Nicole Edwards - Temptation

The drive to Sierra’s took longer than Luke wanted it to, but the afternoon traffic was a bitch. That was the one thing Luke hated about Dallas. No matter what time of day, or what day it was, traffic sucked. With his irritation level already reaching epic proportions, the added frustration hadn’t helped his mood any. Thankfully he pulled into Sierra’s drive, which helped him relax just a bit. Seeing her tended to do that to him.

Luke might be an irate asshole most of the time, but when it came to Sierra, she was the only person who could soothe his frazzled nerves. Just seeing her was like a salve to what seemed to be a constant ache inside of him. Since the moment he met her, and despite some of his more ignorant reactions, Luke knew that he lived for this woman.

Before he exited the truck, he grabbed the small box he had tossed in the center console and removed the tiny object inside. Slipping it into his pocket, he was overcome with an emotion he wasn’t all that familiar with. Nervousness.

And he had every right to be. He didn’t know what he was walking into, but heaven help him, it was time that he set this woman straight. Not knowing what it was she needed to talk to him about was eating away at him, and he prayed she hadn’t gone back to thinking she was moving back to Nashville. The thought almost leveled him.

When he reached the front porch, he took a calming breath – it didn’t help one bit – and rapped his knuckles against the door. A few seconds later, the door opened, and the most beautiful woman in the world stood before him. That’s when his heart plummeted into his stomach. She had been crying.

“What’s the matter?” He asked, stepping inside and pulling her up against him, not wasting a single second before touching her. When she wrapped her arms around him, pressed her face against his chest and began sobbing, he experienced that same killing rage he’d felt once before. Whoever had made her cry would be sorry.

Instead of pushing her to talk, he held her against him, soaking up the feel of her, running his hand down her spine, through the long, glossy tresses flowing like satin down her back. When her body stopped shaking, he eased back a step, cupping her face in his hands, forcing her to look up at him.

“She wants me to quit.”

Huh?

Leading her to the couch, Luke sat beside her, still holding her close. Who wanted her to quit? Before he could ask the question, Sierra exploded into words and motion, pushing up from her seat and pacing back and forth across the room.

“Susan called me to her house, and when I got there, she proceeded to tell me that I needed to quit.” Sierra kept pacing, not looking at him. “If she was going to fire me, I was going to be ecstatic, but the bitch said I needed to quit. I’m not going to quit. I’m not a quitter.”

Luke hadn’t seen this side of Sierra. She was fiercely adamant, and the use of the B word nearly made him smile. He still wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but he didn’t interrupt.

“She, of all people, wants to tell me that it’s wrong to be in a relationship with two men. But how would she know anyway? The hypocrite. She didn’t give me a choice, telling me that it’s wrong, and I should be embarrassed.” Then she did turn and look at him. “But I’m not embarrassed, Luke. That’s the problem.”

He definitely didn’t see a problem with that.

“I’m happy being who I am and going after what I want. I’ve spent my entire life wondering what was wrong with me. Then she all but tells me that if I ever plan to work in this town again, I needed to quit, or she was going to sue me. Sue. Me. Can you believe that?”

Ok hold up just a minute. All of the pieces clicked into place and Luke prayed that it wasn’t true. “Are you telling me Susie told you that you needed to quit because of me and Cole?”

“Yes.” Sierra said before stopping and tossing her hair back over her shoulder. “She implied that I’m not normal and that I’m an embarrassment for being in a relationship with two men and that if I didn’t quit, she would sue me for misrepresentation. How could she?”

Luke couldn’t sit still any longer. He made his way over to Sierra, standing in her path so that the next time she paced, she came in direct contact with him. He reached out and held her in place, smiling down at the woman. His woman. “What did you tell her?”

“Everything that was on my mind.” Sierra smiled, and Luke’s heart turned over. God he loved this woman.

“Which was?”

“I told her that I wasn’t going to quit. That I wasn’t going to end my relationships because this is my life, damn it, and I can do whatever I choose to do. She doesn’t have any say in the matter.” Taking a deep breath, Sierra closed her eyes, then opened them once more. “Then I told her to remember that I wasn’t the one keeping secrets.”

Good girl.

Standing there, staring down at her, Luke was beaming with pride. This woman had stood up for him. For Cole. So their relationship wasn’t normal. It would never be normal in the eyes of most people, but he didn’t care. What he felt for both Sierra and Cole couldn’t be changed by the harsh stares of others, or their ignorant comments. And to know that Sierra stood up for them had his heart swelling in his chest.

“I love you.” He blurted the words out.

Sierra stumbled back a step, still staring up at him. “What?”

“You heard me.” He said, stalking her as he moved forward and she took another step back.

“Say it again.”

“I. Love. You.” He told her before he pulled her up against him and crushed his mouth to hers. He filled his hands with her luscious body, while letting his tongue tease hers. When she tried to pull away, he kept her close, a little worried about what she would say. And yes, maybe he was a little insecure. But, Luke knew one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt. He loved this woman fiercely and with everything that he was made of.

Sure, it took him longer than it should have to say it, almost as long for him to accept it, but now that the words were out there, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

To think that his own actions could have very well pushed away this woman because he was too insecure to have something of his own, scared that she would be taken away from him and he would be left with another empty space inside of him had been too much to bare. It had happened with his parents. They had been torn from his life so easily and Luke had vowed, even as a young kid, that he would never have something stolen from him again. Yet he had almost done that to himself.

“Luke.” Sierra managed to push back from him, breaking the kiss, but not letting go of him. He stared down at her, holding his breath as he waited to hear what she had to say. God, please don’t let her reject him. He didn’t think she would, but with the way his luck seemed to run lately, there were no guarantees.

“I love you.” She whispered the words and they went straight through him, piercing his heart.

When she kissed him, he poured every ounce of what he was feeling into the kiss, lifting her in his arms and carrying her to the bedroom.

“Where are we going?” She asked, grinning.

“To get you naked.” Plain and simple.

Luke didn’t waste any time getting them both out of their clothes and then climbing on top of her. “Wait, I forgot something.” He said and rushed off the bed, nearly face planting off the side.

“We don’t need a condom.” She told him, laughing as she watched from where she lay, naked and beautiful, sprawled out like a goddess before him.

No. They didn’t need a condom. But that wasn’t what he was looking for. As he searched through his pockets, finally finding it, he crawled back over her once more.

Staring down at her, seeing the light in her eyes, the soft smile on her lips had his heart rate increasing. The fact that she was naked already spiked his blood pressure, but the way she looked at him so sweetly, had him grinning like an idiot.

“What are you waiting for?” She asked, looping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer.

What was he waiting for? He didn’t know.

“Marry me.” For the second time that day, his mouth got ahead of his brain. Since he wasn’t the romantic, gushy type, he knew it was the best he could do, even if he had spent the better part of the day trying to come up with poems and sonnets to express how much he loved this woman. “Marry me, Sierra.”

She didn’t immediately say no, and she didn’t try to pull away, so he took that as a good sign, but he was frozen in place, staring down at her as he aligned their bodies, wanting to lose himself in her warmth, needing to make love to her. Holding on to his sanity by a very fine thread, he held back, sliding his cock through her slit, but not penetrating her.

“Please.” Hoping that was the magic word, definitely not one of the most used from his vocabulary, Luke continued to look at her.

“Yes.” Sierra whispered the word, but that didn’t matter because she had said it. She said yes!

Luke drove himself inside of her, overwhelmed by the emotions that lit him up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. When Sierra pulled him down, crushing her soft, sweet lips to his, he could barely move. Her pussy clamped down on his cock, sending shockwaves through him and making his balls draw up tight.

He pulled back, slid his hands into hers, their fingers twining together as he pulled her arms above her head. Holding himself above her, their bodies touching from chest to ankle, Luke lurched forward, then pulled back. Over and over he slid into the wet, warm depths of her body and let her consume him. Mind, body, and soul.