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He complied and she could see the hundreds of small muscles flex in his shoulders and down his torso
to the paler skin at the small of his back.
He was a beautiful machine, toned to sinuous lengths, golden skinned with a few freckles and moles
across his breadth to make him unique. She could already see the sculpture in her head. The heated,
smoothed lengths of polished steel that would represent the beauty of him. It would need water. Water to
slide over the planes and curves. Yes& yes& to slide over perfection.
She ran back to the pad and began slashing and soothing dark dust into shapes and shadows. She did
three fast studies before changing his position to a tilted version. First left, then right. How he stood it for
so long, she didn t know. He never moved, never complained. The final drawings were made with him
facing her, his dark eyes full of the flame that drew her, the strain at his mouth all that finally slowed her
down.
I m done, she said, knowing she wasn t. The sketches were only the beginning. The beginning of a
masterpiece, though. Only the beginning.
He wrapped himself in the bath sheet, muttering something about using her shower before walking
past her into the workshop.
She stayed out in the yard, trembling, spent from her artistic exertion, craving a taste of Lucas-scented
steam. Seduced again, damn him. She couldn t even satisfy herself with the taste of a smoke. Instead she
gnawed on a pencil from her kit. She made herself stay in the yard until he whistled for the dog and left the
same way he came, leaving her emotions fully engaged, far too cognizant of him and how he fit in her life.
In her heart.
She covered her face with her hands.
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Dee Tenorio
This was getting messy.
You were naked in the metal yard?
Lucas rolled his eyes, stirring his tea while he listened to Kyle making too much out of things. I was
inspiring her.
You were waving your bare ass all over her property, Kyle corrected, if not disgusted, sounding
damn close. Is it still safe to sit anywhere?
Lucas considered the night he and Belinda had made use of any surface strong enough to support
them. And said nothing.
So what else did she dare you? Kyle asked, probably making faces over his own morning coffee.
He d gotten the idea that they should update each other on their campaigns once a week. For the first
time ever, Lucas was making more progress with a woman than Kyle who had yet to get Jessica to do
much more than pause before hanging up on him which at least made the occasional phone calls worth
Lucas s time. But describing Belinda s dares wasn t exactly fun.
I have to clean her warehouse every day. He mumbled the other part of the dare he wasn t so wild
about, hoping Kyle wouldn t hear.
He didn t. What?
She makes me sing while I m doing it. Disco.
Kyle s laughter roared though the phone line. She has to regret that.
She wears earplugs. The dog wasn t so lucky. He howled for a while each day before trotting off to
hide under a sink until the attack on the Bee Gees was complete.
Please tell me you got her back somehow.
Lucas thought about all the things he began leaving hidden for her around her loft and workspace:
new art supplies particularly some new charcoals a new pair of boots and a certificate to her favorite
leather outfitter to replace the pants he d ripped, among other things. It was going to take her weeks to find
it all, by which time she couldn t give any of it back. But somehow, he doubted Kyle considered black
fishnet stockings with satin bows to be a vision of revenge.
I dared her to take the dog. The look on her face of pure disgust still managed to brighten his day.
Oh, he d regret it when this was all over and to a degree, he really did miss the sniffing, licking little
monster but it was still a sweet play.
So what s next?
Lucas grimaced. Dancing. On Sunday.
You?
Yeah, yeah, Lucas replied over more rambunctious laughter. Kyle was the dancer. Kyle enjoyed
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All or Nothing
clubs and screeching music, grasping women and probably even the sweaty crush of people. Lucas avoided
people in general, something most folks had the presence of mind to be grateful about.
It was his own damn fault though. Belinda had been bopping around her downstairs kitchen barely
wearing a camisole and a pair of white panties, waiting for her ancient toaster to need flipping, while he
was forced to stay alive next to her. It was an impulse to grab her hand and spin her into his arms, one of
the few he gave in to. At first, she d been startled, but then he spun her back out and she d started laughing,
joining in while he all but twirled her in the big open space. The two of them weren t going to make John
Travolta worry about his disco legacy, but by the time the song was over, they were both laughing
uncontrollably, exhausted and sprawled in her mismatched chairs, and the toast was burned all the way
through. She even let him kiss her goodbye when he left.
His inner alerts did make some noise after she made the dare though, wondering if she were pushing
him into a Kyle-mold on purpose or if she was just picking things he d hate to do. Frankly, it was a toss-up.
I m not real wild about clubbing it either, but I figure we re still even.
Yeah, how s that? You ll be wearing steel-toe boots, too?
She has to dye her hair. That dare had been a stroke of genius. Eyebrows, too. Back to the original
color in time for the dancing.
Belinda s jaw had dropped, leaving her vulnerable to yet another kiss before he slipped away from her
front door. The truth was, the past week had been a smorgasbord of stolen kisses and caresses. She didn t
even get mad at him anymore. Not when he touched her hand or grazed her healing tattoo with his
fingertips. Not when he whispered things in her ear as he passed. Not even when he insisted on kissing her
whenever he arrived or left. He d never felt so free or seen her hidden smile so often.
Of course, there was a reason to her laxity. She was trying to break him down. It started with the
sudden lack of clothes. He d come in, finding her in various levels of undress. The worst was the morning
she came out of her shower in a wet white towel too soaked and too worn to be any deterrent to his
sight. Her building hardly had any windows and the ceiling fans did almost nothing for the heat, so her
lame excuse of being hot had enough truth to it that he couldn t complain. His dick might throb, but it
wasn t complaining.
It wasn t getting satisfied, either. She teased, she pranced and she all but dripped sex left and right
something that had to be making her as nuts as it was making him but she wasn t getting any until she
said the magic words.
After a moment of quiet, Lucas realized Kyle hadn t said anything in a while. In fact, his silence
seemed thoughtful a frightening prospect if ever there was one. Lucas figured out how much so when his
brother finally broke it.
She s going to figure it out, Luc. If she hasn t already.
Figure what out?
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Dee Tenorio
You re dating. Creatively, I ll give you that, but it s turning into something that resembles a
relationship and I m telling you, she s going to notice.
Lucas tried not to be irritated. Kyle sounded almost logical. Such behavior should be encouraged.
Usually. What do you mean, resembles?
I mean to you, this is a relationship. Something you can keep going until you unwrap the real Belinda
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