Flirting with Danger by Bev Hardy (digital e reader TXT) 📖

trying to contact Richie. Luke figured that perhaps he hadn't done himself any favours by kidnapping Charlie's boyfriend. Still, what else would he have done, under the circumstances?
In the bathroom, Charlie changed into the nightslip which was unfortunately the only nightwear she had in the house. Hmm, after their earlier encounter with her wearing it, she could do with something a lot less revealing right now. Well, at least the room was fairly dark.
Entering her bedroom again, she was relieved to see that Luke had already settled himself in the chair. This didn't stop her feeling ever so slightly guilty though, slipping under the fluffy duvet on her spacious double bed.
"Well, night," she said.
"Good night Charlie," he replied.
She turned onto her side and found a comfortable position for her head on the pillow. Then all was silent.
She lay, waiting for sleep to come. She waited some more. Then she turned onto her other side, hoping that the new position would bring sleep. The problem was that her body was still cold. She pulled the duvet more snugly around her and waited some more. She swore that she could hear Luke breathing! She wished he would stop doing that so loudly. Now she was too aware of him lying in that chair. Damn it, and why was she still so cold?
Then a thought crept uninvited into her head, 'if she was still cold, how much colder must Luke be after having walked back with no jacket on, and now with only the covering of a thin blanket?' Was she being unthoughtful and unkind, making him sleep on that chair? He had leant her his jacket, leaving himself with no source of warmth. And he had walked her home, which he hadn't needed to do, just to make sure that she was safe. Okay, but what could she do about this situation? She could hardly have him sleeping in her bed!
She twisted again under the duvet in search of a more comfortable position. Right, she would just lie there and not move a muscle; she would have to fall asleep eventually. Go to sleep! What the hell was wrong with her? Sleep, sleep, sleep. She was going to sleep if it killed her!
"Damn it Luke," she said suddenly in frustration, "I feel bad leaving you to sleep on that chair! Are you warm enough?" she asked.
His eyes flew open then. He had been attempting sleep, but was too aware of her tossing and turning to achieve it.
"Hmm, I aint exactly hot here," he admitted, suddenly full of hope.
She growled, throwing the duvet back from her. "Right, if you want to, you can sleep in here with me…"
His heart raced.
"…but," she stressed, "may I make this clear, this is an invitation for you to sleep more comfortably, nothing else, alright?"
"Sure," he replied, jumping up off the chair. "I get ya Charlie."
With huge reservations, she moved across to one side of the bed, making room for him.
He got in beside her.
Maybe this was a mistake. Now her heart was thudding; sleep was probably going to be even more difficult now.
"Goodnight Luke," she said again, turning away from him.
"Night," he replied.
Silence lasted for a while before Luke broke it with,
"Charlie."
Oh no, what now?
"Hmm?"
"Did you and Richie fight?" he asked.
She paused briefly before answering, "We had some cross words," she admitted.
"Did ya make up?" he went on.
She thought for a moment. "I will see him tomorrow and arrange for the return of your car."
Damn, he had thought that maybe they had broken up.
It was some minutes later before he spoke again.
"Charlie."
"What Luke?"
"I was kinda thinkin'…"
"What were you thinking?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well, ya know last night…"
"Hmm."
"We slept together on the sofa, right? An' there was no room, so we hadda sleep closer. Well, there aint really no difference between that and now. And… well, I'm still kinda cold. There's only really one way to get warm," he reasoned.
She hated herself for the smile that crept across her face.
"Luke, you should have been a lawyer, not a agent," she laughed.
Right, he was risking it. Reaching out for her, he slid one arm underneath her pillow and the other around her waist, pulling her back into him.
She yelped, and he was worried for a moment that he had misunderstood the situation, until she exclaimed,
"You're freezing!"
Phew.
"Just wait a bit Charlie, we'll both soon be warm."
In more ways than one if he didn't behave himself!
She felt totally encompassed by him, and she hated to admit it, blissfully comfortable and warm now. His hand lay at that moment, on her stomach, his arms holding her tightly to him. Okay, maybe this was acceptable. She needed to make one thing clear though.
"Luke, if your hands move to anywhere else apart from where they are now, I'll chop them off."
He chuckled. "Oooh, so violent Charlie. What will you do after that? Gateaux torture?"
She laughed. "Shut up and go to sleep."
As they lay there, Charlie's treacherous mind slipped back to that morning, and Luke's erotic dream… his hands moving up her thigh… Luke's mind was well and truly on what it would have been like if Charlie had given in to him earlier and they had had mad passionate sex before the evening out.
He slowly became aware then of Charlie's breathing quickening from the hand that he'd placed on her stomach. Oh God, it made him want to take all her remaining clothes off and kiss every part of her to see just how much that would affect her breathing! He couldn't risk pushing his luck that night though, but this didn't stop his mind from pondering every way possible of trying to affect her without it being construed as sexual.
Charlie was just beginning to think that maybe he had fallen asleep, when she felt him move his arm. If he was going to push it, she would tell him to get out of her bed.
He lifted his free hand though and made the fairly innocent gesture of sweeping back her hair with two fingers. His eyes caressed her neck and he just couldn't stop himself from brushing those fingers gently along the length of it.
She should say something.
Then he moved his hand again, trailing his fingers over her shoulder and down her arm.
"Luke," she said with a warning in her voice.
"What? It's only an arm," he replied.
Hmm, but it was the 'touching' that was worrying her…and the tingles that it was creating.
"I gotta say Charlie…" he whispered in her ear. Damn, that always got to her. His hand was caressing her arm still. "… you have the smoothest skin of any woman I've ever known."
If it weren't for the sense of awe she could detect in his voice, she would have interpreted that as a line. This was getting dangerous.
"Luke, don't make me force you back onto that chair," she appealed.
His hand stilled then in mid stroke. Then it returned to her stomach and he nestled into her again.
"Alright," he conceded, but then added, "Don't ya just love the good old British weather?"
She laughed. "Go to sleep Luke!" Chapter 25

"What?" she said, when he refused to take his excited gaze away from hers.
"Nothin'," he replied, "…apart from the fact that I wanna do unspeakably erotic things to you right now." 

 

Luke awoke to a warm weight on his chest. Before he even opened his eyes, he smiled to himself; he knew what had happened during the night. He had suspected and hoped it would. He could feel her hair fanned out against his skin, her head below his chin, her arm along his side and her hand claiming his shoulder. He just lay lazily for a few moments, enjoying the knowledge that she was there and the inevitable way that his body slowly started to register her nearness. As it did so, it began with an acute awareness of the gentle rise and fall of her chest against his, with only the barrier of her nightdress between them. Then his mind kicked into gear and his eyes wanted to see; he opened them.
There she was, Charlie, sleeping so peacefully in his arms in that rather stimulating lingerie. Of course, without it would be much better, but he couldn't really complain. He let his eyes wander over the exposed, tanned skin of her shoulders and back until instincts overtook and he raised one hand to lightly touch her skin. He wanted to feel it… and he probably also wanted her to wake up now… now it was morning time, his body was telling him it was time to frolic. He ran his fingers from her shoulder blade to her shoulder, and then began the journey down her arm, not really concentrating on exactly where they would go next or end up; he was just enjoying the way they slid, smoothly over Charlie's skin.
She began to stir, burying her sleepy head into his chest to shut out the world. Now she was in the state between consciousness and sleep, but content to lie there like that until her eyes decided they wanted to open. The tingles on her skin prompted her into a more wakeful state though, until finally, she lifted her head towards Luke and her eyes slowly opened. He could tell that her mind still wasn't entirely alert from the drowsiness of her eyes, and then, on instinct, a soft, warm smile lit up her face. It filled him with a feeling he hadn't expected and couldn't explain, but then just as quickly, she abruptly flew into full consciousness, throwing back the duvet cover and exclaiming, "What time is it?"
"Hey!" he answered, grabbing the duvet back and covering them again. "Calm down. It aint that late, and it's damn cold!"
She groaned and relented, lying back down next to Luke for warmth. He was right, it was freezing cold.
"I forgot, no electrics means no heating, no hot bath, no…"
"I'll take a look in a while, but it's still early yet. If we need an electrician, we aint gonna get one at this hour," he replied, rearranging the duvet cover around them. "Now, where was I?" he went on, "here," he said, returning his fingertips to her shoulder. She turned her head and watched them suspiciously. "And maybe here," he continued, this time taking advantage of the skin of her back that was open to his touch above her nightdress. She couldn't strain her head that far to watch what he was doing now, but she was alert and ready to halt him if needs be.
His touch remained soft and unobtrusive however, and she was actually quite enjoying the rhythmic movement of his fingers. If he kept doing that, she'd be asleep again. Then he found it. She hadn't even thought of stopping him from caressing her in that place because his fingers had moved over the top of her nightdress and so seemed even safer there. But the spot at the base of her back was a different story, a weakness he had found during their dance. He must have remembered, the sneaky horror! He took great advantage of his find, feathering his fingers over it again and again. He knew he'd found her sensitive spot when she immediately arched her back, pressing herself more firmly against him. Hmm, that was nice.
She