Luke’s sexy rumble of laughter caught her attention and Julie’s eyes darted on their own accord toward him. A young brunette waitress with deep cle**age was blatantly flirting with him, and he seemed to be enjoying the attention.

Instantly, Julie felt the unfamiliar and very unwelcome flare of jealousy, the same feeling she’d felt in the hotel.

“Julie?”

Her eyes darted to Lauren, and she didn’t even realize Lauren had returned. “Sweetie,” Lauren said, “what’s going on with you and Luke? I know you don’t like me to bring up your past with him, but it is obvious something’s going on with you two.”

“We’re friends,” she said quickly, not wanting to talk about herself. Tonight was about Lauren. “Nothing more, and all is well.”

Lauren took a sip of her wine and studied Julie closely. “Maybe later tonight, when we’re alone, you might want to talk.”

Julie forced a smile. “About you and your soon-to-be hot new husband. You’re marrying the man you love tomorrow. I know you went to the spa today, but you never get your feet done, so I bought pedicure stuff, lotion, and candles.”

Lauren smiled brightly and gave Julie a big hug. “I love you, you know?”

Julie smiled into her hair, fighting emotion. “I love you, too.”

Feeling ever weepy, Julie let a busboy take her salad plate and reached for her wine, only to realize that her hand was shaking. She set the drink back down and somehow her gaze collided with Luke’s right when the waitress settled her hand on his shoulder.

Breaking eye contact, she diverted her gaze to the plate that had just been set in front of her. Suddenly the crowd was suffocating her. She needed space. Tossing down her napkin, she scooted her chair away from the table and excused herself. Making a beeline to the bathroom, her steps were hurried, her heart racing ridiculously fast for no explainable reason.

Thankful for a bathroom that held only one, Julie yanked the door open to step inside. The last thing she needed was an audience of women. Suddenly, she felt hands on her waist as she was lifted forward and sat back down in the bathroom. The door slammed, and she whirled around to see Luke locking the door.

***

Luke turned to find Julie gaping at him. “Are you crazy, Luke?” she demanded.

“Depends who you ask and on what day of the week, but not now, no. Now, I’m real darn clear on what I’m doing and why. I’ve known that waitress for years. She’s a friend, and nothing more.”

She hugged herself, turning away from him. “I have no clue what you're talking about, Luke.”

He took a step forward, slid a finger under her chin and forced her gaze to his. “You were upset when you left the table.”

“No, I...it’s been a confusing scary few days. I’m not myself.”

Her hand went to his wrist and heat darted up his arm, but it was the vulnerable, insecure look on her face that undid him. She didn’t think he wanted her. Despite his attention, despite the kisses that would, and should have, set off a five-alarm blaze, she didn’t know.

He slid his hand to her neck. “I only want one woman and that’s you.”

“Then act like it, Luke,” she said, ”because you’re confusing me and I don’t know what you want. I–”

He covered her mouth with his and for the first time since his return, he let her taste his desire, let her feel the hunger inside him that no one had sated since her. His hand slid over the sexy curve of her hip to the dip of her tiny waist.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she molded herself to his body. She was no longer vulnerable or timid. She was the seductress she could be, the seductress he knew had just lured him to the very place he’d sworn he wouldn’t go. To the land of lust and forgetfulness where she ruled, where sex was a weapon, and a wall of separation grew despite the absence of clothing.

She covered his hand with hers, and led it to her breast, molding it to her body. His c**k thickened, his zipper stretched. He’d wanted this woman for ages, and the days of turning away from her, from wanting her and not having her, had left him on edge and hungry.

He tore his mouth from hers, his chest rising and falling, his breathing heavy. Her eyes were dark, heavy-lidded, her gorgeous perfect mouth swollen from his kisses. “I swore I wouldn’t let you do this to me.”

“What is it I’m doing?” she asked, her hand sliding down his zipper to stroke his erection. “This?”

“Yes,” he said, giving her the same treatment she had him, pressing her hand down on his crotch. “This. What am I doing to you, I wonder?” He shoved her skirt up, his finger trailing thigh highs that told him her stellar ass would be all but naked. “Are you wet, Julie?”

She leaned in, her lips a breath from his. “Only one way to find out.”

His c**k thickened, his zipper strained even further. He slanted his mouth over hers, devouring her, tasting her, when he really wanted to gobble her up. His hands slid around her backside, pulling her close to him, molding her against him, her soft curves against his burning hot and hard body. He lifted her and set her on the counter, her skirt hiked to her waist. Luke pulled back to study her glazed, sexy stare, watching her as his palms caressed a path up her thighs, until his thumbs brushed the tiny piece of silk some might call panties. He called them a tease.

She worried her bottom lip and he felt that scrape of her teeth in every inch of his body. He soothed it with his tongue, his fingers pressing beneath the silk to find the slick heat of her arousal. “Hot and wet,” he murmured next to her ear, the scent of her perfume mixed with aroused female working a number on his already revved up hormones.