I wasn’t big on watching TV so I’d putzed around his loft all night. I spent my time calling Sissy to chew over the latest Luke episode, doing more of Luke’s laundry and tidying his magazines and mail into neat piles to the extent of putting notes on top: “To be opened”, “Deal with this”, “This needs to be filed”, etc. What could I say? I was an organizer.

Then I went to bed. Later, Luke woke me up by shifting me and we had had our scary chat.

Now, morning.

Ee-yikes.

I tried to slide away without him noticing. He rolled and his arms came around me.

“Babe,” he said, sounding very awake.

Foiled!

I looked up at him and he had his chin dipped toward me so I looked right in his eyes.

“Hey,” I mumbled.

“Hey,” he replied.

“I need to brush my teeth.”

His arms got tighter. “Later.”

“No. Now. I can’t face the day without brushing my teeth.”

“Your day can start later,” he said, his eyes turning inky and his thigh sliding between my legs to rest at the heart of my special girl parts.

“Luke –”

His mouth came to mine his eyes still open so I kept mine open too, captivated. Then he pressed his hard boy part into my belly.

Wow.

“I’m not waitin’ to get inside you any longer, Ava, this is happening now.”

Before I could say a word, he kissed me. It became very clear he was quite intent on this happening now.

I wore the Triumph tee to bed and it was gone within seconds. Then his hands were on me, all over me, all the while his mouth on mine. It didn’t take long for me to fall into a Luke Lip Fog and fall I did, head long.

In fact, he was so serious, it didn’t take long for me to surpass his dedication to the cause to the point where I tried to shove him on his back to get more of him. He stayed firm, mouth at my neck, hand trailing down my belly, his destination clear.

I planted a foot in the bed and heaved, rolling him to his back and dislodging his hand.

“Babe…”

He thought I was going to move away. I didn’t.

Instead I straddled him, bending over to use my mouth on him. I put my lips against his neck using my tongue, my teeth, I went down his chest, running my nails through his chest hair and over his ni**les while my mouth explored. I went lower to his abs then lower and stopped. I sat up astride his thighs and got my first full look of all that was Luke.

Yowza.

Nice.

So nice, he should be cast in bronze.

I reached down and wrapped my hand around him, my half-mast eyes on his inky ones, my thumb moving over the tip.

I stroked. Then I was done.

He knifed up, sliced an arm around my back, lifted me clean off him and in the air for a moment before I was on my back. He tore my panties down my legs, settled between them and that was it.

It was going to happen. I was going to do the nasty with Lucas Stark.

And I could not f**king wait.

His lips on mine, both our eyes open, his fingers went between my legs. When he touched me, I did a happy gasp against his mouth and I felt his smile.

“Dripping,” he said against my lips.

Then he kissed me, his hand went away from between my legs, both of his hands went to my hips, he positioned, lifting his head. I saw as his eyes went molten when he watched my tongue wet my lips in anticipation.

Then the buzzer went.

No! My brain shouted.

But whoever was out there was serious, they didn’t take their finger off the buzzer.

“Ignore it,” Luke muttered.

“What if it’s someone needing backup?”

“Fuck ‘em.”

Yippee!

He lifted my h*ps and he was right there, I could feel him and I wanted him more than my next breath. The buzzer died and I lifted my mouth to press against his and that’s when we heard the scream.

We both froze.

Then it came again.

“Ava!”

My blood turned to ice.

“That’s Sissy,” I breathed but Luke was already off me, off the bed, grabbing his cargoes.

I rolled to the side, nabbed the Triumph tee and pulled it over my head then I hopped into my panties. By the time I did this, Luke was already clothed and headed to a door at the side of the loft. I saw that he was shoving a gun in the back waistband of his pants.

“Luke,” I called as he unlocked the door my voice, I could hear, was filled with fear.

He turned to me. “Stay here. Lock yourself in. Don’t go anywhere. I don’t care what you hear.”

I ran to him, he went out the door and I watched as he went down the fire escape.

I closed the door and ran to the drawer where I found a bunch of keys in my search for cookies the night before. I grabbed a key ring full, ran back to the door and found the right key on the third go. I locked the door, tossed the keys to the bar and I ran to my suitcases and grabbed my jeans, pulling them on.

Then I didn’t know what to do.

Sissy, my bestest, best friend was out there, screaming my name.

I put my hands to my forehead, fingers sifting into my hair, I shoved the heels of my palms in and I stood solid, listening.

“Luke, get to her, please, Luke, get to her,” I whispered to no one.

Breathe, Ava, in, out, in, out, Good Ava spoke quietly in my ear.

Snap out of it, girl. Go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, get your glasses, put your bra on, be ready for anything, Bad Ava advised.

I listened to both of them. Breathing deeply in and out, I went about the business of being ready for anything to the point of putting on a bra and deodorant, changing into my Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers tee and putting on flip-flops.

I’d flipped the switch to a fresh pot of coffee (don’t ask me, I wasn’t thinking clearly), when the elevator doors slid open. Luke and Sissy came in and I rushed to them. Sissy was bleeding from the nose and shaking visibly.

Luke looked like Luke. Once I ascertained that he was okay, it was all about Sissy.

I put my arm around her waist and the minute I did she started crying.

“Shh, Sissy, shh,” I sat her on a barstool and Luke went to the phone. I ran to the bathroom, wet a washcloth and carried it into the other room.

“I got a woman bleeding in my loft. Where the f**k is Bobby?” Luke snapped into the phone as I stopped by Sissy and whispered to her, wrapping my fingers around the wrist of her hand at her nose and pulling it away.

There was blood everywhere and I gently wiped at it, constantly whispering in a soft soothing voice as great, shaking sobs tore through her.

“Calm, Sis. Calm, honey. You’re safe. We’re here. No one can hurt you here. Let’s get you cleaned up and see about your nose.”