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 h*ps forward and when he set me down again, he was inside me.

Wow.

Nice.

“What did you want to talk about?” he asked as his hand slid down my arm, fingers curling around my wrist, he brought my hand between us and pressed it in so my fingers hit the target.

Ultra nice.

“Ava.”

“What?”

“You wanted to talk.”

I did? Shit, I did.

His fingers moved my fingers until my fingers took over. Then his hand moved to my ass, the other one slid up my back and his neck bent, lips hitting the skin above the lace again while his ‘tache tickled it.

“Um –” I mumbled then moved, sliding slightly up and down, as my fingers rolled.

This was hot.

Ava, focus, Good Ava admonished.

Yeah, focus. Focus on how hot this is. Yum-mee, Bad Ava cooed.

Yikes!

I had recruited the Rock Chicks for this operation and they had worked so hard on it I had to see it through. If I didn’t they might throw me out of the club.

So I persisted. “I just wanted to tell you, I like my house, I like my Range Rover and I don’t think you should go to Vito’s family meeting.”

His head dropped back again and he looked at me. His hand at my spine slid around and cupped my breast, thumb sliding across my nipple over the lace and that felt so good I made a little sound in my throat.

Between his thumb, my fingers and his hard boy part, I was quickly losing the will to manipulate macho man Luke into doing what I wanted.

He started talking. “We’ll stay at your house while the blinds are being put up. Once the blinds are up, we’ll try the loft for awhile. We’ll see how it goes and we’ll decide. Work for you?”

I moved up and down, not slightly this time, but more.

Then I ground into him and breathed, “Okay.”

“The Range Rover’s gotta go, babe. It’s not safe.” His voice was growing rough.

“I like my car.” My voice was still breathy.

“We’ll get you another car. I’m thinkin’ Mustang.”

I liked Mustangs. Mustangs were super-fly.

“Okay,” I repeated.

My fingers pressed in, it felt good and I licked my lips as he watched.

“Christ.” This time, his voice was definitely rough.

“The family meeting –” I went on.

“You aren’t near Zano unless I’m with you.” The roughness had a new dimension now.

“Why?”

“He wants this.” His thumb did another nipple swipe while his h*ps bucked and I bit my lip as heat shot through me. “And I’m not givin’ him the chance to go for it.”

My other hand curled around his neck and I looked at him. “But,” I whispered and then slid my fingers to where we connected. “I only want this.” I dropped my forehead to his. “You don’t have to trust Ren, Luke, but you can trust me.”

At my words and my touch, his eyes went molten, his hand slid into my hair, twisted and he kissed me, hard, hot and deep.

When his lips disengaged, he murmured, “You got it, beautiful.”

Yay! My mind screamed.

There it was. Proof positive. Luke was The Best Guy Ever.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

Then I went back to focusing on my target and while I did this Luke watched. It wasn’t embarrassing, it was sexy and it was hot. After awhile, it was so sexy and hot, I arched back, ready to let it happen, but he pulled me forward again.