By the time Amy made it back to her condo, all her bravado had left the building. Without a doubt she wanted to be with Luke, sexually or otherwise. But the fact remained, Amy needed answers and if Luke didn’t say what she needed to hear, Amy would regretfully break up with him and that would devastate her.

The elevator doors opened, and Amy strolled toward her entry. She reached into her purse and fumbled for her keys. As she searched, music could be heard coming from inside. She paused her rummaging and peered over at the door then leaned in to listen.

“Justin Timberlake?” she said to herself. Why would Luke be listening to Justin Timberlake? A brief flash of the brunette from the airport inside Amy’s apartment with Luke assaulted her mind, making her instantly upset. “I’ll kill him,” she whispered, returning to her hunt for the door keys. It didn’t take her long to find them the second time, and Amy entered her door like the devil was on her heels. There was a smart retort on her tongue as she sailed through, but she choked it back when her eyes caught a glimpse of her space.

Roses, fresh and long stemmed, filled her walking area and countertops in a plethora of bouquets. A gasp shot from her lips and her eyes enlarged as she rotated three hundred and sixty degrees. Each spot was covered allowing her no room to move through the sea of flowers.

“Oh my God,” Amy said, just as Luke strolled from the kitchen. A single rose was in his hand and he held it under his nose with a piercing stare on her.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “The last thing I would ever want to do, is hurt you in any way. I know I owe you an explanation. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but please, don’t ever leave me like that again. I’ve waited so long to reunite with you.”

There was pleading in eyes and immediately Amy became choked up.

“How… how did you do all this?”

Luke pulled the rose from his nose and created a path to her. His closeness came with heat that drew Amy in a cocoon of warmth. He looked down at her and caressed her face with the palm of his hand.

“Nothing is impossible when it’s important. I know what it looked like at the airport, but you do trust me, don’t you babe?”

Amy exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“I do, but I’m still confused. What is going on between you two.”

“Nothing.”

“Then why does she know when your plane lands or that you’re even coming home. I feel like you’ve been keeping secrets from me, and I can’t tell you how much it hurt to see you embraced by someone else.”

“You’re right, that’s my fault. I shouldn’t have…” He paused but held her stare.

“Shouldn’t have what?”

Luke let out a sigh. “I should’ve made my intentions clear to her.”

“What were your intentions?”

“She is a friend that was there during some of my dark moments.” Luke reached out and grabbed Amy’s shoulders when he saw her visibly flinch.

“Was I not there, Luke?”

Luke didn’t respond immediately. He needed to be careful with his next words. His gaze traveled over her ivory face. “You were, but just like there were times when my phone call was hours or a day late because of unforeseen circumstances, the same can be said when I reached out and you weren’t available. There were several instances that my phone call went unanswered. Some of those calls were unexpected and you were at a nail competition.”

Amy participated in designer nail talent shows. She would sometimes spend thousands of dollars having her nails tricked out into a monstrosity that she considered artwork. When Luke went off to the Army and she went on to Pensacola University, Amy, found out about the competitions through an advertisement on one of the school’s billboards. It peeked her interest and helped her find a way to pass the time while Luke was away. But, after her third show, Amy began to take genuine interest in the competitions. She’d been a runner-up once and took home the silver medal twice. Gold would be sweet but silver was just as euphoric to Amy.

These shows were much like beauty pageants where for weeks at a time, participants would be on the road, traveling from city to city battling it out with different teams. It never dawned on Amy, that during those times, she was missing Luke’s calls. They had an air-tight schedule, one that she made sure to uphold.

“I never knew I’d missed your phone calls. You know I planned and made sure none of my talent shows got in the way of our time.”

“I know,” Luke said, “and you’re wonderful for doing that.” His hand rubbed up and down her shoulder. “But, for me, the scheduled time was not always the right time. I tried, same as you to keep to the timetable, but my life was one rollercoaster ride after the next. There was never a dull moment and trying to adjust wasn’t easy. Believe it or not, whenever I got a chance, I called you.”

Amy’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean? My uncle never told me you called outside our normal preplanned times.”

“That’s because I told him not to. I knew if he did, you would be upset.”

“You’re damn right I would’ve, and I’d have made sure the next time, I was around. But I was never given that chance. Instead, you found someone else to confide in.”

Luke’s gut tightened, and he locked his jaw and let out a rushing breath. He slipped his arms around her waist and drew her so close they were practically sealed as one skin.

“I don’t want to argue with you, Amy. All I’ve ever dreamed about was the moment when I would be close enough to touch you like this.” His hold tightened. “You are the only one I want, and I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. Forgive me.”

They stared at each other, breathing in the air that the other released. Amy’s eyes faltered, and she nodded, and Luke pressed her so tight against him that she inhaled his natural scent. A kiss, soft and slow was placed on her forehead then his warm lips lead a trail down the side of her face. He kissed her neck, and his heated mouth sent a shrill of heat cascading over her skin.

“Shower with me,” he said leading a trail of kisses to her mouth. The softness of his lips and firmness of his tongue invaded the inner recesses of her mouth and she moaned as their lips meshed.

Without giving her a chance to deny him, Luke swept Amy up in his arms and carried her to the master bathroom. Inside, he held on to her while simultaneously reaching out to turn on the shower stall. The spray of water rained in a steamy downpour that surrounded them in a mist of fog. He sat her on her feet and helped her out of her dress. When she was naked, his penetrating stare ate up her form, and his breathing went from normal to silent as if he were not allowing air into his lungs. His gaze traveled up to her perky breasts, and his eyes seemed to shade over. Amy was thoroughly turned on by his perusal, and she leaned her back against the wall and perched a foot up on the edge of the claw-foot tub.

When Luke took her, he did it swiftly. Before Amy had a chance to blink, she was in Luke’s arms. Her legs circled his waist, and she pulled and yanked at his shirt. They managed to get it over his head, but it caught around his neck, and arms, refusing to be tossed, revealing his washboard abs. Amy’s hands slid down the pecs of his chest and dived down to his jeans. She fumbled to get them unbuttoned, but when she did, Luke lifted her and removed them from his carved hips with ease.

Now in his birthday suit, Luke stepped into the shower and pushed Amy’s back against the shower wall. The head of his cock glided across her vagina with a slow dragging dig. Amy shuddered, and a whimper left her lips.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this,” he said.

Luke’s voice had grown deeper, and his lips hovered above Amy’s ear with their chests compressed. His mouth touched her temples, placing a kiss there so tender that it relaxed her bones further. Desire built within them and without a chance to change her mind, Amy was consumed with each inch of his extended shaft.

“Oh…” she moaned.

Amy’s hands clenched his shoulders, her nails digging into his flesh. Luke filled her completely, burying himself to the hilt.

“Oh… my God,” Amy moaned again. She hadn’t expected to be so thoroughly taken. Luke had surely grown up and not just in height.

He kissed the side of her face while his hips rocked in and out smoothly. She held on to him as if letting go would cause her to combust into a million tiny embers. The heat that covered their skin became a blanket of instant perspiration, and their breathing kicked into gear as did the bump and grind against the wall.

“Oh… Luke,” she purred. “Baby, oh my God.”

Luke’s strokes became intense as his hips dipped and drove inside her. Slaps of diffusion from their joining penetrated the walls, and a thunderous sound, something like a growl trekked from Luke’s lips.

His mouth discovered her neck, trailing down her shoulders as their rocking became animalistic. Amy screamed and held on for dear life while Luke found pleasure in consuming her whole. How they would move forward from this moment remained a mystery; one they would have to endure together. But right then, Luke and Amy set aside those thoughts and filled themselves with one another, completely immersed in their joining.