“So…this isn’t the way back to my apartment,” I said from the passenger seat of the BMW about five minutes later as Luke drove the car across the Royal Park Bridge from West Palm Beach into Palm Beach.
“Oh, it’s not?” Luke gave me a sideways glance as he brought the car to a stop at the first light on the island. “My bad. You said go home, so I just thought—”
“Don’t act so innocent.”
“What? I’m trying to be a nice guy here. I just saved your life.”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far. But thanks.”
“Besides, my place is closer.” Luke took his hand off the steering wheel and wrapped it around mine again. “I figured…”
I laughed. “Figured what?”
He shrugged. “I’m trying to be a gentleman here, I promise. So, why don’t we just stop there first, and then see what we think?”
I knew better than to argue. In fact, I didn’t want to. In comparison to what I’d just had to deal with, Luke and his constricted, strange, gilded life seemed like a dream. And I wanted more of him. Being around him felt like being on a drug. My eyelids seemed heavier, and my muscles relaxed in his presence.
If I wasn’t careful, I’d become addicted to Luke Rothschild very fast.
I was still thinking this fifteen minutes later as I sat at his kitchen table with a fresh glass of wine. “You live a beautiful life. That’s undeniable.”
Luke sat across the table from me. He, too, held a glass of wine. “It’s beautiful on the outside, I’ll admit that. But I told you, it comes with its own challenges.”
“Faye, and what happened to her,” I said softly.
He nodded and set his jaw a little tighter.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought her up again.” I glanced away and focused on the tilework of the backsplash for a second. “I know you don’t like to talk about her.”
“It’s okay,” Luke said, and the warmth in his voice made me turn my eyes back to him. “I like the fact that you do. Most people, outside my family don’t like to bring her up. It’s like they’re scared to upset me. But you’re not, are you?”
“No, but that’s because I can be a blunt person. It’s just easier in life to call things like they are, sometimes.” I studied him. “And your father is another huge challenge, isn’t he?”
Luke’s handsome mouth moved into a wry smile. “He’s certainly one of them, yes.”
“Speaking of him, how did the trip to New York go? I thought you’d be staying the whole weekend.”
“No, I decided not to. It wasn’t simple. It’s never simple.” Luke sipped his wine. “I don’t like what New York does to me, I came back earlier than I first expected. It seemed easier to be in Palm Beach than to be stuck dealing with family expectations in a city I hate.”
“Hate is a pretty strong word.”
He drank some more wine. “Only word that fits.”
Something about the wistful expression on Luke’s face made me think he wasn’t telling me all that he could about whatever had gone on in New York.
“You don’t want to talk about it, do you?”
“No,” he said evenly.
I looked away again and focused for a moment on a large, abstract, watercolor painting that hung on the kitchen wall above a low set of cabinets. When I glanced back at Luke once more, I swallowed. “Well, I’m sure it can be complicated.”
Of course, I didn’t understand. How could I?
Luke cleared his throat. “Here’s the important thing to remember—it doesn’t matter how much money is at stake or what people ‘think’ about my family’s legacy. In the end, it’s all about the basics. My father likes control. In fact, he worships it. He thinks if he controls me, he controls his legacy.” He eyed me. “You know what? You’re really gorgeous, Natalie.”
“Don’t change the subject.” A flush of warmth spread up my neck and face. “But, thank you.”
“I bet people tell you that all the time.”
“They don’t.”
“A shame.”
My gaze met his. “You should see the kinds of guys that I usually meet. Like the one earlier tonight? Before you found me at the waterfront?” I shook my head as if that would shake the unpleasant memory out of my head. “He was a real winner.”
“How?”
“Pretty on the outside, but that’s about it.” I closed my eyes at the memory. “Nothing underneath the surface. Someone who idolizes himself as much as his daily trips to the gym.”
“You don’t need guys like that.” He got up from the table and moved to the refrigerator, where he offered me another round. When I declined, he refilled his wine and took a drink from his refreshed glass. “You need a real man.”
“And that’s you?”
“Yes,” he said as he sauntered toward me, glass in hand. “Haven’t you guessed? That’s me.”
Luke stopped only when he reached my side, and when he did, he placed his wine on the table, then stroked the edge of my jawline with his index finger. “You’re nothing like the other women I’ve been with in a long time. And I like that.”
“I like it, too,” I whispered, suppressing a shudder of excitement from his hot touch.
The words had barely escaped my lips before Luke leaned down and kissed me. He crushed his mouth to mine, and it sent a chill through my body. I couldn’t stop myself from kissing him back, and I realized in that moment just how much I wanted that from him.
We stayed locked together. The moment was too perfect, too much of a relief. Soon, I stood from the chair so that I’d be able to meet his endless kisses full on, without any distractions. He groaned as I did this, and pulled me into his arms. We embraced like we’d both been waiting to do so for weeks, as if the moment had been building and demanded a release.
“Jesus, Natalie,” he breathed against my mouth after a few moments. “I want you. Do you realize that?”
“Good,” I replied. “Because I want you, too.”
He pulled away a little farther. “I knew I had to have you when I first saw you that afternoon, when I almost hit you with my car.”
“I’m glad you didn’t hit me. That would have sucked.”
He chuckled and ran his hands up and down my exposed arms before stopping at my neck just underneath my hair. “Will you stay the night?”
We both knew what would happen if I did, and he probably could guess that I would. Spending the night with him was a foregone conclusion. Still, I decided to tease him for a moment.
“How badly would you like me to stay?”
Luke pressed his forehead against mine. “Do you really have to ask a question like that? I think you can figure out the answer.”
His mouth found mine again, and neither of us held anything back. We melted into each other, and before I knew it, he was leading me through the house, and up the wide staircase. “My room is on the left,” he said when I reached the catwalk landing that crossed over the expansive living room and united the two major wings of the house.
As soon as we arrived at the doorway, he lifted me up, then carried me to the bed and laid me down on the silky duvet. Luke’s master bedroom featured a California king bed, a few lounge chairs, and an open area that I assumed ended at the master bathroom. Two large pieces of modern art complemented the minimalist décor.
“I’m going to make you scream,” he murmured. “Like no one else has before.”
“Good,” I said, already losing myself against his touch. “Because I need you to fuck me. Now.”
He lowered his head and growled in my ear. “Do you know what you just said?”
“Yes. And I meant it.”
Luke must have taken me at my word, because his lips covered mine again, and the kisses intensified as a fever built between us. His hands seemed like they were everywhere, and nowhere all at once. When I couldn’t take it any longer, I untied the straps of my dress and pushed it down, leaving my collarbone and the top of my chest exposed. Luke followed my lead and traced a pathway down my body with his lips. When he arrived at my breasts, he massaged one with his hand and drew the other into his mouth.
I drew in a sharp breath. “Oh, god.”
Luke played with my breasts for a while, then turned his attention further south. He pulled the dress down my hips and off my legs, taking my underwear with the garment. He explored my ribs and the soft swell of my stomach before stopping just underneath my belly button. As I lay naked before him, he spread my legs and slipped his index finger inside of me. I rose up to meet him, and the warmth inside me built as he stroked in and out of my core. He kissed me a few times as he pleased my body, and then his mouth traveled to the apex of my thighs.
I groaned again.
“You are so beautiful.”
His tongue teased me where, moments before, his fingers had been. I relaxed against the bed and took in the ecstasy of it all, letting the moment wash over me like a smooth ocean wave. He tasted every part of me, and when I couldn’t take it any longer, I let go, giving in to my feelings and the utter rawness of how he seemed to know where I yearned to be touched. Before I knew it, he was naked, too.
“Are you ready for more?” Luke whispered in my ear. “Because I’m not finished.”
He found a condom in the nightstand and put it on, then moved us underneath the duvet. The cold sheets made me shiver, and the heat of his body seemed hotter. I craved every part of him, and I begged him to take me.
He responded by starting a long trail of kisses from my ear to my stomach before he entered me with a decisive thrust.
We moved together in the bed, becoming as one. The energy between us continued to build, and he said my name over and over as we elongated the chemistry. I needed it to never end; our connection seemed to strengthen with every second and every touch. Finally, I reached the edge just before he did, and we sank together into the bed, a tangle of arms and legs.
“That was amazing,” I managed in between deep breaths while I tried to still the pounding in my heart and lungs.
“You have no idea how sexy you really are.” He kissed me. “And yes, that was unforgettable.”
Luke smoothed the sheets and arranged the duvet around us, then he lay on his side and wrapped one arm around me. His hand settled in between my breasts. We fell asleep in the stillness, the faint sound of the evening tide in the distance.