Authors: Anne Rainey
Forbidden Fruit (3 page)
“You thought maybe we could each finally get what we want.”
An ornery smile played at the corners of his mouth.
“Something like that.”
He looked her over again and whistled. “Luke is going to be equal parts pissed off and turned-on when he sees you in that getup, darlin’.”
“Pissed?”
“He’s really not going to like knowing that you’re on my arm this evening.” Pete had a wicked gleam in his eye. He was clearly looking forward to making Luke jealous. But Ava remembered Luke’s warning and it made her just a touch nervous to think what Luke might do if Pete pushed too hard.
Should she warn Pete? Nah—she wouldn’t let it worry her.
Time to have some fun. She had a plan and she intended to make it work. Knowing that Jen was waiting and hoping to see Pete helped calm her jumpy nerves. Ava wasn’t the only one putting her heart on the line. The thought made her feel immensely better.
Luke would see her as a sensual, passionate woman if it killed her. Thinking of only that, she announced, “I believe it’s time to make the McGiffins squirm.” She held out her arm. “Shall we?”
Pete winked and twined her arm through his. “Hell of an idea, Ava. Hell of an idea.”
***
“Luke is here tonight, right?”
“Yep. Griff called to tell me they were coming and asked if I wanted to join them.”
Ava cringed. Griff was the biggest playboy and womanizer of the bunch. He’d take one look at her and think he could score. If she escaped this night without having to land a punch to the gut or a knee to the groin it’d be a miracle.
Then she saw Luke and she knew he saw her, too, because he’d stopped listening to Griff. His eyes were now pinning her in place.
She felt the full blast of his attention and all that masculine focus on her for the first time ever. Ava swayed on her feet a bit under his intense male perusal, her body going liquid as his eyes roamed from head to toe and then back again. Thankfully, Pete was there to grab her, otherwise she would have landed on her butt, exactly as she’d envisioned.
He looked so good. So ruggedly masculine in a pair of old, worn jeans, clean black work boots, and a black t-shirt that had something printed in big white letters across the front. He’d even attempted to tame the wild mane of his dark hair, not that it did much good, as it was every bit as ruffled as ever. Still, his jeans held all her attention. They cupped the heavy weight of his sex in the most delicious way. She could easily imagine herself on her knees in front of him, unzipping his fly and watching in fascination as his cock sprang free of the tight confines.
Luke moved then, startling her out of her fantasy, his hungry eyes all over her at once. Pete immediately stepped away from her. It was a subtle few inches and if she hadn’t been so aware, she would have missed it. With a smile and a wink, Pete was letting her know that it was okay, that she could do this. Unfortunately, he had more confidence in her than she did. Good lord, even from a distance, the pounding music, the crushing bodies she could still see Luke’s intent.
He wanted her.
Nothing and no one would stop him from getting to her either.
Ava wavered. She wasn’t girly enough to handle a man like Luke McGiffin. He was all predatory male and she was, Ava—
animal lover.
“I have to go to the little girl’s room, Pete.”
Pete stared down at her and gave her a knowing smile, then leaned towards her so he could be heard over the music. “You’re nervous. Its okay, Ava. It’s natural to be anxious after such a dra-matic change.” She started to protest, not willing to own up to anything so weak, but then he was plowing right over her. “I’m nervous too. And you can bet that Luke is nervous as hell right now.”
Ava looked over at Luke, he was still heading towards her, but women kept stopping him. One woman even went so far as to step directly into his path.
Damn hussy.
Ava flung her hair back and muttered, “Funny, he certainly doesn’t look nervous to me.”
Pete saw the woman standing in Luke’s path and his friend’s attempt to wave her away. “Aw, that ain’t nothing. Luke gets that sort of thing all the time.”
She looked up at Pete with murder in her eyes. “And that’s supposed to make me feel all warm and cozy inside?”
Pete had the good grace to flush.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t care one way or the other.
Luke can have the silly little piece of fluff for all I care. I’m here to have a good time.” She held out her hand and demanded, “Take me out to the dance floor.”
Pete looked at Luke, then back at her, and then proceeded to rub the back of his neck. “Uh, I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Ava.”
Ava planted her hands on her hips and all but shouted. “Why not? I’m not going to let these clothes go to waste. I spent good, hard-earned money to look nice for tonight. Now you can either dance with me or I’ll find someone else more willing.”
“Alright! Don’t go getting all feral on me.” Then he grabbed her hand and tugged her onto the dance floor. The fast beat had changed to a softer, slower tune. Pete took her in his arms, then leaned in to whisper, “Just so you know though, Luke’s going to pound me a good one. If I look all gross and bloody Jen’s never going to want to go out with me. It’ll be all your fault too.”
If Ava weren’t so mad at Luke, she would have smiled at that statement. Going up on her tiptoes, she whispered right back,
“Don’t you know that women love to pamper an injured man, Pete? The blood will only have Jen running to your rescue.” She could practically feel Pete’s excitement at that prospect. But before he could say anything more, a tap on Pete’s shoulder interrupted them. Pete turned around and that’s when Ava was able to see Griff behind him. She wanted to groan. As she scanned the crowd and saw Luke with the hussy still, her heart squeezed tight. She hated to see him with other women. It nearly killed her every awful time.
“May I have this dance?”
Pete looked at Ava for his cue. She shrugged. “Why not? I’m at a hot and trendy nightclub and I even wore a skirt and heels. I’m not going to let it go to waste.”
Pete frowned, his lips thinning angrily. Reluctantly, he stepped aside, giving Griff enough room to step up and take her in his arms.
Which he did. Unfortunately, he wasn’t content to leave a little space, as Pete had done. Griff pulled her in tight. Too tight.
Griff wasn’t a bad looking man; he was just too much of a chauvinistic ass for her to want anything to do with him. She never did understand his association with Luke. They seemed like oppo-sites to her. Oh sure, they both loved to play the field, but that was where the similarities ended in her way of thinking. Then she felt Griff slide his hand down her back to her waistline, and then be-low. He leaned down and she could smell the alcohol on his breath when he said, “You look good enough to eat, Ava.”
She shuddered. She reached around the back of her and placed her hand over his. “Don’t let the skirt fool you, Griff. I will make you sing like a little choir girl if you don’t lift your hand right now.”
“I can vouch for that,” came a deadly sounding voice from behind her. She turned slowly, knowing who that voice belonged to and not in too big a hurry to see the owner after what she’d done on Monday. Just as she suspected, he was good and pissed. His fists were clenched at his side, nostrils flaring; Luke looked like an angry bull ready to charge.
“I’m cutting in,” Luke stated in a voice as hard as granite. Griff, the drunken idiot, merely grinned and stepped out of the way.
Ava crossed her arms over her chest. She was still fuming over all the women she’d had to witness coming on to Luke. “What if I don’t want to dance with you?”
Luke stepped forward, crowding her, making her feel tiny in comparison to his much larger frame. “Too damn bad, because you aren’t dancing with any other guy tonight. I can promise you that, Ava. It’s me or no one.”
Ava wanted to protest. To toss out a few sarcastic comments, and then stomp off. But, her eyes went to his shirt and she read the white lettering across the front.
“Get Nailed, Lay a Roof-er?” she read aloud, her voice sounding prudish and shrill.
He did that grin and wink thing that always had her going mute, and then Luke’s arm came around her waist. He pulled her tight against him and suddenly Ava couldn’t think of a single snide thing to say.
God, she’d imagined this whole scenario. Wanted so badly to be in his arms. To feel all that hard, ruthless strength against her flesh for so many lonely years. It was like coming home. Her body began to sway to the beat, moving in harmony with his, as if made for each other. When she felt his breath against her cheek, lips just barely grazing over her skin, Ava quivered. Heat pooled low in her belly. She’d never felt a reaction so swift and all consuming. Only with Luke. He was the only man to make her ache this way. The only man to make her want to hand over all control.
It was a scary feeling.
Forbidden Fruit: Chapter 3
“You look incredible, Ava. Every man in this room wanted you the instant you walked through those doors. Including me, baby.”
Ava forced herself not to react to the heat and promise in his words. She had a few questions for him before things went too far.
Pushing back enough so she could look into his eyes, Ava nearly swallowed her tongue. He was so tall and she was all of five foot four. He made her feel more feminine than any skirt ever could.
She pulled herself out of her wayward thoughts and asked, “What about the woman I saw you with a few minutes ago? Do you want her too?”
He frowned down at her, as if he had no idea who she was talking about. “Huh?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you don’t know! She practically flung herself at you.” He still looked bewildered, so she added, “Blonde. Tall. A chest that looks like maybe it’s been under a knife.”
Ah, there it was. Recognition at last. Mention boobs and a man’s memory suddenly became crystal clear. She wanted to smack him. She wanted to kiss him. Maybe she’d do both before the night was through.
“First off, I wasn’t
with
her. She came onto me. I turned her down. She’s not the woman that has my dick as hard as a damned tire iron right now, Ava; that would be you.”
She stubbornly ignored the erection pressing against her belly—
or tried to anyway—and narrowed her eyes on him. Luke wasn’t a one-woman man. He liked variety. A fact that had left her feeling raw on more than one occasion.
“Maybe she’s not the one you want right now, but I’m betting you jotted down her phone number.” She needed to know. At the very least, Ava needed to know that she was going to have his full attention tonight. If only for one night. Ava badly wanted to experience the whole of Luke McGiffin. Preferably before reality came crashing back in on her with all its merciless force.
“I told her I wasn’t interested. She wrote her number on my hand by her own volition, but I went to the bathroom and washed it off.”
He held out the hand in question. Even in the darkly lit nightclub, Ava could see the smudged ink. She shrugged, secretly pleased that he’d washed off the hussy’s phone number before coming to her.
Luke’s hand grasped her waist and her heart skipped a beat as his heat seeped through the silk of her blouse. “If it hadn’t been for that little pit stop, I would have been the one dancing with you instead of Pete and Griff,” he growled. Ava felt her blood sing in her veins, all at once on fire and raging out of control.
Another slow song picked up where the other left off. They moved to the music. Ava let her mind drift in the sensual haze Luke weaved around them. After a few minutes, she became aware that he’d somehow maneuvered them down a long empty hallway, well away from everyone else. It was dark, shadowed, and not quite as loud in this part of the nightclub.
Luke tipped her head up, his blue-eyed heat all but demanding her undivided attention. “Come home with me, Ava. Let your guard down for just this once and come home with me.”
“Because you’ve seen my legs, Luke?” She was desperate to scream ‘yes!’ The sickening truth of it was she’d follow him anywhere. But she was just woman enough to want to know which version of Ava Sweet he wanted. The tomboy animal lover or the skirt and strappy sandals version she’d created just for him. “You can see that I’m a flesh and blood woman so now I’m worthy of your attention? Is that it?”
Luke’s hand tightened on her jaw and she winced. He loosened his fingers a fraction, but didn’t let her go. “I told you on the phone I’d seen past the clothes a long time ago,” Luke chastised. And then in a much softer tone, “My comments to Pete hurt you. I’m sorry, baby. But damn it all, I didn’t want him thinking of you in a sexual way. I don’t want
any
man thinking of you in that way. Only me.
Don’t let my big mouth ruin what we could have.” His tone went as soft as velvet sliding over her skin. “We’ll be good together. I know it in my bones. You know it too. Let me make you feel good.”
He didn’t wait for her answer. Luke’s head swooped down as he took her mouth in a scorching show of possession and need.
Ava did the only thing she could in that space of time. She dug her hands into the luxurious softness of Luke McGiffin’s hair and hung on for the ride. No matter the reason for Luke’s sudden interest, she was being given a chance to make love to him. Ava wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Luke felt Ava’s surrender. It was all the encouragement he needed. Walking her backwards until he had her up against the cold brick wall of the nightclub, he pushed his tongue between her plump lips, savoring the sweet and sassy flavor of her. She moaned and vibrated against him. His body hardened. Luke planted his left hand on the wall next to her head while his right gripped her hips in a firm grasp, then he lowered himself enough so that the heavy weight of his cock was pressed against her soft pussy. He swore he could feel her pulsing heat clear through the layers of their clothing. His hips thrust forward and back several times. He wanted her to feel the entire length of him. She needed to get used to his body against hers. Christ, he wanted her! If they weren’t in such a public place, he would’ve shoved up her tight little skirt and fucked her right there, amidst the loud music and wild crowd.