Calling Me Back by Louise Bay

me. I took it, and he coaxed me onto his lap.
    He stroked my back as he buried his head in my neck. “No . . . I don’t know. I think it’s been building for a while, and I’ve only now noticed. I was surprised that I didn’t really like you dating Richard. I couldn’t figure out why it bothered me, and then tonight, when I saw you, I realized.”
    “Realized?” I asked.
    He brushed the hair from my neck and bent to kiss it. “Yeah, that I wanted to kiss you.”
    It wasn’t much of an explanation, but my brain was foggy with confusion and lust and tequila. My body bowed toward his as if I were under his total control. He trailed kisses down my collarbone. Did I need to know everything, right at this second? As if answering my question, his mouth met mine again, his tongue running along the seam of my lips. Did he feel what I was feeling? I reached for him. Completed our connection. I never wanted to let him go.
    My hands roamed across his chest. I’d always imagined what it would feel like, but he was harder than I had expected, more defined. He shifted underneath me and groaned. I stilled for a moment, wondering briefly if I shouldn’t be touching him. “Don’t stop,” he whispered, and he moved me off his lap and pushed me down on the sofa, crawling over me.
    He kneed my legs apart and looked at me before diving for my mouth again. I could feel him properly now. He was hard against my thigh. He wanted me. In a way I never thought he would, he wanted me. This had been building in me for fifteen years, but somehow it had all happened so fast. It was nothing I’d expected.
    “Jesus, you taste so good, Ash. How did I not know you tasted like this?” he asked, pressing kisses between my breasts.
    My skin heated everywhere he touched. His words, his fingers, his lips—they all conspired to pull me under. It felt so good—almost too good.
    “Luke,” I said softly. He didn’t seem to hear me. “Luke,” I repeated. I put my hands on either side of his face.
    He looked at me, his eyes burning.
    “What are we doing?” I asked.
    He dropped a kiss on my lips then moved to my side. With his leg slung over mine, he propped his head up on his hand. “You don’t want this?” he asked as he trailed his hand up and down my body.
    “Yes, of course, but . . .”
    “But you wonder what happens next: Will we still be friends? What will Haven say? Will it be good?”
    I smiled at him. “Yeah. That’s pretty much it.”
    He nodded. “That’s all I’ve been thinking about all night. Well, in between wondering how you’d taste, what it would feel like to be buried in you and what you look like when you come.”
    “Luke,” I said, embarrassed.
    “I can’t help it. It’s like someone’s opened a door, and I’ve stepped through to this different world. There’s no going back.”
    I placed my hand on my chest to try to calm my heart. “Do you think we should slow down?” I asked. We were moving quickly, and soon we would be at a point where things would change forever.
    “Whatever you want. I don’t want to push you into anything. My heart and my groin are saying one thing, but maybe my brain is in synch with yours.”
    “I’m pretty sure our groins are in agreement, too,” I said with a laugh.
    Luke grinned at me. “You have the most fantastic smile. I’ve always thought so.”
    “Let’s make a promise that whatever happens tonight, we make sure we’re always family.”
    “That’s non-negotiable as far as I’m concerned,” he said with that sexy grin that had made my insides melt since forever.
    “Then kiss me.” I was giving him, and myself, permission to cross the line of no return.
    I could tell by the way he looked at me that he knew what I was saying. He searched my face, maybe to find a trace of doubt, but I knew there wasn’t any. He stood and held out his hand to me. The nerves in my stomach danced as I took it. He led me down the corridor to my bedroom.
    What if it wasn’t