His mouth, like the rest of him, was hard.
His hands moved, splaying across her back and pulling her tighter as his mouth moved in deeper. Harper’s head tilted back to accommodate the assault. His tongue forced her mouth open wider. She surrendered to him. He tasted and she dug her fingers into his shoulders.
He shoved her back against the fridge, his lips never breaking contact. Harper let her hands slide under his tank top. He helped her tug it over his head and moved back in.
Her nipples pebbled against his warm skin. She could feel his heart pounding under the phoenix tattoo. Hers drummed a matching staccato beat.
She nibbled on his lower lip and he inhaled sharply. Luke skimmed his hands up her sides to cup the undersides of her breasts. She sighed against him and his thumbs brushed over her sensitive peaks.
The delicate torture made her ache for him. She slid her hand in the waistband of his mesh shorts and wrapped her fingers around his shaft.
“Harper.” It was half groan and half warning.
She stroked his erection down to the thick root and back to the tip. He lowered his forehead to hers trying to catch his breath. His hands stilled on her breasts.
Boldly, she stroked him again. His fingers tightened around her nipples, tugging and teasing. Harper felt moisture bead at the tip of his penis. She wiped it against her stomach, smearing the wetness on her skin.
Luke abandoned a breast and brought his fingertips to her center, forcing her thighs apart with a knee. He ran two fingers over the damp fabric of her underwear and Harper felt her world go gray. She ached for those fingers to be deep inside her, driving her need.
He skimmed over the fabric, back and forth in time to Harper’s strokes. When his thumb brushed her nipple again, Harper thought she would come apart.
On a growl, Luke tugged the cotton to the side and cupped her. His warm fingers pressed against her wet center. He hitched her leg over his hip to give him better access. Spread open to him, she welcomed the pressure of his rough hand.
He bent his knees, lowering his mouth to her breast.
With the new angle, Harper rubbed the tip of his shaft against her bare core.
He suckled with an intensity that had Harper’s knees shaking. Her strokes became shorter and harder, notching him against her sex.
So close. Just an inch lower and—
The doorbell broke through their haze.
Luke’s hands froze on her flesh and then disappeared as he hastily stepped back. He swore, readjusting the waistband of his shorts to pin down his hard-on.
“It’s Frank. He’s riding with me to the meeting.” Luke wiped a hand over his face. “Shit.”
Harper sagged against the cold metal of the refrigerator, her breasts heaved as she tried to catch her breath.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and lowered his forehead to hers. “I need you to go upstairs. Now.”
Harper nodded, but didn’t move. He sighed and grabbed his tank top off the floor. “Come on, let’s cover you up.” Yanking it over her head, he pulled it down her torso. The deep armholes did little to cover her breasts, but at least her nipples were hidden from view.
Luke tugged her underwear back in place and Harper shivered when his fingers brushed her sensitive flesh.
He grabbed her by the back of the neck and yanked her to him. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead gave her a hard kiss on the mouth. “Now get upstairs before I let Frank in.”
Harper nodded and hurried to the stairs at the front of the house, careful not to look out the sidelights to see if Frank was witnessing her walk of shame.
Luke waited until she made it into the bedroom before opening the door.
She heard Frank snicker. “Am I interrupting, boss?”
***
What the hell was wrong with him? He had been nothing but clear with her — and himself — and this is how he played it. Ripping her off the kitchen counter and practically banging her against the fridge.
Great, and now he was hard again like he had been most of the day.
He was avoiding the office like the plague because he knew as soon as he saw her, he’d want to do it all over again and more. Frank was yammering on next to him about the job and he hadn’t heard a word of it.
Was he going to get a hard-on every time he went to the kitchen for a beer now?
This was supposed to be a simple, uncomplicated arrangement. He gave her a job and a place to stay and she played a role. But obviously that role was getting tangled up for both of them. He was going to have to set things straight. Set boundaries.
How was he supposed to sleep next to her tonight without tearing that white t-shirt off of her and slamming his cock into her now that he’d tasted her?
“Are you even listening to me?” Frank was staring at him expectantly.
Luke gritted his teeth. “Just handle it, Frank. I have to go.”