Nicole Edwards - Temptation

“You didn’t tell me Sierra had been hired by Susie Mackendrick.” Logan stated bluntly, looking none too happy.

Susie?

Luke’s head jerked like someone had slapped him. “What?”

Apparently Luke hadn’t put two and two together or maybe Sierra hadn’t mentioned the woman’s last name. Either way, Sierra knew there was a story there, and she was pretty sure it was one she wasn’t going to like.

“She’s the client I’ve been telling you about.” Sierra managed to say when Luke glared at her.

“Where’d you meet her?”

What did it matter, she wondered to herself. Apparently there was something personal between Luke and the woman Sierra was now working for, and just like Logan, Luke seemed a bit stunned by the news. “I met her at the conference in Vegas. I told you about her.”

“I’m pretty sure I would remember if you had.” Luke argued, his eyes darting around the room as though he expected the woman to pop up at any second.

“Why? How do you know her?” Sierra asked, leaning forward in her chair and placing her elbows on the table. She wanted the story, and she wanted it now. Unease settled like a rock in her belly and though she hadn’t thought it possible, she knew her week was just about to go from bad to worse.

“It’s nothing.” Luke brushed her off, masking any emotion he had previously shown as he avoided looking at her directly.

“What do you mean it’s nothing?” Her ability to brush things off had just reached critically low levels. Between Logan’s reaction, Sam’s apparent distaste of the subject, and now Luke’s wandering eyes, she knew there was something personal between Luke and Susan. Luke blowing her off was just the icing on the cake.

“Just what I said.” Luke stated, and Sierra could see from his expression that the subject was closed as far as he was concerned.

Well, that was all fine and good. She could play this game too. “Well, that’ll be my cue to call it a night.” Sierra stated, standing abruptly. All heads turned to her, but she didn’t bother making eye contact. Offering a quick glance at Sam, she spoke. “Call me tomorrow? We’ll do lunch if you’re not busy.”

Sam didn’t say a word, but she nodded her head, her eyes darting back and forth between Sierra and Luke. Without further hesitation, Sierra grabbed her purse and walked away. Maybe she was being petulant, or maybe she just wasn’t willing to play these juvenile games. Either way, she’d reached her limit tonight.

Sierra would have thought that the pounding bass and the consistent chatter would have drowned out the sound that had her stopping her tracks. The husky, sexy voice that called out to Luke was familiar. The same voice that had spent two days telling Sierra she was none too happy with her designs.

Susan Toulmin, better known as Susie Mackendrick apparently, seemed to know her way around the club, which told Sierra everything she needed to know. Despite the warning bells sounding off in her brain, she turned toward the voice, just in time to see the beautiful Dallas lawyer wrap her arms around Luke’s expansive chest. That wasn’t a platonic hug… nor was the kiss that followed.

Oh, God. Sierra forced her feet to move as her stomach lurched, the nausea making her dizzy. She was going to throw up, and it had nothing to do with the alcohol she had consumed. Thankfully her brain functioned enough to convince her feet to move toward the door, but the second she stepped out into the cool night air, the dam broke, and the tears burst free. Choking on a sob, Sierra lowered her head, hoping no one would see the woman who was having an emotional breakdown. She’d only gone two steps out the door before she came face to chest with a hard, unmoving form.

“I am so sorry.” She sobbed, glancing up into familiar ocean blue eyes.

Why her? Why today?

“Sierra?”

Oh, great. The pity she saw in those exquisite eyes was nearly her undoing. When Cole gripped her arm, pulling her out of the path of the crowd, she wanted to just slink into a corner and die.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” The tender tone of his voice didn’t help the steady flow of tears, but somehow Sierra managed to pull away from him.

Everything. “Nothing. I – I need to – to  go.” With that Sierra skirted past Cole and down the narrow corridor that would lead her to the underground parking garage. Her feet didn’t seem to move fast enough, but the further she made it away from Luke, the stronger she began to feel.

Luke was caught off guard when Susie walked up to the table, her sultry, southern twang a complete distraction to the fact that Sierra had just up and walked away. He stood, fully intending to go after Sierra, only to find Susie walking right into his arms. He abruptly wrapped his arms around her to keep from losing his balance, but before he could pull away, Susie planted a scorching hot kiss firmly on his lips.

Based on the death glare his brother shot him, and the look of horror on Sam’s face, Luke knew Sierra had been witness to everything that just happened. And being the dumbass that he was, Luke didn’t chase after her. Instead, time slowed to a crawl as the four of them stared at one another in fascinated shock. Well, everyone except Susie who appeared to be oblivious if her constant rambling was anything to go by.

Minutes later, Luke found himself sitting at the table with the three of them while Susie continued her incessant talking. “And you wouldn’t believe this interior designer I hired.” Susie stated, capturing the full attention of everyone at the table.

“Since I met her at the conference in Vegas, I figured for sure I would be getting top notch when I hired her. She’s new to the interior design world and green as hell. Unfortunately, she’s much more inexperienced than I originally gave her credit for. The woman just doesn’t seem to get it. I’m not sure how she intends to make it in that business if she is too stupid to take any sort of direction. I mean seriously, how hard is it to understand when I’m telling her exactly what I want?”

Sam abruptly stood from the table, pushing her chair back so hard it nearly tumbled over. “It’s time to go.” She told Logan pointedly, not making eye contact with Luke.

If she expected Luke to say something she had another thing coming. Oh, he knew he should defend Sierra, he knew he should say anything that would make Susie put a lid on it, but he couldn’t seem to come up with the words.

For the last few days, Luke’s emotions had been all fucked up, and he didn’t know how to even talk to Sierra. As it would appear, the night the three of them spent together had had a shocking effect on Luke. Unable to get his shit together, he’d successfully managed to keep her at arm’s length all week. It appeared the arm had just turned into a football field.

Luke could only watch as Logan and Sam walked away, his brother’s death stare boring a hole into him and promising retribution later. That was par for the course these days or so it seemed. If his conversation with Cole earlier was anything to go by, Luke had successfully morphed back into the world class asshole.

“So, it looks like it’s just you and me now, cowboy.” Susie’s seductive whisper slid over him while her slender fingers snaked up his arm.

He’d always wondered what it meant to have an out of body experience. Now he knew. He glanced down at Susie, feeling like a bystander watching a train crash into another one head on at two hundred miles per hour.

The woman looked the same as always with her beautiful, golden blond hair, those piercing brown eyes, and those sinfully red lips, but for the life of him, Luke couldn’t understand what he had been drawn to about her. Before he could give it another second’s thought the other object of Susie’s sexual infatuation chose that moment to walk up to the table and based on the look on his face, Cole was none too happy to see Luke.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cole barked, glaring down at Luke, never even acknowledging Susie.

“What are you talking about?” Luke pushed to his feet, needing to get some height on Cole in order to deal with the man’s anger. In all the time that he had known him, he had never seen Cole mad enough that his hands were balled into fists at his side. If Luke looked close enough, he’d probably see steam coming out of his ears.

“Cole, honey, what’s wrong?” Susie interrupted.

As though seeing her for the first time, Cole glanced over at the woman at the table, but his attention didn’t stray for long before he locked that penetrating stare back on Luke. “Sierra just stormed out of here. In tears. Although she didn’t bother to tell me why, my money’s on you.”

The thought of Sierra crying tore at Luke’s heart. If he was a smart man, which he was, he would high tail it out of the club and find her. Apparently his intellect had taken a back seat to the rage boiling just beneath the surface. “If I remember right, you lost your right to stick your nose into my business.”

Cole laughed. The man actually laughed, but his eyes showed no reflection of humor. “I don’t give a fuck about you.” Cole’s tone was deceptively calm, standing toe to toe with Luke. “It’s her I care about.”

“Her? You’re going to stand here and tell me you care about her? You abandoned her, remember? You abandoned both of us.” Wow, where the hell had that come from?

“Abandoned?” Cole’s body went stone still. “I stayed away from her. Because of you. And then the second you invite me over, I’m there. And you want to tell me I’m the one who abandoned you?”

Cole jabbed a finger in Luke’s chest, and the sudden, intense reaction to the other man’s anger was shocking. Luke instinctively reared back, his fist clenched, every muscle geared up for a fight. His brain registered what he was doing, but a fraction of a second before impact, someone’s steel hard grip latched onto Luke’s arm and pulled him back, causing him to stumble.

“Not here, damnit.” Logan’s tense words broke through the red haze that consumed him. Pulling out of Logan’s grip, Luke stepped forward, getting right in Cole’s face again.

“We’ve got some things to talk about, you and me.” Cole stated matter-of-factly, not giving an inch. “It’s time we took care of that.”

Luke processed the words, he even understood what Cole was telling him, but all of a sudden nothing seemed to matter except for one thing. Getting to Sierra.

“Luke? What’s going on?” Susie’s husky voice broke the strained silence that settled between the two men despite the loud music pounding through the sound system.

Tunnel vision consumed him, and he could only focus on the man standing inches away.

“Tell her.” Cole stated through clinched teeth.

“Tell her what?” Luke’s irritation level was reaching the critical point.

“Start with how you sent Sierra out of here crying.”

“Sierra?” Susie asked, looking bemused. “Not Sierra Sellers, I hope. Please don’t tell me that you’ve lowered your standards…”

Luke cut her off before the words could come out. He gripped Susie’s slim arm, jerking her to face him.

“Don’t.” The word came out more as a snarl, but Luke couldn’t contain his temper. “Don’t say another fucking word about her. You’re damn lucky she’s even given you the time of day. And if I hear one more fucking word out of your mouth, you’ll be out of my club so fast your head will spin.”

Susie’s eyes widened, locked with his and he swore he saw… Oh, hell, the woman was turned on by all of this? Good Lord. His suspicions were confirmed a second later when her eyes lowered. Her admission of surrender.

On a normal day that look would have Luke backing her against a wall and taking her hard and fast until she screamed his name.

Not today.

Not ever again.

He was right on one thing… Sierra deserved so much better than him. She deserved everything. And if Luke had a chance in hell of making her understand he was the man who would give her everything, he had to take that opportunity.

“Luke, I didn’t mean…” Susie began when she realized Luke wasn’t at all interested in her submissive act.

“That’s enough.” Luke scolded her like a recalcitrant child.

The woman had the audacity to lean into him, pressing her breasts against his chest, and the look in her eyes was smoldering. She was definitely getting off on this. Taking a step back, Luke took inventory of those around him.

Great. Just fucking great.