All of You: The Lonnigans, Book 1 Page 2
He laughed, the sound another sensual stroke she could almost swear she felt slide down the side of her throat before heating the flesh between her breasts. “You should try carting around some of the SEC regulation manuals.”
She frowned, losing the seductive sensation at a stray thought. “I didn’t know you did any trading.”
For a second, his smile faltered. “Hobby.”
“Uh-huh.” Okay, this was getting beyond weird. “Lucas—”
“So what do you think about kids? Do you like them?”
The subject change threw her. “I—what?”
“Nothing. Tell me more about you. What do you do when you’re not working out with law books?”
She was about to dig into him for answers but the waitress arrived with their food and he looked so deliriously happy to see it she had trouble holding on to her irritation.
What followed then was only slightly less disturbing than their conversation. Poking at her own baked potato, she could only stare and feel slightly voyeuristic while Lucas began making love to his food. First came the expressions of ecstasy when he inhaled the aroma of the lobster bisque. He actually licked his lips at the mere sight of a calamari and crab salad and, unless she was wrong, he mumbled a brief, altogether too lustful prayer over the baked whitefish and oysters on the half-shell.
Good Lord, she’d had entire sexual relationships with less foreplay.
He made quick work of the two oysters, managing to make them look delicious while the slimy little puddles slipped out of the shell and into his mouth with a quick sip.
“I hope those things don’t give you any ideas,” she murmured. She already disliked the ideas watching him drink them had given her. Images of him sipping at her breasts exactly the same way, licking all the way down between her thighs where he would suck at the pearl he found there, drinking down every drop she’d give him…
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry,” he replied so casually she wondered if she should be insulted. “I started having ideas the second I saw you sitting here.”
Her fork clattered to her plate when he gave her a quick wink before spearing a piece of coconut shrimp.
“But you have to promise not to ask me what they are, because I won’t tell you,” he continued, his cheek full on one side, giving him an endearing chipmunk look. “I know it’s going to take all your willpower to control yourself, but I’m a man with ethics. I’d never allow a woman to take advantage of me until at least the third date.”
She sputtered with unexpected laughter. “This is our eighth date.”
“Oh, then by all means,” he said, the invitation in his eyes nearly as compelling as the slight husky tone of his voice. “Take advantage of me.”
Her hand shook as she took hold of her fork again, determined to eat without making a fool of herself. “Maybe next time.” With a start, she realized there wasn’t supposed to be a next time. “I mean…oh, can’t you be quiet and let a woman enjoy her meat?”
His grin spread wider and she realized what she’d said.
Poise, Jessica, her mind ordered when she felt her eyes begin to bulge.
“Far be it from me to come between a woman and a little hot beef.”
She bit her lip and decided maybe poise was slipping out of her reach. She just had to hope self-control didn’t disappear along with it.
Chapter Two
As they ate, Lucas kept up an easy flow of conversation, thankfully letting her off the meat hook, as it were, but not any of the others. Finally, she gave in and started answering, just to make him stop.
“I like plants,” she finally admitted, stirring sugar into her coffee after their plates were cleared.
“What kind?”
She blinked at him. “The plant kind.”
Did he have to look so adorable when he was trying not to say something to hurt her feelings? Usually, it never seemed to occur to him whether she had any to worry about.
“There’s all kinds of different plants. Ones with flowers, ones with colored leaves, miniature kinds, there’s even one that’s a carnivore. I don’t recommend that one for you though. They bite.”
She shrugged off the corny joke. “I don’t care about botany. I just collect them because they’re pretty.” And without legs, they at least could be trusted to stay where you put them. “I’m a girl, I like pretty things.”
“What other pretty things do you collect?” He set his elbow on the tabletop, leaning his temple on his knuckles. She stared at him, wishing she could feel as comfortable in her skin as he seemed to. Nothing deterred him. Veiled insults spilled off his back. Sarcasm only encouraged him. And yet, despite all the dodging, she couldn’t remember the last time she had a conversation last so long when it wasn’t a deposition.
What would it be like to get dressed in the morning, knowing people would see what you wore and like it? To enter a room, be noticed and be absolutely comfortable about it? There were few things she craved in the world, but confidence was one of them and Lucas Lonnigan’s radiated off him in sensual waves, wrapping around her like a lover’s arms. It lured her to lower her guard, to give him anything he wanted, because he’d return it ten times over with indescribable pleasure.
If she hadn’t decided to break up with him, she might just be tempted.
“Stamps,” she nearly barked, the lie jolting her back to reality with the mental screech of car wreck. She stifled the urge to shake herself at her own obviousness. What the hell was so pretty about stamps.
But if he noticed she’d slipped out of his spell, he didn’t show it. “Do you have many?”
She shook her head. “But I seem to be starting a lot of new things lately.” Like lying. And lusting to the point that she might actually have an orgasm all by herself…
His eyebrows rose faintly. “Turning a new leaf?”
Ha. As if anyone would believe that. “No, nothing so drastic. I have goals, important goals. Things I want to see and do and be.” Things no amount of lectures from her well-meaning but…eccentric secretary would derail her from achieving. Though she could steal an oft-given quote of Dory’s, before he started asking questions about her goals. “But I don’t want to be just my goal when I get there. A new hobby from time to time helps round me out.”
His head picked up, his eyes taking on a gleam of something she was tempted to call recognition.
“Everyone should try new things every once in a while. Experiment.” Eying his interested expression nervously, she added, “Eat some of those gourmet foods that sound scary when you hear what they’re made of but taste amazing once you give them a try. Go on a trip somewhere you’ve never been before.” That would be just about anywhere for her. Her one hidden fantasy slipped through her lips before she could stop it. “Shop like money is no object.”
He laughed and she blushed at her own vehemence. “You could combine all those things into one trip, if you wanted. They say the shopping in Hong Kong is the most amazing in the world. You could go there, get some stamps, try the food and buy anything you want.”
She smiled. “Well, we don’t usually get what we want just because we ask for it.” She knew that better than most. “That’s why I said every once in a while.”
“How do you get what you want, then, if not by asking?”
“You earn it,” she replied simply. He was old enough to know the truth about life. No one handed you anything for free. If they did, it usually meant they were going to take more from you than you would have agreed to pay.
He nodded, seeming to understand her. But why did she get the feeling he was about to disagree? “So, if I said, ‘Run away with me to Hong Kong tonight’, what would you do?”
“Turn you down.” Obviously.
“Because?”
Her amusement melted away. “Are you serious?”
“About the invitation or the question?”
“Both?” God help her if he meant that haphazard invitation.
He watched her for a few pregnant
moments before sighing in resignation. “Much as I’d love to take you to Hong Kong, my boss would probably have a fit.”
“You’re self-employed.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, I would probably have a fit.”
“I think you’re having one right now.”
Finally, she got him to frown. It looked wrong on his face and she felt a curious dismay at putting it there. “Why would you turn me down, Jess? Truthfully.”
“It’s Jessica. And I’d turn you down—truthfully—because flying off to Hong Kong at the drop of a hat is a ridiculous idea. Rational people do not drop everything just to go have fun. They have responsibilities and duties and…and…”
He leaned his head to the side, as if measuring her features.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she finally said.
“Like what?”
Like you want to kiss me. Or maybe she just wanted to be kissed. Wanted an excuse to keep her thoughts to herself. An excuse to touch his mouth with her own, just for a second. Just to know how he felt. How he tasted. Was he as playful a kisser as he had been a person tonight? Or was he intense, the way she’d known him to be over the last several months?
She’d never know because she was there to break up with him.
“Like you think you’re getting the better of me. I don’t lose arguments.”
“I’m starting to see that.” He straightened in his seat. “There’s a right answer, you know.”
“To running off to Hong Kong with you?”
Nodding, his gaze grew hot again when she inadvertently pulled the edge of her bottom lip between her teeth. “Do you want to know what it is?”
Yes. She held in a gasp as the impulse nearly made it to her lips. “I think I’ll claim the Fifth on that one.”
With a disappointed tsk, his grin slipped back in place where it belonged. “Maybe next time.” He gestured to the waitress for the check.
This was it. Her cue to tell him she wanted to end the “romantic” aspect of their relationship. Assure him they could remain friends and professional acquaintances. She even opened her mouth to do it.
But she couldn’t get the words out.
Why? Why did he choose tonight to be the most interesting man she’d ever met? The most attractive and interesting? She stared at his mouth as he spoke to the waitress in a kind undertone. From the moment she met him, she’d had an appreciation for his mouth. Tonight appreciation had become temptation. Possibly obsession. Would it soften the way it had when he’d kissed her cheek? Could she still turn him away if she found out? Where else would she want those lips if one kiss led to another?
She shifted in her seat, the flutter in her sex a full-on clench of desire now. It would be so good…to feel his skin, hot and slick against hers while his mouth suckled and nibbled and fed on her one inch at a time. To finally touch his chest, to taste every muscle of that perfect body. To have him pounding into her with all that latent power she sensed, driving all thought and tension away with orgasm after orgasm. She panted as silently as she could, her head down so he wouldn’t see what her own imagination was doing to her.
She had to get off this sexual kick. She wasn’t going to sleep with him. It wasn’t right to drop him—and she was going to drop him—after she’d gotten her rocks off. If she went with him now, he’d think there was something more to their relationship but there wasn’t. Apart from this one dinner, they’d barely had conversations. Of course, that didn’t stop her rocks from clamoring for some offing.
Could women even use the term “rocks”?
The slight mental digression had her considering Lucas’s rocks and it all went downhill again from there.
With a struggle, Jessica finally dragged her mind from the gutter.
“I’m not going to sleep with you,” she whispered, eyes closed, belly tightening in rejection, because saying it mentally was not working anymore.
It didn’t help. She might say she wouldn’t sleep with him, but she definitely wanted to. The tingling sensation Lucas’s gaze evoked, the prospect of being ridden to bonelessness and coming so many times she lost her voice was sounding more and more like a rational thing to do. But it was wrong to use him. To encourage him. When he was uncaring and in need of the nearest flat surface in the worst way, she might have been able to do it and leave without much conscience. Lord knew he had needed the de-stressing as much as she did. But this warmer, charming Lucas that attracted her mind as well as her body?
“Not a chance in Hell. I don’t care if you beg, I’m not going to sleep with you,” she repeated.
“Jess?”
She looked up, horrified to find him standing closer than she expected, waiting for her to rise, hand out and an eyebrow raised. As she reached to take his hand, she felt the flush that had never quite left her chest rise to the embarrassing heights of her face
Lucas helped her to her feet then reached down for the check she hadn’t even seen arrive, so he could study it intently.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking to see if I’d ordered kneepads with dinner. Nope, no begging planned tonight, but I’m always open to changing things up a little. What did you have in mind?”
She pulled it from his hand and set it back on the table with the crisp bills he’d already placed there, checking around briefly to make sure no one else had heard. Her cheeks were already burning, she didn’t want utter humiliation to cause spontaneous combustion. “I’m sorry, that just slipped out.”
His dimples made another appearance. She almost whimpered. “So were you trying to convince yourself or me?”
Placing a cool hand to the side of her face, she blew out a shaky breath. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
“Any particular reason you need convincing?” He led her out of the café, nodding at the waitress smiling after them. Once they cleared the front doors, he looked around, as if trying to decide which direction to go. Which was just ridiculous. Lucas always knew exactly where he was and where he was headed. Usually so did she.
For the first time in years, she didn’t.
All she knew for sure was that she wanted him. Not plastic. Warmth. Laughter. Passion. Seduction. Yes, that was it. He’d been working a slow seduction all night, as if he’d come to her with the express purpose of sliding into her bed, into her body and into every fantasy she could think of. The only thing holding her back was her conscience.
She could admit when she was ready to be had. She couldn’t begin to explain how ready she was.
She stared at him until he met her gaze again, his friendly smile slowly fading. Judging by the expression on his face, he could see it without her saying a word. So why didn’t he act on it? Why not push his advantage? Why did he look both interested and cautious?
And yet, his uncertainty sent a slight thrill through her. After all his flirting, he was the one pulling back? Oh no, not after all that flirting and stimulating and promising, however unspoken. Something predatory twined inside her at the thought of going home without him.
“Jess?”
Deliciously predatory.
“I want you to come home with me,” she said, smoothing a tendril of her hair back behind her ear. The wind and the air from the traffic beside them kept the rest of her hair whipping at her back, but she ignored it. She kept every ounce of her attention on him.
His eyes remained clouded. “What happened to your determination not to sleep with me?”
She shrugged, hoping to cover the shivers…and the fears that he would turn her down. As if his rejection had the power to hurt when she’d set herself up ages ago never to be hurt again. “When you’re getting to the point of talking yourself out of something, it’s because you’ve already decided to do it.” And she had. Probably the second he’d walked in the door of the restaurant.
She wanted this man, this Lucas, in her bed more than she’d wanted anyone, ever. She’d settle for the floor of her foyer if she had to, but eventually, she wanted him on any b
ed she could find. As many beds. Her mind quickly went wild with possibilities while her panties grew damn near soaked.
She tugged on his hand, leading west, toward her apartment. “Come on.”
“Aperitifs?”
“I was thinking sex, but if you’d like a drink first, sure.”
Again that laugh of his. He didn’t pull away, as she half-expected, but he didn’t exactly keep pace. With those long legs he’d have no trouble outdistancing her. Which probably meant…
“Um, Jess?”
She should have known being brazen was a mistake with Lucas. The man had prudence in his DNA. New clothes or not, he wasn’t the type to rush. She spun around, looking into his eyes and seeing a definite response to her. She wasn’t bad looking, really, and there wasn’t anyone she trusted of the male persuasion the way she did Lucas, even if she did mean to break up with him. He probably needed reassurance.
“I know we haven’t had this kind of relationship, but don’t worry. I won’t expect anything from you afterwards.” She smiled up at him, hoping he’d understand everything she implied in that one sentence. “I promise.”
He didn’t appear to be as soothed as she expected. Good lord…was it possible he hadn’t done this before? It would certainly explain a lot about his usual grumpy personality, not to mention his sudden uncertainty.
“I’ll be gentle,” she added, smiling at his obvious misgivings.
He smiled back, wryly. “It’s not that. I’m kind of liking your aggressive side.”
“But?” A man didn’t slow a woman intent on sex unless there was a but somewhere.
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
That he was going to break up with her? No, no, no, not yet. Once he got those words out, he’d go all noble on her and she’d go home frustrated.
“Tell me later.” She rose up on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him.