by Linda Wisdom
“Madam, would you care to dance?”
“I would love to.” She matched his melodramatic tone.
As the music shifted to a sultry song made popular by the Righteous Brothers, Lucy moved into Logan’s arms.
“Let’s see. I told you how gorgeous you are. How about that you smell as great as you look?” he murmured in her ear.
“Thank you,” she said demurely.
“So tell me something, gorgeous, how soon can we get out of here so I can relive other episodes from my teenage years?” His breath was warm against her cheek.
“Are we talking baseball analogies again?”
“Mmm, maybe, although we haven’t finished the first inning yet. I don’t even think we’ve reached third base,” he murmured in her ear.
Lucy arched an eyebrow. “My mother warned me about guys like you.”
“That’s okay. My dad warned me I’d come up against a girl who’d give me a run for my money. That’s something you’ve done since day one.”
Lucy could have said the feeling was mutual, but she was speechless as she looked up at his face. She saw an intensity in his expression that literally took her breath away. She knew she was in trouble.
The idea didn’t bother her one bit.
Chapter Ten
Lucy decided that trouble was Logan’s first and last name. Not that she would tell Logan that. The man already knew what he was. She looped her arms around his neck as they moved around the dance floor in a lazy circle.
“I have a thought.” Logan locked his hands at the base of her spine.
Lucy looked cautious. “Why do I feel that might be a dangerous statement?”
He flashed her a give-me-a-minute look. “There’s this hotel up in the hills near La Jolla that believes in pampering their guests.”
She knew exactly where he was going with his thought. The question was, would she agree to it. It wasn’t as if she had to get home by a certain hour. Nick and Domino were spending the night at the Walkers’. Luther had plenty of water and kibble.
“Pampering, huh?” She refused to make it easy for him. “Something tells me you and I might have different takes on the word. You might consider it pampering if they wax your surfboard for you, while I might want something a little more indulgent. Even if it’s something as little as room service.”
“They have twenty-four-hour room service,” he said slowly. His gaze was watchful. Even hopeful. “Including spa services. They’ll come to your room to give massages and facials.”
Lucy could feel the tension tightening his muscles as he waited for her answer. She was tempted to make him sweat. Did he honestly think she would automatically jump at the chance to spend the night with him? Who was she kidding? She wanted to say yes and be alone with Logan.
That still didn’t mean she would make it easy for him.
“The absolute first thing I need in the morning is coffee. Trust me, I’m not a pretty sight when I haven’t had my caffeine fix.”
She swore at that moment the world around them was much brighter because of his smile; it widened with every word she spoke.
“Maybe you haven’t tried the right wake-up methods,” he said modestly.
“Why do I feel as if you had this all planned?” She couldn’t believe they were having this conversation in the middle of the dance floor.
“There was no advance planning. Well, maybe it was there in the back of my mind,” he conceded. “But it wasn’t complete until I looked into your beautiful eyes. That’s when I knew I didn’t want this evening to end.”
“I don’t want it to end either,” she whispered.
“Hey, kids, the music’s stopped and the band announced a break, so I don’t think you want to stand out here.” Brian tapped Logan on the shoulder. Gail stood in the circle of one arm. “Logan, I just saw Carly.”
“Carly?” Lucy’s interest was piqued. Even more so when she saw the expression on Logan’s face. She silently vowed to find out more about the unknown woman.
The two couples walked back to their table.
“They dated during our junior and most of our senior year,” Brian said. “Then Carly dumped Logan for a college sophomore with a cooler car and his own apartment.”
“Thanks for the update, Brian,” Logan growled. “I only hope I can do the same for you.”
Lucy fixed Logan with a cool gaze. “Really? And here you practically inferred you lived like a surfer monk all through high school.”
Abby walked up to them with Jeff in tow. “Logan, I just ran into Carly in the ladies’ room. She said she hopes she’ll get a chance to say hi.”
Logan looked past Abby’s shoulder to see a pained expression on Jeff’s face. The man was trying to communicate something to him, but Logan couldn’t figure it out.
He knew he should be dancing Lucy right out of the room and to his car.
“Logan!”
He turned to face his first love.
The Carly Edwards who Logan remembered had been tall and athletic with the fresh-faced look of the typical girl next door. She had been one of the stars on the girl’s track team.
That wasn’t the Carly that faced him now.
Time faded Carly’s freckles and her bright-red curly hair had softened to auburn with the tight curls in submission. The girl had grown into a drop-dead gorgeous woman.
“Hi, Carly, it’s been a while.” He smiled.
In high school he’d only had to look at her to experience that free-falling sensation in the pit of his stomach. His life had been driven by hormones back then and Carly had been a big part of it.
Now when he looked at her he felt nothing other than mild admiration for the woman. Then he looked down at Lucy who stood quietly by his side. That free-falling sensation hit him hard.
“Give me a hug!” Carly enveloped him in an embrace that he belatedly remembered to return. “You look great. Abby said you now own Dr. Mercer’s clinic. You always did enjoy taking care of animals, so I’m not surprised you became a veterinarian.”
“That’s me,” he agreed. “Lucy, this is Carly Edwards. Carly, Lucy Donner.” He watched the two women smile and say all the right things.
He looked at Lucy and Carly and saw no comparison between the two. Carly might look as if she’d just stepped out of Vogue, but it was Lucy who captured his heart.
The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The world around him receded until only Lucy appeared in clear relief.
Oh, man, he was well and truly sunk.
“I’ll be in town for a couple of weeks. I hope we can have a chance to catch up,” Carly said with an expectant smile.
“The clinic number is listed,” he said, reining in his impatience. He suddenly wanted to be alone with Lucy. “Sorry if we seem rushed, but we were just on our way out. It’s good to see you again.” He grabbed hold of Lucy’s hand and headed for the entrance.
“Real subtle, Kincaid,” Brian muttered as they passed the two couples.
Lucy barely had a chance to snatch up her shawl and purse as they passed the table.
“What is with the caveman routine?” she demanded, as she tried to keep up with his ground-eating stride.
“Call it a light bulb going off inside my head.” He paused when they left the room then headed down the hallway that led to the lobby.
“Logan!” Lucy tugged on her imprisoned hand to no avail. “We can’t just leave like this.”
“Sure we can.”
She sighed when she saw the determined expression on his face. She’d seen that look on his face before. When he wore it there was no budging him. Or, in this case, stopping him.
“For one thing, it’s rude,” she gasped. “Can you imagine what they’re thinking back there after you just dragged me out like some Neanderthal?”
She uttered a protest as he suddenly veered right and walked down a darkened hallway. Before she could ask him his intentions, he had her backed against a wall, his hands braced on either side of her shoulders
.
“They’re probably thinking this,” he murmured, lowering his head.
Lucy barely had a chance to take a breath before Logan’s mouth captured hers in a kiss that was so blistering she felt scorched all the way down to her toes.
The only part of his body that touched her was his mouth. It was more than enough to send her pulse rate rocketing.
She moaned under the primitive onslaught that sent her spinning. The hard feel of his mouth against hers had her reeling as if she had been thrown into a swirling vortex of pure sensation. Every nerve ending was singing.
His tongue thrust into her mouth, mimicking what he planned to do to her once they were truly alone. She arched up, silently asking for more.
Her soft moans encouraged him more. His body, now pressed against hers, imprinted his arousal against her in a brand she doubted would ever fade.
She lifted her arms to slide them around his neck. She suddenly wanted all their clothing gone. A primal part of her being hungered to rip them off until there was nothing left between them.
Her tongue curled around his then returned the gesture by sweeping through his mouth. She could taste the Scotch he’d drunk earlier. But what spurred her was the pure taste of him.
Lucy rarely gave in to temptation like this. She liked to think things over. Make sure she was making the right choice. Yet here she was, standing in a dark hallway making out like a hormone-driven teenager.
“Hey, Kincaid, haven’t you heard about self-control?”
Even with the familiar voice intruding on their private moment, both Lucy and Logan found it difficult to step apart. They turned as one to find Jeff standing at the end of the hallway. With his stern expression and arms crossed in front of him, he could have been a school official.
“A good thing ol’ Miss Curtis didn’t come this way. She’d have a heart attack if she’d caught the two of you.” The wicked sparkle in his eyes betrayed just how much he was enjoying this.
Logan’s reply was decidedly profane.
“Sorry, bub, but you’re not my type,” Jeff said a little too cheerfully. “My advice for you two is to get a room.”
Logan threaded his fingers through Lucy’s. He was relieved she didn’t retreat from him. “What a good idea!” he said, starting to move toward Jeff.
As they walked past him, Lucy said, “I can’t wait until the girls are old enough to date, Jeff. Then you’ll have something new to worry about every time they go out.” She blew him a saucy kiss.
“That was good,” Logan complimented her as they walked swiftly through the lobby.
“Believe me, it’ll be even better once he realizes exactly what it means,” Lucy said with relish. She threw her head back and laughed.
Logan grinned as he listened to the pure, unrestrained sound of joy.
“I have never done anything like this before,” she confessed as they ran out of the building. “When we left the ballroom, they could only guess, but now that Jeff saw us, well…” Heat stole across her cheeks.
The parking valet politely ignored their disheveled appearances as he loped off to retrieve Logan’s car.
As the chilly night air hit her, Lucy wrapped her shawl tightly around her. Logan noticed her shivering and shrugged off his jacket, draping it around her. As he drew the edges together, he pulled her toward him for a brief kiss.
“If they’re thinking that, then they have dirty minds,” he whispered against her lips.
She laughed softly. “You know very well that is exactly what they’re thinking.”
Once they were in the car, Logan turned on the heater and adjusted the vents so the warm air was directed at Lucy.
“My reason for getting us out of there so fast wasn’t because I saw an old girlfriend,” he explained. “This was our evening and I wanted it to be just for us.”
“She’s very beautiful.” There was no envy or jealousy in her tone, just a calm statement of fact.
“Yes, she is,” he said honestly. “But she doesn’t have what you have.”
“You?” She couldn’t resist teasing.
He didn’t smile at her joke. “What she doesn’t have is that special inner self that I see every time I’m with you.” He took an extra moment at the stop sign to lean over and kiss her. Their lips clung. “But you’re right. She also doesn’t have me,” he murmured against her mouth.
A blaring horn from behind tore them apart.
Logan swore under his breath as he started up. “With our luck, that’s either Jeff or Brian.”
“I do not care how much they beg, they cannot join us at the hotel,” Lucy said firmly. “They will just have to find their own.”
He was surprised by her words, especially after what had happened so far. He wasn’t used to feeling like a teenager caught necking with his date.
“Do you still want to go?”
She held out her hand, her fingers wiggling in a “gimme” gesture. “Your cell phone, please.”
“It’s in the inside pocket.” He nodded toward his jacket she still wore.
She did a quick search and pulled out his cell phone.
“Cute.” She held it up, showing the picture of the phone-carrying Magnum as a background on the display. She quickly punched in a series of numbers and waited. She didn’t look away from Logan. “Cathy, hi, it’s Lucy. Listen, I called to say that I don’t think I’ll make it over there in time for brunch in the morning. I hope you won’t mind if I don’t show up until later in the day.” Her lips twitched as she listened to the older woman. “Yes, I’m sure I will. Good night.” She disconnected and handed the phone to Logan. “She said you better remember to feed me breakfast. Now, shouldn’t you call Magnum and tell him you’ll be very late getting home?”
“Jeremy’s spending the night. Not because I thought ahead,” he added quickly. “We had some patients who need to be under observation.”
He leaned across the console and opened one side of the jacket, carefully sliding the phone back into the pocket. “There’s just one thing. I might think like a hormone-crazy teenager, but I’m not prepared like one.”
She understood his meaning. She appreciated his honesty and that he didn’t have a box of condoms stashed away in the car’s glove compartment.
“I’m on the patch,” she told him. “And I’m much too embarrassed to admit how long it’s been since I’ve been with anyone.”
“Same here.” He looked at her expectantly.
“Then I say we don’t need to worry about a thing. You know, I really like this jacket.” Lucy stroked the lapel. “I might not want to give it back.”
“Wear the jacket and nothing else and it’s yours.”
She smiled at his suggestion. “My, my, how tempting.”
Lucy felt very wicked.
She was the woman who always put the top back on the toothpaste tube. Who never tore off one of those “Do not remove by penalty of law” tags found on pillows and mattresses. Who once drove ten miles out of her way to return a dollar she was overpaid. Who studied all the consumer reports before making a major purchase.
No man was ever invited to spend the night under her roof. Few of them met Nick because Lucy didn’t want him to think the man might become his stepfather. Truthfully, she didn’t think most of them could have understood her son with his never-ending imagination and penchant for trouble. She had also convinced herself that a second marriage wasn’t for her. The last thing she wanted was to endure the emotional pain she’d gone through with her first marriage. Yet there was no doubt what she was planning to do with a man she’d once declared the last man on earth she would ever date.
There had been a time when Lucy flirted with the idea of becoming a wild and wicked woman. In the end, she settled for blond highlights in her hair and a toe ring.
Now she was traveling through the night to an unknown destination with the express intention of making love with this man.
Not only that, but she would leave a hotel in the morning wearing th
e same clothing she wore when she arrived.
“You look like the cat just after he ate the canary,” Logan said, glancing at her face reflected in the light from the passing streetlights.
She wrinkled her nose. She found she couldn’t stop smiling. “I feel very wicked.”
“Are we talking good wicked or bad wicked?”
“Definitely good wicked,” she said without hesitation. “And all I have to say is this hotel better know their pampering.”
“How about warm cookies and milk available all night? Does that count?”
“That’s a good beginning.”
Lucy had more questions for him about the hotel, but he refused to answer them. He told her to use her imagination. She didn’t dare tell him if he knew what was running through her mind, he’d run for the hills. Then again, he might not.
Lucy straightened up when Logan exited the freeway and drove up into the hills. The car soon passed through large iron gates with a discreet bronze plaque set in the side wall announcing Mañana.
“Tomorrow.” She translated the word.
“Sort of along the lines of escape the real world today, it will still be there tomorrow,” Logan said.
“The real world staying out here is just right.”
Even with old-fashioned street lamps stationed along the drive, Lucy couldn’t see much of the long, rambling hotel. She could see that it was an adobe-style building that appeared to be a perfect fit in its remote setting.
The reality of what was going to happen set in.
“If you’d rather, we can head back.”
She realized she must have radiated the uncertainty that crossed her mind.
“You would honestly do that if I’d told you I changed my mind?”
“Of course.”
Lucy saw that Logan meant what he said. He was allowing her to lead.
“Or we can even get separate rooms,” he said.
“Wicked women check into a hotel without even a toothbrush and they don’t ask for separate rooms,” she said.
Logan got out of the car and walked around to the passenger door. The late-night breeze took her by surprise. She was glad for the extra protection Logan’s jacket gave her as they headed for the large glass double doors.
