Katie stopped dancing, her heart in her chest. “Did you? Meet him?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I met him. I was with him the day he died.”
Respect for Luke she hadn’t thought possible the night before expanded inside her. “Oh, Luke. I’m so sorry.” She’d told herself she’d put the past behind her before meeting Luke, but then she’d judged him by his career, which was wrong. That didn’t mean he was some crown prince, but it meant, from now on, he deserved to be judged for who he was, not for her expectations of who he was.
“Excuse me.” Suddenly, Rick Raundo, the Italian-American right fielder on Luke’s team, was by their side. He was tall and dark, with a nose that was a bit on the large side and a sense of humor even larger. Katie liked him instantly and had talked to him through much of dinner. “They want Luke here for one last photo op,” Rick said, his hand coming down on Luke’s shoulder. “Grin and bear it, man. It’s with the president of the Leukemia Association.” Rick smiled at Katie. “I’ll stay behind and defend Katie from any media attacks.”
Luke grimaced and cast Katie a warning look. “Watch out for his wandering hands,” he said, and leaned close. “We’ll escape right after I finish up.” He surprised her by kissing her, a short, sweet caress of the lips, and he was gone before she could stop him.
Rick immediately turned his attention to Katie. But this wasn’t the Rick from dinner, all full of laughter and jokes.
“Look, Katie,” he said, his tone dark, his expression darker. “You seem like a nice person, and I get that you’re here to protect Luke and all. But don’t go getting him all worked up over these letters and screwing with his game. Baseball is everything to Luke.”
For the second time, Katie found herself blindsided. “Excuse me?”
“Do your job and beyond, for all I care,” Rick said. Beyond implying sex, without question. “But don’t try to freak Luke out.”
“Go back to the ‘while you’re protecting him’ part,” she ground out between her teeth, ignoring the couple crowding them. “What does that mean?”
“I know who you are,” he said. “He told me you—”
“Don’t!” she said, poking a finger at his chest. “Do not say it out loud. Don’t say it to anyone. Do you hear me?”
She was already storming away from Rick. Luke wasn’t supposed to tell anyone who she was or why she was here. She was furious with him. She couldn’t protect him when he wasn’t cooperating. And she couldn’t protect him when she kept thinking about getting him naked, either.
Rick caught up with her quickly. “Katie, dammit.”
She motioned him to a corner, away from the crowd.
“I want you to think about this,” Rick said, his voice low, terse. “But if someone is trying to ruin Luke’s career, bringing you in here to make this into a big deal is only making it worse.”
The only thing keeping Katie from wringing Rick’s neck was that she believed he had good intentions, no matter how misplaced. He was worried about Luke.
“I’m here to protect him, Rick, and yes, those letters might be about messing with his head and his game and that’s it, but—”
“What else could it be?” Rick challenged.
“If you’re wrong and there’s a real threat,” Katie said, “Luke could get hurt. Is that what you want? Luke dead because you were protecting his career?”
“Oh, man, Katie,” Rick said. “The ‘dead’ card is unfair.”
“So is the ‘guilt’ card,” Katie countered.
He scrubbed his jaw. “All I’m asking is that you keep whatever you do low-key with Luke. Be as intense as you want when he’s not around, but let him stay focused on his game.”
“What’s going on, you two?” Luke said, walking up beside them.
“Katie?” Rick asked urgently, ignoring Luke.
She shook her head. “I’ll do my best.”
Rick nodded. “I’m out of here,” he said to Luke. “See you later, man.”
Luke frowned. “Do your best at what?” he asked Katie.
She tilted her chin up. “Is there anyone else who knows who I am that I should be aware of, Luke?”
He scanned the room for Rick, who’d already pulled a disappearing act, and then turned his attention back at Katie. “I can explain—”
“Is there anyone else?”
“No.”
“Can we leave now?”
He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it. “Kissing you wouldn’t solve anything, would it?”
“Besides getting you that knee you’ve been asking for?” she challenged. “Nope.”
“It might be worth it,” he said, his hand reaching for her.
“Or it might just give Olivia something to explain to the press. I’d love to see how she spins it—‘New girlfriend knees Luke Winter in the groin, swears she tripped and fell.’”
He gave one long nod. “No kiss.”
Her agreement was instant. “No kiss.”
They started walking, and he leaned closer. “I think we should talk about this in the truck.”
“You can drive,” she said. “I’ll talk.” It was time for Luke Winter to understand this was business and she was in control. The kisses would have to wait until this assignment was over, and she planned to tell him so.
AS SOON AS they were safely tucked inside Luke’s truck, away from the crowd, Katie began her lecture, and Luke took his verbal bashing in silence, for the most part. He didn’t believe for a minute that she didn’t want him to kiss her again, nor did he believe they could be together and not do so. To pretend otherwise was setting them both up for problems better avoided.
With that in mind, the moment they were inside his front door and he’d flipped on the security system, Luke quickly grabbed her hand, even as she headed for her escape, toward the stairs. A moment later he was leaning against the front door with her in his arms, and before she could object, he slid his fingers into the silky mass of her hair as he’d longed to do all night.
“Pretending to date and leaving out the kissing isn’t going to work.” And with that announcement, he kissed her, a deep, passionate kiss that he wanted to have go on and on—as in all night. Maybe beyond. He couldn’t get enough of this woman. Not of her taste or the soft, sweet moans she made when he kissed her just right—which was apparently now.
Luke was about sixty seconds from picking her up and carrying her to his room when he forced himself to end the kiss. “That’s why it won’t work. Because both of us like it too much.” He took a step away from her. “You’re supposed to be dating me. So date me. Focus on meeting the people around me and decide who is trustworthy and who is not, rather than what you should or should not be doing with me. And let your staff do the high-tech security stuff.”
She swallowed hard. “It’s not that simple and you know it.”
“It is that simple,” he insisted. “Sleep on it, Katie. Think about it before your staff gets here. We’ll talk tomorrow.” He stepped around her and headed up the stairs in search of a cold shower, or maybe two.
6
KATIE TOSSED and turned in Luke’s big, empty, spare bed. Luke’s bed. That was what kept popping into her head. Luke’s house. Luke’s bed. Luke’s mockery of a girlfriend. Her desire for that man was mocking her.
She sat up, her cotton gown rasping over her bare breasts, the friction chasing a path straight to her core. Good grief, she was losing her mind and it was Luke’s fault. It had been a lifetime since she’d had sex, and then he’d come along and kissed her. And Donna hadn’t helped. Now she couldn’t stop conjuring images of Luke’s nice, tight backside in his baseball pants. Or better yet—without them. Him on top of her, naked, a nice mirror over the top of them, while he flexed those steely buns, buried inside her.
Katie fell back against the pillows, her body flushed with desire. How was she going to deal with Luke’s advances when it was all she could do to keep from orgasming just thinking about the man. She swallowed. “You take the
edge off yourself, Katie,” she whispered. Right. Like that was going to work. Then again, lying here fighting the need wasn’t going to work, either.
Her lashes lowered and she began unbuttoning the front of her gown. Giving in to the need for a good fantasy. And though she doubted seriously that any amount of fantasizing would satisfy her desire for Luke, she had to try. She had a job to do. Lusting after the man she was protecting was a distraction she didn’t need.
So she wouldn’t lust. Or she would. Right here and now in bed. But that’s all she would allow herself. Starting with a fantasy about that magic tongue of his. Her hands traveled to her breasts, over her nipples. Oh, yeah, they needed that tongue. Lots of licks, lots of kisses. Lots of hotness.
Her eyes went to the ceiling. What if there was a mirror there? Why didn’t people put mirrors above the bed? She blinked, imagined it there. Again, imagined Luke’s nice bum. Her hands traveled along her body, slid between her legs, fingers gliding over sensitive flesh as she dreamed of Luke pumping into her, his backside flexing. She squeezed her eyes shut. Seeing it. Feeling it in the ache growing between her thighs.
If only he were here, stretching her. Taking her. The ache was building, the pleasure thrumming through her. Suddenly, too soon, way too soon, Katie shattered, her body quaking with the much-needed release.
Chest heaving, she turned her head to the clock. Oh, wow. “Katie, you’re pathetic.” She’d come in four minutes flat. And rather than consider how extraordinarily badly that spoke of her sex life, or lack thereof, Katie found herself wondering instead about Luke. Could the real man make her come that fast? Would she want him to? Katie laughed. Of course, she would. As long as he made her come again right after.
It was a thought that turned dangerously in the wrong direction fifteen minutes later, when Luke’s suggestion that she simply give in to her temptation to be with him started sounding good. Katie decided self-satisfaction was not the way to get over this lusty want for Luke. Instead, she decided she’d hit the track surrounding Luke’s property, and donned her shorts and running shoes.
That he, too, was obviously a runner didn’t help matters; she didn’t need anything they had in common bouncing around in her head right now. She took the stairs with tentative, soft footsteps, careful not to wake Luke. This was a good opportunity to check out the cameras on the grounds anyway—analyze where they were positioned and where she might suggest her team place new ones. She’d seen enough of his limited security system to know that an upgrade was an absolute must.
Katie turned off the alarm system long enough to slip out the back patio door, a rainbow of colors streaking the early morning sky as the sun began to break what had been a pitch-black horizon. She loved this—simply going to the backyard to take a run rather than taking the subway to Central Park as she usually did at home. Katie stretched first and with her iPod attached to her hip she weaved through a courtyard, complete with pool and hot tub, and found the edge of the track.
And then she was off, running but not escaping her thoughts. Donna’s words bounced around in her head as readily as the memory of Luke’s lips on hers, his powerful arms around her. And though Katie was so completely over Joey he wasn’t even a consideration, Donna’s lecture that Katie had not moved on held some truth. Because the impact of what she’d been through with him was far from gone.
Katie needed to get over her fear of being hurt as much as she needed to get over her prejudice. She’d judged Luke unfairly—if Luke was a jerk, he deserved to earn that label all by himself, like any guy. But working through those feelings while on an assignment didn’t seem smart, though Ron had all but handed Luke to her on a silver platter—and handed her to Luke. They were both on the rebound from a nasty past. Both perhaps were using that “silver platter” to push the past, to the past. Katie wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Rocks outlined the path, fancy spotlights nestled between them, illuminating her path and allowing her to inspect the area, but as she cut a corner while noting a camera not properly rotating, she suddenly blasted into a hard object.
Katie gasped as she was knocked off her feet and hit the ground, scraping her leg down one of the light fixtures as she landed. Pain shot through her leg, but Katie instinctively rolled, assuming attack, ready to fight. She was in a squatting position, her palms bracing her weight when she brought Luke into focus, towering above her, hands on his hips, breathing heavily.
“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath as he knelt down in front of her. “Katie, are you all right? I’m sorry. I didn’t expect anyone else to be out here.” He reached out and steadied her, his hands on her bare thighs. “You’re bleeding.”
Instant awareness raced through her body. His broad, well-chiseled chest evident in his snug T-shirt, his hands warm on her legs. Her mind was still a cluttered mess that left her body in control. And her body wanted Luke.
“I… I’m fine,” she said, summoning her voice, and some mental wherewithal. “Why are you out here in the first place?” She started to stand up, and realized blood was gushing down her leg. “Damn.” Still, she wanted to make her point. “You have to tell the person responsible for your security before you go running around in the dark. That person would be me. That’s a new rule. You have to follow it.”
“You need stitches, Katie,” he said, ignoring her rule, as he did all the others, which she would have complained about, yelled even, if not for what he did next. Luke ripped his shirt over his head, his broad chest bared to display rippling muscle and a sprinkle of light brown, mouthwatering hair. “Sit,” he ordered. “I need to tie off the wound to stop the bleeding.”
So, aside from itsy-bitsy running shorts, the man was naked. Almost gloriously, wonderfully naked. “You’ll ruin your shirt,” she insisted. “And I’m fine. Just grab me some paper towels before we go in the door so I don’t get blood on your floor.”
“Sit down and let me do this, or I will sit you down, Katie,” Luke said, fixing her in a steady stare. “Don’t be stubborn.”
She inhaled, still breathless from her run, and sat down. He wiped off the cut, his head tilted down to study the gash along the side of her calf, which didn’t worry her nearly as much as the throbbing of her bad knee. She knew the routine well. Ice and lots of it. Pain reliever. Lots of it. Take it easy for a day.
“It’s deep,” Luke said. “Have you had a tetanus shot lately?”
“Yes,” she replied. “What I need is up.” And away from his bare chest and temptation, so she could tend to her knee. “Tie the shirt or whatever you are going to do and let me get up, please. I’m feeling claustrophobic.” Translation—hot—for him.
“We should go to the E.R.,” he said, doing as she wished, tying his shirt around her leg.
“Not a chance,” she said. “I’ll be fine.” She pushed to her feet. Her damn knee wobbled, and Luke caught her a second before she was going down. Pain rocketed up her thigh. She rested her head on his shoulder. “Not now,” she murmured, emotion wrenching her chest the way the tendons were her leg.
Inhaling through the pain, she cursed the vulnerability that her knee created. She was going to have to have help getting inside, but it felt bigger than that. She’d spent the past year working to be strong, to deal with losing her parents and to help her sister do the same, and her new career had offered a positive way to do that. And now her sister was in trouble and the assignment she was on, which would get her out of that trouble, was fast tumbling into disaster. She glanced up at Luke, holding on to his arm. “It’s my knee, Luke. But I’m supposed to be taking care of you, and—”
“Why don’t we take turns?” he suggested, his arm wrapping around her waist, a solid foundation that was comforting and secure. The fingers of his free hand slid under her chin. “I’ll take care of you now. You can take care of me later?”
Something about the way he looked at her, the way he said those words, made her melt inside. It was definite: Luke got to her in a big way. Though
she was quite certain that right now, in pain, with him shirtless and holding her, was not the time to make any conclusions about how to deal with their relationship, or lack thereof. Especially since in that moment, she really could not bear the idea of never kissing this man again.
“Okay, then,” she conceded. “I just need to lean on you to get inside.” Suddenly, she was gasping as she was scooped up in his arms. “What are you doing, Luke?”
“Letting you lean on me,” he said. “Now let’s get you to the E.R.” He was already walking toward the house.
“No!” she blurted, clinging to his neck. “No E.R. I just need ice, something to kill the pain and a bandage. That’s all. I’ll be fine. It’s too close to your first game for us to be in the E.R. rather than dealing with the reason I’m here—those letters.”
Luke keyed the security code, shoved open the door to the kitchen and set Katie down at the informal dining table. He quickly grabbed another chair to prop her leg up on.
“I’m going to get blood on the chair.”
“I don’t care about the damn chair, Katie,” he said, lifting his shirt and checking her wound. “You’re going to the E.R.”
“No, I—”
He lifted the shirt all the way off and wiped the wound, which filled with blood instantly, but not before she saw the huge gash. “Okay,” she agreed in frustration. The cut was deeper than she’d thought. The pain in her knee had overshadowed the rest. “I’ll go to the E.R.” She motioned to his bare chest and long, muscular legs. “But you might want to consider putting some clothes on first.”
He tied his shirt back around her leg. “I’d really hoped to have you ordering me to take my clothes off, not telling me to put them back on.”
“It must be a sign,” she said. “You’re meant to keep them on.”
“I don’t believe in signs,” he assured her. “Just hard work. I’ve always worked hard for what I want.” He leaned down and kissed her hurt knee. “And I want you, Katie.”