Going All Out (13 page)

“I want to watch the moonlight play on your skin,” he said.

“You make me feel beautiful when you look at me like this.”

“You are beautiful.” Such simple words. Words he knew she’d have heard before, but they were the right words for what he felt.

He was carried away by a need to stretch out beside her, to explore her at his leisure, to prove that he meant what he said and to understand why she made him feel so awed and so urgent. Dragging down his shorts, he kicked them away and joined her.

They’d shared the surprise of their attraction, the stunning newness of becoming acquainted. But now their need was laid bare. He wanted to convince Bree to open up, to explore the possibilities of what they might have found with each other, but he didn’t want to come on too strong and scare her off.

What he felt was so intense.

There were no games in this moonlit darkness, only admission. He wanted. She wanted. It really was simple.

Bree pulled aside the bedding, and he slipped between the sheets, his body relaxing into the softness of cool silk. Without a word she settled into his arms, her long body
stretching out against his in a fluid motion, lithe curves unfolding, slim legs twining between his.

Their lovemaking in the spa had been the climax of the mounting tension since the night she’d dropped into his life, a rush of red-hot passions, a breathless exploration.

Now the intimacy of holding her close in the darkness humbled him. Bree lay in his arms as if she’d climbed into bed beside him forever, as if they belonged snuggling close with nothing but the bayou night and the moonlight between them.

Urgency yielded to the privilege of holding her, the freedom to bury his face in her hair and inhale deeply. Her fragrance tinged his every breath, and he knew a contentment just embracing her that made him feel content in a way he’d never known before.

She nestled her face in the crook of his shoulder with a sigh, no sense of impatience about her either. Her mouth parted softly around his pulse, a warm, velvet kiss, not of exploration but of welcome, of satisfaction.

She traced her fingers idly down his back, over his butt, as far as she could reach down his thigh. He felt no rush to respond in kind. He pressed his open palm into the curve of her waist to anchor her close. He let her explore at will, savoring the simplicity of the moment.

Two bodies close in the darkness.

Two souls recognizing each other.

Lucas had no good words for what he felt, the sense of awareness, the intimacy, just an unquestionable sense of completeness. But he knew that this was…
right.
And nothing else mattered when he held Bree. Not that they’d met only days ago. Not living on two coasts. Details.

Nothing mattered but holding her.

His desire began to build, the feeling mounting inside
of him and spreading to her. She began rocking her hips, a slow rhythm at first, as if she’d found a pleasure point and needed to feed the ache.

He matched her barely-there rhythm, their bodies swaying against each other like the ebb and flow of the tide.

There were no words, just need. No explanations, just the rightness of knowing they were meant to be together. Two bodies that recognized each other on some instinctive level. He wanted to kiss her, but every thought in his head, every cell in his body, was focused on the pleasure of their bodies, of the liquid heat building inside.

That need grew. His erection surged against her, nestled so enticingly against her smooth skin, stroked by each slow glide of her hips.

And Bree understood how potent his need, knew she could take control by just gliding her hand between them, slipping her warm fingers around his hot flesh.

She gave a slow, sexy pull, and his entire body gathered in reply, his erection surged in her grasp. Her throaty laughter filtered through him with a power that would have driven him to his knees had he been standing. He couldn’t stop from rocking his hips and riding her warm grip, closing his eyes as sensation rolled through him.

Bree knew she had the power within her grasp and ran with it. Her fingers dragged another slow stroke, and as he was sucking air into his lungs to recover from the last jolt, she slipped her other hand between them to fondle his balls.

Lucas bucked unceremoniously, but there was no place to go. Their legs were entwined and their bodies clung together.

“Like that?” she whispered.

He dug his fingers into her firm backside, pulled their bodies close and trapped her hands between them. “Better make sure you can take what you dish out.”

“Sounds like a threat.”

She could still manipulate her fingers and gave his balls a squeeze.

He groaned.

She dragged her open mouth along his throat, kissing and nipping her way along his skin. Part of him wanted to flip her onto her back and feel her soft and yielding underneath him. The other part wanted to let go and let her have her sexy way.

Bree didn’t give him a choice.

Nibbling her way along his collarbone, she bit him hard enough to make him tense. Almost instantly he realized that her maneuver had had the desired effect because he’d shifted enough for her to free her hands and start up a rhythm that answered the question about who was taking control.

She laughed throatily and dragged her tongue over his shoulder. She followed the rhythm of her hand with her hips to create a hunger that had him riding each sexy stroke as pleasure mounted inside.

Through the haze that forced out rational thought, he knew he wouldn’t last long against this assault, so he braced himself against her, used his leg as leverage….

With one show of strength, he flipped her over. She unfolded underneath him, all supple curves and laughter.

“No fair,” she protested. Her eyes glinted and her teeth flashed white in the darkness.

“Yes fair,” he replied.

He lowered his face to catch a kiss, and their mouths
came together. He tangled his tongue around hers, explored the soft recesses of her mouth before pulling away. “You took me for a ride before. Now it’s my turn. I want to feel you underneath me. I want to hear you sigh my name.”

“Oh, Lucas.”

He laughed, sinking between her thighs to lever his erection for a sultry stroke against her moist heat.

The move proved to be a double-edged one. She wrapped her legs around his waist to pull him closer, and he had to close his eyes to manage the onslaught. He could feel her everywhere, the need to take aim and sink inside her was overwhelming.

But Lucas wasn’t ready for this night to be over by a long shot, so he levered himself up on an elbow and thumbed her pleasure point with lazy circles.

This time Bree wasn’t laughing.

He started up his own rhythm, and suddenly her hands stilled and fell away. She raised her arms above her head and arched languorously, giving him a breathtaking view of her body.

“Like that?” he asked.

“Mm-hmm.”

He stroked her until her thighs quivered in reply. “You do realize that two can play your game.”

“What game? The one where you take unfair advantage by flipping me onto my back?”

“What’s unfair? I was on my back in the spa.”

“I liked you there.”

“I like you here, too.” He dropped a kiss onto one rosy nipple, smiled when she shivered. “Perfectly matched, wouldn’t you say?”

But Bree wouldn’t say anything—or couldn’t, he sus
pected—as she nestled against the pillows and closed her eyes.

The shutters fractured the moonlight and spilled slices of light across her beautiful body, and Lucas found himself as caught up in the vision she made as he was in the feel of her. She was languid and quiet, and he couldn’t resist touching her everywhere.

Slithering down on the bed, he wedged his shoulders between her thighs.

“Lucas.” She breathed his name on a sigh and arched in trembling reaction when his mouth zeroed in on his target.

He’d never known this sort of power—not power over Bree, but the power of pleasing her. He felt in tune with her every tremor, every hot clench of her sex as he speared his tongue inside her heat, and she responded to his touches with a wild boldness that charmed him.

His own need mounted when she began to ride his face in an enticing swaying, and he lost himself in the unfamiliar sights and sounds of her body as she rode him to pleasure. She cried out his name as her climax broke, and he tasted her orgasm in every shiver and spasm of her beautiful body.

Suddenly her hands were everywhere, his hair, his neck, his shoulders, as she tried to pull him into her embrace.

“Come here.” Her voice held a breathless quality that made him smile, and he worked up her body with his mouth and his kisses, savoring the way she gasped along the way.

When he finally settled his hips between her thighs, he gazed down into her face. Her eyes were misty, her smile dreamy as she slipped her arms around his neck and offered her mouth for a kiss.

“Do you want to know what my new favorite thing is?” she asked.

“Yes.” His reply was a soft gust against her lips as he resisted the urge to make her mouth his own, to take advantage of the closeness that left her exposed to him.

“Making love to you.”

Her admission struck some chord deep inside, a physical reply that made him begin to vibrate from the inside out. He had no other answer than the need that ravaged the last of his restraint. With a low growl he claimed her mouth.

Taking aim, he sank deep. The world fell away. It was only him and this woman, a woman who taunted him with her bold daring, a woman who touched him in places that had never been brought to life.

Bree.

His consciousness narrowed to the feel of her wrapped around him, the way she lifted against him to meet each thrust. Together they rode this magic they made together, his body gathering with an urgency that fueled his strokes, met her demand with a demand of his own.

Excitement mounted, and her low moans broke against his lips as she neared the breaking point again, only this time when she went, she took him with her.

That was all Lucas knew. He had no idea how long he lay there holding her, feeling their heartbeats racing together, their ragged breathing filling the darkness, he only knew that he didn’t want to let her go.

“I’m afraid you won’t get to see me in that costume.” His voice ground out a gravelly sound.

“Why’s that?”

Rolling to his side, he took her with him. “Because you won’t be leaving this cottage, so we don’t have any reason to get dressed. What do you think about steak for breakfast?”

L
ANA CAUGHT
B
REE ON
the floor just as Bree was heading out the door after her shift.

“Leaving alone tonight?” she asked.

Bree shrugged. “Appears that way.”

“Well, you can’t expect to have every gorgeous man panting after you, can you?” Lana tossed her bleached-blond locks over her shoulder and continued into the VIP lounge.

Bree watched her go, wondering what that was all about.

Lucas had wanted to pick her up after her shift ended, but as she didn’t get off until 6:00 a.m., she’d insisted he get some sleep. After two days away, they’d be pulling double duty on the float today, and if he covered the early detail, she could actually catch some sleep, too. With a few hours apiece, they just might stand a chance at recovering.

To make love before her shift tonight.

She hadn’t needed the ride anyway. Her brother had returned her car according to plans, so she’d driven herself to work tonight. Hopping into her Jeep, she waved to the bouncer who watched her leave the building. Backing out of the lot, she thought about all those long, luscious hours in bed with Lucas with his warm, hard body wrapped around her.

She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him all night, her thoughts bouncing between memories of stellar sex and plans for the remaining nights of his stay. It wasn’t until the dancers had gone on stage in the show bar that Bree realized she had a problem.

No costume for the coronation ball.

Had she not finagled her way out of the ball, Josie would have made the arrangements for her costume. Toni Maxwell held Krewe du Chaud’s business, compliments of Bree. In fact, she’d completed Tally’s and Josie’s costumes back before Christmas.

So in between coordinating Toujacques’ security with her celebrity rich guy’s private protection team so Mr. Rock Star could hit the Quarter, she’d debated her choices.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have many.

There wasn’t a costume shop within a hundred-mile radius of New Orleans that would have a decent costume available for rent. Bree considered calling Susanna. There was a surplus of period costumes at Southern Charm Mysteries that would suffice.

But Krewe du Chaud’s coronation ball was all about the glitz and glam of the golden pirates’ age. She’d look like the wilted butterfly in the dresses Félicie Allée’s guests wore to their corporate training. The ball would be the climax of her time with Lucas, and she didn’t want to
suffice.

She wanted to shine.

Bree couldn’t explain when it had happened, but sometime during the past two days things had changed.

Lucas would be leaving—that much was a given. But she didn’t want him to just leave. She wanted to give him a fabulously incredible denouement that he’d never forget.

The way she wouldn’t forget him.

She wanted to dress so that whenever Lucas closed his eyes, he’d be tortured by visions of her in her finery. It would be a fitting comeback to spending their days at Félicie Allée naked. And Bree so wanted to haunt the man’s dreams.

The problem: the ball was only days away.

Even without her obligations to work and the krewe, the time frame would be a push. Not to mention that she had no intention of sacrificing one second of playtime with Lucas to create and sew a costume.

But the vision inside her head…This time there would be no forgetting what she was wearing.

Bree could already see the spectacular design, a fantasy of flowing lines and shimmering lace. A light color to highlight her darkness, of course. Maybe a pale yellow that would sparkle in the sun as they rode on the float and glow beneath the twinkling lights of the banquet hall at the coronation ball.

It would be particularly fitting since Lucas had first noticed her in a banquet hall.

The idea gained speed in her head as she drove out of the fading dawn, but it wasn’t until she drove past Toni’s boutique that she figured out a way to make her costume happen.

She was working on a costume for Toni…she’d already pieced and sewn the entire underskirt. With a few simple alterations, it could easily work for the dress she had in mind.

Which meant she would only be sewing half a dress.

Half
might be doable. Especially if she could pilfer the accoutrements and trim from the supply closet in the krewe’s den to save some more time. They stored all sorts of paraphernalia from Mardi Gras celebrations past. And
from what Toni had said, this customer wouldn’t be wearing the gown until some summer Garden District masque anyway, which would give Bree plenty of time to remake the undergarment and lining.

Maybe she wouldn’t sleep this morning, after all.

Casting a quick glance at Café Eros, Bree drove past an empty spot near Court du Chaud’s alley and continued to Canal Street. If she hurried, she could drop by the den and see what she could come up with. She wouldn’t get a chance later, not with Lucas there, and she wanted her dress to be a surprise.

The wharves were already up and running with shipping and deliveries as the sky faded to dawn. Even so, Bree found plenty of space on the street in front of their warehouse.

She didn’t think that anyone from the krewe would be in to open up quite this early, and sure enough, the doors were all shut. She parked close to the entrance as a precaution and let herself inside.

Beelining straight for the security panel, she disabled the system, tapped on a few lights and headed back toward the workroom and the storage closets.

She knew exactly what she wanted—a tiara, the plaster jewels the krewe queen had worn last year and some of the glittery gold throws from the captain’s talking Yo Ho Ho float. She could trim her lace with the filigreed beads—save herself more time—then return everything after the ball.

Striding around Gator Bait’s tail, she felt excited and eager, when she should by all rights be passing out from exhaustion. It wasn’t until she could see the silhouette of the dark doorway across the dimly lit expanse of the warehouse that she heard a sound behind her.

The sound brought her up short. Excitement dissolved like a bayou mist beneath the summer sun. Suddenly she could feel the darkness, a tangible thing that wound through all the shadowy places inside the warehouse and reminded her how alone she was.

Bree hadn’t forgotten Jude was in town, not exactly, but when she heard the sound echo through the warehouse, a chill skated down her spine. Adrenaline turned ice into scalding heat.

There might be wharves filled with dockworkers all around, but none would hear her from inside this warehouse, no matter how loud she screamed.

Suddenly the massive shapes of the floats, pieces that were already being lined up for the parade, looked ominous and shadowy. Hiding places lurked in every nook and crevice, and she warned herself not to freak. The noise was probably nothing more than a big rat that had gotten inside. Or some jousts or beams settling somewhere overhead.

Bree might have bought it, too…but her instincts were on fire. She couldn’t miss the scent of trouble, overpowering. Hurrying toward the workroom and the next light switch, she wove her way around another float, her feet leaden and clumsy in her near panic.

She imagined the sound of breathing in the shadows behind her, cursed her stupidity in coming to the warehouse before anyone else had shown up.

Stepping inside the workroom, she smacked at the light switch, but before her fingers connected, strong arms caught her, dragging her back against a rock-hard chest.

A scream slipped from her lips only to be cut short when those arms squeezed tight, the sort of strength that always stressed the differences between male and female.

“You look scared,
chère.
” That bayou-sunset voice
sounded against her ear, a tone that rippled through her, familiar, lethal. “You were never afraid to be alone in the dark with me.”

Fear shot down her spine in violent reply, dispelling the sensation as every muscle in her body paralyzed with surprise.

Alone in the dark with Jude.

No place she had ever wanted to be again.

Bree forced herself not to struggle. To show this man her fear would be to give him the upper hand and the opportunity to run roughshod all over her.

Never again.
Never.

“What do you want, Jude?” She forced steel into her voice and was surprised to sound calm and in control. Her heartbeat drummed so hard in her ears she thought she might be sick.

“I was back in town, so I thought I’d say hello to my favorite girl.”

My favorite girl.

Once upon a time, she’d melted at those words. Now they only sounded sleazy and manipulative.

“Let me go.”

To her surprise, the arms bracing her close slackened and he took a step back.

Her breath had solidified in her lungs, but she forced herself to inhale a hard breath, to turn around, to face the man who’d once had so much control over her.

The years hadn’t changed him. He had some new creases around his eyes, some deeper laugh lines around his mouth, but on Jude Robicheaux’s face they only added character, made him even more startlingly beautiful, the kind of beautiful that made women stare like deer caught in the headlights.

He was dressed all in black, a color he’d always favored—the extremes, black and white, two sides of a coin, the outside and the inside, the good and the bad. Even in the shadows she could see the way the tailored shirt and slacks hung perfectly on his body, a physique as beautiful as the rest of him.

On the outside, anyway.

His translucent gaze traveled over her, taking her measure, his eyes caressing every inch of her in the way he’d once caressed her body, hot and possessive. If she hadn’t known what a poker face this man had, she might have imagined something there, some fondness, some pleasure to see her again.

Jude had a poker face unlike any she’d ever seen.

“If you’d only wanted to say hello, you could have dropped by the house like a normal person,” she said. “Not stalked me.”

He gave a low whistle. “That’s harsh, gorgeous.”

“What do you call it then?”

“Casing the situation. I didn’t want to knock on your door until I’d given you fair warning. You might have a husband and kids by now. I didn’t want to drop by and screw things up if you didn’t tell your husband about me.”

A lie. He would know whether or not she was married. But the lie did what it was meant to—plant a seed. Of doubt, of control. She wasn’t sure which. But she was convinced that he knew she hadn’t told anyone he was back in town.

“I wanted to feel you out, gorgeous. After all, we parted under…unusual circumstances.”

Unusual?

The word would have made her laugh had the situation not been so
un
funny. After trying to alienate her from
everyone and getting angry when she wouldn’t leave her family to run off with him, he’d left her holding the bag for his misdeeds.

Unusual?

She’d wound up making statements against him to clear herself of any complicity, and she wanted to toss those facts in his face. But Bree knew better than to provoke him while they were alone in the dark.

She honestly didn’t believe he would hurt her, not physically, but she reached out to grip the doorjamb to steady herself, to get her hand within proximity of the light switch. A measure of control. Not that light would protect her, and the darkness would probably work better if she decided to run.

The home-team advantage was hers in this warehouse.

But Bree wasn’t going to run. She’d already set her plan with this man, wouldn’t let him know he rattled her.

She wasn’t the same girl he’d been involved with before, and now was as good a time as any to let him know it. “If you just wanted to say hello, Jude, then hello. Glad to see life’s treating you well. I’m great, too. Take care. Goodbye.”

She delivered that all on one breath—so much for not letting him know he’d rattled her.

He inclined his head in a gesture she knew so well, contemplative, keeping the balance of power on his side, and then he smiled, a dazzling smile that flashed through the darkness, a smile that had the power to blind.

“Have a nice life.” She propelled herself away from the doorjamb. If he wouldn’t leave, then she would.

But he lashed out and caught her face. His hand tightened around her jaw, his fingers digging into her cheeks, not quite hard enough to hurt but enough to stop her in her tracks.

In one fast move he crowded her against the wall, his body close, everything about him so intensely familiar and so utterly and completely
wrong.

Bree recognized his scent, the faintly stubbled texture of his jaw, the angelic curve of his lips as he smiled down at her.

“Breanne,” he drawled her name in that lazy bayou voice. “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”

“What do you want from me?” The question rushed out, almost a plea in the dark.

His gaze cut through her, and he opened his mouth—

“Yo, Bree, you in here?” another voice called out, startling the moment, making her jump.

Jude shot a gaze in the direction of the voice. Some part of her brain that could vaguely function past her spiked heart rate and throbbing pulse beat registered John’s voice.

Jude’s grip tightened, dragged her face to his. In that split second every muscle in her body galvanized as his mouth came down on hers hard, fast.

“I want you.” He ground the words against her lips. Then he let her go and stepped into the shadows, disappearing as suddenly as he’d arrived.

“There you are.” John suddenly appeared around Gator Bait’s tail, his lanky silhouette backlit by the office lights.

“Found her, Lucas,” he called out, then stopped and eyed her in surprise. “Hey, are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

That might have been funny if she hadn’t been shell-shocked. But she was. She was barely registering the fact that Lucas was here.

For a moment Bree could only stare, trying to shake off her daze. Should she tell John that Jude was on the loose?