Author: Jill Shalvis

But then Ali dropped to her knees between his sprawled legs and sent a slow smile up at him, stopping his heart. “Sometimes,” she murmured, opening his jeans and reaching inside, “rules are made to be broken.”

Much later, Ali lay on the kitchen table, a little sweaty and a whole lot delirious from pleasure. It took her five full minutes to catch her breath and roll onto her side to eyeball Luke.

He was still flat on his back on the table, too, eyes closed. He wore only his jeans, still opened, indecently low on his hips. He was sprawled out like a decadent dessert, the kind that was totally fattening, but was so good that you couldn’t regret the calories. She ran a finger down the center of his chest to his abs, which contracted at her touch.

Eyes still closed, he groaned. “Okay, but you’ve got to feed me first. I’m a growing boy.”

She stared at his erection. “I can see that…”

Snorting, he moved unexpectedly, and quick as lightning, he rolled onto her, pinning her to the table.

She pushed at his chest. “Hold on a second.”

Pushing up to his elbow, he took his weight off of her and gave her a “what’s up?” gaze from heavy-lidded eyes—his bedroom eyes.

“I’ve been thinking,” she said. “I bet Bree hid the money at Teddy’s place.”

“You’ve been thinking? When? When could you have been thinking?”

“Earlier. But it makes sense, don’t you think?” she pressed. “If her goal was to frame him, she’d want to—”

“Earlier? You mean earlier when I was buried so deep inside you that I could feel your tonsils as you screamed my name and—”

She covered his mouth and laughed. “I did not scream. Exactly. And what? Is my mind supposed to turn off?”

Looking a little bit out of sorts, he rolled off of her, and it made her laugh again.

“Sorry,” she said, “women’s brains are different.”

“No shit.”

They sat up, and she began pulling her clothes back on. “At this point, all we have is circumstantial. I heard that tomorrow Teddy and some of the town council members are going off for a team-bonding fishing overnighter. I’m going to wait until after I get back from my mom’s birthday party and then go check out his place for the money.”

“No,” Luke said. “Hell, no. It’s too dangerous. If you find the money there, everyone’s going to think you planted it.”

She warmed at his concern, but reminded herself not to get used to it. He hadn’t said word one about seeing her after he left, and hell if she’d beg for crumbs. “I have nothing to lose. Everyone already thinks I stole the money. And I’ll be careful, trust me.” She shoved her feet into her sandals.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I want to talk to Aubrey.”

“Wait for me.” He pulled up his jeans and looked around, probably for his keys, which seemed to elude him daily, even though they were right there on the counter in the new key bowl she’d made.

“Can’t wait,” she said. “I’m on a tight schedule to stay out of jail.”

He choked out a laugh. “You weren’t on a tight schedule a few minutes ago.”

“Well that was different. I got distracted by an orgasm.”

He let out a very male smile of satisfaction. “Three orgasms. Pretty good for someone who was ‘thinking.’” Leaning in, he kissed her. “You want to do this alone.”

She needed to get used to alone. She met his gaze, wondering if he was going to even discuss it. His leaving. What might happen between them after he did.

But he said nothing.

“Yes,” she said, “I need to do this. Alone.”

“You don’t have to.”

“You’re leaving, remember?”

His jaw tightened. “I’m not likely to forget.”

She let out a breath. Stay strong. “Aubrey’ll be far more likely to talk to me if I’m by myself.”

Looking like he got it but didn’t necessarily like it, he nodded. “Call Zach. Tell him about Bree. I’ll call Sawyer.”

“I will,” she said, “since jail doesn’t work in my plans very well. Hard to be a self-sufficient, well-rounded, contributing member of society from behind bars. Plus I don’t think I could learn how to paddleboard there either.” She was doing her best to sound positive and upbeat. This was the trick to denial. Sound positive and upbeat and maybe you’ll buy it.

“Paddleboard?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been watching you, and I’ve decided it’s on my bucket list.”

“A bucket list is for someone who’s dying.”

“Well,” she said as lightly as she could, turning away from him on the pretense of checking her reflection in the small mirror above the foyer table. “I don’t see myself living through a prison sentence,” she quipped.

Two hands gripped her by the shoulders and turned her back around. He stared into her eyes, and she could tell by the grim set of his jaw that he could see her fears. “You’re not going to jail.”

She nodded, but she must not have looked convinced, because he dipped down a little to look into her eyes, his own fierce. “You’re not.”

Someone knocked on the kitchen door, and Ali jumped. She turned and peeked out the window over the sink and saw the broad-shouldered Jack standing there. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “If he’d shown up five minutes ago, he’d have heard us!”

“Us?” Luke inquired, amused, giving her a look that had her blushing to her roots.

Right. She was the noisy one. She couldn’t help it, not with him.

At her embarrassment, his eyes softened, filling with affection. “I love the noises you make,” he said huskily. “Sexy as hell.” He pulled open the door.

“Hey,” Jack said, “I’m not interrupting, am I?” And before they could answer, he pushed his way in. “Need to borrow a paddleboard.”

“It’s in the shed, not the house,” Luke said.

“Need a wetsuit too.”

“It’s June,” Luke said. “Only pussies need wetsuits in June.”

“I’ve got a date later. Can’t risk shrinkage.”

Luke started to shove him out, but Jack planted his feet. “Not going anywhere until you give me your wetsuit. I can stand here all day. You know I can.”

Luke muttered an oath and turned to the door himself. “There’s one in the garage somewhere. Hold on.”

When he was gone, Jack turned to Ali and flashed her a smile. “You can feel the love between me and him, right?”

Ali laughed. He was absurdly handsome and even more absurdly charming. “I can absolutely feel it.”

“Luke’s the son of two doctors,” Jack said, “so it’s probably not his fault that he’s such an ass. Or that he thinks he’s always right.”

“Is he? Always right?”

“Yeah, but don’t tell him that. It’ll go straight to his head. He’s got that classic hero complex thing going. It’s why shit hits him so hard. He likes to blame himself.”

“Thanks, Dr. Phil,” Luke said dryly, coming back into the room, tossing a wetsuit at him. “You can leave now.”

“Sure. Oh,” Jack said, turning back, “I’m supposed to tell you, Joe Wykowski wants you to figure out who’s stealing the reclaimed lumber he has stacked on the side of his house. It’s worth a fortune. He suspects it’s his ex-wife’s boyfriend’s son, who’s a carpenter, if that helps.”

“If he knows who it is…” Luke started.

“The guy carries his nail gun on his hip like he’s Dirty Harry,” Jack said. “They need you and your badass attitude. And real gun.”

Luke stared at him. “So I’m what, the new geriatric private detective of Lucky Harbor?”

“Hey, I’m not the one who found Mr. Schmidt’s GTO,” Jack said. “On shift last night, I had to rescue Mrs. Myers’s cat out of a tree, and she was telling her entire bridge club about you. Apparently they all have various problems that they need the local investigator stud muffin to solve—their words, by the way. Not that you’re not a total stud muffin; you’re just not my type.”

Ali laughed.

Luke manhandled Jack out the front door and then turned to Ali. At his expression, her heart squeezed. She’d watched him pretend not to care about anything, even as the opposite was true. He’d helped his sister get on her feet and stay there. In his job, he did whatever was needed. He’d fixed up the house he’d neglected.

And then there was her. He’d given her a place to stay, a friendship…and more.

They’d grown up so differently. His parents had expected a lot out of him, looking to him to pretty much raise himself and his sister too. As a result, Luke stood up for himself and others too weak to do so.

Ali admired that, so much.

“About earlier…” Luke said.

She took in his expression. “It’s okay, Luke,” she said softly. “You don’t have to give me the speech.”

“The speech?”

“The one where you rationalize how we got naked again, and how it’s the last time, yadda, yadda.”

A ghost of a smile curved his lips. “I thought it was blah, blah, blah.”

“Look, you’re right to hold back with me,” she said. “Historically I’ve made some bad decisions, and—”

He snagged her and hauled her in close. “There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said with quiet steel. “Not one thing. You’re perfect.”

“Well—”

“Say it,” he said.

She softened and cupped his face. “Luke, I—”

“Say it, Ali. Say you’re fucking perfect.”