My panties nearly burst into flames, and I squeezed my legs together.
The ride on his bike back to the house was even better than the ride to the store. I’d thought I would like wrapping myself tightly around a hard man and feeling the vibration of a motor underneath me, but the reality was so much better than I’d imagined. Riding as a passenger in a car put me to sleep. The back of the bike was the opposite; every bump in the road pressed me against the man I held on to. Every sound and vibration was exhilarating. This was living, wide awake and hyper-aware of every sensation.
In high school, my friend Mandy had always had a monster smile on her face when she came back from a ride on her boyfriend’s motorcycle. Today I finally understood why.
“What’s with the eagle tattoos?” I asked into the intercom. He had identical ones on each shoulder.
“I like eagles.”
The master of understatement had spoken.
We stopped at a red light next to an old lady in a Buick who kept looking over.
Luke glanced her way.
I moved my hand down from his stomach toward his belt. “Talk, macho man, or I’m going to embarrass you.”
“Behave yourself, or you can walk.”
“A gentleman wouldn’t leave a lady stranded.”
He chuckled through the intercom. “And who said anything about me being a gentleman?”
“The eagles?” I prompted again as I moved my hand lower, and Granny’s eyes widened.
“Eagles signify a few things to me,” he said.
I lifted my offending hand and waved it at Granny before putting it back at a respectable height.
“The eagle denotes freedom. And he’s not afraid of anybody.”
“Kind of like you?” I asked.
A heavy sigh came through the speakers in my helmet. “I appreciate freedom more than most, and yes, like the eagle, I don’t back down.”
I contemplated that. “Why two that are the same?”
“They’re not the same. Did you know there are two carpets for the Oval Office of the White House?”
I waited for him to continue.
“The eagle in the center of each has an olive branch in one set of talons and arrows in the other. During peacetime, his head is pointed toward the olive branch. During wartime, the carpet is changed, and the head looks toward the arrows. It’s sort of my motto: If you’re peaceful with me, I don’t mess with you. But otherwise, God help you, because I’m coming at you with everything I have.”
“Sounds like you’ve been in a few fights.”
We traveled a bit farther down the road before he answered. “More than one.” His tone didn’t invite more questions.
The scars came back to mind. I was wrapped around a man who not only had a hard body but had endured a hard life.
Tingles of anticipation rolled through me as we carried the groceries inside. I wondered how much later he’d meant when he’d said we’d continue.
Luke tried to act nonchalant as he loaded items into the cupboards, but the bulge in his pants said I wouldn’t have to wait long.
As soon as I closed the fridge on the last of the items, I got my answer.
He caged me against the refrigerator door, passion swimming in the blue of his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Sure about what?” I teased. I’d never wanted a man more desperately.
He brought his face to mine, and we touched noses. “If we start this, I’m not going to want to stop,” he said, his breath hot enough to melt me.
“Then don’t stop.” I’d lit the match, and the fire in his eyes wouldn’t be denied. With my good hand behind his neck, I pulled him down for the kiss that would continue from where we’d left off.
Instead, he pulled away, took my hand, and moved me toward the hallway. “We’re not doing this in the kitchen.”
I laughed as I followed. “A closet is good enough, but the kitchen isn’t?”
He tugged me around the corner and into his bedroom. “You deserve better.”
Without words, we worked to undress each other—all except the stupid cap he wouldn’t let me take off.
And then he stood back, not touching me, just roaming my body with his eyes.
I moved to cover myself, feeling vulnerable in my nakedness.
“Don’t,” he said firmly. “You’re fucking gorgeous. I want to remember this moment.”
After a few seconds of discomfort, I let my hands fall away. Two could play this game, and I let my eyes take in the sculpted muscles of his body as he scanned me. The super-broad shoulders, the impressive pecs, the defined six-pack—or was that an eight-pack?—of abs. And last, but certainly not least, the huge, bobbing shaft of his manhood. “I could say the same about you.”
He reached out. In no time, our bodies were flush together, and his mouth was on mine with the same abandon as earlier. I opened my lips to him and groaned as our tongues slid against each other for only the second time in a dance of passion.
I pulled him to me, feeling the rippling muscles of his back and then his butt beneath my hands as I yearned for even more contact, skin to skin, his hot erection pressing against my belly.
Luke’s hands roamed my back, then moved between us to cup my breasts and circle my sensitive nipples as we traded moans of pleasure.
He broke the kiss and urged me backward to the bed.
I laid back and shifted to make room.
His next move surprised me. He urged my knees apart and kissed his way up my inner thighs, slowly approaching my apex.
The anticipation of his kisses killed me. Each scorched my skin hotter than the one before. My pulling at his hair had no effect. He went slowly, inch by inch up my thighs, first one side and then the other.
He urged my knees wider, until I was completely open to him. He licked the length of my folds.
I sucked in a breath at the sensation.
His eyes locked with mine. “You taste delicious.” A finger entered me as his tongue began circling my clit, flicking, teasing, sucking.
The electric shocks ran through me with each movement of his tongue, each scrape of his stubble against my thigh.
He added a second finger and found the sensitive spot inside that threatened to undo me completely.
His eyes locked with mine again. “Come for me, Red,” he said as his fingers continued their work.
I twitched beneath him, moving my hips against his movements, pulling at his hair as he varied the pace.
His tongue and fingers worked in unison, a wondrous rhythm sending me ever higher. Everything tightened within me, and I tensed, grabbing his hair, the sheets, anything, before I tumbled over the edge with a series of loud moans as the tidal wave of pleasure rolled through me.
He finally pulled his face away, the slick wetness of me evident on his jaw.
Breathless, I melted into the mattress. “I still want you inside me.” That had been amazing, but I wasn’t denying either of us the next act.
“Just a sec.” He got up.
I watched as he pulled a condom from the nightstand and sheathed himself. In latex, he looked even bigger than before.
He moved between my legs and positioned himself at my entrance. He pushed in slowly, stretching me.
As he entered me farther and settled against me, I winced as pain shot up my hip. I tried to hold back the yelp, but failed.