Aussie: A Bad Boy Second Chance Romance (8 page)

Tonight was the single most erotic and thrilling experience of my life.

When he lifted me onto the counter, the way he teased me, and then…just, wow. That orgasm was fucking intense. Pure, fucking ecstasy. Was there an upper limit to ecstasy?

Sexual pleasure can’t be so open-ended that it gets better and better each time, right? Yet, with Luke, I was sure it would just keep blowing my mind. There was something about him that kept me guessing, kept me on my toes. I couldn’t wait to see what else he had up his sleeve if it meant another orgasm like that one.

I’d climbed back onto the sofa and sprawled across his lap.

“Are you hungry?” He ran his fingers through my hair.

“Yeah, actually, a little,” I admitted.

“Want to go out or order in?”

I wanted to stay confined in the walls of his apartment, just the two of us, with the rest of the world shut out entirely. “Let’s order in.”

“Okay, but right now I’m not moving.”

“Good. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I put my head on his chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart. It was slow and even, a soothing sound that almost made me want to drift off.

“You should stay the night.”

I heard the words come out of his mouth but also felt them vibrate from within his chest. The impact was intense.  God, yes, I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay the night, the week, the month…

I pouted. “I wish I could.”

“You should do what
you
want, Dawn, not what your parents want.” He nudged me, reminding me I’m an adult now.

I paused. “I’m not ready to deal with their questions. You know how they can be. They needle me and dig into my personal life.”

He let out what seemed like a bitter chuckle. “No shit.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I know what you meant. But…did you ever spend the night at Scott’s?”

The question stung. The short answer was yes, and the longer answer was that my parents didn’t mind because of who it was. Scott. The golden-boyfriend in their eyes.

“Sometimes, yeah, I did. I haven’t even told them that Scott and I broke up.”

“When are you going to do that?”

I shrugged.

Fuck. Here I was, twenty-five and still feeling and acting like I was a teenage girl with restrictions. It was infuriating. How long would I have to deal with this bullshit?

“When I move out, I won’t have to deal with their backlash, but to be honest, I think they’re going to have a bigger issue over the fact that I broke up with Scott. Anyway, I looked at a couple of jobs over the weekend. So, I’m scanning jobs, and thinking what’s the point of going to college and getting a degree if you can’t find openings in your field? It feels like a waste.”

“Hey, at least you have a degree. I wish I did. You were in college planning your life, while I was fucking around. I ended up in rehab, you ended up with a degree. I’d take your path over mine any day,” he said.

I felt bad hearing him say that. Felt even worse because of the tone of his voice. I knew how much he had wanted to go to college but couldn’t when his life spun out of control. Guilt rushed through me for complaining. He was right, it was a big deal. I needed to remember it would pay off one day. I just hated that it would take so long. I wanted my freedom, to start my life as an adult, to move out and build a dream career. Instead, I was stuck at home like a child.

Luke stretched his arm out behind me. I looked at his other tattoo as he flexed his bicep. The jagged shape didn’t seem significant like his lion did, so I didn’t ask.

“So,” I said, “you’re wanting to go back to school? Photojournalism?”

He nodded.

He’d always loved photography, and was damn good at it. I remember the first time he got a real camera—replacing his cheap point-and-shoot one. He spent days taking pictures of everything and anything. He rarely shared them with me, but I did get to see the ones that got published in a local magazine. We were fifteen at the time, and he’d already been paid to do what he loved.

“I have to. It won’t be easy, but I need to try.” He took a deep breath as if it were a secret.

“I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“It’s fine. You can ask me anything,” he said.

I hesitated for a moment, then asked, “What was rehab like? If you don’t want to talk about it—”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll talk about rehab. Quite frankly, it sucked. I didn’t have my own room. Had to share a room with a guy who snored and talked in his sleep, kept me up most nights. There was no freaking privacy, at all, no freedom. There were group sessions where I heard stories that made me think if I’d gone through what some of those people had endured, I would have rather died.” He stopped, lost in thought, then continued. “A lot of people had it worse than I did. But that doesn’t matter. When you hit rock bottom, it’s your own personal hell, so there’s no comparing, no contest to see who had it worse. Then there was the physical part of it, the withdrawal. If I had known what that would be like, I never would have tried a drug stronger than aspirin.”

I laughed.

“You laugh,” he said, “but I’m not exaggerating all that much.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “The thing that helped me most was the one-on-one sessions. I didn’t feel like I had to hide anything. In the group sessions, I had to bullshit a lot. I hated group therapy. My therapist knew it, too. Said it was common, and that’s part of why they have one-on-one.”

I thought of myself in classrooms, the library, study sessions, all the while feeling like it was a grueling experience. Meanwhile, Luke had battled for his life.

He should have been where I was. He should have been with me. I wish he’d been with me. All of this talk about the past brought back a flood of memories. I looked at him and admitted, “I hated you for leaving.”

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you ever try contact me? You never dropped me a note, a text, or a call to tell me you were okay. I looked everywhere online for you—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, I mean everywhere.”

He rubbed my arm with his fingertips. My body tingled at the sensation.

“Yeah,” he said, “I’m not on any of those. I’ve looked at those sites and most of it seems like bullshit, like people putting out a story about their lives that isn’t really the truth. It just doesn’t seem real.”

I shifted, then stood. Putting my dress back on, he reached for his phone, then pulled on a pair of shorts. I loved that he stayed shirtless. I could look at his sexy body all day long…and that lion.

I straddled his lap while he swiped his phone open. “Chinese sound good?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

He called and ordered Chinese delivery. After he hung up, he shifted and swung me around. I landed with my back pressed to the sofa, and Luke on top of me.

He growled playfully. “We have twenty minutes.”

He kissed me sweetly. First on my lips, then my earlobes. When he got to my neck, electricity jolted through me. His tongue traced the edge of my dress neckline. I inhaled deeply, lust taking over. My nipples tightened and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Damn, his shorts. I wish he was naked, ready to slide his thick cock back into me. It teased me through the material of his shorts, steel hard, pressing against me.

All I could think about was fucking him, right there, fast and rough, frantic and hard.

A knock at the door interrupted us. Luke raised his head. His face had a reddish hue to it, he was so worked up. “Has it been twenty minutes? Fuck. I was just getting into it.”

I looked for a clock. That seemed too fast.

He smiled and kissed me, then shot up off the couch. He grabbed his wallet and opened the door. As soon as he opened it, he started to close it, but a hand reached in and stopped him.

I couldn’t see who it was, but it was a girl. She had a shrill voice, and was screaming. “Who are you with?”

He was calm, but stern. “Leave.”

Who the fuck was this?

“Let me the fuck in, Luke. Now, or you’re going to regret it.” The girl pushed hard on the door.

I sat up, holding my breath, my eyes growing wider with concern.

“Not now,” Luke answered through clenched teeth.

“Yes, now. It has to be now. You know why?”

Luke didn’t say anything.

“Do you know why?” she repeated, her voice getting louder and more screechy.

“Megan, you need to leave.”

Megan? Shit, I’d almost forgotten. That was Megan, the stalker girl he’d told me about.

“No,” she pushed on the door again, trying to get in. “You need to tell whatever skank you’re fucking that you’re going to be a father. I’m pregnant and it’s yours.”

I blocked the doorway, as Megan continued to shove at it. While she hadn’t gotten in, I knew her words had. They’d do just as much damage.

I glanced over my shoulder. Dawn’s face said it all. She’d heard the news. She’d slid to the edge of the sofa, and her mouth had dropped open. She was staring right at me, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Megan pushed against the door again. I moved around the edge and slipped outside onto the sidewalk. I quickly told Dawn I’d need a couple of minutes before closing the door behind me. I hated leaving her there, wondering what was going on, but I had no choice.

I was pissed. Megan was a pain in the ass, and trouble. “How did you find me? Why the fuck are you here?”

She fidgeted with her hands, her hair, pulled at her shirt, and kept crossing and uncrossing her legs. She was a fucking mess.

“I followed you from work one day. I mean, easy enough.”

I shook my head. “You followed me? Nice, not only are you into all that other shit, but you’ve decided to add stalker to your resume?”

Her eyes were glassy. “Fuck you, Luke.”

“Just tell me why you’re here.” I didn’t have time for this bullshit.

I couldn’t tell if she was about to cry, or if she was stoned. “I told you. I’m pregnant.”

I exhaled deeply, trying to gather my thoughts. “You’re a fucking liar,” I finally spat out, glad nobody was around to watch this play out.

The bitter laugh she let out turned my stomach.

“No, I’m really not lying this time. This baby is yours. You better man up.” She hesitated, then asked, “Who’s the bitch you have in there?”

I glared at Megan, not interested in spending any more time on this delusion. She was up to no good. She was always up to no good. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but a bunch of strands had fallen loose. They were frizzing, as if she’d been zapped by a good dose of static electricity. Honestly, she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Her cheeks were sunken in, there were bags under her eyes, she certainly wasn’t taking care of herself. She looked like shit.

“Megan, I’ve had enough,” I said, turning to go back inside.

She snapped at me and crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s been long enough that I know you’re the father, Luke. I’m telling the truth. You think I want a kid right now?”

I turned back around. “How long has it been?”

I knew it had been a little over four months she’d we’d had sex. I figured she wouldn’t remember the time-frame, so it gave me something to go by. I could tell if she was lying or not, and if she even had an idea who the father was.  Of course, she probably wasn’t even pregnant. I wouldn’t put it past her to pull this crap.

“I haven’t gone to the doctor yet,” she said, glancing down.

The door opened behind us. I was about to tell her to leave, when Dawn slipped by with her head down.

“Wait,” I said, trying to stop her.

Megan made a move toward her, but I caught her by the arm before she could reach her. Once Dawn was in the clear, I let go of her arm.

“Stay here,” I growled at Megan, then chased after Dawn.

She was moving quickly, trying to get away.

“She’s lying, Dawn,” I said.

She opened the car door, putting it between us. “I have to go.”

“No, please don’t go.” My shoulders slumped. The last thing I wanted was for her to leave. Angry that Megan had ruined our great evening, I shook my head. “Dawn, don’t believe anything she says. This is the kind of crap she pulls. This is why I moved, changed my number…”

The sadness in her eyes hit me. Guilt washed over me, as if I’d done something wrong.

“I just can’t be here right now,” she answered.

I sighed. I understood. I did. I just hated how it all played out. “I’m sorry she destroyed our evening.”

“It’s fine. Take care of what you need to.” She sat in the car and closed the door.

“I’ll call you later,” I said through her closed window.

She simply nodded.

She started her car and drove off.

I was furious. Seething. Megan ruined a perfectly good evening. And now Dawn doesn’t know what the hell to think I turned back toward my apartment. My mood had shifted from fury and tipped into rage when I saw that she’d gone inside. I steeled myself. I needed control.

She’d taken a seat on the sofa. “I like this. It’s a nice place, but we need to get more furniture.”

I clenched my teeth. “There is no we.”

She ignored me.

“Are you high, or just fucking crazy?” I stood by the door, refusing to get any closer to her.

“Luke.” She stood. “I didn’t know how strongly I felt about you until you weren’t around anymore. I fucking love you. So fucking much.”

“When I told you it was over, all those months ago, remember that? I meant it. I don’t believe anything that comes out of your mouth.”

“You weren’t as mean back then.”

“You weren’t as messed up back then,” I snapped back.

“The baby—”

“Go see a doctor. Show me the paperwork. A baby. Yeah, right.” I opened the door. “Get out!”

“Don’t make me leave—”

“Now,” I said, interrupting her pleading. “Leave and don’t come back.”

She took a few steps toward me. Someone knocked on the door. For a second, I had this image of Dawn appearing in the doorway, having changed her mind about leaving, coming back to claim her rightful place in my apartment.

But it was the Chinese food delivery guy. I paid him and put the bag on the counter.

“You need to leave,” I said again.

“Are you going to eat all that by yourself?”

I thought about giving her something. Maybe she didn’t have any money for food. Maybe it would have been the right thing to send her on her way with something to eat.

Then again, maybe not.

“Yes, I’m going to eat it all.” I pushed the bag away from her. I reached for her wrist, not forcefully, just enough, and led her to the door. She stepped outside and I closed it without saying anything.

Give her some food? No way. At this point, and the condition she was in, it would be like feeding a stray cat.