Chapter 18

Even later Wednesday night – Ellie

After dinner, Luke and I found ourselves sitting on the couch again. This time he sat a little closer to me. Since I'd told him the kiss had been a mistake, I was convinced he probably wouldn't try it again. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't kinda want him to after my talk with Meg earlier. In fact, I scooched a little closer and finished off my wine for courage.

Meg was right. What was a little kissing between two grown adults? It's not as if it meant anything. It was just kissing. Like spin the bottle in middle school. Just a little harmless fun. Right?

"The guys are coming over tomorrow for a session," Luke said. He was rubbing his right hand across his forehead and damned if he didn't look a little nervous. I'd never seen Luke nervous. It was kinda cute.

"The guys?" I asked, trying to concentrate when all I really wanted to do was launch myself onto his lap again.

"My…er…bandmates. We're going to…uh…practice."

Okay. He was definitely nervous. I'd never heard Luke stumble around looking for words before either. Did I make him nervous? That was interesting. And still cute. "Won't it be difficult to practice with your broken arm?" I gestured to the sling.

"Yeah. All I can do is sing this time."

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my back pocket. Text from Meg. Hmm. I tilted the phone toward me a little so Luke couldn't see. After our talk, who knew what Meg would text me? I clicked the message with my thumb and the words popped up.

Luke called me earlier to ask about you. Pretty sure he wants to kiss you again. Do you want me to ask him if he wants to go to prom with you?

I nearly dropped the phone. Say what? Luke called Meg to ask about me? Wait. Even more importantly, he wanted to kiss me again?

All I sent back was a mind-blown emoji.

She replied with an emoji that looked like two people going to prom, which I didn't even know existed. Okay. No more texts from Meg. I shoved the phone back in my pocket.

"Everything okay?" Luke asked, running his hand along the back of his neck.

"Yep." I started bobbing my head in that super awkward way I'd started since Luke and I began doing things like sitting on the couch together.

"You want to watch TV?" Luke asked next. His voice was no longer nervous. Maybe I'd imagined it.

"Sure." More weird head bobbing. Were we really doing this? Going to pretend we actually wanted to watch TV like we were seventeen? Damn. Maybe I should ask him if he wanted to go to prom.

He looked around the couch for a second before saying, "Uh oh. I think the remote fell between the cushions over here."

I was sitting on his right side and the cushion crack in question was on his left, which meant it was on the side with the sling. He was about to stand up, probably to fish around for it with his right hand, when I interjected, "I got it."

I leaned over his lap, my hair brushing across his thighs to dig my hand between the cushions. Had this fancy couch eaten the remote the same way I'd wished it had swallowed me the other night? Unfair.

Frick. The cushions were huge and deep, and I found myself half-lying across Luke's lap with most of my arm down the crevice. Okay, this had just gone from awkward to mortifying because I found myself stretched across his crotch, desperately trying to locate the remote for a TV I didn't even want to watch.

Then things went from mortifying to kinda hot because I could swear that Luke got a hard-on. There was an unmistakable bulge in his jeans. I should know. My face was only about three inches from it. And I also could swear I heard him groan.

"Oh, dear," I said like I'd just come out of a 50's movie. I started to pull away and crawl back across his lap, trying not to touch it.

"Ellie." Luke's voice was a harsh whisper just before he grabbed my shoulder with his right hand, hoisted me up against his chest, and brought his lips down to meet mine.

Things got blurry then because we were basically a tangle of limbs for several seconds while I quickly flipped my right thigh over his to straddle his hips.

"Ouch," he said as I accidentally knocked into his sling.

I winced, pulling my upper body away from his, but he moved his right hand up to pull my neck down to meet him again, and the kiss exploded.

"I didn't really want to watch TV," I breathed against his mouth.

"Neither did I," he breathed against mine.

And then, oh, goddess, my hand was on his right shoulder, rubbing across it, feeling every inch of the bulky muscles there. I'd always had a thing for shoulders. And I wasn't about to miss the opportunity to run my hand down his chest either. I mean, I'd been itching to touch him there ever since I'd seen his six-pack on day one.

I let my hands rove over his torso while his mouth slanted across mine. His tongue slipped between my lips. The kiss was hot and hard and his hand on the back of my head, holding me there, was super sexy.

When he let go of my head and moved his lips to my jaw, my cheek, and oh, yes, my ear, I closed my eyes and let them roll back in my head. I wanted more. I wanted to pull his hand down between my legs, but somehow the fact that all we were doing was kissing made it even more tantalizing. When his lips moved to my neck and he nipped the delicate skin there, my hips bucked against him, and he groaned again. I tipped my head back to give him more access to my neck.

He kissed his way back up the column of my neck, along my jaw to my lips, and he took his time. His tongue came out to slowly taste my bottom lip before he slanted his mouth across mine again. I whimpered in the back of my throat, sliding my hand through the soft hair at the nape of his neck while our mouths just devoured each other.

Oh, hell, yeah. This was one of the hottest kisses of my life.

We stayed like that for what felt like an hour, just mouth to mouth, exploring, tasting, our tongues sliding against each other. I clung to him, wanting to press my core against him. When he hooked his right arm around my waist and pulled me hard against his erection, I moaned, and my head fell back. Then his hand was in my hair, pulling my head back to expose my throat to more of his nipping kisses.

Finally, I put a hand on his chest and pushed away, staring at him with eyes that had to be packed full of lust. My breathing was coming in short, fast bursts. And let's just say I knew I was gonna need to change my panties.

Luke pressed his forehead against mine, and I felt the smile on his lips near my cheek.

Well. Frick. That had been some kissing.