Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (5 page)

She gritted her teeth.  Laughing wasn’t the reaction that first hit her with Luke’s hands on her foot.  If she’d still been a little girl, she’d be squealing right now.  But somehow as a 28 year old woman, Luke’s hands stirred up a whole slew of different reactions.

He watched her, that sexy smile hovering around his mouth, his fingers pressing slowly and firmly into the arch of her foot.  She put her hands down next to her thighs and lifted herself up to move in the chair, trying to relieve that glorious pressure building between her legs. Without being able to stop herself, a moan escaped from the back of her throat and she quickly covered it up with a cough.

He chuckled, letting his eyes peruse her face.  “You’re blushing, Janie.  Why aren’t you laughing?  You’re not ticklish anymore?”  His fingers went from pressing into her arch to lightly brushing his fingernails just below where they’d been to her heel and she nearly shot up off of the seat, letting out a breathy laugh.  “Ah, there it is.”  He smiled and held on to her foot, saying, “Success.” 

Trying to regain some semblance of control over her body, she attempted to pull her foot from his hands just as he squeezed her pinky toe.

“Uh, uh.  Your foot’s stayin’ right here.  You started it.  You want to play with the big boys, you need to be ready,
baby girl
,” he said pointedly, giving her a challenging look.

She glared right back and teased, “I do just fine playing with the big boys,
Lukey
.”

“So you keep telling me,” he said dryly, then his face took on an expression of annoyance.  “If you consider Detective Gonzalez one of the big boys, then I’ve got news for you –”

Janie interrupted him, trying not to smile.  “Detective
Fernandez
.  You purposely get his name wrong every time just to annoy me.”

He shrugged, not caring one iota.  “Whatever.”  Luke looked down at her foot, letting his hand lightly feather over her toes while he thought.  She felt a rush of wetness between her thighs.  “You never told me why that didn’t work out.”

“I know,” she said pointedly.  There was no way she was telling him that she’d broken it off with the detective because she couldn’t go through with having sex with him.  She’d gotten close, but the man still holding her foot kept invading her brain.

He raised his eyes to hers, his eyebrow up in question.  “Hm, that sounds interesting.”  His eyes turned stony.  “Was he an asshole?  Mike said you wouldn’t tell him.  Is it because you knew we’d all kick his ass?”

She rolled her eyes.  “It just wasn’t a love connection.  End of story.  And even if he was an asshole, I can handle it.  I’ve been dealing with assholes my whole life,” she said, her mind recalling her teenage years and the remarks she’d endured from boys.

He watched the memories cloud her eyes.  “I have no doubt you can handle yourself, Janie.  I just don’t like to see you hurt.” 

She wasn’t sure if he realized it, but he was stroking her foot as he spoke, as if soothing her.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  Isn’t that what they say?” she smiled.  “Well, at least Kelly Clarkson does.”

He gave her an inscrutable look then his gaze passed over her shoulder.  His expression cleared and he put her foot on the ground.  “Thanks, Carolyn.”

Janie looked behind her and Carolyn stood there with a pretty saleswoman laden with shoe boxes.  The saleswoman’s eyes were all over Luke, the color high on her perfectly rouged cheekbones, her eyes overly bright.  It annoyed the shit out of Janie, but she couldn’t blame her.  He really was quite a thing to look at.

They laid out the shoes and Janie began trying them on, prancing up and down the room like it was a runway, tilting her feet this way and that so Luke could inspect them.

After her fashion show, Janie made her decision.

“Definitely those,” she said, pointing to a pale burnished gold pair of peep toe pumps with a flower on the toe made of the same leather.

Luke nodded slowly, leaning back in his chair with his fingers steepled
and tapping at his lips.  “Put them on again.  I want to see them one more time.”

She began sliding her feet into the smooth leather as she joked, “Boy, you really don’t trust my fashion sense when it comes to footwear, do you?”

“I trust it just fine.  Other than your boots, I love your style.  Like I said before, you always look good.  I just wanted to see you work it again.”  He wagged his eyebrows.

She laughed.  “I am pretty good, aren’t I?”  With her boot cut jeans rolled up to her knees, she strutted with the heels on, putting some extra swing in her hips while eating up the floor like models did.  When she reached the wall, she turned dramatically, pulling her cheeks in and pursing her lips giving Luke a ‘come hither’ look.

His mouth quirked up at her antics.

“Admit it.  I’ve got Vanessa beat with all this goin’ on,” she teased, waving her hands over her curves.

He coughed slightly and mumbled something in Spanish.  Then he stood abruptly.  “Let’s get you some jewelry, then I need lunch.  All this shopping has made me hungry.”  He licked his lips while looking at her legs.  “You should wear skinny jeans.  You got the legs for them, woman.”

She stopped midstride at his compliment.  “Dude, I will never wear skinny jeans.”

“Why?” he asked, genuinely perplexed.  “They’d look great on you.”

“Uh, uh.  I got too much going on upstairs if you know what I mean,” she said pointing to her chest.  “I need a wider pant leg at the bottom to balance me out.”

“
Joder
,” he swore in Spanish.  She was pretty sure he’d just said the F-word.  “No, you
don’t
have too much going on.  And your legs would look,” he began then stopped, looking briefly over at Carolyn as if he’d forgotten she was there.

Janie waved his comments away, inwardly thrilled at his inspection of her body, but equally embarrassed at discussing it.  She still thought and felt like a size 16 woman most of the time.

He sighed and shook his head then turned to Carolyn.  “You can bag those up along with her old boots.  Then will you call ahead to
AnNo
’s
for me, please, and let them know we’ll be on our way shortly?” he asked, referring to another one of his stores,
Ancient Nouveau
, a high end costume jewelry house that fashioned its pieces after vintage ones.  “You can let Kenneth know we’ll be ready in a couple of minutes.”

“Got it,” Carolyn said with a smile.  “By the way, the shoes look great, Janie.”

“Thanks, Carolyn.  And you don’t need to bag up the boots.  Just the shoes are fine.”

“I understand,” Carolyn said politely, “but since Mr. Daniels pays me a fine salary, I’m afraid you’re going to lose in that battle.”  She gave Janie a knowing smile. 

Janie sighed in good humor.  She hadn’t even tried on the new boots yet, but she knew Carolyn was right.  Janie wouldn’t win the battle against both of them.  After all, Carolyn was no fluttering female.  She was well into her fifties and had been Luke’s assistant for three years.

Luke stood there watching the exchange, his hands in his olive colored denim pant pockets and a smug look on his face. 

“I liked my boots.  I want them back,” Janie groused, giving Luke a dirty look.

He slowly shook his
head.  “You’re not getting them back.  They’re mine now.  You’ll like the new boots.  I promise.”

“I have no doubt I’ll like the new boots, Luke.  But I can’t
afford
the new boots.”

“Thanks, Carolyn.  That’ll be all,” he said, dismissing her and leaving them alone with Janie glaring at him.  “I’m buying you
the boots.  Now, shut up, put them on, and let’s get moving.”  He slammed her with a look and said with feeling, “I’m hungry.” 

She crossed her arms over her fitted t-shirt covered by her long flowing sweater.  “You’re not paying for the boots, Luke.  I’m serious.  My other ones are fine.”

He hooked his thumbs into his belt loops and sauntered over to her, forcing her to tilt her head way back to meet his eyes which darkened with determination.  She stood just under five and a half feet, but felt extremely short next to him with her heels now off.  She sometimes forgot what a large man he was.

A large, virile, too-hot-for-his-own-good, broad shouldered, ‘will you tear my clothes off, pretty please?’ man.

She felt herself sway toward him and unconsciously licked her lips while peering into his sleepy eyes.

Those eyes darted to her lips then back up to her own green ones. 

“We’re not going to fight about this, Janie.  It would be a waste of your time because I’d win.”

She still had her arms crossed over her chest, her head now cocked to the side.  “I’m an adult with my own bank account, and it’s currently not in the budget for me to buy new boots
, nor is it a necessity.”

His cologne was playing all sorts of games with her head.  She inhaled deeply, playing it off as annoyance.

“I disagree.  Although I applaud your discipline and frugality, it’s time for new boots.  I would like to buy them for you.  It’ll hurt my feelings if you don’t let me give them to you and since you’d never want to hurt my feelings, you’ll say ‘yes’.” 

He stared holes into her and waited. 

“Please,” she drawled, when she could find her voice again.  “It won’t hurt your feelings.”

“Yes, it will,” he murmured.  “I never give you gifts and I wa
nt to give these to you.  So, you’ll let me do this.”  Then his eyes took on a playful sheen.  “Besides, you know you want them.”

She chewed on her lip as her mind went back to the handkerchief he’d dried her tears with over ten years earlier.  She’d never given it back to him and he’d never asked for it.  Her pride over him buying her boots was at war with the happiness she felt in knowing he wanted to give her something.

“They’ll look fabulous on you,” he cajoled.  “Trust me to know exactly what you need,” he said pointedly.  “We won’t throw the other ones away.  We’ll just shelve them.”  He gave her his most charming look then muttered under his breath, “Forever.”

She couldn’t help but let a smile appear, already shaking her head in exasperation.  A curl bounced and fell in front of her eyes.  She blew it out of the way just as Luke reached his hand up to move it.  Then, as if he couldn’t resist, he did what he always did when he got his hands on one of her ringlets; he pulled it straight then let go to watch it bounce back into place.
  Once it bounced, he took it again and wound it around his finger.  She leaned in closer.

Kiss me.  Rip my clothes off.  Touch me.  Fuck me.  I’ll take one or all of the above.  I’m not picky at the moment.

“Now,” he murmured.  His voice hardened letting her know his patience was done even though his gentle hold on the curl around his finger was the complete antithesis to the timbre in his voice.  “Put the damn boots on,” he said and punctuated his words with a look that said he was finished.  He rubbed the curl with his thumb.  “Kenneth is waiting.”  Somehow she thought his driver would wait for hours if his boss had asked him to, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

His steely resolve and icy glare made her pause.  This was a Luke she didn’t recognize.  With her head still tilted back and to the side, she murmured, “Huh.”  Her mind, and hormones for that matter, were going in a million directions.

“What does that mean?” he smirked, looking at her lips.

She finally uncrossed her arms and hooked her thumbs into her belt loops as well, mirroring his stance.  They’d always had a ‘buddy’ kind of relationship, brother/sister banter.  But as of late they’d been standing toe to toe on certain issues, most especially her ‘lack of caution when choosing men’. Which of course was ridiculous considering the only man she’d dated recently
was Detective Fernandez, one of her brother’s colleagues on the NYPD.  Luke was forever grumbling about the topic but had never really shown such an adamant and controlling side with her before today. 

His tone of voice with her at that moment was definitely one she wasn’t familiar with.  They disagreed, yeah, but normally he’d complain like an older brother, then roll his eyes while backing away from the argument.  Today, he was showing her a whole other side.  He was being much more…

She mused with a frown.  Without even thinking, she licked her lips again, subconsciously thinking of his mouth on hers.  When she latched her gaze onto his, he was looking down watching her think, his fingers still toying with her curl.

She said the first thought that popped into her head.  “You’re being awfully forceful about this.  Somehow I didn’t realize how,” she searched for the right word, then whispered when she found it, “dominating you were about certain things.”  The thought caused a rush of wetness to settle between her thighs.  Just thinking about Luke in that way made the core of her body quiver and clench.  She swallowed and shifted her stance, her mind going to ‘fifty shades.’

His nostrils flared and his eyes darkened, but he shrugged.  “We’ve argued before. You know how I can be.”

“I know.  But normally you back off after I’ve screeched at you for a while,” she said, smiling softly.