“Come again, sugar. For me.”

He tiled her hips until they pressed completely against his, then rubbed her up and down his cock, forcing friction on her clit. Alyssa undulated with him, her groans becoming whimpers that turned to a plea, then . . .

“Luuuucccc!” She screamed his name as if it were a twenty-syllable word as her cunt clamped down on him. He used all the strength in his arms and thighs to keep her moving.

The pleasure was excruciating, scorching, beyond anything he’d ever experienced—or imagined. The sensations roiling around inside him melded into a tight ache in his balls. Then, primed, the orgasm began to explode.

Luc grabbed her tighter, clutching her hair, throwing an arm around her waist. Oh, fucking hell. This was going to bring him to his knees. Destroy him. It swelled and built and converged, big as a mountain, powerful as an earthquake.

“Alyssa,” he gasped. “Oh, God. Shit. I can’t . . . Oh, my—” To merge with her in every way possible; it was his most basic instinct. He slammed his mouth over hers and dove into the sweet heat.

The orgasm flattened him.

As everything inside him crashed around his heart, he held her tighter, burying his face in her neck while the storm raged inside him. “Yes! Lys, yes . . .”

His heartbeat thundered in his ears, and he felt nothing but blinding ecstasy. And Alyssa.

Long minutes later, exhaustion pounded him. Bitter reality roared in. She was still a stripper, likely with another lover. He still needed to find a suitable wife. And he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman in his life.

Slowly, he lifted his head as Alyssa stroked his hair and tried to catch her breath.

“Look at me,” he demanded.

She bit her lip, then glanced at him, her face flushed with satisfaction.

His gut clenched, even as a drugging call to sleep rolled through his veins. “What are we doing?”

Her mouth tightened. Her eyes grew guarded. “Just fucking.”

Were they? Really? Because for long minutes—hours—he’d forgotten every other woman in the world. He’d wanted to grab this one and never let go.

Alarm bells went off in his head. Luc knew he should say something . . .

Before he could, exhaustion claimed him.

Chapter Seven

“ARE you going to tell me what the hell happened?” Tyler barked.

I’m falling in love with someone who can’t love me back.

Alyssa winced at the thought. Lingering over the act of drawing back the blinds at Bonheur to let in the midday sun, she tried to decide what to say.

Finally, she turned to him. “Nothing.”

It was a huge lie. The most shatteringly pleasurable night of her life reduced to one trite word. If she hadn’t been going to hell already, the lie would have put her there.

He arched a tawny brow. “The shadows under your eyes have bags so large they could pack for a trip to Europe. As soon as we got to Sexy Sirens this morning, you shut yourself into your bedroom. I fucking heard you cry. I don’t have to be a genius to figure out that since you spent last night with that short-order loser, maybe something went down.”

“Tears are no big deal.” Except Luc didn’t love her. They were just fucking, and she’d just charged down the path to a big, ol’ heartache with no idea how to backpedal.

“You didn’t cry for your mother, but you cry for this prick? Baby, c’mon. You never call me at eight thirty in the morning unless it’s an emergency. While you were getting coffee, I peeked in your guest room. The bed was perfectly made. Only other bed in that house is yours.” Tyler crossed his arms over his chest, his glare pure pissed off. “Given that, you calling me not long after the crack of dawn is significant. Now do you want to tell me what the hell happened?”

The bastard was too observant. “No.”

“You had sex with him.”

Amazing, relentless sex. Why confirm the obvious?

Alyssa moved to the next window and focused on the blinds.

“Goddamn it!” Tyler spoke through clenched teeth. “Did he hurt you?”

“Tyler, just leave it.”

“Hell, no! If he hurt you, if he forced you, I’ll bust him up—”

“No. We were mutually consenting adults, and that is the end of this conversation.”

Suddenly, Tyler was across the room and his arms were around her. He really was her best friend these days and it would be so easy to lean on him. But so unfair to him.

“You don’t have to be strong all the time,” he whispered. “Tell me. I’ll help however I can.”

She cupped his cheek in her hand. “You can’t. But I appreciate you more than you know.”

He sighed and tightened his grip on her, leaning into her until his forehead pressed against hers. It would be easy enough to slide into bed with Tyler, see if he could help her forget her overwhelming feelings for Luc. Alyssa had never played that game before, but she was pretty sure it would be pointless.

“Baby, you gotta give me something more. I’m dying here.”

Before she could reply, the restaurant’s front door slammed. Gasping, Alyssa whirled, ready to tell the interloper that the restaurant wasn’t open to the public until tomorrow night. But it wasn’t a stranger who stood there. It was Luc.

He looked furious enough to spit nails.

Tyler’s preservation instinct must be nonexistent because, instead of backing off, he tightened his arms around her. She pushed against his chest and nudged him away. Reluctantly, he let her go, muttering a vile curse.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Luc asked him.

Crossing his thick arms over his wide chest, Tyler looked pumped up on fury. “My job. You?”

“Since when is your job trying to get into Alyssa’s panties?”

“She only wears thongs, actually.”

Alyssa gasped. “Tyler!”

Luc ground his jaw, fists clenched. This situation was headed for the toilet unless she diffused it.

“Stop it, both of you. Tyler, can you leave us alone for a few minutes?”

“I’m not budging if there’s any chance he’ll hurt you.”

Spine stiffening, Luc stalked across the room. “I’d never hurt her. Ever. You, I’d pound just for fun.”

“Bring it on, asshole.”

“No more!” Alyssa yelled. “We have things to do today that don’t involve you two beating the shit out of each other.” She looked at Tyler, eyes pleading. “I’ll be fine. Please . . . You’d be doing me a big favor if you’d pick up my dress from the tailor.”

Tyler clenched his teeth and seethed, ripping his keys from the pocket of his jeans. “If you need anything, if he harms one hair on your head, call me. You know I’m here for you.”

She nodded. His devotion nearly brought her to tears. Why couldn’t she love him the way he wanted her to love him? Life would be so much less complicated.

But easy was never her lot.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

He drew closer, his face solemn, communicating both his dedication and concern. Then he cupped her face in his hands and placed a tender kiss on her lips. A second later, he was gone.

Now she was completely alone with Luc. The silence was deafening.

“You’re here early,” she said to break it. “The others have already done most of the prep work in the kitchen, so you should—”

“Stop it.” He stalked to her, unnervingly close. “When I woke alone, I worried about you, but you left before the bed was even fucking cold so you could run to him?”

Alyssa paced across the room. How dared he imagine, after what they’d just shared, that she could possibly jump from his arms to Tyler’s? Here she was, terrified that she’d lost her heart to a man who might never be able to truly love her back, and he imagined she’d run to another lover. That alone confirmed that, no matter how intimate last night had seemed, no matter how much her feelings had grown, his hadn’t changed. She could not lose her heart to someone who didn’t respect her. Someone likely to leave her in five days and never look back.

“Aren’t we just fucking?” she challenged.

He stalked after her and grabbed her arm. “Goddamnit, answer my question.”

“You think I’m capable of jumping from your bed to his? That I’m so insatiable, what we did last night and this morning wasn’t enough?”

Luc didn’t say anything for a long moment, just stared with blazing eyes. “I don’t want to think that. God, woman. You singed my skin off. It was amazing. I looked forward to waking up this morning and having you again. But you never slept next to me, did you? I rolled over a few minutes ago, and you were gone. Now I find out now you’ve been with Tyler for the last . . .” He glanced at his watch. “Three hours. I walk in, and he’s holding you. He kissed you, for fuck’s sake.”

“A friendly peck!” she argued.

“Friendly, yeah,” Luc grunted. “I’m sure everything on his mind is platonic.”

“I don’t control his thoughts, just mine. What’s on my mind is platonic, whether you believe it or not.”

“Give me a reason to believe it.” His dark eyes beseeched her. “You look exhausted. The first words I hear out of his mouth are a plea for you to give him more because he’s dying. Which implies that you were giving him something in the first place.”

Alyssa closed her eyes. Maybe it was Luc’s jealousy talking—at least in part. The other part . . . He was just never going to change his opinion of her, and no matter how much she cared, how sincere she was in expressing her feelings, how chaste she was with every other man, he’d never believe she was anything but a whore.

“I can stand here in perfect honesty and say that in the last three months, I’ve had sex twice, both times with you. Can you say the same?”

Luc paused, swallowed. His dark eyes flashed with guilt. His silent answer gouged her with pain. Bitterness flooded her mouth.

“Three months ago, I was in a relationship.”

Helping his cousin fuck the man’s pretty wife. It burned her to know that Luc had jumped from her bed to Kimber’s and never looked back until Deke had cut Luc from the action.

Suddenly, Luc paused, then frowned. “Are you and Tyler . . . dating?”

It didn’t matter what she told him. He’d never believe the truth. “Tell you what—you give me all the details about your relationship with Kimber, then I’ll spill my secrets. Deal?”

His face closed up. “There’s nothing to tell.”

Alyssa didn’t have to know the whole story to know he was lying through his teeth.

“So you didn’t fuck her after you left my bed?”

Luc closed his eyes, the uneasy tightening of his face making her insides bleed.

“This isn’t about what I did or didn’t do with Kimber.”

“Then why is it about what I did or didn’t do with Tyler?”

“Three months ago, we didn’t make any promises or demands,” he pointed out.

“We didn’t make any last night, either,” Alyssa flung back at him. “A night of sex doesn’t entitle you to the details of my relationship with Tyler. And after this chat, spending last night with you was a mistake I won’t be repeating.”

His eyes flared with fury, and he stomped across the room. “Like hell. For whatever reason, you went to a lot of trouble to seduce me. Mission accomplished. Just because last night is over doesn’t mean we’re done.”

Luc’s words were spoken like a vow, and Alyssa’s insides quivered. As much as she still wanted him, they couldn’t continue like this. Even last night she’d realized that the longer she stayed in his arms, the more likely he would break her heart.

For months, she’d been romanticizing the connection between them. She wanted him for more than sex. Now she knew beyond all doubt that the yearning didn’t run both ways.

“Wrong, Romeo. Last night was great, but you’re already in another relationship and I don’t ‘fit into your future.’” She shrugged. “Itch scratched. Moving on.”

“No way in hell,” he snarled. “Are you saying that you have a new itch, this one for Tyler? Is that what this morning was about?”

Alyssa got how he might think that. If a man had disappeared so quickly out of her bed and she’d found him in another woman’s arms, even if it was to be consoled, she’d be confused and hurt. Despite Luc’s jealousy and whatever feeling he had for her, it didn’t add up to anything lasting. And if she kept sharing her body with him, she’d never get her heart back. Anything less than full reciprocation on his part would crush her.

“This isn’t about Tyler. Yes, I spent a lot of effort to seduce you, but you said when you arrived that sex between us wasn’t smart. Allow me to admit that you were right.” She checked her watch. “Misa will be here in five minutes and she’ll be expecting direction. The rest of the staff will arrive in an hour. You’ll need every minute to prepare. We’re expecting a full house tonight.”