As Luke began to nibble at the corner of her mouth, coaxing her to open her lips for him, she relegated all thought of his relationship with his brother to the back of her mind and responded to his unspoken request. As his tongue slipped inside to mate with her own, liquid fire raced through her veins and an exciting little charge of electric current began to gather into a need deep in the pit of her belly.
He moved his hands to lift her arms to his shoulders, giving him free access to her breasts and emitting a tiny moan, she arched into his palms. His taste, his tender teasing and the feel of his hands gently caressing her caused a delightful tightening in her lower stomach and she wished with all of her heart they were somewhere besides the Garnier office.
“Do you know what I think?” he prompted, when he finally broke the kiss.
He expected her to form a rational thought after a kiss like that and with his hands still holding her breasts, his thumbs still gently circling her nipples through her clothing?
Laying her head on his shoulder, she kissed his neck. His whole body shuddered and a tiny feminine thrill coursed through her at the knowledge that she could affect him that way.
“I don’t have a clue what you have on your mind, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” she whispered close to his ear.
“I’m thinking that I’d like to take you home for lunch,” he stated, his tone hoarse.
“Really? And just what would be on the menu?” she inquired, leaning back to give him a wide-eyed innocent look.
The hunger in his incredibly blue eyes caused her stomach to do a funny little backflip. “You.”
“I would love to go home for your kind of lunch,” she agreed, regretting what she was about to say next. “But we have a luncheon meeting scheduled with Ray Barnfield to go over the figures for his new office building and I doubt he’d be very happy if we called to reschedule. And since we don’t have a signed contract yet, he might even decide to go with another construction company.”
“Damn, I forgot about that.” Luke looked as disappointed as she felt. “No, rescheduling is completely out of the question. We’ve worked too hard on this project to risk losing it now.”
“I assume you still want me to go along?” When the meeting had been set up, he’d mentioned as much.
He nodded. “I want you to present the materials estimates to Ray, then I’ll jump in with the projected deadlines and close the deal.”
Over the past five years, they’d worked out a system of presenting proposals to potential clients as a team and it had proven to be very effective, winning several lucrative contracts for Garnier Construction.
“I’ll get Ray’s file ready,” she indicated as she started to get off Luke’s lap.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he chided, tightening his hold on her.
“The meeting is scheduled for one o’clock.” Smiling, she pressed a kiss to his lean cheek. “And if you expect me to help you bring this deal to a satisfactory end, I need to have all of my ducks in a row.”
He gave her a quick kiss, then set her on her feet. “While you’re getting everything lined out for the meeting, there’s something else I want you to do.”
“What would that be?”
His expression held a wealth of promise. “Call and cancel my appointments for the rest of the day and arrange for Ruth Ann to take over for you as well.”
She had a pretty good idea why they were taking the afternoon off but felt compelled to ask, “Is there a reason we won’t be back in the office this afternoon?”
“Once we leave the restaurant, we’ll both be going home for dessert.” His wide grin promised an afternoon of sheer ecstasy. “If you’ll remember, we have a baby to make, sweetheart. And I’m taking immense pleasure in this little project.”
Careful not to wake him, Haley slipped from beneath Luke’s arm and got out of bed to search for her robe. Her tears were not only threatening, they were imminent and walking out onto the master suite’s balcony, she let them flow freely down her cheeks as she considered what had taken place earlier in the day.
The meeting with the client couldn’t have gone better. Together, she and Luke had presented plans and a cost estimate that enticed Mr. Barnfield and by the end of the luncheon, the man had verbally agreed to have Garnier Construction build his new high-rise. Then, when she and Luke had left the restaurant, he’d brought her home and they’d spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening making slow, passionate love.
But for her, the day had been bittersweet. When they’d arrived at the restaurant, Luke hadn’t introduced her to the client as Haley Garnier. He’d seemed to stress the point that she was Miss Rollins, his executive assistant.
She knew she was being completely unreasonable about the matter. But it still hurt to think that she was married to the man she loved with all of her heart and he couldn’t find it within himself to tell anyone that she was his wife. Even if it was temporary.
How could he be so caring and considerate when they made love and not acknowledge her as his spouse?
Swiping at the tears running down her cheeks, she walked over to the railing to stare out at the night sky. She’d known when she agreed to have his baby that their marriage was an appeasement—a way to get her to go along with his plan.
But he hadn’t even bothered to buy her a wedding ring. Would it be such a crime for him to refer to her as his wife for however long their union lasted? Couldn’t he at least give her that much?
“What are you doing out here, Haley?”
At the sound of Luke’s voice, she quickly tried to wipe away the evidence of her emotions with the back of her hand. “I just needed a little fresh air. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No. What woke me was rolling over and not finding you there beside me where you’re supposed to be.”
When he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her back against his chest, she closed her eyes and willed away a fresh wave of tears. No matter how he introduced her to people or how brief their marriage, she was in his arms now and she would have to content herself with that fact.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” he asked, holding her close.
“N-nothing.”
“Don’t give me that. You’ve been crying. I can hear it in your voice.” Turning her to face him, he shook his head. “And I want to know why.”