by Kait Gamble
As her mind wandered, she could have sworn the man’s hand grazed her ass. It didn’t happen again, so she put it down to her overactive imagination. He slid his hands slid up her back, aided by the slick oils, gliding them over her skin and creating a warm wake of sensation.
In her head, it was Logan touching her, and her body reacted accordingly. The hard tips of her breasts rubbed into the table seeking his touch. She knew that she was getting wetter and wetter by the second and was afraid to move lest the man realize what was going through her mind.
Willing her breathing to remain even, she bit her lip and did what she could to distract herself.
It didn’t help when his hands were working such magic on her skin. His touch, now that she focused on it, was familiar. And as it got bolder and bolder a smile spread over her lips.
“Logan.”
The towel covering her backside was torn aside and his greased hands eased over the skin there before giving her a stinging slap.
“I was wondering how long it was going to take you to figure it out,” he growled. “I can smell you. You’re fucking well turned on.”
Jackie turned over to face him. “Because I was imagining you were the one touching me and what we could be doing if you were here with me.”
“Oh, yeah?” Biting his lush bottom lip, he crossed his arms and stared down at her, clearly exploring her with his eyes. The mischievous glint in them told her he was using his own imagination now as well. “What would you do to me?”
She batted her lashes coquettishly at him. “Well, first you would give me an amazing massage like you were doing. Only it would take a slightly more X-rated turn.”
“I’m liking it so far.”
“Once I’m all oiled up and possibly still shaking from an orgasm or two, it’s your turn.” Telling him what she was thinking only increased the delicious tension in her and she knew Logan loved it when she was vocal about what she wanted. “I’ll rub it all over and into your skin, concentrating on the part of you that seems to want out.” She let her eyes drop to the straining bulge at his groin and smiled. “I tend to get very distracted when he comes out to play, however.”
“I’ll just have to take up the slack then, won’t I?”
Exactly what she hoped he’d say.
Logan took off his clothes with precise and deliberate movements then donned a condom in record time. Instead of massaging her as she’d expected, he dragged her toward him so he stood between her thighs. He stretched his long arm out, allowing him to close his hand around a bottle, which he brought back and tipped over her breasts. He watched with utter fascination as the oil slicked over her.
After putting the glass container down, he quickly returned his hands to her skin, smoothing and rubbing the luxuriously scented oil over her breasts. Once satisfied they were sufficiently oiled, he guided his hands lower over the slight swell of her belly and over her thighs.
Much of the oil had pooled between them where he was tightly wedged against her.
He slipped his thumb between them, using it to simultaneously drip the oil lower and circle her clit.
Jackie let out a mewling cry as he grazed her sensitive folds first with his fingers then with the broad head of his cock. She could easily orgasm from that alone. Logan knew exactly where to touch her and with how much pressure to make her explode.
He grinned at Jackie when her breath hitched—he knew she was close. Logan dragged himself over her again before he found the right spot and buried himself inside her.
Jackie clung to him as best she could as he set a fast, hard rhythm. The oil added another level to his penetration, easing his way, changing the feel of the friction. The slippery-slick sensation was incredible.
The squelching squish it made whenever their bodies met upped the decadent thrill as he took everything she had to give. Logan leaned forward, bouncing her under him, rubbing her breasts against the roughness of his chest. The combination of coarse and lubricious was amazing. Logan seemed to enjoy it just as much as she was. He held her gaze. Absolutely focused. Utterly intent on making her burn up before he blew.
His breath came in hot pants against her cheek as he whispered, “Come for me, Jackie. I need to feel you coming around me.”
His rough entreaty spiked her pleasure. It took her another handful of thrusts to completely come apart.
Logan closed his mouth over hers, to keep her cries from drawing attention as he pounded into her. Hands convulsing on her hips, he held her in place, shoving himself as deeply as he could into Jackie. Pulling out and doing it again and again until he shouted into her mouth and his body shuddered against hers.
She stared at him. He was a handsome man but he was never more beautiful to her than in the moments just after he came. There was something about the vulnerability and the calmness in his eyes that drew her inexorably to him. He looked so peaceful when he usually seemed so determined, stressed.
Now was a prime example.
Jackie gazed at him and felt as though she was seeing the real him. The man she hadn’t seen in a very long time. It wasn’t to last.
He smiled at her tentatively before grabbing a couple of towels. “We should probably get out of here.”
Damn. She’d forgotten where they were.
Jackie rubbed as much of the residue off her as she could before putting the robe back on. “Caroline is in the room next to us, I think. We’re supposed to be spending a few hours getting pampered.”
“She can have you for a few hours then. But will you meet me for dinner?”
“I don’t see why not.” Anything would be better than another meal with Caroline’s and Charles’ families. Dinner with Logan sounded heavenly. “I’ll give her some excuse. Where do you want to meet? The restaurant?”
“I’ll come get you.”
“Great.” She flipped her hair out of the collar of the robe. “How did you get in here anyway?”
Logan buttoned his shirt. “I just told the masseur that you’re my girlfriend and to start, then I would take over. I sweetened the deal with a few bills and here we are.”
Warmth punched her in the chest when he called her his girlfriend. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“What? Are you complaining?”
Far from it. “Not at all. It’s just a lot of trouble to go to for sex.”
“Not for the kind we have.” He put his jacket back on and straightened the lapels.
Jackie licked her lips. He was right about that. “You should get out of here before Caroline sees you.”
He lowered his eyebrows. “Are you worried about what she’ll think?”
This was a conversation they’d had many times. She never could get him to see things from her point of view. Only this time things were different. They didn’t have a relationship. He had run out on her once before. If her friend found out it would only lead to more questions, and she just didn’t have the patience or the answers for her. How could she explain to Jackie what she was doing with Logan when she wasn’t sure herself?
And to tell Caroline it was just sex would just go over her head. She just didn’t work that way. She would never get past what Logan had done or that what they shared was so powerful that she didn’t want to stop it.
Stupid, Jackie knew. But she just couldn’t help herself.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Logan glared at her. “Still afraid you’re slumming it?”
Jackie sighed. “You sure know how to ruin a good mood, don’t you?”
“Just give me an answer. You’re ashamed to be seen with me. Always have been.”
“The only one of us with a problem in that department was you, Logan.” She stood and stepped closer. “I didn’t care about that shit then and I don’t care about it now. You were the one with the colossal chip on your shoulder. When we were together, I was so in love with you and I didn’t care who knew it. You could have been the richest man or the poorest, and I wouldn’t have cared. You were the love of my life.”
Gritting her teeth against the tears, she pushed past him. “Forget about dinner. And if you see Caroline, tell her I’ve got a migraine or something.”
Jackie dashed from the room, fighting back tears as she ran. She didn’t know what had come over her. Blurting all that out had definitely not been part of the plan. But his attitude, the one that obviously hadn’t changed, had pissed her off. That he thought so little of her frustrated her to no end.
Swiping away her tears, Jackie reached her suite only to realize that she’d left her key card—as well as her clothes—back at the spa.
“I thought you might need these.” Logan was walking up the hall with her clothes bundled in one hand.
Jackie ran her hands over her cheeks, wiping away what tears had escaped. She snatched the clothes away and dug through them for her card.
“I’m sorry.”
She didn’t spare him a glance. All she wanted was to get out of there and into her suite.
“Jackie, will you look at me?”
“There’s nothing to say, Logan.” She shrugged his hand off when he put it on her shoulder.
He grasped both shoulders this time and gently turned her around to face him. The contrite expression on his face seemed honest enough.
“I was being a dick. I admit it. I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you were. Didn’t you ever think that you were enough for me? That you were all I wanted?”
Logan sighed. “Can we do this inside?”
“Jackie? Are you okay?”
Caroline stomped her way up the hall and wedged herself between her and Logan. “What the hell are you doing here?” She looked at Jackie and her eyes narrowed when she saw Jackie’s puffy eyes and tear stains. She pointed a finger at Logan. “Did you make her cry?”
He grit his teeth. “We were talking, Caroline.”
Logan attempted to sidestep her irate friend, but she followed him, getting directly in his path.
“Just go, Logan.” Jackie finally managed to get her card in the lock and pushed the door open.
“Fine. But we have to talk, Jackie.”
He stalked away feeling shaken and a little hollow. Jackie’s reaction, her words, had cut him to the quick.
It hadn’t been an act. They hadn’t been words hurled in anger. He knew what he’d seen. Jackie was hurting and that made his heart ache. If Caroline hadn’t turned up he would have dragged Jackie into her room and done anything to take that haunted look off her face.
Not for the first time, he felt something was off with what had happened between them. He was more confused than ever now. Logan had been so sure that she had been the one to end their relationship. Had he gotten it wrong? If he had been the love of her life maybe she had been coerced into breaking up with him?
But if she didn’t care about money or status, then who could have pushed her to do it, and for what? What could have possibly made her do it?
Logan kept walking as he pondered. Before long, he found himself at the bar. Why not have a drink as he did a little more thinking?
He ordered a beer and took the bottle with him to the balcony overlooking the water, stopping at the exact spot where he and Jackie had stood at before. Logan took a swig as he stared at the ocean. The stunning scenery was all but lost to him as he sifted through his memories.
Their time together had been great. They’d been so young, how could it not? While they’d had a few responsibilities, it had been nothing compared to life now, in the real world. They had spent as much time as possible together between classes and his part time job. It had been idyllic, almost dreamy. And then it had all come crashing down. That was the time he focused on. No matter how much it hurt him to remember.
He knew he had a chip on his shoulder about their different social classes. He always had. Jackie had never let him see it bother her, but he had been sure it had. She couldn’t bring him home to meet her parents. He couldn’t provide her with the kind of life she was accustomed to. It was yet another thing that had driven him crazy. Logan had done everything he could to make a little cash so he could splurge on her whenever he could. Those early days had been filled with plans and laying groundwork for his career in security software. The insecurity and the need to give Jackie everything she wanted had pushed him to become what he was now.
And it had been totally on him.
Jackie was right when she’d said he was the one with the problem.
So then what had happened? He had proposed. Logan had been pretty sure she was as thrilled as he was at the thought of getting married. Up until that night, there had been no indication otherwise. They’d bickered over trivial things but otherwise their relationship had been perfect.
Logan took another long pull of his beer.
Something had prompted her to send him away and he was going to find out what.
Chapter Seven
It had taken Jackie an hour to get Caroline to leave. The questions had been endless and there had been just as many accusations. Had he hurt her? Was he bullying her? What had he done to make her cry?
Caroline had been relentless.
Not that Jackie didn’t appreciate her friend’s concern, she just didn’t like being treated like a helpless little girl.
Yes, Logan had devastated her the last time. Yes, it had taken everything she had to pick herself up and start again. But she had done it and without the help of anyone else. She could handle Logan. It was the fallout from being anywhere near him that was going to drive her insane. Not only was there the chemistry that crackled between them to navigate, but there were also old feelings—and not only from her and Logan—to deal with.
Jackie flopped onto her bed and stared at the net spread over her as a canopy.
It took her a long while to gather up the strength to get off the bed and wander through the room. As she approached the pool, she knew it would help her relax somewhat.
Jackie dropped the robe before she stepped into the cool water.
Bless whoever came up with the idea to equip all the rooms with infinity pools.
There was something so decadent about bathing nude out in the open where she knew that if someone tried hard enough they could see her.
Jackie didn’t care. It was liberating, and wasn’t that part of why she was there in the first place? She needed a break from her life. It wouldn’t have mattered where she’d gone. In fact, she would have preferred to go somewhere more low-key. Where she wouldn’t be reminded of her past. But there she was and she was determined to at least enjoy some of her time at the resort. Even if it was alone in her suite.
One simply didn’t go to a Totally Five Star Hotel and sulk.
Jackie dove under and swam straight for the glass that stopped the water from flowing over the side of the mountain. She opened her eyes and peered through the thick barrier at the blurry world on the other side. It was like peeking into an alternate reality where things seemed familiar but it took her squinting and some imagination to get it to look right.
Flipping over onto her back, she closed her eyes, drifting in a personal cocoon of bliss. She smiled up at the sun as it warmed her skin. The stress evaporated under the glaring heat along with the water off her skin.
She dove again to return to floating on her back lazily, repeating the action every time her skin dried. And each time more and more of her worries drifted away. What she wouldn’t give to have one of these back at home.
Jackie would have stayed in the water until she shriveled up like a raisin, but a knock at the door drew her out of her blissful world.
“Just a minute!”
Jackie noticed the chill in the air and the waning sunlight. How long had she been in the water?
She got out but sidestepped the oil-covered robe from the spa as she skidded her way to the bathroom in search of the complimentary robe that she knew would be in there.
“Jackie? Are you okay?”
It was Logan. Who else would it be?
“I’m good. Give me a sec.” She
shoved her arms into the robe and haphazardly tied it just as she opened the door.
Logan stood on the other side. He’d changed out of his oily clothes and stood before her in dark trousers and a white linen button-down.
“Hi.”
Jackie nodded, waiting for him to tell her why he was there.
He gave her a somewhat lopsided smile. “I’m guessing Caroline’s gone or I’d have her jumping down my throat right about now.”
“It took some convincing, but I got her to believe that I wasn’t going to fall apart.” Jackie had meant the comment to be glib, but it came out more serious.
“I’m sorry about earlier.” He peered over her shoulder. “Mind if I come in?”
She did mind. Very much so.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I’m not exactly dressed and I was thinking about ordering room service—”
“I’ll join you.”
“For some quality time with myself.”
He smirked. “I promise not to pounce on you. I just want to talk. Spend some time together.”
Jackie eyed him. He might have meant it at the moment, but when it came to the two of them it was way too easy to forget about intentions and fall into bed.
Logan held up his hand and gave her his most charming smile. “I swear. You could strip naked and climb all over me and nothing will happen.”
Right. Not that she would. They could control themselves. They weren’t animals.
“Come in.” She stepped aside, and he walked in. Logan smelled amazing. Like cologne, a shower, spiced with the scent of him.
“Been in the pool?”
Letting the door close, she waved at her waterlogged self. “How could you tell?”
“Just a wild guess.” He spun and looked at her accommodations. “Nice.”
“Did you expect anything else?”
He shook his head. “Nope. But I had been wondering. It’s not like I’ve been able to see every room in this place.”
