The Home & Family Pt. 02

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JewelTran
JewelTran
335 Followers

Chapter Seven

Andrea and Hank had invited Dakota and Luke to join them for supper since they were the only guests. After they had cleaned up, Luke and Dakota dressed in jeans and sweatshirts and headed downstairs.

Dinner was a lively event. Luke enjoyed listening to Hank and Andrea tell stories about Dakota. They had known her since she had moved to the mountains. In fact, they had met her the very first week-end after her move.

"You remember, don't you, Dakota?" Hank asked. "That old Wiley Stone was hitting on you and trying to get your attention."

Luke raised his eyebrows at her questioningly. She hadn't mentioned Wiley flirting with her. Dakota's face turned cold at the mention of Wiley's name. "Yeah, I remember. I had just gotten into Sterling, and was looking for a place to stay. Wiley offered to let me bed down with him in exchange for a few favors."

Luke almost choked on his drink. "He offered to have sex with you? And he had just met you?" he asked incredulously.

Dakota raised her eyebrow at Luke and gave him a smirk. "Isn't that what I'm doing to you?" she asked.

Luke blushed then rolled his eyes, "Ok, Ok, get back to the story!"

Dakota gave a short, humorless laugh. "Ok. Yeah, well, Wiley offered. Of course, he forgot to mention that he was already married and had no intentions of offering me an honorable proposition."

Andrea asked, "Did he ever offer again after his wife died last year?"

Dakota shook her head, "No, I think the answer I gave him the first time made him a little leery of trying again."

Hank and Andrea laughed, but Luke didn't get the joke. "You mind telling me exactly what you did to him?" he asked.

Dakota actually blushed a little before she said, "Well, he wouldn't take no for an answer. He followed me out to my truck, then he crowded up on me, pushing me into the door, trying to touch me. He told me that I ought to be grateful for a man to want to bed me given that I was so fat. I guess he thought I was kidding when I pulled out my pistol and told him to back off. But I wasn't. And he was asking for it! I aimed high and popped his cowboy hat off with one shot. He thought I missed, but he sure did hightail it away from me."

Dakota continued, "Wiley threatened to have me arrested. But Hank here is one of our deputies. He was the one who came out to bring me in. Lucky for me, Andrea had witnessed the whole thing from inside the cafe. Even though we had never met, she vouched that I had reasonable cause to fear for my safety. Hank was kind enough to go to bat for me, and the charges were never filed. Of course, that hasn't stopped the little piece of low life from continuing to bother me. Only now, it isn't sexual in nature - it's just hateful."

Luke could hardly believe his ears. His sweet little cuddly doll had actually shot Wiley Stone's hat right off his head. Man, she was more than he had expected!

Hank and Andrea were laughing so hard at the story that they couldn't catch their breath. Luke found himself laughing along with them, wishing he could have seen the look on Wiley's face.

When Hank was finally calm enough, he changed the subject, asked, "So, what plans do ya'll have for tomorrow? Going over into Asheville to see the art show?"

Dakota shook her head and answered, "No, we want to go on a picnic. Marshall has promised to have us two horses ready in the morning. We are going to go over to his house for supper tomorrow night. Andrea, I was wondering if I could raid your kitchen tomorrow morning in order to get some stuff for a picnic?"

Andrea said, "No, no. I'll make you up a basket. Don't worry about that. This is supposed to be your fantasy week-end, Dakota. It's not the time for you to be cooking and worrying about mundane things! Let Luke pamper you and let us help him."

Dakota blushed again. Luke thought she looked really sweet when she blushed. And he saw the perfect opening to get her alone again, so he could find out what else she looked sweet doing. As he rose to his feet, he placed his hand on Dakota's shoulder and said, "Folks, thank you for dinner, but I think it is about time for me to get started on a little bit more of that pampering - in private! If you will excuse us, we will see you in the morning."

Dakota's eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't argue. Instead, she pushed away from the table and took Luke's hand. Luke caught sight of Andrea and Hank, as they shared knowing grins. He just chuckled to himself and pulled Dakota close. "Good night," Dakota murmured to her friends, before she and Luke headed up the stairs.

When they got to their rooms, Luke followed Dakota in, then turned and locked the door. Dakota had moved over to the couch and sat down, seemingly unsure what to do next. Luke walked over to her, but didn't sit down. Instead, he held out both of his hands to her. She took them and he pulled her up to him. With their bodies touching, Dakota was forced to tilt her head back in order to see Luke's face. Her blue eyes, which had been the color of the sky this afternoon, were almost as dark as the night now. But, Luke was focused on her lips and he could almost taste her kiss.

Luke had no idea how long they stood there, just holding one another. But, when he noticed Dakota shifting her weight on her feet, he whispered, "Dakota, I really want to move to the bed. Are you ready for that? Or am I really pushing you too fast?"

With a quiet laugh, Dakota shook her head. She said, "No, Luke. I'm ready." Then, to prove her point, she took his hand and led him into the master bedroom.

Luke pulled her to a stop beside the bed. He put his hands on her shoulders and bent to kiss her lips. At his first light touch of his tongue, Dakota opened to Luke. When Luke moaned in response, he felt a shiver course through Dakota's body.

Maneuvering across the room, Luke managed to turn their bodies so that he was sitting on the bed, which put them eye to eye. Luke broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against Dakota's forehead. With his hands still caressing her shoulders, he rubbed his thumbs over her collarbones. He was surprised to find that his breath was shaky and his hands were far from steady. This woman had far more effect on his sense of balance than he cared to admit. How could he feel this way about someone he had only known for a few hours?

Breaking the silence, Dakota was the first one to speak. "Luke?" she whispered. "Luke? Are you alright?" When he only nodded his head in response, Dakota pursed her lips.

In a quiet voice, Dakota said, "Luke? I know that this is going really fast. I know that you promised to play the part of my lover, but would it be alright if we didn't have sex tonight? Could you just hold me and let us get to know each other better? I'm really enjoying my time with you but I am feeling a little uncomfortable - like maybe you are only doing this because I have forced you into this."

When Luke moved to protest, Dakota put her finger over his lips and said, "Listen to me. If we don't have sex all week-end, this has already been worth every penny that I spent. You are a very special man and you have made me feel alive again. I had forgotten what it was like to play and laugh. I'm not sure that I ever really knew in the first place. But today, I have laughed and played - I've felt like a new person. If we do make love during out time together, it will just be that much better. But I don't need sex to feel like you have made my dreams come true. I thought I did, but you have shown me that my heart can be full without that. So, will you just hold me for tonight?"

Luke wasn't sure what to say. If fact, he wasn't sure he could say anything at all. His throat had a lump in it that he couldn't seem to swallow away. Sure, he wanted to hold Dakota. Hell, he wanted to have sex with Dakota. But the thought of having made her happy by being himself touched that same deep place inside that he had felt that afternoon. He couldn't remember anyone ever telling him that he was good enough just because he was who he was.

Luke had only been four years old when he had been left at the Home. Although Luke couldn't remember much of his life before the Home, he had long ago gained access to the file that the Home kept about him. It seemed that, in the first four short years of his life, Luke had lived with no less than seven different families. Most of them were relatives of his mother, but a few appeared to be just unlucky friends.

After Luke became an adult, he looked up a couple of the families, just to say thanks. It was from them that he learned about his mother and father. After having known each other since childhood, Luke's father had married his mother while they were still in high school.

Luke's father had signed up to fight in Vietnam and never came home. When Luke's mom had been told that her husband was MIA, she was devastated. Although barely more than a child herself, she packed up her bags, left Luke with her mother, and headed to Washington, D.C. to try to stir up efforts to find the soldiers who were MIA. But, like Luke's father, she never came home. She was involved in a car accident in D.C. and pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Even though Luke's grandmother had agreed to take care of him until her daughter returned from D.C., she had no intentions of raising him. Faced with the prospect of having to be his mother, she immediately sent him to live with her sister. After that, whenever a crisis arose within the families Luke was left with, Luke was the first thing to go.

Finally, Luke's father's mother put her foot down and said that enough was enough. Since no one wanted to raise the child, she contacted the Home and arranged to leave him there. Her logic had been that, at least at the Home, Luke would be in a stable environment. She died when Luke was only six, so he never had the chance to show her how well he turned out to be.

As a child, Luke had often wondered about his family. Like all the kids in the Home, he fantasized that his parents would come one day to get him and take him to his real home. Luke hadn't known that both his parents were dead - he had only known that he was alone. Except for James Hytree, Luke couldn't remember ever having felt a deep connection with anyone. But he had longed for that connection. He had dreamed about that connection.

Since there was no family that ever came to rescue him though, Luke decided to find other ways to try to connect with people. For awhile, every man in Sterling who had a daughter had tried to keep her away from Luke. Of course, Luke managed to get around such constrictions and had dated almost every single girl in the county. But even that hadn't helped him feel like he belonged.

Luke settled down in college and got himself a degree in Social Work. He decided, somewhere along the way, that the way to feel connected was to reach out to people in need. But, although Luke's work was the most fulfilling aspect of his life, he still felt like an outsider. No matter what he did, he never felt like he had found his place in life - his place connected to another human being. He had long ago given up the hope of finding someone to connect with.

But, tonight, sitting on a bed in a room overlooking a view of the mountains in summertime, with a woman he had only met a few hours earlier, Luke felt a stirring in his heart. He felt that connection forming. Dakota had just told him, clearly and without hesitation, that he, Luke Rydell, was the reason that she was happy. That it was him who made her feel special and that it was him who she wanted to be with. Luke couldn't even begin to grasp what her confession was doing to his heart, but he knew that he would never be the same again. He almost felt like a little boy wrapped in his mother's arms, receiving her blessings. And he wasn't sure he had ever felt better.

As Dakota nudged his forehead with her own, waiting for a response, Luke breathed out a heavy sigh. "Oh, Dakota . . . if that's what you want, that's what you get, sweetheart." Then he reached over and pulled the covers back toward himself. Looking back at Dakota, he wiggled his eyebrows playfully and asked, "So what does a cuddly doll wear to bed?"

Dakota looked at him with a confused expression. "A cuddly doll? What are you talking about?"

Luke looked a little sheepish. Dakota asked again, "Luke? What are you talking about?"

Without meeting her eyes, Luke mumbled, "You."

Dakota put her hands on her hips and snorted in frustration. "Luke, what are you talking about? I'm not a doll."

Luke rolled his eyes and faced Dakota, looking her directly in the eye. With more than a hint of red rising in his face, he said, "When I first saw you today, all I could think about was how cuddly you looked. Before I even knew what you wanted for the week-end, I was thinking about how much I would love to snuggle up to you at night. You just make me think of a doll that could make it all better, no matter what was wrong. And I wanted to cuddle with you."

Dakota appeared to be so shocked that she was speechless. With her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, she stared at Luke like he was an alien. Finally, she shook her head as if to clear it and said, "A doll? And you wanted to go to bed with me?"

Luke dropped his eyes before saying, "Yeah. Only at first, it was just to cuddle. Just to hold you and let you make me feel good." Then Luke looked Dakota in the eyes and continued his confession, "But, I gotta tell you, Dakota, after this afternoon, I won't be happy if all we do all week-end is cuddle. I want to know you in every way possible, and unless you tell me differently, I plan on making one of those ways very physically intimate."

Dakota blushed at Luke's words. She placed her hands on both sides of Luke's face and held it, so he couldn't look away, "Luke Rydell, you are about the most perfect man I've ever met!" And with that, she kissed him.

Chapter Eight

A few minutes and several kisses later, Dakota slipped out of Luke's arms and went into the bathroom. When she returned, Luke was bent over his suitcase, looking for something. Luke had stripped out of his jeans and tee-shirt and had donned a pair of pajama bottoms. Luke looked up to see Dakota stopped in the doorway of the room, staring at his body. He heard her breath catch in her throat and saw that her eyes were again as wide as possible. He looked down at his body, but couldn't figure out what was wrong. Why was she staring at him so intensely?

Finally Dakota seemed to find her voice. She whispered, "Luke, you are beautiful. Every inch of your body is incredible . . . "

While Dakota was admiring Luke's body, Luke took the opportunity to let his eyes roam over her body. When Dakota started backing up, Luke was puzzled. He quickly crossed the room and put his hands on her shoulders. When she wouldn't meet his eyes, Luke quietly said, "Dakota? What are you thinking? Please tell me."

At first, Luke thought that Dakota wouldn't tell him. Even when she did start talking, her voice was so quiet that Luke had to strain to hear her. She said, "I wanted you to like what you saw . . . but you are so sexy and handsome . . . " She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying.

Dakota had put on a mid thigh length robe before she had left the bathroom. Looking down at it, she laughed derisively then said, "For a split second, while I was in the bathroom, I looked in the mirror and thought that I looked sexy. But, now . . . I'm sorry, I should just go back and put on my tee-shirt. I didn't want you to . . . "

Luke watched the emotions fleeting across Dakota's face and marvelled that she could be so expressive without words. He wouldn't let her go, even as she tugged against his hands. "Dakota," he said sternly, "Let me be the judge of how I think you look. At this moment, I'm really more interested in getting you out of this robe than in spending too much time thinking up possible reasons to argue with you about your body." He moved his hand to the belt of her robe and tugged at it. The knot slipped loose and the robe parted. Luke raised his hands and pushed the material off of Dakota's shoulders. It pooled around her feet.

Dakota was no longer looking Luke in the face. When he realized what was in her current line of vision, he chuckled. By dropping her eyes, Dakota was getting a close up view of his crotch. And, along with that, she was getting a real personal introduction to his very prominent erection.

"Dakota? Do you see what I think of your body? That's one indicator that doesn't lie." Dakota raised her eyes to look tentatively at Luke. Luke's eyes roved over her body. Luke was particularly fascinated with the way the silk lay across her ample breasts. But, when he dropped his eyes and noticed the soft, silky panties, he was equally fascinated with them. He wondered what it would feel like to rub his heated flesh against the cool material, especially knowing what lay immediately beneath it.

Without a word, Luke took her hand and pulled her arm over her head, indicating that he wanted her to turn around for him. With surprise written all over her face, she obliged. Luke stopped her when she had her back to him. He ran his hand across her bottom, feeling both the silk and the soft skin under it. When he dropped down to sit on the bed, Dakota gasped in surprise, as he pulled her backwards into the vee of his legs. He positioned her to be sitting on his lap, then he turned her so he could look into her face. Luke knew that Dakota could feel his erection under her and wondered what she thought of it.

Luke began kissing Dakota's neck and moved to cover her mouth. Luke heard a passionate moan and wasn't sure if it had come from Dakota or himself. When he lowered her down on the bed, she shivered as he covered her body with his own. The feel of her breasts against his chest was overwhelming. Without a moment's hesitation, Dakota opened her legs and cradled him into her.

But Luke hadn't forgotten his promise to just hold Dakota. In fact, he was cursing that decision in his mind at that very moment. But he had promised. He pulled himself up and away from Dakota. Then he moved beside her and cradled her to him. He whispered, "Well, you know, Dakota, if you had really wanted to just sleep, you should have kept your sexy little body in that nasty tee-shirt from this afternoon!"

Dakota chuckled at his humor. She seemed amazed that he found her sexy. But there was no denying the evidence of his attraction, especially with her head laying on his chest and her eyes pointed toward his feet! Luke really liked her and he wasn't having any problems being attracted to her body!

Luke sighed and said, "So, my darling, what did you have in mind to learn about one another tonight?"

Dakota pulled her head up slightly and gave him a look that caused him to wonder if she was going to tell him not to call her 'darling'. But then she smiled slowly and laid her head back down on his chest.

Snuggling into his arms, Dakota said, "Tell me about living at the Home."

Luke gave the top of her head an exasperated look. He said, "Boy, you don't waste any time, do you? Let's just cut to the juggler."

Dakota glanced up to his face to make sure he wasn't really angry. Although he was frowning at her, he knew his eyes assured her that he was just playing. She laid her head back down and said, "Well, I'm waiting."

Luke laughed, then taking a deep breath, he said, "I was sent to the Home when I was four years old. My parents were both dead, but I didn't know that until I turned 18 and got access to my records. In fact, I really didn't know anything about myself. I had a name, but that was all that was my own. The first day at the Home, James met up with me and took me under his wing. It was customary for the newest kids to get roughed up a little bit, but James didn't let anybody get close to me. He was my protector. He always said that I was the little brother that he never had. Anyway, we stuck together over the years. Lots of kids came and went, but not me or James. We were like permanent fixtures."

JewelTran
JewelTran
335 Followers