Loose Ends (Magnolia Series Book 1) (10 page)

“I’m coming for you, Luke,” she announced as her pussy grabbed his fingers tighter and she flooded his palm with moisture. 

Yeah, watching this was worth not burying himself inside her. Hearing her screaming and chanting his name like he was a pro football player taking the field for game time. Smelling the sugary sweet scent of her pussy as she came all over his hand. And seeing her body glide over his lap with grace and beauty. Damn this was one of the best moments of his entire life. And he’d had some pretty good ones up until now.

When she recovered from the epic release, Luke pulled his hand free. “Did I make you work hard enough for that?” he teased.

“Maybe a little
too
hard,” she chuckled, still trying to slow her breathing. She climbed off his lap and began to kneel in front of his chair. Her hands went to his fly, eyes never leaving his as she popped the button open and gradually pulled the zipper down. 

Luke’s eyes closed as she grasped him through his pants. She didn’t have to do this, but he was sure as hell glad she was. 

“How hard should I make
you
work for it?” Ava threw his own question back at him causing panic to rise in his chest. He was so close already it was a miracle he didn’t shatter just from her pulling his zipper down. 

“I think you should—“ he was cut short by the shrill ring of his phone. “Fuck!” He stood so fast from the chair that he almost knocked it over. A worried look fell over Ava’s face as he refastened his jeans. “Gotta take that,” he stated as he grabbed his phone off the counter. 

As Luke made his way outside for privacy he answered, “Daughtry.” 

“How’s it going?” His partner in crime, Cole Matthews asked.

“Confusing as hell.” Luke gave a half laugh. 

“In what way?” 

“Can’t really explain it right now.” He ventured further away from the house and into the yard. 

“It’d be nice to know. Maybe I can help you clear things up.”

Since he was almost to the gazebo, he stepped up and took a seat on one of the weathered benches. “They want me to continue to keep an eye on her. I’m not sure what their plans are just yet.” Luke scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. 

“You figure out why they want her?” 

“Not yet. Although I did figure out she used to date one of them. Seems he liked to be abusive and burn her with a cigarette after he fucked her.” Why in the hell would he tell that story?

“How on earth did you figure out
that
piece of information?” 

Shit. This wasn’t going to end well. “Just came up in conversation.” He shrugged even though the person on the other end couldn’t see him. Luke hoped the guy believed his lie, though. 

“Stay away from her, Daughtry,” the guy warned. 

“Yeah.” 

“I mean it. These aren’t fuckers you want to mess with.”

“I fucking get it, Matthews,” Luke’s voice rose and he regretted it as soon as it happened.

“Just do your job until this is over. Once you figure out what they want from her, then it’s done.” 

“Alright.” 

“I’ll call you in a few days.” The guy hung up leaving Luke remorseful over what he’d done with Ava. It couldn’t happen again. There was too much at stake here and letting his dick lead the way wasn’t doing him any favors. Why did this shit have to be so difficult? He was supposed to get in, do a job and get the fuck out. But, no. He’d done the thinking with his little head and now he’d most likely have half the mob on his ass for it. He hoped to hell they didn’t find out about him and Ava. But they’d had a good run. A night of hot sex, plus a morning of it; yeah, that was all he needed. He’d gotten his fill of her. The craving had now dissipated and he could focus on what his employer needed him to do.

Chapte
r
Seve
n

Ava watched as Luke
sawed some boards to replace the rotten ones on the front porch of the plantation home. She shielded her eyes from the sun as it beat down on them, sweat already running down her back even though it was only ten in the morning. Letting out a tired sigh, she sat down on the steps and watched him work. There was something about a man doing labor like that. The way their muscles stretched and moved the bend of their back as they reached over to grab a tool, it was like sexual sensory overload. Luke shut off the circular saw and placed it on the makeshift work bench of plywood and saw horses. He picked up the cut piece and inspected it—holding it up and looking it over like he wanted to make sure it was absolutely perfect. Ava wasn’t sure what to do. She’d offered to help but Luke was hell bent on her keeping away from the power tools. He’d said, “his is a man’s job,” which frustrated her to no end. In fact, she was still steaming from his comment. He’d been laughing when he said it, but that didn’t really matter. She’d spent the past two years doing everything for herself. There wasn’t a task she couldn’t do.

“Still pissed?” Luke came over and sat next to her, laying the board on the grass below. 

“A little,” she huffed. 

“I was only joking.” Now he seemed genuinely concerned that she was upset. 

“Why do men think using power tools is only for a guy? I bet I could walk right over there and do the exact same thing you just did,” she threw up a bit of a challenge. 

“Then by all means,” Luke motioned to the work bench. 

Ava wasn’t about to back down. She stood from her perch and walked to where he’d been only moments before—putting an extra sway in her hip as she went. Hell, she’d show him she could do this and make him drool at the same time. 

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Luke called. 

“Pffft.” Tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear, she grabbed the saw and looked it over. 

“Need help?” he snickered. 

“Very funny. No, I don’t need help.” Okay so the damn thing was more complicated than she’d first imagined. But she was going to prove she could do this. 

“Want me to have 9-1-1 ready?” Ava looked back and Luke had his phone ready in his hand. She shook her head and picked up the tool. 

“Can’t be that hard,” she mumbled as her hand wrapped around the handle firmly. When it did, the saw powered on, scaring her and causing it to fly out of her hand to the ground. What she didn’t expect was for two muscled arms to grab her from behind and pick her up off the ground.

“Easy there, Bob Vila, don’t want you losing one of those pretty feet,” Luke said as he kissed her neck.

“Stupid tools,” she bit out. 

“Not the tool’s fault. It’s the operator.” Luke chuckled.

He was still holding her firmly in his arms and Ava felt secure. “Maybe I should go make some tea,” She wriggled out of his hold and planted both feet on the ground.

“Good idea. Let’s take a break for a while,” Luke suggested. 

“Be right back.” 

Once inside she made her way to the kitchen and began searching for the tea bags and sugar. She riffled through cabinets, finally finding the bags but not the sugar. “If I were sugar, where would I be?” she mused aloud. Looking around she spotted a door. Most of these homes had some sort of pantry didn’t they? “Ah, I bet you hold all the grocery secrets don’t you?” Ava laughed as she realized she was talking to herself. 

Deciding the door was the best option, she pulled it open and found that it wasn’t a pantry, it was the door to the basement. A musty smell wafted up and over the decrepit wooden steps leading down causing her to sneeze a few times. What was the old saying? “Curiosity killed the cat?” She didn’t need to know what was down there—even if there could be some really cool Civil War antiques hidden below those stairs.

Ava tapped her foot trying to decide whether or not it was a good idea to be nosey. Surely Luke wouldn’t mind. After all, there might be something down there he could use to help restore the place. She looked back to make sure he wasn’t coming in the house. When all was clear she took the first step, descending into the damp and dark basement. The steps below her creaked as she took one at a time. Once she reached the bottom, she looked for a light switch. The only illumination was a bleak amount of sunlight streaming in through weathered windows; not ideal for treasure hunting. But the need to figure out what was down there ate her alive. Walking further her hip bumped into something, pain shooting through her body. She felt around and managed to find some sort of desk lamp to switch on. Her eyes adjusted to the room and she noticed that she’d bumped into a table of sorts. It wasn’t until her eyes completely focused that she realized what was sitting on the table.

“What. The. Fuck?” Eyes wide she stared at what was before her. 

“What are you doing down here?” Ava jumped at the sound of Luke’s gruff voice.

She spun around to see an angry stoic expression on his face. He wasn’t happy about her little Jacque Cousteau moment. “I thought this was the door to the pantry.” She tried to look apologetic.

“It’s not,” he bit out. 

“Kind of figured that out.” Laughter bubbled out.

“I didn’t tell you to pilfer through my shit, Ava.” Oh hell, he
really
was pissed. 

“Luke, I’m really sorry. I thought there might be something down here you could use in your restoration efforts.” She looked at the items on the table and turned back to him. “What’s with this anyway?” 

“None of your business.” He walked past her and pulled a cloth over the items, covering them up.

“That’s an awful lot of firepower on that table. Planning on fighting off zombies out here or something?” She wanted to lighten his mood.

“No. But there are wild animals that need to be taken care of.”

“With a sniper rifle?” Her voice dipped as she said it.

“Go upstairs, Ava,” he ordered.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “No. I want to know why you have something like that here.”

Luke ran his hand over the cloth and spoke, “I used to be in the military.”

“Oh.” 

“Yeah. Is that enough of an explanation for you? Or do you need me to write you a fucking novel about it?”

Ava didn’t much care for his gruff demeanor. She spun on her heel and ran up the stairs. Sure, she was acting like an errant child, but they’d been joking and laughing all morning. What the hell had changed all of a sudden? So she’d found a high-powered rifle in his basement, was that any reason for him to go off the rails? As she ran through the kitchen she could hear Luke calling her name. No way was she staying there a moment longer.

“Ava, wait!” he yelled as she darted out the front door of the house. “Damn it!”

She continued to jog down the gravel driveway— hearing Luke’s footfalls closing in behind her. “Leave me alone!” She looked back and saw he was coming closer. Damn, he could run fast and she was quickly running out of steam. Stopping, she put up both hands, signaling him to stop.

“Are you going to run all the way back to town?” He wasn’t even out of breath. Damn him. 

Ava’s lungs burned as she doubled over, trying to pull precious air into her battered lungs. “Maybe,” she huffed out.

“All thirteen miles of it?” Luke sniggered.

“Laugh it up,” she said in a mocking tone. “I’m not staying here if you’re going to be an asshole all day.”

“You invade my personal space and expect me to be shitting glitter and rainbows?”

“You didn’t tell me to stay out of the basement, Luke!” Ava shouted as she walked closer to him. His manly scent mixed with the sweat from him running had her libido doing backflips.

“Fair enough,” he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his sweat-drenched hair. He looked around and back to her. “I don’t want you to leave. But if you want to, at least let me drive you back.” He looked sorry.

“I don’t want to go.” Ava stepped even closer.

“So you’re staying?” He pulled her into him and she laid her head on his damp chest and nodded. “Good.”

“It’s so hot out here. Too bad you don’t have a pool.” Her mood was lightening but not too quickly. No wonder they said crime rose with the temperature. She was so overheated, crime was sounding like a wonderful consolation right now.

“No pool, but I have something else that might work.” He grabbed her hand and began to walk across the vast property.

“Where’re we going?” She looked around but all she could see were trees and emerald grass. 

“Just trust me.”

They walked about a hundred yards until they met the tree line at the edge of the property. “How are trees supposed to make me cool off?”

“Smartass,” he joked, still pulling her behind him.

They trudged through the small forest and soon came to a clearing that opened up to a pond, sunlight glistening off the surface of the water like a sliver of glass. It was completely shielded from view by trees and tall grass. It was
amazing
. But a thought hit her. “I don’t have a bathing suit with me.” Ava began to nervously chew on her thumbnail, something that’d become a habit in the past two years.

She glanced over at Luke who was pulling his work boots off and tossing them to the ground. “You gonna stand there, or are you gonna get undressed?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Extremely. Come on, don’t be a wuss.”

That was all she needed to decide. First her shoes were toed off, her shirt was pulled over her head and tossed to the ground, and then she shimmied out of her jeans. She chanced a look at Luke to see him watching her intently like a hawk watches its prey. Something about the way he was looking at her made her feel empowered. Her skin broke out in gooseflesh knowing he was eating her up with his eyes. If it wasn’t already a hundred and five degrees outside she would’ve been burned up just with one look from his blue eyes.

Standing in the open in her bra and panties, Ava looked over to Luke who stood in only a pair of black boxer briefs. He flashed a mischievous smile and pointed his gaze to the water. What happened next was a blur as she saw him run toward her, grab her by the waist and hurl them both into the waiting water. The cool liquid hit her skin and caused her to scream as she went under. She gulped down a mouthful of water. Suddenly her body was being brought to the top, the sunlight hitting her in the eyes as she surfaced. The only thing she could do was sputter and cough as she tried to rid her body of the dingy water.

“You okay?” She couldn’t quite see Luke when he spoke but his voice was laced with concern. 

“No.” She continued to cough. “Asshole!” She finally got her breath and splashed him with some of the slightly brown water. 

“You should’ve seen your face. Priceless.” He laughed. 

“I’m sure it was. Yours would’ve been the same if someone tried to drown you.” She couldn’t help but giggle which ended up in a fit of laughter. The water around her rippled as her entire body shook with amusement. Ava suddenly stopped and looked around.

“Something wrong?” Luke pinned her with a stare.

“I, uh…lost something,” she said as her head whipped back and forth, searching the surface of the water.

“What’d you lose? An earring?” Luke raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

“No. My underwear is gone.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“You mean this?” Luke pulled his hand above the water, holding her drenched undergarment.

“Give it back!” She lunged forward trying to grab it, but failed. 

“I’m keeping it.” Luke began to twirl the fabric around his finger in the air. 

“Fine. If you get to keep mine, I get to keep yours,” she threw out.

Luke didn’t even hesitate as he bent down in the water and moved around. He then pulled his arm up and tossed his underwear to her. “Fair is fair. But I get that, too.” He pointed to the lace covering her breasts. “Hand it over.”

“Fine.” Ava reached around to unhook her bra.

Sliding it down her arms she then tossed it to Luke. Looking down she could see her naked breasts bobbing in the water.

“Now
that
is fucking beautiful.” Luke’s gaze became heated as he took in her nudity.