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  He moves his hand from mine, places his hands on my waist, and presses his hardness against my ass, and I can't think of anything except what he would feel like inside me. "Open the door, because we both know that you want me," he says.

  I choke out a laugh. "Shit, you're full of yourself."

  But I open the door. And the second we step inside, Luke shuts the door, slamming me hard against it before reaching up to turn the lock. He slides his hand under my shirt, the movement furious, cupping my breast, his finger finding its way under the fabric of my bra. My nipple hardens immediately to his touch, and he smiles as he watches me writhe under him. It's exquisite pleasure when he touches me, and he knows it.

  "Full of myself?" he asks, his lips so close to mine they're nearly touching. I want to feel his lips again. I ache for him to kiss me.

  "Full of yourself," I say, my words catching in my throat. "Yes. Exactly. Definitely full of yourself."

  "You'd love to be full of me," he says, grinning as he thumbs my nipple, and I think I might come from the sensation alone.

  "You're juvenile," I say, and he slides his hand from my shirt. For a second, I think he's taken it away, a reaction to me insulting him, but he reaches lower to my waistband, flicking open the button of my pants with a single, obviously well-practiced motion. He yanks my jeans over my hips and slips his hand down the front of my panties before I can even register what he's doing.

  When I do realize, I put my hand against his chest, half-heartedly intending to push him away, to tell him I can't possibly do something like this, up against the front door of my house, no less. But then he's sliding his fingers over my clit, the sensation that ricochets through my body nearly making my knees buckle, and I have to cling to the fabric of his shirt to even stay upright.

  "Juvenile," he says, his mouth close to mine. "Tell me you still think I'm fucking juvenile now, Red."

  He rolls his fingers over my clit, stroking me until my brain is entirely enveloped in a fog of need and desire, until I can't possibly think clearly.

  "I – " I start, but I stop myself. I can't remember why I was objecting before.

  "What, Red?" he whispers. His eyes are trained on mine as he slips his fingers lower. "You're so fucking wet, so fucking hot for me right now. I'll bet your pussy is throbbing for me. Just admit it. Say it for me."

  When he presses his fingers against me, I inhale sharply. "I am," I say, my voice barely audible. "I'm so…wet."

  Luke groans loudly, bringing his mouth down on mine as he plunges two fingers inside me in one swift movement. His other hand comes around the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair, gripping the roots, pulling me into him. He kisses me like he owns me, dominant and possessive, in a way no one's ever kissed me before.

  And what he does with his fingers inside me, the way he strokes me, isn't like anyone's ever touched me before. He plays me with his fingers like he already knows me, and every part of my body feels alive, positively buzzing with electricity.

  When he pulls his lips away from mine, his eyes are filled with lust. "I've wanted this since I first saw you," he says, his fingers still working their magic inside me.

  I reach for the button on his pants, but he just laughs.

  "Not so fast," he growls. "First, I'm going to make you come right here on my fingers, right in the doorway of your house. Then, I'm going to rip those jeans right off you, and lick you until you come again on my tongue. Then, and only then do you have permission to reach for my cock."

  "I have permission?" I ask, the question punctuated by short breaths, gasps I can't help as Luke presses his fingertips inside me, against the place that sends me hurtling closer to the edge. "You're so…fucking…arrogant…"

  Luke just grins. "You heard what I said. Permission," he says. "And I'm not arrogant. I'm just honest."

  He continues to stroke me, bringing me higher and higher, and I cling to him, desperately wanting to reach out and undo the button of his jeans, to wrap my hand around his cock. I can see it, his hardness clearly outlined, pressing against the fabric of his jeans, and the sight nearly pushes me over the edge.

  "You're…so…fuck…" I want to tell him how cocky he is, how ridiculous, tell him that no one has ever to me like this, told me exactly what he plans to do to me. But I can't put anything into words when this ridiculously arrogant man has his fingers buried so deeply inside me.

  I can't think clearly when this man makes me drunk with lust, shuts off the rational part of my brain, the part of me that makes smart decisions.

  Decisions that are exactly the opposite of this one.

  Then Luke whispers into my ear. "You fucking love it, Red," he says. "It was written all over you, from the first day I saw you. You wanted me from the second you laid eyes on me, too. You just like denying it. But I know you've been wet between your legs for me."

  "That's…oh God…not…true."

  Luke pauses, unmoving, and I moan, the sound needy, unable to help myself. "Are you saying you want me to stop, Red?"

  Do I want him to stop?

  I should want him to stop. He's immature, young, reckless. I don't do spontaneous. I don't have one-night-stands. And I certainly don't let a guy a decade younger than me rip my jeans down my thighs and finger me in broad daylight in the doorway of my house.

  But I look into the eyes of the man who's doing exactly that, and I don't want him to stop. "No," I say, the word barely more than a whisper.

  But he doesn't move, doesn't give me the release I crave. "Sorry, Red," he says. "I'm not sure I heard you."

  I swear my knees are about to buckle under the weight of my neediness. "No," I say. "I do…not…want you to stop."

  Luke chuckles, pressing hard against that spot inside me, the one that makes me moan. "That's better," he says. "Now, sweetheart, I want you to come for me, because I've been dying to put my tongue between your legs since the first time I saw you, and I don’t think I can wait much longer.”

  He covers my mouth with his before I can even react, stroking me harder, and the combination of everything overwhelms my senses. I come with blinding intensity, clinging to him as my touchstone when I crash over the edge, my moan muted by his mouth.

  When he pulls back, he gives me a look that’s so self-satisfied, so damn pleased with himself that I’d almost want to slap the smirk off his face if he just weren’t so sexy. Then he squats down and yanks my jeans down my legs in one swift pull and looks up at me, his eyebrows raised. “Pants off,” he says. “Now.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Luke

  She doesn't argue, doesn't open that smart fucking mouth of hers, that damned self-assured smartass mouth that inexplicably makes me so hard, ready to bend her over and fuck her at a moment's notice.

  And that is exactly what I want to do now. I want this girl on her knees, her sweet lips wrapped around my cock. I want to bend her over, put her palms against the door, and thrust my cock inside her. I want to yank her hair, feel her tighten around me, hear her call my name when she comes, the way I know she wants to.

  I want this girl in every way possible.

  I want to claim her.

  I want to own her.

  The thoughts pop into my head, and I force them away – especially the last one. It’s a stupid fucking thought, one I’ve never had about anyone before.

  And I don’t spin her around. I don’t put her palms against the door. I don’t bend her over, smack her ass while I thrust inside her.

  Yet.

  She looks down at me, face flushed, lips plumped and swollen from mine being pressed against them, her breasts heaving as she gasps, and I know by the expression on her face that no one has made her come like that before.

  That makes me want to take my time with her.

  I slide my hands up her legs, around her thighs, until I reach the sides of her panties. Her hands go automatically to them, as if she’s trying to keep them on, the gesture self-conscious, which makes her somehow more endearing.<
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  I wasn’t lying when I told her I’d been thinking about the way she would taste since the second I saw her. I’ve been thinking about how her face would look, her expression when she let go of the prim-and-proper bullshit and finally came on me, since I first looked at her.

  Grasping the edge of her panties, I tear the shit off her before she can protest. She squeals – literally squeals – which just makes me want to do it again. "Luke!"

  "What?" I ask. "Were you attached to those?"

  I toss them, watching as they land perfectly in one of the bowls she has perched on a table in the entryway, this wooden decorative bowl that holds her keys and her sunglasses.

  Now it holds her panties, too.

  Kneeling between her legs, I spread her thighs apart with my hands, my thumbs grazing her pussy lips. She's freshly waxed, groomed, and I realize that’s for me. Despite all of her protesting, she’s wanted this. She’s anticipated it.

  Shit, I could come right here and now at the thought of that.

  "What?" she asks, looking down at me, her voice breathy. "You're making me nervous."

  “Nothing,” I say. “You’re just hot as hell.”

  Her cheeks flush a deeper shade of red. “No one’s told me that in a long time.”

  My hands on her thighs, I lean closer to her, inhaling her scent. I want to drink her in. “The men you’ve been around must be fucking blind.”

  She moans before I even touch the tip of my tongue to her pussy, and it spurs me on. I lick the length of her, slowly, trailing my tongue along her until I reach her clit. When I take her clit into my mouth, sucking it, she leans against the door, watching me with hooded eyes. All I can think about is what those eyes would look like as she comes.

  Her fingers run along the back of my head, and she moans my name as I lick her, her breath coming shorter and shorter as I fuck her with my tongue. She’s whispering my name over and over like it’s come kind of mantra – until she stops, this time saying it with a hint of alarm in her voice: Luke!”

  I look up at her, not stopping until she says it again. “Shit. Luke! The nanny is back early. She’s pulling in the driveway. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  And just like that, she’s pushing me away, scrambling for her jeans, grabbing the rumpled clothing from the floor. “Luke,” she says. “Shit. I have to put clothes on. You. What are we doing with you?”

  “Well, a half-second ago, you were about to come on my tongue.”

  Her face goes scarlet, and she looks like she’s about to break into a run, the lower half of her body naked. “Oh, shit. I mean, there’s a bathroom downstairs for you to clean up. Oh, God.”

  She’s darting upstairs before I can tell her she left her torn panties in the bowl on the entryway table. I slip them into my back pocket before the door swings open.

  The nanny stands there with Olivia on her hip, her eyes going wide. “Oh,” she says. “I didn’t know anyone was home. We came home early instead of going to the park, because it looked like it was going to rain. Autumn is usually out in the – “

  “Usually what?” Autumn’s voice comes from behind me, and she passes me without a second glance, scooping Olivia up in her arms. “Hey, my little baby. Did you have fun?”

  “We sang lots of songs,” the nanny says.

  “Mr. Saint was just giving me some ideas for reorganization of the orchard to increase efficiency of the crop,” Autumn says quickly.

  “Efficiency,” I agree, stifling the pang of irritation that runs through me. The way she avoids eye contact with me makes me feel like she’s ashamed of what happened, and for whatever reason, that annoys me.

  “Are you staying for lunch, Mr. Saint?” the nanny asks.

  Autumn clears her throat. “I think he probably has a lot of work to do,” she says, interrupting me before I can speak.

  “Yeah,” I say, annoyed that she just interrupted me, like she’s afraid of what I’m going to say or something. “I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  Work that I’m basically doing for her as a favor. I don’t need this job.

  I don’t know why I’m so annoyed that she just brushed me off, but I am.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Autumn

  I send Greta home early, too shaken up by what happened with Luke to even focus on work right now. I swear she knows that there’s something going on, gives me a funny look when I send her home, like our encounter is written all over my face, my personal version of the scarlet letter.

  As if she can tell that I was just pressed up against the front door of my own house, in the middle of broad daylight, Luke Saint’s face between my legs.

  This is not something I do. I don’t throw caution to the wind, and I don’t have flings. Edward was my college boyfriend, and the handful of boyfriends I’d had before him were all the same – responsible, business-oriented, and…boring.

  But Luke…

  His touch still lingers on my skin, his taste still on my lips.

  I focus my attention to Olivia, mentally chastising myself for my attention drifting. “Is that yummy, Liv-bug?”

  Olivia grins up at me, her mouth stuffed with spaghetti noodles, and then opens wide, her tongue sticking out, dropping half of the chewed food onto her high chair tray. “Eew, see-food. Gross, Liv-bug.”

  She cackles hysterically, slapping the high chair tray, delighted at my reaction. I know it’s not something I should encourage, especially if I want her to develop any manners, but she’s so pleased with my faux-disgust that I can’t quite help myself.

  I talk to her while she finishes her lunch, then read her favorite story, The Three Little Pigs, in a rocking chair in her bedroom until she’s rubbing her eyes. When I put her in her crib, she’s out like a light.

  Which leaves me alone with my thoughts. And those thoughts inevitably return to Luke Saint.

  Luke, with his grin, the one that hints of mischief.

  Luke, with a body made for sin – broad shoulders, rock hard abs, and the tightest ass I’ve ever seen.

  Images of Luke flash in my head, one right after the other.

  Luke’s fingers down the front of my pants, underneath my panties, touching me. Then, inside me.

  Luke on his knees, pulling my jeans down over my hips.

  Luke’s tongue on me, exploring me. Tasting me.

  I get into the shower to clear my head, lingering under the pounding water as if it will wash away thoughts of Luke. Closing my eyes, I will the images away, focusing on the water pouring over my skin. But the more I try not to think about Luke, the more I can’t stop thinking about him.

  I imagine being on my knees, his cock in my mouth. Tasting him. I think about how he would feel inside me, how he’d ride me until I came on him, over and over. I don’t want Edward to have been it for me – five minutes of lights off, missionary-style sex until he came, his face screwed up and his eyes closed, before rolling over and falling asleep.

  My body is still on edge from what happened with Luke in the hallway, and I’m already near the edge almost immediately as I run my palms over my breasts, slick with water. Waves of arousal crash over me as I picture Luke’s mouth wrapped around my breast, his tongue flicking over my nipple again and again until I cry out from the delicious agony of his touch.

  I picture him sliding his fingers inside my slickness. I imagine myself pulling him against me as I kiss him, my tongue warring with his until I can’t wait for him any longer.

  I run my fingers over my clit, so swollen with arousal that it’s almost painful to the touch. The warm water from the shower runs over my shoulders and down my breasts as I move my fingers over my clit. I’m so ready, so on edge from where we were interrupted before, that it doesn’t take me long to hurtle toward the edge of climax.

  And the whole time, I’m picturing Luke, his strong hands gripping my ass, lifting me up in the shower and holding me against the tile wall. I think about wrapping my legs around him as he thrusts inside me, harder and harder, his cock bare.


  I slip my fingers inside me, my palm pressing against my clit, imagining that it’s Luke who’s there. I think about the dirty