Skin Deep (6 page)

Calland looked behind me and grinned before
saying, “Hi! I’m Calland, Emma’s brother. Apparently she has
forgotten her manners or she would have introduced us by now. But I
guess she was pretty preoccupied…” his words trailed off in
laughter.

“Again,” I said between clenched teeth, “What
are you doing here and why didn’t you just call?”

“I did call. Four times. You didn’t answer,
but now I can see why.” He grinned unabashedly at me. “Leah called
from the bar, said her date was a douche and she needed a ride.
Cant take her home like this, so…tag! You’re it!” With that, he
gave Luke a two fingered salute, nudged Leah off of his foot where
she had landed, and took off towards the front door.

“Calland!” I yelled. “Get your ass back here,
you stupid son of a motherless goat!” I let out a scream of
frustration before remembering that Luke was still sitting there,
taking everything in.

I blew out a breath, knowing that my night of
debauchery was now out of the question. Leaving Leah where she lay
on the carpet, I moved to stand in front of Luke, who had now risen
from the couch.

“Luke, I’m sorry,” I said quietly, my voice
filled with regret.

Luke grinned and said, “I’m not,” before
drawing me into his arms and pressing his lips to mine lightly.
“Don’t worry, sugar. We’re gonna fuck. Just not tonight.” With that
said, he kissed my lips softly once more and then was gone.

I stood there gazing longingly at the door
for a minute until an animalistic snore broke through my reverie. I
walked over to my sister, nudging her with my foot, telling her to
get her drunk ass up. Leah is the youngest of us kids, just barely
25. She had a natural perkiness that had served her well as the
captain of the cheerleading team in high school, long, dark, wavy
brown hair like mine, and the jade green eyes that we all shared.
She was tiny like Jenna, worked as a hairstylist in a shop by the
mall, and had men follow her around in droves, all hoping to be on
the receiving end of her bright smile.

I reached down and grabbed her under her
armpits, hefting her up into a sitting position. She opened her
eyes blearily and blinked at me before saying, “Emma? ‘Zat
choo?”

“Yeah, Leah, its me. C’mon, lets get you to
bed.”

It took some finagling, but I finally got her
up, down the hall, and safely tucked into my bed before crawling in
beside her and falling into a deep sleep. My last thought before it
was lights out was, “Calland is going to die.”

Chapter 5

The rest of the week flew by. I was so busy
with work and fielding calls from Allie demanding details from my
date with Luke that I didn’t have time to dwell much on the fact
that I hadn’t heard from him. Okay, so I lied. Its all I could
think about. I could just shoot my brother for doing that to me,
and I probably would, once I could get my hands on him. He wisely
has been avoiding me.

On the bright side? My boss, sweetheart that
he is, so kindly agreed without hesitation to bond me out of jail
after I shoot Calland. Of course, I didn’t tell him why it would be
necessary. He’s cool like that.

On Friday afternoon, having spent most of my
morning fielding my usual ration of legal questions, phone calls
(quite a few were hang ups or heavy breathing in my ear; weird),
and client meetings, I answered my phone one last time as I shut
down my computer, prepared to once again explain why someone
couldn’t get their marriage annulled. That, let me tell you, is a
fascinating conversation: They say, “
I want to get my marriage
annulled
.” I say, “
okay, have you consummated the
marriage
?” They say, “
what?
” I say, “
Did you
consummate the marriage?
” They say, “
What’s that mean?
”
I say, “
Did you have sex with your wife/husband on your wedding
night and/or any other night (or day) during the course of your
marriage?
” And so on, and so forth. My favorite was an older
woman who had called and we had the same conversation, but her
response to my last question was classic. She said, “
Well wasn’t
I supposed to? He told me it was against the law if we didn’t…
”
Poor woman.

“Good afternoon, Floyd Grim’s office, can I
help you?”

“Hey, sugar,” a deep, sinfully rich voice
said in my ear.

Gah! “Hey,” I said breathlessly.

“I’ll be there to get you at six. Be
ready.”

Ummm…no? I mean, we’ve had one date. So who
collared me and made him master?

“Sorry, Luke,” I replied in a clipped tone.
“Got plans with Allie. Another time?” I really did have plans with
Allie, but even if I didn’t, I would have made some. As it was, she
and I had a date with our fat clothes, junk food, and an Amanda
Seyfried movie marathon; we had Letters to Juliet, Mama Mia, and
Dear John. (Which we watch more for Channing Tatum. Yum. I mean,
have you seen Magic Mike? Heellooo!)

“Cancel them,” came the quick reply.

“No, Luke. And what gives you the right to
call me up out of the blue, at my job, no less, and dictate
what-”

He cut me off mid-sentence. “Babe. I’ll call
Allie. Six. Be ready. Later, sugar.”

I heard the phone click off in my ear and
stood there in shock , the receiver still pressed to my cheek.

After a minute, I replaced the phone on the
hook, gathered up my purse and my keys, and locked up the office.
Heading out to my car, I dialed Allie’s number on my cell. She
didn’t answer, so I left her a message, demanding that she call me
immediately. I figured she was closing up the store or she would
have answered. She’s manic about answering her phone, always
telling me that if she didn’t, she could miss the “party of a
lifetime” call that would keep her in enough Nipple Dip, Jack
Rabbits, and Turtle Tools (Oh, my!) to last a lifetime.

See, Allie’s a pretty free spirit. She owns a
thrift store at the edge of town in a quaint little shopping
center, called Twice as Nice. She does pretty well there, but
supplements her income (supports her addiction, however you want to
call it) by doing Down & Dirty parties. She ropes me into
helping her sometimes with them and delights in presenting me with
a new BOB every Christmas. For those of you who aren’t as unlucky
as me in the bedroom department, BOB is my battery operated
boyfriend. Honestly, it’s a pretty good relationship. I don’t have
to fight him for the remote, he doesn’t hog the covers, and I get
mine every time!

I pulled into my driveway a few minutes later
and headed inside. Allie hadn’t called me back yet, but she was
supposed to be here in about a half hour anyway, so I really didn’t
think much of it. I was dying to talk to her about Luke,
though.

I headed back to my bedroom after dropping my
keys and purse on the sideboard by the front door. I stripped out
of my work clothes, pulling on my favorite red fleece pants covered
with penguins and snowflakes, soft, thick black socks, an old tank
top, and one of my brother’s old hoodies that he’d left behind one
night. It was black with the letters F.B.I. spelled out in huge
white block letters. It was so big on me that the sleeves hung way
past the tips of my fingers, and the bottom of it reached the
middle of my thighs. Across the back was written Female Body
Inspector. Eh. Who cares?

I pulled my hair up into a messy knot on the
very top of my head and washed my makeup off before heading into
the kitchen to start dragging out the makings for English muffin
pizzas, me and Allie’s favorite childhood meal. I also pulled out
the ingredients for Dried Beef Dip, bags of chips, stuff to make
s’mores, and checked to make sure I had everything for our “Special
Sundaes” which consisted of strawberry frozen yogurt (or ice cream)
with strawberry daiquiri wine cooler poured over it. Delish!

I heard the doorbell and took off to open the
door, wondering why Allie didn’t just use her key. When I opened
the door, I froze, completely thrown off by Luke standing on my
doorstep.

“Luke.” My voice cracked a little, whether in
shock, confusion, anger, or lust, I wasn’t sure.

“Hey, sugar.” He let his gaze roam up and
down my body, taking in my disheveled appearance. “So, we staying
in tonight?”

I cleared my throat. “Um, Luke, I told you I
have plans with Allie tonight.”

“No you don’t. I told you I was calling her.
She understands completely, by the way. She did ask me to tell you
to call her immediately after we finally get down and dirty?” His
voice raised questioningly at the end and he quirked his brow at
me.

I sighed, muttering under my breath, “Thanks
for selling me out, Allie. Bitch.”

I moved to the side, waving him in. He
stepped through the door, waiting for me to shut it behind him. I
turned to look at him, cocking my head to the side because I
honestly just couldn’t get a handle on him. What were we doing,
here?

Luke shot me a quick grin before taking a
step toward me. Instinctively, I took a step back. He continued
stalking me, and I kept stepping back until my back hit the door
behind me, my hand gripping the frame in desperation. He kept
coming, pressing his body against mine before tipping my head up
and lightly pecking my lips in a chaste kiss before moving back and
grinning.

“So, are we?” he asked.

Huh? “Are we what?” I know I had to sound as
confused as I felt.

“Staying in. I vote yes. What’s for dinner?”
Luke headed into the kitchen and I followed him helplessly.
Stomped, more like it because, honestly, I was a little miffed that
I had only warranted a peck as a greeting kiss; I was expecting to
be ravished, especially with the way he had stalked me. Humph.

My cell phone rang on the counter where I’d
left it and I picked it up, noting Allie’s picture popped up on the
screen.

“Bitch.” One word. That’s all I said into the
phone as a greeting.

“Love you!” she said breezily. “You’re
welcome, save me a sundae, rock his world, and call me in the
morning!” She sang the last word before laughing and hanging
up.

I tossed my phone back on the counter and
resigned myself to the fact that I had no control over my life at
the moment. Or ever.

I blew out a breath and asked Luke, “Ever had
an English muffin pizza?”

“Cant say that I have, but I’m open to trying
new things,” he replied. Oh really. Nice to know!

But seriously? I thought everyone on God’s
green earth had eaten one at least once in their life!

“Well, its been me and Allie’s staple food
since we were little. And they’re good, I promise! Ready? You can
help, too!”

Luke jumped in, helping me split the muffins,
slather them with sauce, and top them with tons of pepperoni,
sausage crumbles, bacon, banana peppers, and mozzarella cheese. We
stuck them in the oven and I put together the dip while they
baked.

Once the pizzas were done, we carried them,
the chips and dip, and large glasses of pop into the living room
and laid it all out like a buffet on the coffee table. Luke sat on
the couch while I sat on the floor, leaning back on the couch, my
shoulder brushing his knee.

I turned on the tv and started the movie I
had put in the DVD player earlier that night for when Allie and I
had our marathon. The opening notes of Mama Mia began playing and I
watched Luke out of the corner of my eye as I took a bite of pizza.
He didn’t flinch and didn’t say a word, so I decided to see how
long I could get him to actually watch the movie without either
falling asleep or running out the door.

About an hour into the movie we had polished
off the pizzas and plowed our way through most of the dip. I had
moved closer to Luke who was now lounging back on the couch, still
sitting on the floor, and was leaning against his leg, my head
resting on his thigh. I was having a hard time concentrating on the
movie because he had removed the ponytail holder from my hair and
was softly running his fingers through it, smoothing it back from
my face and across his thigh. Every once in a while he would trace
the outer shell of my ear with a fingertip, making me shiver.

I closed my eyes, lost in sensation,
shivering from his touch when I snapped. Fuck Mama Mia, its on!

As Luke’s hand smoothed my hair back from my
face again, I rolled my head forward and bit into Luke’s thigh
through his jeans. I didn’t bite hard enough to hurt, but did it
enough that he let out a jagged breath and his fingers tightened
convulsively in my hair.

I pushed off his leg, turning towards him and
moving between his legs, running my hands up his thighs. His eyes
narrowed, heavy lidded with desire, deepening the smoky blue-grey
depths with added intensity. I leaned in and nipped at his thigh
again before pushing to my feet and straddling his hips. His hands
came up to grip my hips, and I leaned into him, touching my tongue
to the silver ring in his lower lip before planting kisses along
the hard line of his jaw. When I reached his mouth, I kissed him
deeply, being the aggressor this time, finally getting my hello
kiss that I’d wanted since he’d gotten there.

I pulled back from his mouth and, putting my
lips to his ear, I softly growled, “Fuck me, Luke. I want you
inside me.”

Luke groaned, the tips of his fingers biting
into the soft flesh of my hips as he ground himself against me.

I put my hands flat against his chest and
pushed off, standing in front of him. I held out my hand, silently
asking him to take it. He took it, slowly coming to his feet before
I pulled him down the hall to my bedroom. Once inside, I didn’t
give him the chance to take control. Maneuvering him to the side of
the bed, I turned with him so his back was facing the bed and then
shoved with all my might. His eyes widened as he lost his balance
and sat down hard on his ass on the edge of my mattress. I wasted
no time, climbing astride his hips again as I pushed him back to
lie flat.