ive
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Luke boarded the plane at DFW International airport, and waited patiently for the other passengers to make their way down the narrow center aisle as they looked for an optimal place to spend the next three hours. Considering patience wasn’t his strong suit, Luke mentally patted himself on the back for not running through the crowd to get where he was going.
Glancing through the cabin, he took note of the other passengers, looking for one particular person. The seat wouldn’t matter.
As he approached row eight, he noticed the dark haired beauty seated next to an equally dark haired beauty, only the other one was about twenty years older. The woman seated to Sierra’s right must have been Veronica Sellers, considering she looked like an older, more refined version of Sierra.
When he approached the row, he caught Sierra’s attention and tried to control himself.
“Morning.”
The smile she beamed at him was bright enough to rival the sun and Luke was momentarily blinded, his heart instantly kicking into overdrive.
“Good morning, Luke.” Sierra offered a prim and proper response. “I’d like you to meet my mother, Veronica.”
“Nice to see you again, Veronica. I was hoping I could steal Sierra away from you for the next few hours. If it isn’t too inconvenient.”
The grin Sierra’s mother shot at him mirrored her daughter’s initial one, but the twinkle in her eye was just for him. The million watt smile Sierra had flashed him was no longer visible, but her confusion was.
“I don’t mind at all.” Veronica stated sweetly, giving her daughter a good natured shove. “Join Mr. McCoy, Sierra. I’ll be fine.”
Luke watched the emotions play on Sierra’s face, confusion, disbelief, and then something else… Determination. Her shoulders went back, and she forced a smile, but Luke could tell she wasn’t happy with his request.
For the last twenty four hours, he’d spent his time thinking about this woman, and he vowed the moment he woke up that he wouldn’t be kept away from her any longer than he had to be. The idea of hijacking her from her mother hadn’t come to him until a few minutes before he boarded the plane, but now as he watched her reluctantly move out of the seat and into the aisle, Luke was glad he’d opted to do so.
“There are empty seats about six rows back.” He told her as he followed, a front row view to her perfect ass encased in tight, faded jeans that hugged her hips. So small, yet so incredibly curvy, the black t-shirt molded to her petite frame showcased every slight peak and valley. He’d been so engrossed in taking her in, he almost missed the way her spine straightened at his remark. He grinned to himself.
To his surprise, Sierra moved two additional rows back and to the other side of the plane, purposely ignoring his original instruction. Instantly he knew this trip was going to be more than interesting, it was going to be downright hot.
Luke allowed her to sit by the window while he took the aisle seat, offering them a degree of privacy without a third person in their row. Being that the plane was small and apparently full, Luke didn’t expect complete privacy, but he did hope to talk to her without any interruptions.
Once they were seated, and Sierra had fastened the seat belt across her tiny waist, Luke followed suit. The scent of her perfume tickled his nose and made his cock throb. No flowery fragrance for this woman. The scent was sharp, yet subtle, a hint of spice and something erotically stimulating. Her perfume suited her nicely.
“Mr. McCoy, I hope you know what you’re doing.” Sierra stated, her voice but a whisper, and for a moment, Luke thought he imagined it.
“Always.” He assured her, turning his head to look at her. Those silver-blue eyes pierced him, and he noticed she was no longer smiling.
His attention was drawn to the last few people easing down the aisle, making their way to the few seats left in the back. His eyes locked with Cole Ackerley's and memories from that one night flooded through him. When Cole’s eyes darted to the woman sitting next to Luke, something akin to fire developed hot and fierce inside of him. The other man’s interest was evident, but Cole turned his gaze away and managed a smirk, not saying a word as he passed by.
“Do you know him?” Sierra asked, catching his attention.
“Why?”
Sierra looked at him in disbelief and then turned to face forward once again. “No reason. And remind me not to ask any more questions.”
“Why’s that?” Luke asked, but Sierra simply laughed – without mirth – and it donned on him that he was answering her questions with questions of his own.
For the next half hour, they both remained quiet as the plane departed from the terminal and then made its ascent into the clear blue skies over Dallas, on their way to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Luke hadn’t seen Logan and Samantha, but he figured they had managed to secure seats at the front of the plane. Since he had been so engrossed in trying to locate Sierra, he likely just overlooked them. Although he wasn’t sure exactly where Cole was located, Luke could feel the man somewhere behind him.
“So, are we going to spend the next four days with me asking questions and you answering with questions?” Sierra’s husky voice broke the silence.
“Why would I do that?” Aiming to get a rise out of her, he hit his mark. “Damn you’re pretty when you get irritated.”
A sweet, rosy blush crept up Sierra’s neck and stained her high cheekbones, and the sight struck something deep inside of him. He didn’t know a damn thing about this woman, other than she was an interior designer who grew up in Tennessee, her mother worked for Xavier Thomas, and she was feisty as hell, but what he did know he liked. A lot.
“Ok, you win. I’ll tell you about myself.” Luke offered, wanting to put a smile on her pretty face. When she turned slightly in her chair to face him more directly, his body tensed, but he forged on.
“I was born and raised in Dallas, my parents died when Logan and I were about eight, leaving us to live with my ornery old grandfather, and truth be told, we couldn’t have selected anyone better to put up with us.”
“I’m so sorry.” Sierra consoled him, and the feel of her silky fingers against the back of his hand had a different feeling flowing through him.
“We gave him a run for his money, but the old man kept up with us like a champ.” Luke continued, not wanting to think about the soft feel of her hand or whether the rest of her was just as soft. “When we graduated from high school, Logan went off to college, and I stayed close to home, choosing to go to UTD for business.
“Up until about five years ago, I hadn’t found what I was looking for, but I managed to get some experience under my belt working at various companies usually in management of some sort. Then the club came up for sale, and Logan and I used our inheritance to purchase it, turning it into what it is today.” Luke said, glancing at Sierra.
“And that is?” Those glowing blue eyes were fixed on him as she asked.
He hoped she wouldn’t ask that question, but given they were going to spend the next four days together, in one capacity or another, Luke felt it necessary to get it out in the open. “Club Destiny is a sex club.”
“A swingers club? Not a brothel, I assume?”
Her political correctness made him want to laugh. He was genuinely surprised by her reaction altogether. She didn’t seem put off by the idea, and that was a first for him.
Granted, Club Destiny had nearly one hundred exclusive full time members and another fifty or so part time members, all of whom shared the same lifestyle and interests in some form or fashion as Luke and Logan, but he rarely met anyone off the street who didn’t give him a questionable scowl when he mentioned his profession.
“That’s correct. It’s more of a lifestyle club that caters to the needs of our members.”
“Is it limited to married couples?” Sierra asked, and Luke realized she knew more about his world than he expected.
“No. Single, married, it doesn’t matter. However, membership to Club Destiny is steep, which is a requirement to keep the sort of clientele we’re looking for.” Steep was almost an understatement. For the price, an interested party knew what they were signing up for when they joined.
“What about nonmembers? Can they engage in any activities?”
“No. Our policies are finite and extremely strict as we aim to ensure the anonymity of our clients. As you saw the other day, we have a public facing club that we open to anyone, but the other is limited to members only.”
“Are there rooms on site?” Sierra asked in all seriousness.
Luke didn’t know what to think about Sierra’s inquisitions. She knew all the right questions, the same ones that he frequently received from those applying to become members of his club.
“Yes.” Realizing they were venturing into unchartered territory, Luke was reluctant to continue answering her questions without throwing out a couple of his own. “You sound familiar with this type of club. Have you ever been a member of one?”
When Sierra’s cheeks brightened once again, and her eyes averted, Luke wondered if he had nailed it. Unsure of what he hoped her answer would be, he held his breath as he waited.
“No. I haven’t.” She admitted, but she didn’t turn to look at him again.
“Is that because you didn’t want to?” He had to ask.
“Yes.” She said, her bright blue eyes flickering with some hidden emotion. “Yes and no, I mean. It isn’t that I have anything against the lifestyle, it’s just that I have never ventured down that path.”
Luke exhaled deeply. He hadn’t realized how much he hoped she would say that until the words were out. For some reason, the fact that she hadn’t been a member of a club like his, spurred on his possessive nature. But something in the way she answered said there was more to the story than she was letting on.
“Have you ever been married, Sierra?”
Her head jerked in his direction, but then she covered her reaction smoothly. “Yes.”
“Are you married now?” He asked, trying to hold back the fury starting a slow pulse deep inside. There were boundaries he would cross without hesitation, but he would never, without explicit permission, be with another man’s wife.
“No. I’m divorced. Eleven years now.”
Luke tried to do the math in his head, but since he didn’t know how old she was, he wasn’t able to pinpoint an exact timeframe. Based on her appearance, and what he did know about her, Luke assumed she had been remarkably young when she got married.
“How about you? Are you married?” Sierra asked, turning the tables on him.
“No. And before you ask, no, I’ve never been married. So, what happened?” Luke felt there was more to her story than just the normal irreconcilable differences, and when the question tumbled out, he didn’t try to hide his interest.
“What happened with what?” He could see her attempt to deflect the question, but Luke wasn’t going to let her off that easily.
“With your marriage.” He clarified, hoping to back her into a corner.
“It’s a long story.” She said, turning to face the seat in front of her once more.
Luke took a chance and placed his hand on her arm, aching to touch her, and wanting her to know he was genuinely interested. He made a show of glancing down at his watch, then back at her. “We’ve got time.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Sierra remained as still as physically possible, the warmth of Luke’s hand on her arm sent sparks straight through her.
His dark, tanned hand was a remarkable contrast to her much paler skin. As if that wasn’t enough, the size of his hand compared to hers, the coarse feel of his skin, made her insides do flips. She wondered what those hands would feel like on the rest of her.
She didn’t want to talk about this, but she had no one else to blame for the direction their conversation had taken. After all, she had been the one to start it, which meant she would have to be the one to finish it. Either she would sit back and share the next hour and a half with Luke, telling him her deepest, darkest secrets, or she could shrug him off, tell him that it was none of his business. The crazy thing was, she wanted him to ask these questions, she wanted him to be interested in her. Answering him was the only downside.
“I was eighteen years old when I got married to my high school boyfriend.” Sierra began, feeling the loss when Luke pulled his hand from her arm. “We had just graduated from high school, and my mother had just moved to Dallas. I think I had some abandonment issues, which made for some downright lousy decisions. We were married for less than three months before I filed for divorce, realizing that he wasn’t able to give me what I was looking for.”
“Was it mutual?” Luke inquired, making Sierra relive those days that she had pushed to the far recesses of her memory.
“In a sense, yes, I think it was.” Sierra stated, and then turned to look at Luke. “Be careful where you go with this conversation, Luke. I want to make sure you’re ready for the answers you’re going to get.”
The look of pure lust on his face had her insides quivering. Sierra had always known there was something different about her, something that burned just a little too hot, but she had never found anyone who could extinguish the flames inside of her. With the way Luke looked at her, the things she knew about him, Sierra wondered if she had finally met the man who could at least sate the unfulfilled need that was a living, breathing thing.
She wished she had recognized her own idiosyncrasies long before she said ‘I do’, but, unfortunately, for both her and Brian, she hadn’t. Granted, Sierra wasn’t sure how she would have known since she had been a virgin when she married Brian, and not long after they were married, they both realized they were completely incompatible when it came to sex.
“I’m always careful.” Luke’s tone was more a warning than anything. “Tell me, Sierra.”
“We weren’t compatible. Sexually.” Sierra tried to keep her voice low, not wanting the other passengers to hear their conversation.
“How so?”
The look she shot him was her attempt to get him to stop with the intimate questions, but he didn’t look at all worried. In fact, he grinned, that slow, seductive tipping of his sensual lips that made her want to climb over the armrest and straddle him just so she could get a little closer.
Sierra leaned in, hoping to keep her words between them. When Luke leaned in as well, Sierra breathed in the spicy musk of his cologne, his intriguing scent rushing through her bloodstream like a drug.
“I might look sweet and innocent, Luke.” Sierra whispered, then leaned just a little closer until her lips nearly brushed his ear. “I’m anything but.”
His deep inhale told Sierra what she needed to know. He was affected by her, and since he owned a club that catered to the sort of lifestyle she had always been fascinated by, she didn’t think he was turned off by her admission. When he gripped her wrist, hard enough to get her attention, but not hard enough to hurt her, Sierra moved back, her eyes locked with his.
“Honey, you might not be sweet and innocent, but I’m the one that needs to be handing out the warnings. Tread lightly when you try to tempt me.”
Sierra’s eyes went wide, and she tried to comprehend what he was telling her. Apparently he realized she needed further clarification because he leaned in so that his mouth was up against her ear, ensuring she was the only one who would hear him.
“I’m not some little boy you can toy with or one that you can tease with your so called needs. In case my brother didn’t tell you, I’m the real deal. I don’t have any qualms about stripping you naked right here in this seat and burying my face between your legs until you scream my name. You might want to think this one through because until now, until me, you haven’t met the man who will make you own up to those fantasies of yours.”
Sierra’s entire body went rigid; heat pooled between her legs and her clit began to throb just from the gruff sound of his voice and the words he said. And for the first time in her life, she wondered if she might have actually met her match.
“Do you understand what I’m telling you, Sierra?” Luke asked, his breath still warm on her ear.
She couldn’t speak, but she managed to nod her head in understanding. Oh, she knew what he was saying alright, and though she couldn’t tell him, those embers that had been glowing deep inside of her sparked to a full blown inferno.
“Answer me. That’s the only rule I have. You must always answer me because it’s imperative that I know exactly where you stand.”
“Yes.” Was that her voice? God, she was breathless. “I understand.”
Luke pulled away just as the stewardess approached, offering them drinks and peanuts. She needed a drink alright. A strong one. But the only thing she was hungry for wasn’t served on an airplane menu.