Up to the Challenge (An Anchor Island Novel) (28 page)

Lucas had never been the grunting, Neanderthal type, but something changed when he was with Sid. He wanted to take care of her. Keep her close and send a message that she was taken.

Which, of course, she wasn’t. At least not beyond the next couple weeks. Which didn’t feel nearly long enough. For what, he didn’t know. He only knew thinking about leaving made his gut feel like it was being shoved through a meat grinder.

Sid pushed into the house and Lucas followed. She dropped her keys on the end table, then waited for him to reach the couch.

“What happened back there?”

Lucas shrugged and sat down to remove the ridiculous black boots. “I didn’t like the way Manny was talking to you.”

“I got that,” she said. “We all got that. I admit this jealousy thing was flattering at first. I’ve never had a guy get riled up on my behalf. But now it’s just annoying.”

She had every right to be angry, though he’d have expected a more brilliant display of temper. A good fight would lead to make-up sex, with the bonus of heightened intensity. Not that having sex with Sid wasn’t already the most intense thing he’d ever done in his life.

“It was a knee-jerk reaction. I’ll control it better from now on.” With one boot off, he moved to the next.

“Have I given off the ‘helpless’ vibe?” Sid asked, ripping her own boots off. “Something that says I need to be taken care of?”

She flung the boots to the floor and started untying the leather piece around her waist. Lucas crossed the room and stilled her hands. “Listen to me. There is nothing helpless about you. Nothing. My stupid male ego just takes charge and I turn into a grunting idiot.” He pulled her with him until he was sitting on the coffee table, saving her from straining her neck to see his face. “I’m sorry if my actions made you feel weak. You’re the strongest person I know.” Resting his head against her stomach, he mumbled. “Stronger than I am.”

She had been the one to keep things casual, after all. Something at which he’d failed miserably.

With a firm touch beneath his chin, she forced him to look up. “Why would you say that? You’ve worked your ass off to become a powerful lawyer. You did it all on your own. And you came down here without a second thought to help your family when they needed you. When they needed your strength the most, you came through.”

A thousand arguments ran through his mind, but he didn’t want to fight with Sid. He wanted to love her.

With great care, he dropped a kiss in each of her palms, then pulled her closer, until she was sitting sideways in his lap.

The distraction worked because Sid gave up the fight and said, “I don’t think this table can hold the both of us.”

“Then we’d better find a surface that can.” He took her mouth as he rose to his feet. Standing there, in the middle of Sid’s whitewashed cottage, Lucas made a silent vow that tonight would be different. Tonight would be about more than sex.

Tonight, Sid would know that she was loved. He couldn’t say it with words, but he could show her with his body.

By the time they reached her bedroom, all of Sid’s typical moves to get Lucas to speed things up had failed. The man was determined to take his time, and once he laid her gently on the bed, sending Drillbit hissing from the room, she decided to let him. Instead of ripping her clothes off, their usual first step, Lucas undressed himself, slowly, while maintaining eye contact. His shirt went first, then the pants.

She never failed to be amazed by how beautiful he was.

Sid had a death grip on the comforter by the time he returned to her. But Lucas never looked away. As if he were trying to tell her something important. Make her understand what he was thinking.

If the blood hadn’t all rushed out of her head, she might have been able to download the message. However, brain function wasn’t operating at the highest levels in that moment. The only thoughts running through her mind were of the
good God this is going to be good
variety.

Lucas reached out a hand and like an obedient child following the Pied Piper, Sid gave her own and was pulled off the bed. She’d half untied the cincher and now Lucas proceeded to unlace it the rest of the way. With no urgency whatsoever. She’d thought him totally unaffected until his hands brushed her breasts and he moaned.

Moaning was a good sign.

The leather fell away and Lucas moved to her shoulders, sliding the dress down little by little. The material slid over her now sensitized breasts, lighting fires across her skin as if every nerve ending were exposed. The dress finally dropped, the cool air fluttering along her body raising goose bumps everywhere. Or maybe that was the anticipation of what would happen next.

The way Lucas was handling the situation, it was hard to tell what he had in mind. He had to know by now seduction was unnecessary. Not that she was going to remind him. Why spoil the man’s fun?

And her own.

Instead of taking her mouth, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. A little chaste considering what they were about to do. Then his hands starting roaming. Taking his time, as if memorizing her, Lucas traced fingertips along her neck, over her shoulders, then his palms brushed over her tightened nipples.

She nearly came off the floor, but her reaction didn’t faze him.

He continued over her taut belly, around her hips, then down her thighs, eventually dropping to his knees. By the time the contact reached her calves, this powerful man
she’d had sex with countless times in the last week looked into her eyes and made her heart stop.

“I’m going to make love to you tonight, Sidney Ann.”

It took everything she had not to throw herself at him. Not to lick him from head to toe, light him on fire the way he was doing to her. But something in that look stopped her. Something in his words. Love. He was going to love her.

Dumbstruck, all she could do was nod acceptance. Lucas dropped a kiss just below her naval and she shoved her hands into his hair, feeling the perspiration along his scalp. This level of restraint wasn’t as easy as he was making it look. And he was doing it for her.

It was a good thing the bed was right behind her because Lucas’s next move buckled her knees. His tongue slid way lower than her naval, landing Sid flat on her back on the bed. He pulled her hips to the edge, spread her legs with the slightest pressure, and proceeded to drive her mad.

A combination of torture and absolute bliss, waves of sensations slammed against her, pushing her down, lifting her up, sending her crashing and out of control. She heard a voice begging and distantly realized it was her own. Though she had no idea what she was saying. Something about
more
and
stop
and
don’t stop
and
holy mother of God
.

When the final wave hit, Sid would not have been surprised to hear she levitated right off the bed. Not that she could feel the bed anymore. Everything had fallen away. Everything but the man between her legs. His hands and tongue and hot breath sending aftershocks quaking to her toes.

She felt like a live wire. Dangerous. Spitting sparks.

Finished with what Sid assumed to be the appetizer, Lucas maneuvered her further onto the bed, sliding over her, but only after kissing everything from the tip of her toes to the inside of her knee to the edge of her left hip. She’d never been worshiped before. Never thought much about the concept.

But that’s what he was doing. Lucas was worshiping her body. Loving her body. How would she ever live without this?

“No thinking,” he said, sliding a hand along her jaw, nudging her to look him in the eyes. With a shake of his head, he repeated, “No thinking. Not tonight.”

Once again, all she could do was nod and Sid started to wonder if he’d slipped her something to make her mute. Then his mouth encircled her nipple and she quickly regained the ability to speak.

“You’re trying to kill me.”

The man had the nerve to chuckle, lightening the mood for the first time since they’d left the ball. “Maybe,” he said, moving to the other breast. “But this would be a damn good way to go, don’t you think?”

Sid couldn’t answer since in that moment thinking went out the window. Along with the ability to breathe, move, and once again speak.

The whole world was centered in her breasts, until Lucas trailed a hand across her abs and settled it between her legs. Then some crazy game of sexual pinball started in her system. Surges of pleasure shooting around, bouncing through her abdomen, setting off various bells and whistles, signaling the jackpot was within reach.

Her hips rose off the mattress as she held Lucas to her breast in a death grip. She managed to mumble between pants, “I don’t know how much more I can take.”

“I have several more hours of this planned. You don’t want to miss the rest, do you?”

Her head swung from side to side in the universal gesture for
No, no, no!

He pulled a condom from the nightstand, sheathed himself in seconds, then braced above her, holding his weight on his elbows. His hips lowered and Sid pulled her knees up out of instinct.

That’s when he stopped. Lying there, pressed against her core, bodies damp and aroused, he stopped. And Sid stopped breathing.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, worried she’d disappointed him somehow.

He shook his head. “You’re so beautiful. All these nights, I keep thinking I’ll wake up and you will have been a dream.”

“I keep thinking the same thing about you.” Sid didn’t want to admit as much, but she couldn’t lie to Lucas. Not in that moment. “I don’t know why you’re here, with me, when you could have any woman you want.”

Lucas smoothed her hair away from her face. “You really don’t know how gorgeous you are, do you? And smart. And sweet.”

She barely kept from snorting. Barely. “You think I’m sweet?”

He smiled. “You hide it well, but I’ve seen it. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil your reputation.”

She returned the smile. “I appreciate that.”

Their eyes remained locked for several seconds, and then Lucas leaned down. Finally. Their lips met with no urgency, leisurely exploring each other as if they’d never kissed before. And maybe they hadn’t. Not like this. She was still aroused, need coursing through her, but this kiss was too good to rush. This one deserved to be savored.

What could have been minutes or hours later, Lucas began to move against her, relighting the fires that had banked down to embers. His knees spread her further, then he broke the kiss, catching her gaze as he entered her. He slid deep, slowly, allowing her to adjust to all of him. She felt awkward at first, with him watching her every reaction. Every twitch and jerk as he pulled out and drove in again.

But then she was lost. In his eyes and what he was doing to her. Stretching her body, taking her places she’d never been before. His jaw tightened and she knew he was holding back. For her.

Trailing her fingers down his ribs and around to his ass, she tried to give back everything he was giving her. “Come with me, Lucas. Come with me.”

The thrusts grew stronger. Faster. His head dropped to her shoulder and she curled against him. With her legs locked around his hips, she pulled him home and experienced the most amazing orgasm of her life. She’d read a million times about bursting into a million pieces. In that moment, she understood the description.

As her body began to reassemble, Lucas jerked against her, throwing back his head with a sound of utter triumph.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

L
ucas lay awake the next morning, watching sunlight pour through the window to dance across Sid’s bare skin. Skin he’d spent the night touching, tasting, and memorizing for future nights when he’d be alone. He’d tried covering her more than once, but even sleeping naked, she never left the covers on for long. Sid’s free spirit couldn’t be held down, even in sleep.

He’d come to love that spirit as much as he loved the rest of her. Which made him a complete idiot and, oddly enough, put her further out of his reach. Sid would hate living in the city. Hate life hemmed in by all the buildings and societal rules amongst his peers. Many of the wives had careers of their own, with busy days that included lunch meetings, business suits, and keeping up appearances as much for their own careers as for their husbands’.

Forcing Sid into that world would be like putting a great white in a fish bowl. No. His world could never be hers.

Since he’d kept her up most of the night, both only nodding off shortly before sunrise, he let her sleep, leaving a note that he’d gone to speak to his parents about Will. He took the time to feed Drillbit, who had warmed to him considerably in the last week. The tiny ball of fur seemed more
interested in curling up against his neck than trying to slice his jugular.

Another pint-sized female who’d managed to win his affection when he wasn’t looking.

“Anyone home?” Lucas yelled in greeting, stepping through the kitchen door and breathing in the rich aroma of his mother’s favorite coffee. Patty Dempsey may look like a tea drinker, but she preferred the more bitter brew in a potency strong enough to peel paint.

“You’re up early this morning,” Patty said, rising on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his cheek. “You don’t look like you’ve been running, but I’d say you’ve been up to something.”