Page 17 of The Rebel Billionaire

The only thing I cared about was Lucas's body against mine, the thrust of his erection pinned between us, his hands on my ass, my breasts pressing against his chest, and his mouth moving on mine overandover.

I wanted more. I dropped my hands from his shoulders, sliding them to his waist until I found the hem of his T-shirt. His skin beneath was warm andsmooth.

That was what I wanted. His skinagainstmine.

I ran my hands up his chest, lingering over every groove of muscle, scraping my fingertips over his nipples as I pulled the fabric up and out oftheway.

Lucas let out a groan and stepped back, setting me on my feet. His voice was rough when he said, "I don't have a condom.Doyou?"

I shook my head. Shit. Clearly, I was unprepared for this spur of the moment affair with the neighbor thing. I must have looked as disappointed as I felt because Lucas dropped his head and pressed a kiss to the corner of mymouth.

"I'll be back in a few hours with pizza," he said. "Andcondoms."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, surprised by the husky undertone to my voice.Was that me?I sounded different, aroused and awake in an entirely new way. Ilikedit.

"I'm keeping your key," Lucas said. "Lock the door behind me." A second later, hewasgone.

Distracted, I did as he'd ordered, flipping the deadbolt on the kitchen door as I watched him hop the fence between ourbackyards.

I might have stood there for a while, staring after him with kiss-swollen lips and a silly smile on my face, if the doorbellhadn'trung.

I hurried to the front of the house and saw a van with the logo of the futon company in my driveway. Knowing Lucas would be back for dinner armed with pizza and condoms, splurging on the futon didn't seem quite soreckless.

I had plans for thatfuton.

CHAPTERFIVE

LUCAS

This time,I didn't jump the fence. I had my hands full with an extra-large pizza, a six-pack of beer, and a brown paper bag hiding a box ofcondoms.

No flowers. No bottleofwine.

That's not what this was. If Charlotte was looking for a date, she was out of luck. I wasn't that kindofguy.

I'd thought about trying for romance, but I tossed that idea out before it could fully form. Flowers and wine were asking for trouble. If we were going to do this thing, we weren't going to dress it up assomethingelse.

I knocked on the back door and waited. As much as it was going to kill me to do it, we were going to have to talkfirst.

I was fully aware that the outcome of that talk could be me, with a painful set of blue balls, and Charlotte, swearing she'd never speak to meagain.

I hated that idea. My cock was definitely not infavor.

Sleeping with my neighbor was already a bad idea. Going into it without setting some ground rules would be adisaster.

I hadn't gotten to where I was in life by listening to my cock. I caught a flash of movement on the other side of the door just before I heard the lock turn. Again, I shook my head at the state of herhouse.

Aside from the fact that it looked like it might fall down around her ears, it wasn't safe. I could kick the door in without breaking a sweat and the locks on the windows wereajoke.

Not my business, I remindedmyself.

This was what happened when you saw too much of the dark side of life. You imagined danger around every corner. Charlotte didn't like it when I called her Princess, but I knew where she'd grown up. She had no idea what was outthere.

The door swung open. The sight of her was a punch tothegut.

She'd taken a shower since I'd left, and her new haircut had dried in a mess of waves and loose curls that made her look years younger than the woman I'd first seen when she bought thehouse.

With her hair short, her ocean blue eyes were huge in her face, her cheekbones more defined. That pink mouth was a flower against all hercreamyskin.