Somewhere Along the Way (6 page)

Cassie was glad Luke had decided to drive back because her hands were shaking with a mixture of excitement and nerves. They tried to make light conversation, but the sexual tension between them was too much to sustain a topic.

They walked into her kitchen together; the mounting anticipation was palpable. Cassie didn’t realize she was hanging onto the doorknob until Luke gave her a curious look.

“We don’t have to do this if you’re not ready, Cassie,” he said gently.

She’d felt brave in the restaurant and excited on the drive, but now, back at her place, she was nervous. “I am. At least I think I am. It’s just been a long time.”

He caressed the side of her neck lightly with one hand, and she sucked in an audible breath. “How long?”

His touch sparked flames of desire through her. She closed her eyes and savored the feeling before answering in a whisper, “Four, maybe five years.”

She opened one eye and peered up at him to assess his reaction. His expression was difficult to discern. “You don’t remember?”

Cassie turned her head away. “I was lonely, and he didn’t matter. I didn’t even know his last name. I’m not proud of who I was back then. I wasn’t in a good place.”

Tenderly, Luke turned Cassie’s face back toward his. “Don’t hide from me, Cassie. You can tell me anything.”

Cassie blinked back tears.
Unless I tell you I may be pregnant. I can guarantee that would be a mood breaker.
“Why am I so nervous? It’s not like I’m a virgin.”

He unbuttoned his coat, lifted her hand, and placed it on his chest above his heart. “You’re not my first either, Cassie, but can you feel that? My heart is beating like I just finished a sprint. Do you know why? Because unlike every other time, this feels different—like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment.”

Cassie’s hand shook against his chest. His heart, like hers, was indeed beating a wild dance. “We barely know each other.”

He placed his other hand over hers on the doorknob. “We can fix that.” He gave her that lopsided, boyish grin of his that melted her heart. Again. “But you’ll have to let go of the door, Cupcake.”

She laughed nervously and did. He took her hand in his and brought it up to his mouth, kissing the inside of her wrist while never breaking eye contact with her. “Let’s go upstairs to your room. We don’t have to rush. I want to make love to you slowly, learn every inch of you, and watch you come again and again for me.”

He swung her up in his arms and carried her out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and into her bedroom as if she were precious to him. Cassie buried her face in his neck and clung to him. His consideration for her almost brought her to tears. She was used to people who took from her. Even if he left before she woke in the morning, she wouldn’t regret choosing to be with him. He wasn’t like the fumbling boyfriends she’d had in high school, or the selfish short-term lovers she’d experienced as an adult. He was a man who knew how to please a woman and intended to enjoy doing that.

He eased her down onto her feet beside her bed. She brushed against his erection briefly, and they both shuddered. Ever so slowly he unbuttoned her coat before dropping it to the floor beside her. She reached for the belt on his jeans, but he stilled her hands. “Not yet. You first.”

He kissed her neck and then each new inch of skin as it was exposed while he unbuttoned her blouse. Her shirt floated to the floor. With one hand he released the clasp of her bra and tossed it on the floor in the growing heap of clothing. He gently cupped each of her small breasts in his hands. “You’re perfect. So beautiful.”

“So are you,” Cassie said huskily.

With his eyes burning with desire and his hands worshipping her, Cassie felt truly beautiful for the first time in her life. He circled a thumb around one of her puckered nipples. “I could come just from the sight of you.” He gave her a droll look and added, “I won’t, Cupcake, but I love that I could.”

Cassie ran her hands over the bulging muscles of his shoulders and up to his strong neck. She arched backward and offered herself to him. With a groan, he lowered his mouth to one of her breasts and savored it. Cassie’s body clenched with pleasure, and she was quickly wet and ready for him. He didn’t rush, though. He teased her with his teeth. Flicked her with his tongue. When she was clinging to him and moaning, he took her into his mouth and sucked gently while rolling her other nipple skillfully between his fingers. When she thought she could take no more, he started all over again on the other breast. Cassie heard herself making sounds of encouragement she’d never made before. She’d never been a vocal lover, but sex had never been like this.

He turned her around, exposing her bare back to him. He took her ponytail and swished her hair back and forth, following the teasing path with his lips. His hot mouth rained kisses on her neck and spine. While kissing her shoulder, he reached around and unsnapped the front of her jeans. One of his hands returned to knead a breast, while his other slid beneath the front of her silk panties and cupped her sex. “You’re so wet, Cassie. So wet for me.”

“Yes,” she answered, too lost in how he was making her feel to say anything more.

He slid a finger between her lower lips and began to slowly caress her clit. Cassie gripped a bedpost to steady herself. He took his time, leisurely learning what drove her wild. When he found it, he kept his rhythm steady and his touch sure.

Cassie rubbed back and forth against his bulging erection, loving how it felt even through their clothing. He continued to kiss her neck and shoulder, whispering how beautiful she was as his caresses drove her closer and closer to climax.

Just when she thought she was about to come, he withdrew his hand and turned her. She cried out softly. He chuckled softly at her expression. “Not yet, Cupcake. Trust me.”

Wild with a need to finish what he’d started, she pushed his mouth up to hers. The kiss instantly deepened, and they feverishly began to remove the rest of each other’s clothing. She couldn’t get enough of him.

He picked her up and laid her in the middle of her bed. He knelt beside her and handed her a condom. She eagerly rolled it onto his cock. He was so big. So hard. She wanted him inside her with a desperation unlike anything she’d felt before. She spread her legs wide, wantonly, and parted her lips.
Take me,
she begged silently.

He bent to claim her mouth again, and his hand returned possessively to her sex. He stroked it firmly then once again began to caress her nub. In half the time, she was wild and nearing release. She ran her hands over every inch of him she could reach. Craving more. He increased the speed of his touch and slid his middle finger inside her. His tongue fucked her mouth while his hand sent her over the edge of climax and then through an explosive orgasm.

She shuddered and mewled into his mouth. Her ragged breathing heated their kiss more. When she calmed, he positioned himself between her legs. Cassie dug her hands into his back. She couldn’t wait another second for him to be inside her.

But she had to.

He loved her by his rules. Once again he kissed her neck, her breasts, and teased her by sliding his cock back and forth against her wet slit. He nipped her breasts. Teased them. Returned to kiss her deeply on the mouth before moving to her shoulders and breasts again. All the while, dipping just the tip of him between her slick lower lips, sliding it back and forth across her clit until she was bucking upward and begging him to take her.

She cried out his name when he finally entered her. She was more than ready for him, and he filled her deeply. She spread herself wider for him, and he raised himself above her, watching her expression while he thrust into her.

His powerful claiming was primal, and she sensed the moment he lost control and began pounding into her with the same desperation she had welcomed him with. Time stood still. There was only the intense pleasure from their joining, the sound of their passionate breathing, and the lust in each other’s eyes that neither could look away from. They were connected beyond their physical bodies. In that moment he was hers, and she was his; nothing else mattered.

They rode toward release together, almost violently. She dug her hands into his hair as his speed increased, and gave herself over to an orgasm she felt from her toes to the roots of her hair. He gasped, “Oh, baby, I’m coming,” and thrust deeply one last time.

Still inside her, he gave her a long, tender kiss that blurred Cassie’s vision with tears. When he raised his head he smiled down at her, and Cassie couldn’t help but smile back. No matter what happened, she wouldn’t regret knowing this side of him.

He rolled onto his side, disposed of the condom, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her lips softly. “I knew we would be this good together. I wanted you from the first time I stepped into your kitchen. You had a smudge of frosting on your face, and I wanted to lick it off you. I wanted to lick every inch of you, Cupcake. And I will. Over and over again. All night long.”

Frosting? Baking.
Cassie sat up. “Oh, shit. I have to bake for tomorrow.”

He traced her collarbone then cupped one of her breasts firmly. “That’s okay, I’ll help you.”

Smiling down at him, Cassie asked, “What do you know about baking?”

He slid his hand down her stomach and cupped her sex possessively. “Enough.”

Suddenly breathing heavily again, Cassie whispered, “I can’t let just anyone in my kitchen. What are your qualifications?”

His eyes narrowed with pleasure. He raised a hand to her breast. “A strong need to lick frosting from your tits.” His talented fingers slid from her breast to her thigh. “Your thighs.” His fingers slid across to up her sex. “Then have you come in my mouth. I want to lay you across that table and taste every inch of you until you’re begging me to fuck you.”

I could come again from just imagining it.

“You’re hired,” Cassie said with a chuckle.

***

Once again dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, Luke leaned a hip against a counter and watched Cassie check on a batch of cookies in one of her industrial-sized ovens. Her hair was pulled back, but still wet from the shower they had shared. She looked sweet and innocent draped in her large apron. Even after the marathon day of sex they’d had, he felt his cock stir again as he watched her. “You have a smudge of blue on your neck,” he said huskily.

She smiled at him playfully from beneath those naturally long lashes of hers and swatted at him with an oven mitt. “That’s because you distracted me in the shower.”

A wide smile spread across his face. Being with her felt right. He couldn’t explain why or begin to guess what it meant for either of them, but he wanted to remain in this place with this feeling as long as he could. “I tried not to, but you had frosting in places I couldn’t help but want to taste again.”

She blushed. The timer on the oven went off; she pulled a hot pan out and slid it on a cooling rack. “You could make yourself useful and decorate the cooled batch.” Their eyes met for a hot moment. “It’s not like you don’t know how to apply frosting.”

A wave of warmth swept through him as he remembered how he’d drawn sugary trails along her body and then his own. Every touch, every flick of his tongue or hers was forever seared into his memories. No matter what tomorrow brought, he knew this time with Cassie would stay with him always. He dutifully picked up the pastry bag and began to pipe frosting on a cookie. “This is something I never imagined myself doing.”

A small crease appeared between Cassie’s eyebrows. “You don’t actually have to do it. This part is probably boring for you. You’re used to saving lives, not deciding between jelly beans or sprinkles for toppings.”

He laid the bag down and pulled Cassie into his arms, looping his hands behind her back. “Hey, I’m enjoying this.”

There was sadness in her eyes when she looked up at him. “Today. I bake every night. It’s how I pay the bills in the winter. How long will it take you to get bored with this?”
With me?
She didn’t ask the question out loud, but it was there in her eyes.

He pulled her to his chest and rested his chin in her hair. “You think we’re so different, don’t you? Too different. I’m not so sure. I don’t claim to have had the type of childhood you did. I was raised with a nanny and cooks who took care of me. I was never hungry or alone. But my family was . . . is . . . classically dysfunctional. We used to eat entire meals together without saying more than ten words to each other. Talking to any of them is still often awkward. I accepted it because I didn’t know anything else. Your life here is nothing like that.”

She hugged her arms tightly around his chest. “What are you saying, Luke?”

He tipped her head back so he could look into her eyes. “I want to spend this week with you. All of it. I don’t care if we bake every night.” Flashes of their prelude to baking brought a lusty smile back to his face. “In fact, I like the idea very much.”

“Then you go back to New York and your life there?”

He wanted to say that wasn’t how the week would end, but he’d never experienced anything like this before. He didn’t know if something that felt as good as being with her could last. “Cassie . . .”

She raised a hand gently to his lips. “Don’t say it. It’s okay. I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine.”