Take Me 01 - Love Me

something else that she couldn't read. And then the next thing she knew he was lifting her in his arms and walking back to the bedroom. Gently, so gently she could hardly believe it, he laid her down on the bed.
    She felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest.
    “You don't have to do this.” But he didn't stop the slow shift of her dress off of her shoulders, not even when she added, “Please don't do this just because of what I said on the wharf.”
    His mouth was hot on her shoulder, his lips teasing her skin, and then he was shifting her dress down further, down over her breasts, past her nipples. The pads of his thumbs brushed over her first, followed by his tongue, swirling, tasting.
    His sweet touch felt so good she lost her breath.
    A while later he lifted his head from her chest. “What were you saying?”
    She looked up into his eyes and she was surprised to see the playful glint in the green depths. But, for the first time in a very long time, she didn't want to laugh away her feelings.
    “You don't have anything to make up to me, Luke. It's been my decision to be with you. Because I want to.”
    The sentence was barely out of her mouth before his mouth was back on her breasts, hot and demanding. From one to the other he nipped, kissed, sucked, until she was nearly delirious with pleasure.
    Finally, he looked up at her again. “Anything else?”
    What had she been about to say? Lust, arousal had her brain all fogged up.
    Still, she managed, “It's okay if it's just sex.”
    It wasn't. Not at all. But she felt she needed to say it. That maybe then she might be able to believe it.
    His hands were gentle, but her dress was still gone by the time she blinked, her panties going a moment later. Moving down between her thighs, he lifted her legs up, one over each shoulder. Her body wept with need for this complex, beautiful man between her legs.
    A muscle jumped in his jaw and his eyes were dark. “This isn't just sex.”
    She barely had time to process his words when he ran his tongue over her in one long, steady stroke. Her hips bucked up into his mouth and he held her closer with his hands on her ass, sucking her in between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. Just like that, she came, exploding into him. Spasms of ecstasy racked her body, and it was too much, too much pleasure. But when she tried to shift away, he wouldn't let her go, wouldn't let her escape the almost painful pleasure of his tongue, his lips, the slight scratch of his teeth against her incredibly aroused flesh.
    Again she came, hard on the heels of her first orgasm, and she was so lost in feeling, so utterly unable to do anything but try to withstand the waves of pleasure that were rolling over her, that she was caught utterly unaware by the long, hard thrust of Luke inside her.
    Her eyes shot open to find him levered over her, his eyes dangerous as he held himself deep inside of her.
    She held her breath. Waiting as he continued to watch her, his hard shaft pulsing inside her body, his muscles taut above hers. Waiting for whatever it was he needed to say.
    “Luke?”
    “I'm almost there,” he said softly, and then he started to move, so deep that she lost her breath with every single stroke.
    And yet, even as she climbed higher and higher, even as her muscles tightened on him, even as their mouths found each other and they swallowed each other's groans of pleasure, even as he pulled her into his arms and exhaustion swept over her and she started to fall asleep, she wondered what he really meant by I'm almost there .
    Had he been trying to say that he was almost in love with her?
    Or was it simply his body that couldn't get enough?

Chapter Nineteen

    The next morning, Janica still felt unsettled from their lovemaking.
    It was always incredible and explosive between them. But last night was different.
    Almost as if Luke's body was trying to express love where the man who lived in it couldn't.
    Waking up alone beneath the thick bedspread, she could smell breakfast wafting in from the kitchen. Her muscles were achy, well used and stretched out in a really good way. It sure beat the hell out of running on a treadmill.
    Five minutes later she was freshly showered and wearing one of Luke's T-shirts with nothing else under it. Fresh out of clean clothes, she had grabbed one of his belts and wrapped it twice around her waist to finish off the outfit.
    He sensed her before she said a word, his eyes drinking her in.
    “Nice