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Advanced damage control could be a big help. Sometimes, she thought, you just had to take a
chance and hoped it turned out right. She d lived a half-life for so many years. Hadn t she more
than paid her penance? But if she chose that path, she d have to pick the right time and the right
words, or she d lose Luke permanently.
 Enough thinking, he said.  Let s just enjoy each other tonight.
The conversation got easier after that. Luke talked about his life during the intervening
years, his continued uneven relationship with his sons, his progress through the industry to reach
his position at Connell Wilson.
The food was as good as Claire has promised, the conversation strangely muted for such a
casual place, the atmosphere relaxing. Little by little, Julia felt her nerves and muscles relaxing
and the tension easing from her neck.
 I have to admit, Luke said, pushing his plate away at last,  the fact that you live here had
a lot to do with my taking the job.
 Luke, she began.
 Don t say it, okay. He picked up the fresh drink the waiter had brought and took a
healthy swallow.  I don t know what s holding you back, Julia. Or what s kept us apart all these
years. But I m not going to stop until I find out. Until I get answers. Until I can push aside
whatever obstacles you think are keeping us apart. He set his glass down and leaned forward.  I
love you. That hasn t changed. And whether you admit it or not, you love me. So what we have
to do next is find a solution to whatever the problem is that s got you stuck.
 I know, I know. She fiddled with her dessert fork.  It s just& there s so much you don t
understand. So much I don t know how to tell you.
His voiced wrapped around her like a warm blanket.  How about if we just take it one
thing at a time? For right now, let s just take tonight. His eyes caressed her face.  How late can
you stay out?
She could lie to him and tell him she had to be home, but Julia wanted this night as much
as he did. If she finally blurted out the truth, this might be the last time they were together.
 I m good until noon tomorrow.
He visibly relaxed.  Good. Then how about coming home with me. If you promise not to
change your mind, you can follow me in your car and park in one of the guest spots.
Julia took a last sip of her drink and looked across at him.  All right. And I won t change
my mind.
Although in the drive across town, she was tempted to several times.
How can I change my mind when it s clear that I ve lost it?
She followed Luke into the underground parking and into the parking place he indicated.
Taking a deep breath, she got out of her car and let him lead her to the elevator.
Chapter Twenty
Julia had declined a drink. Even wine. She d had three with dinner and her senses were
already on high alert, her brain fuzzy, except for registering the man standing in front of her in his
big bedroom. Facing each other, inches apart, the heat that crackled between them seemed to fill
the room.
Luke took a step closer, placed his palms on her cheeks, and proceeded to seduce her
with his mouth. His lips whispered back and forth against hers. That s all it was, the merest touch
of mouth on mouth, but it cloaked her in the voluptuous feeling of black velvet. She wrapped
her fingers around his wrists, not to push him away but to hold him in place. Every nerve in her
body seemed to be centered on her lips, the throbbing in her cunt a metronomic beat in time
with the movement of his mouth.
She was so wet she could feel moisture on the inside of her thighs. What was it about
Luke Buchanan that just a touch carried her to a plane of sexual arousal that demanded more?
Much more. Breathing in through her nose, she inhaled the wonderful scent of him, the scent that
was pure Luke.
Almost tentatively, his tongue traced the seam of her lips, a back and forth motion that
demanded she part for him. When she did, the sweep of his tongue was light and graceful, not
demanding. It flicked and danced, tasting first here, then there, leaving tiny bonfires every place it
touched. Automatically, she tried to suck him deeper into her mouth, but he was too quick for
her, following his own choreographed path. When she met his tongue with her own he nipped at
it lightly with his teeth, and the throbbing in her pussy, the ache in her breasts, grew even more
intense.
She wanted to cry out in protest when he lifted his mouth from hers, but in a moment
she felt his hot lips working their way slowly along her jawline and beneath her ear, where he
paused to bite gently on the soft lobe. Julia moaned, a tony little sound vibrating at the back of
her throat that increased when he trailed his mouth down her neck. One hand moved to slide
back the collar of her sweater and gave him access to that erogenous zone where her neck and
shoulder joined. She still clung to his wrists, balancing herself as the floor seemed to fade away
beneath her feet, leaving her floating in space.
Luke seemed to spend long moments paying homage to her neck, moving his mouth to
the hollow of her throat and the evidence of the erratic pounding of her pulse. Then at last at
last! he shifted his hands to tug at the bottom of the sweater and break contact with her long
enough to pull it over her head and toss it to the side.
Now she was frenzied for skin to skin contact. Her fingers trembled as she fumbled with
the buttons on his shirt, finally pulling it open, buttons flying to the floor. She pushed it down his
arms and he obligingly shrugged the rest of the way out of it. Julia ran her hands almost frantically
over his thick pelt of soft hair, fingernails raking his flat nipples, drawing a sound from deep in his
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