Page 17 of Scripted for Love and Poison (Sol and Luke Mystery #2)

His mouth curved in a quiet smile. “I like them.”

“I like them too. Even if Lola is nosy as hell, Alex has the ability of only speaking at the most inconvenient moments, and, to this day, I don’t know what the hell Geoff does for a living.”

Luke snickered. “He’s an actuarial scientist for an insurance company.”

“A what?” Sol asked, perplexed. “Never mind, not important. What I was trying to tell you is that coming to Los Angeles has brought up memories about my past relationship and hasn’t helped with my present one.”

“Why did you introduce me to David? You said you never had intention of doing it,” Luke asked.

“You needed the contact for the case.”

“If I’d known everything, I’d never have contacted him. You may introduce me to Miquel, and perhaps I’ll find him agreeable. ”

“You’ll love him, believe me. He has that effect on people.”

“You’re not really helping. I don’t know how I feel about a guy who was married to you and makes everyone around him fall in love with him,” he said, his jaw clenched again.

“Don’t worry about Miquel, I have lifelong immunity to all his charms,” Sol explained. “You, on the other hand ...”

“Let’s stop talking about your ex’s charms, or I’ll stop not being jealous,” Luke said. “What I was trying to say is that, after what you’ve told me, there’s no way I’m ever going to tolerate David.”

“You shouldn’t,” Sol confirmed.

“I know this is a bloody pain, cara,” Luke said, caressing Sol’s cheek. “There are still two extremely inconvenient cases to solve, no sign of your suitcase anywhere, and the prospect of another night spent on a very uncomfortable mattress.”

Sol shuddered at the mention of the torturous sleeping device.

“There’s something else.”

Luke’s eyebrows shot up, and he seemed to be bracing himself for another bit of bad news.

“Julie sent me an email. I just saw it before dinner. She wants me to stay in Los Angeles for a few more days. There’s another thing she wants me to take care of,” Sol explained.

She realized Julie’s request hadn’t helped her mood.

And the worst part was, Sol hadn’t been exactly truthful in her description to Luke of what Julie had asked her.

“So we still have no clear return date to London.” It was Luke who was shuddering now. “But we both want to go back to London, right?”

“Believe me, I absolutely want to get back to London. I have an appointment with my colorist that I absolutely can not miss,” she said, and he let out a soft laugh. The kind reserved just for her.

“I know we’re not exactly thriving right now. But are we at least fine ?”

“Definitely fine,” Sol admitted as he knit his fingers through her wet hair strands. “And I suspect that we could even be upgraded to a perfect match with a flourishing relationship once again if we finally had sex.”

“This may sound a bit far-fetched or desperate ...” Luke said.

“But . . .” Sol continued.

“I’ve seen people eating in their cars, napping in their cars, even shaving or putting on makeup in their cars in this city.

I can only assume a car is a perfectly acceptable place to indulge in a steamy exchange with another human, right?

” Luke said, his hungry eyes fixed on Sol.

“If we make sure to return it in pristine condition to Lola afterward.”

“Right,” Sol answered, not even thinking about what she was doing.

After the lousy few days she’d had, after having to revisit a failed relationship she’d vowed to keep buried, after the exhaustion that lonely walk in tears had caused, the only thing she wanted was to feel alive.

And she always felt young, beautiful, sexy, happy—and very much alive—when he held her close.

When his body enveloped her. Plus, they were currently parked in a dark enough spot of a non-transited dormant street, no?

She let Luke’s jacket slip off her shoulders and drew near him in a swift motion.

She crouched so as not to hurt her head with the car’s roof and found herself seated on top of him, straddling him.

She took his T-shirt with one hand and pulled him toward her, meeting his mouth with hers in an urgent, nearly desperate kiss .

“I need you,” she told him in between breaths as she inched closer to his body.

Her right hand found his skin, getting underneath his T-shirt and exploring the taut warmth of his chest. She ached to trace every inch of his torso with reverence. But that hand was needed elsewhere.

She took her mouth away from his for a ragged moment, smiling wickedly when she recognized the same need she was feeling in those beautiful, warm eyes. She bit his lower lip and groaned in pleasure as he kissed her not-so-delicately behind her earlobe and licked the column of her neck.

She ground herself on his lap, feeling his hardness against her clit through the fabric of his jeans and her leggings, resenting the barrier in between their bodies.

She stood slightly on her knees, her right hand now finding his erection, stroking it.

She could feel each one of Luke’s husky pants against her hand.

She found the waistline of his jeans and started undoing his button first, then the zipper.

He swiped her closer to him in a frantic movement, grabbing her ass and bringing their bodies flush, her throbbing breasts grazing his chest.

She smiled as she felt his cock in her hand. Naked. Rock-hard. Demanding.

He returned the smile, high on the heat of the situation, fighting with the extremely high waist of her leggings for a touch of her body.

The real world came crashing down then. Again. As the neighbor in front of whose house they’d parked came out on their front porch, a lantern and its bright-white light pointed in their direction.

“Who’s there?” they heard the neighbor called, a dog barking in the background .

In a quick move, Sol untangled her hands from Luke’s body, left his lap, and sat on the passenger seat.

“Go, go, go,” she ordered him. “Drive!”

“Seat belt!” he said as he fastened his own and got the car to move.

“This is a decent residential street!” the neighbor yelled as they were leaving.

They drove for a couple of blocks in silence.

“You have literally no idea how much I hate this city right now,” Luke finally said, a bite of frustration in his tone.

“Oh believe me, it’s starting to rub on me too,” she admitted. “And I’m not the one with the zipper down.”

They both exploded in a tension-releasing laugh.