Terri Osburn - Up to the Challenge

“I don’t want to,” he said, hands at his sides.

“You don’t want to dance?” This was not how she expected the night to go. “We don’t have to …”

Before she could wind her way back off the floor, he caught her hand and pulled her against him. “I don’t want to leave you hanging,” he said, as if the statement made any kind of sense. “I need you to know that.”

Okay. Now she was completely confused. He held her so tight, she had to push away from him just to lean back far enough to see his face. When he finally looked down, she said, “What does that mean?”

He ignored the question, laying his forehead against hers. “Can we get out of here?” he asked.

They’d begun to sway to the music and Sid realized dancing had something going for it. Hips pressed together. Lucas holding on tight. The music floating around them as their bodies moved in time as if melded together.

“Can we finish this song?”

Lucas smiled, though his eyes remained dark and stormy. “Yeah. We can do that.”

Sid didn’t say much on the way home, which was good since Lucas didn’t have the words to explain whatever this was spinning through his system. Her scrap of a dress didn’t include pockets so he’d carried the keys. Reaching the truck, they seemed to decide he would drive without either of them saying a word.

With Sid curled against his side on the bench seat, Lucas absorbed the feeling of having her close. A memory he could bring to mind once he was back in Richmond. It would be a while before the scent of watermelon made him think of anything other than Sid in his arms.

Once they reached the house, Lucas circled the truck to lift Sid out. Even with no one around, he didn’t want her jumping out wearing the handkerchief Beth considered a dress.

“I’ve never let anyone drive my truck before,” she said, as if talking about the weather instead of revealing how much she’d come to trust him. Lucas’s chest tightened.

“I can see why. There’s a lot of power under that hood. Takes a steady hand.” He slid a knuckle along her jawline, knowing he wasn’t talking about the truck. Recognizing the understanding in her eyes.

“Right.” Sid looked down but didn’t move. “I need the keys to unlock the door.”

“I’ve got it,” he said, following her to the house, his hand possessive on the small of her back. As he slipped the key into the lock, Sid stopped him with a touch on his arm.

“I appreciate this chivalry thing, but I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time.” She hesitated, as if searching for the right words. “Playing the passive damsel doesn’t sit well with me.”

In the fading light he could see uncertainty in her expression. As if walking a thin line, worried it might break. “I’m sorry,” he said, stepping back to give her access to the door. “You’re right. I’m acting like a caveman.”

Lucas had never been the grunting, Neanderthal type, but something changed when he was with Sid. He wanted to take care of her. Keep her close and send a message that she was taken.

Which, of course, she wasn’t. At least not beyond the next couple weeks. Which didn’t feel nearly long enough. For what, he didn’t know. He only knew thinking about leaving made his gut feel like it was being shoved through a meat grinder.

Sid pushed into the house and Lucas followed. She dropped her keys on the end table, then waited for him to reach the couch.

“What happened back there?”

Lucas shrugged and sat down to remove the ridiculous black boots. “I didn’t like the way Manny was talking to you.”

“I got that,” she said. “We all got that. I admit this jealousy thing was flattering at first. I’ve never had a guy get riled up on my behalf. But now it’s just annoying.”

She had every right to be angry, though he’d have expected a more brilliant display of temper. A good fight would lead to make-up sex, with the bonus of heightened intensity. Not that having sex with Sid wasn’t already the most intense thing he’d ever done in his life.

“It was a knee-jerk reaction. I’ll control it better from now on.” With one boot off, he moved to the next.

“Have I given off the ‘helpless’ vibe?” Sid asked, ripping her own boots off. “Something that says I need to be taken care of?”

She flung the boots to the floor and started untying the leather piece around her waist. Lucas crossed the room and stilled her hands. “Listen to me. There is nothing helpless about you. Nothing. My stupid male ego just takes charge and I turn into a grunting idiot.” He pulled her with him until he was sitting on the coffee table, saving her from straining her neck to see his face. “I’m sorry if my actions made you feel weak. You’re the strongest person I know.” Resting his head against her stomach, he mumbled. “Stronger than I am.”

She had been the one to keep things casual, after all. Something at which he’d failed miserably.

With a firm touch beneath his chin, she forced him to look up. “Why would you say that? You’ve worked your ass off to become a powerful lawyer. You did it all on your own. And you came down here without a second thought to help your family when they needed you. When they needed your strength the most, you came through.”

A thousand arguments ran through his mind, but he didn’t want to fight with Sid. He wanted to love her.

With great care, he dropped a kiss in each of her palms, then pulled her closer, until she was sitting sideways in his lap.

The distraction worked because Sid gave up the fight and said, “I don’t think this table can hold the both of us.”

“Then we’d better find a surface that can.” He took her mouth as he rose to his feet. Standing there, in the middle of Sid’s whitewashed cottage, Lucas made a silent vow that tonight would be different. Tonight would be about more than sex.

Tonight, Sid would know that she was loved. He couldn’t say it with words, but he could show her with his body.

By the time they reached her bedroom, all of Sid’s typical moves to get Lucas to speed things up had failed. The man was determined to take his time, and once he laid her gently on the bed, sending Drillbit hissing from the room, she decided to let him. Instead of ripping her clothes off, their usual first step, Lucas undressed himself, slowly, while maintaining eye contact. His shirt went first, then the pants.

She never failed to be amazed by how beautiful he was.

Sid had a death grip on the comforter by the time he returned to her. But Lucas never looked away. As if he were trying to tell her something important. Make her understand what he was thinking.

If the blood hadn’t all rushed out of her head, she might have been able to download the message. However, brain function wasn’t operating at the highest levels in that moment. The only thoughts running through her mind were of the good God this is going to be good variety.

Lucas reached out a hand and like an obedient child following the Pied Piper, Sid gave her own and was pulled off the bed. She’d half untied the cincher and now Lucas proceeded to unlace it the rest of the way. With no urgency whatsoever. She’d thought him totally unaffected until his hands brushed her breasts and he moaned.

Moaning was a good sign.

The leather fell away and Lucas moved to her shoulders, sliding the dress down little by little. The material slid over her now sensitized breasts, lighting fires across her skin as if every nerve ending were exposed. The dress finally dropped, the cool air fluttering along her body raising goose bumps everywhere. Or maybe that was the anticipation of what would happen next.

The way Lucas was handling the situation, it was hard to tell what he had in mind. He had to know by now seduction was unnecessary. Not that she was going to remind him. Why spoil the man’s fun?

And her own.

Instead of taking her mouth, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. A little chaste considering what they were about to do. Then his hands starting roaming. Taking his time, as if memorizing her, Lucas traced fingertips along her neck, over her shoulders, then his palms brushed over her tightened nipples.

She nearly came off the floor, but her reaction didn’t faze him.

He continued over her taut belly, around her hips, then down her thighs, eventually dropping to his knees. By the time the contact reached her calves, this powerful man she’d had sex with countless times in the last week looked into her eyes and made her heart stop.

“I’m going to make love to you tonight, Sidney Ann.”

It took everything she had not to throw herself at him. Not to lick him from head to toe, light him on fire the way he was doing to her. But something in that look stopped her. Something in his words. Love. He was going to love her.

Dumbstruck, all she could do was nod acceptance. Lucas dropped a kiss just below her naval and she shoved her hands into his hair, feeling the perspiration along his scalp. This level of restraint wasn’t as easy as he was making it look. And he was doing it for her.

It was a good thing the bed was right behind her because Lucas’s next move buckled her knees. His tongue slid way lower than her naval, landing Sid flat on her back on the bed. He pulled her hips to the edge, spread her legs with the slightest pressure, and proceeded to drive her mad.

A combination of torture and absolute bliss, waves of sensations slammed against her, pushing her down, lifting her up, sending her crashing and out of control. She heard a voice begging and distantly realized it was her own. Though she had no idea what she was saying. Something about more and stop and don’t stop and holy mother of God.