Skin Deep (Skin Deep #1)

I’d hidden all the presents in the cupboards above the washer and dryer in the laundry room because, since I’d moved in, no one but me has touched the laundry. Gee, how’d I get so lucky? I just needed to get the last few things as well as some wrapping paper and gift tags so I could get everything wrapped. That’s always been my favorite thing at Christmas, besides getting presents. I loved to pull everything out and stack it around me and blare Christmas music while I wrapped everything at once.

The door chimed, pulling me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see Luke standing in front of me. I looked up at the clock, surprised to see that it was after closing time. I straightened up my desk and locked up the drawers, taking care to hide my Christmas gift list so he couldn’t see the ideas I had jotted down. I needed to figure out a way to hijack Allie for a bit this weekend so she could help me shop.

“Ready?” I asked him as I stood up and rounded the counter. Before I could get all the way around, he had me in his arms, holding me so tight I could hardly breathe.

I tapped his shoulder, whispering, “Luke…can’t…breathe,” and he let me go immediately, apologizing. I smiled at him telling him it was okay before he grabbed my hand and we headed out to the car.

I didn’t get any more calls, thank God, for the remainder of the week. On Saturday morning, I roped Allie into going to the mall with me, hoping that we could get everything and get back to the house to hide it or wrap it before the guys got back home. I had been a little worried about Jackson being there since he doesn’t work on weekends, but he’d decided to head down to the shop with Brandon and Luke.

After the fifteenth store, Allie pulled out of my desperate grasp as I hauled her towards another, planting her feet and shouting, “NO!”

I turned around in surprise (and complete embarrassment, truth be told) and asked her what the hell was wrong with her.

“Emma, you keep second guessing everything. It’s fine! They’ll love everything you get them no matter what it is, so just pick something already! Cheese and rice, woman!”

I shrugged, smiling ruefully at her. “I’m sorry. I know…I just want them to have the perfect gifts, you know?”

“I know. And you will. Now, pick a guy and let’s get one of them done, at least.”

“Ummm…” I thought for a minute. “Well, I guess let’s start with Jacks. You know? I think I’ve got it! Let’s go hit that print shop place that we saw.”

Two hours later, I’d finally picked something out for all three of the guys and my Christmas shopping was officially over. Whew! Allie and I headed back to the house and she helped me carry my bags in while I ran into the laundry room to hide her gifts so she couldn’t find them. She was going to help me with my wrapping, so we lugged everything up into Luke’s…er, my?…bedroom and popped in a Christmas CD before we plopped ourselves down in the middle of the floor, surrounded by mountains of shopping bags and boxes and about ten tubes of wrapping paper.

My theme this year was red, white, blue, silver and penguins because I found the cutest little wraps with penguins all over them. I’d also gone crazy with bags of bows and about twelve different gift tags. We dove in and started wrapping presents; it only took us about an hour and a half between the two of us and then we carted them all downstairs to put under the tree that I’d finally gotten Luke and Brandon to drag out of the closet and put up.

Allie and I were standing beside each other, grinning with our accomplishment, when the guys walked in. Their eyes all lit up when they saw the tree and Brandon went running to his room before coming out with an armful of presents wrapped haphazardly and putting them under the tree with mine. I turned to Luke and Jackson with expectant eyes, pouting exaggeratedly when they each shook their heads and walked away.

We decided that we were going to order Chinese food and Jackson and Brandon offered to go get it. When they returned, we all crowded around the table and ate, enjoying each other’s company. Of course that didn’t last long when talk turned to the phone calls I’d been getting at work from Creepy.

Brandon had said something and I froze in panic when Allie opened her mouth, saying, “Well, when she told me about all the hang-ups and heavy breathing I told her she should call and make a report. She did then but they-” she broke off, her eyes growing huge and her hand clapping over her mouth in horror.

I glared at her, promising retribution would come soon, when Luke jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over as he yelled, “You knew? You knew that this was happening back then and you didn’t tell me?” Without giving her a chance to reply, he turned to me and bellowed, “And YOU! I can’t believe you let me think that you hadn’t told her, that you hadn’t told anyone! What is wrong with you?”

I stood up, pushing my chair back and rounding the table to put my arm around Allie as I pointed my finger at Luke and said, “You stop. Right now, before you say something you’ll end up regretting, Lucas Tyler Crimshaw. Yes, okay? I told Allie but you know what? We were just starting to see each other, so why would I have told you? I’ve already told you that I should have told you about the phone calls more recently and I promised to keep you informed if anything else happened. Okay? Are we done? Can we get back to eating now?”

Brandon and Jackson hadn’t said anything during the outburst and I pulled away from Allie to take my seat again, but not before I pinched her arm just as a reminder that I was still pissed she had let the cat out of the bag. Luke dropped his head in his hands for a second before he looked up and mumbled an apology to everyone.

Then I couldn’t help but smile as he peered up at me and said, “I really am sorry. I just love you so damn much…it makes me a little crazy.”

Allie’s jaw hit the table and I laughed, absolutely one hundred percent in love with him, not that I wasn’t already. We all finished dinner and the rest of the evening was lightened considerably by Luke’s admission at the table. Allie stayed around for a while before she took off, stating that she had plans in the morning that she couldn’t be late for.

This made Brandon and Jackson both puff up and ask her questions, which she laughed off, telling them, “don’t you worry your pretty little heads about what it is boys,” before she kissed them each on the cheek and sashayed out the door. They gave each other dirty looks and Luke and I laughed at them as he pulled me toward the stairs.

I’d barely gotten through the door and shut it behind me before Luke had me pinned against it, his hand in my hair, jerking it back while he fastened his teeth in my shoulder. It shot me straight to the OHMIGOD zone and I let out a moan at the pleasure coursing through every inch of my body. When he released my skin, I pushed back against him and turned in his arms, winding mine around his neck as I pressed my body against his.

“What is it with you and doors?” I asked, my voice husky with thick with desire.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s the animal you bring out in me. Rowr…” He waggled his eyebrows at me while he swiped his hand at me, his fingers curled into a claw.

I burst out laughing, completely taken aback by his “cat” impersonation he’d just tossed out of nowhere. He grinned before laughing with me while walking backwards with me in his arms towards the bed. When we got there, I didn’t give him the chance to do anything. I pushed against his chest and he fell back on the mattress, bouncing a little at the abruptness.