Page 36 of Lucas (The Valeur Billionaires #2)

Concern. Gentleness. Compassion.

I open my eyes and meet his beautiful, worried gaze. The sight of him shatters me. A second tear rolls down my cheek, followed by another.

“Fuck, Ava.” He pulls me to him, cradling me against his chest. “You’re okay, I’m here.” He rocks me in his arms.

I sob, all the memories from that fateful fall flooding back. Father yelling at me, the pain from my broken arm, the hours I waited until we got to the hospital and they put a cast on me because he had to stop by the office for an important meeting first.

I didn’t shed a single tear then, but now it seems all the tears since have compounded, bursting out of me.

Lucas holds me for long minutes. He doesn’t speak or rush me, just lets me get it all out.

“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” he asks as my sobs quiet, pulling back to examine me.

I want to cling to him and never let go. “Where are you injured?”

“I’m fine,” I say.

“Your hand.” He leans over me, inspecting the ugly scrape on my palm where I broke my fall .

“It’s just a scrape,” I say between sniffles.

He blows cool air on the wound with surprising gentleness. “I think you’ll survive. Good thing I made you wear those pads.”

I laugh. And cry. And laugh.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“About what?”

“About what just happened here? Because I’m guessing it’s not about this fall.”

I shake my head.

“Okay.” He stands and extends his hand, pulling me back to my feet. “Do you want to keep going?”

“No. I can’t.”

“You’re not hurt.”

“I just can’t. I’ll never get it.” I shake my head.

He grips my chin, tilting my face up to meet his eyes. “Ava. You finished college, earned degrees, you’re a CEO. You married me to save your company, and you fought me to save your employees. You didn’t get where you are by giving up. Right, Ava?”

My heart races.

“I won’t let you give up on yourself. You’re strong, you’re amazing, and you’re going to leave here knowing how to ride. Are you hearing me?”

I nod.

“Now get back on and show that bike who’s boss.”

After a few more tries, with Lucas cheering me on the whole time, it clicks. I’m riding, and I can’t fathom why I ever found it difficult before. I turn around and pedal back to Lucas. “I’m riding!” I yell to him.

He grins, waiting for me to reach him .

“Yeah, you are.” His voice is low as I come to a stop beside him. “I told you you’d leave here knowing how to ride.”

I smile so wide my cheeks ache. I remove my helmet and hang it on the handlebars, then my pads.

“Thank you, Lucas. You have no idea how much this meant to me.” I throw my arms around him, burying my face in his broad chest.

I don’t want to break this embrace.

His scent envelops me, clean and masculine. And my body tingles. We’re pressed together, and still, it’s not enough. I want him on top of me, inside me. I inch even closer, slipping my hands under his shirt to caress his warm skin.

He feels so good, so right.

I tilt my face up and meet his smoldering gaze.

“Ava?”

“Hmm?”

“Say yes,” he rasps, his whisper ghosting over my lips.

A desperate exhale escapes me. “Yes.”

His lips brush against mine, teasing, tasting.

The barest whisper of a touch, and yet it ignites a firestorm low in my belly.

His hard length presses into my softness as he rocks his hips, letting me know just how much he wants me.

Each delicious grind sends sparks skittering under my skin, my heartbeat ratcheting up to a feverish gallop.

“Should we take this back to the house?” his husky whisper ghosts over my tingling flesh, raising goosebumps in its wake. “To a bed?”

I shake my head, fingers clutching at his broad shoulders. “No. Here. Now.”

The thought of waiting even a second longer is unbearable. I need all of him against me, over me, surrounding me. Consuming me.

“Here?” His eyes flare with matching hunger. In a blink, he has his backpack unzipped and is shaking out a soft picnic blanket to spread across the lush grass.

Anticipation hums through my veins, every nerve ending sparking to life as I watch him. My tongue darts out to moisten my dry lips. Holy hell, this is really happening.

I’m excited.

And scared.

And aroused.

“Having second thoughts?” he asks, grasping my hand. “We don’t have to.” That vulnerable look crosses his face again.

That rare glimpse of vulnerability makes my heart squeeze painfully in my chest. Since when does arrogant, cocky Lucas worry about pressuring me? Since when does he look at me with such open tenderness?

Since you started seeing the man beneath the ruthless business manager mask , a traitorous voice whispers. Since you started wanting more from him than a fake marriage and a few orgasms.

“I’m not having second thoughts,” I assure him, my voice coming out breathier than I intend. “I want this. I want you.”

Something fierce and possessive flares in his eyes as he tugs me flush against his hulking frame. The heat of him sears me even through our clothes, his heart thundering against my breast. “Then you have me.”

In the next moment, his mouth is on mine, devouring, conquering, sending any lingering reservations up in flames.

I moan into the kiss, parting my lips in eager invitation.

He wastes no time deepening the contact, his wicked tongue delving past my teeth to stroke and caress.

Desire surges through me, hot and heady, as he maps every inch of my mouth like he’s committing it to memory.

Large hands skim down my back to grip my hips as he walks us backward, never breaking the kiss. I cling to his biceps when he lowers us to the blanket and settles his full weight over me. The delicious pressure sends need skittering down my spine to throb between my thighs.

His lips blaze a trail across my jaw, down the column of my neck, teeth scraping at my fluttering pulse.

“You taste even better than I imagined,” he rasps against my skin, the coarse stubble of his jaw creating exquisite friction. “I could feast on you for hours and never get enough.”

I wind my fingers through his silky hair and hold him to me, arching to give him better access. He takes the unspoken invitation, moving lower to nuzzle the sensitive skin above my collarbone.

Each open-mouthed kiss sends liquid lightning zinging to my core, and I’m panting by the time clever fingers slip beneath the hem of my tank top, pushing the flimsy barrier up to bare my lower ribcage.

My stomach hollows as he splays a hot palm over the quivering surface, his touch at once soothing and inflaming.

“So soft,” he murmurs, trailing fleeting caresses over every inch of exposed skin. “I’ve been dying to get my hands on you like this.”

“Then touch me,” I breathe, emboldened by the raw need in his confession. I wrap my fingers around his wrist and guide his hand higher to cup my breast through the thin sports bra. “I’m yours.”

A growl rumbles through his chest as he complies, kneading the sensitive mound, his thumb grazing my pebbled nipple through the stretchy fabric. Pleasure rolls through me, my back bowing off the blanket seeking more of that decadent friction. More of him.

“That’s it, baby,” he coaxes, pinching the straining peak between his fingers until I gasp. “Let me hear you. I want to learn all the sounds you make.”

Uncaring how I sound, I let the breathy moans spill from my lips as he continues his sweet torment, desire turning my blood to molten lava. My hips writhe against his, seeking pressure where I’m throbbing and empty.

“Lucas, please...”

Shushing me with a searing kiss, he tugs the strap of my bra down my shoulder, baring one flushed breast to his hungry eyes. My shyness evaporates under the heat of his appreciative groan, my skin prickling with goosebumps.

“Perfect,” he breathes. “So fucking perfect.”

Then he ducks his head and closes his lips around the aching peak, and I fly out of my skin at the white-hot pleasure that crashes through me.

Wet, glorious suction as he works the sensitive flesh, tongue swirling and teeth scraping until I’m writhing against him.

My nails bite into his shoulders, mindless noises spilling from my throat.

Releasing my nipple with an obscene pop, he grazes the damp skin with the rough pad of his thumb. “You like that, sweetheart? Like having my mouth on you?” He proceeds to suck my other nipple. “You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of this. I wasn’t sure if you’d ever agree.”

“What would you have done if I didn’t?” I ask, my voice hoarse .

He looks up at me. “I would have kept waiting, hoped, and fucked my fist.”

“That’s hot.”

“Yeah?”

“When you did that in front of me, I came just from watching. I imagined this moment every time I touched myself in bed.”

“You imagined me?”

I nod.

“Fuck, Ava,” he strokes the waistband of my pants, his hand slipping between my legs with a gentle touch. I want to rip the fabric off to feel him on my bare skin.

He moves his hand back up.

“Put your hand back there,” I gasp.

“Where do you want me, Ava? Show me,” he groans, his face flushed, mouth open. He’s so beautiful.

I guide his hand between my legs. “I’m wet.”

My comfortable yoga shorts feel suffocating as he strokes me through the fabric. “Do you want my cock or my tongue?” he whispers, slipping his hand into my waistband. His finger meets my clit, and I throw my head back.

“Fuck,” I shout.

I can’t stand the fabric against my skin anymore, and I pull my pants down along with my underwear, discarding them. Lucas stops and kneels, his eyes roaming over my body with appreciation. He runs his hands over me, from top to bottom, caressing my burning skin.

“I want you, Lucas. Get undressed,” I plead.

He stands and pulls a condom from his pocket. “I have one this time. ”

“I don’t want a condom.” I trust him. He wouldn’t lie about something like this, and I want to feel him. All of him.

He nods, his breathing quickening. He removes his shirt and riding pants, standing before me in full naked glory, his erection throbbing at the base.

Wow.

“Do you like what you see?” he asks.

I nod. “Come here.”

“Wait, I want to savor this moment. Burn it into my memory.” His eyes are hazy.

God, can he say anything more beautiful than that?

He drops back to his knees, spreading me open with his hands. “I want to go down on you, taste you. I’ve been dreaming about it since that time on the roof, sweet and salty and unique. I want you to come on my tongue.”

His thumb massages my clit, and my hips rise to meet him. “What else do you want, Wifey? Do you want to come on my tongue?”

“Yes.”

He kneels between my legs, running his tongue in a long lick from bottom to top. “Fuck!” I shout, tugging at his dark hair .

“This pussy is mine,” he murmurs before diving back in, licking me up and down, then sucking on my clit, first gently, then harder. I writhe, spreading my legs wider, desperate for his touch. He licks me again, adding a finger and sliding it inside me.

He adds another finger, curling them and hitting my G-spot. I almost scream. “It’s too much,” I gasp.

“No, baby, we’re just getting started,” he says, going back to tormenting my swollen clit. My muscles shake, the pressure in my belly reaching new heights. I’m close.

“I feel you gripping my fingers. Fuck, you’re divine.” He pulls his fingers out of me and puts them in his mouth, sucking them clean. His eyes roll back in his head.

My eyes widen. It’s one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.

He stops and looks at me through half-closed eyes.

“Don’t stop. Please.”

“You want more, don’t you, baby? You want to come?”

“Yes, please.” I writhe again. My orgasm is just a touch away.

“Not yet.” He pulls his hand away.

I exhale. “No?”

The tight knot in my belly unravels, and I groan as my orgasm slips away like a distant dream.

“No. I’ll decide when you’re ready to come.” He wraps his hand around his cock, stroking it up and down again. Then he kneels between my legs, rubbing his shaft against my clit.

Forward, back. A slap.

I scream.

He pulls away, and I almost cry from the need. “More.”

He smiles as he approaches again, running himself along my slit. His cock is soaked in my arousal. It’s so good, so very good. He slaps me again with his cock, and my hips jerk. I’m about to explode, faster than last time.

“Damn, you’re too good. So close, right? About to come?”

I nod.

“Not yet, baby. ”

He moves forward until his cock is right in front of my face. “If I ask you to take me in your mouth, will you?”

I nod again.

He puts his thumb in my mouth, opening it wider. “Open.”

I open, and he pushes the tip of his cock inside. “Fuck,” he groans, throwing his head back as I stick my tongue out, licking the base.

He pushes in further, groaning and making my stomach tighten. I cover my teeth with my lips and suck. He tastes like my arousal and the saltiness of his skin. I lift one hand to stroke his balls, then the sensitive spot behind them.

His eyes roll back, and he pushes himself in so far that I choke as he hits the back of my throat.

He stays in, saliva dripping from the corners of my mouth, and I lose my breath just before he pulls out.