The knock on the door came much faster than Luke expected, but it caused him to smirk.

Good girl, he thought, walking over to answer it. He felt the bulge of his shaft against the confines of his boxers as his muscular legs moved beneath his robe. He was freshly showered and the entire time he had been soaping himself, his mind had been on the throbbing, tight receptacle between Meredith’s legs, and the adorable sounds she made just before she came.

Has anyone ever felt that good before? He wondered. If so, he certainly couldn’t remember it. It was a pity that they only had another six days together, but Luke intended to make the very most of every minute.

He’d been a little surprised at how easily she’d caved to his demand and at first, it had been a little off-putting.

Is this really as indecent a proposal as it seems on the surface? Is she really only doing this to ensure I take the company back?

Given how fast she had agreed to come over when she was in the middle of her meeting but as he remembered the way she had shuddered and come apart beneath him the previous day, Luke realized that she was just as eager to be inside his condo as he was to be inside her.

“Well, well, we— “ he started to say as he opened the door but the last ‘well’ died on his lips as he saw who stood there.

“Rachel!” he choked. “What the hell are you doing here?”

His sister peered at him with speculative blue eyes and sighed.

“Aren’t you going to put on some clothes?” she asked bluntly and Luke tensed.

“Why?” he asked slowly, taking in her black dress and solemn expression. “Rachel…”

His erection was gone, possibly never to return as he realized why she had come so unexpectedly.

“Can I come in?” Rachel asked but she didn’t wait for him to answer before brushing past him and sauntering into the foyer, looking about the condo with impassive eyes.

“Rachel, I’m glad you’re here,” Luke told her gruffly. “But this isn’t a good time.”

“You know what today is, Luke,” she said quietly. “Please tell me you’re going to come with me.”

“No!” he barked harshly. “You know I’m not. I made it very clear that I wasn’t going.”

Rachel nodded and turned her head away but not before Luke saw the edges of her full mouth turn down.

“I understand why you feel this way but you need to listen to me.”

Luke clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth together as he tried to summon some patience for his sister – and not bite her head off for pushing him on this. Fuck, she knew what the relationship between him and his father had been like! Why was she guilting him with this?

“Fine, Rachel. I’m listening. You’ve got precisely two minutes, and then you’ll be going to the funeral without me.”

“If you don’t go to the funeral today, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

Hostility spiked up his spine but it wasn’t toward Rachel. No, his rage was directed at his deceased father who was still wreaking havoc on his life, even in death.

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take,” he retorted. “Please, Rach, don’t make me out to be the bad guy here.”

“I’m not!” She spun around and studied him with wide, honest eyes. “I’m really not. I didn’t come here to guilt you or make you feel like shit but I wanted to tell you that if you don’t go, you’ll never have the closure you need.”

Luke scoffed.

“What the fuck is closure anyway?” Luke snapped. “You can’t unring a bell.”

“No,” Rachel agreed. “But you can bury your past where it belongs.”

“I have!” Luke exploded. “I’m trying to forget but it keeps resurfacing, doesn’t it?”

Rachel stared at him, not saying a word.

“Rachel, you need to go,” he told her. “You can come and stay tonight after you’ve said your goodbyes but I’m not going. Have you spoken to Remy? He said he’d go with you.”

“I told him not to bother. I don’t need the support and he hated Dad as much as you did,” Rachel muttered unhappily. “There’s no point dragging him to the funeral when he doesn’t want to be there.”

Oh I dunno. Remy might get drunk enough at the wake and piss on the urn, Luke thought. It was a pleasant image.

“He doesn’t mind, Rach, and I’d rather you didn’t go alone. You’ll be exposed to all of Carter’s vulture associates who see his single daughter as fresh, available meat.”

A wry smile touched Rachel’s face and she reached forward to cup his cheek. He flinched at the motion, ducking his head back and a sad expression shadowed his sister’s eyes.

“You still can’t stand to be touched, huh?”

Defensiveness sprung through him and he re-cinched his robe.

“I’m a UFC fighter, Rachel. All I do is get touched,” he reminded her. “I’ve had my fill.”

She pursed her lips together.

“I worry about you, Luke.”

“That’s not your job,” he answered automatically. “I’m the big brother. I do the worrying.”

“You’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders and you have nowhere to put it.”

“I’m doing just fine,” he assured her. “But you really should get going. I have company coming over.”

She didn’t move immediately and he could read the skepticism in her eyes.

“Is that right?”

“Yes,” Luke snapped. “She’ll be here soon so unless you want to run into her and embarrass her…”

Rachel laughed, a tinkling, amused chime which echoed through the condo.

“I’m a hospice nurse, Luke. I don’t embarrass easily.”

She’s eight years younger and she still calls me on my shit.

“Rachel…”

“I’m going,” she relented. “Can I come back tonight though or will your booty call still be here?”

The question caught him off guard and he paused to think about it.

“Of course you can come back,” he answered after a second. “She’s not staying.”

Rachel smirked mirthlessly.

“If you say so.”

She turned toward the door and smiled at him over her shoulder.

“I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay, sis.”

She opened the door and nearly collided with a breathless Meredith. Oddly, time seemed to freeze, as though Luke had been caught in a horribly awkward moment where his worlds should never have collided. The women looked at one another with curiosity and suspicion.

“Hello,” Rachel said, shattering the short freeze. “I’m Rachel.”

Shit!

“Oh…OH!” Meredith said, realizing who stood before her at Luke’s door.

“You better get going,” Luke interjected, reaching to pull Meredith inside the apartment.

“Nice meeting you!” Meredith croaked, her face red with humiliation as Luke closed the door on his sister.

“That was your sister,” Meredith gasped. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was here.”

“She popped by unexpectedly,” Luke said shortly, striding toward the kitchen. He suddenly needed a beer to wash down the bile in his throat.

“Does she know who I am?” the blonde asked. Luke took a swig of his Corona and furrowed his brow at her.

“Why would she? Have you met her before?”

The question seemed to sting Meredith and she shook her head quickly, dropping her purse onto the counter.

“N-no, I just thought…never mind. Can I have one of those?”

He reached into the fridge and pulled out another one, popping the lid off with a bottle opener and dropping a piece of lime inside it before handing to her.

Her eyes widened as she watched him.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She took a long sip and placed the beer on the counter. “Listen, we need to have some ground rules.”

Luke laughed.

“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?” he taunted her.

“I didn’t realize you’d be calling me in the middle of meetings. I can’t just—”

“You didn’t have to come,” he interrupted. “You could have said no.”

The look on her face told him everything he needed to know.

No. She couldn’t.

“Please, Luke,” she pleaded. “Don’t jeopardize my job.”

He snickered.

“You’re the daughter of two name partners. I’m surprised you bother to work at all.”

She bristled.

“I worked my ass off for my law degree,” she retorted. “And just because my parents happen to run the firm I work at, doesn’t mean I don’t pull my own weight.”

Luke pierced her with a hot stare, then stalked around the counter to spread her legs apart roughly. He heard the tear of her skirt’s seam but Meredith didn’t seem to notice and she looked up at him, the desire in her eyes apparent.

“I would like to work your ass off,” he murmured, drawing a finger up along the buttons of her blouse one by one.

“You’re succeeding so far,” she replied softly, a sigh in her voice. “But please, you can’t do this again.”

“Not really my problem, Meredith,” he teased her, fingertips swirling over the ridges of her nipples over the silk of her white blouse. “My cock wants what my cock wants.”

She leaned back against the counter, her elbows spread apart and without forewarning, Luke ripped her shirt apart.

“LUKE!” she cried, but his mouth had already latched onto her left nipple, his teeth sinking into the nub as she moaned.

The taut skin rolled like a hard ball against his tongue and his hand snaked up between her legs, making anticipation slither through her veins. Meredith’s fingers laced into his hair, clenching tightly.

Like the shirt, the panties ripped away easily, falling into tatters on the floor and two fingers worked up her slit, relishing the feel of her slickness.

“You’re always ready to fuck me, aren’t you?” he murmured, but before she could answer, his digits probed deep inside her and instantly, he felt her close around him, her ass rising up over the kitchen island.

Slowly, he dipped himself in and out of her, feeling the heat of her core rise, the fluids slipping down her legs as her emerald eyes glazed and widened.

“Oh, god,” she moaned. “Fuck, I’m so sensitive.”

“Not as sensitive as you will be,” he assured her, his movements increasing in speed. “Come on me.”

As she had before, she gushed against him, obeying his command without question and Luke smiled.

“Again,” he ordered her, a third finger finding its way to her ass and she cried out, clenching her muscles.

“So fucking tight,” he muttered, his breaths coming out in shorter rasps, his cock throbbing as he envisioned the feel of her ass clutching his shaft.

Soon, he told himself, bringing her up to another climax.

“Oh my God!” Meredith moaned. “Please…”

There is it.

He withdrew his fingers, licking the nectar off them with appreciation. Meredith tried to reach for him, her ass fully upon the island now but Luke had other plans.

He pulled her down, whirling her around, his rod inside her before she could catch her footing. Fully, he plunged his ten inches inside her, savoring the shrieks and moans as his fingers manipulated her swollen, throbbing clit, his other hand firmly against her lower back, holding her in place.

The hanging pots reverberated in the kitchen as Meredith’s cries reached fever pitch, but not even her endless release against his shaft slowed him from pounding into her relentlessly. His sack slapped ruthlessly against her and he raised his palm, placing a well-aimed tap onto the creamy cheek of her buttocks.

“Ahhhh…” Meredith seemed to have lost the ability to speak, but Luke wasn’t finished yet, not even when she clenched around him, willing him to explode inside her most intimate place.

He groaned, heaving, thrusting, pounding until streams of sweat poured down his face and he was sure his chest was going to explode, but the release just wouldn’t come, no matter how many times she came.

There were images battling in the back of his mind.

Memories.

His knees buckled and as abruptly as he had entered her, he withdrew, whirling around with a sharp curse as he doubled over.

“A-are you o-okay?” Meredith demanded, concern in her tone as she struggled to gather herself.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m fine.”

But his stiff, throbbing cock told him otherwise. He wanted to come worse than he’d probably ever wanted in his life – but he couldn’t do it.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Meredith asked and he glanced over his shoulder at her, his hands still on his knees as he fought to catch his breath.

He just stared at her, struggling to breath.

“I mean…did you come?”

The worry on her face only added to his dismay and he scowled.

“Of course,” he lied. Relief colored her expression and she exhaled, falling onto the floor in a panting pile.

“Oh good,” she laughed. “I thought…never mind.”

Luke didn’t answer. Images assailed him still.

His sister, peering at him from behind the staircase, her worried little girl eyes breaking his heart. His father, looming over him, shouting about how he had ruined the deal with the Japanese – even though he was only fourteen at the time.

He loathed that he had been unable to finish, a fact that had nothing at all to do with Meredith. If anyone could make him come, it would be the sexy and spirited attorney. No, it had nothing to do with Meredith and everything to do with his father.

Fucking closure, he thought furiously. There’s no fucking closure when that man’s ghost is fucking everywhere. I hope he’s burning in hell, right where he belongs.