Say Now

by Linzi Basset

  “You have to stop,” she gasped, her eyes rolled back in their sockets at the sensations flooding her mind when he caressed her breasts. He squeezed them softly, before his fingers found her nipples through her thin crop top to tug and pinch the already aroused nubs.

  “Do I? I’m a little confused. Is that a question, luv or an order?” He taunted her with his lips scorching the soft valley between her breasts. “You have no idea what effect you have on me. Fuck, I’m floored myself,” he said against the curve of her breast.

  Shanna could feel the smile on his lips against her skin. But then her breathing faltered with the sensual invasion of his hand under her leggings. He cupped her bare mound and let his large hand rest there. She whimpered when her pussy flushed in response, her honey coating his fingers.

  “Are you sure, Shanna?” he asked. His eyes had turned darker, almost topaz in color, as he gazed at her.

  “S-sure about what?” she crowed. She was finding it more and more difficult to concentrate on reality when his touch had her floating on a cloud of erotic bliss.

  Logan watched her closely. He noticed the flare in her eyes as he moved his palm with slow, circular motions over her clitoris; up and down her slit, amazed at the wetness he found there.

  “I’ve never seen another woman come alive so beautifully,” he intoned in a dulcet tone that kept her senses attuned to him, her body begging for his touch. She mewled and orbited her hips against his hand, which now circled the swollen nub of her clit. His fingers dipped playfully inside her slit to rub the moistness over her pulsing clitoris. “So amazingly beautiful, and your scent is the most delightful bouquet ever to have filled my senses.”

  “Ohh,” Shanna moaned and continued to whimper in puffs of, “Oh-oh-ohhh,” as Logan began to rub her clit. Hard and fast, to be followed immediately by soft pats on the tip. In between, he dipped his finger inside her slit to keep her slippery and wet under his ministrations.

  “I’m waiting, Shanna,” Logan drawled.

  He could feel the tension building inside her body and knew she was on the verge of a climax. Her thrashing turned frantic against his hand. He loved her breathless cries of passion. It drove him to draw out the build-up as long as possible.

  “F-for what?” Shanna blinked. Her eyes had become misty, swirling with deep gray flecks that turned her green eyes into a tumultuous sea during a storm.

  “For you to tell me to stop.”

  Her eyelids fluttered as he pushed two fingers deep inside her pulsing channel and pumped them in and out in a slow, deliberate rhythm.

  Her breathing had become shallow and choppy as she clutched at his arms. Her head rolled back and forth against the wall.

  “I . . . can’t tell you to stop,” she breathed and then gasped, when he found the swollen ganglia at the front of her vaginal wall and tapped it gently.

  “Why not?” The demand rushed from his lips and his eyes burned into hers.

  “Because I’m on the verge of a climax. Take me over, Logan.” The demand was followed by a quick orbiting of her hips and a throaty moan. Shanna was so lost in the sensations that filled her body that she missed the ominous gleam in his eyes and the rigid line of his jaw which put his grim mouth in sharp relief.

  He felt the heat emanating from her skin, she was hot wherever he touched her. He knew she was on fire; that the blood rushed through her veins every time he rubbed his fingers over her clit vigorously. He rotated his hand, brushing his thumb over the swollen nub with every thrust of his fingers inside her pussy. She was on the verge of imploding.

  “Ohh, fuck.” Her cries turned to panting moans of torment. Her hips gyrated against his hand in a dance of fiery passion.

  Logan knew she was on the edge and one final nudge would push her over. He yanked down the crop top and leaned down to suck a succulent nipple into his mouth. He drew on it with deep, hard tugs. Her body arched back as a whimper escaped her lips. He could feel her silken folds trembling around his fingers. He straightened, pulled his hand from her pussy and out of her leggings. He took a step back.

  “Not the answer I was looking for, Shanna. When you give me the response that I want, maybe then, you’ll get to come off my hand . . . or my cock, whichever you beg me for first.”

  His gaze was enigmatic, hard and filled with promise; meeting her shocked glare with an amused curl of his lips. He tapped his fingers on her lips.

  “Now, be a good girl and don’t climax until you have my permission.”

  “You . . . you’re leaving?” Shanna squealed when he ambled toward the door. “You’re not seriously going to leave me like this?”

  “I’m not? I guess you were still in a cocoon of eroticism to have heard what I just said.” He opened the door and pinned her to the spot with a dark look. “Do not climax, Shanna. You won’t like the penance if I find out that you did.”

  Shanna gaped at the door closing behind him, leaving her alone. Her breathing sounded harsh to her own ears as she slowly slumped onto her butt on the floor. Her clit throbbed, and her pussy pulsed from the loss of his seductive touch. Not to mention the need to orgasm.

  “Who the devil does he think he is; telling me not to climax without his permission?” Her voice cracked as another wave of heat flushed her loins, reminding her that her body was in dire need. “Fuck you, Mr. Sex. I’ll climax all I want and as many times as I need to. You can’t stop me.”

  Shanna forced her rubbery legs to respond and pushed herself upright against the wall.

  “I need to come. Quick and hard, and there’s only one way to do that.” She bit her lip as she walked into the bathroom, yanked off her clothes and got into the bathtub. She reached for the hand-shower and opened the tap, before she settled against the side with her legs hanging over the edges. She flipped it to a strong, single stream of water and aimed it directly on her clitoris. Her hips jerked and thrashed but it gave her the result she was after.

  “Fuucck!” Her scream echoed hollowly in the small confines of the bathroom as the climax ripped through her. She rode the crest of the wave that rolled and crashed again and again, fed by the ruthless force of the water. Finally, she couldn’t stand it any longer and clamped her legs closed, the hand-shower falling from her limp fingers.

  “Now that, Mr. Logan Chase, is the climax I was after,” she huffed as she battled to draw oxygen into her lungs.

  Shanna would learn very quickly that Logan Chase didn’t make empty promises.

  Chapter Three

  “Open up, Shanna! You’ve had more than enough sleep by now,” Rachel called through the door that they’d been rapping against for way too long. Her voice brooked no resistance. The door opened seconds later.

  “Well, it’s about time,” Alexis muttered, but their annoyance was already forgotten as the three friends embraced each other jovially. “Gawd, I’ve missed you, girlfriend.”

  “Pfft! I don’t believe you spared a minute to think of little old me. Not with your attention on those three hunks that have invaded your minds,” Shanna teased with a broad smile on her face.

  “You look pale,” Rachel observed with her head tilted to the side. “Food. Yep, we need to get some breakfast inside you. Oh no, don’t even try to tell me you’ve already eaten,” Rachel warned when Shanna opened her mouth. “We’ve been waiting in the dining room for over an hour and I for one am starving.”

  They all knew that Shanna had a tendency to forget to eat. Her mind was always filled with so many issues that food was never a primary concern.

  “So am I,” Shanna said. She laughed when Rachel gave her a narrowed look. “I would’ve told you that, had you given me the opportunity to talk, Ms. Cooper.”

  “Well, you should know to talk fast by now,” Rachel laughed as Shanna fetched her room keycard and followed them to the dining room of the hotel.

  “Not that we aren’t absolutely delighted that you’re here but c’mon, girlfriend—out with it,” Alexis said a little later, once they’d finished a scrum
ptious breakfast and had caught up with each other.

  “Yeah, you didn’t think you’re just gonna pop up out of nowhere and not trigger some suspicion on our part,” Rachel agreed.

  Shanna didn’t get upset. She knew her friends. Hell, all three of them knew instinctively when something was wrong with the other. She’d never forget how harrowing it had been when she’d started college with them. They’d immediately noticed something was wrong, but Shanna had been too raw to talk about her loss. Over time she’d managed a semblance of normalcy and they had stopped asking questions.

  Her eyes burned with years of unshed tears. She started to tremble as she stared at them with a horrified expression. Why, all of a sudden, did she have an urge to talk about it with them, she had no idea.

  “What the hell? Shanna, honey, what’s the matter?” Alexis asked with a concerned glance at Rachel.

  “I need to talk but I can’t . . . not here,” she managed to croak. Her voice thickened, and she swallowed the lump in her throat, desperate to keep the tears from falling. She could feel the tension spiraling higher inside her, nudging her to the edge of a breakdown. “I have to get out of here. I need to . . .”

  Shanna jumped up and tore out of the dining room, pushing past a very surprised Noah, Mason and Logan who had just entered the room. Logan made to follow her but was shoved aside by Alexis and Rachel who were in hot pursuit.

  “She’s even more beautiful in real life than the photos Alexis has shown us,” Noah said as he watched the three women swiftly moving toward the wooden dock that had been converted into cozy nooks, with wrought iron tables and chairs covered in thick colorful cushions.

  “Yeah,” Logan said with a thoughtful look on his face.

  “Okay, mate, what aren’t you telling us?” Mason asked, who had noticed Logan’s reaction to Shanna.

  Logan’s head snapped around to face them. He shrugged. “I sat next to her on the plane yesterday. She blatantly ignored me and all I got was her profile. I didn’t know it was Shanna at the time.”

  “What? You’re kidding. I’ve yet to meet a woman who can resist your charm,” Noah alluded drily.

  “She didn’t even look in my direction. I could’ve been that guy . . . Tatum Channing, and she wouldn’t have noticed.”

  “Ah, and that triggered the hunter in you, right?” Mason drawled. “And it’s Channing Tatum.”

  “How else? Lucky for me, our buddy Devon was the pilot and he told me who she was. Finding her room, once we got here, wasn’t rocket science, as you know,” he responded. He glanced toward the dock where the three women sat huddled on the bench facing the ice rink in the center. “I hope it wasn’t my visit to her room last night that caused such upset,” he pondered aloud.

  “What did you do?” Noah followed his gaze.

  “Nothing extreme, apart from ordering her not to climax.”

  “Goddammit, Logan, you know she’s Alexis and Rachel’s friend. You’re not going to play games with her,” Mason intoned sharply.

  Logan glowered at his friends. “Somewhat like what the two of you did with them, right?” Then he sighed as they sat down for breakfast. “I’ve been intrigued by her ever since I saw her photo and once I came close to her, I was blown away by the effect she had on me. I believe I might’ve found the one, mates. The same as you found yours.”

  “Damn right,” Noah agreed. He followed Logan’s stare to the women on the dock. “I just hope all is well with Shanna. She looked very fragile and upset when she ran past us.”

  * * * * * * * *

  “There’s something I never told you,” Shanna began haltingly. She stared unseeing at the people enjoying an early morning skate on the frozen lake. “You recall that I disappeared for a couple of months after we finished senior high?”

  Alexis and Rachel looked at each other. They had often wondered about it, but Shanna had always been tight-lipped. They had never pressured her to talk. It had been an understanding between them from a young age to honor each other’s feelings and wait until they were ready.

  Shanna dragged in a deep breath, the cold air clawed into her lungs.

  “I . . . fuck, this is so hard,” she muttered. “I did something irresponsible and stupid at our prom. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret it because the experience in itself was unforgettable, and I still dream about him . . . about that night. If only I hadn’t . . .” She chucked in her breath, “gotten pregnant.”

  “You what?” Rachel exhaled in shock. Her eyes were wide as she met Alexis’ equally amazed look.

  “Prom was in May. You finished the school year and started college in September. We didn’t notice anything. Does that mean you had an abortion?” Alexis asked quietly.

  “No! You didn’t notice because I carried very small. Remember I disappeared for a month-and-a-half in the beginning of the year? I couldn’t hide my stomach anymore. My dad wanted me to abort the baby, but I refused. I have always wanted to become a doctor. It was inconceivable how he could expect something like that from me. No,” she shook her head and this time the tears pressed past her eyelids to run down her cheeks. “Dad made me give him up for adoption. I never even got to see my little baby boy.”

  Alexis and Rachel hugged Shanna between them as they silently wept with her. Their tears ran unchecked as they felt their best friend’s pain and loss deep inside their own hearts.

  “And you suffered through this alone all these years. You should’ve told us, Shanna. You know we would’ve been there for you, if only to emotionally support you,” Rachel said sadly.

  “I know but it was too painful. I battled to get over the loss, the wrongdoing and the resulting anger and resentment I felt toward my father from that point on.”

  “That’s why things changed between you and him.” Alexis connected the dots. They’d often wondered about that. Shanna had been her father’s little princess growing up and he’d spoiled her and her two besties. They’d noticed the change in freshman year. Shanna hardly ever spoke about him since then.

  “Why now, Shanna? Why did you finally decide to tell us about it?” Rachel prodded gently. She squeezed her hand to offer her strength.

  Shanna bit her lip. Her fingers trembled when she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  “I’ve never spoken about it to anyone.” She swallowed to gather some strength. “I . . . er . . . think I might have inadvertently bumped into the man from the prom,” she admitted softly.

  “You think? Hold on. You didn’t know who he was?” Rachel’s voice rose a notch. Shanna had always been the responsible one.

  “No, I didn’t. I had stepped outside for a breath of air. It was dark, so I didn’t notice there was someone there until I sat down in one of the gazebos and kicked off my shoes. Then I smelled the smoke, seconds before he spoke, and I looked up. It was like gazing into the eyes of a tiger in the black night.”

  “Golden eyes,” Rachel pondered with a frown, a suspicion starting to form in the back of her mind.

  “We started to talk. He was Haley Button’s date, but I hadn’t seen him with her before. I still don’t know how we ended up in each other’s arms. It just kinda happened and one thing led to another . . .” Her cheeks turned a deep red as she recalled all the things he’d done to her. “It was magical. He was a commanding, powerful man, not like the boys . . . I’ve not forgotten a moment of that night.”

  “I can’t remember him either. Did you try to find him? Once you found out you were pregnant?” Alexis asked.

  “Yes. I even went as far as to deliberately bump into Haley and guided the conversation to the prom. She said his name was Jason Dudley. I searched everywhere, I even asked my cousin to search the Homeland Security database. Either he gave her a false name, or he’d changed his name for some reason by that time. I couldn’t find him.”

  “Until now,” Rachel reminded her.

  Shanna looked between them. “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. This man I met, he did this one thing . . . he bit my bot
tom lip and sucked on it . . . just like he did that night. I can’t explain it but it feels like him.”

  “Well, I say our instincts are more accurate than we think.” Alexis looked at Rachel. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Rachel nodded. “Yeah, I most definitely am and I’m gonna kick his balls all the way up his fucking ass.”

  Shanna’s eyes widened when she realized they already knew who she’d been alluding to. “How did you know?”

  “That the man who rocked your world might be none other than our very own, Logan Chase?”

  “Yes,” Shanna admitted softly.

  “Well, for one thing, he has unusual golden-colored eyes,” Rachel volunteered.

  “And secondly, his middle name is Jason and his mother’s maiden name was Dudley,” Alexis interjected.

  Shanna stared at her, shocked to the core. It had been nothing more than a feeling, a suspicion at best, but to realize that Logan Chase was none other than the man who had changed her life forever thirteen years ago, was a completely different realization. She had no idea how to process the information or how she felt about it.

  “Are you angry at him, Shanna?” Rachel wanted to know. She couldn’t hide the concern from her voice. It was very important to them that Shanna liked Noah, Mason and Logan. The three of them would always be a part of their lives and they didn’t want to lose her because of one of them. “Or hate him, for that matter?”

  “I can’t be either, Rachel. I wasn’t a virgin when we met and I knew exactly what we were doing. He even warned me of the repercussions. He didn’t have a condom with him, which in a strange way, had made me very happy at the time, knowing that he hadn’t planned on having sex with Haley that night.” Shanna shrugged. “I suppose I was somewhat naive. I’d just gone on the pill, I wasn’t ovulating and believed I was safe. I assured him there was nothing to worry about.”

  Shanna looked between her two friends. “You know that what I’ve just told you stays between us, right?”

  “Of course. You know we’ll never break your confidence but however much you don’t want us to talk about it, you do know that you have to tell him?” Alexis said gently.