Wrong Read online

  Luke’s still not back from the gym. I know it’s in this building, but I'm not sure which floor so I couldn't go find him even if I wanted to. I'm bored, I'd like to go out for a walk and window-shop the cute stores along 18th Street, but I don't have a key to get back in and besides, I don't want to leave without talking to him.

  I wander back into the kitchen and use my iPad to look up recipes on Pinterest. Determining Luke has all the necessary ingredients for pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies, I set to work on those to keep busy. This kitchen is a baker's dream. Tons of counter space and a big high-end oven. Plus a dishwasher to help clean it all up. I can't imagine Luke using any of it—I'm not sure why he even has mixing bowls and baking sheets. I don't want to think too hard about it either, because I don't want to imagine some previous girlfriend making herself at home like I am right now.

  The front door clicks open a while later, while I'm peering into the oven checking on the two trays of cookies inside. Heels click-clack a second before a female voice calls out for Luke.

  I shut the oven door.

  "Luke, darling, where are you?" She sounds like she's crying. There's a strange crying woman in Luke's apartment? How did she get in? I step into the hallway but I don't see anyone. A moment later her heels click from the hallway that leads past the coat closet to the master bedroom, as if she's just checked the bedroom looking for Luke. Interesting. The heels click-clack towards me and then Gina rounds the corner and stops facing me.

  She's dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, her face distraught, until she sees me. A flash of surprise crosses her face, but she quickly regains herself.

  "Where is Luke?" she asks me, still sniffing into her tissue, tears welled up in her eyes. She looks down the hall that leads to his office as if she's about to walk past me in search of him.

  Bitch.

  I take in her appearance. Her hair and makeup are perfect, her clothing impeccable. It's the day after Thanksgiving, most of America is in jeans or sweatpants and this woman is wearing four-inch heels, a pencil skirt and a blouse neatly tucked in with a slim belt around her waist. A camel-colored wool coat is folded over her arm, as if she took it off in the elevator on the way up, planning on staying awhile.

  "He's…" I'm about to tell her he's at the gym but she probably knows exactly which floor the gym is on. She managed to get past the front desk and into the condo just fine. In a moment of bitchiness I respond, "He's not here."

  Her tears dry up in an instant. "Where is he?" she asks as she eyes me, standing in Luke's foyer in jeans and a sweater. My shoes are off, my hair up. I'm clearly comfortable in Luke's home, but then again, so is she. She walked right in the front door seeming to know exactly where to look for Luke in this giant place.

  I'm saved from answering as the timer sounds on the oven. "He's not here," I repeat as I turn and head into the kitchen, hoping she will take the hint and see herself out the same way she saw herself in. "I'll tell him you stopped by," I add while silently begging her to get out.

  I don't hear anything for a moment, then as I silence the oven timer she click-clacks… into the kitchen. I ignore her as I slide an oven mitt over my hand and remove the trays from the oven, placing them on the burners to cool.

  "You're making cookies? And a pie?" She bursts out laughing, wiping away tears from the corners of her eyes. "Adorable. Are you doing arts and crafts too?" She looks around the kitchen as if she expects to see macaroni art in progress.

  I'm not a fighter, so I remain quiet. There's really no response to that anyway. Jean would have put Gina in her place with a few well-said words. Everly would have jumped on her monkey-style and started ripping her hair out. I smirk a little at the thought, but I keep my mouth shut as I move the cookies to a cooling rack.

  "So where's Luke?"

  I don't feel like answering her. It's not normally in my nature to be unhelpful, but Gina brings out my inner bitch. "He's out." I look up at her and smile, trying my best to appear like she's not bothering me.

  Gina eyes me for a moment before responding. "You don't know where he is, do you?" She seems smug. I'm not sure if she's smug thinking I don't know, or smug because she thinks by taunting me I'm going to answer her. I just smile and scoop balls of cookie dough onto the baking pans I just emptied.

  "Aren't you going to offer me a coffee? That is what you do for a living, isn't it, Sophie?" Gina smiles at me. Evil. Bitch.

  I look at her and flick my eyes to the Keurig on the counter. "You operate on hearts for a living, I'm sure you can figure out a single-serve coffeemaker."

  "Luke's slumming it with a barista who won't even make coffee without being paid." She laughs. "You're cute, Sophie. I hope you're enjoying this time playing kinky Betty Crocker with Luke because it's not going to last. This infatuation he has with you will not last. You think a Miller marries a barista? It's never going to happen, sweetheart."

  Marry? Wow. I've been with Luke for a month. No one is talking marriage, but Gina is threatened, that's for sure. I don't know why though. They broke up years ago based on what Luke said at Thanksgiving.

  "And you think he wants you back?" I raise an eyebrow in her direction and place a sweet smile on my face.

  She doesn't answer, instead runs her hands across the granite countertop and surveys the kitchen. "I think Luke is at a settling-down age and we have a history together. I'm a suitable match for him," she adds, stressing the last part.

  I wish I knew who broke up with whom. I have no idea why things ended between them. As it is, I can't say much without revealing that I know nothing.

  "Plus his hands." Gina sighs. "He's very good with his hands, isn't he? I bet he's a huge improvement over the boys you normally fuck. A little word of advice, Sophie, commit it to memory because Luke's a hard act to follow in bed."

  My chest tightens and I feel both rage and fear. Rage that she's reminiscing about having sex with Luke right in front of me and fear for the same reasons. I'm not a confrontational girl and she's making me feel like I'm under attack. No, I am under attack.

  "Has he taken you shopping yet for the gala?" She eyes me up and down. "I assume he's bringing you?"

  I drop a ball of cookie dough onto the baking sheet. I don't know anything about a gala, but I know she's looking for a reaction.

  "I was planning on wearing a dress from Target." I smile. "From last season's clearance rack, obviously."

  "You probably would, wouldn't you?" She snorts. "I cannot wait to look back on this and laugh. When Luke and I are back together and you're nothing but a bad memory."

  I cannot believe Luke was engaged to this person. She is nothing like me. What did he see in her? What does he see in me? My insecurities about being nothing more than a fuck toy for a rich man resurface. I'm graduating in a few months with a degree in corporate accounting. If I'm lucky I'll get a job offer from a mid-sized corporation. If I'm not lucky I'll be working in a strip mall preparing tax refunds.

  In other words, not a heart surgeon.

  The from door opens and Gina tosses me a smug look before rushing into the hall. "Luke!" Her voice is distraught and I can already hear the tears in her voice. I wonder if she double-majored in drama and pre-med.

  "Where is Sophie?" Luke asks, and I clearly hear her reply about what a darling I am, inviting her in for coffee while she waited and keeping her distracted with stories from Thanksgiving.

  Bitch. I cringe at the picture she just painted. I slide the last of the cookies into the oven as the door to Luke's office closes. So he's going to entertain her and listen to her fake tears. Gross.

  I clean up the kitchen for the second time today and watch the oven timer. Nine minutes. Five minutes. Two minutes. The timer dings and I remove the last tray from the oven and transfer the cookies to a plate to cool before placing the cookie sheets in the dishwasher.

  They're still in his office. I consider trying to eavesdrop from the adjoining room, I really do. But that's not my style, and truthfully Gina does not interest me
enough to sneak around.

  I grab my iPad off the counter with one hand and a cookie with the other and cut through the dining room to the great room. Luke never uses this room. He hasn't even fucked me in this room. I smile thinking about that, since we've made use of most of the condo. I love the views of Philadelphia from here and peering down on the treetops of Rittenhouse Square Park below.

  The room itself is mammoth with two seating areas. I can't imagine Luke picking out sofas or lamps. I wonder if whoever stocked the kitchen with bakeware decorated this room, but quickly discount that idea. This room was professionally decorated. The entire condo was, minus those three empty bedrooms. I still find their complete emptiness a little odd. I imagine the decorator cried at not being able to create guest suites with mounds of fluffy comforters and expensive pillows plumped just so.

  While beautiful, this room is not lived in. Looking around, I wonder if Luke's ever put a Christmas tree up in here. I giggle at the thought. There is no way, which is too bad, because there is an empty alcove in this room in front of a huge window with views of the park. I imagine the architect pictured a grand piano in this space, but it's perfect for a Christmas tree.

  I sit in one of the armchairs and surf the internet on my iPad before the office door clicks open, finally. Luke tells Gina to call his office on Monday if she needs anything as he walks her to the front door. I'd rather hear him tell her to call him never, but at least she's leaving. I stay put in the chair.

  The front door closes and the house is quiet. I know Luke didn't leave with her, but I don't hear him. A few minutes later Luke walks into the room with a handful of cookies.

  "You made cookies?" He winks at me as he stuffs one in his mouth. He's in athletic pants and a short-sleeved tee shirt. His hair is tousled, like he ran a towel through it after his workout. I hate that Gina saw him like this.

  "I did," I reply, not sure what to make of him right now. I guess we're not fighting about condoms anymore.

  "What are you doing in here?" he asks, inhaling another cookie and glancing around the unused room. "I couldn't find you."

  I shrug. "I didn't know what to do with myself while I was waiting for you to finish with your ex-fiancée."

  "Miss Tisdale, is that sarcasm I'm hearing?" He leans over me and places his now empty hands on the chair arms, pinning me in place. "I'm very finished with my ex-fiancée, Sophie." He leans in and kisses me lightly on the lips.

  "Why is she always around then?" I ask before I can think better of it. I trust Luke. I'm not even going to say it's because I don't trust Gina, because she's irrelevant. She can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do. I simply don't like her, or her intentions, but it's none of my business.

  "It's just… work stuff, Sophie," he says, straightening. "I'm going to take a shower. Do you want to go shopping? Gina said something about you wanting to go to Target?"

  I laugh then. She's such a bitch. "Yeah, Luke, let's go to Target."

  Chapter 21

  We do go to Target, and let me tell you, Target with Luke is a lot of fun. I ask him if we can get a tree and he looks a little bewildered by the request but agrees. And when I mention while we look at the pre-lit trees in Target that I've never had a real tree because my grandfather is allergic to them, Luke looks at me for a moment, his gaze moving across my face like he's imagining me as a child, and then pulls out his phone and makes a call. By the time we finish shopping there's a ten-foot balsam fir tree set up and strung with lights in Luke's great room.

  He tells me to pick out "whatever trees need," but I refuse, only agreeing to pick the tree decor once he admits that he's partial to blue and that the elf ornaments are funny. Which leads to my discovery that Luke has never seen the movie Elf.

  While Luke goes to locate a DVD of Elf I scour the seasonal department picking all the blue ornaments and elves that I think Luke will like. He comes back with an armful of stuff and dumps it in the cart like a kid with a black American Express card. Then he smacks my ass right in the middle of the aisle and asks what else we can buy at Target.

  I laugh and ask how he gets food and paper towels without ever shopping and he tells me that Mrs. Gieger takes care of all of that. I look at him blankly, having no idea who Mrs. Gieger is, until he informs me that he has a housekeeper who stops in during the week. Apparently she does everything. Shopping, laundry, dry-cleaning runs, cleaning, changing sheets, emptying the dishwasher. Everything. Rich people are weird.

  We go back to Luke's with bags of stuff, and looking at the size of his car, it's a good thing he's had a tree delivered. I don't think the engineers at Mercedes had Christmas trees in mind when they built the S63.

  Unpacking the bags is even more fun. We carry all the bags into the kitchen and start unloading, but I keep finding things that aren't ornaments.

  "You bought red and white striped elf socks?" I ask, holding them up, confused. They're knee-highs.

  "Not for me," he replies. "You like funny socks. And pumpkin. You like pumpkin." He pulls a tube of pumpkin spice lip balm out of a bag. He hands it to me and I put it on then tilt my neck back and raise up on my tiptoes to kiss him. Things escalate pretty quickly after that.

  My sweater is off before I even realize what is happening. He tosses it on the granite island and then unzips my jeans and yanks both my jeans and panties to mid-thigh before picking me up and sitting my naked ass on the edge of the island countertop.

  He slides my bottoms off the rest of the way until they land in a puddle on the floor that he kicks aside before lowering his own pants only enough to pull out his cock. He strokes the length of himself several times while I watch, itching to reach forward and do that for him. He spreads my legs apart and steps between them, hooking my right thigh in the crook of his left elbow, his right hand still stroking himself. He's staring at the slit between my legs, spreading my lips open with his fingers.

  My heart is racing and my breathing hitches. I can feel the heat and pressure building and moisture begins to slick my passage. He steps in closer, my thighs spread obscenely wide, my bare bottom on the edge of the counter. I lean back on my hands and watch as Luke places the head of his penis against me. I suck in a breath, not sure I'm wet enough for him just yet. He's so big and he's always had me dripping for him before entering me.

  My apprehension is for naught as he doesn't enter me, but instead starts slapping my open pussy with his cock.

  "Oh, God." The sight is too much combined with all the blood pumping through me. Every nerve ending is alive with want. I bite my lip and drop to my elbows, looking at the ceiling.

  "No." Luke's voice startles me and I move my gaze to his. "You'll watch."

  I blink at him and murmur an agreement before he clarifies, "Eyes here, Sophie," indicating where our bodies are connected. His penis is sliding up and down along my spread lips as he coats himself in my wetness.

  I can only nod as I pick my elbows off the counter and return to resting my upper body on my hands, the angle perfect for watching. With my full attention where he wants it, Luke grabs himself and guides the head of his penis to my wet, waiting opening. He sticks the tip in, bare, nothing between us. I feel his gaze move from where he's resting just inside of me to my face. I look up and nod before returning my attention to his cock, sliding inside of me one slow inch at a time.

  He slides most of the way out then slams back inside of me and I whimper. Not from pain, but from pure pleasure, watching increasing my hedonistic enjoyment. He slips his right arm under my left knee so now I'm splayed open with both legs dangling over his arms, bouncing as he thrusts into me.

  It's so good. So, so good. I want to drop my head back in defeat to the pleasure but Luke is insistent, reminding me every time I look away. He's alternating between watching us and watching me.

  "I love those noises you make. I think I could come from nothing more than the sound of your voice when I'm fucking you," Luke says above the slapping of our skin and the incoherent noises I'm indeed ma
king. "When you get close you start chanting my name. 'Luke, Luke, Luke.' I almost blow my load early every time, listening to you, knowing you're close. Knowing I did that to you."

  "You do, Luke." I'm breathless and so ready. "You always do."

  "I'm going to come inside of you, Sophie." He thrusts, yanking my thigh up, changing the angle slightly. "I'm going to come in you so hard my come will be leaking out of you for the rest of the day."

  Listening to him describe it while pistoning in and out of my body pushes me over the edge and I come, my orgasm so intense it hurts when he thrusts back in. He stills then for a moment, buried in me balls deep, before I feel him twitch as he moans his own release. It does feel different, warmer, wetter. It feels so intimate. I mean, sex is always intimate, but this is different. It feels like a compliment, if bodily fluids can be described that way.

  He leans forward until our lips touch and then I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer while we kiss. He pulls away as he slides out of me. He's still got both of my legs spread open, hooked over his elbows, and he makes no move to drop them, instead focusing on watching his come leak out of me.

  "Fuck, that is hot."

  I'd be embarrassed, but he is so into it that it just turns me on more. He finally releases one of my legs only to stick two fingers into me, coating them with his release and then moving them to my clit.

  "No, no, I can't," I protest. He can't possibly think he's going to make me come again. I'm still pulsating from the last one.

  "You can." He drops my other leg now to unsnap my bra and he bends, taking a nipple in his mouth as he works me with his fingers below. Of course he proves himself right, working another orgasm out of me before we're through.

  "Luke, you bought Elf on the Shelf?" I ask, holding up the box. I'm still sitting on the countertop. Luke just cleaned me up with a paper towel while I about died of embarrassment. It's a lot messier without a condom. I tried to take the paper towel from him and do it myself but he wouldn't allow it.