his smile turn wicked, then I’m staring into the dark tangle of his hair as he bends to kiss one nipple. I catch my breath at the sensation.

“Too much?” he murmurs against my skin.

“Never,” I say with heat. He flicks my nipple with his tongue and I shiver.

“I like how fierce you are when you take a cause,” he murmurs against my skin. “I like how you’re determined to do what’s right, and I like that I find that infectious.” He straightens and cups my head in his palms smiling as he looks into my eyes. “I like you, Daphne Bradshaw, and I like that I have so much more to learn about you.”

“I like that about you, too,” I admit, then he leans closer and I forget everything but his touch.

“I was looking forwardto testing the counter,” I say on my way to the bathroom much later.

Luke is right behind me and I feel the weight of his gaze.

“Drapes,” he says with authority and I turn to look at him.

“What is this obsession you have with window treatments?”

His eyes narrow a little and I know that this is important to him. “You saw tonight how people recognize me and they want pictures. Fans are fine. Fans are great. They respect your boundaries. Professional photographers, not so much. It’s been a long time since paparazzi followed us, but I won’t have your privacy compromised.”

His protectiveness always prompts a flood of heat in me. That it’s for me this time means he earns a kiss. It’s longer thanplanned, but that’s all good. “There you go, being sweet again,” I tease when we’re done.

“It’s not a joke, Daph. Once your privacy is gone, you can’t get it back.”

“But still the counter fantasies persist.” I sigh. “I guess I’ll go shopping for blinds tomorrow. Want to come along?”

But Luke shakes his head. “I have to help Merrie in the morning, then I want to talk to Sierra.” He gives me a quick glance in the mirror, like a warning.

I straighten and look back, warned but uncertain of what.

“And while we’re on the topic, Merrie’s opening night.” He bends over the sink and has to be deliberately avoiding my gaze. “Come to dinner with me.”

“At Merrie’s?”

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