He moved away and I made a sound of protest low in my throat. But he only moved to pull my panties down my legs. Then he was back and he hit the target immediately.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, bucking now to get closer to his mouth. I was out-of-control moaning and panting. I couldn’t help it and didn’t try.

It was better than that morning, it was better than my self-gratification that afternoon (far better), it was better than anything I’d ever had.

It was exquisite.

I was there, right there and I gasped, “Luke.”

Then his cell rang. His mouth stilled. Then his head came up.

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Not again.

“No!” I cried aloud.

He moved up and over me. “Fuck,” he muttered, sounding pissed and full of regret at the same time.

It was the regret that penetrated my pre-orgasm fog.

I stared at him. “Go back. Don’t stop,” I whispered.

He kept his body on me but reached to the nightstand.

“Luke, please,” I begged and I didn’t care what I sounded like, this was not going to happen to me again.

“Sorry, babe. That’s Lee’s tone,” Luke whispered, hand at my jaw, thumb running along my lower lip. One thing you could say, he did sound sorry, very sorry. But I didn’t care that he sounded sorry, I didn’t care at all.

He flipped open the phone. “Yeah?”

This was not happening.

He listened for a few beats then said, “I’ll be there in ten.”

What?

He flipped the phone shut.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I breathed, half-still turned on, half-totally pissed off, not just at him but at myself.

“Lee’s workin’. He’s in a situation where he needs backup. The boys on call are busy with somethin’ else. I gotta go,” Luke told me.

I glared at him not knowing what to think.

He looked at me, likely sensing my mental battle to decide how I felt that he’d leave me in this state to go do backup for Lee so he said softly, “No way I’d leave, Ava, but Lee needs a man at his back. He knows you’re here and wouldn’t call unless it was important. I have to go.”

Fuck that.

I kept glaring at him. He ignored the glare and touched my mouth with his then moved away.

Then things, already bad, got worse.

He pulled the covers over my body but left me cuffed to the bed. Then he got up and started dressing. In stunned, angry silence, I watched him pull on his pants then tug on his shirt. He sat on the edge of the bed to put on his boots.

Finally I called, “Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you forget something?” I asked.

“What?”

“Uncuff me.”

He tugged on his second boot, twisted toward me and put his lips to my jaw. “Quick, three things,” he said there.

I got the feeling that these three things weren’t going to be good for me. My body, already solid with fury, felt like it was going to shatter in a million pieces.

He lifted his head but kept his face close to mine, his hand at my belly over the covers. “One,” he started. “Leavin’ you cuffed means you can’t do anything stupid.”

One, two, three, four…

“Two,” he continued. “I like thinkin’ of you cuffed na**d to my bed.”

Five, six, seven, eight…

“Three,” he went on. “This won’t take long and we’ll finish when I get back.”

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…

Nope, it wasn’t going to work.

“You leave me cuffed, I’ll never speak to you again,” I told him.

“Babe,” now he sounded amused, “that’s a good thing. You got a mouth on you.”

Then to my utter disbelief, he was gone.

* * * * *

Luke had been wrong. It did take long. So long, I had time to let it penetrate that Luke was off somewhere being the man at Lee’s back during a “situation”. I didn’t want to care but I got worried. Then I got scared. The longer it took for him to come back, the more scared I became. I should have been scared about being cuffed to a bed if something happened to Luke, and thus, who knew how long it would take for someone to find me, if ever (I had, in my state, forgotten about the cameras). Instead, I was just scared for Luke.

Then I got angry. Angry at Luke for leaving me the way I was, angry at him for having a scary-as-shit job and switching my anger to Lee for existing at all.

Finally, tiredness overwhelmed me, I was forced to roll to my side, find a somewhat comfortable position and I fell into a fitful sleep.

I woke up when the bed moved and I felt hands working efficiently at my wrists. Then I was free. I pulled my arms down and pins and needles attacked them viciously.

I bent my elbows and circled my hands at my wrists. Luke pulled me up to a sitting position in the bed, moved his body so his legs were around me, his front pressed against my back. Both of his hands worked at my arms, his fingers pressing in, forcing out the angry tingles.

“Babe,” he said softly against my neck.

I was silent and, even just awakened, absolutely furious.

“It took longer than I expected,” he continued.

No kidding, I thought but kept my mouth shut.

“I got away as soon as I could,” he told me.

Rat-bastard, I thought.

“Christ, Ava, I’m sorry.”

I don’t care. Go to hell. I hate you. I kept my silence.

The pins and needles subsided and I leaned forward, pulling away from his hands.

His arms went around my waist and kept me there, his mouth at my neck. “Ava,” he said against my skin. I jerked my neck away from him.

“Shit,” he muttered and moved away from me.

I scrambled and got my panties and the Triumph tee (let us not forget, I was na**d as a jaybird). I noticed he’d come straight to the bed fully-clothed to release me and now he was taking off his clothes. I tugged on my stuff and walked directly to my suitcases. I rummaged through them, found what I wanted and went to the bathroom. I yanked off the Triumph tee and put on a pair of pajama pants striped in yellow, green and pink and a fitted tee in matching pink. I walked out, threw the Triumph tee on the bed not even looking to see where Luke was. I grabbed a pillow and stomped to the couch.

I threw the pillow down, lay on the couch, tucked myself in a ball and wrapped my arms around my knees. I’d barely got in this position before Luke was there, lifting me up and carrying me to the bed. I didn’t struggle and I didn’t say a word.