They spent a great deal of the movie kissing. At one point, their caresses grew so heated she knew they were barreling towards another fantastic session of sex, and it took all her willpower to lay her hand against his and say, “I want you. Believe me, I can’t imagine a time when I don’t want you. But watching the movie, just spending time with you, I’m enjoying it so much…”
Breathing heavily, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m enjoying it, too, Kat. So I agree, let’s slow things down. There’s no hurry. We’ve got all night. But can we still make out during the movie?”
“Make me some hot chocolate and I might say yes.”
“That sounds like a bribe.”
“It is.” She licked across his bottom lip before kissing him. “There’s more of that in it for you, too. Only after my hot chocolate, the kisses will be even sweeter.”
“I can’t imagine them being any sweeter.” He kissed her again then pulled back with a groan. “Don’t move, I’ll be right back.” She watched him go and as he hit the kitchen door she said, “I like whipped cream!”
“So do I!” he shouted back. “And I intend to show you just how much!”
She laughed and snuggled back down into the couch, smiling.
This was the best date she’d ever had, she thought.
Hands down.
* * *
When Luke brought the hot chocolate back, he found Bella in his seat, snuggled up to Kat, who’d been reading a book. Even as she put it down, he said, “Hey! This wasn’t part of the deal.”
Kat giggled and gave Bella another rub behind the ears. “Okay girl, our cuddle time is up. Your replacement is here.”
He handed her the steaming mug. “Sorry. No whipped cream. We’ll just have to use our imagination to make up for it.”
“I’m finding that with you, my imagination has never worked better,” she teased, then took a sip of her drink.
She’s so pretty, it’s ridiculous, he thought. Every time he looked at her it did something to him. “How is it?”
“The best I’ve ever had,” she said with a seductive smile, and he got her message loud and clear.
“I’m glad to hear that, but you shouldn’t make any snap judgments. I think you should put the cocoa to the test. After all, a taste or two isn’t enough to know for sure.”
She blinked innocently. “I don’t know. I mean, when I like something, I really like it. And I don’t let what other people think sway me from it either.”
He frowned. “Um…I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Did you take some kind of poll when I wasn’t looking?”
“Nope. It’s just…” She placed her mug of hot chocolate on the coffee table, then picked up the book she’d been reading. “Well, I found this book buried under the others over there.”
It was a prop he’d brought for this specific purpose—he’d even read the damn thing to make sure he could talk about it if she asked—and that alone made his face go hot when he saw the cover. “Oh, well, my sister must have left it at my house the last time she visited.”
Kat laughed. “Oh come on. ‘Fess up, Mr. Action Movie Man. You read Nicholas Sparks!”
“I do not!”
She squinted at the open book. “Are you sure? Because I think there are tear marks in here. Admit it, you cried when you read it, didn’t you?”
“Okay, that’s it!” Luke put down his own drink then grabbed her feet and began tickling them. When she screeched and tried to squirm away, he reached up and caught her around the waist and began tickling her there. “Say it! Say you believe that’s my sister’s book!”
“No way! You loved The Notebook! Letters to Nicholas! I bet you’ve seen every one of his movies!” He pulled her onto his lap and held her there while continuing to tickle her. “Stop it! I can’t breathe!”
“Then say it! Say ‘Luke’s a tough guy who didn’t even know who Nicholas Sparks was before you brought him up!’”
She was giggling and out of breath but she managed to squeak out, “Luke’s a tough guy…” He stopped tickling her and she pulled herself upright. Then she buried her hands in his hair and stared into his eyes. “Luke’s a tough guy who’s really just a big softie.”
He swallowed hard, then raised his own hands to cup her face. “I’m big but I’m by no means soft, Kat. Haven’t you learned that by now?”
Instead of answering him with words, she kissed him.
* * *
Kat’s kiss was soft and sweet but there was nothing soft about the fire he’d lit inside her. Suddenly desperate to see all of him, she backed away and lifted his shirt, then bent down to let her tongue wander across his flesh.
His sharp inhale was music to her ears and she grew bolder.
Her hand went to the waistband of his jeans, dipped below, and found him hard and throbbing. He filled her palm, his thick girth growing larger with every little caress from her fingers. He lifted his hips in a wordless command and Kat tugged his pants down. His erection sprang free from the confining material. Her tongue wandered across the head of it, already engorged and purple from blood. Her fingers followed the heavy veins of his cock, and her tongue soon followed.
A small drop of pre-come leaked from the dark slit on the tip and she licked it away, savoring the salty flavor as it coated her tongue and throat. Kat opened her mouth wider, taking him down her throat.
She shifted position so that she was on her knees, her head buried in his lap. Her lips tightened as she sucked harder, her tongue running up and down his rigid flesh. Her hands cupped his testicles, and caressed them. They lifted and rose, and she took her mouth away from his glistening staff to suck those taut sacs even as she caressed him, keeping her fist tight.
Luke gasped. “That’s good.”
Kat didn’t answer. Her mouth went back to his shaft and she took him down her throat again. He was stiff and inflexible, and the salty taste was stronger now. Her fingers found the sensitive area between his anus and testicles, and tickled it lightly.
Luke’s hands dug into her head. The masculine scent of his body—starchy, warm, and slightly musky—rose to her nostrils as she worked harder, scraping him lightly with her teeth, and eliciting a groan from Luke’s parted lips.
Kat risked a peek upward. His face was flushed, and his eyes half-closed. His top teeth were stuck into his bottom lip, and his hair mussed. That sight was overwhelmingly sexy.
Luke growled out. “Wait.”
She backed away. Luke stood for a moment, flipped her onto her back on the sofa and disrobed her quickly.
Her nipples stood out in icy points, and her legs parted as he climbed onto the sofa with her, his tongue streaking across her. His mouth found her wet, throbbing center and she whimpered. The feel of his tongue on her flesh was maddening, and her toes curled into the sofa. She smoothed her fingers over his jaw, muscles moving as his tongue lashed across her clitoris then massaged it slowly and forcefully.
The throbbing achiness between her legs turned fierce as he took her to the edge of an orgasm, and then backed off, leaving her desperate. He kissed her lips softly, then said, “Let me grab a condom, baby.”
Closing her eyes, she nodded, hating the need for the barrier that would once again be between them. She was on the pill, and for a half-a-second she considered telling him to go without, but— She gasped when he returned and immediately buried his face between her legs, tonguing and massaging her clit yet again.
When he raised his head, his mouth glistened and his features were hard with arousal. His fingers moved into her tight sheath, opening her as he used his other hand to guide him. He pushed in, and even though it burned a little, she was more than ready for him.
They gasped and strained, their sweat-slicked bodies arching and meeting with heavy slaps and thumps. Her narrow hips ached with the force of his thrusts but she didn’t care. She wanted this, she wanted him. Too soon, they came together, a long shivering, gushing burst of release that sent her collapsing back into the sofa cushions, savoring his heavy weight even as he braced himself on his arms so as not to crush her.
Luke pulsed inside of her body. His chin dug into her shoulder. The faded scent of sunshine lingered in his hair and she inhaled it as her heart slowed and her ardor cooled.
Luke lay there for a long time, just resting on top of her, and then he moved away, disposing of the condom. Immediately, he laid down again, pulling her into his embrace and caressing her hair. She was growing drowsy when he suddenly spoke.
“Did you always want to be an actress?”
She smiled, her voice lazy, satisfied, and still slightly breathless. “Oh yeah. I used to drive my folks nuts. I would put on plays in our living room, playing all the parts myself. I’d stand on my bed at night and pretend I was a Shakespeare character, and I would quote every line I knew from every book of his I ever read.”
Luke grimaced. “They made us read his work in high school. I wasn’t a fan.”
“Me either, actually. I just thought it made me look like I knew what I was talking about when I said I was going to be an actress.”
Luke laughed. “Did it?”
She shook her head. “No, it just made my dad positive that he was going to be supporting me for the rest of his life.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Every single day. He was a good man. I know most daughters love their fathers but I can’t explain how important he was to me. My mother is amazing, too. She hated that I grew up with bodyguards around me, and she worried that I might never have a normal life.”
“I imagine she still worries about that.”
He’d hit the nail on the head. “She does but she’s really proud of me. Sometimes I feel so guilty for being free, for being out in the world and living, while she’s stuck in that house too terrified to come out of it.” She thought about what she said, then snorted. “Actually, that’s ironic, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
She turned to face him. “Me saying I’m out in the world and living when the past few days I’ve been hiding here in the mountains.”
“Everyone needs a break. Some time away. And that’s true even if their lives haven’t been threatened. Don’t judge yourself harshly for doing what anyone in your position would do, Kat.”
She laid her cheek on his chest and sighed. “Thank you for that. But the truth is, the amount of living I do on a normal basis is pretty limited. It has to be, otherwise I take the chance of being recognized, you know.”
He stroked her hair. “It’s a compromise, that’s for sure. But to be able to make movies…God, that must be an incredible experience.”
She grinned and kissed his ridged abdomen, loving how he sucked in a breath and his fingers tightened in her hair. “It really is. Even though the whole process can be quite boring at times, when I see the finished product it makes me feel…”
“What?”
“In simple terms, like I did good.”
She closed her eyes as he continued to stroke her hair.
“I used to go to the movies a lot with my dad,” he said, and her eyes popped open. She held her breath, thrilled that he was opening up to her even just a little about his dad when she knew how hard that was for him. “I miss him a lot. I miss the little things like that—just being able to go to the movies and share a bucket of popcorn, you know.”
She stroked his arm, silently communicating she was listening and offering comfort, but not wanting to speak and interrupt his train of thought. “I used to be really angry. Not just angry. Pissed off. I was pissed off because it was so stupid. I couldn’t, and I still can’t, figure out why his partner did what he did. How could he just walk away from his duty?”
Duty. Luke was hung up on that word, and all that it entailed. Kat could see that from a mile away, she just didn’t know how to say so without angering him. The last thing she wanted was to anger him when he was opening up to her.
When it came to his parents, the man usually had so many walls he could have sold a few and still had enough to build the biggest house on earth.
“Some people just don’t think before they do things.” It was a lame answer; she knew it, but it was the only one she could come up with. And even though she didn’t have the right words to take his hurt away, she hoped that being in her arms helped just a little.
The next morning, Luke announced he wanted to take her out on the town.
Startled, Kat laughed. “What, you mean the casinos and a restaurant again?”
“No, since we already did that, I thought we could explore one of the smaller towns nearby. There’s a great bookstore not far from here. A few little restaurants and a small dog park down that way too. Nothing fancy or too large, not many people about this time of year either. What do you say?”
She smiled. “I say that sounds perfect.” So long as they were together, she didn’t care what they did.
After Kat donned her plainest jeans and tee shirt, a floppy hat and sunglasses, they drove into a quaint little nearby town. Just as Luke had predicted, most of the stores were practically empty. People stopped to pet Bella, and Kat began to realize she’d been absolutely right when she’d told her friend Ben that she needed a dog. At the time, she hadn’t realized how a dog would help her hide in plain site, but as people cooed at Bella, too distracted to pay much attention to Kat herself, Kat decided that no matter what happened, she was getting a dog as soon as she returned home.
The bookstore Luke had talked about was small and cozy, and they found a large selection of their favorite authors. They spent a pleasant hour rifling through the shelves and then they carried their purchases to the front. Luke insisted on paying and Kat gave in gracefully, but only after making it clear she’d be buying them lunch. They finally settled on a small and incredibly authentic German place at the end of one street a few blocks from the bookstore.
They took patio seats despite the small and slightly chilly breeze so that Bella could stay with them and she was very good, but occasionally she did emit the tiniest most sorrowful little wail.
“Can she have a tiny bit of my food?”
Luke laughed. “Sure, since she’s already spoiled rotten.”
Bella stuck her wet nose up in the air expectantly as Kat cut her a small bit of her pork chop and then fed it to her. “What a good girl,” Kat crooned as she rubbed Bella’s soft fur. “You are such a good good girl, yes you are. I should steal you away and keep you forever.”