Loose Ends (Magnolia Series Book 1) Read online

  “You okay?” She couldn’t quite see Luke when he spoke but his voice was laced with concern.

  “No.” She continued to cough. “Asshole!” She finally got her breath and splashed him with some of the slightly brown water.

  “You should’ve seen your face. Priceless.” He laughed.

  “I’m sure it was. Yours would’ve been the same if someone tried to drown you.” She couldn’t help but giggle which ended up in a fit of laughter. The water around her rippled as her entire body shook with amusement. Ava suddenly stopped and looked around.

  “Something wrong?” Luke pinned her with a stare.

  “I, uh…lost something,” she said as her head whipped back and forth, searching the surface of the water.

  “What’d you lose? An earring?” Luke raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

  “No. My underwear is gone.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

  “You mean this?” Luke pulled his hand above the water, holding her drenched undergarment.

  “Give it back!” She lunged forward trying to grab it, but failed.

  “I’m keeping it.” Luke began to twirl the fabric around his finger in the air.

  “Fine. If you get to keep mine, I get to keep yours,” she threw out.

  Luke didn’t even hesitate as he bent down in the water and moved around. He then pulled his arm up and tossed his underwear to her. “Fair is fair. But I get that, too.” He pointed to the lace covering her breasts. “Hand it over.”

  “Fine.” Ava reached around to unhook her bra.

  Sliding it down her arms she then tossed it to Luke. Looking down she could see her naked breasts bobbing in the water.

  “Now that is fucking beautiful.” Luke’s gaze became heated as he took in her nudity.

  Ava glanced down and instinctively covered her bare chest with her arms. It wasn’t as if she was ashamed of her body, she just wasn’t used to being out in the open, having her girly bits on display. “I think it’s time to get out.” Wading through the mud on the bottom of the pond, Ava made her way toward the bank. Luke didn’t leave the water; only stood there and watched as she removed her now naked form from the water. He still had her bra and panties but it didn’t matter, she didn’t really want to put her dry clothing on over the soaked garments anyway.

  The sun began to beat down on her while she pulled her jeans up her legs and tossed her shirt on. When her shoes were on both feet, Ava began to walk back through the trees, and headed for the house. Even though she’d grown up in Chicago among the towering buildings and the normal bustle of the city life, she looked around and wondered if something like this might be more suited to who she was. The fresh air, the abundance of space to run and do as she pleased—but that was a silly thought. This wasn’t her home, it never could be. It was a fantasy, a wish that would never be granted.

  She didn’t really know Luke that well. Besides some extremely passionate encounters, Ava really had no idea who the man was. He’d said he was in the military, but wouldn’t elaborate on his time there. She’d given him an opening to do so, but he clammed up and made her feel like an idiot. Maybe something terrible had happened to him? But she hadn’t seen any scars or marks from where he would’ve been wounded. She had every opportunity to do so. Luke was one big mystery. A man who seemed to put his all into everything he did and then some. So why was he being so secretive and private about his early life? The lot of it was starting to cause unwanted stress. This was just a fling. A passing fascination between two individuals. There wasn’t going to be a happily ever after. No white doves would be released in their honor. Plain and simple, it was sex. So why did that mere thought begin to cut her to the very core of who she was?

  Chapter Eight

  Later that evening, Luke looked down on Ava’s sleeping face as her head rested in his lap while he sat on the porch swing. The air had turned slightly cooler and it’d seemed like an ideal time to sit out here and watch the sun fade away into the oblivion that was night. Ava had helped cook dinner, which to his amazement had been the closest to normal he’d ever felt. His parents never did that shit. He’d have been lucky to get a bowl of Ramen before he went to bed at night. Having this angelic creature move gracefully throughout the kitchen made his ancestors’ house feel like a home for the first time since he could remember.

  As the swing moved back and forth in a hypnotic motion, he tipped his head back and closed his eyes, remembering the times he came to visit his grandmother when she lived here. They were always happy times. Summers filled with dips in the pond, scouring the property for discarded cannonballs from the war, and sitting around chatting with his grandma. When he’d let her know he was moving to Washington, D.C., she wasn’t too excited about the idea. But it was a move he needed to make in order to further himself. If Grandma Violet knew the things he did now…let’s just say she wouldn’t be welcoming him with open arms. There would’ve most likely been a flour-covered rolling pin knocking him upside the head.

  “Are you asleep?” Ava’s smooth voice and her hand grazing his cheek pulled him out of his reminiscence.

  “Nah, just thinking.” He smiled and began to caress her cheek the same as she did to him.

  “Care to share?” Damn her and that smile. It was becoming a weakness and Luke didn’t admit weakness.

  “Maybe another time. Ready for me to take you home?” He didn’t want her to go, but surely she needed to get home.

  “Do I have to go? It’s like a slice of heaven out here. It feels like I can forget about everything and just…live.”

  “And you can’t do that anyplace else?” He regretted the words as he said them.

  Ava sat up and scooted to the other end of the swing. “On that note, time for me to go.” Slipping her flats on, she stood and faced away.

  “I’m an asshole, aren’t I?” Luke leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry.” For some reason he felt the need to apologize when he’d wronged her; which was strange because normally, he didn’t give a damn about people’s feelings. But Ava was different. He didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t want to see lines of worry crease her smooth brow. And he certainly never wanted to take part in drying her tears. If he was ever faced with that, he didn’t know if he’d survive it. But this wasn’t a fucking fairy tale. He wasn’t the white knight riding in to save her from her troubles. No, Luke was the villain. The guy who snuck in like a thief in the night to upturn everything she held dear. She’d think this was her sunny sky, but eventually she’d find out that all he carried with him were bleak clouds that eventually turned into a whirlwind of disaster. Point blank, this wasn’t going to have a happy ending.

  Silence blanketed around them before she finally spoke, “At least you’re one step ahead; most people don’t know they’re an asshole until they get hit in the face with their own shit.”

  Luke’s shoulders bounced with amusement. “Never heard it put like that, but I guess you’re right.” He laughed louder.

  “I’m always right.” As she sat back down next to him on the swing, he took in her profile in the fading light. Damn she was a beauty. But something deeper pulled him in. Something he still couldn’t describe held him to her.

  Shaking the idiotic thoughts from his head Luke figured it best to stop looking at her. Distance. That’s what he needed. He cleared his throat, “So…” suddenly he was at a loss for words.

  “Yeah?” Ava pulled her legs onto the swing and faced him.

  Nervousness swamped him like a teenage boy glaring at a pair of tits for the first time. He rubbed the back of his neck before speaking again, “Do you want to stay the night again?” Now why in the hell would he ask her to do such a thing? Wasn’t the point of this thing to distance himself? But even he knew he’d rather take a jackhammer to his nuts rather than walk away from her.

  “I can. If you want me to, that is.” Ava gave him a questioning look.

  Did he want her to stay again? Did he want to wake up with he
r lush curves pressed against his flesh? Did he want to breathe in the scent of her hair from behind as he pushed himself between her legs and made love to her until she dug her nails into his arms? Fuck, yeah, he wanted that. And he was going to have it. “Then it’s settled. You’re staying.” He practically jumped off the porch swing and grabbed her hand.

  “Slow down there, Sparky. No need to rush.” She giggled.

  “I beg to differ.” Luke pointed at the clear outline of his erection pressing insistently at his zipper. “There is a reason to rush.”

  ***

  Ava had never seen Luke so uncontrolled before. He was tugging her behind him as he flung open the front door of the house. “Luke, slow down,” she said as she turned to shut the door behind them. When she pivoted back around, two hundred and fifty pounds of hard male flesh had her pinned against the antique wood.

  “Can’t seem to slow down when it comes to you,” he grunted as he pinned her wrists in his hands and held them to the door by her sides. For a brief moment panic took hold but was soon replaced with need. Luke would never hurt her. He wasn’t that kind of guy. “Can’t seem to get enough of you either,” he pressed his face to the rapidly beating pulse point on her neck. “Your smell.” He breathed in deeply. “Your taste.” She felt his moist tongue dart out and run up the side of her neck, eliciting a shiver through her body. “But most of all,” one of his hands left her wrist and cupped her between her legs, “the way you feel when you’re coming all over my cock.” He began to massage her through her jeans, causing her to cry out.

  “That feels so good,” Ava mewled.

  “You have two choices. I’m either going to throw you over my shoulder, carry you upstairs and fuck you in my bed. Or I’m going to fuck you against this door. Which is it gonna be?”

  “The door.”

  “The door it is.” Luke reached for the hem of her top and yanked it over her head. Her pants were discarded next. She was still gloriously nude under her clothing since he’d confiscated her undergarments earlier in the day. “Every time I see you like this I feel like I’m looking at you for the first time.”

  “Please hurry,” Ava begged. Her skin was like embers, just waiting for him to stoke the flames and send them both blazing.

  Luke threw off his clothing in record time, grabbed a condom from the back pocket of his jeans and rolled it on with practiced precision. He then pressed his heated body to hers. “Say it, Ava. Tell me you want me to fuck you,” he said in a gruff voice.

  “I want you to fuck me, Luke.”

  “Tell me you want to come for me.”

  “I want to come for you.”

  “Damn right you do.” Luke grabbed one of her legs and hitched it around his trim waist. “Are you ready?” he asked as he stroked her entrance with the head of his erection.

  “More than ready.”

  “Good.” Luke gave no warning as he thrust into her channel until he was fully seated. Ava cried out at the invasion—not because it hurt—but because it was delicious torture having him buried inside her. He reached down and lifted her other leg up and around him—driving himself deeper somehow. Ava’s back screamed as he drove into her, shoving her body against the door. Something was different this time. It almost seemed like Luke was trying his hardest to drive some sort of demon away. But why?

  Ava reached up and slid her arms around his sweat-laden shoulders. “Luke, please look at me,” she asked softly, but he refused to look up. “I need to see your eyes,” she began to plead with him.

  “No, damn it!” Luke roared as he continued his mind-numbing motions.

  What was happening? Why was there such an urgency radiating off his body? Something was disconnected in all of this, so much so that Ava felt herself slipping out of primal attraction and into vast worry for him. She had to do something. “Luke, stop!” she yelled. He froze in place, his face nuzzled in her neck and his cock still deep within her. She waited until his breathing lessened and he was ready to talk to her. “What is going on?” she asked.

  “I’m fucking you against the door like you wanted, Ava.” The words weren’t ones of tenderness or caring. They were close to those of spite. “Isn’t that what you wanted?” Luke’s breathing increased and Ava felt him push forward. “This,” he began to thrust again, “is what we have,” thrust, “this,” thrust “is what we do, Ava.”

  “No.” She pulled her legs from his hips and planted them on the ground. With a shaky hand she laid her palm on his chest and pushed him away. Luke flashed a questioning glance but said nothing. He grabbed his discarded clothing from the floor and began trudging up the stairs. “Luke?” Ava called, but he didn’t look back or answer her and soon he was out of sight. The door to his bedroom closed with an audible slam and she knew that things were over.

  Not sure where to go from there, Ava quickly dressed and then made her way outside. Pulling her phone from her purse, she dialed Brandi’s number.

  “Jesus shit, Ava. Do you have any idea what time it is?” She heard the sleepiness in her friend’s voice.

  “I’m sorry. But I need help.” Ava felt the heat of tears begin to sting the backs of her eyes. Brandi must’ve heard the crack in her voice.

  “What the fuck did the bastard do?” The sound of rustling clothing and something being scrubbed against the phone told Ava that Brandi had gotten out of bed. “Do I need to help you hide a body?”

  Ava couldn’t help but laugh. “No. I just need you to come get me please.”

  “Are you sure I don’t need to bring along a shovel and a tarp?” Ava heard the jingling of keys and the sound of a car starting on the other end.

  “It’s not that bad.” Ava wasn’t sure just how bad it really was. Something had caused Luke to shift from being a nice guy, to someone who reminded her of her past. She didn’t need someone like that. She’d had enough of that in Chicago and wasn’t going down that road again. The stupid thing was she really liked Luke. He was fun to be around and genuinely seemed to like her too. But it was all an act. An act to most likely get into her panties just like every other card-carrying member of the douche bag population.

  “I’ll be right there,” Brandi said before she hung up.

  Wasn’t this just great. What began as a beautiful weekend, turned out to be shit, just like the rest of her existence. It always felt like she’d finally gotten ahead and settled, but when she became comfortable, the other shoe always dropped.

  Chapter Nine

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Brandi drove down the two lane highway away from Luke’s home while Ava stared out her window into the bleak of night.

  “Honestly, I don’t even know how to explain it, Brandi,” Ava sighed.

  “Did he hurt you?” Concern laced her best friend’s voice.

  “No, nothing like that. Everything was great this weekend. In fact it was the best weekend I’ve had in God knows how long.”

  “You’re not giving me much to go on here,” Brandi laughed.

  Ava stayed quiet for what she’d thought was a reasonable amount of time. How did she explain what’d happened when she wasn’t even sure herself? “Can we not discuss this right now? I’m beyond exhausted and just want to go home.”

  “Whatever you say, chief. But as your best friend, I’m gonna want details eventually. I don’t like seeing you like this.” Ava felt a reassuring tap of Brandi’s hand on her knee, but only nodded in the dim lit interior of the car.

  The miles ticked by as the two friends rode in silence back to Ava’s beach house. The entire weekend with Luke was replaying in her head like a bad silent movie and all she wanted was to either hit the pause button or delete the damn thing altogether. The ignorant thing was that even the tiny thought of his touch sent her body spinning out of control. He was masterful at handling her, and damn it if that didn’t piss her off. It wasn’t fair that he could draw her in like she was a helpless fly, then snag her in his web and devour her whole. Mentally kicking herself wasn’t going to be
enough punishment in the coming weeks. The best she could hope for was to work her ass off to try and rid her brain of his touch and him in general. But Luke Daughtry wasn’t someone you could just forget. He made an impact like a damn meteor crashing into the earth. It would be a while before she’d be able to move without feeling him on her and inside her.

  ***

  Monday morning Luke sat on the same porch swing he had the night before with Ava. It was stupid but he could still smell her floral fragrance floating around him as the slight breeze blew in his direction. He’d fucked up. And that wasn’t a good thing since his job was to keep a steady eye on her at all times. He’d never meant to shove her away like he had, he only wanted to emotionally distance himself so he could think straight and do the job he was being paid to do. Now all he could think about was making amends with her and hoping she’d let him in again. If she did, he needed to set some ground rules. Clearly they’d gotten in way over their heads by sleeping together. And if she redeemed him by some twist of fate, he’d have to make sure to never cross that threshold again. It would be dangerous for his plans; and come hell or high water, he would complete his task and walk away.

  Finally deciding it was time to start his epic groveling, Luke threw on some different clothes and made his way to his truck in the driveway. What he didn’t expect was for someone to be standing there waiting for him. Cole Matthews.

  “I thought you were an early riser?”

  “Not today. What’re you doing here?” Luke stood a few feet away and crossed his arms over his chest.