Sensual Persuasion

Chapter 2, Luke's Lotus

Cameron's Point of View:

"Cameron!"

I gathered my books in hand and carried it in my tote bag. I slung it over my shoulder, closed my locker and turned in the direction of the oddly familiar voice. Hailey was briskly walking down the hallway with a white envelope in her hand. She flung it around in front of my face and a few onlookers looked curiously at her display of effusiveness.

"Guess what I have?" Hailey said, as she held out the envelope. Her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulder in a shimmering waterfall of gold. Her eyes shown bright and alight with the prospect of me opening the envelope, which I did as I pulled out the card inside.

I read the neat, black calligraphy and on it was Lindsey's address, phone number to RSVP and the date of her party at her large manor-size home. Inside, was my name informing me that I was officially invited to her party.

"Wonderful," I said through gritted teeth.

"Are you going?" Hailey asked, no doubt realizing the enthusiasm in my voice. There wasn't much to go by, so it didn't take a genius like Hailey to figure out that I wasn't all that excited. "I hear it's suppose to be like Lindsey's biggest party, you know being senior year and all."

I wasn't paying much attention to Hailey as my thoughts centered around Luke. My heart was pulsing fast just thinking about him. He had the body that made an athlete jealous and his arms were corded with lean muscle, like no doubt the rest of him. It almost took all I had to ignore him, which was hard considering what I was imaging what those long slender fingers of his would be doing to me if I had given him the go ahead. His blatant sexual charm was no doubt used for one thing, to persuade me to somehow give in to him and eventually his sexual demands, which I found suddenly as my breasts grew heavy that I wanted to. More than wanted to. I needed to. My mouth had even gone dry at how much I wanted him.

"Cameron?" Hailey asked.

"Uh, yeah," I said bringing my head around to Hailey.

Hailey grinned. "You're thinking about Luke aren't you?"

"No," I lied indifferently.

She scrutinized me with her gray eyes and I had to dodge them. They were pretty exotic for someone who had thick, luscious dark auburn hair cascading over her shoulder. She was clearly model gorgeous and it was just way too insulting to think she even ranked amongst the average-looking girls at the school.

Ha, that was a laugh. Every girl here was good enough to be on the cover of Vogue.

In all actuality that sounded clichéd, I knew, but it was unfortunately and disturbingly true, which doesn't really hype me up about my own appearance.

"Yes you are," Hailey said, as she leaned her shoulder against the locker beside me. Her low-top Valentino shirt, displayed her ample cleavage and her tight jeans, outlined her tennis-toned legs. "You're thinking about him, but so is every other girl at this school. Are you going to sleep him at the party? He seems interested in you too."

Great, just what I needed a consult.

"No, I don't plan to sleep with him," I said, but lacking the conviction in my voice made me think twice. What was wrong with sleeping with him? It wasn't like he would be interested in anything more, which made it seem like the perfect way to get the itch out of my system. Thinking about Luke was not good. Sleeping with him? Would that be a possibility?

I didn't have time to say anything more as suddenly Luke approached out of nowhere. "Hey," Luke said, side glancing toward Hailey who gave me a look once before making her departure, unfortunately leaving me alone with him.

Luke focused his attention on me and smiled a devastating smile that wreaked havoc on my good senses. I could feel my body flare up in flames as a current of electricity passed between us and I could tell Luke felt the same as his suddenly charming expression fell away to a more desire-filled, almost hungry one. His eyes darkened a fraction and his biceps tensed slightly. My lips parted almost in a silent plea wanting a taste of something, but unsure of what it was.

I glanced at him, before completely ignoring him and walking right around him. All I wanted was to tear those clothes off him, slam him against the locker, and roam my hands everywhere touching every part of him, kissing every until....

Yeah, no.

My reaction to him was apparently so strong that I flinched away. I couldn't understand the overwhelming urge to

Unexpectedly he grabbed my arm and swung me around until I was facing him again. His touch sent a shiver down my entire body and my lower stomach clenched tightly, while for some odd reason I could feel myself getting wet between the apex of my smooth tennis-toned thighs. What the hell? Since when was I so horny for Luke?

Luke apparently felt it too and his grip tightened fractionally. He pulled me closer until we were only inches apart. His set jaw was firm as if he was restraining himself. Up close, he seemed so much taller in person just about a couple of inches taller than me and I could definitely feel my nipples go hard as pebbles in reaction to his proximity. I edged away slightly exhilarated and slightly repulsed by my strange yet alarming reaction to him. His potent masculinity made me realize all the more my sudden desire to rip that shirt off him and roam my hands amongst all that corded muscle underneath I knew he had. I wanted to make him shiver, roam my hands down his smooth bronze expanse of streamlined muscle and sinew tapering down to a taut, flat abdomen down to the throbbing core of the one place that begged for my touch.

"What is it?" I asked Luke in a voice I could hardly recognize was my own, as the stream of my thoughts were halted as reality grounded me.

Luke laughed a husky laugh from the bottom of his throat. It was deep and sensual and I could feel myself drawing toward him. He glanced to his left, acknowledging Steven or some enormously big guy who played on the football team and an arm dangled around a blonde cheerleader. I traveled the path of Luke's gaze to see him mouthing, "I'm getting some."

I scowled.

Luke caught me and turned his head. "Hey it is a party after all."

"What is? Lindsey's party?" I asked. All ready rumors of Lindsey's party were traveling fast and even Hailey was getting swept up in all the excitement and the buzz of it.

"Yeah," Luke said casually.

"What do you want?" I asked getting to the point.

"I was going to ask..." Luke stopped for a moment as his eyes took on a darker hue. I could feel the heat just coming off of him in waves engulfing me and all I wanted was to get closer to him. I wanted to slid my body down his, feeling the contours of his masculine, hard one, feel the length of him pulsing inside me until I....

What was wrong with me? This was Luke we were talking about.

Suddenly, Luke broke off and abruptly went off in a random direction. I stood stock still wondering why my breathing was turning into panting and my heart beat accelerating at a million miles per second. All the erotic images of him were slowly passing through my head. I began walking, but was unaware of in what direction, until I cleared my head. This was so wrong.

I rushed outside, forced to face the sunlight and the masses of people who got together in the school parking lots waiting for their chauffeured Bentleys' and their Lamborghinis'. Crowds of people ranging from the Latinos on one side to mixes and groups of cheerleaders and jocks, were congregating discussing what they were going to do this afternoon before Lindsey's party, while the guys discussed, (not so discreetly of course) who they were hitting up tonight. The stoners and the skaters gossiped amongst themselves about crashing Lindsey's party while the emotionally depressed sat around by the large, disturbingly tall oak tree all huddled together with their heads down or threw surly looks towards those who actually appeared to have a life.

Luke was nowhere in sight, which thankfully was good. Lindsey, Victoria, Natasha and

I walked hastily, determined to avoid the glances from Lindsey who I knew was glancing at me warily. I glanced next to Lindsey only to spot Victoria oddly rubbing herself against James, the Varsity Football Captain, clinging to his hand tightly.

Ew. I didn't need to see that.

I tried calling Hailey to see where she had gone, but I couldn't get in contact with her. I was starting to feel oddly self-conscious with the surreptitious glares I was getting from Lindsey. What kind of grudge did she have against me? I couldn't quite tell. Whatever it was I was pretty damn sure it had something to do with freaking Luke.

Great, just who I wanted to think about.

My reaction to him was clearly illogical and irrational. Great, I got that Luke is a walking sex god, but there was no way his presence was enough to make me suddenly lose my power to think or clearly alter the homeostasis in my body. I mean, is it physically possible to be still walking around on two feet, while my heart was beating at a million miles per minute or while my temperature was sky rocketing?

I quickly dismissed the thought of him from my head and began walking out of the parking lot, only to be abruptly halted by a black lotus.

A lotus?

The students milling about glanced curiously in my direction then at the car and flitted in between. I swallowed and gave whoever was in the driver's seat a puzzled look, (although there wasn't much to look at considering the windows were completely tinted dark) and I managed to suppress a groan of aggravation when the window rolled down to reveal the one person—who just minutes ago—I wanted to avoid.

"Cameron," he called. His voice sounded husky, almost like an invitation. It was so enticing and hot, that I couldn't help but even respond to him with my eyes trained on his chiseled face and set jaw, to his amazingly intense blue-green eyes.

I could feel my body reacting too. My temperature rose startlingly and my heart was pounding fast. I had lost all feeling in my legs, for some odd reason and it seemed like my body was acting mechanically on its own.

"What?" I responded slightly on edge. "Come to further harass me?"

"No," Luke said. His smile turned mischievously and his eyes hinted at a joke. "Unless you want me to. I can think of a couple of different ways to harass you."

I chuckled a laugh and found to my irritation that what he had said made my heart beat faster. I didn't miss the sexual innuendo, which meant that whatever he had felt back in the hallway he was aware of. I got even more annoyed knowing that he knew that I was aware of it as well; otherwise he wouldn't have come outright with the sexual teases. I knew that Luke wasn't the type of guy who spared any sort of attention to a female unless he was sentient to the fact that he could get something out of it. The fact that he knows of the slight, unexpected jolt of attraction that had passed between us earlier, didn't settle well with me, because I had a gut–instinct feeling that he would use it to his advantage to get whatever he wanted out of me. It was almost like a game and he had the upper hand at the moment. However, I didn't credit Luke as smart enough to manipulate all this into some sort of sick playtime amusement. I was probably over thinking anyway. Hailey used to complain about that. She usually told me to just fuck the consequences and go for it. (I had rhetorically responded as to where that sort of mentality had gotten her in life. She didn't answer, which was just what I was expecting, since she really didn't have the right to talk).

I glanced at Luke, who was still sitting in his car. I decided to be inquisitive. "Is that how you get your laughs for the day? Don't you have better things to do?"

"Yeah, probably," Luke said casually. "But why? Does it bother you?"

"People are staring," I said.

"Let them," Luke responded. "Besides, I welcome their attention. I have a hot ass ride anyway."

Luke turned the engine off his lotus off and got out of the car. He stood up and closed the door and leaned back against it. He almost looked like he was posing, but it seemed too natural. He was outfitted in a black, short-sleeved shirt that molded well to his well-toned torso and showed off his biceps well, and a pair of simple dark jeans that rested comfortably on him. His feet donned on a pair of white Nike's. "Nice, isn't it?"

"I don't really care to be honest," I said.

"Want a ride?" Luke asked giving me a grin. I glanced away from him for a second, suddenly reminded of how the devil must've tempted Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. Huh, strange. Why did Luke's grin remind me of that?

"No, unless I'm the one driving it," I responded hotly, as I turned back to him. He did have a damn-looking good car. Even I was slightly jealous.

"Not going to happen. I don't let anyone just drive this baby. She's mine," Luke said, as he caressed the exterior of his car. His long fingers slid sensually as he rubbed against the car and the look of admiration in his eyes was something I had never seen before. I began to wonder what he could do with those hands of his if he slid them along my own naked flesh...

"Why'd you come back?" I asked unexpectedly. Wow, that was out of the blue. Unfortunately that was the only thing I could think of, as I quickly dismissed the dirty thoughts from my head. Besides, this was something I could genuinely wonder about, rather than how he was when it came to sex.

Luke turned his attention from the lotus to me. His expression turned hard and said, "It's not really that important."

He was hiding something. The evasiveness in his tone was evident. "Okay, why'd you leave then?"

Luke's earlier countenance shattered as he laughed a deep-throat laugh and said, "Don't you hear the rumors this place has conjured up to explain my hasty departure from this hellhole?"

"No. You and I both know that most of them aren't true anyway," I said. "So why did you leave?"

"I'll tell you if you let me drive you," Luke said in a seductive tone. It sounded, again like an invitation to something sinful and at the same exhilarating, like the jittery, butterfly feeling right before someone plunged off of a cliff. I was starting to see why girls found it hard to say no to him. I just hoped that I had enough resolve to remain aloof when it came to him, to avoid driving myself to make my dirty thoughts into reality. If the dream I had this morning had anything to do with this, I was in serious trouble.

"So how about it?" Luke asked.

"What?" I asked a bit dazedly.

"A ride?" Luke said. "You know you want to."

I glanced at his car, then to him, then to those around us who were staring. I found to my dismay Lindsey frowning in our direction, while Victoria and Natasha were beginning to notice. I didn't have lacrosse practice until later and I had changed out of the uniform, school-required skirt, into a pair of jeans, which had holes where my knees are, and emphasized my lacrosse-toned legs. It had gotten so hot in the school that I had to loosen my tie and unbutton three of the buttons, until an expanse of bronze-tanned skin was exposed.

I glanced at Luke and as he scrutinized me, I looked uneasily away hoping he didn't recognize how I was weighing the pros and cons of getting a ride from him. It was just a ride I knew after all, but I began to wonder, what would happen if something more

Did I want it too? Most likely, yeah, but should I? Was it right? I wanted it too so badly. I wanted to feel those hard shoulders of his as he held me tight and kissed me like I was the only female on the planet and he the only sexually starved male with a usually healthy appetite for our more evolutionary baser instincts. I wanted to slide my hands everywhere. I wanted to rake them through his hair, hear him groan with satisfaction and pleasure as I nibbled and planted teasing kisses on his ears. I wanted to roam my hands up those muscular thighs, pull that shirt off of him and feel the skin-on-skin contact. I wanted to slide my hands down his chest, lower and lower until I reached the hardness of him. However, was I willing to throw caution to the wind and just go for it? Would it even happen? And why the hell did I care? Do I care, because I wanted it to happen or because being in the same car with him, alone would strip away my reticence, throw out all rational thinking and just jump him in the back seat of his car?

I chuckled a small laugh and decided to in the end to follow Hailey's advice. Whatever happened happened. I shouldn't have to worry about every little damn thing. With that in mind, I had made up my mind. Just fuck the consequences and go for it.