his head to one side, Luke studied her, his dark eyes never wavering. “Civil, eh?” he repeated, openly amused. “In this kind of explosive situation? That could mean anything.”
She attempted to shrug out of his grasp. It didn’t work. “It means,” she said mendaciously, “you should let go.”
His smile broadened as he began to stroke slow, tantalizing circles against her suddenly flushed skin. How was it possible that this man could make her want to melt into a puddle of need with just the pad of his thumb? Julia’s blood sang in her veins at his barely there touch. Warmth radiated from her arm, sending a surge of heat the full length of her spine. He’d always affected her like this, only six years ago she hadn’t appreciated how rare that heat was. In fact, she’d never been so instantly turned on since.
Swallowing audibly, she fidgeted in his light grasp, torn between the intelligent choice of jumping out of reach and the very real desire to press herself against him. She was conflicted.
How did he do this? How could Luke walk back into her life and in under five minutes have her respiration up and her knees threatening to buckle? Every one of her nerve endings pulsated as she stood rigidly, feeling his warm breath wash over her upturned face. Lifting her hand, she placed her palm tentatively against his forearm, and felt singed by the electric current passing between them.
His mouth pulled into a lopsided, cocky half smile that was surprisingly heart-wrenching and familiar. Looking into his eyes, she knew immediately that he recognized her attraction and a lot of good old-fashioned lust. The spark was still there. But how could it be?
Nonsense, she told herself very firmly. She was reading more into this chance meeting than actually existed. She wanted to believe that her overly emotional reaction was due to her concern over Sonya’s kidnapping.
But she didn’t believe that at all. She knew the powerful sensations assailing her from every angle were due to…Luke. Tall, gorgeous Luke.
“Still want me to let go?” he asked softly.
So softly that her addled brain nearly didn’t register the deep, soothing timbre of his voice. She was, however, keenly aware of the precise nanosecond that his fingers slipped away.
“If you’ll follow me this way…” she said curtly, almost stumbling toward the deep aqua, Lily Pulitzer fabric curtain separating her office from her workroom.
She wanted her composure, but just then, she’d have settled for her shoes. Especially when she stubbed her toe on the corner of the stepladder she kept next to the carpeted platform adjacent to the changing room. The metal clanged loudly, echoing off the mirrored walls.
“You seem nervous,” Luke remarked.
He was right behind her, so close that she could feel the breezy tickle of his breath against the nape of her neck. She stepped out of range, but it was impossible to not look at him. He was reflected in all the mirrors.
“You don’t need to be.”
She took a deep, hopefully calming breath and tried to find her center. A pretty daunting task when she turned and found herself standing in the shadow of six feet four inches of absolute male perfection. Luke had a kind of casual masculinity that drew her like a tractor beam. When he looked at her with those sensual brown eyes, she was half tempted to tear her clothes off right then and there and toss him down onto the floor.
“Where do you want me?” he asked.
Suppressing the obvious retort, Julia pointed in the direction of the platform. “Step up there. This won’t take but a minute.”
“Take all the time you need.”
Kneeling down, Julia pulled the tape measure off her shoulders and realized that her hands were shaking. “I forgot the order form,” she lied, spinning and fairly racing back to her office.
After brushing past the curtain, she squished the tape measure in one hand while banging the heel of her other hand against her forehead. Stop. Stop. Stop! He’s just a man. Get a grip on yourself. Julia stopped pounding her head, realizing that a) it hurt and b) it didn’t change the fact that she had a job to do. She rolled her eyes as she let out a frustrated sigh. Why did Luke have to walk into her life at the most inopportune times? Why couldn’t they have run into each other in a grocery store? Or at a park, or the beach? Something normal. At a time when she wouldn’t have to push him away. She couldn’t keep Luke now for the same reasons she couldn’t keep him then. She had to put the job first. Would there ever be a right time for them?
“Not likely,” she grumbled. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been at the beach, and since there was nothing but a jar of mustard dying of loneliness in her refrigerator, the whole grocery store thing wasn’t looking very good, either.
“Okay,” she whispered, needing a personal pep talk. “I can make this calm, professional and quick.” Stretching the tape measure taut between her hands, she plastered a smile on her face and went back to her workroom.
Luke noticed the precision with which each bolt of fabric was stacked against the next. He hadn’t known that Julia could sew. Or that she’d be so good at giving other people the happy-ever-after wedding she hadn’t gotten. Fact was, he knew less about Julia than he did about those fancy fabrics. All he knew about fabric was that it could be cotton or dirty, so the fancy stuff was pretty much lost on him.
Julia’s return was not. His heart thumped in his chest when he turned and caught sight of the smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. He might not know her favorite color, but he knew she felt the same pull he did. Now what could he do about it so that she didn’t run again? Cocking his head in the direction of the bolts, he said, “I never knew there were so many variations on white.”
“Brides like choices,” she stated, giving him a tellingly wide berth as he stepped back up on the carpeted platform.
“Brides like checkbooks,” he countered. “I could feed a small third-world country on what this wedding is gonna cost.”
She peeked up at him through her lashes as she knelt beside him and fixed the tape measure to an imaginary spot on the floor next to the heel of his boot. “Feed a lot of third-world countries, do you? Stand naturally.”
She rose, bringing the tape up to his shoulders and the smell of her perfume close enough to make him dizzy. In the process, her hair brushed against his forearm. It was a whisper of silky softness that very nearly made him groan. The black tendrils were still damp from the rain. He could smell the remnants of a citrusy shampoo. Luke instantly imagined her standing under the strong spray of his shower, naked and—
“Legs apart, please.”
He looked up at the ceiling so that his body focused on something other than his sexual fantasies. He practically gnawed through his lower lip as Julia tortured him by running her deft fingers along his inseam. Luke stood stick straight while she measured every inch of his body. Hopefully, she hadn’t noticed that he’d been holding his breath.
“You’re all done,” she announced, reaching for the small acrylic clipboard hanging on the wall. “We can schedule an appointment with Vicki on your way out.”
Luke felt…dismissed. “For what?”
“In about a week, I need you to come by and try on the tux. We can make any last minute adjustments before the wedding next Saturday.”
“It’s a suit,” Luke countered. “Besides, it’s Carmen’s day, right? No one will care what I’m wearing.”
“Carmen will care. The photographer will care. I’ll care.”
“Really?” he asked, stroking his chin. “Why?”
“Reputation,” she answered, tucking the nub of a pencil behind her ear. “Weddings Your Way prides itself on one hundred percent customer satisfaction.”
He found himself hurrying down off the platform to follow her back to her office. Julia had