by Dannika Dark
By “we,” he meant Chitahs. In my book, this was dirty talk, but for him it was a perfectly legitimate conversation so he could learn how to seduce a woman exactly the way she desired.
“I can’t talk about this with you,” I admitted in a quiet voice.
His fingers squeezed my upper thigh. Logan wasn’t forceful, but he was determined when he lifted it over his shoulder.
“Tell me what you want in a lover, Little Raven,” he urged. “We’re not leaving this room until you confess.”
His warm breath heated my inside thigh and his hands never once stopped massaging. Logan’s scent reminded me of a thunderstorm—turbulent and dangerous, like an impending act of nature.
What did I have to lose?
“I want a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to show it.” That was the truth. Most of the men I knew were indecisive or secretive. Logan’s outspokenness and undeniable confidence is the reason I allowed him to court me.
A lingering kiss settled against my thigh and my fingers tightened around the bar. He inched closer and reached around, washing my backside. I nearly lost it between the sandpapery feel of his cheek and the slippery suds.
“And?” he pressed.
His mouth slid higher.
“Someone who takes his time.”
He rewarded me with another kiss on my inner thigh—only higher. A needful growl vibrated against my skin.
Desire clouded my thoughts when his cheek scraped against my soft skin, moving even closer, and his proximity was more than I could bear.
“Do you like foreplay or stamina?”
His mouth was so close that his breath touched me intimately—like scorching fire against my core. My leg reactively tried to pull him closer, but Logan was unmovable and I felt his smile spread across my leg.
“This is the most foreplay I’ve ever had and if you want to know the truth—I don’t want you to stop.”
He slid his hands upward and cool gel smoothed over my breasts. I was so startled by the unexpected contact that I stiffened. Logan placed a penetrating kiss against my inside thigh—this time his lips met with the crease of my leg and I threw my head back and it thumped against the wall. An ache throbbed between my legs I held my breath, squeezing the metal bar.
“The most intoxicating scent on you is blushing desire.” The raw timbre of his voice carried a suggestion that those words were not meant for me to hear.
Energy poured through my body like a river, forbidding me to touch him with my hands. I wanted to curl my fingers in his hair and feel the velvety stroke of his tongue as I stood languid in his arms.
Instead, he kept talking while his fingers tempted every curve and line of my body. A thumb rolled over my hard nipple and his tongue simultaneously laved my sensitive skin.
“Is this to your liking?”
Each time he spoke, his breath was ragged and heated. Did he have any idea what that was doing to me? The textures—liquid soap, firm hands, rough whiskers, and hot water. He tortured my body with his touch, yet it’s what he wasn’t doing that sent me right over the cliff.
That primal thrumming came from his throat, a purr that was deep and wild. He massaged my chest until it was slick and filmy and I leaned back. The shock of the cold stone wall against my back made me shriek out.
His laugh was delicious and dark. “I like the sounds you make and look forward to being the one who gives them to you.”
Logan stood up and a stream of water spattered against my chest from the showerhead. He aimed it at me and the sudsy liquid glided down my body.
His sneakers squeaked on the tile and he took hold of my arm, wiping away the soap until a clean friction built up between us. It was more than I could have imagined as he gratified me with gentle persuasion. Logan wasn’t just touching me with his hands—he was coveting me. My body wasn’t simply washed with soap and water—it was revered in the gentle way he that he took his time. He may not have seen me naked, but he memorized every inch of my body with his tenacious hands.
After the third round, I was about as primed as a woman could get.
“Turn around and face me,” he said. “I’m going to wash your hair.”
He backed me into the stream of hot water and I sighed as his fingers gingerly massaged a mango-scented liquid throughout my scalp. It didn’t make any sense that Logan had so many scented toiletries and yet he never smelled like anything but a man.
“I can’t believe I’m letting you do this,” I mumbled with a soft laugh.
He rinsed the shampoo away and placed his heavy hands on my shoulders, making a slow descent down the curve of my back with a feathery touch.
“Logan?”
“Hmm?”
“You can’t see in the dark, can you?”
“Not entirely.”
I pushed away and crossed my arms. “What does that mean? You can or you can’t?”
“My sight is better than average in dim light. I can’t see in total darkness. Female, would it really matter after I have seen you naked with my hands? I know your body so well that I couldn’t mistake you for any other woman. I have imagined you in my mind, and you’re exquisite.”
“Where do you intend to take this?”
Logan’s hands were so sultry with every possessive stroke, and he slipped one behind my neck insistently.
“I’ll go wherever you lead me. I don’t have to see you to know there is a glint of silvering in your eyes and your fingers are charged with passion. You want to be taken.” His mouth covered my ear. “And I want to be the one who takes you. Say yes and I won’t stop until I’m inside of you. Deep inside.”
His finger brushed between my legs and I gasped in surprise from the unexpected intimate contact.
“What about the courtship?” My voice trembled.
“If this is what you want—then rules be damned—it’s what you’re going to get.” His slick finger stroked once more before withdrawing.
My heart almost slammed on the brakes. “Am I not worth sticking to your rules?”
There was amusement in his voice. “You’re the reason I don’t want to play by them.”
“I want you to claim me in every way, Logan, but I can’t touch you. I can’t be with you like a normal woman. I want this, but…”
His hands cradled my neck. “But what?”
It didn’t feel right. I was immensely attracted to him and swept up in the moment, but the reason he instigated this to begin with didn’t set with me.
“You brought me in here because you couldn’t stand me wearing another man’s cologne. It wasn’t about seduction or romance, or even a spontaneous move. I like being with you and feeling this way, but—”
“You’re still not sure. I told you once that I would not bed a female who was doubtful, and I won’t now.” He sighed with frustration. “I would have been able to scent your doubt if it wasn’t for all this damn mango.”
My energy leveled down and I touched his arm. “Are you mad?”
“I’ll get you a towel and show you how mad I am,” he said sharply.
I snapped my jaw shut as he moved out of the room and the light burst on. The stone wall molded against my back. His arm extended through the opening, offering me a long, white towel. After covering myself up, I shut off the water and warily stepped around the shower wall.
Logan stood with his eyes respectfully closed and his arms folded.
It wasn’t until I noticed the thick bulge in his wet trousers that I knew without a doubt that Logan Cross was a man of remarkable restraint.
I took my time drying off the ends of my dripping hair with a small towel, admiring his luscious, golden skin and the masculine line of his body. Broad, rounded shoulders gave his body a V shape, and the muscles on his arms and abdomen were defined and solid. A selfish part of me wanted to see those beautiful patterns rippling across his arms and torso—the ones that changed colors when he was consumed with emotion. I wanted to be the one responsible.
My crumpled clothes sat in a pile inside of the wastebasket. “What am I supposed to cover up with?”
“Me?” A wolfish smile turned up the ends of his mouth.
I finished drying my hair and noticed his glum expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Aside from your unsated lust that burns my nose like gasoline? Not a thing. Do you want to know what I was going to do to you in there with those lovely legs draped over my shoulders?”
“No, please.” I caught a subtle glow in my reflection and my lips were swollen from biting them.
Water trailed from his wet hair over his shoulders; nothing had changed in the baggage compartment. “Maybe you need to get back in the shower and turn on the cold water,” I suggested.
“Maybe you should join me, my sweet.”
He took a deep, purposeful breath and I shoved my palm against his wet chest.
“Stop doing that, Mr. Cross.”
He quirked a smile. “I do love it when you call me that.”
I squeezed the ends of my hair and tossed the towel in the sink. “Was it easy for you to kill all those people? Before we met.”
Logan lowered his head, keeping his eyes closed. “Those were deplorable men, Silver, and I will not apologize for my actions.”
“Was every single one of them a Mage?”
“Most. We’ve gone over this. I can’t erase my past—it’s not a chalkboard.”
I wiped a droplet of water from my nose and crossed my arms. “I’m not holding it against you. I don’t know why you chose that life, but I understand why you think it’s justified. In the end, it didn’t bring her back.”
“No,” he said, pointing a finger angrily at the floor. “Curse my life until you run out of breath, but the tragedy of who I was led me to you. I’ve never been a soft man when it comes to females, Silver, not since Katrina.”
“Your wife?”
“My mate, yes. She knew me in the spirit of my youth. I chose not to leave you alone on that rooftop for a reason. I fought the instinct to track down the scent,” he said, drawing in a slow breath through his nostrils. “I know that scent. It infuriates me that another male has marked you, and there is a familiarity to his identity. If he crosses my path—”
I cleared my throat. “I think we made the right decision tonight. It would have been for the wrong reasons and it shouldn’t become something that we regret.”
After a lengthy sigh, a wide smile stretched across my cheeks. I was impressed that he kept his eyes closed without the temptation to peek.
“I need something to put on,” I finally said.
Logan kicked off his shoes and when he unlatched his belt, I couldn’t look away. He shoved his pants to the floor and stepped out of them. It was the first time I’d seen his legs and they were more powerful-looking than I’d imagined—not like a bodybuilder, but conditioned like an athlete. He wore form-hugging briefs that were a little long in the leg and they were the sexiest damn things I’d ever seen on a man. I admired the v-cut that arrowed down his abdomen, wondering what it would be like to stroke my finger down the groove. When his thumbs hooked around his briefs, I whirled around and gaped at the tile.
“I’m not putting you on,” I insisted.
“You have permission to look at me.”
“How very gracious of you, Mr. Cross.”
“I’m not shy about anything I have to offer you, but I need to get out of these wet clothes and put on something dry before my ass chafes.”
I snorted. “I never did like peeking at my presents before it was time.”
He gripped my shoulders firmly and his lips grazed my ear. “When it’s time, Little Raven, I’m all yours to unwrap. And I promise that your present will be the biggest of all.”
That was no lie; I’d already seen the size of the box.
I turned to give him a kiss and, although his eyes remained closed, he felt my intent and leaned down.
The kiss was deep and penetrating. It was intimate in a way that the previous ones weren’t. When his tongue found mine and he slid his hands behind my neck, I nearly collapsed and flattened my hands against his chest.
“I love the way you taste,” he whispered against my mouth.
My bare foot touched his when I tried to get closer. Logan teased me by brushing his mouth against mine but staving off his kiss. I nipped his bottom lip and a dangerous growl rose from his chest.
“I dare you to do that again,” he whispered against the corner of my mouth. “You are always so eager to play with fire.”
Provoking him was not a good idea, so I pushed away. “Let’s get out of here; I’ve never felt so clean in my life that you could eat off me.”
His eyebrows popped up. “Now that you mention it, I’m famished.”
“Sorry, the restaurant is closed.”
“Then let me make reservations,” he offered with a suppressed grin.
Justus crossed my mind. “I need to go home.”
“Hand me the phone and I’ll call your Ghuardian.”
“Are you going to dial blind?”
“Excellent point. Shall I open my eyes?”
It didn’t seem like Justus not to check in on me. I glanced at my phone sitting on the edge of the sink and noticed it was turned off; the last thing I needed was my Ghuardian prowling the streets of Cognito in search of me. “I’ll do it. He probably left a few messages and—”
My knees buckled and in a quick motion, Logan caught me.
“Easy now, I’ve got you.” His voice was brimming with concern. When he shifted his hold, my towel hit the floor, but Logan’s eyes remained closed. “Tell me what’s wrong, Silver.”
I blinked away the dizzy spell. “It’s my energy; I’m still just a little weak and the shower relaxed me too much.” My legs were shaking. “I should go before it gets too late. I need to sleep it off.”
Without warning, Logan lifted me up so high that I locked my legs around his waist. Our chests moved together with each breath and I savored the way his wet hair smelled where it stuck against his shoulder. He made it easy to forget myself, and I didn’t think about the fact we were skin to skin. My weary head rested in the curve of his neck and a steady vibration fluttered in his chest.
“I’m not letting you go anywhere in this condition. You’ll stay here the night and sleep in my bed. I’ll call Justus and let him know.”
In Logan’s arms, I felt protected. His body was still warm and wet from the water and I caved, allowing him to carry me when a sensible person might have pushed away. That’s what my human side was telling me to do, but in the time since I’d become a Mage, there was an awakening. Everything about him was lush, like a decadent wine made from the sweetest berry. He slid his hands around my lower back.
“Can I open my eyes so I don’t fall on my ass carrying you out?”
I agreed, as all he would see was the slope of my back, but when he turned in the direction of the mirror, my shriek lit up the room.
His boisterous laugh was wonderful and I felt it throughout my entire body. “Female, you are naked in my arms, and yet you will blush if I see your body?”
“It would ruin the surprise,” I murmured, smiling against his shoulder.
His mouth grazed against my ear. “I’m patient,” he whispered.
Instead of his bedroom, Logan walked straight through the house and into the kitchen. The cold air licked my skin, causing me to grip tighter for warmth.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m thirsty,” he announced. “That was quite a chase you had me on.” I felt about as silly as a toy poodle in a thoroughbred race as he bent over and opened the fridge. “Do you want milk or juice?”
“I’ll have panties and a T-shirt, please.”
“Sorry. We’re all out.”
Logan tilted his head back and took three long gulps. Meanwhile, my ass was getting frostbite from the chilly air blowing on it from inside the fridge.
“I’m really going to hate you for this in the mor
ning,” I grumbled.
“Feel free to get down and hate me for it now,” he suggested with a smile in his voice. “By all means, don’t let me keep you from anything.”
When he let go, I held on so tight that my muscles began to quiver. “Don’t even think about it.”
Logan chuckled darkly and wrapped his arms around me once more. The fridge door slammed and he lingered in the center of the kitchen.
I sighed hard. “Now what?”
“I have a taste for something,” he said. “I can’t decide if I want to scramble some eggs or cook up that leftover—”
“If you don’t get me back in that bedroom right now, Mr. Cross, I’m going to scream at the top of my lungs!”
“If you insist. But please, save your screams for the bedroom. All my fine crystal is tucked away in the cabinets and I wouldn’t want them to… shatter.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Immensely,” he said with a kiss to my shoulder.
“At my expense.”
Logan leaned back to look me in the eyes. “Let go of your inhibitions; not everything leads to sex. There are a thousand ways to be intimate, and I want to experience all of them with you.”
“Thousands? And how do you know that?”
He smiled, shaking his head. “I do love your fire. It makes me want to warm myself beside it.”
“I haven’t quite figured out if you’re a gentleman or a fiend.”
What kind of man pulls a woman naked into his arms and makes no advance, keeping his eyes at a respectable distance?
Logan Cross, that’s who.
It was so damn hard to stay mad at him. He drove me right to the edge of a cliff in a fast car and always made it spin around at the last minute. Being with Logan was indescribable; he knew how to push my buttons without crossing any lines. Maybe that’s why I didn’t mind the slow seduction—I was enjoying the chase too much.
“What can I cook for you?”
“You’re serious?” I moaned. “I’m not hungry. Feed me in the morning, but right now I just want to go to bed.”
He carried me down the hall and stood at the entrance to his bedroom. I uncrossed my ankles and dropped to the cold floor as he turned away. The sheets were crisp and smooth as I curled up beneath them.
