TheBurnList (11 page)

He yanked her up, and still standing behind her, undid the
knot at her rib cage and spread the fabric to reveal her bare breasts.
“You
came here naked?”

“Yes.”

“You are a bad girl.”
His bad girl
.
He ran his thumbs
over the tips before dragging his knuckles up and down over her nipples.

She strained, twisted.
Rubbed her ass along his cock.

One hand skimmed down her stomach, over the curve of her hip
then dipped into her pussy.
On a low groan, he wet his fingers listening to her
breathy moans until he couldn’t take it anymore.
Slick with her arousal, he
returned to her breasts, circling her puckered nipple.
He repeated the motion
with his other hand.

When the hard buds were wet, he pinched and rolled, pulling
her nipples until she screamed.

He trailed a path down her stomach.
“Open those legs wider.”

She complied without hesitation.

“Aren’t you a good girl.”
He played with her, stroking her
clit until she bowed under his hands.
“My little slut.”

Head falling back onto his chest, she squirmed.
“Please,
Lukas, I am so, so ready.”

“Look at me.”
His voice sounded foreign to his own ears.

Her head titled up, eyes glazed over, cheeks flushed, full
lips parted.
Her beautiful face filled with passion, her expression open and
trusting.

“Mine.”

“Yes.”
A whispered admission.

And just like that, the game was over.

He spun her around and claimed her mouth in a hard,
possessive kiss.
She plastered herself to the length of his body, wrapping her
arms around his neck while she gave back with wild abandon.

Mouths fused, he needed closer.
So much damn closer.

He fisted her hair in his hand to anchor her in place.

She unbuckled the belt of his pants and slid the zipper
down, reaching into his boxer briefs where his cock strained.
He broke the
kiss, gripping her fingers and stopped her.

In confusion, her brown eyes met his.

Chest squeezing with unnamed emotions he shook his head.
“You can’t touch me right now.
Just let me inside.”

Abby dropped her hand.
Lukas’ dark, intense gaze stared down
at her, making her heart pound so hard it might burst from her chest.
Tucked
into the elastic of her stockings, she pulled out a condom and pressed it into
his hand.

Without a word, he lifted her up on the tool bench, sheathed
himself and drove into her with such force it took her breath away.

Her head dropped back as her inner muscles clamped around
his welcomed invasion.

“Don’t come yet.”
His voice was strained, hoarse.

Every nerve was on fire, her body screamed for release.
All
she could promise was a meager, “I’ll try.”

He moaned.
“So hot and tight and wet.”

Her back bowed and she met his thrusts.
He stroked hard and
sure.
Cock dragging along every exquisitely sensitive spot she had until she
fought the impending orgasm.

“Do not come, Abby.”
His demand only made her more
desperate.
More needy.

He slowed his rhythm.

The frantic desire abated but she tingled all over, poised
on the very edge of exploding.
He ground his hips, catching her clit on the
upstroke.
She pulled him close, wrapping her arms around his waist, digging her
nails into his ass.
Her muscles tightened around his shaft.

He stilled.
“Not yet.
Jesus, your cunt feels good.”

She throbbed.
Pulsed.
Sat on the brink of climax while his
cock filled her and she willed her body to calm.
The sound of their ragged
breathing filled the small room.

Meeting his eyes, she pleaded, “Lukas.”

Something dark and untamed passed across his face.
He
slammed into her with one brutal thrust.

She bowed, a cry ripping from her throat.
She was invaded.
Possessed.
Utterly claimed.
And she loved every second of it.

He gripped her neck.
“Watch.”

She obeyed without question, staring down at his cock
plunging deep into her pussy.
Something broke between them, pushing her beyond
her control.
Beyond reason.

He drove harder.
More ruthlessly than ever before.
His
forehead pressed against hers.
“So fucking good, Abby.”

The sounds of their bodies slapping together, the wet
suctioning as he fucked her, the smell of sex filling the air was all too much.

She shook.
“I can’t wait.”

“Now.”
On a grunt, he quickened his already frenzied pace.

The orgasm coiled hot and tight in her belly.
She exploded.
Intense waves of pleasure racked through her with such force she screamed.
His
mouth crashed onto hers, swallowing her cries.
The contractions went on and on,
milking his cock as she lost herself in the climax.

He shuddered and came, breaking the kiss with a low, harsh
growl against her lips.

Air humid with the sweat of their bodies and frantic
fucking, she panted for breath.
For sanity.
Something indefinable shifted and
clicked into place inside her.

Before she could examine it too closely, Lukas lifted his
head, his brown eyes assessing.
“Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“I’m sorry.
I shouldn’t have come,” she said on a puff of
air.
Maybe showing up at his work hadn’t been the best idea.
She’d thought a
long time about the role-playing item on her list and decided this was one
fantasy she wanted to take control of.
Lukas had done so many great things
she’d wanted to give something back, so she’d concocted her plan.

Dark brows drew together.
“What are you talking about?”

“Aren’t you mad I came to your work?”

“Are you kidding me?
Feel free to show up in any costume you
want.”
He grinned, and her apprehension melted away.
He lowered his voice.
“Shit, come in a burlap sack, I don’t care.”

“So what am I never supposed to do again?”

“Scare the shit out of me.
The way you came in here, I
thought something terrible had happened.”
He pulled out, tossing the condom in
a nearby trash can.

She slid off the tool bench, smoothing the miniscule skirt
back into place.
“How about this?
I’ll give you a signal.
If I show up in a
sweat suit, no makeup and my hair in a ponytail, you’re screwed.”

He laughed.
“Good plan.”

The tension gone from his face, he looked relaxed and happy.
Eyes bright, his broad smile with its lone dimple made him almost boyish.
Completely adorable.
No longer the unobtainable sex god, bad boy—he was just
Lukas.
Hers.

He trailed one long finger along her jaw.

Her chest tightened.
The truth hit her like a ton of bricks.

She loved him.

Now what?

Chapter Ten

Abby was in hell.
Pure hell.

The devil himself couldn’t have devised torture this
effective.

Her dad frowned across the table at Lukas.
“So you don’t
have a backup plan?”

“Dad!”
Abby shook her head, appalled.
This was a disaster.
Her conservative father hadn’t stopped obsessing on Lukas’ career for the last
twenty minutes.

Lukas smiled cordially.
“Nope, I’ll cross that bridge if I
come to it.”

The guy was a trooper, she’d give him that.
He’d taken all
the questions with a good-natured affability.
At least her mom had been
charmed.

She’d have been more help in keeping her dad in line only
she was preoccupied with counting how many mimosas Eden had slugged back in the
last hour.

“Personally,” Eden said, a dazzling smile highlighting her
perfectly white teeth, “I love a man who’s spontaneous.”

Her mother wasn’t the only charmed one.

Abby crossed her arms protectively over her chest.
As her
sister became increasingly tipsy, she’d become increasingly flirtatious until
she all but fawned over Lukas.

It was sickening.

Lukas had politely ignored it, but really, how could he not
be smitten with Eden?
All men were.
She was like a siren’s song, impossible not
to fall deep in lust with.

It didn’t matter that she had no depth to her personality,
or that her choice in a career was her next sugar daddy, or even that she had a
tiny drinking problem.
Nope, none of that mattered when she looked like that.

“It’s a dangerous job, a backup plan would be prudent.”
Bob
Simmons scratched his salt-and-pepper head and looked as though he was
calculating some complex mathematical equation.
He was an actuary, assessing
risk was in his blood, but still, it was beyond humiliating.

Lukas’ fingers crept under her hair and settled on the curve
of her neck.
“I’m very careful, sir.”

Her father opened his mouth, but Abby held up a hand.
“That’s enough, Dad.
Not everyone has a five-year plan.”

“Well, a little danger never hurt anyone,” Eden purred,
fluttering thick, sooty lashes.
“I think you’re very brave.”
She shifted her
attention to Abby, a smirk on her full, pouty lips.
“Really, how’d a bookworm
like you manage to catch such a daredevil?
You’re so…careful.”

It wasn’t a compliment, and despite her best efforts, Abby
felt the sting.

Lukas’ thigh pressed against hers.
“Abby is the smartest,
most interesting woman I know.”

Abby shifted in her chair and tried with all her heart to
push back the insecurities threatening to overtake her.
But at the moment she
fought a losing battle.
If only Eden didn’t push all her buttons.
If only Eden
wasn’t a carbon copy of the type of woman Abby had seen traipsing down Lukas’
sidewalk a million times.

Miserable, Abby’s throat tightened.
All that hard work over
the past six weeks evaporated like a mirage.
The corners of her eyes stung.
She
wouldn’t cry now.
She’d wait until later.
When she was alone.

Eden flashed another sly smile.
“Everyone knows Abby is the
brains in the family.”

Her mother patted Abby’s hand.
“We’re very proud of all Abby
has accomplished.”

Abby offered her mom a shaky tilt of her lips.

“All those numbers.”
Eden laughed.
“So boring, but at least
you get paid decent.”

Abby shrugged, all her pithy, sarcastic comebacks dying in
her throat.
It didn’t matter, it wasn’t worth it.
She couldn’t compete, so she
didn’t try.
All she wanted was to fade into the woodwork until this horrible
brunch was over.

Which shouldn’t be difficult, she felt beyond invisible.

To think, this morning when she’d put on a new red-and-pink
print sundress, she’d thought she looked nice, pretty.
But now, in the face of
her sister, all she could think about was how frumpy she looked.

Never one to miss making an entrance, Eden had arrived
twenty minutes late.
Long waves of copper-gold hair set off her tanned skin and
big green eyes as perfectly as her white halter dress set off her size-two
figure.
There hadn’t been a man in the room who hadn’t stopped to gape.

Lukas’ eyes had been on her too, and every insecurity Abby
had came rushing back as if the last six weeks hadn’t happened.
She found
herself wondering if Lukas regretted getting stuck with the ugly sister.

And she hated herself for the thought.

No matter how much her brain told her she was being crazy,
her heart wouldn’t agree.
Logically she knew Lukas wasn’t that superficial, but
with every flirtatious glance and remark Eden tossed Lukas’ way, logic mattered
less and less.
Fear clutched in Abby’s chest as she worried what would happen
when Eden got Lukas alone and hit on him.
And she would.
There was no question
about that.

Abby’s one serious boyfriend she’d brought home from college
hadn’t been able to resist her, so would Lukas be any different?
She wanted to
believe, but her heart wouldn’t be convinced.

Connie Simmons smiled at Lukas.
“So you and Abby are
neighbors?”

“Yes.”
Lukas cleared his throat.
“I moved in about a year
ago.”

Eden gave him a slow once-over then smirked at Abby.
“If I’d
known that, I would have visited my baby sister more often, but then Abby likes
to keep things to herself.”

Abby cringed.
Lukas’ fingers tightened on her neck as an
uncomfortable silence descended.

“Eden,” Connie said.
“That’s enough.”

“What?”
Eden took another sip of her cocktail.
She was
already on her forth drink.

“You’ve had enough, young lady.”
Bob scowled at his oldest
daughter, and Abby felt her heart twist at the deep sadness in his faded green
eyes.

They’d tried to get Eden into rehab a couple of times, but
she’d insisted she didn’t have a problem.
And until she wanted help, there
wasn’t much they could do.
Her parents were good, kind-hearted people and they
didn’t have it in them to cut their oldest daughter off.
So the enabling and
the problem continued.

Eden waved a hand through the air.
“It’s brunch, you’re
supposed to drink mimosas.”

Lukas leaned over and Abby flinched as his breath fell
across the shell of her ear.
“I’m going to say something.”

Abby shook her head.
“Please don’t.”

He cupped her jaw and turned her chin to stare into her
eyes, he assessed her for a long, silent moment before nodding.
“One more word
against you and nothing you say will stop me.
Understood?”

The love she’d accepted last night grew exponentially, and
her chest lightened.
The whole thing terrified her.
Caught between hope and
fear, her emotions tossed her about like the most violent of storms.
This meal,
and all the insecurities it brought up, wasn’t helping.
“Yes.”

“We’ll talk about this when we get home.”
His words soothed
all her ragged edges.

Home.
He’d taken to doing that.
Treating their houses like a
mutual dwelling.
It made her ache for a real future with him, one she was too
chicken to reach out and grab.
She took a deep breath, blinking his gorgeous
face and warm, concerned eyes into focus.

What was she thinking?
If she’d learned anything over the
last weeks, she’d learned he didn’t lie.
He wouldn’t be swept away by Eden’s
pretty face.
Regardless of their future.

Another deep breath.
She could do this.
All she needed was a
moment to compose herself.
To find that confidence and power she’d been working
on for the last month and a half in order to make it through the rest of this
horrid experience.

She nodded, turning back to the table.
“Please excuse me.”

Minutes later, Abby stood over the restroom sink washing her
hands under cold water, letting the icy liquid flow over her fingers and jolt
her out of her pity party.

This stopped now.
She would not allow the past and the
strained relationship with her sister color her perception of reality.
She knew
who Lukas was and he wouldn’t abandon her because Eden was hot.

She took a cleansing breath.
When would she finally feel, at
that deep-down soul level, that she wasn’t less of a person because she wasn’t
as pretty as Eden?
When would that magical day come where she recognized her
own value?

That had nothing to do with Lukas and everything to do with
her.

“You’re out of your league, you know.”

Lost in thought, Abby hadn’t heard the door open, but Eden
stood in all her glory behind her.

Abby reminded herself that Eden was drunk and the best thing
to do was get around her as fast as possible.
She shrugged.
“I’m not going to
discuss Lukas with you.”

Eden let the door close behind her.
“Don’t fool yourself,
girls like you don’t end up with guys like him.”

The statement was a direct hit.
Abby’s chest tightened and
all her bravado faded.
Eden always knew where to plunge the knife deepest for
the most damage.

Abby turned off the faucet.
“Maybe not, but don’t fool
yourself
,
he won’t end up with a girl like you either.”

Eden smirked, running a hand over her perfect hips.
“Keep
telling yourself that, little sister.”

Abby dried her hands and turned around, looking her sister
square in the eye.
She might not have complete control of her life yet, she
might be uncertain about her future with Lukas and fighting a mess of
insecurities—but she could stop taking crap from her sister right this second.
She squared her shoulders.
“I won’t deny it.
You are a beautiful woman and
there are plenty of men in this world who will fall for you in a heartbeat.
You
are clearly the perfect eye candy.”
She took two steps forward and was pleased
to see Eden’s smile waver.
“But the thing is, that’s all you are.
Which is a
shame because you could be so much more.”

Eden tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked down her
nose in scorn like the cliché of an evil queen in a Disney movie.
“I’m doing
just fine.
And what would you know?
Unlike you, I understand men, and they
don’t like prissy, perfect girls.”

Abby smiled.
“Yeah, well, the good ones—the guys like Lukas
who will really love you—don’t like vapid, washed-up alcoholics.
You’re
thirty-two, don’t you think it’s time you did more with your life than spread
your legs for the next guy to offer you a Grey Goose Martini?”

Eden gasped, her model-high cheekbones splashing with pink.
Before she could say anything, Abby stepped around her and walked out, head
held high for the first time since she’d walked into the restaurant.

And ran right into Lukas.

He grinned at her, that wicked, sexy grin that made her
heart beat double time.
“I was coming to rescue you, but I see you’re doing
just fine on your own.”

She looked at the man she’d lost her heart to and knew the
time had come to make some decisions.
She raised her chin.
“I’d like to go
home.”

* * * * *

Lukas glanced nervously at Abby, who sat practically
motionless in the passenger seat next to him.
She’d been silent for the fifteen
minutes they’d been driving, staring out the window.
At first he’d wanted to
give her space to shake off the ugly scene in the restaurant, but now she just
plain ol’ made him nervous.

God, her sister was a piece of work.
He’d known women like
her and always stayed far away.
He might have liked party girls, but he stayed
away from mean ones.