Star Crossed (4 page)

“I was fired.” She freed the pork chop from the pan with a vicious dig of the spatula. “Today, as it happens.”

“Shit. What for?”

A.J. opened her freezer and pulled out some vegetables. “For accusing a superior of skimming money from drug busts.”

“Did you have evidence?”

“Not enough to make the charges stick. And my boss had more friends than me. Guess I should have paid better attention at charm school.”

Frozen snow peas exploded into the sink as she ripped the plastic bag that held them too forcefully. Gritting her teeth for patience, she gathered them up, rinsed them, then dumped them into a pot of hot water.

“Your department could have investigated,” Luke observed.

“They could have, but it was easier to eighty-six the rookie.” She turned to face Luke’s sympathetic eyes. “I knew accusing him was a long shot and I might end up screwed. I took a chance. I have . . . issues when it comes to doing what I think of as the right thing.”

“Some people would say that’s a good quality for a cop.”

“Some people would.”

Luke lowered his head and smiled. Even with the nose splint, he looked like a movie star. “It’s certainly a good quality when you get caught in a bar fight.”

“Have you
never
been in a fight before?”

“Just scuffles.” He shrugged unselfconsciously. “With other kids in school. I did not see that punch coming.”

“Those girls you hang with like walking on the edge. You be careful they don’t lead you over it someday.”

Luke’s soulful green eyes hooked hers. His expression was as sincere as an altar boy. “That’s a lesson I’ll do my best to learn.”

For three long seconds, A.J. believed him. Her heart beat faster, her pussy suffusing with wet heat. Realizing what he’d done, she snorted. “I’ll bet you used that look on your mom every time you broke curfew.”

“I meant every word!”

“You’re still a bullshitter.”

He looked aggrieved but then cracked a telling grin. “Sometimes. It’s hard not to be when you’ve got a face like mine.”

“Oh you poor thing. Too good looking to tell the truth.”

“I tell the truth. Sometimes it isn’t what people want to hear.”

That was no lie. A.J. filled two plates and set them on her small table. “Eat. You can conk out while you’re digesting.”

He ate everything she gave him
and
praised her barely adequate cooking. Mollified by his manners, she refused to let him do dishes and made up the couch for him. Maybe she should have offered him the bed, but her room was her private zone. Luke didn’t seem to care. He sank onto the couch without complaining, pulled up the blanket, and squirmed onto his side as casually as if this were his place. That was an unusual trait. A.J. wouldn’t have been as easy in someone else’s home.

Seeing him lying there with his knees bent to fit the couch gave her the strangest urge to fuss over him.

Though he was obviously tired, he looked up at her musingly. “You haven’t had a lot of guys here.”

“I’ve had some.” She’d had a few one-night stands. Long-term romance wasn’t her M.O.

“Not many. I can tell. I may seem like a rube to you, but I can read people.” He yawned, exposing strong white teeth with no fillings. “Don’t worry. My mom raised a gentleman. Your honor is safe with me.”

“As if I needed to worry about you.”

She’d spoken without thinking. He smiled in slow motion, something more than weariness smoldering in his expression.

“I could make you worry,” he purred, “if I put my mind to it.”

Warmth bloomed between her legs, causing her to press her thighs together.

Sheesh
, she thought, turning away and snorting before the heat got worse. Pretty Boy had no trouble with his ego.

“Thanks for your help,” he called as she shut her bedroom door.

To her dismay, A.J. discovered she was sweating.

*

At two a.m. she crept out to check on him. Usually she slept naked, but tonight she’d dressed after her long shower. Despite not being a prude, she felt self-conscious in just panties and a wifebeater. She was too aware that her breasts were bare beneath the cotton. Then again, maybe she was too aware of him.

The small light she’d left on above the stove kept her from tripping on anything.

Luke was on his back, one arm flung above his head and hanging off the couch. She perched on the coffee table, verified he was breathing, then pressed her palm lightly to his brow. He didn’t have a fever and seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Satisfied, she sat back and looked at him.

She jumped when he spoke without opening his eyes.

“Normally I wouldn’t complain, but you staring at me is giving me a boner.”

Plenty of men could have said that and done nothing for her at all. Luke’s words sent noticeable tingles through her erotic zones, which made her blush hotly.

“Sorry,” she said, starting to rise awkwardly. “I wanted to make sure you were alive.”

Laughing, he caught her wrist before she could escape. His thumb drew an X-rated circle on the nerves of her palm. “That’s okay. I think you checking on me is sweet.”

“You hit your head!”

“My head isn’t what’s aching now.”

“The doc said you can’t have sex.”

“Can’t I?”

He stood more smoothly than she expected, the blanket falling from him to reveal he wore only his navy briefs. A.J.’s lungs had trouble filling even before he drew her hand to him. With a directness that startled but somehow seemed inevitable, he molded her fingers over his snug Y front. His hard-on moved behind the cotton, not fully rigid yet.

A.J. couldn’t resist rubbing the swollen flesh.

Luke’s breath caught in his throat.

“Does it hurt?” she whispered.

“It hurts a
lot
,” he said huskily.

A.J. went hot all over, like a cloud of steam was being forced through her. She would have pulled back, but Luke urged her hand closer.

“Rub me again,” he whispered next to her ear. “I promise I’ll do you too.”

“Luke,” she said.

“A.J.,” he returned, mocking her for her cautioning tone. He kissed her softly on the cheek, shifting nearer to her mouth. “We can play, can’t we? We can make each other feel really good.”

His lips whispered over hers and she had to let out a moan. His kiss was sweet, then wet, and finally deep and hungry.

“Come play,” he murmured before kissing her again. “Be the woman I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

He was talking nonsense, but her resistance broke anyway. His offer was exactly what she wanted—to sink into sensual pleasure and forget her problems. She slid her hands up his smooth broad back. She had to be careful of his nose, but for ten sweet seconds she tongued him just as deeply as he had her.

“God,” he gasped, suddenly hugging her waist tighter.

“Careful.” She leaned her upper body back, pushing her palms up his hard ripped chest. His hairlessness was different from what she was used to but inviting. Avoiding his various bruises, she rubbed the heels of her hands over his sharp nipples. Luke breathed faster, the bulge behind his briefs increasing.

“Is this a yes?” His gaze searched hers, his eyes colorless in the low light.

“Provisionally. You do me first.”

He laughed. “You have trust issues.”

“You could use a few of those yourself.” She knew she’d scored a point because he winced slightly. She slid her hold down his muscled arms then tugged him by the hand to her bedroom. She flipped on the light inside.

The surroundings here were homier, but Luke didn’t comment on the improvement. He
was
a guy, she guessed. Probably he didn’t see the furnishings beyond the low platform bed. A.J. dropped his hand so she could peel off her shirt. The air hit her skin pleasantly.

“Oh yeah,” he said, zeroing in on her breasts. “That is a nice front grill.”

A.J. pushed her boy-style panties down her legs.

Luke pressed his hand to his heart and sighed.

She laughed. He should consider acting. He was a natural ham.

His gaze rose to hers face with a flattering smidgen of reluctance. “You can trust me,” he said seriously. “I understand what it takes for a woman to be naked.”

A.J. hadn’t thought it took much. When she made up her mind, she wasn’t shy about her body. For some reason, his words touched her anyway.

“If you can be that sweet for the camera,” she said, needing to make light of her reaction, “you’ve got a long career ahead of you.”

He smiled but a shadow she couldn’t decipher entered his expression. Whatever caused it he shook off. “Would you lie down on the bed for me?”

She clambered knees-first onto the mattress and stretched out on her side. Luke followed gingerly.

“You’re still hurt,” she exclaimed.

“Not too hurt for this. This is worth a twinge or two.”

“You’ve had a lot of girls.”

“I have,” he agreed, “but only some are worth suffering for.”

She snorted. He was as smooth as a dish of cream.

He leaned closer, his smile wryly aware that she doubted him. A shock of thick dark hair had fallen across her face, and he stroked it from her cheek. The caress wasn’t hesitant. The bedroom must be his arena of expertise, where he knew his strengths and wasn’t afraid to take the lead.

“You’ve got some physique,” he observed, sliding his touch around her ear and onto her sensitive neck. Light as a feather, he cruised his fingers outward over her collarbone. A.J.’s skin tingled more strongly. “It’s strong and sleek and curved exactly right.”

His leg edged forward, easing her knees apart almost before she realized they’d parted.

“Slick,” she said.

He drew his hand down to cup her breast. “You going to critique everything?”

“Was that a critique? I thought it was a comment.”

His hand was graceful and warm and big. His thumb circled her areola, pebbling her nipple intensely. He watched her eyes for a moment then looked down at what he’d done. His hairy thigh, which had harder muscles than she expected, pushed farther between her own. She wanted to roll her pussy against it, but that was a victory she wasn’t prepared to give him yet.

“You’re not answering,” she said, her voice too ragged to pass as casual.

“I’m focused on what’s important,” he responded.

He dragged the backs of his fingers down the center of her belly. A.J.’s gaze followed his hand’s progress. Humming with what could have been appreciation or perhaps curiosity, he traced the delineation of her stomach. She didn’t quite sport a six-pack but she wasn’t far from it. When he reached the edge of her pubic hair, he pulled his fingers up again. Her stomach quivered, her thighs tightening on his leg without her meaning to. His explorations had left her wet, her clit swelling with eagerness to get in on the fun.

The ridge behind his designer briefs was bigger than ever.

“Do you like being touched like this?” he asked.

She liked everything he did but wasn’t ready to admit it. “I’d like you to get to the point.”

“This point?” He combed through her curls to touch the very tip of her button.

The glancing contact streaked all the way up her spine. “That’s a good point,” she conceded.

He pushed the finger that had found her deeper between her folds, stroking the hood lightly up and down the rod. Men were sometimes rough with her. Given how she acted and looked, they figured she could take it. They weren’t entirely wrong, but Luke was the opposite. He caressed her so gently she was surprised his touch had so powerful an effect.

He was teaching her things about her body she hadn’t known.

“More pressure?” he offered.

“No. That’s . . . good.”

He seemed to know she begrudged admitting this. “More fingers?”

A.J. bit her lip and nodded.

He pushed three together down the hood, covering her clit as well as the channels to either side. A.J.’s body arched. Three fingers moving on her magnified the magic he was spinning, spreading it wider and deeper than what he was touching.

“Hold onto me,” he said. “You need something to brace on.”

Uncharacteristically obedient, she rolled closer and gripped him behind one shoulder. His skin was hot, the scent of him stronger than before. Though it was hardly as intrusive as intercourse, the contact between her hand and his back was oddly intimate.

“Close your eyes,” he instructed. “Concentrate on your body. Forget I’m even here.”

She closed her eyes, but the truth was she couldn’t forget his presence. She didn’t want to. He was turning her on to an unusual degree. His masculine smell. His closeness. The sound of his increasingly uneven breathing. Knowing he was hard and not doing anything about it made her ache like she had a knot in her sex. She pressed her forehead against his sweating chest.

Her pelvis began to roll with the careful motions of his fingers.

He liked her reaction. He made a sound, a half swallowed groan of arousal. His fingers spread, opening her folds wider. She couldn’t hide that she was extremely wet. He let his movements grow firmer.

She tipped her head up and mouthed his neck.

He slid two fingers slowly into her soft passage.

The sensation of them going in was incredible.

He didn’t ask if it felt good. She could tell he knew. The solid muscles her thighs were clamped on flexed—maybe from his excitement or perhaps to give her more to grip. A.J.’s torso moved helplessly, her body striving to take him in deeper.

God, she wanted his cock in there.

He moved too, getting a better position for his hand, kissing her shoulder and then her neck. He put his thumb on her clit, working it and her pussy with quickening strokes. He stimulated more of her than she did when she was alone.

Clearly, he’d explored this territory with more creativity than she had. What usually took work folded down into mere minutes. Suddenly she was an inch away from climax, every nerve in her sex humming with hot current.

The intensity of the pleasure was good enough to hurt.

She sucked in air, her hand wrapping over his. He let her urge him where she wanted, his breath really huffing now. Her head arched back as her pussy clenched. Driven past her control, she came with a ragged groan.