Gravity (Artistic Pricks Ink Book 1) (14 page)

Leaning down, he runs his tongue along my shoulder before sucking in a patch of skin. “No,” I moan breathlessly, my hands sliding along his wet skin. Pressing my lips to his chest, I kiss softly down to one of his nipples. “It’s time for me to return the favor, Luke.” I whisper along his skin, then run my tongue around the flat disk before catching the barbell between my teeth.

A growl rips from his chest, his body tensing as I tug playfully at the cool metal. Pressing his back to the tile, I begin my trail down his abdomen. Slipping to my knees, I let myself do what I’ve been waiting for. I run my mouth along every inch of him. Luke’s hands fist tightly at his sides as I take my time appreciating the canvas that is his body.

Being a dancer never allowed me to permanently mark my body. The costumes always caused a problem with where I could place one. Especially now. Reaching his hips, Luke’s erection is jutting out at me, begging for my attention. The minute my fingers wrap around the base, Luke fist slams back into the wall. “Fuck!” He hisses through his teeth. “Ki, you’re killing me.”

“Tit for tat, Luke.” I say, looking up into his eyes as I return his words from earlier. He stares down at me, his blonde hair now draping his face. “You should really hold onto the grab bar,” I suggest, before pressing my lips to the tip of his shaft. “My money is on you needing help to stay on your feet.”

“Shit!” He shouts when I take him onto my mouth. Swallowing around him, I cup his balls with one hand as I work him with my mouth. “Fuck, baby that’s amazing.”

Pulling back, I suck the head lightly before letting it slip from my mouth. Flattening my tongue, I hollow my cheeks when his hands slip into my hair. I let Luke guide himself past my lips again. His movements are slower than my pace, no doubt wanting to drag it out as long as possible.

Digging my fingers into his thick thighs, I take him to the back of my throat. I hum around him, devouring him hungrily. Greedily wanting nothing more than to make him come down my throat. Luke’s fingers tighten in my hair, pulling just hard enough to let me know to stop. I can’t. I don’t want to. God, I want him just as crazy for his release as I am to pull it from him.

“Fucking hell, Ki!” He shouts, his breathing erratic as loses himself.

He throbs in my mouth, only driving me on. His thighs tense beneath my hands, hips pumping as he stills. Swirling my tongue, I swallow his release as it fills my mouth.

Sitting back on my heels, I look up at him and bat my lashes. “So, we’re going out?” I ask, before standing to my feet and grabbing the body wash.

***

Two hours later, Luke and I are sitting in a diner in Vegas ordering breakfast for dinner. He had insisted that if we didn’t go out I wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow, let alone dance.
I believe him.

“Thank you for helping my mother,” Luke says, after taking a drink of his orange juice. “This is the first time I can ever remember Audrey wanting things different than they’ve always been.”

“What was it like growing up?” I ask, meeting his eyes. From what Audrey told me she wasn’t the best mother, but surely I don’t see her being all bad.

Luke blows out a breath, “She was always distant. Especially after our father left. I always thought she blamed us for him leaving. Chase and I didn’t understand, and partially still don’t. One day he was there and everything was fine, I thought. The next, he was storming out the door. My sister screaming for him to stay with us.”

“You don’t see him?” I ask curiously. I had always wondered about my father and how things would have been different growing up. Even though I had a great childhood, I wanted to know where I came from. Losing her changed that some, now I am grateful for what I did have and would give anything to have that back instead of a man who didn’t want me.

“No, he lives somewhere up North with his new family, according to Mom. I don’t push; he left us,” Luke replies. “Chase and I did fine, even if Audrey was checked out most the time. I took care of her.”

The waitress interrupts us, placing two plates of French toast and bacon in front of us. “Will that be all for you, Handsome?” She asks, popping her gum.

“Yes, thank you.” Luke replies as he unwraps his silverware from his napkin.

“My name’s Mandi, if you need
anything…
” She clarifies, popping her gum again. Standing there, she stares at him. No doubt, undressing him with her eyes.

Turning to face her, I grin. “Thanks
Mandi,
but I think they frown upon serving that dish.”

Spinning on her heel, she stomps toward the kitchen. The door swinging as she storms through it. Fork in hand, Luke’s eyes are trained on me as I look over at him. “What?” I ask, yanking my silverware from the table. “I ordered my carbs without a side of desperation.”

Luke laughs around a bite of bacon, the sound pulsating all the way to my toes. Thinking back to our conversation before, I study him and what I know about him. The way he steps in to take care of things, how he carries himself. I nod. “It doesn’t surprise me that you took such good care of your sister,” I say, forking a bite of bread covered in syrup.

“Hmm?” He asks, his brows furrowing.

“You take care of your mother even when you say she wasn’t there for you. When a lot of people would’ve written her off, you didn’t. You went out of your way to help me when you didn’t even know me,” I point out, taking a bite. Chewing slowly, I watch his lips quirk, wanting nothing more than to kiss them again. Swallowing, I shrug. “You’re a good person.”

His head cocks to the side, his hair swishing around his face. “I just do what’s right. Loyalty is a big thing for me,” he explains and the tattoo on his side begins to make sense. “The only three things that matter are life, love, and loyalty. Without one of the three, your whole life becomes off balance.”

I nod in agreement, sipping from my glass. The rest of our meal is spent eating in comfortable silence and easy conversation. The weather, music, and Luke even talks about his sister.

“You’re kidding. Your sister is touring right now with Shaft?” I ask in disbelief. I knew Audrey mentioned something along that line, but wow. “You must be so proud of her.”

“Yep. Very proud,” he says, finishing his juice. “She’s marrying the lead singer at the end of the summer.”

“Wow,” I breathe. “How you handlin’ that, big brother?” I ask with a giggle.

Luke scowls at me. “About as good as a root canal,” he chuckles, rolling his eyes. “He loves her. That much I’m sure of. He’s a decent enough guy that, even though he drives me crazy, I’m pretty sure I won’t have to kill him and piss on his ashes.”

“That’s promising,” I deadpan.

“I gave my blessing for the most part.” He chuckles, digging through his pocket. “So tell me about Kionna the Show Girl.”

“Let’s not talk about work,” I reply, honestly. Work is the last thing I want to talk about right now. I don’t think about Sabrina and all that bullshit when I am with Luke and the last thing I want is to start now.

Glancing at his phone, he groans. “Someone better be dying,” he barks into it, making me feel sorry for whoever is on the other end. Luke listens before cursing under his breath. “Yeah.” He replies, “I’m about three blocks away. I’ll be there in ten. No, I’ll handle it. Thanks for callin’ man.” Ending the call, Luke pulls out his wallet, tossing some cash onto the table. “Gotta go Dollface.”

“Something wrong?” I ask, grabbing my bag as Luke stands and pulls me from the booth.

“Gotta stop at Pricks.” He begins. “Not done with you yet, so you’re taggin’ along.” Luke wraps his arm around me. Tucking me to his side, he leads us out of the diner to his car.

“I don’t want to be in the way,” I say honestly.

Opening the door for me, Luke releases me. “Plannin’ to keep you close to me as long as possible now that I’ve got your head in the right mindset. I’m all about keepin’ you there too.” He informs me. Climbing in, I watch him jog around the car to his side.

Starting the car, Luke is silent the entire ride to his shop. Lost in his thoughts, he stares out the windshield and I let him be. Whatever is going on is weighing heavily on his mind and I don’t want to do anything to add to that. His business is his livelihood and the last thing I want is to draw his focus and make it harder for him to diffuse whatever situation he has to handle.

Parking in back, Luke leaps from the car. “Come on, Dollface.” He says, striding around the car with purpose. “The sooner I get this handled, the sooner I can get lost in you again.”

His words make my body heat, desire unfurling in my belly as I climb from the car. Not even four hours since he’s been inside me and I ache for him again. Somehow, I doubt it’s my lack of sex until now making me so wanton. Luke’s words repeat back to me causing so many things to run through my mind.

“This is so much bigger than you and me. You can’t fight it any more than you can fight the Gravity that keeps you from flying. Let’s just let it be whatever it is, for as long as it lasts.”

For the first time since I started dancing at Heaven on Heels, I am second guessing my choices. I remind myself not to get too comfortable with Luke. Telling myself that whatever this is, won’t last when Luke finds out all that I haven’t told him. Secrets, big or small, are the cracks that destroy the strongest foundations and we haven’t even really laid the footers here yet.

Luke holds the door open for me, instantly we are met with shouting from up front. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” Luke roars, taking my hand in his. “This is getting out of hand.”

“I don’t need some crazy bitch secretary holding my hand while I’m trying to work,” Mitch barks, making my steps falter.

Luke looks at me quickly, before steadying me to haul ass up the hallway. “I wasn’t holding your hand, you self-righteous asshole. I was trying to keep the goddamn doors open. You may not care about this place, but I don’t wanna see Luke lose everything because you’re careless!” Shelby roars. “You stink of booze. You’re losing it, Mitch.”

Luke stops dead in his tracks when they come into view. A guy with a mohawk and color-filled flames tattooed along both sides of his scalp comes up to Luke’s side. “This has to stop, dude. Shelby will kill him.” He says, running a hand along his scalp as Mitch and Shelby continue to argue about how her help isn’t needed.

“Thanks for the heads up, Skinner, Mitch’s mom will thank you.” Luke says, patting him on the shoulder. “Go grab some dinner, I’ll have this handled before you get back.”

Skinner disappears behind us leaving us to watch as Mitch and Shelby stand toe to toe in front of the counter. “No, you weren’t trying to help. You were trying to command me to heel.” He blasts back, pointing a finger in her face. “Just because Skinner is a pussy and does everything you say, doesn’t mean I will.”

Shelby’s five foot five frame shakes with fury, her black finger nail jabs into Mitch’s chest. “Listen to me you smug sonuvabitch. For one thing, it’s my job to run this shop when Luke isn’t here to do it. To
manage
the shop,” She spits, glaring at him. Shelby isn’t a frail little woman by any means. She is amply curvy and doesn’t look afraid to get in his face at all. Confidence radiates off of her as she smirks at Mitch. “For two, you can go dry fuck yourself in the ass with a cactus.”

Mitch’s eyes darken, whatever is about to come out of his mouth is a bad idea. “What the hell is going on here?” Luke shouts from beside me, making me jump. I was so engaged in the back and forth between Mitch and Shelby I had nearly forgotten Luke was here holding my hand.

Mitch is completely seething, glaring at Shelby as she turns and walks toward us, without paying a second glance to him. “Hi, Ki.” She greets me like she wasn’t just about to kill a man with her bare hands and bury him in the desert. “Luke, I’ll let you handle this shithead. I have work to do in the office that doesn’t include being a babysitter.”

A growl rumbles up from Mitch’s chest. When he starts to argue, Luke raises his free hand to stop him. “Shelby, why don’t you take Kionna back with you?” He asks. Turning to me, he leans down and kisses my cheek. “I won’t be long.”

Happy to get away from Mitch, for the time being, I follow Shelby down the hall to Luke’s office to wait.