Read Winter (Four Seasons #1) Online

Authors: Nikita Rae

Tags: #romance, #romantic suspense, #thriller, #contemporary romance, #new adult, #rockstar bad boy

Winter (Four Seasons #1) (32 page)

BOOK: Winter (Four Seasons #1)
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Luke sucks his
bottom lip into his mouth. “You really don’t know, do you?” he
says, running his hand through his hair. “I was mad at you because
you just sat there like it was completely normal, and the whole
time…the whole time…”


The whole
time what?”

He can’t do it
anymore. He stands up, but he doesn’t come to me. He prowls across
his bedroom, looking up at me from underneath his brow—a dark,
predatory, wild look. “That guy’s hand was on your leg,
Ave.”


What? Luke,
you can’t be serious! I’m not your property. I never said I was
yours.”


Well you’re
going to. By the time you leave this apartment, you’re gonna have
promised me that you’re mine, okay?”

I open my
mouth and just stare at him. He’s totally lost it. “Look, I told
you. There’s just too much history—”


Tell me you
haven’t been thinking about me,” he demands.

I let out an
exasperated sigh. “Of course I’ve been thinking about you. You make
it almost impossible not to. You call me, you turn up at my
apartment, you kiss me in public, you tell me you don’t think my
dad—”

He cuts me off
as he rushes towards me, grabbing hold of my head with both hands.
With his chest pressed up against me, he crashes his lips down on
mine and kisses me so hard I can do nothing but let him. For a
heartbeat, a teeny tiny heartbeat, I let myself go. He straights
up, lifting me to me feet as he stands, and then he pulls back,
breathing hard, staring at me fiercely.


Tell me that
kiss at the club didn’t kill you. Tell me you haven’t been thinking
about me like this,” he says, his voice rough, full of
gravel.
Holy shit.


I didn’t. I
haven’t,” I say softly, begging him not to hear my voice
shake.

The corner of
his mouth twitches. “Liar.”

Damn. He pulls
me to him again, and this time I don’t resist. I’ve tried not to,
haven’t wanted to, but I’ve needed him. Missed him sorely. I meet
him with just as much force. He tangles his hands in my hair and is
stripping my clothes from my body before I can even sigh. Gone is
the Luke who was so conflicted the last time we were alone in this
room together. Now he’s frantic, demanding, and frighteningly
sexy.


I’m fighting
for you, Avery. I’m not letting you go. It doesn’t matter what you
say, you care about me just as much as I care about
you.”


I don’t,” I
gasp, “You’re wrong.” But I’m still tearing at his clothes like a
woman possessed. In one hurried movement Luke yanks down my pants
and drags them off my feet, then lifts me so I can wrap my legs
around his hips. He takes a step forward, narrowly avoiding
knocking over the tripod and my camera, and then he throws me back
down onto the bed, where he holds himself over me. Another deep
kiss, his tongue parting my lips and playing over mine, has me
panting, my hands clinging onto his arms. He kisses my jaw line,
and then moves down until he’s grazing his teeth across my neck.
I’ve never told anyone about that secret spot, the one that has me
melting and screaming inside all at once, yet Luke hits it straight
away. He and my weak spot are best friends, apparently.


Luke!” I
gasp.


Tell me,” he
growls. “Admit it.”


No.” I am
breathless, totally boneless underneath him as he reaches down and
slips his fingers underneath my panties. A feeble moan works its
way past my lips as he finds another spot that sends me just as
crazy. He starts teasing me, running his fingers so softly against
me so that my body begins to quake. “Please…”


Tell me,” he
repeats.


I
can’t.”

Luke freezes,
his fingers still. He leans back and looks down at me, searching my
face. “Then we need to stop,” he murmurs.

The guy is
trying to kill me. I can feel him pressed up against me, completely
naked, his erection harder than granite between my legs, and I know
this has to be killing him, too. “No,” I whimper. At any other
time, it would be humiliating that I’m so breathless and weak, but
I need him. “Please…”


I can’t have
sex with you again until you admit it,” he says softly, his eyes
pinning me to the bed. I tremble when his fingers start moving
again, just missing the small spot that will drive me over the
edge. He found it no problem two seconds ago so I know he’s doing
it on purpose.


Luke, don’t
tease me.
Please.


You’re doing
this to yourself. All you have to do is admit it.”


Admit
what
?” I grab hold of the
sheets and screw them up in my hands. That’s the only way I’m
stopping myself from punching him in his face for making my body
burn the way it is.


You
know
what.” His brown
eyes are calm when I look into them. How can he not be losing it
right now?
Two can play this game,
buddy
. Reaching down between our bodies, I
gently take hold of his erection and squeeze. His eyes flicker but
they never leave mine. Even when I start stroking him, feeling him
grow harder in my hand with every repetition, he doesn’t look
away.


I want you,
Iris,” he whispers. “I know that. You know that. I’m not the
problem here. I’m not the one afraid to admit my feelings. I love
you, okay? And I know you love me.”

I carry on
stroking him, trying to push a smile onto my face. A hard one that
will tell him what I think of his foolish declaration. Of what he
thinks he knows about me. But it never materializes. Luke reaches
up and strokes a hand down my face, tracing his lips across mine
gently. I stare back at him the whole time, wondering what the hell
is happening. Why am I not leaping off the bed and running for the
hills? Luke bites his lip and tenses a second before he finally
gives in and slips a finger inside me. A rush of pleasure charges
through my body, and I can’t stop the embarrassing groan from
escaping my lips.


Say it,” he
whispers.

I close my
eyes and I melt as he pushes another finger inside me.


Say it,
Avery.”

Shake your
head. Shake your head, damnit!
But I don’t.
I rock up with my hips instead, begging for more of him to be
inside me. “I need you,” I moan.


That’s not
it,” he replies, drawing his fingers out. I cry out and he pushes
back a little. He’s so hard in my hand, and his muscles are
twitching erratically. There’s no way he isn’t on the verge of
coming.


Please,
Luke.”


Still not
it,” he says gruffly, his breath unbearably hot against my neck. I
shiver and press my body harder against his. Luke leans away,
making me whimper again. I’m frustratingly close to tears when he
sits back completely, kneeling over me. He continues pushing his
fingers inside me, but he puts his hand over mine on his erection.
“You don’t get to make me come.”


Are
you…bribing me?” I pant.

Luke shakes
his head, his eyes intense. “Sex is important to me, Avery. That’s
why I didn’t sleep with Casey all those years. It’s okay for me to
love you and do this, but I can’t be with you like that if you
don’t admit what you’re feeling.”

My head starts
spiraling in that crazy Seeing Stars kind of way. He takes my hand
off him and just about blows my mind when he starts stroking
himself. I’ve never seen anything so hot in my entire life. I want
to watch some more but he shimmies down the bed and pushes my legs
apart roughly, pulling my panties out of the way. I know what’s
coming but that doesn’t stop me from crying out when his tongue
touches me.


Shit! Luke,
please!” I groan.

He doesn’t
stop. If anything my begging only seems to make him draw it out
even more; his tongue sweeps across the very center of me, slower
and slower until it feels like my whole body is vibrating. I can’t
take it anymore. I sit up and grab his arms, pulling him up the
bed. He lands on top of me, still so incredibly serious.


Just do it,
Luke. Please just do it. I need you.”

He is so close
to being inside me, unbearably so, but no matter how much I wriggle
he keeps moving away. Eventually he puts a stop to my ideas by
grabbing my hands over my head and pinning me.


I’m not some
jerk who sleeps around, Avery. You’ve got to be honest. Tell
me!”

I buck
underneath him, fighting to get free. “You’re insane, “ I
hiss.


And you’re
lying to me and to yourself,” he says. “Now just do it.” He presses
down on top of me and the tip of his erection pushes into me,
making my skin burn. I’m on fire.


I…I
can’t!”


DAMN IT,
AVERY, TELL ME THE TRUTH!”

And that’s
when I snap. When everything snaps. The wall I so carefully
constructed and have been hiding behind for so long crumbles and
I’m left naked in more ways that one. “Fine! I love you, Luke. I
love you so much I think I might die sometimes! Are you happy now?”
With my eyes finally open, I stare up into his face, feeling
ridiculous when they start to burn.


Do you mean
it?” he whispers.

I can’t
answer. Tears streak down my cheeks as I nod my head, yes, my heart
breaking, suddenly feeling like a frightened little girl. This is
the most exposed I have ever been in my life, and there’s no
turning back. I don’t know what I expect to see on Luke’s
face—triumph, maybe—but it isn’t pain. Yet there it is.


Thank God,”
he says softly. And then he pushes inside me. I suck in a sharp
breath and hold it, not wanting to make a sound. “Don’t leave me
out here on my own,” he says, as though he knows exactly what’s
happening inside me: sheer, uncontrollable panic. I told
him.
I told him!
“Look at me, baby.” Luke draws me back with his soft voice,
and I do as he asks. He pushes into me again, and my body
shudders.


Oh, God.” I
can’t stop what is building. Nothing can. Luke’s intensity only
grows as he thrusts again, his shoulders starting to
tremble.


You’re mine.
Say it!” he growls.

I manage to
say it as I came apart in his hands, my body disintegrating into
blindly firing nerve endings. “I’m yours, Luke! I’m yours.” And I
really am.

Damn
it.

 

******

 

 

It’s still
dark when the phone starts screaming in Luke’s apartment. If I’m
honest, I’ve been watching him like some creepy yet very confused
stalker, and he totally busts me when his eyes snap open. He gives
me a small smile when he comes to and rubs at one eye sleepily
before stretching and grabbing hold of the handset beside his bed.
The blue glow from the screen lights up his face as he
answers.


Cole, if this
is you, I’m going to cause you severe fucking pain. It’s four am,”
he groans into the receiver.

Four am and
I’m naked in Luke Reid’s bed. What the hell am I doing? I’ve
never,
never
, done
anything like this before. Then again I’ve never told anyone I love
them before either, so tonight is clearly a night for
firsts.

Luke goes
still as he listens to the muffled voice on the end of the phone;
he seems to be holding his breath. The voice stops talking and Luke
just stares up at the ceiling for a second before he closes his
eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingertips.
“Wait,
what?
Say
that again.”

He’s quiet for
a few minutes, unblinking, as he stares blankly ahead of him. I
study his face, wondering, fearing, panicking over whatever has
made him turn to stone.


And why the
hell do they think that?” he asks, sitting up slowly. His free hand
goes to the back of his neck, where he rubs back and forth
anxiously. The tone in his voice is strained—not a good sign.
“Yeah. She’s here. Her phone’s probably…it must be in the other
room.” My stomach bottoms out. I sit forward, clasping my hands
together, holding them to my mouth. Luke blinks, the look of a
stunned man. “Yeah. Yes, I’ll be there.” He hangs up and leans
forward, pressing the phone into his forehead.


What is it,
Luke?”


Breakwater
PD,” he whispers.

Oh. God. My
heart starts slamming in my chest. Whatever it was they just told
Luke was worth calling for at four am in the morning. And by the
sounds of things they’ve been trying to call me, too. I scoot back
in the bed, clutching the sheet to my chest, trying to work out how
on earth I’m going to escape whatever it is I’m about to find
out.


Just tell
me.” The words fly out, unbidden, in a whisper. I want to snatch
them out of the air and cram them straight back into my
mouth.


That was the
duty officer at my old station. He said…” He trails off, shaking
his head blankly.


He said
what?”

Luke’s eyes
are dark pools in the half-light. “He said they just brought your
uncle in for questioning.”

BOOK: Winter (Four Seasons #1)
5.56Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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