Page 54 of Just My Luck

“How’s that for trouble?” she murmured against his lips.

“Dangerous.” He nipped her lower lip. “Practically criminal.” He growled, deep in his throat, a sound that ricocheted through her, leaving fire in its wake. Could a girl really get turned on by a voice? If it was Lincoln’s—deep, gruff, stern—a girl definitely could.

A hand slid up her back, then down to the waistband of her denim shorts. He found the gap between her shorts and her breezy oversized button-down, then splayed his palm against her bare skin. She shivered with pleasure. He stroked gently, taking his time, just feeling her, enjoying the contact, exploring the shape of her waist. You relax, his touch seemed to say. I got this. I got you.

Her eyelids fluttered closed. God, it had been so long since she’d felt taken care of like this. Maybe she never had, come to think of it. She’d always been the one shouldering the load when it came to her family. Sure, she took a lighthearted approach to it, but it all still weighed on her. Was her dad going to be okay in prison? Was Mia going to survive the bullying? Was Eddie going to fall out of the wrong tree one of these days? Would she ever manage to finish online law school?

But none of that mattered now. In this moment, all she knew was that heat was gathering in her belly and her skin prickled with desire.

“Would it be weird to have sex at a crime scene?” she whispered.

“All I heard was ‘have sex.’” He moved his hands to her ass and pulled her against his crotch and his fully hard erection. “Were there other words in there?”

“Nothing important. Come here.” She took him by the hand and tugged him across the narrow hallway to her own room. She was on fire for Lincoln and barely registered the mess in here. It didn’t matter. The bed hadn’t been touched.

They tumbled onto it, with Zara on top, splayed over his strong body. She wanted to climb him like a monkey, straddle him like a rodeo bull. But first—“Stay right there,” she ordered him.

She climbed off him and ran to the front door to make sure it was locked. She didn’t know how the intruders had gotten in. As far as she could tell, they’d just walked right in. All the windows were closed and locked, and, to her untrained eye, there were no signs of forced entry. Maybe she’d left the door unlocked; it wouldn’t be the first time.

With the door locked and double-checked, she danced back through the sea of clutter to her bedroom, where Lincoln was taking off his “manny” style leather sneakers. He set them to the side, lined up like proper little soldiers.

She laughed as she waltzed toward him. “This place must be blowing your mind. You like things orderly, don’t you?”

“It’s generally more efficient.” He squinted up at her with a slight grin. “Haven’t you heard?”

“Is it? I’ll have to look into that. Is that important to you, efficiency?”

She straddled his thighs, pinning him to her bed. Her feather-light comforter, Costco’s finest, settled under her weight.

“In some situations.” His eyes went dark and almost feral. “In others, I like to take my time.”

Oooh. A shudder of anticipation traveled through her. She liked this kind of foreplay, the verbal teasing, the promise, the flirt. “You know, before I suggested this ‘manny’ situation, I looked you up and read an article about you.”

“What’d you find out? It was probably all bullshit.”

She scooted her hips forward until she felt the heat of his erection through his clothes. “You don’t read what they write about you?”

“My chief of staff does. If it’s something important, he’ll pass it on.”

“Well, this piece says you’re a germaphobe and a neat freak and that you’re obsessed with extending your lifespan. It made you sound a little…odd.” She rotated her hips, sighing as she brushed against the penis trapped behind his clothes. Time to free the damn thing. She tugged down his zipper.

“Is that a problem? Me being odd?”

“Apparently not. My body seems fine with it so far.” She dimpled a smile at him.

He reached for her shoulders and drew her down against him. He kissed his way across her neck and then to the dip below her collarbone.

Her heart rate sped up. He must feel it under his mouth, but he made no comment.

“I don’t deny any of that. It’s mostly true. Or at least it was.”

“You’re not like that anymore? You do seem a little freaked out by the state of this place. Which is normal, anyone would be.”

“I was freaked out that I put you at risk. I don’t care how messy your house is. You’re raising two kids without any help. When would you have time to clean your house?”

Good question. She was already wondering when she’d get a chance to clean this new mess on top of the previously existing one.

“And your longevity obsession? They said you take all these supplements and are always trying new cutting-edge discoveries to make you live longer. But I haven’t seen you take a single thing like that.”