Free Lucifer's Lover by Tracy Cooper-Posey Page B

He gets very involved with his projects.”
    He opened the door and Lindsay shivered at the cold rush of air. She opened her own door and went around to the driver’s side. Luke was already a few paces away, preparing to leave.
    “Well…” he said. “It’s been an interesting date.”
    “I’m glad you got your money’s worth.”
    He put his hands in his coat pocket. “I don’t think I’m the only one who did that,” he said, his breath fogging the air.
    True.
    The impulse struck her suddenly, without warning. She crossed the crisp snow to stand in front of him and reached up to grasp his lapels. She felt him pull his hands out of his pockets and thought for a moment he was going to push her away but he laid them on top of hers. His eyes were completely black in the light.
    She tugged a little, trying to pull herself up and him down.
    “You don’t have to do this,” he said.
    “I know.”
    “It wasn’t a real date. Not in the proper sense. I tricked you into it. You know that.”
    “I know.” She pulled a little harder.
    “Just so we’re perfectly clear on this. This isn’t part of the fake date thing, is it? Or is it some sort of thank you?”
    “No.”
    “It’s just that I wouldn’t want to take it the wrong way. That could lead to all sorts of ugly complications—”
    “Luke, you’re running off at the mouth again.”
    “God, yes,” he said, his voice low.
    She pulled again and this time he let her. She kissed him, exploring his taste, the shape of his mouth, the novelty of the kiss. Then, from an unknown quarter, an intense, heavy, sweet wave of pleasure spilled through her and all the intellectual curiosity about the kiss washed away beneath it. She was drawn into it, coherent thought scattered to the four winds.
    She lost sense of time. When the kiss ended, it was very much like she was reviving from a drug-induced haze. Her lips were swollen and her whole body throbbed with unfulfilled tension. Luke’s arms were around her, holding her up, lifting her to his lips.
    She held her breath for a second, then pushed it out with a heavy sigh.
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “You kissed me.”
    “Is that what it was?”
    “I think so.”
    She licked her swollen lips, tasting his lingering flavor just a little. Sense was beginning to return. “I have to go.”
    He nodded. His hands cupped her face and his fingers smoothed their way down her cheek, caressing it. His eyes were very dark. Unrevealing.
    “We’ll freeze,” she said.
    “I’m not cold.”
    Neither am I , she thought.
    She stepped back. His hands reluctantly dropped from her face.
    “’Night.”
    “Yes.”
    She climbed back into the car and tried to fit the key back into the slot and failed again. Her hands felt big, clumsy and heavy. She concentrated and slid the key in and started the car.
    Luke was still standing there and watched her leave.
    Now what ? she wondered, exploring her lips with her fingertips as she drove.
    The kiss changed everything.
    But she had fulfilled her obligation and now there was no unfinished business between them.
    Except for that kiss.
    And just like at the Christmas party, she had no idea what to do next.

Chapter Six
     

    Christmas shopping was a simple affair for Lindsay. She only had her father to shop for and she had decided what to get him weeks before. During her lunch hour she walked down to the hardware store and paid the final deposit on the bench router her father had been yearning after for months.
    Just anticipating his surprise and delight brought a smile to her lips. And today she was enjoying the crisply cold, perfectly sunny day. She was beginning to appreciate “knockout” days now—and her sunglasses took the edge off the dazzling light.
    She walked back to the hotel, kicking through the snow as she went. As she stepped under the portico and stamped the snow off her boots, a taxi delivered its passenger, a disheveled, unshaved man in a black coat with no luggage. He