Chapter Eight
Greer was methodically cleaning her stethoscope with an antibacterial wipe, and he couldn’t stop watching.
He’d lain awake most of the night, struggling with his unmet desire for her after their hot little interlude in the river. Things hadn’t even gotten very far between them yesterday, but it had rocked him like he’d been buried inside her body again.
He deserved to be miserable right now.
She’d been avoiding him all morning, making sure to find enough busy work to effectively stay out of his way. Giving her space was only fair, and it was smart, because it gave her time to adjust on her first day with her new partner. Coss happily followed her around everywhere she went, and Luke found himself eager to drag her away from him.
He didn’t like this inconvenient passion between them, and he sure as hell didn’t like her new partner assignment. He wished there were something he could have done to influence her into a permanent shift. The budget cuts had essentially locked everything down with no wiggle room to hire new employees to take the weight off an already stretched-thin crew. Her only chance for permanency right now was to go to House 115 across town.
Is our friendship risky to you?
Those words had rubbed over his skin like sandpaper. He’d never intentionally make her feel like that. Shit, he’d spent the better part of their teenage years feeling like a liability to her. She was the beautiful, polished young woman from an influential family. He was the grease-stained wannabe who lived in the same upscale neighborhood as her by happenstance, not privilege. When parties were hosted at one of the expensive homes in the cul-de-sac, Luke’s family was never invited. Greer always tried prodding him into going with her, but he didn’t want to tarnish her image, her reputation.
How the tables had turned.
Not only had he lain awake thinking about her passion, but about a future. Maybe a future for them. If, by some long shot, he got this promotion, he might finally be good enough for her. The possibility nagged him on replay, filling him with both excited hope and dread. She didn’t need him to prove anything; she’d never been that kind of a person. For years, he’d wondered if he’d be more comfortable admitting to her how he felt if he had a few more dollar signs behind his name. A title. A way to give her more than just the things she needed.
She disappeared and came back with a basket of laundry on her hip. She wandered around the commons, looking everywhere but him as she scrounged for dirty things to collect. Coss was pretending to read a newspaper, but Luke knew better. When Greer left, heading toward the laundry room, the older man stood as if he intended to follow her.
Fuck that.
He slammed his laptop closed. He’d been inside of her fewer than forty-eight hours ago. He’d made her come; he’d made her scream out his name. Coss could back the hell off.
Picking up the computer, he reached Coss’s side in four big strides and shoved the laptop at the older man.
“Plug this into truck 245. Thanks.” He kept walking, not giving Coss a chance to reply.
Going down the hall, he trotted down the stairs to the lower level laundry room. Greer had her back to him as she tossed linens into the washing machine. Surveying the halls, Luke felt better finding them empty. Most importantly, Coss hadn’t followed.
“Creeper isn’t a good look on you.” She didn’t bother to turn around while she playfully insulted him.
He grinned. “You know what does look good on me?”
“If you’re going to make a terrible se—” She lowered her voice to a hush. “If you’re going to make a terrible sex joke, you’d better keep it to yourself.”
He stepped into the doorway. The room was small, the bulk of two industrial-size washers and dryers taking up most of the space.
“Oh yeah, smarty-pants? What did you think I was going to say?”
She whipped him a look, and his heart skipped a beat. Her cheeks were flushed from the heat in the room, and those damn pretty freckles were noticeable again today. She shook her head like she wasn’t going to answer him, but then her stance softened, and she tossed back her hair.
She lowered her voice, trying to sound like a dude. “You know what looks good on me? You, baby.”
She finished loading the washing machine and closed the door.
He scoffed. “I don’t sound like that.”
“Yes, you do. Especially when you’re trying to pick up women. It’s sad, really.”
“But effective. Women dig it.” He frowned a bit, thinking about his history with women. Sometimes, he attracted too many, and the trouble was sorting them out. He’d stopped juggling two and three at a time for that reason. The only woman he’d ever really wanted had never had a chance to fall for his pick-up voice.
Because he’d never used it on her. She was too classy to fall for lame bullshit.
“Right. Women dig it. Which is why you need two cell phones to handle all the numbers they throw at you.”
Her voice was light, as if she were still teasing him, but the bite of truth in her words stung a little.
“I don’t really have two cell phones.”
She turned to face him, her long, thick braid flopping over one shoulder. He’d love to free all that hair and have it wash over him while she rode him.
He stepped all the way into the room, and the space seemed to shrink even more. Two more small steps and he’d be close enough to feel her body heat. Close enough to run his fingers over the bare skin of her arms.
“Even if you did,” she said quietly, “that’s your business.”
Luke drew back a bit. What was going on here? One second, they’d been teasing each other, and the next, her face was flushed and the set of her mouth firm. Had he accumulated his fair share of women’s numbers over the years? Sure. She wasn’t a stranger to his love life; she’d been around him enough to see women come and go. She’d never seemed to care. Though, right now, she seemed a little…what? Jealous?
Then again, if he believed that she had a maxed-out list of numbers from other men, he might just lose his shit a little over it. Heat creeped up the back of his neck at the mere thought.
“True, it is my business,” he replied. “But the thought of it seems to piss you off.”
Why did that possibility give him a flicker of satisfaction? She huffed a short laugh, dismissing his theory.
“No. We just need to get our footing back, that’s all. You said one night, and we had that. And then last night threw me. Now…”
“Now?”
“Now you need to go back to being unreachable. And I’ll go back to being your friend.”
Unreachable? In what world had he ever been unreachable to her? It was more the other way around. Pedestal, and all.
“The way I remember it, you were out of my league, honey.”
She pulled open the dryer door and took out an armful of towels. “Right. Because I’m such an upper-crust snob.”
He grinned. They were back to teasing, and he loved it. “I forgot. All the peasants name their daughters Greer Imogen Worth.”
A grin tugged her lips, and she looked primed for a comeback, but her cell phone beeped and pulled her attention. She made a disgusted face as she read, rolling her eyes as she flashed him an image of a dress on the screen.
“My mother. She keeps sending me examples of dresses to wear to her sixtieth birthday party next week.”
She shoved the phone back into her pocket without sending a reply. Luke wanted to point out that this is what he was talking about. Another fancy party his family wouldn’t be invited to, with women in dresses that cost more than most people’s monthly income. With luck he’d get that promotion, and soon he’d know what it was like to breathe a little easier when the paychecks came. He might even be able to park a brand-new truck in his parents’ driveway for her mother to see.
Knowing Marvelene, she’d stick up her nose and refuse to be impressed.
God, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Promotion equals money equals Greer. He wouldn’t say anything to her until he was guaranteed the advancement; by then her job at the station would be close to ending, and she’d move on to whatever she decided to do—freeing them from the constraints of the no fraternization rule. Straight-up sex had never affected him before. He’d never wanted more with a woman afterward…only this one.
She put her hands behind her on the washing machine and crossed her ankles.
“What’s that look on your face, mister?”
He dropped his voice low enough that it wouldn’t echo into the hall.
“Sex with you was more than I ever imagined it would be. Trust me, I thought about it a lot over the years, wondering what your body would feel like, fantasizing about your breasts in my hands and your pussy under my tongue.”
His body started to heat. She swallowed hard and watched as he stepped into her.
“You tasted sweeter than I could have dreamed. And, yes, you shocked me with your dirty little mouth. You fucking stunned me, and I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t want more.”
Her chest rose and fell, yet despite it, she seemed a little breathless. “I know the feeling.”
He wanted to leave her with the truth of how much he’d loved taking her to bed, wished he could instill in her how she’d made him feel. He didn’t want to damage that by adding how much he wanted more—more they couldn’t give to each other. Not yet.
She licked her lips and it was almost his undoing. He needed to stay away, but he had to get closer. Last night hadn’t been close enough.
“This promotion is important for so many reasons. But you’re important to me, too. I need you to know that.”
Her eyes widened, the depths of them glistening. “I want you to have that promotion. You deserve it.” He moved closer. Hers lips parted as she fidgeted a bit. “If you don’t get this one, there’ll be another opportunity. Some things are fluid, you know? Opportunities show up…and some things keep…coming back around.”
She stumbled over the words, her cheeks going pink. He knew exactly what she was trying to say, and he couldn’t agree more.
“Some things do keep coming back around.”
She nodded. “Mm-hmm, and…choices. You know, certain choices about those…opportunities.”
He snagged the ends of the stethoscope around her neck and pulled. She slammed against him, her face tilted up, those full lips parted. He wanted her on her knees with her lips around his cock. God, he had to get a fucking grip. His dick was already hard and demanding, his body humming with an uncontrollable need for her.
“What choice are you going to make right now about this opportunity?”
She trapped her lower lip between her teeth, her chest heaving. “Is it the same one I missed out on last night?”
God, they shouldn’t. They shouldn’t! But he wanted it, and so did she.
“Fucking right it is.”
“Luke.” She hesitated then reached up on tiptoe and nibbled his earlobe with her teeth, giving it a hard pull before letting go.
“I never was one to walk away from a good opportunity.”
With a growl, he spun her and positioned her hands on the washing machine. “Don’t move.”
He checked the hallway, half expecting to find Coss eavesdropping by the door. Relieved to see the space empty, he kicked the door closed. There wasn’t a lock, so he’d have to be careful to listen hard for any sound that someone was coming.
“You can’t make a sound. Understood?”
The sound of her excited breathing already disobeyed him, but she nodded quickly. Roughly, he unfastened her pants and slid them down just enough that he could get his hand inside. He pulled her back so her perfect ass pressed against his erection. He leaned over her body, savoring the feel of her ass against him, and gathered the ends of the stethoscope in his other hand. He pulled it around her neck like a collar and hung on firmly while he slid his other hand down and cupped her mound.
“How does it feel to be at my mercy?”
God, she was already soaked, her wetness flooding his hand and coating his fingers as he swirled little circles around her nub. Tensing, she leaned back against him for support, her back arched and her hands gripping the edge of the washer.
She mumbled something he couldn’t understand. He wished he could see her face and watch the pleasure play over her beautiful features. So, he was going to give her a raging orgasm with as little disruption as possible. She was going to walk out of here, and no one would be the wiser.
“Think about me fucking you. Think about how good it feels to have me slamming into you. You love that, don’t you?”
“Yes!”
A desperate, seductive sound escaped her, and it was almost his undoing. He was on the cusp of undoing his zipper and slamming into her.
Dragging this out, teasing her until she lost her mind, was forefront in his imagination, but he’d wrench a fast, hard orgasm out of her and enjoy the shockwave of it instead.
Kissing the side of her neck, he teased and played her clit until she covered her mouth with a hand and bucked and ground against his hand.
“There you go. There you go, Greer. Fuck yes.”
Her tender flesh swelled and hardened beneath his hand, her entire body going tight. Goose bumps exploded over her skin, followed by a hard tremor that had her nearly collapsing in his embrace. Whimpering quietly, she took a shaky breath and finally relaxed.
He tightened his arm around her, letting his hand linger between her legs, savoring this moment and the force of her release.
Realizing he might have been holding onto the stethoscope a little too tightly, he checked her neck for marks. There weren’t any.
Slowly, she withdrew from his arms and righted her pants with a trembling hand, tucking her shirt back into her waist. Luke used a towel from the basket to clean up, then took her shoulders gently in his hands. Their lips touched softly, their lust still heady and brewing. He felt it in her kiss, and his own potent need thrummed with a blatant reminder that he hadn’t come.
But she had, and it was more than enough.
She pulled back and looked up at him, leaving him speechless.
Her handheld radio began to beep from its spot in the basket on top of some towels. She grabbed it, not meeting his eyes as she moved around him to the door.
“I’ve got to go.”
She opened the door and startled as if someone was standing right there. Luke stepped back toward the wall to prevent being seen. Luckily, the angle of the door blocked him from view.
“There you are.” It was Coss. “Let’s go.”
“Yep,” she answered cheerily, sounding like she was leading him away. “You driving, or you want me to?”
Raking a hand through his hair, Luke let out a breath. He’d never been one for emotional or career suicide, but that was exactly what was going to happen if he didn’t get a grip.