Luke Page 3

  And maybe I was imagining it, but I could have sworn he looked at me with a certain gleam in his eyes. A spark of light that sent shivers down my spine and wetness to my core.

  The things a man like that could do to me. Those big hands covering my body, skilled fingers exploring my anatomy, knowing just how to draw out every bit of pleasure.

  I’d fooled around with a couple of guys before Chuck, and things with him weren’t exactly bad, but nothing I’d ever had with a guy could compare to what I could achieve on my own, which was more than a little disappointing. As much as I loved getting myself off, the idea of someone else doing it was much hotter.

  Even hotter to think about it being Luke.

  Just his name was enough to send a tremor of anticipation between my legs. I looked at the clock, then at the stuff thawing on the counter. I had time. I drained my coffee mug and darted off to my bedroom, thoughts of the good doctor swirling in my mind.

  I’d barely gotten to my bed before my hand was plunging down the front of my pajama pants, fingers teasing my slick wetness, imagining his fingers in their place. I pictured those dark eyes boring into mine, looking to the very depths of my soul as he circled my clit, making me gasp. I was certain that a man of his profession would have no trouble finding what seemed to be elusive to so many others.

  I imagined him whispering my name as his lips trailed down my neck, latching onto my nipple, fingers sliding inside my clenching, needy sex. God how I needed this. First one finger, then two, curling inside me, his thumb still drawing lazy circles around my clit as I panted and squirmed against him, trying to get more, practically begging for it.

  “Luke,” I whispered into the silence of my room, imagining his dark eyes watching me all the time, a low rumbling growl rippling from his throat, making my body crave him all the more.

  I wished he was actually there. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to see his muscles bared, run my fingers down his torso, trailing through the soft patch of hair that led below his waistband. I wanted to take his cock in my hand and lead him into me, spread my legs wide and beg him to fuck me.

  That idea, the idea of Luke Bradford fucking me, hard and demanding, mercilessly with reckless abandon, made every muscle in my body clench with desire.

  I knew it was ridiculous to be fantasizing about him like this. I knew I was just getting myself all worked up for nothing because when I went back into his office on Monday, I’d be nothing but polite and shy all over again. Whoever this wild, sex-crazed woman was right now, she wouldn’t be there when I saw him again.

  But instead of discouraging me, that just egged me on. It was a harmless fantasy, and it was a damn good one, so why deny myself?

  The doctor’s dark eyes in my imagination brought me back to the task at hand, his look harder, almost like he was scolding me for letting my mind stray away from him. I shivered thinking about that gaze as my fingers teased me, keeping me far away from release as a punishment.

  “Please,” I asked in a breathy whine, my eyes shut tight, my hips grinding against my own fingers. I wanted to come so badly, but it wasn’t happening, even as I started to move my fingers faster, my other hand going under my shirt to toy with my nipples. I don’t know why the doctor was such a tease in my imagination, but he was, bringing me so close, over and over again, only to back off just when I was about to reach the summit.

  I imagined his hands raking up and down my sides, his eyes drinking in my body — which I’d normally be ashamed of, but under his gaze, I felt sexy. The fantasy was so real that I could almost feel the warmth of his body over me. Could almost feel the hard length of his cock pressing against me with a promise.

  In a growl, imaginary Luke said, “Come for me,” and every muscle in my entire body clenched, white lights bursting behind my eyes, my fingers barely moving because it felt so good and I wanted it to last.

  But then there was another sound. A whimper that wasn’t me, and I actually did stop, straining to hear.

  Then Ella’s cough echoed down the hall and a feeble “Mom?” followed it.

  I sighed, the moment lost, the elusive orgasm escaped. So much for that.

  Reluctantly, I righted my clothes, padded silently across the hall to the bathroom to wash my hands, and then popped my head into Ella’s room with a sympathetic smile.

  “Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?” I went over to her bedside and put the back of my hand to her forehead. She was clammy, but not burning up anymore and relief washed through me.

  “Thirsty,” she said, clinging to her stuffed elephant, Tubby.

  I brushed her hair from her forehead and smiled. “All right, let Mommy get you some water.”

  “Can I have a popsicle?” she asked, eyes wide and innocent.

  “For breakfast?!” I answered, sounding shocked and appalled even though I was fighting off laughter. I’d have to give Dr. Bradford a piece of my mind for telling my four year-old she could have popsicles as medicine.

  “Please Mommy?”

  I sighed, shaking my head. “Okay, but only this once.”

  Her little face suddenly lit up, looking much less sick, suspiciously, but kids had a way of doing that. “Orange please,” she said grinning.

  “But soup for lunch, deal?”

  Her smile faded a little, but she nodded. “Okay.”

  Yeah, I was definitely going to have to have some good-natured words with Luke about the things he said in front of toddlers. But then I remembered Ella’s tiny giggle when he said it and decided it was probably worth it. In that moment she’d been feeling awful and I was angry and upset and worried and she could probably sense that, even when she wasn’t fully lucid. Luke’s little joke eased all the worry away like a magic wand and hearing Ella’s laugh when I was so scared was exactly what I needed.

  So I guessed it was okay if that meant my four year-old wanted popsicles for breakfast any time she got sick.

  But even as I was tending to my child, making sure she was comfortable, setting up a tablet with cartoons for her in bed, making soup and catching up on cleaning — and sanitizing — the house with my first day off in forever, I couldn’t get my earlier fantasies out of my head. I couldn’t stop seeing Luke’s eyes, the firm, determined set of his jaw, or his heart-stopping grin. It was distracting to say the least, but more than that, it started to feel highly inappropriate. If I couldn’t stop this before the appointment on Monday, I was likely to make a giant fool of myself.

  Even that knowledge wasn’t really enough to dampen how much I wanted him and thought about him, though. Even thinking about what an idiot I’d look like for throwing myself at him, I still couldn’t stop the fantasies. I couldn’t stop looking forward to the appointment.

  By mid-afternoon, Ella was bouncing off the walls. She’d had her popsicle, and a nap, and then soup, and apparently was feeling completely better. I briefly considered calling Dr. Bradford’s office to cancel the follow-up appointment. Ella was feeling better and I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t manage to pick up the phone and dial the number. I wanted to see him again too badly.

  And yeah, I could probably have waited and spotted him around town at some point in the future, but he’d already been up on the mountain for a year and I’d never seen him. How long would it take for me to catch another glimpse of him? And I’d already mentioned I didn’t have insurance, I couldn’t just invent injuries or illness to see him when I knew I didn’t have any way to pay him.

  That just reminded me of our conversation on that very subject. With him saying there were other ways to pay for services than money.

  I had been totally obvious within about thirty seconds that he didn’t mean it the way it sounded, but in that brief moment, I’d been offended, yeah, but also incredibly aroused. I wasn’t the type of girl to use my body to get ahead in anything. Not that I’d ever really had the opportunity, but with Luke… I’d probably be willing to consider it if I didn’t know the
whole town would be talking about it in a day.

  That was another problem with dating on the mountain — there was no such thing as privacy, and most of these folks didn’t even know the meaning of the word discretion. I knew I should just dismiss any and all thoughts of the hot doctor and me getting up to anything, but I couldn’t quite relay the message to my body, and the fantasies never stopped.

  Five

  Luke

  Even though it was my day off, my mind was stuck at the office.

  Well, not at the office exactly, but on one of my patients. One in particular. The last one I saw last night. Claire.

  Meeting Claire put to rest all of my ideas of going out to a bar, finding a random woman to lose myself in, and ignoring the curse for another night. Meeting Claire practically flipped my life upside down in the space of a few minutes. My bear wouldn’t stop roaring about her, my dick twitched at the mere thought of her, and I was constantly looking at my phone, hoping she’d call.

  Okay, so that part wasn’t exactly true. I wanted Claire to call me, but at this point, if she was calling me that would mean Ella’s condition got worse and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. But I still wanted to hear from her. I still hoped she’d reach out. That maybe she felt the weird connection too and wanted to explore it a little further outside the confines of my office.

  But my phone never rang.

  I was dying to know more about her, who she was, how I’d somehow missed ever seeing her in all my time on this mountain. She’d said that she lived here her whole life, so it wasn’t that she was new in town.

  I knew someone that was sure to have an answer for me, so I picked up the phone that had been taunting me all day by staying silent, and dialed Zion’s number.

  “Hey stranger!” Zion answered, his voice welcoming and warm as always. That was new since he’d met his mate, but I liked his new demeanor.

  “Hey Zion, how’s it goin’?”

  “It’s goin’, it’s goin’. What about you? Haven’t heard from you much since you opened that fancy practice of yours.”

  I rolled my eyes. There was nothing fancy about my practice, but leave it to my brother to give me hell for it anyway.

  “Everything’s fine,” I said, pausing for a moment. When Zion didn’t immediately offer a follow-up question, I cut to the chase.

  “Look, I had a patient come in yesterday and I’ve never seen her before, but I was wondering if you guys knew anything about her?”

  “Oh?” Zion asked, his voice going up. I could just imagine his eyebrows raising with it, that knowing smirk stretching his face. I growled under my breath. I should have known better than to ask this guy for help with anything. He was never going to let me hear the end of it. But I didn’t exactly have any other sources to turn to, so it was what it was.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Her, eh?”

  “Yep,” I answered, not giving him an inch.

  “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re so interested in finding out more about her?”

  “It’s not any of your damn business, Zi.”

  He chuckled, clucking his tongue. “You’re not wrong, but you did call me asking for my help, so I think that affords me a little bit of leeway here.”

  I sighed. He had a point. And if I knew my brother at all, I knew he was just as stubborn and ridiculous as I was about these things. He’d never drop it until I gave him something.

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “My bear… reacted to her,” I said, trying to sound as removed and clinical as I could, but Zion wasn’t buying it. He hooted loudly and then tumbled into laughter.

  “Well damn, I thought the curse was gonna get you before you got around to finding your mate.”

  I rolled my eyes even harder. “No one said anything about mates, Zion. I just want to know more about her.”

  He laughed again and he was lucky that this was a phone conversation, not an in-person conversation, because the way my fists were balling at my sides, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to resist punching him.

  “Sure, sure. I’d probably be wondering who the hell you were if you weren’t in denial. So, who is she?”

  Before I could answer, I heard Aiden and his wife talking on the other end of the call, and then I heard Zion filling them both in on the conversation. I groaned, dropping my head to my hands. At this rate, I should have just gone for a visit if everyone in the damn family was going to be roped in.

  Molly, Aiden’s wife, squealed and clapped her hands, and I could hear her getting close to Zion. “Ask him who it is, ask him!”

  “I already did,” Zion grumbled. “So, Luke, who’s the lucky lady?”

  I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose to ward of the sudden headache behind my eyes. “Her name’s Claire… Andrews,” I finished.

  “Claire Andrews?” Zion said, sounding confused, but Molly gasped and then I could hear them fighting over the phone.

  “Hey Luke,” Molly said, having won possession of Zion’s phone apparently.

  “Hi Molly,” I sighed.

  She giggled. “So, Claire, huh? She’s super cute.” I didn’t really need her to tell me what I already knew. I needed new information.

  “Uh-huh. So do you know anything about her?”

  “Just that she runs the antique shop in town and she has the cutest little girl. I swear, every time I see her I get baby fever all over again.”

  “Hmm,” I said, but that was useful information. I thought I remembered seeing that antique shop before, not that I’d ever had any cause to actually stop in. I guess that’s how I missed her all this time. I made a mental note to stop in and visit her sometime soon, already concocting a story about why I’d be there.

  But who was I kidding? Sometime was probably going to be today. Now that I knew where she was, my bear was roaring at me to head down the mountain and find her again. I didn’t even want to argue with the bastard. I wanted to see her again too.

  “I’ll ask around for more info,” Molly said brightly, and the air caught in my lungs.

  “No, no. Don’t worry about it. That’s more than enough.” The last thing I needed was for Claire to hear I was trying to find out more about her like some crazy stalker. This had to seem natural, serendipitous. Otherwise I’d just scare her away.

  “I’ll let you know what I find out,” she said, completely ignoring me.

  “No, Molly, I mean it, don’t—”

  “Hey bro, I’m happy for you man!” Aiden said into the phone.

  “Why the hell do I call you people?” I groused, the headache behind my eyes throbbing now.

  “Cause we’re family and you love us? Hey, we’re having a little get-together next weekend. Feel free to bring a guest if you’ve got one,” he said, and I could just imagine his eyebrows waggling suggestively.

  I groaned. “Goodbye, Aiden.”

  He was chuckling as I hung up the phone.

  Brothers. Who needed them?

  I hopped in the shower for a quick rinse and shave and then toweled off, getting dressed in record time before I headed out to the truck. Was I crazy for wanting to go into town to see her right now? Probably. Did that stop me? Not even a little.

  I kept second-guessing myself the whole way down the bumpy mountain road from my cabin to the tiny mountain town of Crystal Falls.

  But it was about two miles outside of town when the temperature gauge on my dash started creeping toward the red, and by the time I was crossing the town line, there was smoke coming from the hood.

  I cursed, slamming my hand on the steering wheel. At least I was in town, where I could get the stuff I needed for repairs. That was something, but it meant that I’d be working on my truck all afternoon instead of visiting Claire.

  Smoke rose in thick plumes by the time I pulled into the lot at Buster’s Auto Supply and Repair. I lifted the hood, coughing and waving the smoke away as one of the workers came outside, an arrogant lean to his st
roll. I didn’t know the guy’s name, but I’d seen him around enough times and interacted with him enough to know that I didn’t like him. But I liked Buster and he’d been good to my family, so I still gave him my business — not that there was anywhere else to go really.

  “Shouldn’t drive it when it’s that hot,” the guy said casually, hands in his pockets.

  “Yeah, no shit,” I grumbled.

  “Want us to take a look at it?”

  I shook my head. “Just here for parts.” I learned a long time ago not to trust mechanics. Even if they didn’t lie about all the things wrong with your vehicle, they charged a higher hourly rate than I did, so I learned to do most things myself.

  “Suit yourself,” he said shrugging, walking back into the open garage where another one of the workers was doing an oil change.

  I headed into the shop, but through the open door, I could still hear the conversation in the garage.

  “So then she acts like she’s doing me some kind of favor for letting me see my kid. Like the judge didn’t order that shit. We both know it’s not out of the goodness of her heart or nothin’. And she wants to give me shit for how I handle the kid during my time. Like I don’t need to work, too. I gotta pay child support and shit, don’t I? She acts like she’s the only one that ever goes to work. It’s bullshit.”

  “Can I help you?” The teenager behind the counter finally appeared from the narrow aisles of shelves to greet me.

  “Uh, yeah, I need some parts for that truck out there,” I said, hooking a thumb over my shoulder.

  “—my kid too. She doesn’t get to be a fuckin’ dictator of parenting—”

  I tried to tune the guy in the garage out, but it was hard with his loud mouth and abrasive way of talking. I didn’t even know who the woman he was complaining about was, but I was pretty sure I was on her side of this issue. He seemed like a piece of shit. He was always rude, arrogant, and self-absorbed. It was actually kind of surprising he had a kid at all — or cared about it — but I guessed a good personality wasn’t a prerequisite for reproducing. As unfortunate as that fact was.