The Sweetheart Bargain (A Sweetheart Sisters Novel) (20 page)

No mail winged its way back to his head. Idiot. Why the hell had he sent that letter? He’d been morose and a bit drunk. Never the best time to make a decision. That he knew firsthand, after standing up for Mike when his friend had married someone he’d known for, oh, twenty minutes, one crazy weekend in Vegas.

The streetlights flickered to life, and all up and down Gull Lane, porch lights came on and mothers called their children home. Rescue Bay settled in for bed, and still Luke stayed on the porch.

Next door, he heard a jingle, then a door closing, then a series of patters. He got to his feet, coming to stand on the top step. The streetlights illuminated a familiar slender form, and two smaller shapes at her feet.

Olivia.

Something dark stirred deep inside him. Maybe it was the night covering them, the months he’d spent alone, or just the sassy fire she evoked, but desire rushed through him every time he saw her. He thought of nothing but kissing her. Touching her. Holding her in his arms, her tight body pressed against his.

His groin tightened, and he gripped the porch post until the rough wood scraped his palm. Damn that woman.

He didn’t realize he’d said the words out loud until he heard the clatter of the leashes, and then Olivia’s voice. “Luke? Is that you?”

Damn. “Yeah.”

Then she was coming up the walkway, with the dogs pattering along beside her, and the desire was roaring inside him, oblivious to the mental war he was waging. He thought of her lips under his, her body against his, and he wanted her all over again. He wanted to take her into his house, take her upstairs to his bedroom, and lose himself inside her until nothing mattered but making her moan.

Damn the woman.

“What are you doing outside so late?” she asked.

“Thinking.”

“It’s a good night to do that. Or to walk the dogs.” She raised the leashes, and the dogs’ collars jingled again.

“You shouldn’t be doing that, alone, at this time of night.”

“This isn’t the combat zone in Boston.” She laughed. “It’s Rescue Bay, for Pete’s sake.”

“You think nothing bad happens here?” He came down a step. Another. A third, until he was standing even with her, and the heat between them rivaled the lingering heat in the Florida air. “You can’t trust everyone in this town.”

She paused a beat. “Can I trust you?”

He had a sharp, sarcastic retort readied, but it died in his throat when he thought about trust and other people and the man he used to be. “No, Olivia, you can’t.” He turned to go, then froze when her hand touched his arm.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t . . . I didn’t mean to ask . . .” She let out a gust. “I’m sorry.”

It was the second time she said it that hit him in the gut. He hung his head, closed his eyes, and reminded himself that nothing he had done was Olivia Linscott’s fault. She just happened to be the one he kept hitting with guilt shrapnel. “Forget what I said.”

“Okay.”

He heard the collars jingle again and realized she was going to leave and head off on her walk. “Why are you walking the dogs at this time of night anyway?”

“I have a lot on my mind. A lot to process.” She sighed. “I can’t sleep.”

He let out a short laugh. “Join the club. I’m a charter member.” His gaze went to the road he couldn’t see, the streets that had once been friends but now were filled with hazards. “I used to run at night. I liked how quiet it was, how empty the world was. It was just me and the pavement. But now . . .” He shrugged.

“You’re welcome to walk with me and the dogs.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll probably end up falling on my face.”

“Yeah, you probably will.” Then she leaned in closer. “But then you’ll get back up and try again because you have to. Besides, you can’t stay on the damned porch all night.”

He damned well could, but that didn’t mean he wanted to. Or he should. And the thought of the quiet, empty house and his quiet, empty bedroom just depressed the hell out of him.

“I’m not going that far or fast because Chance is still healing, so it’s not like you’re going to run a marathon tonight,” she said. “I guess the better question is whether
you
trust
me
.”

Her voice dropped when she said that and stirred the desire inside him back into a fast hurricane. Trust her? Hell, he didn’t trust anyone. Especially not himself around her. Every time he tried to stick to his best intentions, that train derailed.

“Do you, Luke? Do you trust me?” Now her voice had shifted into the higher ranges of teasing, and he could see a grin curving up the side of her face.

He liked that smile. A lot.

“Maybe not with my social security number, but to walk with me in the dark . . . yeah.”

“I think the latter is far more dangerous. I’m not always the most coordinated woman in the world.”

“That’s okay. Neither am I.”

That made her laugh. He liked the way she laughed, liked that his words could bring that out of Olivia. “Then we’ll just stumble along together. And let the dogs lead the way.”

He hesitated only a second, then fell into place beside her. They started down the walkway, toward the yellow pools of light that dotted the sidewalk. His vision skipped from pool to pool, and he thought how like a runway those circles of light looked.

His hands flexed, as if he were nestled in the pilot’s seat of the MH-60’s snug cockpit, reaching for the collective and the cyclic. Ready. The tower’s commands echoed in his head while Joe shifted into the co-pilot’s seat and the crew readied themselves behind him, olive-green helmets blending in the dark, their chins blocked by the thick black barrel of the mic. The rescue swimmer and the flight mechanic sat, tensed, silent, waiting while the medic chattered away his nerves. Luke could hear the whirr of the blades, the whine of the engines, the chatter on the radio. The familiar lift in his stomach as the helo rose, taking man from ground to air, a miracle every time that something that weighed close to ten tons could rise with so little effort.

The sounds in his head shifted then, to screeches and creaks and the shriek of the storm battering the helo. One minute he was up, wrestling the stick, trying to hold against Mother Nature’s determined wrestling; the next he was down, the helo a plaything against the ocean’s fury. The helo dropped, someone screamed, and the world went black.

“You okay?” A pause. “Hey, Luke. You okay?”

He jerked his attention back to the present day. He was here. In Rescue Bay. On the hard concrete sidewalk. With Olivia. The dogs. The moon above, the streetlights before him. No ocean, no storm, no helo. “Uh, yeah. Sorry. Got lost in my thoughts.”

“I do that all the time. Hey, watch the dip in the sidewalk.” She touched his elbow, a moment of guidance, then went back to talking as if nothing had happened, but it touched Luke in a place he thought had gone dead a long time ago.

Push her away. Don’t drag her into your mess.

“I’m one of those think-while-I-drive people,” Olivia went on, oblivious to the storm stirring in Luke, “which probably isn’t a good idea, because I’ll forget where I’m supposed to turn or go right past the exit for the mall.”

“I can honestly say that has never happened to me.”

“Not much of a shopaholic?”

He snorted. “The last time I went to a mall, I was seventeen and picking out a tux for prom.”

“Let me guess? Robin’s-egg blue with a ruffled white shirt?”

“Nope. Pale gray with a fuchsia tie.” He shook his head at the memory. What would it have been like if he had known Olivia in high school? If she’d been his date then? Would they have ended up together, driving a minivan and raising a bunch of kids? Or would he have broken her heart and driven her away? “The stupid things a horny teenager will do for prom night nookie.”

“And did you get any?”

“Not so much as a kiss good night. My date broke up with me during the second-to-last song.”

“Oh, that’s harsh.” She gave him a light jab in the shoulder. “And with you all sexy in your tux and everything.”

He laughed. “I don’t think any man looks sexy in pale gray and fuchsia.”

“Some men make anything look sexy.”

Her voice had dropped when she said that, which stirred that fire in his gut again. He thought of that kiss, and how damned good it had been. He’d gone a long time without a woman in his life or in his bed, and right now, in the dark intimacy of the quiet night sky, he wanted this one.

Not just because of the way she had awakened his desire, but because of that laugh, that half smile, the way she seemed to bring sunshine to his darkness.

Tell her the truth
, his conscience urged.
Tell her now, before she gets tangled up any more.

Chance spied something in the dark and lunged to the left, bringing his leash whipping against Olivia’s legs. She stumbled, and Luke reached for her, and then she was in his arms, against his chest, and the switch in his brain turned to
on
. The dogs circled them, barking and playing, tangling the leashes around Olivia and Luke.

They had stopped outside the golden reach of the streetlights, at the end of a cul-de-sac, beside a wooded area punctuating the space between two dark houses. The world was asleep, unaware of the brewing tension at the end of Gull Lane.

Luke barely noticed. All he saw was Olivia’s wide, shimmering eyes, the way her lips parted and her breath whispered against his skin. He caught the sweet floral fragrance of her perfume, offset by darker undertones of sandalwood or jasmine or some such thing. She drew in a breath, her chest rising, breasts just brushing his chest.

“I’m having a hell of a time resisting you.” The words were almost a growl.

Her green eyes glistened and she raised her chin. “Then don’t. Not tonight. Please, Luke.”

Two words, two powerful words.
Please, Luke.

He leaned down, tangled his fingers in her hair, and pulled her to him, until their mouths met in a frenzied kiss. Heat exploded inside him, stoking the desire that had been building for weeks. She opened her mouth against his, danced her tongue inside, and he deepened the kiss, at the same time stepping her back, until she bumped up against a tree and he pressed into her.

His erection strained against the fly of his jeans, throbbing, begging for release. Olivia tipped her pelvis up, pressing into him, sending his brain into a dizzying tailspin. He slid one hand down, snaking it under the soft hem of her T-shirt, then up the smooth expanse of her belly until he reached the lace edges of her bra. He skimmed two fingers over the peaked nipple and she let out a gasp, arching against him. He slid back the lacy cup, then covered her breast with his palm, running his thumb over the tip until Olivia was nearly crying with want. She reached down, closed her hand around his erection. Even through the hard denim, he could feel the outline of her fingers on his cock, and when she started to slide her hand up and down, he damned near exploded.

He dipped his head, at the same time he lifted the tee and covered her breast with his mouth. When his tongue flicked over her nipple, Olivia let out a sharp gasp and threaded her fingers through his hair, urging him on with her touch. She brought up one leg between his, rubbing against his cock, the harder pressure a sweet agony.

Something rubbed against his leg, no, scratched, over and over, up and down one leg. It took him a good thirty seconds to realize it was Olivia’s dog. At the same time, Chance tugged on the leash, nearly toppling Olivia and Luke. The dogs barked, a light went on in a nearby house, and sanity returned.

Luke drew back, smoothed Olivia’s bra back into place, then tugged down the T-shirt. “Uh, this might not be the best place to do this.”

“I agree.” She was breathing heavy, as was he, and for a long second, they just stared at each other in the dark, chests heaving, unspent desire charging the air. “We better get these walks dogged. Uh, dogs walked.”

“And when the dogs are done?”

She glanced at him, and he couldn’t tell in the dark if she was smiling. “We’ll see where they lead us.”

* * *

By the time they returned to Olivia’s house, Chance was panting hard and whining to go inside and lie down. Olivia could identify. Her heart was still racing and she wanted to go inside and get to a bed, too, but for an entirely different reason. Olivia had told herself the whole way back that she would say good night to Luke and leave it at that. Keep things on a neighborly basis. No more.

But as they took the three steps up her porch and the front door loomed like a big question mark, she decided she didn’t want to be cautious, take-it-slow Olivia again. Hadn’t she vowed to leave that woman behind? To let this new life open new dimensions in herself?

And where had slow and easy gotten her, anyway? Divorced and alone. Sleeping in an empty bed every night. She’d gone for the walk to forget all the things going wrong in her new life. The house, her sister. Then along came Luke, a very welcome distraction. No, more than a distraction, but what more she didn’t want to know, so she didn’t ask herself that question.