“I’m Ava Barlow. I’m staying with Lucas Stark. Can I have my room key, please?” I asked the reception clerk at Hotel Monaco.
He tapped on his computer, something came up and he read it, smiled at me and gave me my key card telling me the room number. I took it with a return smile and headed to the elevators.
Dinner had been a blast. Marilyn and Sofia had opted out (still pouting). Olivia, Shirleen and Winnie had opted in and Sissy met us there with the Moms. We ate, moved the festivities to the Cruise Room meeting Indy and Jules. We drank martinis (of course Jules didn’t drink martinis seeing as she was preggers), enough to get loose, not enough to get drunk and Shirleen dropped me off at the hotel.
I exited the elevators, found the room and let myself in with the card.
The room was dimly lit with one lamp. Luke was in bed, on his back, hands behind his head, chest bare, covers to his waist, looking Zen.
“Hey,” I said, throwing my purse in a chair.
“Come here,” he replied softly and my knees got week.
I told my knees to behave and asked, “How’s Jeremiah?”
“Incarcerated,” he informed me. “Hank got an anonymous tip, sent a car out. Uniforms picked him up, took him to the hospital to stitch him up and now he’s behind bars. Winnie needs to go in tomorrow to press charges,” his voice dropped low and he continued. “Now, come here.”
I took in a deep breath, let it out and walked to the bed.
When I made it to the side, Luke’s hands came from behind his head, he did an ab curl, caught my waist and pulled me down on top of him.
When we had settled, his fingers sifted into the hair at the side of my head and slid back, taking the weight with it and holding it behind my head.
“I like your hair like this,” he murmured.
“Indy did it,” I shared.
His eyes came to mine. “We got plans tonight, you and me.”
“I already had dinner with the Moms.”
He gave me a half-grin. “I wasn’t talking about those plans.”
I knew he wasn’t.
Shit!
“Babe, move your foot, your shoe is about to pierce the skin on my shin.”
Shit again!
I moved my foot and muttered, “Sorry.”
“Take ‘em off,” he ordered.
“I can’t, the straps are too complicated. I have to wear them to bed then I have to wear them until they fall apart. I’ll never –”
He flipped me on my back then his hand slid down my side, my leg to my ankle. Within thirty seconds he had both shoes off.
“How did you do that?” I asked, eyes wide, thinking the wonders of Luke would never cease.
He didn’t answer, his fingers found the zip at the side of my dress and tugged it down.
“Luke, I want to hear about Jeremiah,” I told him.
Zipper down, he slid the dress up, up and then it was off. He tossed it aside, lifted up on his elbow and his head bent to look at me. One of his hands came back to my body, gliding across the bustier at my midriff.
“Jesus,” he muttered, eyes ink, face soft.
Okay, suffice it to say, he liked the underwear.
“Luke!” I cried. “Focus!”
His gaze moved to my face, he looked part amused, part impatient and part sexy as hell.
“We got him to talk,” he told me.
This didn’t surprise me.
“Do I have to get my stain removal gloves out?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Not a big fan of mess, babe.”
Thank God for that.
He kept talking. “Jeremiah, real name Kurt Reid. He’s been partners with Walt Ellis for five years. Worked Nevada with him then Colorado. Their shit is linked. So much, Brody got the intel mixed up. Brody’s also got a meeting tomorrow with Lee, eight o’clock.”
I had a brief moment to feel sorry for the unknown Brody before Luke went on.
“Sometimes they would do the con together, sometimes they hit different marks. With you and Winnie, they hit different marks. He knew all about you, Ellis or Dexter, knew all about Winnie. They also have a safe house in Durango. Reid says Ellis is there. Hector and Vance are on the road tonight checking it out.”
“So it’s close to over.”
“Babe, for you, it is over.”
I was cool with that. I probably had only one knee to the ‘nads in me for this lifetime and I’d given it to Kurt Reid.
I was cool with that too. Kurt Reid was a jerk.
“Okay,” I said to Luke.
He smiled at me. My stomach got melty.
Then he moved, my panties were gone in the blink of an eye, he rolled, taking me with him and before I knew it he was seated on the side of the bed with me straddling his lap.
Ho-ly shit.
“Luke, we need to talk about a few things,” I tried to stall.
His head bent and his lips traced the lace above my breast. “No talking,” he said there, not feeling in the mood for me to stall and, truth be told, I was even beginning to lose the mood.
I stuck with it. “We have to talk. There’s lots to talk about.”
His head dropped back and his hands went to my hips, he lifted me up, shifted my hips forward and when he set me down again, he was inside me.
Wow.