Luke crossed his arms, grabbing the hem of his shirt.
“No,” she murmured against his lips.
He pulled back, eyes narrowed.
“I’ll have to make you bleed first.” She held up her hand, tipping her chin down in shame.
It was spelled out in front of him—in blood. All or nothing.
“Are you on birth control?”
Jessica lifted her gaze, searching for his intention. She nodded once.
Luke shrugged his shirt off and unfastened his pants, shoving them down his legs. His lips craved her … all of her. “Then make me bleed.” He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against his body as he lifted her into the shower.
“Luke—” she began to protest.
“We’re done talking.” He kissed her again, his tongue tasting her—claiming her.
Jessica’s hands tangled in his wet hair. His hands slid up to her breasts.
She broke their kiss, head falling back. “Oh … God,” she moaned, arching her back into his touch.
“Do you have any idea … how beautiful you are?” he whispered in her ear, each word accented with truth, need, and complete reckless abandon.
Her fingers curled into his back. He closed his eyes and waited, questioning whose addiction he was feeding—hers or his.
“I can’t.” Her legs buckled.
He held her to him as she sobbed into his chest.
“I’m not beautiful. I’m ugly because of him … he did this to me. He’s inside me and I hate him. I hate myself.”
“Shh … don’t say that.” He kissed her hair.
Once her sobs subsided, he wrapped them in towels and carried her to bed. Leaving the towel around her body, he covered her with blankets and kissed her forehead.
She opened her swollen eyes and he could see past everything—straight to her soul. “I love you,” she whispered then closed them again.
*
The gusty wind rattled the windows as an early morning storm rolled through. Jessica peeled open her eyes to look at the time. It was a few minutes after ten in the morning.
“Well done, Jessica,” she mumbled to herself.
Her vagina had been dreaming of Dr. Luke Jones for months. The less than zero percent chance felt like a life sentence behind a chastity belt.
Naked. They were naked in the shower, a one hundred percent chance of sex. Sex with the man who had become the pinnacle of her life’s purpose.
“Stupid!” She sat up, letting the towel and blankets fall from her body. “Jesus, Jessica! You’re so stupid!”
An internal grimace tugged at her conscience and gave an upper cut to her ego knocking it back into last week. She had cried, actually cried. Why couldn’t she have simply spread her legs and said thank you very much?
Jessica grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom. The opposing door was open. Luke’s bag was packed and set by the door. The quilt and pillows were neatly folded by the headboard and the dirty sheets were piled at the foot of the bed. They looked more folded than wadded. Of course Jones would fold dirty sheets. Wadding probably made him visibly cringe.
She showered and packed. Almost an hour later she swallowed her pride, which was virtually non-existent by that point, and headed downstairs. The soft voices faded into silence as she rounded the corner.
Luke and his parents were sitting at the table with coffee mugs and kind smiles.
“Good morning,” Felicity shot Jessica a quick wink.
“Hi. Sorry I overslept. Kinda rude on my part.”
“Not at all. It’s the weekend and you worked your butt off yesterday.” Tom nodded to the empty chair by Luke. “Have a seat, we’ll get you some breakfast. Coffee?”
Jessica nodded. “Thank you.” For the first time that morning, she allowed herself to look at Luke.
“Good morning,” he said without a single inflection in his voice or the slightest clue on his face that the previous night ever happened. “I think we should head out after you eat. I have a few things to attend to when I get back.”
“Yeah, sure.” She smiled, letting her eyes linger on him as she sat down.
She ate while Luke and his parents talked about the renovation, his siblings, and other random topics. The hey-so-you-two-almost-had-sex-last-night topic never came up. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. Had she dreamed it? How could he not give her the tiniest hint of acknowledgment?
“I’ll grab our bags.” Luke deposited his coffee cup in the sink as Jessica finished the last bite of her omelet.
“I packed some goodies for you two to take on the road.” Felicity held up a bag.
“Thanks, Mom.” Luke took it from her and kissed her on the cheek.
When he took the bags out to the car, Felicity drew Jessica in for a hug. “He adores you.”
Adore. It was an interesting word choice. Could Dr. Mind Fuck adore her? Unlikely.
“Thank you for everything.”
“You’re welcome. I hope you come back.”
Another unlikely.
“The sailboat offer still stands.” Tom lifted his coffee cup toward Jessica and grinned.