Family Man

hands. “Marriage won't stop you from opening Pesto Presto.”
    “I know. It's just that there are so many things I have to do to get it up and running.”
    “You can do them after we're married, can't you?” Luke asked tightly.
    Katy smiled. “Yes, I suppose I can.” She kissed him lightly.
    Luke relaxed. Once he had her securely bound to him Pesto Presto would no longer seem like a rival. “Trust me.” He eased her down onto her back. “I'll handle everything.”
    She smiled tremulously, her eyes glowing with love and laughter. “You're sure?”
    “I'm sure. Just leave everything to me.”
    He moved his leg over hers, pinning her gently on the quilt. Then he bent his head to taste her again. He remembered how it had been that first night he had brought her back here after the dinner at Justine's.
    He had blamed his sense of urgency on the fact that it had been a long time since he had held a woman in his arms. But he had known then, just as he knew now, that the need he felt to make himself a part of Katy went beyond the desire for sex.
    He had once been convinced that Ariel was his natural mate. Perhaps she had been, in the sense that she had been the closest thing to a female version of himself he had ever encountered.
    But Luke realized tonight that what he had found in Katy was something infinitely more precious. She was not a reflection of him, but his natural opposite. Day to his night, sunlight to his shadow, equal and opposite. Both necessary to form a complete whole.
    That was how she made him feel, Luke thought. Complete and whole. With Katy he felt he could be more than just himself.
    He reached down and found her softness. “You're getting wet already,” he whispered against her breast. He moved his fingers on her, and she arched herself against his hand.
    “Luke, I can't believe what you do to me. I feel so free when you hold me.”
    “You're the one who's unbelievable.” He moved down her body until he was lying between her thighs. The exotic fragrance of her stirred all his senses. When he cupped her buttocks in his hands and tasted the essence of her, Katy cried out softly. Her fingers clenched in his hair.
    Luke was hard with his own need. More than hard. His muscles were knotted and bunched with the effort it was taking to control himself. But he could not resist the temptation to watch Katy climax from this intimate vantage point. He bent her knees and pushed her thighs more widely apart. Deliberately he slid his thumbs into her, opening her gently.
    Katy sucked in her breath. “Luke.”
    An electrical charge went through Luke. His name was a siren's call on her lips. He was her captive, and he did not care if she knew it. After all, she belonged to him just as surely as he belonged to her.
    He kissed the swollen nubbin of female flesh nestled in the red curls. He rasped it lightly with his tongue until Katy was breathless and clinging to him. Her responsiveness made him feel both deeply awed and at the same time gloriously proud.
    He would cherish her always, Luke promised himself. He would do his best to keep her safe. She was giving herself to him, and he would treasure the gift.
    She was, after all, giving him a future.
    When his hands were slick with her and she was clutching at him as if she would never let go, he opened her a little wider with his thumbs. Her tight passage contracted, and her wetness glistened on his fingers.
    “Oh, God, Luke. Luke .”
    He stretched her gently again, felt her tighten convulsively around his fingers. She twisted and cried out. And then she was shivering with her release.
    Luke watched the passion in her face as long as he could, and then, unable to hold back any longer, he moved up the length of her body. He drove himself deep inside her pulsating warmth, drowning in her sweet fire until he was lost.
    Until he was free.
    Until he had found the other half of himself.

    Luke waited until he had walked Katy home before he asked the question that hovered like a shadow in his mind. He took her in his arms on the front steps and studied her face in the porch light. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with sensual contentment. He wished he could take her back to his bed.
    “Katy, you've spent the past few years looking out for Gilchrists.”
    “I've spent the past few years working for Justine,” she corrected with a smile.
    “It's been a lot more than a job, and you know it. There's something I've got to know.” Luke took a firm grip on