Quinn sat in the passenger seat of Luke’s sleek, dark gray sports car, finally able to breathe for the first time in hours. The unease that had clutched at her chest, tightening like a vise with each faked smile and passing minute she’d sat in the Crooked Angel, was finally loosening, allowing her the luxury of a steady inhale/exhale without having to hide the truth from the people who were closest to her. She was in Luke’s car, sitting right beside him. His body was right there. Warm. Safe. Close enough for her to reach out and run her hand over his bare forearm, his fingers that were callused in some places, soft in others.

There. Easy. Breathe…

Luke pulled into the parking lot beside her apartment building, quieting the engine without pulling the keys from the ignition. His gaze moved covertly over their surroundings, mirroring the one Quinn had just sent over the adjacent parking spaces, the brightly illuminated walkway connecting the parking lot with the apartment building, the potential spots where someone might lurk or hide.

“Looks clear.” It was the first thing he’d said since he’d quietly told Isabella and Hollister he was going to take her home, then paid Kennedy for the beers they didn’t drink.

Quinn nodded in agreement. “Mmm hmm.”

Heeding the detectives’ advice not to dawdle, they both got out of the car, Luke locking the doors with a click-CLICK of a button on his key fob before walking her over the paved path leading to the front door of her building. The tension that had made a playground out of her shoulders faded with each step, and she and Luke made their way over the threshold, into the elevator, and down the tastefully carpeted hallway until finally, they were in her apartment.

“I should text Isabella,” Luke said, briefly tapping out a message on his cell phone before sliding the thing back into the pocket of his jeans.

“Thank you for bringing me home.” Heat climbed Quinn’s cheeks as she grew aware of how very alone they were, standing there in her dusky foyer with nothing but the soft light filtering in from the one bulb she always left lit over the kitchen sink. But Luke was the only person she didn’t have to hide anything from. The only person who could get her to breathe. The only person she could be truthful with.

And the truth was, she wanted him.

It seemed completely contradictory that her body should respond in such a primal, greedy way when her brain was a jumbled mess. That was just the thing, though. Her thoughts were a mess around her friends. They were a mess when she tried to work, and they were definitely a mess whenever she remembered the kidnapping. The only time her mind wasn’t on overdrive was when she thought of Luke, with his hand on her rib cage and his breath in her ear, as steady as a heartbeat.

God, she wanted his touch so badly, she ached.

“Do you want to talk about what’s going on with you?” he asked, his eyes steady on hers even through the shadows of her foyer.

“Honestly?” She stepped toward him and shook her head. “No.”

“Quinn—”

“Please, just stop. I don’t want to talk about the other day. I don’t even want to think about it.”

Luke opened his mouth, likely to argue, but she cut him off before he could say so much as a syllable. “Look, I’m not stupid, okay? I know I can’t ignore things entirely. I’m not foolish or flighty enough to think I can magically make the truth into something it’s not. But you asked me what I need, and right now I need to not remember what happened, just for a little while.”

A pause opened between them. Quinn’s heart raced so rapidly she was certain he had to be able to register the constant thump-thump-thump from where he stood.

Finally, he said, “What else do you need?”

For a question that had the potential to be so complicated, her answer was shockingly simple, and even though she knew it made her vulnerable, she didn’t hesitate.

“Just for tonight, I need to feel something other than scared. I need to remember what it’s like to feel good.” She moved closer, until she could feel his exhale coast over her cheek. Yes. This. I need this. “So please, can you stay for a while and make me feel right again?”

“Quinn.” He looked at her, his eyes flaring with emotions she couldn’t read. “I don’t want you to regret asking me that question.”

“I don’t want you to regret saying yes if it’s what you want, too,” Quinn whispered back. “But I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure. I meant what I said the other day, just like I mean what I’m saying now. I want you. I’ve wanted you for a long time, Luke. I—”

He cut her off by closing the space between them in a single move. His mouth was on hers an instant later, hot and hungry and so unbelievably perfect that she nearly cried out. Letting her arms knot around his shoulders, Quinn pushed to her toes, lining up her soft, needy curves with the hard plane of Luke’s chest and abs and hips.

Oh God, more. She wanted more.

She wanted everything.

Quinn deepened the kiss, darting her tongue over the threshold of her lips in search of his, and Luke tightened his hands around the back of her waist. His touch made a shiver rise up her spine, and it spread out over her skin as another shot of want built low in her belly. Swirling his tongue against hers, he tasted and took, retreating just long enough for her to return the favor before he pulled back on a ragged breath.

“Tell me.”

“Tell you what?” Quinn blinked through the ambient light, thrown by the question.

But Luke remained perfectly steady. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want you,” she said, and—oh God, the soft chuff of laughter slipping past his ridiculously talented lips made her pussy grow hot and slick.

“I got that part. But I want to know exactly what you want.”

Her breath caught in her chest, another tendril of wicked heat uncurling between her legs as she processed his words. “You want me to give you directions?”

One dark brow raised. His lips curled into a devastatingly sexy smile, and he lowered his mouth to her ear. Just shy of contact, he murmured, “You want me to make you feel good, right?”

“Yes.” She arched up to give him better access, sliding one hand to the top edge of his jeans as encouragement.

But Luke caught her fingers in his. “You want me to kiss you?”

Quinn’s sigh was her only answer as his lips coasted over her earlobe, more promise than action. He continued, “You want me to touch you?” His free hand ghosted over her bare collarbone, the contact so light she was sure she would explode from how badly she wanted more. Reaching lower, he gripped her hips, pulling her close enough to feel the unmistakable ridge of his rock-hard cock against her belly. “You want me to make you come?”

“Yes.” Her answer collapsed into a moan. “Please, yes.”

Luke stepped back to look at her, his eyes blazing with intensity that she felt in every last part of her body as he said, “Then yeah. Tell me what to do. I want to know everything that makes you hot. Because I promised to make you feel good, and I take both my promises and your pleasure very fucking seriously.”

Oh. God. “Then kiss me,” Quinn whispered, empowered by the soft demand. When he slanted his mouth over hers, she let him linger for only a second before doing exactly what he’d asked.

“Lower, Luke. I want you to take off my shirt and kiss me lower.”

Time slowed down and rocketed forward all at once. Luke reached out, his fingers resting on the buttons on the front of her shirt. Funny that his large, strong hands—the same ones that had fought fires and worked tirelessly to save people from grave danger—moved so reverently over the tiny little buttons on her shirt, gently freeing them from their moorings as if he had all the time in the world. One by one, he unfastened each button, revealing first her skin, then the pink lace halter bra she’d carelessly thrown on before she’d left her apartment, having no clue that anyone would see it other than her. Finally, when Luke had loosened the last button, he shifted back to look at her, his eyes finally settling on hers in the shadows.

“Jesus.” His throat worked over a swallow. “You are so goddamn beautiful.”

It was the only thing he said before he did what Quinn had asked. Tipping her head to the side with one hand, he kissed a path down her neck, not rushing, but not taking his time, either. His mouth felt so good, grounding her in the moment with every slide of his lips and flick of his tongue, and she was powerless against the moan rising up from her chest.

“Like this, then?” he murmured against her skin.

She nodded, her hair spilling over them like a curtain. “Yes, but…”

“But?”

Luke looked up at her, his stare loaded with intensity in the dusky shadows. Quinn was in such foreign territory here—all of her past bedroom experience had been give and take. Having the focus solely on her was so unexpected that she tested her words, and the want that accompanied them, slowly.

“More,” she said. “I want more.”

His only answer was to move. Hooking his fingers in her hair, he slid his mouth over her shoulder, the hammering pulse point at the base of her neck, the top of her chest where the lacy edges of her bra gave way to her cleavage. Every touch sent sparks through Quinn’s body, her nipples tightening and her breath growing heavy with want as he lifted his chin to look at her.

“Tell me,” Luke whispered, and understanding hit her all at once. This wasn’t just some sexy brand of foreplay designed to turn her on.

He was asking permission to take things to each level, giving her the control to get exactly what she needed.

And that power was the hottest fucking thing she had ever felt.

“Kiss me here,” Quinn whispered, pulling her bra aside just far enough to expose one aching, upturned nipple. Yes. Yes. “And do it until I come.”

Luke didn’t hesitate. Wrapping one arm around her back to hold her steady while he curled his opposite fingers around the thin lace, he tugged the fabric all the way from her breast, parting his lips over the peak of her nipple.

“Ah.” The sound broke from her throat, blending in with his pleasured groan in the shadows of her front hallway. But now that he’d started, Luke was far from shy. He swiped his tongue over her sensitive skin in long, sure strokes, alternating slow, open-mouthed kisses with harder, faster movements that turned the want in Quinn’s belly into a screaming, lust-soaked demand. She arched higher, her fingers finding Luke’s shoulders, her nails curving against the cotton of his T-shirt, the hard muscles underneath.

He didn’t stop. Freeing her other breast from the soft triangle of lace over it, he repeated every kiss, cupping her with firm fingers and holding her fast while he licked and sucked and gave her everything she’d asked for.

“Luke.”

Quinn meant to say more. To tell him how good his mouth felt, working her aching nipples in such perfect rhythm. To say how hotly he turned her on, how desperate she was to come, how she was more than halfway there. But somehow, he seemed to already know, as if he could read her simply by touch and taste.

Luke increased the intensity of his movements. There was no longer anything sweet about his ministrations, and God, that just ratcheted Quinn’s need all the more. Her clit throbbed behind the seam of her jeans, the friction from his strong, wet mouth on her nipple making her desperate. Hands turning to fists on his shoulders, she clutched at his T-shirt as he took and gave all at once, until finally, she flew apart beneath his touch.

“Yes. Yes, yes.” Her orgasm surged in from all sides, crashing through all of her pent-up tension. Luke carried her through every blissful wave, softening his touches by small degrees until Quinn released his shoulders, looking up at him in the hushed quiet of her front hallway.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and a laugh surprised her by surfacing from somewhere behind her breastbone.

“Are you serious? I’m so much better than okay.”

He laughed, too, and God, he was so handsome with that rare smile reaching all the way up to his eyes. “You sounded pretty okay.”

Not wanting to break the bubble of the moment, Quinn skimmed her palms over his T-shirt-clad chest, sending a look through her lashes as she pressed closer. “Is this still about what I want?”

Luke’s pupils flared. “Yes.”

“Then come with me.”

Quinn paused for a lightning-fast readjustment of her bra before taking his hand and leading him to her bedroom. Thankfully for her recent untidy streak, the only light came by way of what little slanted past her blinds from the streetlamps below. She maneuvered them to the side of her bed, which was rumpled but, in her defense, mostly made. Pivoting on her heels, she slipped out of her shirt, then her sandals and jeans, putting the same treatment to Luke’s T-shirt and jeans before shifting back to look at him.

She made a sound that was intended as an “oh”, but it never quite formed an actual word. But honestly, who could blame her? Luke was sexy enough to flip all her switches when he was dressed. Standing here next to her bed in nothing more than a pair of boxers that did damned little to hide how mutual their arousal was? Yeah, he was absolutely gorgeous.

“Quinn.” He lifted a hand to reach for her, his fingers curling against his palm at the last second.

Her heart pounded at just how much control Luke was offering her. “I want to look at you.”

Some strange flash of emotion moved through his stare in response, and for a split second, Quinn nearly recanted. Then, so quickly she couldn’t even swear she’d seen it, the emotion was gone, replaced by his usual brand of seriousness, and he nodded in the near-darkness.

“Okay.”

Letting go of his gaze, she took in his shoulders and the flat expanse of his chest. His muscles were lean yet beautifully defined, dips and ridges she wanted to survey with her fingers, her lips, her tongue. His skin was dark and smooth, even in the delicious stretch of space between his navel and the waistband of his boxers, and desire punched through her at the outline of his cock pressed thick and proud against the cotton covering it.

Quinn had dropped to her knees before the realization that she would had even fully formed in her brain.

“This”—Luke paused to hiss out a sharp exhale that sent a shot of heat straight to her core as her fingers found the sinfully sexy muscles on either side of his hips—“is supposed to be about what you want.”

“I know.” Her breath grew shallow as his cock jerked in approval he was clearly trying to battle for the sake of propriety. “But I take your pleasure seriously, too. And right now, I want my mouth on you.”

Wetness bloomed between her legs when he released a not-quite-steady exhale and lifted his hands in concession. Pushing fully to her knees, Quinn slid her fingers beneath the waistband of his boxers and lowered them with one purposeful tug. An appreciative sigh caught in her throat—sweet Jesus, Luke’s cock was as gorgeous as the rest of him—but it lasted for only a breath before she’d parted her lips over him for a taste.

“Ah, fuck.” His body went rigid, his teeth clamped over his bottom lip as if he were upset at having let the harsh swear fly.

But to Quinn, the word had been a testament to Luke’s desire, and God, it just made the ache in her core even stronger. She swirled her tongue over the head of his dick, exploring softly for just a minute before releasing him from her mouth to say, “Tell me.”

“What?” He looked at her through heavy lids, although that serious expression of his still showed through his stare.

“Tell me what you want,” she murmured. “Please. Let me make you feel good, Luke.”

She punctuated the request with another glide of her mouth, her breath tightening as he replied with a want-filled exhale.

“If you want me to feel good, all you have to do is not stop.”

Taking him farther past her lips, Quinn experimented with everything from light brushes of her mouth to harder, faster draws, using his moans as a guide. She wrapped her fingers around the base of his cock, letting them follow the motions of her lips and tongue. Luke’s hips moved in slow rhythm with her mouth, in, then out, rocking with intention over force. The provocative movement made her clit pulse with need so greedy, she dipped her fingers past the lacy edge of her panties, stroking herself with one hand while he filled her mouth with a slow thrust, then another.

“Jesus, Quinn. Are you…”

She fluttered her eyes open just in time to see his ice-blue gaze fixed on the spot where her fingers were buried in the slippery folds of her sex. The look on his face knocked her breath loose—so heated and wild, all she could do was pull back and nod.

An instant later, Luke had scooped her up and guided her over the bed. “You want me to tell you what I really want?” He parted her thighs with a strong press of his dark hands on her lighter skin, and oh God, her pussy felt so empty, she wasn’t sure what she wanted more—to cry in frustration or beg him to bury his cock between her legs.

“Yes,” Quinn whispered, not trusting her voice to do anything else.

“I want to be where your fingers were.” As proof, Luke dragged one fingertip slowly over the seam of her sex, her whole body trembling with need in its wake. “I want to feel the heat of your pussy squeezing my cock.” Another glide, and the friction of his finger on the want-soaked lace between her legs made her arch up for more contact, more pressure, more anything.

“I want to fuck you until you forget your name.”

His words arrived at the same time she said “yes”. Luke shifted back for only the briefest of seconds to—thank you, sweet Jesus—slip a condom from the wallet he’d left in the back pocket of his jeans. He returned to the bed, angling his body between her thighs as if he’d never left. But instead of doing any number of deliciously dirty things to her, he surprised her by placing his hands on either side of her face and brushing his mouth over hers. The kiss lasted for only a breath before Luke redistributed his body weight to his knees, his palms coasting over her waist, then her hips, taking her panties with them as they finished the journey down her legs. After rolling the condom into place, he slid the head of his cock over her swollen clit, rubbing deep circles against her overly sensitive skin.

“Ohhhh.” Sparks flashed in Quinn’s field of vision, begging to become explosions. She gave in to every sensation, each tremble and demand and stroke sending her closer to the release she craved. Luke’s cock slipped easily through the wetness between her thighs, and he edged lower, pressing slowly past her entrance until he filled her completely.

For a second, her breath stopped, her pussy clenching at the sudden, stretching pressure. Luke was bowstring tight over her, his eyes squeezed shut and his lips parted with pleasure. The rare show of emotion arrowed right through Quinn, making her heart kick against her breastbone and her belly fill with brand-new want. She’d seen him look sexy, and she’d certainly seen him look serious, even to the point of wild intensity. But his expression right now surpassed anything she’d ever caught on his face, so wide open and pared down that it sent her pulse flying.

With his emotions front and center right here in front of her, Luke was beautiful.

Quinn lifted her hips off the comforter beneath them, just a tiny motion, up and back. It kick-started Luke’s awareness, though, and his eyes opened, his gaze falling on hers.

“Christ, Quinn. You feel…”

Whatever he’d planned to say got lost on another press of her hips. Balancing his weight on his forearms, he shifted his position, the hard length of his cock sliding directly over her clit. A noise rumbled in the back of her throat, one part pleasure and the other part a lot more primal. Whatever it was, it seemed to cement his focus, and Luke splayed his hands wide over her shoulders while still keeping the bulk of his weight on his forearms, holding her in place as he began to rock harder.

Desire filled her belly, burning brighter and hotter with each thrust. “Ah, God. Please,” Quinn moaned, digging her heels into the soft covers on either side of her for better purchase.

“Tell me, baby.” Luke’s exhale spread out over her shoulder, and he leaned in to place a hot, open-mouthed kiss just below her ear before sliding his dick all the way home.

Quinn’s inner muscles contracted again, daring her closer to release, then closer still. Yes. I want to feel this. Only this. “Fuck me harder, Luke. Don’t stop.”

His movements changed, the thrust of his hips growing deeper and more intense as he levered into her, over and again. Keeping up with the same rhythmic tempo, he did just as she’d asked, fucking her hard and slow until the need at her very center reached critical mass. Luke found some sweet, hidden spot deep inside her core—this. Feel this—and she came undone with a ragged cry. Quinn knotted her legs around the corded muscles of his waist, leaving not even a sliver of space between their bodies. Luke’s muscles flexed and released, the intensity on his face bordering on fierceness as he pistoned relentlessly against her hips, burying himself over and over until finally, he began to shake, her name on his lips as he climaxed.

Quinn kept her eyes wide even though her body felt boneless, spent and hyper-sensitive all at once. Luke lowered his chest over hers, connecting them from their shoulders to where they were still intimately joined, and she memorized every breath, each tiny movement. After some amount of time she had no prayer of measuring, he parted from her body, just long enough to move down the hallway to presumably deal with the condom. The reality they’d checked at the door lurked in the shadows of her bedroom, primed and ready to shatter the moment, but Quinn shook her head, her hair rustling over the bed sheets.

“Not yet,” she whispered. Just until the sun came up, she needed to feel good. She needed this feeling of safety. Of being able to breathe. Of closeness to Luke.

Everything else would find her soon enough.