We were both slightly bent at the waist and I was still struggling, flipping out that all of a sudden I was stand-up wrestling with a guy named Mace at the same time trying to pull free, when the door opened.

Mace and I stayed locked together but we both froze and our heads jerked toward the door.

Luke stood there.

Fuckity, f**k, f**k, f**k.

I noticed instantly he looked even better than ever. Tall (at least four inches taller than me and I was five foot eight), lean and built, wearing a skintight black t-shirt, black cargo pants and black boots. His thick hair was clipped short to his head, not a buzz cut, but short. The beard was gone and in its place was the baddest-ass mustache I’d ever seen; thick and black across his lip and trimmed neat down the sides of his mouth.

Holy cramoly! I wanted to know at that very moment what it felt like to have that mouth, with that ‘tache, on me; on any part of me. I didn’t care which part and I wouldn’t have been choosy.

His eyes came to me, slid to Mace then back to me.

Then one side of his mouth went up in a half-grin. At the sight, I melted into Mace and even though he had to feel the fight had gone out of me he didn’t let me go.

“Too late again,” Luke muttered, sounding amused, his eyes on me but I got the feeling he wasn’t talking to me.

“Not quite,” Shirleen told him and she sounded like she was trying hard not to laugh.

This exchange confused me but I had no time to ask or say anything at all. Luke’s eyes moved away from me and scanned the room. Obviously looking for something then not finding it they sliced back to Shirleen.

“Where’s Ava?” he asked, his eyes narrowed, the arms around me tightened and both my captor and I straightened.

“What do you mean, where’s Ava? Boy, you looked right at her,” Shirleen answered.

I heard a door open but, since it was behind my back and there was a big, solid guy there I couldn’t look. Not that I would have. Luke’s eyes had cut to me and pinned me to the spot.

I went still and he stared at me.

“Hey Luke,” I said, feeling and sounding stupid.

His brows came together. “Ava?” he asked.

“In the flesh,” I tried for a jaunty smile even though Mace still hadn’t let me go and I felt like a big dork.

Luke did a body scan then his eyes came back to mine. “What the f**k happened to you?”

There was definitely a sort of pissed off accusation in his tone. Not the reaction I had dreamed of (quite a lot) when Luke saw the new me.

“I got contacts,” I told him.

He glared at me.

“And I dyed my hair.”

The glare turned scary.

“And I lost seventy-five pounds.”

For some reason, at this Shirleen burst out laughing and I could hear other laughter in the room as we’d been joined by more people that I couldn’t see. I just kept my eyes on Luke who looked, for some insane reason, about to blow.

His jaw clenched and his gaze moved to the man behind me. “You wanna let her go?” he asked but it wasn’t really a question and the tone of his voice was downright frightening.

The arms around me loosened and I took a step away.

Luke stayed where he was. “What’re you doin’ here?” he asked, still weirdly pissed off and still angrily glaring at me.

I decided instantly I didn’t need a tough guy. I was going to go it alone so I lied, “Thought you might want to get a beer.”

“I called you,” he said, changing the subject suddenly, seemingly oblivious to our audience.

Crap, I was worried about this.

He had called me, half a dozen times after his father’s funeral. Two, I missed because I was out. Four, I had listened to, sitting there while he was leaving the messages and I didn’t answer. None of them I returned.

“I know,” I said softly.

“After my father died, I called you,” he repeated and the laughter swept out of the room just as quickly as it came in.

“I know,” I repeated.

“You didn’t call back and now you wanna have a beer?”

His tone was even more frightening than before. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible but there it was.

“Um… maybe not,” I muttered, deciding that perhaps I should go home, go to bed and get up again and try the day differently, next time making smart decisions about my actions (read: not going to Nightingale Investigations).

“What’re you doin’ here?” he asked again.

“I told you,” I answered.

“You lied,” he stated.

My mouth dropped open. I had lied of course but how could he know that? And anyway, he was accusing me of lying in front of other people.

I felt my temper flare.

“I did not,” I snapped (and lied again).

“Bullshit.”

“Don’t you say ‘bullshit’ to me, Lucas Stark.”

“Don’t lie to me, Ava. What’re you doin’ here?” He wasn’t going to let it go.

“I was going to ask you out for a beer. Then I remembered I have a dentist appointment and now I’m late so I’m just going to…” I was preparing for escape, I took two steps toward the door, mid-rant, and Luke moved.

One second he was several feet away from me. The next second, he was right there, bent over and, I kid you not, his shoulder slammed straight into my belly, he lifted up and started moving, taking me with him. I let out a small, surprised scream and I heard a couple of gasps as his shoulder twitched and he bumped me into a more solid position on it, his arm wrapped around the backs of my thighs. He walked from the room, opening a door and carrying me with him as he went through.

At this turn of events I was too stunned to move much less struggle. But I did lift my head to see Shirleen and Mace as well as another black lady, another seriously hot guy and a movie star gorgeous woman with black hair and violet eyes all watching us go.

We were in a hall and I saw the door close behind us right before I came to myself and yelled, “Let me down!”

Luke didn’t answer. He turned and we went through another door. He stepped free of the door, turned again and I saw we were in a kitchenette slash locker room. I heard the door close before Luke turned one more time, bent forward and set me on my feet. I would have done something (though I didn’t know what that something was) to get away but he moved into me. I had no choice but to move back and I slammed against the door. Luke came up close, the heat from his body hitting me, his face in mine and I stilled. He was so tall and broad, I couldn’t see anything but him. He was so pissed off and full of attitude, I was captivated by him and wouldn’t have been able to look or move away if I tried.