Chapter 31

 

 

 

Afton

 

 

“I should apologize for my grandma.” Luke chuckles. “What she said to you when we were leaving the restaurant was…”

“Sweet,” I add for him because I sense he was going to take that statement in a different direction.

Marti’s parting words to me as we left Calvetti’s were brief and to the point. “My grandson needs someone like you. I think you need someone like him, so don’t let him mess this up.”

“Not sweet.” He shakes his head with a chuckle. “Uncalled for.”

I perk both brows as I place my laptop bag on the couch.

“She’s been trying to set me up for years,” he explains. “Whenever I was single, she had a long list of women she wanted to set me up with.”

I glance in his direction as he takes a seat next to my bag. “Whenever you and Brooklyn weren’t together, you mean. How on and off were you?”

I can tell from his expression that he’s uncomfortable, but he swallows and clears his throat. “More off than on.”

The question that has been nagging at me since the first time we kissed flies out. “Do you think there’s a chance you’ll be on again?”

He locks eyes with me. “No. She’s married, Afton.”

And a month from now, she could be divorced.

I hold that thought in and go with something slightly less combative. “If you had gotten to the church on time, she’d be married to you right now.”

“That would have been a mistake.”

His words surprise me enough that I sit down next to him. “What?”

Rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, he sighs. “Since I met you, something clicked inside of me. Call it an awakening or realization or whatever the hell word fits, but I see things differently now.”

“Differently? In what sense?” 

He turns so he’s facing me. “I’ve never felt more myself with anyone before. I know I can be me, and you’re not going to judge that. We laugh together. We have fun. Kissing you is fucking amazing.”

My fingers glide over my bottom lip. “Kissing you is pretty phenomenal too.”

His gaze shifts from my lips back to my eyes. “I’m enjoying this. There are no expectations. It’s just two people having a blast.”

I smile.

He goes on, “I feel excited when I know I’m going to see you. When it does happen, I wish I knew how to stop time.”

His words flow through me, sending my pulse racing.

“I need you to know that Brooklyn is my past.” His hand inches across the couch toward mine. “I want to make it clear that I know you just got out of a long-term relationship, too, so this isn’t me asking for more than what we already have, but I like you. I want you, Afton.”

I want more than we have, but he’s right. We both were involved with different people until a few weeks ago. Jumping into something serious again isn’t smart, but sex doesn’t have to lead to anything other than moregreatsex.

He scoops my hand into his. “If I’m on a different page than you are, tell me.”

I take comfort in his touch, but it’s not enough. I look into his eyes, so my message is crystal clear. “We’re on the same page, Luke.”

That’s all it takes to bring him closer to me before he takes me in his arms and kisses the breath right out of me.

 

***

 

“You’re so beautiful, Afton,” he says as he trails his gaze over my nude body. “I can’t breathe.”

I bite my lip to hold back a laugh because I feel the same way.

When Luke undressed, I stared because the man is toned and tattooed.

My gaze dropped when he lowered his boxer briefs, and his cock came into view.

Before I could say anything, he had his hands on me. He unbuttoned my dress, carefully slid it from my body, and then he took off my bra. My panties stayed on until my back hit the bed. Only then did he scoop his thumbs under the lace and yank them down slowly to reveal my core.

I can’t hide from him in the broad daylight that’s filtering in through the patio doors.

I don’t want to. I want him to see me, touch me, and experience me in a way he’ll never forget.

“I brought condoms, “ he grinds out in a stuttered breath. “I want to put one on and fuck you now.”

“Yes,” I moan. “Please.”

He laughs in a deep tone. “I can’t.”

I glance between us at his erection. “I think you can.”

He leans back on his knees to slide his fist around it. With one stroke, he groans. “I want to touch you first. I want to see you come undone, Afton. I’ve been thinking about that for days.”

“Days,” I repeat.

“And every single night,” he adds.

Knowing that he hasn’t stopped thinking about me lures me closer to him. “Touch me.”

His fingers draw a lazy path over my neck until they slow between my breasts. He plumps one with his hand, squeezing it before he drops his mouth to my nipple.

I let out a deep-seated moan that is filled with the need that I feel. “Oh, God.”

He turns his attention to my other breast, but this time it’s his teeth that make contact. He nips at the smooth skin before my nipple gets a bite.

I cry out. The sweet mix of pleasure and pain is shooting straight to my core. “Please.”

“Yes,” he hisses.

His hand lands on my hip. “Your body is everything.”

I try to move to hasten his touch. I want it on me; on the parts that are craving his touch with a need I’ve never felt before.

His hand lingers close to my core, his fingers circling the skin just above my mound. His lips run along my shoulder until he presses them against the tender spot in my neck. “I’m going to lose it when I touch this.”

His hand finds the most sensitive part of me. Two fingers dive into me as his thumb tenderly circles my clit.

My ass leaves the bed because the pleasure is instantaneous. My climax is so close I can feel it racing through me.

His touch softens but not enough to stop my orgasm.

I ride his hand through it, the noises coming from me soft and tempered.

“Let go, Afton,” he says as he bites my nipple again. “Let go for me.”

I reach down, cup my hand over his, and with a circle of my hips, I finally let go.