Basic Attraction (10 page)

Ugh. He was making her feel domestic again. How gross was that?

His hand on her waist guiding her as they walked through the kitchen to the back door was strong. Opening the door, she stepped outside and breathed deeply. The evening was cooling down, and the sounds of the neighborhood wafted around her.

A lawnmower, some kids playing, and a dog barking were comforting sounds. They were the sounds of families. A car raced down the street and a cat meowed.

Wait a minute. A cat was meowing. Loudly. From somewhere up above them.

She looked at Luke. He looked at her. They both looked up into the huge magnolia tree in Angel and Rick’s backyard.

There, perched precariously on a branch, was Greedy, meowing pitifully to them as he tried desperately to get their attention.

Sheri gasped. Luke stared up in disbelief. What the fuck was his cat doing in a tree? A big tree at that.

And stuck, from the looks of it. “Greedy!” He shouted a reprimand up to the cat, who stopped meowing long enough to blink in recognition at his new owner.

The meow began again, louder as Greedy saw his opportunity to be saved. Luke was relieved that nothing had happened to the cat and he was safe and sound. Sort of. Luke’s relief was quickly followed by annoyance.

“You’ll have to get him out of the tree,” Sheri said, her hand across her forehead to shield the sun as she gazed up in concern.

“No way.” He eyed the big tree with horror. “I’m not climbing up there for a damn cat. He got up there. He can get himself down.” Right? If he climbed up, he should be able to climb down. In theory.

“What if he falls?”

The thought made a pain rip through his chest. He wasn’t about to admit that to Sheri. “So? It’s his own fault, and if he gets flattened like a pancake, I won’t have to bother with him anymore.”

She raised an eyebrow then laughed softly. She clearly didn’t believe him. “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

Why did he think her childish sayings were so cute? He must be nuts. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You don’t want that cat to get hurt and you know it.” She folded her arms.

A sigh was wrenched from him. He gave another long look at the tree. Damn if he wasn’t going to have to climb it. For a cat. An orange blob of fur that meowed all the time and spit up more than a baby.

He pictured Greedy’s crumpled body lying in the grass. “Fine.” He started for the tree, grabbed the lowest branch, and climbed up the trunk.

“Shouldn’t you put shoes on?”

He didn’t plan on being in this tree long enough for it to matter. He had socks on. That ought to do it. “I’m fine.”

“Whatever.”

He could almost hear her roll her eyes. He heard her go in the back door of the house. Just where did she think she was going? He darted a glance over. She was gone all right. He felt a stab of betrayal. What if he fell out of this tree and was knocked unconscious? Didn’t she care?

She emerged wearing her hiking boots. He started climbing again, ignoring the bark digging into his feet. He would bloody his feet before he admitted she was right. Greedy stared down at him. Only two more branches. The tree swayed slightly under his movements.

The cat meowed urgently, and Luke figured that was Feline for ‘hurry the hell up.’ Just as he came face to face with his mischievous pet, he heard Sheri’s boots scraping the bark of the tree. Looking down, he saw the top of her chestnut hair as she deftly shimmied up the trunk.

He gripped the trunk in alarm. “What are you doing?” Leaning out onto the branch, he tried to make a grab for Greedy.

“Seeing if you need help,” she called cheerfully.

“Well, I don’t. Stay on the ground, Sheri. I don’t want to be worrying about you too.”

She scoffed. “Hello? Who’s the park ranger and who’s the city boy? I bet I know my way around a tree better than you do.”

He slowly crawled out onto the branch, getting closer to Greedy, who appeared frozen in place. “Come on, boy. Move over here.” Distracted by the sounds of Sheri coming closer and closer, he said, “I know how to climb a tree.”

“Luke!” Her voice was breathless, only a foot or two below him.

He didn’t look at her, intent on trying to grab for Greedy. “What?” He inched farther out, still holding the trunk with his left hand, scraping his feet along the branch. He extended his right hand as far as he could, but he still couldn’t reach Greedy.

“I don’t think that branch is strong enough to hold you.” She popped up next to him.

An ominous cracking sound confirmed her words and forced him to pull his leg and hand back. “You could be right.”

“Could be?” she said into his ear. “I’m right.”

The grab she made at his arm was reassuring. She looked ready to hold on to him if the branch gave way, and he was touched. Sheri cared about him whether she was going to admit it or not. He smiled at her.

“Why are you smiling?” She looked at him in annoyance, still gripping his wrist.

He ignored the question. “So what do we do now, Chicken Little?”

She frowned. “Try to coax Greedy closer to you.”

He gave it his best shot. But how many ways can you say “Here, kitty, kitty”? Greedy stared at him like he was insane.

He tried threatening. “You get over here right now or no more wet food for you!”

Greedy blinked.

“Coaxing and bullying don’t work. What now?” He looked to Sheri for answers.

She was trying not to grin. “What about bribery?”

“Good idea.” He turned back to his stubborn nemesis. “If you walk to me, I’ll let you have some chicken and then some tuna for dessert.”

Greedy meowed pitifully but stayed exactly where he was.

“Okay. Now what?”

“We wait?”

“For what?” He settled his back against the trunk and looked at her. Better he looked at her than down. He didn’t want to know exactly how many feet he was from death or a broken leg.

“Him to come to you.” She wet her lips nervously.

Those shiny wet lips were taunting him. He leaned closer to her. “I have an idea.”

“What?” She let go of his wrist.

“I know some of those little kid sayings you’re always using too, you know. Like this one.” He leaned even closer. “Luke and Sheri sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

His mouth landed on hers and he took her lips roughly, already pushing his tongue into her mouth. She gasped and kissed him back feverishly.

He knew he was leaning too far, resting his weight on the questionable branch, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was tasting her.

Another crack of snapping wood shot through their heavy breathing. She jolted in alarm. “Luke, the branch!”

Nothing was sexier than the way she looked right now. Her lips swollen and wet from his kiss, her eyes round with concern—for him. Her breasts heaving up and down in her green tank top, free from the burden of a bra. He didn’t care about the branch.

They couldn’t be more than what, ten feet up?

He leaned forward again. “First comes love, then comes marriage…”

She jerked in shock, a squawk leaving her mouth, her grip relaxing on the trunk. His branch creaked, tilted, and nearly gave way. Her feet slipped on the bark.

The jolting branch sent a splintered, jagged peak into his back and Greedy howled. He grabbed the trunk for stability, then Sheri’s arm with one hand, noticing her sliding slowing down as her feet grappled for support. But no one fell.

His heart rate slowed to normal despite the searing pain in his back, as they settled back into their positions, everyone safe and stable for the moment. They needed to get out of this tree before his lust knocked them to their deaths.

Sheri thought Luke had lost his mind. Just what on earth was he talking about? Leaning over her in a tree, whispering in that sexy bedroom voice of his about love and marriage. She shuddered to herself as she gripped the tree trunk tightly and slowly moved her feet to get the best stronghold.

Was he playing a game? Or—she swallowed hard—could he actually be serious? She didn’t know. He looked serious enough, his blue eyes dark and passionate, but she couldn’t believe that he meant that he loved her.

She was reading too much into it as usual—she knew she was. He was teasing her. Plain and simple. His desire to unnerve her was as ever present as his smirk and his tattoos. Did he like her? Sure. They were having fun, but that was it. He couldn’t know that she was nutso enough to actually be falling for him.

And for God’s sake, why couldn’t the man wear a shirt once in awhile? She was inches from his muscular chest, which flexed a little as he readjusted himself. It was beyond distracting. It was life threatening.

Closing her eyes for a minute, she concentrated on breathing. She really didn’t know what Luke was thinking. For that matter, he didn’t know what she was thinking. They hadn’t discussed anything about their relationship, if that’s what you wanted to call it. There hadn’t been time for talking. They had been too busy ripping each other’s clothes off.

What if Luke’s teasing was his way of opening a discussion? Maybe he was concerned that she was reading more into their time together than he’d intended and he wanted to gauge her reaction to keywords like love and marriage. She would be mortified if he thought that she was angling for more than she was.

She knew the score. He was leaving at the end of the week, and she was resolute about that despite any wandering thoughts of ridiculousness she might have.

What if it wasn’t that? What if he thought she just got naked with every man who expressed interest in her? She had definitely given him the mixed signals of prissy words but encouraging actions. What if he thought she liked to play that game? Hard to get but she was really screwing everything with two legs?

Her face hurt. And this was an incredibly ridiculous time to be having these thoughts. She just needed to talk to him instead of endlessly churning neurotic thoughts in her head.

“Luke.” She licked her lips nervously. “I want you to know that I don’t always do this. I mean, this isn’t like a habit.”

“Do what?” He flicked his blond hair out of his eyes. “Sit in trees and coax stupid cats to move their furry butts?”

“Well, that… But what I meant was, you know, sleep with someone I’ve just met.” She’d gotten it out. Her face was probably redder than her hair, but she had spit it out. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. It was very likely that her ability to deal with men was still somewhere in the adolescent range. She was working on that—honestly she was.

“I know that.” His soft voice sounded reassuring. “Sheri.”

Her name sounded like a command. She ventured a glance up at him. Her heart flipped over. He was so amazing-looking. So strong and tough, yet his eyes were filled with tenderness.

“I know that, Sheri. You as good as admitted that when you asked if I was serious. But I don’t either, you know, for the record. And I genuinely think there’s something more between us than just jumping into bed.” He grinned ruefully. “Don’t get me wrong. I love making love to you. You’re so damn hot…” He cleared his throat. “But that’s not all it’s about. I like you. I want to spend time with you, whatever that means.”

There was something in her throat that she could only call a lump. No one had ever said anything so wonderful to her. It wasn’t poetry, but Luke Weiss had her heart. She rolled her lips in and out. “I like you, too.”

He grinned. “Even though I’m disgusting?”

She thought about his laundry pile. “Even though you’re disgusting,” she agreed.

“Okay, I’m grabbing this cat and we’re getting down. I’ve had enough with playing Tarzan.”

He took a deep breath and reached for Greedy with a vicious growl. Greedy yelped, ran down the branch towards the tree trunk, and jumped onto Sheri’s shoulder. She started down without waiting.

The branch gave. Luke grabbed the trunk, swore worse than any shirt she’d seen on him so far, and started down the tree after her. The branch hit the ground with a shuddering thud. Fortunately, no one was on the ground.

“Damn cat,” Luke muttered.

Sheri concentrated on going hand over foot with a ten-pound cat clinging to her shoulder, his claws digging into her bare skin. When she reached solid ground, she gave a sigh of relief and pried Greedy off of her shoulder.

Holding him tightly in her arms, she stroked his head and back, feeling the animal’s nervous tension. He hadn’t known what he was getting into when he had sneaked out into the backyard for a little adventure. She suspected Greedy would keep himself in the house from now on.

Luke hit the ground with a wince, and she gasped when she saw his back. He had a long, jagged scratch, blood oozing slowly out and a piece of wood still clinging to the wound.

“Honey, you’re hurt!”

Had she just called him
honey
? She froze in embarrassment. How dorky was that? He didn’t seem to mind though. He merely tried to look at his back, turning in circles like a dog after his tail.

“I can’t see it.”

She snorted. “Maybe because it’s behind you. That’s why it’s called your
back
. Come into the house. I’ll clean you up.”