Free Naked by Gina Gordon

wrist.

    “Luke!” she yelled again. “I need you.”
    Luke frowned. “What made me go into business with her again?”
    Five years ago, Luke and Harper had opened a tattoo shop—Luke the talent and Harper the office manager. They were a perfect team, but he’d never met two people who bickered and sniped at each other so often.
    Noah shrugged. “It obviously wasn’t for sex.”
    “She’d be much nicer to me if it was.” With a shit-eating grin, he went back to the rest of the group.
    As far as he knew, Luke and Harper had been completely platonic for the five years they’d been in business together, because Luke wasn’t the type of guy to put sex above business.
    He’d never had a girlfriend longer than it took him to come. Girls threw themselves at his feet, all of them thinking they would be the one to wrangle and finally tie down the bachelor. But Noah had yet to see it. And he had a feeling he might never see it.
    Noah made his way into the living room, shocked when he found Harper straddling Luke on the floor.
    “Charlie, you just have to go after it.” Harper rode Luke’s body like a bronco and his eyebrows had practically disappeared into his hairline.
    Harper pushed up her breasts; they were less than an inch from his mouth. “Guys like this,” she continued.
    Luke shook his head, terror darkening his face. “No.” He let out a hard breath. “No they don’t.”

    “Oh, no…” One of her eyebrows lifted in defiance and she continued her grind on his pelvis. The fisting of Luke’s hands on the floor beside him didn’t go unnoticed.
    Violet stared with wide eyes at his friends. They were making a great impression. He wanted her to come over here again, for fuck’s sake. But she didn’t look horrified. She looked…intrigued. Fascinated, even. Her head was cocked to the side. A tiny smile curved at the side of her lips as she watched intently as Harper tried to seduce his best friend. Was she learning something?
    “What the hell are you doing, Harper?” Noah said.
    “I’m showing Charlotte what she needs to do to get the guy.” She grabbed the collar of Luke’s shirt and lowered her head to his neck.
    “What guy?” Noah was always the last to find out the scoop.
    “There is no guy.” Charlotte wasn’t even paying attention. She was more fascinated by the bottom of her drinking glass. “She’s being hypothetical.”
    Suddenly, Harper gasped when Luke grabbed the hair at the nape of her neck. He whispered something in her ear, and it shut her up. Immediately, she removed herself from his lap and scrambled away, resting her back against the wall.
    Maybe there was something between them…
    “Wow.” No longer mesmerized by the free show, Violet looked at her watch. “It’s after two. I should get going.”
    “It’s early.” Harper righted herself, straightening her shoulders and clearing her throat. “I know there’s another bottle of vodka in the cabinet.”

    Violet waved her hands as she stood, straightening her shirt and pulling her scarf closer to her neck. “No, I couldn’t drink another drop.”
    “I’m going to walk Violet to her door.” Noah sidled up to her, placing his hand at her back. “Is that all right with you?”
    She nodded and bit her bottom lip, her hands tightening on the edges of her scarf around her neck.
    When they turned and walked away, Luke called out, “See you tomorrow morning.”
    Harper snickered.
    That was wishful thinking on Luke’s part. This girl was like a frightened deer. One wrong move and she was going to bolt.
    They took the few steps down the pathway that led to the sidewalk and walked in silence to her front door, all the while Violet fiddled with her scarf, arranging it then rearranging it. She had to be hot. It might not be summer yet, but the spring was unseasonably warm.
    Her keys jingled as she pushed one into the lock and opened the door.
    “Thanks for stopping by tonight.”
    When she turned, her eyes were lowered to