Dirty Sample
Elise Phillips scanned the bar and grill as the door closed, leaving the June warmth behind her.
An arm toward the back of the room shot up, waving. Next, she saw her college friend’s light-brown hair, and then Rachel Garwood’s pixie face lit up as she beckoned her to the table.
When Elise approached, Rachel stood and squealed, her hazel eyes shining, as she held out her arms for a hug. Rachel had to step on her tippy-toes while Elise had to bend down. Elise was five-seven, but Rachel was only five-two.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” Rachel said. “I can’t believe you get to come out with us whenever you want now.”
About a month ago, Elise had moved back to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where she’d gone to high school and college. She’d found out her father was sick, and she wanted to be close to him just in case he didn’t have much time left. Even though Rachel had also been born and raised in the Twin Cities, they hadn’t met until they became roommates at the University of Minnesota.
“Me either,” she said as she stepped back from her friend.
“So, how’s the house-hunt going?” Rachel asked as she took her seat.
Elise sighed as she hung her purse on the edge of the chair next to Rachel and sat next to her. “Okay. I’m so glad my old house sold; that’s a relief. I really like the realtor you referred, but so far, I haven’t found something I really like and want to buy.”
“I’m so glad you like Cara. She’s great. And I know what you mean. Sean probably would have been happy with the ten other houses we saw, but I didn’t have that I-could-live-here feeling.” Rachel had just bought a home with her fiancé, Sean, about six months earlier. “I’m sure you’ll find one you like sooner rather than later.”
“I hope so. I can only live with my parents for so long before they drive me completely nuts. I’m twenty-nine, but sometimes, I think they forget that I’ve been living on my own for over a decade.”
“Ah, they’re sweet.”
Elise snorted. “You don’t have to live with them.”
Her mother had always been protective, but her hovering had gotten worse ever since her father was diagnosed with colon cancer.
“Well, let’s agree to disagree. I’m just happy you’re home.”
So was she. Elise had enjoyed living in Denver since finishing graduate school, but it felt good to be home. And, while she would miss it, she didn’t regret coming back once she learned her father was sick.
Elise gestured to the four open seats at the table. “Who else is coming?”
“Do you remember Shelly and Joe Howard?”
“Hmm.” Elise couldn’t quite remember them off the top of her head. “Oh. Did I meet them one year at your Christmas party? Shelly teaches with you, and her boyfriend is Joe. Both redheads?”
“Yes, that’s them. Although they’re husband and wife now. Shelly is actually pregnant. They are going to have the cutest little ginger baby.”
Elise chuckled. “That’s so great for them,” she said, meaning it even though she felt slightly let down.
When Rachel had asked her to have dinner and drinks, Elise had assumed it was going to be a girls’ thing. While she remembered liking Shelly and Joe, they were a couple, which meant one of the six seats belonged to Sean. So, either it was a couples’ get-together and Rachel was setting her up with someone or she was going to be the dreaded fifth wheel. Neither option sounded appealing.
“So, Shelly, Joe, and Sean are coming. Is the sixth seat someone you’re trying to hook me up with?” she asked just as Rachel said, “Oh, look. There are Shelly and Joe now.”
Her friend stood and waved to catch the newcomers’ attention.
Despite the two of them speaking at the same time, Rachel had heard her question. She sat back down and cocked her head. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I know how much you hate being set up on blind dates.”
Fifth wheel, it was then. Elise didn’t know whether to be relieved that she wouldn’t have to fake interest in someone—because she really didn’t have the energy for that tonight—or disappointed that she was going to be the poor single girl.
Turned out neither because Rachel then said, “No, the last seat is for Luke Long. Do you remember him?”
Elise’s answer was a groan of irritation. Oh, she remembered him all right. So did every other member of the student body—at least, those with ovaries. Girls’ IQs dropped when Luke was around. It almost made her embarrassed to be a member of the female sex.
Thankfully, Shelly and Joe walked up, so Rachel didn’t hear her response because Elise knew Sean and Luke had been good friends in college. Greetings were made, and Elise was reintroduced to the couple considering it had been a few years since she last saw them. They talked about Shelly’s ever-expanding belly. She was huge, but she still had seven weeks to go. Shelly was barely over five feet while Joe was a former football player and closer to six feet tall, and they joked about how she was going to have an enormous baby. Thankfully, the group’s joking had Elise almost forgetting all about the previous conversation.
When the door opened, she was sure she could feel a breeze all the way at the back of the room as Sean and Luke walked in. The two of them contrasted each other. Sean was blond and blue-eyed and only about five-eight while Luke was over six feet with thick dark brown hair and chocolate-brown eyes. Sean was showing Luke something on his phone, and Luke threw his head back and laughed, catching all the attention in the room. Elise swore she saw drool on a couple of ladies’ chins.
Barf.
To be fair, Luke wasn’t a horrible person, and she hadn’t seen him in years, since college, so he’d probably matured…hopefully. But, back in school, he’d been quite the man-slut. While he hadn’t been truly arrogant—she’d known some conceited assholes, and Luke had never been like that—he was gorgeous, and he knew it. Girls had practically thrown themselves at him, and he’d had no shame, sleeping his way through the female student body and leaving a trail of broken hearts.
Elise hadn’t been a saint. She’d had a few one-night stands and even a couple of exclusive friends with benefits, but she’d like to think she’d had some discretion. She certainly hadn’t slept with every guy who had hit on her.
Luke looked at one of the girls—probably ten years his junior—who was staring wide-eyed at him, and he winked at her.
Elise rolled her eyes. She might have given him too much credit on the maturing thing.
Luke and Sean reached their table, and she realized that she had watched them walk through the whole restaurant. God, she was such a hypocrite. Her only defense was that she didn’t have her tongue hanging out, and she’d never been dumb enough to hop into bed with Luke.
Sean leaned down and kissed Rachel before taking the seat across from her in the middle chair. Shelly and Joe were already sitting on opposite sides of the table, so all the girls were on one side, which only left the seat directly on the other side of Elise open.
Great. This was supposed to be a relaxing night out with friends. She really didn’t feel like being near King Flirt all evening.
It wasn’t that she thought she was some irresistible beauty. In fact, he probably didn’t even remember her. It was just that the Luke she remembered flirted with everyone who had a vagina.
Case in point, Luke walked over to Shelly and kissed her on the cheek. “Hey, gorgeous. How’s my baby doing?”
Everybody laughed, even Joe. Elise snorted.
“You wish, Luke,” Joe said.
Then, Luke kissed Rachel on the cheek. “Hey, beautiful. When are you going to leave that loser over there and marry me instead?”
“Never,” Rachel told him with a grin on her face. “But I’ll keep you in mind for when he kicks the bucket.”
“Hey!” Sean exclaimed. But he was laughing, too. “I’m never dying, woman. You’re stuck with me forever.”
Luke went around to his side of the table and sat down across from Elise.
Sean pointed to her as Elise held out her hand to shake. “Luke, I don’t know if you remember—”
“Elise Phillips,” Luke said as he met her eyes. Taking her hand, he kissed the back of it, his trademark cocky smile on his face. “Of course I remember her. How could I forget?”
Like she said, flirt.
Luke Long watched as Elise rolled her eyes, cupping the back of her hand where he’d kissed it, and he chuckled. He remembered that, back in college, it had always been easy to get a rise out of her, and it seemed things hadn’t changed very much.
He knew she thought he was a dog, but it wasn’t his fault that he liked sex and that women liked him. It wasn’t as if he forced ladies to sleep with him. In fact, he usually waited for them to proposition him, and Elise probably wouldn’t believe it, but he had said no a time or two.
But she had never been one of those girls. She’d never hit on him, and out of respect for his friendship with Sean, he’d never hit on her. Even though he knew she found him attractive. He’d seen the way she stared at him when he walked in the door today although she tried to hide it.
He always thought that one of the reasons she looked down on him so much was because there was unmistakable chemistry between them, and she hated it. While most girls had liked him back in college because he was a jock who played hockey, that hadn’t seemed to impress Elise. This had only made him want to goad her more. Maybe it was the ten-year-old boy in him.
He could acknowledge that he might go a little overboard on the flirting, but flirting was fun, and he might as well drive Elise nuts since he couldn’t sleep with her. Because, unlike her, he could admit he had wanted to—and apparently, still did.
She was pretty but not exceptionally beautiful, yet there was something about her. She was taller than most women, which he always liked since he was tall himself, and she was thin but not skinny. She had curves in all the right places, and she’d even filled out significantly more since college. She wasn’t too big or too small. Like in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, she was just right. She had long dark blonde hair and large green doe-eyes. And big red lips that the guys in college had labeled DSL—dick-sucking lips.
He snickered, just thinking about it, and Elise narrowed her eyes at him.
Ha.
If she knew what he had been reminiscing about, she’d probably deck him. It was a good thing he wasn’t going to tell her.
No, he wasn’t going to say anything, and he’d do his best not to torture her tonight. He knew from Sean that she’d recently found out about her father’s cancer, and she was busy moving and starting a new job. While Luke liked to provoke her, he’d like to think he wasn’t a total asshole.
Yep, tonight was going to be nothing more than just a bunch of friends hanging out.
Despite Elise’s initial concerns, dinner had been enjoyable, and Luke hadn’t flirted much. Maybe she was right, and he had matured.
Right now, he was in a heated conversation with Sean and Joe about politics. They were all on the same side, but the conversation was still fairly animated. The women were talking about Shelly’s upcoming baby shower and birth, but Elise found herself catching bits and pieces of the things Luke had to say. She was impressed with his knowledge on the subjects they were discussing. He’d obviously done his research, and she was surprised. And rather turned on.
She’d always found intelligence sexy. Not that she didn’t find muscles and a hard body sexy because she was a living, breathing woman after all. It was just that she’d always been attracted to wit. But, right now, Luke was showing brains, and he already had brawn. And she was horny.
Although she’d had two beers with dinner, so that was probably the alcohol talking. That, and the fact that she hadn’t been with anyone for seven months, two weeks, and four days. Not that she was counting or anything, right?
God, she missed sex.
Thankfully, she wasn’t drunk, just tipsy, and she planned to keep her skirt and underwear right where they were. On her body.
But it didn’t stop her from stealing glances at Luke. His deep brunette hair was short and coarse, his coffee-colored eyes were round and large, and his lips were on the full side and naturally rosy. His eyebrows were dark and thick, as were the eyelashes that she would kill for because it would mean never having to wear mascara again. His skin had a beautiful golden tan that she couldn’t help but notice whenever his biceps flexed under his tight T-shirt. He was half-Caucasian and half-Asian—Chinese, if she remembered correctly—and that was where he got his dusky features from. She’d always been a sucker for brown eyes and brown hair. That described almost all of her ex-boyfriends. But none of them had been as good-looking as Luke.
Ugh.
She looked away from him and down at her beer. She should really stop drinking. Otherwise, she was going to go home, feeling sorry for herself, and end up masturbating to images of Luke going down on her while she grabbed on to his short hair.
She looked to her friends to see if they could tell what she was thinking, but they weren’t even paying attention to her. She turned to look at Luke, and he was staring at her with a smirk on his face. But there was no way he could know what she had been thinking, could he?
“Okay, enough talk about babies and politics. Joe and I don’t have many more kid-free nights,” Shelly said, turning Elise’s gaze away from Luke.
“What are you thinking, babe?” Joe asked.
“First, everyone needs to get another drink since I can’t.”
“Works for me,” Joe said as he raised his arm to catch their waitress’s attention. “I’m going to enjoy having a DD for as long as I can.”
“Uh…I’m not sure I should drink anymore,” Elise said.
“Why not?” Rachel asked. “Tomorrow is Saturday, and this is the first time you’ve come out with us since you moved back. We should be celebrating.”
Elise didn’t answer because she couldn’t tell the whole table her lame reason for wanting to cut herself off.
“Yeah, Elise, why not?” Luke joined in.
She couldn’t tell if he was mocking her or not, but she didn’t want to disappoint Rachel. Elise was certain she could stop thinking about Luke sexually, so she said, “Okay, order me another beer.”
“Woohoo!” Rachel said. “That’s the girl I remember from college.”
Elise laughed as their waitress approached.
“Refills for everyone,” Sean said. “And five shots of Jägermeister,” he added, wiggling his eyebrows.
Elise groaned. “Oh God. Jäger was my go-to shot in college. I used to get so drunk off that stuff.”
“And that is why I ordered it.”
“Your fiancé is evil,” Elise told her friend.
Rachel laughed. “Nah, we just want you to have fun with some reminiscing on the side.”
Their server brought back their five shots along with one shot of Coke. “I didn’t want you to feel left out,” she told Shelly.
“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Shelly said. After their waitress walked away, she added, “Someone’s getting a big tip.” She picked up her shot, and everyone else followed. “What are we toasting to?”
“Good friends.”
“Healthy babies.”
“Getting laid.”
“Sean,” Rachel chided.
“What? I’ve been gone all week on business. You know you’re going to be giving it to me later.”
Rachel set her full shot glass on the table. “Yeah, but you don’t have to tell everyone. I work with Shelly. I don’t want her thinking you’re a pervert.”
Joe laughed. “Babe, you wouldn’t think that about Sean, would you?”
Shelly shook her head. “Never.” She put her free hand on Rachel’s arm. “And, if it makes you feel any better, this baby was conceived in the back of Joe’s SUV at his brother’s wedding.”
Everyone laughed, except for Joe, his face serious.
“Baby, we promised to never talk about that. If my mom ever finds out that I had sex in the church parking lot, she’s going to make sure this baby is baptized the minute it comes out, and she’ll make me attend confession every day for a year. At least.”
Shelly stopped laughing. “You’re right. She already thinks her Protestant daughter-in-law corrupted her Catholic son.” She pointed her finger around the table. “Not a word to anyone. I can’t even use the I-was-drunk-when-I-said-that, it’s-not-true excuse.”
Elise understood where Joe and Shelly were coming from. She hadn’t grown up Catholic, but her parents were religious.
“Don’t worry; we won’t say anything,” Rachel promised. She picked up her shot again. “Okay, where were we?”
“To good friends, healthy babies, and getting laid,” Elise said.
Everyone repeated the words, and they all clinked their glasses together and downed their shots.
“Who wants to play pool? There’s one table open,” Sean asked after they all deposited their shot glasses on the table.
“I’m in,” Joe answered.
“I’ll take winner,” Luke said.
The guys got up and headed toward the pool tables. Since their table was in the back of the room, the girls would have a clear view of the game without leaving their seats.
“How did Sean and Luke start hanging out again? I haven’t seen him since, like, junior year or something, and I haven’t heard you talk about him in forever,” Elise asked.
Luke and Sean were two years older in school than Elise and Rachel. The girls had met the guys their freshman year, but Rachel hadn’t started dating Sean until she was a sophomore. Sean and Luke had been roommates, and since Elise and Rachel were good friends, the four of them had seen a lot of each other. Both guys had finished their bachelor’s degrees and stayed on for graduate school, but by that time, Elise had started dating Tyler. She was ashamed now by how much she’d thrown herself into that relationship. She’d barely even seen Rachel their senior year because she was so caught up with her boyfriend.
After Elise and Rachel had finished their undergraduate degrees, they’d both stayed at U of M for graduate school. Elise had been going to school full-time, working as many hours as possible, and moved in with Tyler, so she still hadn’t seen Rachel that much although they both tried.
From what she remembered, the same thing had kind of happened with Luke and Sean. They had both gotten busy, seeing each other less and less, especially since Rachel and Sean lived together, until the two guys no longer hung out and then lost touch. Thankfully, that had never quite happened to Elise and Rachel, and they had remained friends, even when Elise moved to Colorado. It probably helped that Rachel was the shoulder that Elise had needed to cry on when she and Tyler broke up right before her move to Denver.
“I know. It’s kind of crazy. Sean ran into Luke at our local Home Depot, of all places. Did you know that Luke works at Southdale? I was kind of surprised when I found out.”
Elise knew Sean had gone to school for his MBA and worked for a big-box store. It wasn’t hard to believe that Luke had graduated with a master’s, too, and gotten a job at somewhere like Southdale Center, the mall in Edina. He was a womanizer, not an idiot.
She was just about to ask what Luke’s role was when Rachel continued with her story, “Anyway, that’s how we found out we only lived a few blocks away from him. Go figure. We’d practically been neighbors for about two years. After that, it was almost like the two of them had never been separated.”
“Good for them,” Elise said. “It doesn’t seem like Luke has changed all that much.”
Rachel laughed. “You mean, because he’s a flirt and a half? Yeah, he’s still kind of a man-ho. I swear, he dates a different girl every weekend. That’s probably the only thing I don’t like about Sean being friends with him. But Luke has never tried to push his singleness on Sean, and Luke seems genuinely happy that the two of us are getting married.”
“Joe and I have gone out with him only a few times,” Shelly said. “He is totally a flirt, and the women are always eyeing him.” She nodded her head toward the guys. “Like now.”
Elise looked over and saw a beautiful woman sliding up to Luke and getting as close as possible to him.
“But, to give him credit,” Shelly continued, “he doesn’t dog on women when he comes out with us. When he spends time with us, he spends time with us. I can’t even blame all the girls who hit on him. He’s hot. If I were single…”
The woman hitting on him put her hand on his arm. While Luke smiled politely at her, he was standing with his feet spread apart, and his hand on his pool cue, his body facing the pool table. Elise got the distinct impression that he wasn’t interested. The woman slipped a piece of paper in his back pocket and walked away. As soon as she turned, Luke took the paper out and chucked it into the trash can in the corner of the room.
Elise was impressed again because the Luke she’d known in college probably would have ditched them all and walked out the door with the woman without a backward glance.
Luke looked up from the garbage, his eyes colliding with Elise’s so swiftly that she turned back to the girls and took a couple of sips of her drink. She hoped he didn’t think she’d been staring at him.
“I guess it’s true that men can change,” she said, almost forgetting what they had been talking about.
“Nah, we don’t change that much,” a deep voice said in her ear.
She jumped in her seat and turned. “Shit, you scared me.” She hadn’t heard Luke come up behind her.
He was way too close for her liking. He smelled wonderful, a natural muskiness with a hint of aftershave that was utterly male. She wanted to bury her nose in his neck and breathe him in.
Had she mentioned that she missed sex?
She tried not to lean too far away because she didn’t want him to know that he affected her or how confused she felt when she was near him.
He tugged on a piece of her hair. “Another table opened up. Come play pool with me?”
She welcomed the distraction. Now, pool, she could definitely manage.
She raised her brow at him. “Are you sure you want to play against me?” she asked sweetly.
“Sure. You can’t be that bad.”
Elise just laughed.
“You kicked my ass.” Luke sighed, surprise showing on his face. “And here I thought, I was good with my stick and balls.”
Elise ignored his sexual innuendo and smiled. “I asked you if you wanted to play against me,” she said in a singsong voice.
Luke narrowed his eyes. “That was when I thought you were bad at pool.”
She shrugged innocently. “That’ll teach you to assume things about women.”
He snorted. “I didn’t assume you were a bad player because you were a woman.”
She put one hand on her hip. “Then, why did you think I was bad?”
“Because I remember you being kind of a fuddy-duddy.”
“What? I was not. Just because I didn’t fall into bed with you like every other chick does not mean I was a fuddy-duddy.” She swept her hair over her shoulder and stepped closer to him, looking him in the eye. “I’ll have you know, I had plenty of sexual conquests in college. You just didn’t happen to be one of them.”
He grinned down at her. “See, I know you’re trying to make me feel inadequate because we didn’t have sex, but all you’re doing is making me hard.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re hopeless.”
“Nah. Wanna play again?”
“Sure.”
She was actually having fun with Luke. She liked playing pool, and Luke was a good opponent.
“Do you want another beer first?”
She looked into her almost-empty glass. “That’d be great.” After all, she was drinking for the pregnant lady, and she’d managed to keep her hormones in check so far.
“You set up, and I’ll go get us drinks.”
Elise grabbed the triangle and began racking the balls, putting them in their proper place. She grabbed the one ball and put it at the apex when Rachel walked over and leaned against the side of the pool table.
“Are you having a good time?” her friend asked.
“Yeah. I’m glad you asked me to come. I totally kicked Luke’s ass.”
Rachel smiled, but it was hesitant.
Elise stopped what she was doing. “What’s wrong?”
Rachel stood up straight. “I think we’re going to take off. I don’t feel well. Shelly and Joe are leaving, too. Shelly’s tired, and she wants to go home and put her swollen feet up.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Rachel said, putting her hand over her stomach. “I think it was something I ate.”
Elise narrowed her eyes and studied her friend. “Liar. You just want to go home and get laid.”
Rachel blushed. “Guilty. I haven’t seen Sean for a week.” She stuck her bottom lip out.
Elise laughed. “I understand. Go have fun with your man.”
Rachel looked around the room, as if she was calculating the situation.
“What is it?” Elise asked.
“Nothing.”
“Rachel, just spit it out. What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to leave you here with Luke.”
Elise shook her head. “I’ll be fine. We’re having fun. I’m not ready to go home yet.”
Her friend looked over her shoulder to where Luke stood at the bar, talking to Sean. They seemed to be having a serious conversation. She looked back at Elise. “I just want you to be careful.”
Elise tilted her head. “How do you mean?”
“It’s been over six months since you and Jason broke up. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
Elise shook her head in confusion. “I still don’t get it. Why would I get hurt?”
Rachel sighed. “Just don’t sleep with Luke, okay? He’s grown up quite a bit, but he’s still Luke. I’ve never seen him get serious with anyone, and I don’t want your heart to get broken.”
Elise threw her head back and laughed. “We are just playing pool. Nothing’s going to happen.”
Rachel didn’t laugh. “I know you haven’t slept with anyone since before you and Jason broke up.” She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “And I know how horny you get when you’ve been drinking. I also know that sex with Jason was mediocre, at best, so you’re probably really jonesing for sex now. And let’s face it; we both know that Luke probably fucks like a rock star.”
Elise laughed again and shook her head. “Trust me, Rach, you have nothing to worry about. I am never going to sleep with Luke Long.”
The next morning, Elise woke, flat on her stomach, disoriented, with a piercing headache that only came from a hangover. While she’d been living with her parents for about a month now, she’d often still wake up in confusion from forgetting where she was at first. It’d sometimes take her a minute to realize she wasn’t in her house in Denver anymore. She opened one eye to check the time, but the alarm clock wasn’t hers or the one in her parents’ guest room.
She sat up, jarring her already-sore head, and let out a moan. Thankfully, dark shades were covering the windows, casting the room in shadows and hiding the evil sun.
What happened last night? Her memory was fuzzy, and it hurt to think.
She realized she was naked and pulled the sheet up to cover herself as she slowly looked around the room, recognizing nothing. Nothing but the sleeping naked male lying on the bed next to her.
Oh God. No! Panic raced through her body, and memories rose to taunt her.
She’d slept with Luke Long. She’d slept with. Luke. Long.
She whimpered and closed her eyes. She had managed to escape college without screwing the guy, only to have dirty, dirty sex with him last night. And that was only the stuff she could remember.
She was never drinking again.
If Rachel ever found out, she was going to give Elise so much shit—after she quizzed Elise on whether the whole fucks-like-a-rock-star thing was true.
Elise couldn’t recall everything from last night after the rest of their friends had left the restaurant, and Luke and she had decided it would be fun to take a bunch of shots. But, now, she did know that, yes, Luke Long did indeed fuck like a rock star. Her sore vagina could attest to that.
I hate you, alcohol.
Luke shifted beside her, but the arm he had over his eyes remained where it was, and his breathing regulated and deepened again.
She really should get out of there before he woke up, but instead, she found herself staring at his beautiful body. Why does he have to be so gorgeous?
She moved her gaze from his face to his muscular chest and stomach and noticed a blemish of some kind. She leaned closer to look at the red mark directly above his hip.
Are those teeth marks?
A memory surfaced. She’d bitten him so hard that she bruised him…after she went down on him…again. She dropped her head in her hand. She was such a slut.
She looked again at the wound, and her gaze moved to the thin white sheet that was covering one leg and only part of his penis. God, even flaccid, it was thick and long. She remembered thinking it was perfect. She might have even told him that she wanted to mold his dick, so she could use it on herself when she was alone. She moaned softly with embarrassment.
“Jesus, would you stop thinking? You’re making my hangover ten times worse.”
Elise jumped. “Would you stop scaring me?”
Luke chuckled and moved his arm from his face. His brown eyes glittered with amusement. “Sorry,” he said, but his tone indicated that he wasn’t the least bit remorseful.
And, now, she was regretting not getting the hell out of there right away. She looked at the floor next to the bed and only saw a few items of clothing and nothing that looked like the shirt or skirt she’d been wearing last night. Nothing to cover her up so that she could make her escape. Then, she spotted them by the door on the other side of the room and winced.
She looked at Luke, hoping maybe he’d shut his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep, but luck was not on her side this morning, and she found him watching her. It was making her self-conscious, knowing all the naughty things she’d done with him and to him last night.
“Can you please close your eyes, so I can get dressed?”
This made Luke laugh, but she didn’t find it the least bit funny. She needed to get up and out of there before Rachel called her or her parents called Rachel. She really didn’t need a lecture about sleeping with Luke right now—from her parents or Rachel. Especially after she’d told her friend it was never going to happen.
“I think that ship has sailed, Lise. I already saw everything last night, babe.” He looked down at her crotch. “Everything.”
She fidgeted on the bed. First, she didn’t know if she liked him shortening her name like they were close now or something, and second, she suddenly pictured him kneeling between her legs as he parted her and blew on her nether lips right before he—
Luke threw back the covers and sat up on the edge of the bed, giving her a clear view of his back. Even his back was sexy. Except for the red claw marks there.
Holy shit. Had she possessed any restraint last night?
Luke stood and walked to the door to retrieve her clothes. He didn’t seem to care that he was naked because he didn’t bother dressing. Of course, he had a world-class butt. Elise tried hard, but when he turned around, she couldn’t help staring at his morning wood, and she grew wet between her legs.
“Can you put on some clothes, please?” Her tone was bitchier than she had meant it to be, but she really needed him to get dressed before she threw back the bedsheet and spread her legs for him, begging him to fuck her again.
He raised an eyebrow.
“I know, I know. We already had sex, so what’s the big deal? And I’m sorry for being rude, but I’m finding it hard to think with you walking around…” With your big, beautiful dick saluting me.
Luke snickered as he tossed her clothes on the bed, as if he knew exactly what was going on in her head. But he didn’t object as he went into his walk-in closet.
As soon as he was in there, she quickly yanked on her clothes, except for her underwear. She didn’t see them anywhere, and since Luke would walk out at any second, she opted for going commando. It wasn’t ideal since she was wearing a skirt, but at least she wasn’t nude anymore.
Luke exited his closet, wearing a pair of nylon shorts and holding a T-shirt in his hand. The bite mark she’d left stood out against the light gray of his shorts. She considered just pretending like she didn’t know it existed, but she was maturer than that. Or, at least, she wanted to think she was.
“I’m sorry—”
“If you apologize for fucking me…” Luke’s lips were in a hard line, and his eyes had lost all humor. He almost looked hurt. “Look, we’re both adults, both single, we used protection, and no one got hurt.”
She sat on the side of the bed. “Well, see, that’s not exactly true…” She waved her hand toward his lower body.
He shook his head, obviously not understanding. “What’s not true? Are you trying to tell me you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
He frowned. “Are you saying, we didn’t use protection? Because I might have been drunk, and you did almost jump the gun there the first time, but I distinctly remember using condoms.”
Her cheeks got warm as she vaguely recalled pushing him down on the sofa, slipping her underwear off, lifting her skirt, and—
“Open your eyes and watch me while I fuck you, Elise. I want you to know whose cock you’re riding.”
She shook her head before she turned red, clearing the memory. “No, that’s not it either.”
“Okay, Lise, you’re just going to have to spit it out then.”
“Hurt. You’re hurt.” She pointed to his hip and sighed. “I hurt you.”
Luke lowered his head and examined her bite mark. “Oh, yeah, I remember that.” He looked up at her and grinned. “I never would have taken you for a wildcat in bed, but damn, I liked it.” He shrugged and put his shirt on. “Besides, I sort of got you back.” He waved his hand over his neckline.
She gasped and jumped up, bolting for the bathroom. “You didn’t!” she yelled at him before she flipped on the light switch. She lifted her chin up and to the side, and there it was—a big ole hickey right on her neck. Thankfully, the top she’d worn last night had a low collar, so she should be able to find a more modest shirt to cover it for work, but she sure as shit didn’t know how she was going to walk into her parents’ house and not let them see it.
He came up behind her. “I’d tell you I was sorry, but then I’d be lying. If it makes you feel better, I don’t remember doing it, and I didn’t do it on purpose.”
She angled her head to look at it again. “Fat lot of good that does me. It’s there whether you meant to do it or not.”
He leaned in closer to her, meeting her eyes in the mirror. “Well, at least I didn’t bite you,” he teased.
Embarrassed, she didn’t reply. Instead, she worked on straightening her appearance. She finger-combed through her long hair to get the snarls out and used hand soap and water to get rid of the mascara that rimmed her eyes.
She almost forgot he was still there when he said, “I’m going to get coffee. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
She hurried up, trying to make herself look presentable, and quickly used the facilities before heading downstairs.
If she wasn’t hungover and freaking out about sleeping with Luke, she would have taken the time to admire his beautiful home. But, at the moment, she wanted to forget that she had ever been there and get the hell home.
She quickly scanned the living room for her missing article of clothing, but with no luck, she met Luke in the kitchen where he handed her a glass of water and a couple of pills while the smell of coffee brewing filled the kitchen.
“Ibuprofen,” he explained when she gave him a questioning look.
“Thank you,” she said. Swallowing the medicine, she downed the whole glass in a few gulps. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she had been until now.
She handed him the empty cup, and he put it in the sink. After he poured himself some coffee to go, he grabbed his keys off the counter.
“I rode with Sean last night, so my car’s here. You need a ride, I’m assuming?”
“Yes, please.”
“Do you want any coffee?”
She shook her head.
He reached for something else on the counter and handed it to her. It was her purse.
“Do you have everything?”
Everything but her underwear, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. She slung her purse over her shoulder. “Yep, I’m ready.”