On Love's Own Terms (8 page)

Their haste to leave the Hickory Tavern bordered on the indecent. While Bonnie grabbed her purse off the table, Luke shoved a twenty-dollar bill at the waitress and told her to keep the change. Before the happily surprised woman finished sputtering her thanks, they were halfway to the door.

They rode home wrapped in a silken web of silence. A white chocolate moon chased them every mile along the rural backroad.

Curled up in the captain’s seat on the passenger side, Bonnie captured Luke’s bold male profile on her heart’s canvas. She memorized each detail—the sexy slant of his deep-set eyes, the sharply sculptured nose and full mouth.

He swung the van into the driveway and parked beside a lush bank of lilacs. A fragile urgency quickened their steps as they walked hand-in-hand toward the wide-planked porch. He opened the front door, then slowed the tempo when he turned and took her in his warm embrace.

“Welcome home,” he murmured.

“I’ve missed you,” she admitted.

Luke tipped her chin and traced the outline of her lips with his thumb. “Show me. Show me what we have together.”

It was more than an invitation of the flesh. It was a beautiful lie that bound them again, but only for a little while.

Bonnie raised her hand and touched his mouth, relearning its texture. A soft cry escaped her when his tongue touched the sensitive pads of her fingertips.

“God, you feel good.” He crushed her to him, molding her legs, her hips, her breasts to the burning length of his body.

A terrible ache filled her heart. This week was all they had before they went their separate ways. Bonnie closed her eyes to the future, blotting out everything but the present.

“Let’s go inside.” Luke scooped her into his arms and carried her over the threshold, toward the stairway. “Otherwise, the neighbors across the road will have one hell of a tale to tell tomorrow.”

“Modesty certainly becomes you,” she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck while he lithely climbed the stairs. “I can remember when you were so anxious to have me, you didn’t care who might know.”

“You weren’t exactly averse to taking chances, either,” he challenged. “I’ll never forget that Saturday afternoon you dragged me out to the circle—”

“Dragged
you?” She feigned an insulted tone. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack running to keep up with you.”

“All right,” he conceded, pausing in mid-stride to open the bedroom door. “You
suggested
we take a walk.” His laughter rumbled deeply. What a beautiful sound!

“About ten minutes after we got there, your dad started mowing the meadow with that damned tractor—”

“You jumped back into your jeans so fast, I figured you were snake-bit,” Bonnie recalled with a smile. “There I was, naked as a newborn, my father roaring up the hill on his riding mower—“

 “Talk about a narrow escape,” Luke reminisced wryly.
“
If he’d caught us, he’d have made bone meal out of me in no time flat.”

They laughed together, and Bonnie felt a soaring sense of freedom in their total accord. She’d never belonged to any man but Luke; she never would.

“I don’t think we ever fooled my folks or your mother for a minute, though.” She rumpled his thick hair and thrilled to his flexing muscles as he let her feet slide slowly to the floor. “None of them acted the least bit surprised when we told them we’d eloped.”

Unbidden tears stung her eyes then, and she lowered her lashes. Despite the circumstances prompting the marriage, her parents had readily, proudly accepted Luke as their son-in-law. Bonnie’s stomach fluttered and her fingers fumbled clumsily as she tried to unfasten the front button at the waistband of her skirt

“Don’t rush it, darling.” Luke laid a steadying hand over hers, as if he sensed the reason for her sudden show of sadness. “I miss all of them, too. Your folks always treated me like one of their own, even after I gave them good cause not to.”

He drew her into his arms and hugged her fiercely, shutting out the pain that threatened to intrude on their privacy. The smell of Cape jasmine spiced the breeze wafting through the window screen, and a cricket chirped for its mate in the night. Bonnie rested her tear-stained cheek against his solid chest, absorbing his strength and treasuring the fact that he was temporarily hers.

“I wanted to kill that creep tonight.” A violent note edged his voice, but she wasn’t afraid. He cupped her face between his callused palms, holding her in a gentle grip. “But when you looked at me, something told me that if I so much as mussed a hair on his sweaty head, I’d wind up the loser.”

“Welcome to my corner, champ,” she whispered.

“I never left your corner, Bonnie,” he stated simply.

She hushed him with a kiss. Talk like that only led to tears. “I’m going to take a bath,” she announced.

“Can I wash your back?” His hands made mesmerizing circles along her spine.

Bonnie nodded, hypnotized by his touch.

Luke grinned wickedly. “Can I wash your front?”

“Only if I can wash yours,” she answered coyly.

“Lady, you just struck a deal,” he declared.

Arm-in-arm, they walked into the connecting bathroom. She turned the faucets on full and poured a heaping capful of scented crystals into the warm, rushing water.

Shyly, as if it were the first time, Bonnie undressed for him. Dropping her clothes where she stood, she was keenly aware of Luke’s velvety gaze on the skin she bared. Her pulse raced wildly; it mattered so much that she please him. She held her breath and raised her head. The volcanic passion in his eyes dissolved her doubts.

“My memory didn’t serve me well enough,” he observed huskily. Luke had stripped to the waist, then stopped to watch her disrobe. “If you don’t get into that tub, pronto, you aren’t going to get a bath until sometime tomorrow.”

She stepped over the porcelain edge, turned off the tap and sank down into the bubbly water. “Last one in has to mop up later.”

Luke lost, but both of them were winners. He shed his clothes, then climbed in and sat facing her. She knelt between his legs, allowing him any liberty he enjoyed.

With unhurried hands he lathered her breasts, his circular motion creating an exquisite friction that left her tingling from scalp to toes. Then he reached beneath the bubbles and scooped up clear water to rinse away the soap. When he leaned forward and sipped from the streams he’d made on her skin, she arched reflexively against him. “You taste so good,” he murmured. “You always tasted good—all over.”

His mouth savored each curve, each swell while he bathed her body with love. Suddenly, Luke lifted her higher as his hands moved lower, touching her tenderly. Bonnie splayed her fingers across his shoulders, seeking support. Caught up in a current she couldn’t fight, she drifted with the wet and wonderful sensations rippling through her. He held her tight until her storm was spent, then helped her glide down into the water.

“My turn,” he rasped.

“My pleasure.”

Bonnie soaped him slowly, starting with his wide shoulders. She massaged his muscular, hair-matted chest and stroked the sensitive area under his arms before her hands slipped below the waterline.

His pure animal groan increased both her boldness and the amount of pressure she applied. She wanted him to scale the same dizzying heights where she’d soared earlier, but he would only let her take him half the way.

“I won’t go without you,” he decreed hoarsely.

“I’m ready whenever you are,” she whispered.

In better control than his ragged breathing implied, Luke grasped her wrists and wrapped her arms around his neck. Raising himself up on his knees, he brought her into full contact with his upper torso before he stood and lifted her out of the tub. They toweled each other dry, pausing occasionally for soft kisses or arousing nibbles that left new beads of moisture.

Luke carried her into the bedroom and laid her gently on the feather mattress. Then, silently as a dream, he came to bed.

“The light…” Bonnie pointed to the lamp on the dresser.

“Leave it on,” he urged. “I want to see if you remember me.”

She did. Her body anticipated his every intimate request and answered with one of its own. His breath spilled warm as wine on her satiny skin as his kisses rained along her delicate collarbone, over the luscious swell of her rib cage, then to lower pulse points sheltered in secret silken places.

When she cried his name, Luke shifted his weight and moved up, sliding his muscled legs between her thighs. Bonnie felt his heart beating beneath her hands, and every vestige of mistrust melted in the consuming heat of her need. She arched her hips to meet the thrust of his, then bit back a cry of mingled pleasure and pain. He was instantly aware of why she tensed and ecstatic disbelief flared in his lazy-lidded eyes.

“Bonnie.” He stopped, searching her flushed face.

“Love me, Luke,” she pleaded softly.

“I do,” he vowed, “more than I can tell you.”

“Show me,” she whispered.

He did. Luke pillowed her head in the hollow of his shoulder, and Bonnie pressed her lips to that rippling ridge of muscle. Cradling her in the most intimate embrace, he rocked her with the force of his love. Together again, they satisfied a sterling promise untarnished by time.

Much later, they lay entwined while the night-perfumed air fanned their bodies. They slept spoon-fashion, tucked in a tight curl, and she knew she was truly home. But only for a little while.

* * * *

A splintering crash, followed in short order by a good-natured curse and rowdy laughter, woke her.

Stretching luxuriously, she basked in a morning-after glow so rosy, it shamed the sunshine streaming through the window. She shouldn’t feel this good, this complete, this alive. But she did.

That Luke’s side of the bed was empty didn’t worry her a whit. He’d be back. A knowing smile toyed at her lips when Bonnie rolled over and hugged his pillow, inhaling the male scent lingering in the soft, cotton case.

In the bright light of day she didn’t regret what had happened. Lying here, waiting for Luke to return, felt more natural than anything she’d done in years. A frown turned her smile upside down. She shouldn’t think along those lines, knowing their time together was so short.

The bedroom door creaked as Luke shouldered it open. His hands were full, a mug of steaming coffee gripped in each one. The sight of him, clad only in faded jeans, the shadow of a night’s growth evident on his lean cheeks, tugged at her heart.

His image blurred before her eyes. After last night, she didn’t want to leave him. But she would. And for his sake as well as hers, it was probably best that she never return.

“Sorry if the noise woke you.” Luke kicked the door closed behind him.

Blinking back the tears, Bonnie propped herself up on one elbow. “What
was
that awful crash, anyway?”

“Dave is helping Darlene clean out the buffet so they can move it into Atlanta today.” Luke paused and smiled. “It’s quite a show down there, literally like watching a bull turned loose in a china shop.”

She laughed and watched him approach the bed.

“Hey, I like what you’re wearing.” He towered over her, his dark gaze provocatively skimming her curves, which were covered only by the sheet.

“I selected it with you in mind.” Bonnie shifted positions and let the sheet fall away, providing him with an unrestricted view of her nude figure.

“If you ever decide to try for the ‘best undressed’ list, you’ve got my vote.” Luke placed the cups on the nightstand, then the mattress sagged as he lowered himself beside her. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“I’ll give you three guesses.” Her hands slowly traced the pattern of hair on his muscular chest, down to his flat stomach. “And the first two don’t count.”

“Sunnyside up?” he asked huskily.

“Hard-boiled,” she whispered. Bonnie’s eyes revealed the same warmth that was smoldering in his. Luke’s mouth hovered a fraction of an inch away from her parted lips and, for a precious instant, nothing else existed for her but him. It had always been this way between them; it always would. Seven years times seven couldn’t alter the heat of their passion.

He stood and stripped off his jeans before joining her in bed. Her fingers feathered softly across his virile features, weaved a wanton love dance through his thick hair and curved possessively around his corded neck.

Luke let her set the pace and seemed to understand what she said with her silence. Bonnie drew him down and took him into her, needing this next new memory more desperately than the ones they’d made last night.

She held him captive until he freed her. Their mouths fused and their fingers laced as  they found release where they’d left it, with each other.

Later, they sipped cool coffee and snuggled beneath the sheets. And they talked, revealing bits and pieces of their separate professional lives while studiously avoiding any personal issues that might spark an argument.

Because Luke seemed genuinely interested, Bonnie told him how she’d come to launch her catering service in a rented Manhattan storefront. She’d risked her entire savings account on her culinary talent after resigning from an assistant chef’s position at the elegant restaurant where she had worked while attending night school. Making light of the trials, she focused instead on the small triumphs and modest achievements in her transition from country girl to successful entrepreneur.

In turn, Luke recounted his own transformation from toolbox laborer to general contractor to president of a construction company with over one hundred million dollars’ worth of work in progress in Atlanta alone.

“Do you realize how many parallels there are in our stories?” Bonnie pressed her lips to the tanned column of his throat and felt his fingers threading through her tawny hair. “Both of us started with nothing, so to speak—”

“Nothing but pride for a slave driver,” Luke interrupted bitterly. There was a closed look about him when she raised her head to see his face. “We had made a mess of our marriage. I think we both unconsciously decided we couldn’t afford two failures in a row.”