Maggie's Five ...the first in a LOVE story (23 page)

“
And
have you miss out on the chance to sit on that awesome ergonomic
chair?” I laugh.

“
MAGGIE?” LUKE CALLS from the back yard after throwing out the
last of the rubbish from the study.

“
Luke?” I call back being a smartarse.

“
Funny.”

“
Why
thank you, my good man,” I reply with a flourish, continuing my
smart-arsery and failing to sound like Mae West.

“
That’s a good one,” he huffs, not impressed by my weak
attempt of a not very convincing laugh. “I’ve, um, got something
pretty funny to show you myself.”

This gets my
attention, and has my Spidey sensors tingling. Luke’s nervous…
nervous Luke, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or
bad.

“
Can
you come outside with me? Please?”

Lifting my hand,
Luke pulls me up from my comfy seat and wraps me in a tight
squeeze. He buries his face in my neck, breathing me in
contentedly, before rotating me towards the front yard.

God, the man has
the ability to turn me into a puddle in three seconds
flat.

Just as he’s
about to open the front door, Luke covers my face with his hand.
“Umm, you better close your eyes for this one.”

Unfortunately
his comment makes me want to open them wider.

“
Why?” I ask, drawing out the word, and growing more curious
by the second. He walks me blindly out onto the verandah when I
hear the front door click. “And why did you just lock us out of our
house?”

Suddenly Luke
stops, turning on me so he’s got one hand on the back of my neck
tangled in my hair, the other digging deliciously into my butt,
pressing me to his strong body. “What did you just say,
Maggie?”

His intensity
has me bowing backwards. I’m desperately trying to scramble through
the last things I’ve said - but it’s useless, I’ve already
forgotten. All there is is Luke. Luke, Luke and more
Luke.

I wonder if he
would mind using all that strength of his for naughty instead of
nice.

“
What? I don’t know… you just locked us out.”

“
Just
locked us out of where?” Luke’s eyes narrow, studying me with
rapidly increasing breaths. His jaw slackening, he moistens his
bottom lip.

“
Our
house?” I say/ask to his full bottom lip that’s held captive in his
teeth.

Tightening his
hold, Luke attacks my mouth with a vengeance. “I’m so fucking in
love with you Maggie Mae.” His words are broken with his probing
tongue. “Sorry if it’s still too soon to tell you - actually no I’m
not, I fucking I love you so much.” He attacks me again until we’re
both struggling for air. I don’t know what I said, but I can’t wait
until I say it again.

After kissing me
dizzy, Luke releases my mouth smirking. Let me tell you, the man
can wear a smirk. “Stop distracting me woman, and close your
eyes.”

“
I
believe-”

Luke dives at my
mouth again, cutting me off. If this is the way he’s going to shut
me up, I think I might just keep on chatting. “Just stop talking
and close your damn eyes, babe.”

I grin, then
close my damn eyes.

Taking both of
my hands in one of his, Luke carefully leads me part of the way
down the drive. He turns me a little to the left, then right, then
kisses me so, so sweetly that he has my stomach dropping and my
houchie perking to attention. I hear his feet scuffle away a few
steps and then he releases me.

“
Okay, you can open your eyes now Maggie Mae.”

I blink a couple
of times to focus, because, well, because I can’t believe what’s
sitting right in front of me can possibly be real.

Oh My Freaking
God. Can this man be any more wonderful?

“
You
bought a car?” I squeal in surprise. And wow, it’s one heck of a
car.

“
You’re not mad?”

“
No.
Why would I be mad?” I start chuckling when realisation hits. “You
think because I gave my car away I now have a thing about cars?”
I’m laughing harder at the absurdity, I can’t help it. It’s just
too darn adorable. He’s just too darn adorable, and the look on his
face… “Oh, Luke, you are the sweetest person on the
planet.”

I’m about to
move in to give him a hug, when instead I decide to relax and give
my impulsive side some air. Poor thing’s been locked up for far too
long and let’s face it, fly leaping is a much better
idea.

Taking a couple
steps back, I run and jump at Luke… hoping, after it’s too late and
I’m already in the air, that he will actually catch me. I wrap my
arms and legs around that disgustingly fit, muscular body of his
and pepper his face with kisses.

“
Thank you for worrying about me so much -” It’s a broken
sentence. My mouth’s busy, you see. With Luke’s mouth.

Laughing, Luke
turns us side on so we can take a better look at our new toy, “I
made sure to get one with only two doors and,” pointing to the
missing roof, “I couldn’t actually get one without a roof. Well I
could, but it rains, so I thought a convertible would be close
enough.” Shrugging, his cheeks blush.

“
Soooo?” My eyebrows arch in question, smiling so big my face
aches.

“
Sooo?” Luke mimics in confusion, his eyebrows disappearing
under his hair.

“
Are
we going to go for a ride or what?” I cry excitedly, cinching my
ankles and bouncing up and down on his hips.

“
Not
if you keep doing that,” He laughs as he holds me in place, flexing
his hips to get his point across. It works.

“
Top
on or off?”

“
Definitely off.”

“
Definitely,” he agrees, pressing me down onto his groin so my
pubic bone presses on his growing erection. I squeeze my legs and
am about to suggest a different kind of test drive when Luke’s hand
goes to the door and pulls it open. His head’s lowered, running
through all the ‘boy’ stuff about how awesome all the gadgets are
and what that thingy does or what this other thing operates, when a
black sports car speeds past and takes the corner at the end of the
street without breaking.

“
Was
that…?” I mutter, wondering to myself out loud.

“
Who,
babe?” Luke asks, straightening from having his head buried in the
interior to look in the same direction as I am. He didn’t see the
car.

“
Nothing. No one. It’s fine.” Shaking my head, I’m being
ridiculous - it could have been anyone; there’s more than one black
car in the world.

“
Well
then, it’s clearly not.”

“
Huh?”

Sighing, Luke
lowers me to my seat, walks around to the driver’s side and
situates himself in place behind the wheel. “Whenever you say
something is ‘fine’ it’s not. It’s your ‘Tell’ babe.”

“
It’s
my what? And no I don’t, by the way.”

“
Your
‘Tell’
- and you do. It’s a poker term.
‘Fine’
is
your
‘Tell’
Maggie Mae,” he concludes a little smugly,
starting the engine.

Raising my chin
stubbornly, I decide the view out the front windscreen is far more
interesting than the man sitting next to me. “Do you want me to put
a gold star on your homework too?” Freaking Mr Know-it-all. I so do
not have a
‘Tell’
.

“
Come
on Maggie,” he says gently, running his fingers up and down my arm.
“Let’s go take a ride in your new car.” Relaxing my posture, I let
him take my hand. I’m not saying he’s right, but… whatever. Hang
on-

“
My
what?”

“
What? Do you think I would buy a white car for me? No way,
babe. I’m a black car kind of guy. White’s all yours,” he chuckles
pinching back a cheeky grin. “Plus, I like seeing you
topless.”

“
YOU
KNOW THAT’S, like, a five hundred dollar fine right?”

“
What
is?”

“
Playing on your phone while you’re driving,” I state
matter-of-factly, needing a break from sitting in the car. When
Luke said he wanted to go for a drive, I didn’t realise it was
going to be a two hour butt-numbing drive.

“
Is
it? Shit, that’s steep… but it’s supposed to be around… here…” he
mumbles absently, placing the phone in a cup holder and leaning
towards the windscreen. “Ah-huh, there it is.” Sitting back in my
driver’s seat, he flicks on my indicator. We’re supposed to be
taking my new car for a test drive. I didn’t realise that meant I
was the test passenger.

“
Where what is?” I ask, leaning forward because Luke
is.

Nope, got
nothing, just another road we turn down.

“
You’ll see.”

“
Ooh,
mysterious.” I’m grumpy because we’ve been sitting for freaking
hours and he won’t tell me where he’s taking me. And I’m not
sooking because he won’t give me my own way. Okay I am, but come
on, he’s having all the fun here.

Luke chuckles at
my tone, loving the fact that he has one over me. He entwines our
fingers. “Won’t be much longer Maggie Mae.” Smirking, he lifts my
wrist to his mouth he bites gently over my pulse before kissing
it.

“
You
like that?” he asks, his small smile turning into a grin. “I can
feel your heartrate picking up.”

He’s right, I
like it.

I’m somewhat
distracted watching Luke basically making out with my arm, while
steering the car one handed into a parking lot. When he has the car
parked and the ignition off, he reaches over and lifts me across
the centre console and partially over his lap slowly biting and
kissing up past my elbow, my shoulder, across my collar bone, up my
neck, over my jaw.

By the time he
gets to my lips I’m vibrating and pressing my thighs together to
quiet the increasing tingle. Shifting in his seat, Luke swipes my
lips with his tongue, wanting me to kiss him back, I open for him
and suck his tongue into my mouth. He tastes like mint and Luke, a
wonderfully addictive combination.

“
Wouldn’t it be handy if we had a room about now?” Luke
mutters between tongue strokes. His hand slowly caresses my leg,
working its way higher, coaxing my tightly pressed knees to relax
and part. His thumb presses into the crease between my thigh and my
hoochie. Teasingly close, but not close enough.

“
Mm-hmm,” I agree shifting to a more accessible
angle.

“
Great, let’s go.”

Luke all but
shoves me back onto my seat, leaping out his door and slipping the
key fob into his front pocket.

“
What?”
The hell?

Seconds later
the boot is opened. He takes something out and closes the lid. Then
he’s striding down a path, before he turns and continues to walk
backwards, wearing a grin the size of Texas. “Well come on Maggie
Mae, the room’s not going to come to you.”

I’m instantly
out of the car and jogging after him before he can disappear
completely amongst all the over grown fauna.

The gravel path
bends and winds before a manicured lawn opens out to a cliff top
view of the ocean. It’s incredible, and stops me in my tracks.
Everywhere I look is sandy beach and blue, blue water, the sun
sparkling diamonds on its surface.

My feet sink
into the lush grass with each step I take. It’s so soft that I end
up stopping to take my shoes off to walk the rest of the way to the
railing bare foot. I look to my feet and wish I found the time to
paint my nails. The absent thought brings on a happy memory about
little girls and candy coloured nails. Maybe I’ll do them when I
get home.

When I’m done
taking in the view, I turn to find Luke sitting on a wooden bench
seat, watching me. “You got us a room?”

“
Uh-huh, two nights, with the option of a third.” He extends
his arm around me as I settle down next to him. “We can eat dinner
out here if you want, or there is a restaurant, or the room,” He
finishes lightly, shifting his eyebrows up and down when he says
‘room’. It’s tempting, and the night is still cool but clear and
the view is breathtaking.

“
Would you mind if we ate out here tonight?”

“
Sounds perfect.”

“
Thank you for you, Luke,” I say in awe, kissing the side of
his mouth. I don’t mean for being my bashing board time and again,
or filling my kitchen with rubbish, or the car or the room. I mean
for simply being Luke Andrews.

“
You
missed,” he smiles, pointing to the middle of his mouth. Shaking my
head, I lean in and kiss him good and proper just because I
can.

Luke checks us
in and organises dinner. We take our time to see the grounds and
wander along the beach with the sunset as our back drop. We eat on
the grass just as Luke promised, then wrap up in blankets and
enjoyed the quiet night. He kisses me, I kiss him. Then we make
love.

I make love for
the first time since losing Brendan.

And it is
beautiful.

I’M HAVING THE
best dream. I’m sleeping in one of the most comfortable beds
imaginable, lying on my stomach while strong hands massage up my
spine, across my shoulders, then back and my neck, before making
the journey down to my butt. The whole process is
heavenly.