Johnson Family 1: Unforgettable (26 page)

“Neither did you.”

“I’ve had more practice dealing with this type of media scrutiny.”

“I bet it doesn’t get any easier.” He stroked her hair back from her face. “Doesn’t matter anyway. We’re in this together, right?”

“Yes, we are,” she agreed with a smile. “And I’m so glad you’re here.” She grasped his hand and pressed her lips to his palm.

“Me, too. I’m right where I want to be.”

Her brow wrinkled. “Then what’s wrong?”

Lucas took her hands in his. He frowned thoughtfully. “I hate being away from you and Katie. When things like this happen, I should be here.”

“We’ll work it out.”

He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. “I’m going to sell my condo. It’s in a great location in Atlanta, and if I put it on the market this spring, it should sell by summer when I’m done teaching at Mercer. Then I could move up here.”

Ivy’s mouth fell open. “You’re moving here? To Seattle?” Was this a dream?

His face lit up into one of his dazzling smiles. “Yes.”

Ivy let out an excited squeal and tackled him, knocking him on to his back on the lounge. She showered his face with kisses.

He laughed. “I take it you’re okay with that?” he asked.

She answered by cupping his face and planting a long, slow kiss on his lips.

He groaned and swelled against her hip. “Show me again how okay you are with my idea,” he murmured. “I’m not sure I understand.”

His hands slid down to her derriere and it was her turn to groan. She planted another kiss on him and traced his lips with the tip of her tongue.

“Better?” she asked.

“Better,” he whispered.

He slapped her on the behind and she moaned. Biting her bottom lip, she stared down into his beautiful eyes. “You make me so happy,” she whispered.

“You make
me
so happy,” he said. “I love you so much, Ivy. I never want you to doubt how I feel about you ever again.” He pulled her head down to his, burying his fingers in her hair, and tasted her mouth. His lips stroked gently across hers. “Let’s go take a shower. And then I’m going to make love to you—not necessarily in that order.”

She slid off of him, making sure to bump his hard-on as she did.

“Tease,” he groaned.

In the bathroom they leisurely soaped each other’s skin, and when they finished, Lucas ran his hands down her body, sloughing off the suds as if the water needed any help from him. Ivy lowered to her knees and slipped his erection between her lips, worshipping its length and girth with her mouth and tongue. She pulled back to the tip and hummed in the back of her throat, reveling in the fact that he had to hold onto the wall to keep from collapsing.

“You’re killing me,” he muttered.

He grabbed her hair, and his head fell back as he gave himself over to the moist suction of her mouth. But rather than let her suck him off, he pulled her to her feet. Standing behind her, he sandwiched her between his body and the wall.

With her cheek pressed against the cold tile, one large hand binding her wrists above her head and the other on her hip, he stroked into her from behind. Her breasts jostled from the impact, each thrust hard, but slow. He slid out, then back into her, inch by marvelous inch. He felt so good she didn’t want him to stop.

He pinched her nipples between this thumb and forefinger, pulling the peaks taut and using them to shake her breasts. Heat, fierce and hot, pounded through her loins. She was so close, pushing back against his groin and lifting her hips to receive him.

“I love you,” he whispered hotly in her ear. “I love you so damn much.”

With one powerful pump, he speared her with the full length of his erection. A sharp cry fled her throat, and her hands curled into fists against the Italian tile. Her muscles contracted and pulsed around him. Muttering a hoarse oath into the wet hair flattened on her back, his body emptied into hers.

****

Outside the bedroom window, the lights from the buildings glowed like stars in a far away galaxy. Lucas stroked Ivy’s silky hair and the line of her spine. Her skin was so soft, and her sweet, feminine smell filled his nostrils.

He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t stop looking at her, and his mind raced with too many thoughts and plans.

Rather than continue to lay there wide awake, he eased out of Ivy’s arms, careful not to wake her, and slipped on a pair of boxers. He lifted the phone from his pants pocket and took it with him out of the room. He walked past the media room and peeked in on Katie, and then he moved quietly down the hall to the living room where he settled on the sofa.

He dialed the number for his best friend, Roarke, who was back in Chile.

Roarke’s friendly voice came on the line. “Hey man, how’s it going?”

Lucas slouched in the chair. “Going all right. According to my publisher,
The Rules of Man
has a shot at hitting the New York Times Bestsellers List.”

Not exactly the way he would have wanted to make the list. The story about Katie’s paternity had garnered a lot of publicity for him. This in turn had made his blog more popular, and his book had seen a surge in sales.

Brenda had been ecstatic and wanted to book him for as many appearances as possible, but he’d asked her to cut back on the engagements. Doing all of that traveling had been tiring anyway, and now he had an even greater reason to cut back. He’d rather be here with Ivy and Katie whenever he had free days.

“New York Times?” Roarke said. “Get the hell outta here.”

Lucas chuckled. “It hasn’t happened yet. We’ll know next week.”

“I’m confident it’ll happen for you.”

“Thanks, man. Hey, I need to ask you a favor.” He lowered his voice.

“Sure, anything.”

“I want you to be my best man.”

“You’re engaged?”

Lucas laughed at the incredulity in his friend’s voice. “Not yet. But soon enough, when I ask her.”

“You sure she’s going to say yes?” Roarke asked with a laugh.

“You got jokes. Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Say the word and I’m there.”

“Thanks. I knew I could count on you.”

They talked for some time. Lucas gave him an update on what had happened over the past few days and Roarke relayed information on his work in Chile and his latest research.

“Lucas?” Ivy’s voice came from behind him. He turned around to see her wearing his shirt. One button held together both sides, and her hair spilled onto her shoulders and down her back in a glorious, tousled mess. “You coming back to bed soon?”

“Roarke, I’ve got to go.”

“Okay, I—”

Lucas hung up and tossed the phone onto the sofa.

Ivy smiled as he walked toward her. She looked like a girl from a pinup magazine, and he’d already grown hard with thoughts of what he would do to her once they went back to the bedroom.

“You missed your man?” he asked.

“Mhmm.” She squealed when he hoisted her from the floor. Her legs locked around his waist.

“You’re going to have to show me how much you missed me,” he warned.

She giggled and nibbled on his ear. The touch of her teeth sent shivers of pleasure straight to his groin.

“I’m happy to oblige,” she whispered.

That made him lengthen his strides and hurry down the hall. When they arrived in the bedroom, he laid her on the bed and brushed his lips over hers. She moaned softly and kissed him back.

He looked down into her lovely face. He had to be the luckiest man in the world. With a wicked smile, he said, “Okay princess, let me see what you’ve got.”

The End

More Stories by Delaney Diamond

Hot Latin Men series

The Arrangement

Fight for Love

Private Acts

Second Chances

Hot Latin Men: Vol. I (print anthology)

Hot Latin Men: Vol. II (print anthology)

Hawthorne Family series

The Temptation of a Good Man

A Hard Man to Love

Here Comes Trouble

For Better or Worse

Hawthorne Family Series: Vol. I (print anthology)

Hawthorne Family Series: Vol. II (print anthology)

Love Unexpected series

The Blind Date

The Wrong Man

Johnson Family series

Unforgettable

Perfect (fall 2014)

Just Friends (spring 2015)

Bailar series
(sweet/clean romance)

Worth Waiting For

Short Stories

Subordinate Position

The Ultimate Merger

Free Stories

www.delaneydiamond.com

About the Author

Delaney Diamond is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sweet, sensual, passionate romance novels. Originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She reads romance novels, mysteries, thrillers, and a fair amount of nonfiction. When she’s not busy reading or writing, she’s in the kitchen trying out new recipes, dining at one of her favorite restaurants, or traveling to an interesting locale. She speaks fluent conversational French and can get by in Spanish.

Enjoy free reads and the first chapter of all her novels on her website. Join her e-mail mailing list to get sneak peeks, notices of sale prices, and find out about new releases.

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