Finding Julia Page 7

  Luke grabbed her shoulders, his grip almost bruising in its possession.

  “Careful.” His voice was hoarse with rising hunger. “I want to make this last for you, but I’ve been on the edge wanting you since you left here.”

  Julia looked up at him. “But I love touching you. Feeling how you respond to me.”

  “We’ll have plenty of time for me. This is for you.” Gently he moved her hands to her sides. They’d stopped dancing and stood still, the firelight warming them, the music weaving a soft cocoon of sound around them.

  Sliding the soft fleece of the pants past her hips and thighs, he knelt to help her step out of them as he’d done in the hotel room.

  * * * *

  Jesus!

  His dick was rock hard, vibrating with the blood flowing through its veins and begging for the soft feel of Julia’s hands, mouth, and incredible pussy. He skimmed his hands over her velvet-soft skin, gritting his teeth to hang on to his rapidly fraying control. More women than he liked to think about had passed through his life—probably far too many—but none had ever affected him like Julia Patterson. With her, everything was new and fresh. He felt like a different person. It was just as he’d told her before. This wasn’t sex. This was making love.

  He wanted to take her every way possible. Plunge into every opening of her body and fuck her until she didn’t even know her own name, taste every inch of her body until it gave up its secrets. He wanted things with her he’d never wanted with anyone else.

  He pressed his face against her soft pubic curls and inhaled her scent, the tang of it flowing through his system. Prying open the lips of her cunt, he exposed her clit and pulled it into his mouth. Julia balanced herself with her hands on his shoulders. When he grazed her tender knot with his teeth, her body shook and delicious sounds of pleasure exploded from her lips.

  He licked in earnest, pulling her labia back further to expose the slick pink flesh of her slit. He feasted on it, lapping and sucking, using his thumb to keep her clit in a constant state of arousal. Her entire body was trembling now as he ran his tongue over her sensitive flesh and drank in her sweet cream.

  The moment he slid two fingers into the hot well of her vagina she climaxed, clenching around his fingers. A low throaty sound vibrated from her, body convulsing, fingers digging into him as she desperately tried to maintain her balance. He stroked in and out and sucked again on her clit until he’d wrung the last drop from her.

  Then he rose, pulling her against him tightly and pressing his mouth to hers so she could taste herself on his lips.

  “I love you,” he murmured against her open mouth. “It’s quick, it’s fast, but I know what I feel.”

  “M-Me, too.” Her voice trembled as much as her body did.

  “Good.” He lifted his head to smile at her. “It’s always nice when it works out that way.”

  He broke away from her long enough to toss some of the pillows from the couch onto the floor, then laid her down on them in front of the fire. He felt his groin tighten even more as he looked at her naked in the firelight, flushed and wanton. She was sated, yet the message in her eyes plainly told him she wanted him again.

  With swift movements, he discarded the rest of his clothes and lowered his naked body to the cushions next to hers.

  * * * *

  Julia lay there, warmed by the flames and the look of pure desire in Luke’s eyes. She was too aroused to even care her body might be less than perfect for him. Watching him shed his clothes, she trembled in anticipation of his touch again, the feel of his body against hers. Her hands itched for the solid feel of his muscles, the crisply curling hair on his chest, the thickness of his visibly engorged shaft. An unfamiliar sensation gripped her, one she couldn’t ever remember feeling. Pure lust.

  Lordy! He’d just brought her to a climax so instantaneous there was barely time to catch her breath, yet here she was craving him again. More cream seeped from her pussy at the images conjured up in her mind.

  In seconds, Luke’s mouth was on hers again, a voracious kiss drawing from deep within her soul. She felt his hands skimming her body, lightly touching her everywhere. Without urging, she opened her legs for him, felt him cupping her mound, opening her folds, sliding first one, then two fingers into her again. She moaned and moved against his hands.

  “You feel so good,” he whispered. He moved his moistened fingers down into the cleft of her buttocks again, rubbing them against the skin in the hot, tight place. Placing his lips on her already swollen and sensitive bud, he sucked and nibbled as he slid and probed, and her nerves exploded like firecrackers.

  “Easy, easy,” he crooned, withdrawing his hand and placing one of hers on his throbbing erection. “See what touching you does to me?” She closed her fingers around him and he pulsed in response. “I want to make this last for you, sweet Julia, but I want you too badly.”

  “Please,” she begged, moving her hand up and down on him. “Don’t wait.” She wanted to feel him inside her again, feel the length of him filling her, stretching her. Her body ached for the fulfillment he gave her.

  He pulled her hand away, moved over her to position himself, and thrust slowly. At last he was inside her, and it was the most incredible feeling in the world. She was so ready for him he was buried to the hilt almost at once. He probed her mouth with his tongue, mimicking the movements of his body as he drove slowly in and out of her. She clutched at him, raking his back with her fingernails. Their bodies were slick with sweat, skin sliding against skin.

  “More,” she cried. “More. More, more.” In an agony of frustration, she moved her hips against him, trying to draw him in deeper. She was so close, almost there, hanging on the edge. “Harder. Please. Please.”

  “Julia.”

  She opened her eyes wide to look at him, saw the tension in his face, the sweat beading his forehead. Their gazes locked and she felt as if he stared right into her soul. Her tremors intensified, her sheath grasping at his hot shaft. With a hoarse cry, he gave her the release she sought and carried them over the edge. Waves of pleasure washed over her body, intensified by spasm after spasm. Julia clenched around him, milking him, as he poured into her, filling her. On and on it went, until she thought her heart would stop altogether.

  Finally, spent, skin slicked with sweat, they collapsed in a tangle of boneless limbs.

  Julia didn’t know how long they lay there. The weight of his body on her was heavy, but nothing could have induced her to move him. She had the feeling something momentous had just happened. And, in fact, it had. Even more than the one night they’d spent together, she’d given herself completely to Luke Buchanan.

  “Jesus.” He barely raised his head. “You make me wish I was sixteen again.” He touched his forehead to hers.

  As they lay there, waiting for their breathing to return to some semblance of normal, she was stunned to realize what began their first night in the hotel had now blossomed into something real.

  “I’ve been thinking about this since the last minute we were together,” Luke told her.

  “Me, too.” She bit her lower lip. “I can’t seem to shut my brain off.”

  He held her to him in a tight grip. “Mine, Julia. No matter what. You’ll always be mine. Do those words scare you?”

  “Maybe. A little. I don’t know.” She drew a shaky breath. “How did we get here so fast? What’s happening to us, Luke?”

  “I don’t know. It just sort of snuck up on us, I guess.” He looked at her. “We have to talk about it, you know.”

  She nodded. “I want to.”

  He stood up and reached a hand out to her. “But first, I’m famished. I think I worked up a good appetite.”

  Julia grinned at him. “I’d say so.”

  Luke threw on jeans and a T-shirt he pulled from a dresser drawer and began taking things out in the little kitchen area. In the bathroom, Julia found a washcloth to clean herself then slipped the soft fleece outfit back
on. She carried her drink to the kitchen table where she sat watching him broil steaks and slice tomatoes. They kept conversation light as they ate, and after Luke cleaned up, they took their drinks and sat in front of the fire.

  “How is it you have a cabin way up here in the middle of nowhere?” she asked.

  “It’s a long story. And messy. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

  “It’s about you, and I want to know everything I can about you.” She leaned against him, cuddling against his body when he put his arm around her.

  He took a long swallow of his drink. “Long story short, my marriage began to fall apart the day after the ceremony and I never quite figured out why. Not even two children could patch the cracks.” He finished the drink. “Then I found out my wife was sleeping with every willing candidate she could find. If it had a pulse, she fucked it.”

  “Oh, Luke.” The pain in his voice sliced through her, and she wished she knew what she could do to ease it.

  “I wanted to keep things together because of my boys. I have two sons who are very important to me, despite the fact my ex does her best to turn them against me.”

  “It’s always hard when kids are caught up in a bad situation.” And didn’t she just know that.

  “I changed corporations twice, always moving up. I might be a failure at marriage, but not in business. Somehow, I have a knack for looking at a company and figuring out what it needs to do to remain profitable and increase the bottom line. When Hot Ticket recruited me to be executive vice president, I thought it would give us a fresh start.”

  “It didn’t?”

  “No, and it was important to do something before everyone in the company knew about it. Even though the boys were only nine and fifteen I couldn’t let things go on one minute longer. So I filed for divorce and sent her back to Alabama with the kids.”

  “But you get to see them, right?”

  He shrugged. “As often as I can work it out. My ex is not exactly too accommodating,” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I can feel them slipping away from me every time I see them, but there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it. She’s done her best to poison their minds against me.”

  “Oh, Luke.” Tears burned her eyelids.

  “I bought the cabin shortly after we got here, as a place I could go to hide from everything.” He rose and looked down at her. “No one’s ever been here with me except you. It’s important you know that.”

  His words made something pull at her heart. He’d deliberately chosen to share his most private space with her, something she took as a gift.

  “I’m glad.” She smiled up at him. “And thank you.”

  One corner of his mouth turned up. “I sound disgustingly sorry for myself, don’t I?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Just painfully lonely and shortchanged by life.”

  He fixed himself another drink and sat down beside her again, staring silently at the fire. Julia waited for him to speak again. When he didn’t, she rested her head on his shoulder and reached down with one hand to link with his.

  Luke raised their joined hands and kissed her fingers.

  “Whatever you tell me is part of who you are,” she said, breaking the silence. “The person I love is the one you’ve become. People say the past is always with us, but now we have a chance to make a new future.” She leaned over, touched her lips against his, and was rewarded by an answering pressure.

  He opened his mouth and eased his tongue inside her, setting her on fire.

  “Works for me.” He gave her his crooked smile as they broke apart.

  He pulled her with him as he stood up, took their drinks and set them carefully on the coffee table, and led her to the bed. His moves were deliberately precise as he removed the fleece top and bottom, kissing each part of her body as he exposed it, his mouth hot and wet and open. He placed her naked body on the bed, his gaze hungry. He ripped off his jeans and T-shirt, tossed them to the floor and then he was beside her.

  This time they made love in ways too numerous to count, their minds inventive. Every joining, every sensation, was wrapped in words of love, of the new feelings surging through them. Finally, sated and exhausted, they spooned together, bodies nestled comfortably.

  Julia drifted off to sleep, completely spent by the intensity of their lovemaking, content to feel his body around her. Her last thought was how wonderful it would be if they could do this forever. She was impatient to be free, so they could make the dream a reality.

  Chapter 8

  Julia was proud of them the next day. Through the entire schedule of intense meetings at the Hot Ticket headquarters, the small conferences, the explanations, she and Luke were very professional. Somehow they managed to act like two businesspeople, keeping the sexual tension under control.

  “We could always get jobs as actors,” she teased Luke when they were alone. They sat in the corner booth at the Holiday Inn lounge, the place where they’d spent that first momentous evening. “We played our parts pretty well.”

  “You were the consummate professional,” Luke told her with affection.

  “What’s wrong?” A feeling of apprehension washed over her. Was he regretting everything? Wondering if he’d made a mistake? Why couldn’t she just quit always second-guessing?

  “Nothing.” He reached for her hand, squeezed it gently. “Not a thing. What could possibly be wrong? I’m sitting here with the most beautiful woman in the world anticipating yet another night of unbelievable sex.”

  Julia blushed. “I don’t know if we can possibly top last night.” She looked around the room. “I’m curious why we’re staying here tonight and not the cabin? Aren’t you worried some of your people might wander in here for a drink and see us?”

  “Not a bit.” He shook his head. “Taking you to dinner is expected, and the choices are limited. I didn’t want to chance it at the cabin in case we get snow. While being stranded there with you is very appealing, it might present problems neither of us wants to deal with.”

  “You know, Charles should have signed the divorce papers by the time I get back.”

  “Yes.” His grip on her hand tightened. “Another reason I don’t want you to be delayed. You need to be there in case there’s a problem. I don’t know the bastard, but from what you tell me, he’s going to go to the mat on this. I’d like to keep you locked away until it’s a done deal, but I know you have other responsibilities. The twins, for example. And I don’t want anything to go wrong to delay this one more day.”

  Julia nodded her head slowly. “I’ve been checking my messages. Harry texted me Charles still wasn’t back from his trip, but he was supposed to be back today. Harry called the other attorney and demanded a firm appointment for tomorrow morning. If things go well, by the time I get off the plane, Harry should be at the courthouse filing the papers.” She didn’t want to let him know how worried she was, tell him about the feeling of unease tickling at her like the rake of the claws of a beast. Damn Charles to hell, anyway.

  Luke’s deep brown eyes captured hers and held her gaze. “I wish I could promise you everything will be fine, but you’re a strong woman, Julia. You’ll survive whatever happens.”

  She exhaled a long breath. “I didn’t use to be, you know. I let Charles bully me for years so he thinks he can get away with it now.” She leaned forward and smiled. “Somehow I lost myself along the way, but you’re helping me find the real me.”

  “A warm, smart, funny, wonderful woman,” he told her. “You know you can call me whenever it gets rough, right?”

  “Yes.” She smiled at him. “But this is my mess. I want it over and done with and not slopping over onto you. The next time we’re together, I want it to be without any strings still dangling.”

  “It will be,” he promised her. “I have faith. We couldn’t have something this good happen to us and then lose it for some stupid reason.”

  The musical duo started their first set of the
evening and Luke wordlessly led Julia to the dance floor. She allowed him to pull her body in close to his and tuck their clasped hands against his chest. They moved slowly to the rhythm, his arousal hard against her, nudging at her, calling her senses to come out and play. Resting her head against his shoulder, she was filled with an incredible sense of déjà vu.

  “I can’t believe how hard I am,” he whispered in her ear. “By every law of nature, I should be dead by now.”

  “I love it.” He couldn’t know what a sense of new power it gave her.

  They barely moved, shuffling their feet in place to the notes of the soft ballad until it ended.

  “Hungry?” Luke led her back to their table.

  Julia shook her head. It sounded like a repeat of their first night. She was hungry all right, but not for food. “No. Thanks.”

  They looked hard at each other for a long moment; then Luke nodded and signaled for the check.

  They rode the elevator in electric silence, and at her door she gave Luke the key card to open the room. He flipped the light switch and the two bedside lamps poured their golden color into the bedroom.

  “Let me just look at you.” Luke ran his gaze over her. “Feast my eyes on you. I want to memorize every single inch of your body.” One piece at a time, he peeled away her clothes, not kissing her or touching her in any other way, just absorbing her with his eyes. When she stood completely naked, he took a step back and carefully looked at every inch of her body. His hands flexed and naked desire flared in his eyes.

  “God, you take my breath away,” he told her. “You are so gorgeous.”

  “You must have a distorted view of me.” Her voice trembled. “My body certainly shows the wear and tear of motherhood.”

  He shook his head. “Only to give you a warmer, richer look.” In an instant, he divested himself of his own clothes and stood before her, just as naked.

  Now it was Julia’s turn to look, to devour him with her eyes, storing up memories to take home with her. For whatever reason—maybe because she didn’t trust good luck—she sensed something disastrous was about to happen. She wanted something to hang on to. When she fell asleep, she would dream of his strong chest with its crisp, curling hair, the flat brown nipples on his chest. Of his hot, hard erection and its remembered presence in her body She wanted this for a lifetime. Would fate be so cruel as to jerk it away from her?