Decode (Luke Series, #7)
Read Decode (Luke Series, #7) Online
Authors: Cassia Leo
Tags: #cassia leo, #shattered hearts, #luke series
DECODE
Luke #7
by Cassia Leo
Copyright © 2013 by Cassia Leo
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not
be reproduced in any form without expressed written permission from
the author; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in
published reviews.
All characters and events appearing
in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real events or
persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
For Sam.
You proved your love for
Luke.
This book proves my love
for you.
Chapter One
“Hand me that
bikini.”
Luke stares at my
almost-naked body in the dressing room as if he hasn’t seen it a
million times during our five years of marriage. I’m still wearing
the lacy white panties that Luke can never resist.
“Please hand me that
bikini,” I repeat, but he doesn’t even flinch.
He takes a step toward me
with a starved look in his aquamarine eyes and the carpeted floor
sways beneath my feet.
“You wore those on
purpose,” he murmurs as his fingers glide over my waist and around
to my lower back.
“What if I did?”
He slowly pulls me
against him and the front of his shirt rubs against my bare nipples
as his chest heaves against mine. His lips are inches from my
mouth, glistening and calling me with the sweet scent of the iced
tea he was sipping thirty minutes ago. His hand slides beneath the
fabric of my panties and my skin prickles as his fingertips float
over my skin.
Some men have rough
fingertips from years of working blue-collar jobs. Luke’s
fingertips are always whisper soft and tender, unless he’s been
working on his sixteen-year-old boat. I’m not one of those wives
who will tell her husband to get rid of something old just because
it causes too much trouble. As Luke has told me many times before,
that boat was the first thing he bought when he began making insane
amounts of money in the tech world. He loves it almost as much as
he loves our two children.
So I don’t mind so much
when his rough fingertips scratch the sensitive skin on my ass. It
actually gets me hotter, just thinking of Luke on his boat, with
his shirt off, his tanned skin glistening with sweat and his
aquamarine eyes alight with the passion of doing what he loves.
I have to have him right
now.
Hastily, I begin
unbuttoning his jeans as he slips one hand behind my neck, tangling
his fingers in my hair as he pulls me in for a kiss. His lips are
much softer than his fingertips, but his kiss is firm, just like my
grip on his growing erection.
I moan as he thrusts his
tongue deep inside my mouth and I taste more iced tea. I smell his
cologne, a crisp, masculine scent that reminds me of long nights on
his boat when we first started dating; when he didn’t know I was
sent to betray him. Luke and I have come so far since the day I
walked into his office for a job interview six years ago, but the
passion we felt then is still very much alive.
His arm slides down my
back until both his hands are on my ass and he lifts me off the
carpet as I wrap my legs around his hips. I gasp as he enters me
and my back is pressed against the cold mirror behind me. Luke’s
size
has been an issue for me, at times.
We have to compromise when I’m riding him or when he’s behind me
because it can be quite painful when he pierces me too deeply. But
this position—up against a wall—is perfect.
I try not to make too
much noise. We
are
in a public dressing
room. But it’s difficult not to voice my pleasure when I’m with
Luke. He knows exactly what to do, exactly what spot to hit,
exactly how fast and slow to move when he’s inside me. He drives me
crazy, and he knows it.
“Quiet,” he whispers as
his cock stretches me, torments me, owns me.
“Easy for you to say,” I
whisper, leaning my head back as I clutch his hair.
“You think this is easy
for me,” he whispers against my neck before he bites me, hard.
I whimper as softly as I
can because I know he’s only biting me to contain his own cries of
pleasure.
The shrill sound of my
phone ringing inside my purse makes my body tense, but Luke
continues thrusting, undaunted by this interruption.
“Stop. It could be the
kids.”
“They’re with Violet.
They’re fine.”
Just hearing him say her
name while he’s inside me makes me bristle. I unwrap my legs from
around his hips and quickly lower myself to the floor.
“Ow!” he cries as I bump
his erection while making my way to the other side of the dressing
room to retrieve my phone. “Are you serious?”
I slide my phone out of
my purse and answer the call without acknowledging Luke’s question.
Just seeing Violet’s name on my phone has made me even more
annoyed.
“What happened?” I bark
into the phone.
“I’m so sorry, Br—Mrs.
Maxwell. I totally forgot that I’m supposed to meet Liam’s sister
for dinner tonight. I have to leave in an hour.”
Violet is our new
twenty-three-year-old nanny who replaced Myrna four months ago when
Myrna decided she needed to spend more time with her grandchildren.
I’m sure her decision had nothing to do with the fact that Luke had
given her a healthy bonus the week before she quit. Sometimes Luke
is too generous for his own good.
Luke is the one who
insists Violet calls me Mrs. Maxwell. The fact that Violet almost
calls me Brina at least once a day only makes me trust her even
less. As much as I don’t want to play the role of the jealous wife,
Violet brings it out in me. She’s eleven years younger than Luke
and six years younger than I; the same age I was when Luke and I
met. If she weren’t the best damn nanny I interviewed, I’d have
fired her months ago.
“We’ll be there in an
hour,” I reply.
I don’t want Violet’s
relationship with her fiancé to be strained because she forgot
about a dinner date with his sister. We’ve only met Liam once, but
he seems like a nice guy. Though, I must admit, I did not catch
Violet ogling Liam once during that meeting, the way I catch her
ogling Luke almost every day.
I stuff the phone back
into my purse and turn around. Luke is glaring at me as he buttons
his jeans. I don’t want to be the jealous wife, but Luke knows. He
always knows.
“Is it
really
an emergency?” he asks.
Reaching for my T-shirt,
I pull it on without bothering to put on my bra. “Yes. She has an
important thing with Liam’s sister.”
Luke lets out a derisive
chuckle as he reaches for the handle on the dressing room door.
“I’ll be outside.”
It only takes a few
seconds before I realize what I need to do to fix this. I finish
getting dressed before I open the dressing room door, but I don’t
step outside. Luke stares at me, waiting for me to join him.
“You go ahead,” I say. “I
still have a lot of shopping to do for the trip. I know that’s not
your thing, so… you’re excused.”
He smiles at my attempt
to display my trust in him. “Are you sure? You’re not going to
punish me for this later?”
“Punish you for
what
? Just go before I change my
mind.”
He steps toward me and
takes my face in his hands as he plants a soft kiss on my lips.
“I’ll finish you off later.”
“Yes, you will… a few
times.”
He laughs as he walks
away. The dread builds inside me with every step he takes, twisting
my stomach into knots. Why do I feel like I just made a huge
mistake?
I rush through the
shops as Perry, my part-time bodyguard, hauls the bulk of my bounty
in his bulky arms. By the time Perry pulls the Bentley into the
driveway, my mouth is bone dry from the non-stop shopping and the
anxiety. Upon entering the house, I head straight for the kitchen
to grab a glass of water. It’s eight p.m. Luke is probably upstairs
putting the kids to sleep.
I guzzle a glass of water
and quickly make my way upstairs to say goodnight to the kids. My
stomach clenches when I see Violet standing just outside Lucas’s
bedroom, peeking through the crack in the door with her lips curled
into a smile that oozes unadulterated adoration.
Her blonde hair falls
down her back in loose waves, which I taught her how to do when I
got tired of her complimenting my hair three times a day. She’s
wearing a soft blue dress and I can’t help but remember when Luke
told me last week how good I looked in the new dress I’d bought.
Violet was standing right next to me when he said it.
She turns toward me when
she hears my footsteps and the frightened look on her face fills me
with anger. “I thought you had a dinner tonight.”
“She called a couple of
minutes before Luke got here to cancel. I was going to call you,
but he walked in and… and he told me we should just let you do your
shopping in peace.”
She has no qualms with
calling Luke by his first name.
“Mr. Maxwell told you
that?” I whisper. She nods nervously and I grit my teeth to stop
myself from saying anything that may make it seem as though I don’t
trust Luke. “You can go now.”
“Did you still want me to
come tomorrow morning?”
I look at her
incredulously. “Of course.”
As much as I’d love to
take a vacation without the nanny, I know that there’s no way I can
have a stress-free vacation with the kids and Luke without Violet
there. This trip to London serves three purposes. Luke has a huge
meeting with some investors the day after we arrive. The following
day will be his family reunion. It will be the first time the
children will meet all of Luke’s mother’s family. Luke and I are
also using this trip as an opportunity to have a do-over of our
honeymoon. Our first honeymoon didn’t go so well. Lucas was only a
month old and I had trouble enjoying my time away from him. Luke
and I are planning to take a couple of days away from the kids,
while Violet takes care of them, to enjoy London.
Luke exits Lucas’s room
shortly after Violet leaves and he swiftly moves in to kiss me. I
turn my head and his lips graze my cheek.
“Why was Violet still
here?”
“Her sister-in-law
cancelled—”
“She’s not her
sister-in-law yet. And I know she cancelled the dinner, but why was
she still here if you were here? She could have left.”
“She was putting Rhianne
to sleep while I put Lucas down. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just… nervous
about flying with the kids for eleven hours.”
“You’re sure that’s all
that’s bothering you?”
“No. There is something
else that’s bothering me,” I say as I reach out and take a chunk of
his T-shirt in my fist. “I believe you left some unfinished
business in that dressing room.”