by Amelia Judd
To be fair, John had not been on her mind while she’d been getting ready. Nope. The flirty outfit, sexy shoes, and smokin’ makeup were for Logan’s benefit. Right or wrong, she wanted to see the same mind-blowing desire in his eyes as the night they’d kissed. Just the memory of it made her best parts tingle.
“Get a grip.” She shook her head. John was picking her up any minute. If she opened the door looking all hot-and-bothered, he might get the wrong idea and go running for the hills. Even though she’d insinuated that she and John had been romantically involved in the past, they hadn’t. He was a great guy and a good friend, nothing more. She didn’t plan to clarify the situation with her iron-willed roommate anytime soon.
She should probably cut Logan some slack since he’d been a real sweetheart today. Taking her to that self-defense class, waiting around Milwaukee for five hours, then driving her home, all went above and beyond his duties as a roommate or as her brother’s best friend.
The class had been great. Not that she’d learned everything she ever needed to know about protecting herself in one day, but she felt stronger and a little more confident now. She’d even signed up to take additional classes when her instructor offered to solidify and expand on the defense techniques she’d learned.
Three quick knocks on the front door pulled her thoughts to the here and now. She checked her reflection one last time, hustled from her room, and immediately locked gazes with Logan, who looked royally peeved.
He was sitting on a barstool, leaning his elbows on the island with a glass of what smelled like scotch dangling from his fingertips. He scanned her body. His eyes flashed with heat, then immediately hardened. “No bloody way I’m answering the door for your dates.”
She smothered a grin, trailing her hand along his shoulder on her way to the door. “Come on, big guy, don’t sulk. A girl’s ego can only take so many noes before she’s gotta refuel with a yes or two.”
“I don’t sulk.”
She shot Logan a skeptical look and swung the door open. “Hey, handsome. Long time, no see.” She stretched to her tiptoes and pecked John on the cheek.
“Hi, Kat.” John gave her a boyish smile. “You look great.”
She clicked her tongue and winked. “You too.” She hadn’t seen him in a while, but his good looks had only improved with age. His dark hair and eyes were from his Latino father, his wide smile and sculpted features came from his Scandinavian mother, and his light-brown skin was a perfect mixture of the two.
“This place is great. When did you move in?” Glancing over her shoulder, his eyes widened in surprise. “Or should I ask, who did you move in with?”
Kat didn’t have to turn around to know Logan had ambled over to stand behind her. Her body always hummed with awareness when he was close. And right now, if he got any closer, they’d be spooning.
“Logan. John,” she said, pointing at each guy as way of introduction.
In the silence that followed, she felt their gazes clashing over her head. She looked at one guy, then the other, rolled her eyes, and elbowed Logan hard in the gut.
He grunted, then nodded once at John. “G’day, mate.”
Kat scrunched her nose and looked over her shoulder. What the hell was he up to? He’d just used the thickest Australian accent she’d ever heard.
“Good to meet you,” John said after a brief pause. “Australian?”
“Yip.”
Good Lord, he looked smug.
“That was an observation, not a compliment,” she drawled.
“It’s never been a complaint.” The rumble of his low voice only inches from her ear shot a smokin’ hot shiver of desire down her spine. She ground her teeth together and fought back the urge to shove John out the door and physically throw herself against Logan’s hard body.
Ugh. She couldn’t do this any longer. She couldn’t live in this near-constant state of arousal.
It was too damn frustrating!
She’d thought she could persuade Logan into forgetting that stupid promise to her dad, but even she had a breaking point. And if she continued to crash with Logan, she might slide across the fine line separating optimistic from delusional.
Oh, who was she kidding? She’d been hopscotching back and forth across that line since the day she set her sights on Logan McCabe.
In her defense, she’d mistaken him for a carefree pretty boy with loose morals at the time. As it turned out, his kind heart and generous nature were better suited for the long run than for a short-term love ’em-and-leave ’em deal. But—and this was a really big but—he didn’t stick with anyone for the long run!
Christ, Logan drove her nuts! He acknowledged the crazy, constant attraction between them. But he refused to indulge in the present for fear of hurting her in the future because he wouldn’t even consider building a life with anyone. How could a man be so right, so wrong, so great, and so frickin’ annoying all at the same time?
Boiling over with frustration, Kat grabbed John’s arm and shoved him toward the door. “Let’s go.”
His brows shot up. “Oh-kay,” he said, eyeing her with curiosity. “You all right?”
“Absolutely. Just anxious to spend time with an old friend,” she ground out, dragging John through the door behind her.
“Kat,” Logan called to her.
“Huh?”
“Don’t be afraid to use what you learned today.”
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” she snapped. “Bye, roomie. Don’t wait up.”
Chapter 10
MIDNIGHT. It was goddamn midnight before Kat strolled through the front door with a smug, sleepy, content-as-hell expression on her face.
“Where have you been?” Logan demanded. “Nothing in Silver Bay is open this late. For Christ’s sake, Kat, I texted you. Twice.”
She looked at him like he’d just sprouted a second head. “I muted my phone. I hate when people spend more time texting then talking.” She pulled her phone from her purse. “What did you text me about? Is something wrong?”
He grunted.
A smile played around her lips as she scanned her messages. “Oh, big guy, you were worried about me?”
He grunted again.
Chuckling, she sat down next to him on the couch, dropped her head to his shoulder, and patted his knee. “Your concern is kinda sweet, but I’ve known John for years. He’s a good guy.”
“John wasn’t my concern.”
He felt more than heard her laughter. “Ah, I get it. You thought I’d be a bad influence on him.”
“Even good guys can be tempted into making bad decisions. And you, tiger, are one giant temptation.”
“I went out with John to talk about SAS, not to seduce him.”
Tension eased from his body.
“But, I’ll admit, I considered it for a minute.”
And the tension rushed back in. He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Do I want to hear this?”
“Nothing happened.” She sighed. “But I’ve been so sexually frustrated lately, it crossed my mind to ask John to … you know … do me a favor.”
“He bloody well better not do you any favors.”
“Jeez, calm down. I didn’t do it. It didn’t seem right to ask when you’re the one I want. But, Logan, I can’t stay here much longer. I need to find somewhere else to live before I self-combust. Oddly, getting to know you—I mean, really know you—has made me want you more, not less.” She shrugged. “That’s never happened to me before.”
His chest tightened. He should encourage her to move out. It would be better for them both. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wasn’t ready to let her go. He dropped his arm around her and pulled her slender curves to his side.
“I don’t want you to leave. And that”—he sighed—“is a rarity for me too.”
“So where does that leave us?”
“Screwed,” he muttered.
“Hmph. I wish.” She twisted to look at him, her bl
ue-gray eyes imploring and serious. “I like you, Logan. You’re funny, sweet, hot, and you put up with my shit. When you leave for Costa Rica or Africa or Antarctica, or wherever you decide to go, I’m going to miss you—whether we’ve had sex or not.”
“It’ll be harder if we’ve slept together,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Not for me. We’ve become friends, Logan. If we spend time together naked or not, I’ll miss you all the same.”
He blew out another, even bigger, sigh. “I’m trying to not hurt you.”
“You won’t.” She placed her hand on his chest, stretched toward him, and softly kissed his lips.
He didn’t react. If he did, he feared the last of his resistance would evaporate faster than water in the Outback. Instead, he clenched his jaw and fought back his desire—a damn hard thing to do, considering he wanted her more than his next breath.
She chuckled. “Man, you’re tense. Are you afraid I’m going to fall in love with you? Well, I’ll let you in on a little intel, big guy. I’m not going to fall for you because we have sex—even if it’s the best sex in the world. If I ever fall in love with a guy, it will be because of his big heart not his big … well, you know.” She winked.
“Kat.” He sounded like a man begging for his life. And in some ways that was exactly how he felt.
She must have sensed him weakening. Going in for the kill, she leaned in to trail hot, wet kisses up his jaw. “We won’t regret it,” she murmured only inches from his ear. “The only regret we’ll have is not doing it sooner.” She nipped his earlobe and shattered his control.
Letting out a growl, he scooped Kat onto his lap—her knees straddling his hips. “Didn’t know I could want anyone this bloody much.” He gripped her hip with one hand, slid the other into her hair, and pulled her mouth roughly to his—pouring all of his lust and frustration into the kiss.
Kat responded with the same ferocity. Moaning into his mouth, she ground her hips against him and returned his kiss with passion, desperation, and a near-violent level of need.
After a few minutes, she grabbed the edge of his shirt and yanked up. “Too many clothes,” she murmured, breaking the kiss long enough to strip first his shirt and then hers.
Still straddling him, she now only wore a tight pair of jeans, a white lacy bra, her red heels, and a sexy smile. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”
Painfully hard and mesmerized by her barely-covered breasts, eye-level and only inches away, Logan swallowed hard. “Not as long as I’ve wanted to do this.” Feeling like he was about to open the best frigging present in the world, he slowly undid the front clasp of her bra and pulled the lacy fabric away to uncover two perfect breasts.
He ground his teeth and fought against his desperate need. He couldn’t get enough of her. He had to touch her, taste her, feel her—warm and wet—wrapped around him.
He drew in a deep breath, cupped a full breast in each hand, and rubbed the rough pads of his thumbs over her tight, pert nipples.
Kat threw her head back and arched. “God, don’t stop,” she panted, sending her breasts closer to his face.
Unable to resist the invitation, he licked and sucked one of her perfect nipples while he rolled the other between his thumb and forefinger. He continued toying with her breasts, moving his mouth from one hardened peak to the other, wanting her as desperate with need as she made him.
She gasped and squirmed, rubbing against him while she gripped his hair to hold him pinned to her breasts. “In me,” she panted, circling her hips again and again. “I need you in me.”
He grinned at her half-demanding and half-begging tone. She finally sounded as frantic as he felt. He set her on her feet, undid her jeans, and peeled them and her lacy underwear off. A second later, his pants joined the pile of clothing on the cottage floor.
Kissing her again, he backed her to the kitchen island.
“We’re going the wrong way,” she panted. “The bedroom is behind you.”
“Can’t make it that far.” He nipped her neck. “Besides, condoms are out here.” He lifted her hips and sat her warm, naked body onto the counter-height granite.
“You keep condoms in our kitchen?”
“You never know when you’re going to need one.” He grinned, stepping between her widespread legs. He caught her mouth with his again, gripped one of her thighs, and used his other hand to trace a finger along her heated center. He slid two fingers into her and groaned as she cried out in pleasure again. He withdrew, quickly pushed back inside then curved his fingers to rub the sensitive spot deep inside of her.
Kat writhed, squirmed, and panted in front of him. She was so damn beautiful his gut ached. Bracing her arms behind her, she dropped her head back and thrust against his fingers. “You,” she panted. “Logan, I want you inside of me.”
“Just to be clear, tiger, is this you asking me to take it out of my pants? Because you said that was never gonna happen.”
“Dammit, Logan. Don’t make me hurt you.”
Grinning, he pulled his fingers from her, reached into the end drawer, and withdrew a foil packet from the back. He kicked off his boxer-briefs, rolled the condom on, and positioned himself at her core. He gripped her hips in both hands and looked at Kat.
His heart stuttered to a stop. Her beautiful blue-gray eyes were wide and locked on the hardened length of him about to push into her.
“You’re big. I mean … bigger than I expected.” She gulped and looked up, apprehension marring her expression.
Oh, shit. His chest tightened. “Do you want to stop?” he asked, stepping back and trying like hell to hide both the strain in his voice and the tension coursing through him.
“No.” She wrapped her legs around his waist. “No frickin’ way are we stopping. Just know that I talk a big game but really haven’t been up to bat that often.” She pulled him closer with her legs. “So maybe you could start off easy rather than a fastball down the pipe. Okay?”
Laughter rumbled through his chest. Incredible. Even while desire scorched his blood and panic knotted his stomach, Kat could make him laugh.
She narrowed her eyes. “Something funny, big guy?”
Logan ran a hand up her thigh and rested it on her hip. “If you’re going to use sports analogies with me,” he said, pausing for a moment to lean forward and explore her lips in a slow, thorough kiss. “You should probably use rugby or soccer terms.” He nibbled her neck, focusing on the tender spot under the corner of her jaw until she panted and squirmed beneath him again.
“Like scrum and offside?” she murmured, sounding distracted. “Those don’t sound very sexy.” She dug her fingers into his shoulders and urged him closer.
Chuckling, he trailed kisses down her body, taking a long, leisurely time to nibble and suck all the interesting parts along the way. When he reached the apex between her thighs, he looked up into her eyes. “How about charge-down? Does that sound sexy enough for you?”
“Charge-down?”
“Yip. Rugby term that could be used to describe one of my specialties.” He dropped to a knee, placed one palm on each of her thighs, and gently pushed her legs apart.
She gave him a wicked grin. “Hmm. Never heard of it. Maybe you could demonstrate?”
“Love to, darl.” Leaning forward, his own wicked grin in place, Logan demonstrated with his mouth until Kat writhed and thrashed wildly on the slick countertop in front of him.
“Okay.” Sliding her hands into his hair, she pulled him up and sucked in a deep breath. “Let’s do this. Now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” She vice-gripped his biceps with her hands and locked her legs around his waist.
His own body rigid, Logan called on the last threads of his restraint and positioned himself at her center. Holding a slender thigh in each hand, he began to slowly work into her, pausing after each inch slid deeper, giving her time to adjust to his size. Eyes shut, Kat squirmed and let loose a few
curses but didn’t ask him to stop.
Finally, he was completely inside of her. Unable to breathe, he held himself still and watched her reaction. “Are you okay, tiger?”
Biting her lip, her eyes fluttered open. “I’m more than okay.” She tentatively rotated her hips. “Damn, big guy, you really deserve your nickname.”
His ability to breathe finally returned when she flashed him another sexy smile.
“It’s a gift and a curse,” he teased as he began to move inside of her.
“Feels like a gift to me,” she murmured and pulled his mouth to hers.
The kiss was hot, hard, and so damn passionate, he couldn’t think of anything other than how great she made him feel. Her warm body, sweet scent, and addictive taste surrounded him. He couldn’t get enough. He withdrew and slid back into her as she moaned into his mouth. He did it again, only harder, and this time she broke off the kiss.
“More. Please, Logan, I’m ready for more.”
Her plea snapped his restraint. He pounded into her tight, wet heat until every nerve in his body screamed with the need for release. When he couldn’t stand the tormenting pleasure a second longer, Logan lowered his hand and circled his thumb over the bundle of nerves at her core. Kat dug her nails into his shoulders, arched her back, and tensed. An instant later, screaming in release, she flew over the edge.
With the feel of her body spasming around him, Logan slammed into her one final time and came in the hardest, most intense frigging orgasm of his life.
•••
Eyes closed, body sated, and mind blissfully hazy, Kat purred as Logan scooped her off the countertop and carried her to his bedroom. She had no idea how the man had the strength to walk, let alone carry her, after that workout. When he laid her on the bed, she stretched her arms over her head and managed to peel her eyes open.
