Page 60 of Just Like in the Movies

She startled, flicking some of the eggs on to the countertop and clutched her hand to her beautiful rack. ‘Luke? You’re awake.’

‘Yup.’ He stayed where he was, resisting the urge to wedge himself behind her, wrap his arms around her waist, sink his face into that wild spray of hair and breath in her delicious scent. Not much he could do about the revitalized boner though, so he ignored it.

‘Good morning, Ruby,’ he said, even though it wasn’t a good morning. He’d screwed up last night and now he had to fix it.

She laughed, the rich full sound making his woody even gladder to see her.

‘Someone woke up very perky,’ she said, a little breathlessly as her gaze drifted down to the bulge in his shorts. ‘Shall we put this on the back burner?’ she asked. ‘We’ve got at least an hour before Jacie gets here.’

He frowned, realizing how simple it would be to jump her again.

‘Don’t tempt me,’ he said, surprised how much he wanted to take her up on the offer. But there was nothing simple or easy about sex with a woman like Ruby. She would have hopes, expectations, which he couldn’t possibly fulfil. They were going to be working together until the end of the month and things could get awkward between them if they didn’t establish boundaries. ‘I could use some food. I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning.’

‘Oh, okay,’ she said, the spike of concern and curiosity in her voice making him realise he owed her an explanation.

‘Take a seat at the table, and I’ll serve this up while it’s still hot,’ she added.

She brushed her hair behind her ear, and he imagined kissing the spot on her neck he’d got attached to last night.

Get a clue, Devlin. Not gonna happen.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said, as he strolled into the living room.

There would be questions, questions she deserved answers to, but he would wait until she asked them. He’d never been good at emotional conversations, especially after a hook-up.

His mouth watered as he straddled the chair at the small table in the living room and watched Ruby serve up breakfast.

As he shovelled in the crispy bacon, fat sausages, hot buttered toast, fried tomatoes, and herby eggs, he ignored the continued twist of anxiety in the pit of his stomach.

Ruby was an adult. She could make her own decisions. He’d used her, but she’d enjoyed herself. And like Jake in the cowboy film they’d watched a week ago together, he hadn’t been able to quit her last night.

***

Ruby stirred a couple of sugars into her coffee and admired the spectacular view in her living room, still not quite able to believe Luke hadn’t vanished in the night. Or made a speedy exit as soon as he woke this morning.

She’d left him sleeping earlier and started putting together a man-sized breakfast to calm her nerves, totally resigned to probably eating it alone.

She wasn’t taking anything for granted.

But her spectacular booty call was still here. Looking buff and built and beyond gorgeous with his 8 a.m. beard scruff, his creased T-shirt and stretchy boxers, eating the meal she’d cooked for him as if it were the last supper.

‘I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning.’

Why hadn’t he eaten? What had happened to him yesterday to change him from the practical pragmatic, we-can’t-have-sex-under-any-circumstances guy of their hair rinsing date into the rumpled, reckless, and ridiculously hot let’s-bang-ourselves-senseless sex machine who had come to her last night?

Not that she was complaining. Now she knew what Luke was capable of in the sack, his hotness quotient had hit the stratosphere. But there was something off about the whole scenario. His unexplained disappearance yesterday, the slight edge of desperation when he’d taken her to bed last night, the frown which contradicted the impressive ridge in his pants this morning. Last night hadn’t been the Luke she’d come to know. Luke had always been hot. But playful, insatiable Luke had been scorching.

The old Luke was back now with a vengeance, though. She knew what was coming. She’d had the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech enough times before to see the signs. But this felt different. Was it because the sex had been so hot? Was that why she felt bereft at the thought of getting the usual brush-off? It had to be. Because she had known last night, even as it was happening, that Luke wasn’t himself and their hook-up was unlikely to be repeated.

She took a long gulp of her coffee watching Luke over the rim as he took his time mopping up the last of the breakfast juices with the final slice of toast.

‘Did that hit the spot?’ she asked, as he pushed his plate away.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘And then some.’

She smiled. ‘I’m glad.’

The frown was still there on his forehead, telegraphing what he was about to say. Even so, as he opened his mouth to say the words she had been expecting, ever since falling asleep in his arms last night, her heart did an unfortunate little jitterbug in her chest.

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