And it wasn’t.

Before I could react, his hand snaked out and wrapped around my neck, pulling me forward with a gentle jerk and my hands came up to shield my fall. They hit his chest right before my h*ps slammed into his.

I tilted my head back to look at him and pulled at his hand at my neck. This served no purpose. So I glared at him and pushed against his chest. This also served no purpose.

I saw, in close proximity, that his eyes were very warm.

Eek!

Danger, danger, retreat, Ava Barlow. Retreat!

Before I could push away, he spoke, sounding lost in thought. “Maybe, part of your payment is makin’ you worry what your payment will be.”

See? There it was again.

Not.

Nice.

I pushed against his chest again and pulled my h*ps away. His other arm slid along my waist and pulled me back, pinning my hands and arms so they were helpless between our bodies.

“That’s really not nice,” I told him but he didn’t respond. I demanded, “Let me go.”

His eyes moved over my face and hair and then settled on my mouth. I pursed it angrily. The minute he saw the pursing of lips he did the half-grin.

“Gotta admit, I’m beginning to like the bitch.”

“Stop calling me a bitch.”

His eyes came back to mine. “Stop actin’ like one.”

“Men suck,” I told him because this was true.

“See you don’t feel like not actin’ like a bitch.”

“You suck too,” I went on, going for the gusto. Why not? I had nothing to lose.

“Babe,” he said, sounding like I was entertaining him.

“Stop calling me ‘babe’. It’s demeaning. I’m not a babe, I’m a woman.”

The fingers of his hand at my neck slid into my hair then twisted it, wrapping it around his hand. This wasn’t a rough gesture, it was a sensual one and it made tingles slide across my scalp, the good kind. I stared at him, realizing belatedly we were ultra-close and my eyes dropped back to his lips on their own accord.

“Where’s Matt with my diet?” I asked, sounding desperate and kind of breathy and not taking my eyes from his mouth. My body was going pliant and I couldn’t control it even if I tried (though, I didn’t).

I knew he felt me melting into him. I knew this because his arm around me drew me closer and his fist in my hair gently pulled my head back. This was not a good position to be in, plastered against him, arms pinned, head tilted back in a way that my face was an open target for anything he wanted to do. My eyes shifted to his, the warmer than normal warmth was still there and my knees got weak.

Shit.

I tried to pull myself together, mentally chanting “men suck” and reminding myself I knew exactly where to place the vibrator to get ultimate orgasmic pleasure, thus no fiddling around and experimenting with hitting the target like most men found difficult to do. Even so, I found it impossible with his mouth so close to me, his lips being so fantastic and my eyes dropped to them again.

They were fine.

I licked my lips.

“Ava.”

My eyes drifted back to his and I was in a Luke Lip Fog. “Yeah?”

“You lick your lips while looking at my mouth one more time, you’ll find that pretty pink tongue of yours in my mouth.”

Ho-ly shit.

His face came closer and I watched, frozen and fascinated, mainly because that meant his lips were also coming closer. His indigo eyes had melted to pure, liquid ink and I forgot totally that men sucked.

“You wanna taste me?” he murmured.

Yes, I wanted to taste him. I would pay every penny of Aunt Ella’s inheritance to taste him.

“No,” I lied.

He did a full grin this time, a full satisfied grin. It was hot, so hot my knees totally buckled and he took all my weight into his body.

“Liar,” he whispered, knowing he had me (he couldn’t actually miss it, considering I’d lost the ability to stand on my own two feet).

I watched as his lips started to get closer. In response, my eyes began to close and my lips parted in preparation for contact. Honestly? I hated to admit it but I could barely wait.

It was then the doors to the elevator glided open. My eyes flew open and our heads twisted to watch Matt walk out, carrying a case of diet soda.

Thank you God.

I instantly tried to pull out of Luke’s arms but he didn’t let me move an inch even though his hand went out of my hair. It only did this to wrap around my back to keep me where I was.

“Hey, sorry,” Matt said, grinning like an idiot, not looking sorry at all and even with the idiot grin I wanted to kiss him for interrupting. My vibrators were going to divorce me if I kept going like this.

I looked at Luke and saw his lips were pressed together and he didn’t seem happy. “Next time, buzz up,” Luke’s voice proved my theory correct and made me slightly concerned about his use of the words “next time”.

Matt put the case of soda on the counter. “Will do,” he replied cheerily, ignoring Luke’s pissed off voice. “I’ll just be going.”

“Good idea,” Luke said.

Matt lifted a hand in a small wave as he walked across the room and then he hit the elevator button. I pulled again at Luke’s arms. He looked down at me, still with an unhappy expression, but let me go.

I moved straight to the case of diet pop.

“Later!” I called to Matt as the doors started to close. He lifted his hand to his forehead, gave me a wink and a salute right before we lost sight of him.

Burying the latest episode with Luke deep, deeper, deepest, I ignored it even happened and got myself a can of pop, a glass, some ice from the fridge and poured it. All the while I was doing this, Luke watched me moving around his kitchen, his back to the counter, h*ps against it, arms crossed. I knew this not only because I saw him looking at me but I also felt it.

“You want a soda?” I asked, pretending not to be affected by him watching me.

“No,” he answered.

“I’m going to get dressed,” I told him.

Luke didn’t respond.

I took my glass of pop, grabbed my clothes and moved toward the bathroom, sensing escape and planning my grocery store dash, direct to the cookie dough.

“Ava,” Luke called.

I stopped and turned to him. “Yeah?”

“I’ve decided your payment.”

My body froze and a thrill ran up my back. It was a good thrill, maybe even a great thrill, definitely a vibrator-cheating thrill and I stared at him.

“What is it?”