Dangerous Secrets (Tall, Dark & Deadly #2)(25)

Julie giggled. “She’s just dancing with him.”

Luke didn’t laugh. He didn’t smile. He stared at her, his eyes suddenly so intense, she gulped. He took her hand and started walking, pulling her along with him.

She didn’t question him. Never got the chance. He was full speed ahead. Before she knew it, she was in a dark hallway. Luke leaned against the wall, feet spread wide as he pulled Julie into an embrace. He slid one hand around her waist, and the other behind her neck as her hands rested on his chest.

Their lips touched in a gentle brush, a feather-light caress so tender she felt a shiver clear to her toes. “Luke,” she whispered.

“Um,” he murmured as brushed his lips across hers again. “You taste like chocolate icing.”

“And you taste like chocolate cake.”

He smiled against her lips, brushing gentle knuckles down her cheek. “You aren’t alone, you know. My mom was right. You have us. You have me.”

He didn’t give her time to respond. He took her mouth fully under his, dipping his tongue into her mouth with slow thoroughness, tasting her, tempting her, making her melt. His hands pressed her closer, making her ache with heat as the hardness of his frame seemed to consume her softness.

When he lifted his mouth from hers, his voice was husky as he said, “I swore I wouldn’t touch you. Not yet. Not now, but I am coming home with you tonight.”

Not now and not yet? She wanted to question his choice of words, but she didn’t. Not now. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Instead, she reveled in familiar territory, a place she had some control with Luke she desperately needed. “To sleep on my couch?”

“No couch,” he murmured, his breath teasing her lips. And then he kissed her with such intensity she forgot where she was, why Luke was dangerous. She was shaking with desire and she could only wonder if her control wasn’t a facade. Luke had seduced it from her.





Chapter Nine


Luke didn’t take Julie to her place, as he’d initially said. He pulled into his parking lot instead and killed the engine.

“I thought we were going to my place?” she asked, a little too late at this point.

“Safer,” he said. “And I doubt we’ll see Blake tonight. He doesn’t bring women to his place and Royce and Lauren are off to Hawaii.”

He opened his door and slid out of the truck before she could say more. He’d decided well before the wedding ceremony that staying out of Julie’s bed was an impossible undertaking. He wasn’t, however, prepared to relinquish control to her. Allowing her to make their physical attraction a way to distance herself emotionally wasn’t an option. His approach was everything and he knew it, or hell, maybe he was trying to justify his actions. He only knew that if he didn’t manage the encounter just right, any hope he had of breaking down her walls would be destroyed the minute he slept with her.

He chose to bring her to his place: his home, his rules.

He needed the control with Julie.

Standing outside his apartment, he put the key in the lock. Anticipation thrummed through his veins. Damn if he wasn’t getting hard just thinking about what was about to happen.

He pushed open his front door, but didn’t move to enter his apartment. Instead, he turned to Julie, pulling her close. Brushing a lock of her hair from her cheek, he gave her a soft smile. Slowly, he lowered his head, bringing their lips close as he spoke, “I’m glad you’re here.”

He kissed her before she could respond, a slow, heated kiss full of invitation. He wanted her to let go and feel, to just be with him without any fears or walls.

Need heated his blood, burned a path through his veins, demanding and fierce, but still he held back, committed to his agenda. Julie was going to know this thing between them was more than sex; she was going to see, feel, and understand that he was in this for the finish line, that he intended to find out why he’d never forgotten her. Why no other woman compared.

Forcing himself to pull back from their kiss, he took her hand, leading her into his apartment before shutting the door behind them.

He flipped the hall light on, but no others. Despite her bold seductress persona, he knew he was going to test her, to push her, and somehow thought that tonight, she’d prefer the sanctuary of shadows. He planned to expose far more than her beautiful body before this evening ended.

She walked past him into his living room, the steady stream of moonlight glistening off her silky blonde hair, giving it a silvery quality. Her hips swayed in a slow, sultry motion as they stroll through his home, the only one he’d had in years, a place she felt right inside, just as she did by his side.

He let her explore, standing back and watching her as he loosened his tie and tossed it onto the hall table. He loosened the top buttons of his shirt at the same time he willed the urgency in his body to calm.

He wanted Julie like nothing else in this world, in a way he couldn’t continue to ignore. He itched to peel off her dress, to once again touch that silky skin of hers. Patience, he reminded himself. Good things come to those who wait.

Slowly he walked into the living room, closing the distance between them, feeling like an animal stalking his prey, never taking his eyes off her. She picked up a picture of him and his brothers from the mantel. She stared at it a moment, and then looked up at him.

They stood a mere foot apart as their eyes locked. “I never knew you were so sentimental,” she said in a soft voice.