His One Desire (8 page)

There was an ache in her throat and a stinging in her nose
as emotion tried to escape her body.

It wasn’t just that he’d done an amazing job with that
speech. She was also remembering with a pang of loss the communion she’d felt
when they’d collaborated—at fourteen when they were at summer camp and then at
eighteen, when they’d worked on the senior play together. The times when she
wrote words and Luke brought them to life had been the happiest of her life. He
always got her so thoroughly, understood so instinctively what she was trying
to say. And he always found more in her scripts than she’d intended to put
there, drawing out nuances of thought and emotion she hadn’t been consciously
aware of.

When they’d worked together, they’d been more than just the
sum of their parts.

How had such a partnership been destroyed? How had the two
of them been blown so far apart that they hadn’t spoken in ten years?

Because romance had come into the picture. It had been one
variable too many in their fragile human equation, and it had wrecked the
balance between them.

They should have stuck to work and friendship. If they had,
they might have found ways to collaborate over the years. Projects they could
have worked on together. Or, if Luke’s Hollywood career didn’t leave time for
that, they could have at least stayed in touch. She could have sent him her
scripts to get his feedback, and he could have talked to her about his movie choices.
Maybe she could have convinced him to do a few indie films in the midst of all
his blockbusters.

But what good was it to think about what might have been?

The reality was, they wouldn’t be working together on
Ghosts
.
She’d be the biggest fool in the world if she believed that Luke would abandon
his movie career to come to New York and act in her little show.

And nothing would happen between them romantically. The game
they’d been playing was just that—a game. It didn’t mean anything. A little
leftover tension from high school, that was all.

She’d been frowning down at the table, and now she looked up
to meet Luke’s blue eyes.

A sudden shiver went through her.

Whatever their game had turned into, it had to end now.
Because while she was sure it didn’t mean anything to him, there was a chance…a
small chance…that it was starting to mean something to her.

“That was incredible,” the show’s production designer said.
Now that the silence was broken, other voices echoed the praise with excited
enthusiasm.

Kali recognized the look in her colleagues’ eyes, and her
heart sank. They wanted him on the show. He’d brought magic into the room, and
they wanted more.

She felt exhausted at the prospect of trying to rein in
their enthusiasm. She couldn’t deal with this right now; she just couldn’t.

“What did you think, Kali?” Luke asked quietly. “Could you
see me playing James on the show?”

Yes, she could. After today, she’d never be able to see
anyone else in the role.

That was problem. She could see him on the show, and she
could see him in her life—and neither of those things would ever really happen.

The lump was back in her throat, and she rose hastily to her
feet. “That was a great reading, Luke. Thank you. Unfortunately, I need
to—I—I’m feeling a little under the weather. Maria, I wonder if you wouldn’t
mind taking over this meeting? And if someone would take notes for me, that
would be very helpful.”

Without waiting for a response, she hurried from the room.

* * *

She’d run away. Again.

He knew they had some baggage to deal with, but he was
starting to get tired of Kali’s disappearing act every time things got a little
intense between them.

Enough was enough. Reading her words out loud today had
reminded him of the connection they’d once shared…a connection he still felt.

He’d bet everything he owned that Kali felt it, too. And
tonight they were going to talk about it.

He stopped at her room before dinner, but either she’d gone
down already or she wasn’t answering his knock. Either way, the only thing he
could do was go down alone.

When he snapped at an autograph-seeker in the elevator, he
knew he wouldn’t be good for a damn thing until he confronted Kali. Until he
made her admit that there was something between them. Something real.

He spotted her in the dining room almost immediately. She
was sitting at a table with some of the people from her meeting today, and he
saw with a surge of anger that she was flirting with the guy on her right.

Some might have thought she was simply talking to him, but
Luke knew better. He might have gone ten years without seeing her but he still
knew Kali better than any woman on the planet. She was flirting deliberately
and a little anxiously, because she hardly ever flirted and she wasn’t sure of
herself.

And because she wasn’t sure of herself she had no idea that
she was, in fact, doing such a bang-up job that the guy—Eric, he thought—was
staring at her with dog-like devotion. Luke would have felt sorry for him if he
wasn’t so pissed off.

Apparently walking away from him again and again wasn’t
enough. Kali had now decided to attach herself to some other man as a way to
put distance between them.

As though she felt the same magnetic pull that he did, her
head turned and she met his eyes. She turned hastily away again, leaning
towards Eric and putting a hand on his knee.

Luke’s hands clenched into fists. He stood there for a
moment, and then he turned around and walked away.

He went back to his suite and ordered a steak from room
service, but instead of eating he paced back and forth, his emotions ratcheting
up with every step.

It was good that he’d left the dining room. That was the
wrong time and place to say to Kali what he needed to say. But after dinner,
the network had reserved one of the patios outside for cocktails. She’d be fair
game then.

On the dot of nine he was outside, prowling around the patio
like a caged animal. People started to filter through the French doors that
opened out from the dining room, mellow from dinner and ready for drinks.

There she was. She was still with Eric, her hand on his arm
and her expression more relaxed—probably because he hadn’t been at dinner and
she thought she was safe.

She was wearing a green silk dress, and Luke was willing to
bet Tom had picked this one out, too. It clung to her slender curves like it
had been made for her, the neckline low enough to show the enticing valley
between her breasts, and when Eric shot a look in that direction something
snapped inside him.

Eric’s quick glance at Kali’s cleavage wasn’t a monumental
event in the grand scheme of things, but it was enough to push him over the
edge. A primal voice howled that Kali was his, that no other man could look at
her that way.

He knew his reaction was sexist as hell but he didn’t care.
As Luke strode across the patio towards them, all the tension and frustration
of the last two days coalesced into a fierce rush of carnal intent.

Kali and Eric were at the bar now, facing away from him. He
put a hand on Kali’s shoulder and she jumped, spinning around to face him.

“Luke,” she said blankly.

Eric turned, too. Oblivious to the tension crackling in the
air, he stuck out his hand with a big smile. “That was a great reading today. I
really hope you end up working with us on
Ghosts
. Maria and I were
saying that you really captured the—”

“Yeah. Do you mind if I borrow Kali for a minute?”

Eric blinked. “Uh—”

“Thanks.”

He circled a hand around Kali’s wrist, and then he was pulling
her after him across the patio and onto the walkway that led to one of the
outdoor pools. The pool area was dark and deserted, and the shed where the
towels were kept would give them all the privacy he needed.

Kali’s heart was in her throat as Luke pulled her along
after him, his grip on her wrist almost hard enough to hurt.

All of her consciousness was on that point of contact
between them. There was something there that she wanted. Something that called
to her on a wordless, primitive level.

He opened the door to a small shed and pulled her inside. As
he kicked the door shut and crowded her back against the shelves, something
happened to her body that she’d never experienced before.

She felt herself go pliant.

The shed was dark, but moonlight filtered down through two
windows and a skylight. Luke loomed above her, his face hard and angular in the
shadows, and now he put his arms on either side of her shoulders, caging her
with his body.

There were stacks of towels behind her, and when she tilted
her head back to look at him she felt their softness. It was an echo of the
softness in her body, a voluptuous euphoria that bloomed inside her.

No truth or dare this time. Just an order.

“Turn around.”

His voice was low and rough and commanding, and everything
in her thrilled to the sound of it.

She obeyed instantly, heart pounding, as though she’d been
waiting for Luke to tell her what to do since she was fourteen years old. She
pressed her face into the towels, relishing their scent and texture.

Desire prickled her skin as Luke lowered her zipper. He
pushed the dress down her body, letting it fall to the floor.

Then his hand was at her bra. With one deft twist he undid
the clasp, sliding the straps down her arms and tossing it aside.

When he slid his thumbs into the elastic of her panties she
started to shake. She wanted this—oh, God, she wanted this—but all her old
fears and insecurities seemed to rise up at once and paralyze her.

Her panties were down. “Step out of them,” Luke ordered her.

His voice cut through her fear. She did as he told her,
lifting one foot and then the other. She was naked now except for her high
heels. She closed her eyes tightly, her hands gripping the shelf in front of
her.

He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “I’ve wanted you
for so long, Kali. There wasn’t a night senior year I didn’t fantasize about
you.”

She felt his hands on her shoulders, big and strong and
warm. His breath tickled her, and a feathery chill ghosted over her skin.

“As your friend I felt so much tenderness for you, so much
gentleness. But when I dreamed about fucking you I was never gentle. When you
stood me up on prom night, I thought maybe you’d sensed it somehow. That you
knew how I fantasized about you and didn’t want anything to do with me.

“Of course that was just one of the things I thought. I went
through every possibility in my head. Sometimes I thought it was because of
your dad, or because I was poor.”

Then, as though the memory of those days made him want to
stake a claim on her body, he slid a hand down to her pussy and pushed three
fingers inside her.

She gasped at the rough invasion, and his fingers began to
rotate slowly, stretching her.

“You’re so fucking tight,” he said, his voice as rough as
his touch. He slid his other hand around her and then up, cupping her left
breast and pinching her nipple.

She moaned then, her body twisting restlessly in his grasp.

“After prom night, I swore I’d never fantasize about you again.
Sometimes I’d even last a week or two. But then…you know that moment when
you’re masturbating, when you’re close and you just need something, some image,
to push you over the edge?”

Yes, she knew that moment. Luke had inhabited that place in
her psyche since she’d first figured out how to give herself an orgasm.

He moved closer, and for the first time let her feel his
erection. He pushed his cock against her and she arched back into him, the
movement increasing the friction of his fingers inside her.

“When I can’t control my thoughts any more, I think of you.
You’ve pushed me over the edge so many times that just thinking about you can
get me hard.”

He pulled his hands from her body, and she almost cried out
in protest.

Then he spoke into her ear again, softer than before. And
though he wasn’t touching her at all she felt him behind her like an impending
force—a flame or a tide or a predator, ready to consume her.

“Here’s the thing, Kali. You deserve a partner who’ll make
love to you exactly the way you want. The way you need. If what you want is a
gentle, considerate lover, then I’m not your man. I could be for any other
woman on the planet, but not you. What I feel for you is too intense.”

He put his hands on her again, gripping her hips and pulling
her towards him. “If that freaks you out or scares you, tell me now. Tell me
now and I’ll let you go. Otherwise I’m going to fuck you exactly the way I want
to. And it won’t be gentle.”

Every word he’d said illuminated the dark, formless place
inside her until she felt transparent, filled with heat and light and
knowledge. Had she sensed this about him all along? Yearned for it without
understanding it?

Because this was what she wanted—this hard possessiveness,
this fierce passion. Her own timidity and uncertainty about sex, which other
men had responded to with patience and respect and gentle courtship, burned
away like straw in the face of Luke’s dominance.

But she didn’t know how to say that out loud. So she turned
instead, pressing her naked body to his clothed one and burying her face
against his chest.

“Luke,” was all she could manage, her voice muffled against
his body.

It was enough.

He slid his hands into her hair and urged her head back. He
looked down at her for one burning instant, and then his mouth was on hers.

His kiss was an assault that left her breathless and
boneless. One hand moved to the back of her head as the other slid down to cup
her ass, holding her against his erection. His tongue circled hers, taking
possession, and the heat and friction made her moan against his mouth.