Okay, admittedly, Luke playing the asshole on deck hadn’t helped. He’d taken a preexisting wall and inched it higher. Which really sucked because he liked her. She was real. He sensed it as surely as he did a batter about to hike a ball out of the park, sensed this with such certainty that he wouldn’t bother second-guessing himself, even though his recent track record with women was pretty flipping pathetic. If Katie hated him, it would be openly, not behind his back. If she desired him, her passion would be bold and flaming hot.
“So, Katie Lyons,” he said softly as he took a step toward her. “Let’s make that deal I mentioned.”
Her eyes went wide, suspicion flickering in their depths. “What kind of deal?”
“The way I see it,” he said as he closed the distance between them, “we have two options for dealing with our situation.”
She swallowed and then tilted her chin up defiantly. “Okay, I’ll bite. What two options are those?”
He took another step. She didn’t move. She stood her ground with that tough facade, but he knew she was wavering by the flash of nervousness in her eyes.
“We could fight all day and all night,” he said. He stopped in front of her, close. So close all he had to do was lift his arms to touch her. Damn, he loved her scent, a soft floral something. He wasn’t much of a flower guy, but he thought maybe honeysuckle. Sweet. A contradiction from her tough exterior, a detail that ripened his assessment of her to downright delicious.
“Or?” she prodded, refusing to back away. Damn, she had spunk. That made him hot.
“Or we can get right to the root of the problem and be done with it.” He shifted closer to her, his lips lingering above hers. “Now would be a good time for that knee if you don’t want to be kissed.” He reached for her, pulling her close, molding her sexy, taut body to his. He didn’t give her time to object. His mouth closed down on hers.
He kissed her, prodding her into a response. She started to resist, her palms pressed against his chest, her spine stiff. But when his tongue dipped into her mouth and brushed hers, she whimpered. Her lips softened, her body warmed. She melted and gave him what he really wanted. Her surrender.
3
KATIE COULD NOT stop kissing Luke Winter. The man deserved that well-placed knee for daring to kiss her, on top of being a complete, utter ass. And she’d give him that knee. Soon. Very soon. Right after she finished kissing him. And, oh, God, was she kissing him. The kind of kissing that screamed Strip me naked and have your way with me. Worse, no matter how hard she willed herself to pull away from such abandon, Katie couldn’t do it. She was drowning in sexy male seduction and couldn’t find the desire to escape. Which led her to one conclusion—Luke Winter had a magic tongue. It was the only explanation for the drugging effect of his kiss, the only explanation for the dull, wonderful ache that spread through her limbs and coiled in her stomach. When was the last time a man had accomplished such a feat? A year? Almost two?
So when he said, “Tell me this feels as good to you as it does to me,” with his lips lingering above hers, a whisper from another caress, Katie tried to say no, but she was afraid he would stop kissing her.
Instead, she whispered, “Yes.” And it was breathless. Hungry.
Bingo. He kissed her again.
She knew she should be pushing him away, but…he tasted and felt so darn good. She was human after all, and he was…well, he was a damn good kisser.
And try as she might to ignore the reaction her body was having to him, she couldn’t. She wanted him. Bad.
But this was just a kiss. No harm, no foul. At least, in her desire-stricken state, that was the logic she decided to cling to. Later she would chastise herself. Not now.
Besides, it had been an eternity, or so it seemed, since she had been thoroughly kissed. His tongue played along the sides of hers, and Katie moaned without any possible hope of restraining the sound.
There was something so warm, so alluringly perfect about his kisses. Perhaps the way he used his lips to caress hers, or maybe it was the way his tongue did this slow, seductive dance along hers.
Or was there more?
Some kind of unique chemistry between them perhaps?
Slowly, he pulled away from her, coming back for a brief nibble, before staring down at her with a probing, heated gaze.
Without thought, a sigh of pure female satisfaction slipped from her mouth.
He smiled in return—clearly proud of making her act in such a way—but Katie didn’t find the smile offensive, surprisingly. She knew he had enjoyed kissing her, as well.