The minute the door to the cottage slammed closed behind him, all those feelings came rushing to the surface. She wasn’t sure who turned first, who reached for whom first. It didn’t matter because his arms were around her and his mouth came down hard on hers. She welcomed the firmness of his lips and the sweeping thrusts of his tongue because she’d been deprived for too long.
She ran her fingers through his hair, holding his head, silently pleading with him not to stop. Not to leave her. He groaned and pulled her closer, aligning their bodies so she could feel him, hard and full, throbbing against her. Liquid heat pooled inside her and trickled between her legs.
She whimpered and he moved his hand and cupped her intimately, knowing and anticipating her need. “Logan.” Somehow, she found the strength to separate their lips.
With an agonized groan, he met her gaze. But he didn’t move his hand and his thumb rubbed in lazy circles over the soft denim covering her until her breath came in shallow gasps and the dampness increased.
“What is it, Cat? Tell me what you want.”
She wanted the ache to ease. The throbbing to stop. And she never wanted it to end.
She wanted him.
She tipped her head back and realized she was braced against the wall, her legs bracketed between his strong thighs. He stared back at her with a heavy-lidded gaze. “Talk to me,” he murmured.
But one of his fingers was tracing her lips and the sensation was both sensual and hypnotic. Clearing her mind wasn’t easy. She wasn’t even sure why she needed to, but it had to do with explanations and what he thought of her. “I don’t… I mean, I’m not usually so…” Her voice trailed off as his wet finger moved from her lips to her jaw, to her collarbone, settling finally in the soft V of her top, enfolded in layers of ruffles.
His gaze never left hers and that same finger pushed down on the elastic, exposing her breast to his heated gaze. Her stomach muscles contracted with need and her nipples tightened at the first rush of cool air.
He sucked in a ragged breath that matched one of her own. “It’s never been like this for me, either,” he muttered.
Was that what she’d been about to say? She wasn’t sure and it didn’t matter. Not when he was right. When everything was so right.
And that was the problem. Nothing had ever felt so good, so perfect… so meant to be. How was that possible? Life didn’t work that way. It didn’t give something so wonderful, not without taking away in return.
“Don’t think, Cat. Not now.” He cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her head for a gentle kiss. A hard, demanding one would have been more welcome. She could have handled want. Sweetness and understanding might be her undoing.
After her lifelong protests and years of disbelief, she felt herself being swept away, succumbing to the fantasy. The one she’d buried and the one he wove. The happily ever after one. She shivered in outright fear.
He grabbed her shoulders for support. “We’ll talk all you want. Later.”
After he’d bonded them together again, Logan thought. After he’d reminded her of how good they could be—if only she’d let herself believe.
Her sigh was one of acceptance. He knew because she leaned toward him, not away. Because her hips bucked against his painful erection. And because she leaned forward and whispered, “Yes,” in his ear.
Only then did he let himself look down at her full breast filling his hand. “You’re not wearing a bra,” he muttered. Her breast, heavy and hot, filled his palm.
A warm flush rose to her cheeks. “It’s not like you can see anything through the ruffles.”
He grinned. “But I’ve gotten way past the ruffles.” He brushed his thumb over one tight peak and felt the pull straight down to his own groin. He dipped his head for a taste.
Her unique scent filled him as he pulled the tight bud into his mouth. He flicked and teased with his tongue, then his teeth, until her hips rocked so insistently against him, he was in danger of losing control. Beyond thought or reason, he reached for her snap, and somehow, he remembered to grab for protection. Then between the two of them, her pants hit the floor, then his, and their underwear followed.
He turned and grabbed for her once more. He lifted her. “Wrap your legs around me, sweetheart.” She did, and as he lowered her onto his waiting erection, her body took him deep inside.
He’d known she was wet and hot, but the glide into her slick heat was as easy as it was sweet. A muffled sound broke through his ecstasy. He opened his eyes in time to catch a lone tear drip down her cheek. He recoiled immediately and tried to back off. “I’m hurting you.”
She shook her head. “Not the way you mean,” she whispered. “It’s a good hurt.”
The constricting in his chest eased. Her legs grasped him tighter and her wet muscles contracted around him. He let out a groan. “Baby, I know what you mean.”
He met her gaze, grateful to see her smiling this time. Leaning forward, he licked the salty tear off her cheek. The motion had the effect of grinding their lower bodies together. The wave crested and eased. Her soft sigh told him she’d felt it, too.
“Logan?”
“Hmm?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Any slower and I might have to strangle you.”
“You have to admit, it’s a helluva way to go.”
She yanked back on his hair and he grinned.
“Easy, babe.” But despite his soothing words, his body was hammering for release. And she’d just given him the okay.
What came next defied anything in his experience. He’d meant to move but she beat him to it, and what he’d expected to be an in and out satisfying of their bodies turned into a rocking,
