Mature content warning!

He marched through the living area and straight into the big bedroom. There were two in the penthouse suite, and last night they'd been in those separate rooms. Not tonight, though, Brooke thought. Tonight, things would change. He walked to the wide bed, reached down and tugged the silky grey duvet off and let it slide to the floor. Then he set Brooke on her feet but kept a firm grip on her as if half-afraid she'd disappear if he stopped touching her. But she wasn't going anywhere.

Brooke turned in his grasp, pulled her hair to one side and said softly, "Help me with the zipper?"

He did, his fingertips trailing along her spine as the material fell open. She shivered when he bent to kiss the base of her neck, and an instant later, her dress was sliding off her body to lie on the floor like a puddle of sunlight. Wearing just her cream-colored bra and panties and a pair of three-inch taupe heels, she stood in front of him, letting him look his fill.

She was a little nervous, because her body was so different now. Brooke had been so careful for so long, counting every calorie, watching every bite, but since Lucas' proposal, he'd been coaxing her to eat more. Now Brooke was rounded, fuller, and the mound of the baby was distinct enough that she actually thought to cover it with her hands.

He stopped her, though, holding her hands in his and tugging them aside. "No, don't hide from me." Shaking his head, he let his gaze sweep over her, top to toe and back again. A slow smile curved his mouth. "You make a hell of a picture, Brooke."

What she saw in his eyes made her feel beautiful. Desirable. She released a breath she hadn't known she was holding and reached for the buttons on his shirt. Then she pulled the tie from around his neck and tossed it onto a nearby chair. "You're wearing too many clothes," she whispered.

"Yeah, we can take care of that." He did. In what felt like a blink, he was undressed, laying her back on the bed and covering her with his body.

She sighed at the first contact of skin to skin. God, it felt good. Right. The cool sheets at her back, Lucas' hot skin against the front of her. Sensations swarmed inside her, and she fought to breath past the rush of them.

She smoothed her palms across the broad expanse of his chest, and he hissed in a breath in reaction. Brooke smiled, loving how much he was affected by her. Knowing that he was as swept away as she was. She rubbed her thumbs across his flat nipples unit he groaned deeply, then dipped his head to take one of her hard nipples into his mouth.

Her smile slipped away, lost in the rising tide of heat enveloping her. His tongue swirled across her sensitive skin, and he ran the edge of his teeth across her nipple as well. Brooke moaned softly and arched her back, moving into him. When he sucked at her, she whispered his name, threaded her fingers through his hair and held him to her.

She didn't ever want him to stop. Brooke's eyes closed on a wave of heat swamping her senses. She'd never known anything like this before. The feel of his mouth on her was incredible, and when he ran one hand down the length of her body, she shivered. His hands, so scarred and callused from years of hard work, touched her skin with a rough tenderness that left her breathless.

He lifted his head, and she nearly whimpered at the loss of his mouth against her breast. But she stared up into his eyes and felt herself falling into that churning aqua sea of sensations. How had she gone so long, without him touching her?

"I've wanted this for so long, Brooke," he whispered, stroking one hand across her breasts, down her rib cage. "But you've gotta be sure."

She actually laughed a little, to think that he was giving her a way out this time. But no, they were through turning from each other. For tonight, for now, all that was important was the two of them. She didn't even want to think about tomorrow, but there was one thing she had to reassure herself on.

"I'm absolutely sure. But, Lucas…." She paused and took his face between her palms. "Remember what we promised each other. No matter what else happens, we stay friends."

"Pretty girl, right now I'm feeling really friendly." He grinned, took her mouth in a long kiss that had her insides melting into a puddle, and then said, "Yeah. Friends. Always."

She nodded, because she was too full of emotions to speak. Brooke couldn't even identify everything she was feeling. All she knew was that in this moment in time, she was right where she wanted to be. But neither of them needed words right now. All they needed was to feel. To explore. Experience.

As if he heard her thoughts, he slid one hand down her body to stop over the curve of the baby she carried. Brooke went perfectly still, wondering what he would do, what he was thinking. Pregnant women couldn't be very alluring, right?

"Stop thinking," he ordered in a hush.

"What?"

"You're worrying. About how you look, of all things." Lucas shook his head as his gaze met hers. "Can't you tell that I think you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen?"

"Lucas…"

He smoothed his hand across her baby bump, then bent to kiss both her and the child within. There was so much tenderness in the action, in his eyes, that in that instant, Brooke was lost. Her heart filled to bursting, she felt the sting of tears in her eyes and impatiently brushed them away. She wanted nothing to blur this image of him. Instead, she etched it into her heart and mind do she'd never forget.

He looked up at her, his eyes shining, and all she could think was that she loved him. Beyond friendship, beyond sense, beyond anything. Brooke was in love with Lucas.

When had it happened? Had it always been inside her, just waiting to come back out? And what was she supposed to do about it now? If Lucas knew what she was feeling, he'd pull away again, and Brooke knew she wouldn't be able to stand that. So she'd hide what she felt. Keep it locked up inside her so she wouldn't have the pain of seeing him turn from her.

Reaching for him, she stroked her fingers over Lucas' cheek, then across his lips, defining them with the lightest of touches. There was so much she wanted to say to him and couldn't.

Finally, thought, when she was sure her voice wouldn't break, she said only, "You're going to make me cry."

"Oh, no," he assured her, giving her a slow smile and a wicked wink. "I'm going to make you scream."

"Promises, promises," she said, keeping it light, not wanting him to guess at what she'd just discovered.

"I always keep my word," he reminded her, then shifted his hand down to cup her center.

Brooke grasped and instinctively lifted her hips, rocking into his touch, wanting more, needing more. And he gave it to her. His thumb caressed that one sensitive sport while he speared two fingers into her heat. Within and without, Brooke felt on fire. She wouldn't have been surprised to see actual flames licking at the mattress beneath her.

She grabbed at his shoulders, her fingers flexing to hold on as gentle exploration gave way to desperations.

He kissed her, touched her, lavished attention on Brooke's breasts, her neck, her inner thighs, driving her wild with a kind of need she'd never known before.

"You smell so damn good," Lucas whispered against her throat. "Your scent stays with me everywhere I go." He kissed her neck, licking, tasting. "You're there in my dreams, Brooke. I can't shake you."

"Then stop trying to," she told him and he lifted his head to look at her.

"Yeah," he said, "I'm done with that. You're here to stay."

One breathless second passed, the two before he kissed her, taking her mouth in a celebration of need and passion. God, she wanted to drink him in, drown in him enough. Hair, face, shoulders, back. She loved the feel of his muscles shifting beneath her palms.

Then he moved to kneel in front of her, and Brooke held her breath as he entered her. One long, slow thrust and he claimed everything she was, and she sighed as a shiver slid through her body. Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around him and pulled him deeper, higher.

His body moved in hers, in a rhythm that moved faster and faster. She groaned, sighed, at the luscious feel of his hard length taking her so completely. Silently, he offered her more, demanded the same. He looked down into her eyes, and she couldn't have looked away from that heated stare if it meant her life.

Anticipation coiled in the pit of her stomach as tension settled even deeper within. Brooke moved with him, racing to match his rhythm, rushing toward whatever was waiting for her. Always before, sex had been a quick bout of stress relief. A subtle pop of pleasure that had left her mildly satisfied and silently wondering what all the big fuss was about.

Then she found out. His fingertips stroked her core while his body moved in hers, and she shattered, clawing at his back, whimpering his name through a throat to tight air could barely pass. Mind spinning, she held on to him and rode the pulsing flashes of the brightness that seemed to blind her.

"Lucas!" Her hips were still rocking with the force of that climax, and before she had time to adjust, to understand, he was pushing her past that pleasure to a place she'd never been before.

Her body felt raw, too sensitive, too everything, but Lucas was relentless. "I can't," she whispered, shaking her head, looking up at him. "I mean, I already..."

"Again," he said tightly and drove himself deep inside her. He lifted her hips, tossed her legs over his shoulder and went even deeper than he had been.

Brooke wouldn't have thought it possible, but while her body was still quivering from the most amazing climax she'd ever experienced, she felt it preparing for another. She could barely breath and he didn't care. Her head tipped back into the mattress as she hands reached for his thighs. She was lifted so high she had no way to match his movements. She was at his mercy, and he was showing none.

Brooke have never been so at the mercy of her own body. She'd never known the kind of overwhelming sensations that were taking her over. Had never been so out of control with a man. Never let any man take her over as Lucas was doing. And she hadn't even guessed that her body could feel so much.

He was unstoppable. Indefatigable. His hips were like pistons, pumping into her, pushing her pas all boundaries, all restrictions. Brooke stared up at him, licked her lips and knew that nothing would ever be the same again. Not after this.

"Come on, Brooke," he whispered, voice low. "Let me watch you fly. Let go, Brooke. Just let go."

"I am, Lucas," she said breathlessly, as her heels dug into his back. He was battering away the last of her defenced. Tension clawed at her. That first orgasm was as good as forgotten in her body's rush to claim another.

"Now, Brooke," he whispered, his big hands holding her bottom, squeezing soft flesh, giving her one more sensation to add to the mix. "Come now."

She laughed a little, but the sound came out as a sob for air. Her hands slapped at the sheets, clutching the fabric as if looking for a way to hold herself in place.

"You're not giving me a choice. I feel…"

"Look at me," he said, and she heard the fight for control in his voice.

She opened her eyes, met his, and while their gazes were locked, he pushed he over the edge of desire into a completion that was so foreign to her that she was lost in the sweeping tide of it. Brooke stared into those aqua eyes as her world rocked and he body splintered. She screamed, unable to stop the wild rush of release as it grabbed her and shook her down to the bone.

Brooke watched him, lost in those eyes, as her body, still trembling, held on to his and cradled him as her let go himself.

When he collapsed on top of her, Brooke held him tightly. Their hearts raced in tandem, their bodies quaking as if they were shipwrecked survivors clinging to each other for safety. But it was so much more than that.

He rolled to one side, taking her with him, and Brooke laid her head on his chest, listening to the steadying beat of his heart. Loving him was going to be hard, she knew, but there was nothing she could do about it. He was in her heart forever. And she would never, for as long as she lived, forget what they'd shared here tonight. On the night she knew she loved him.

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