by Noelle Adams
“No, but Vivi’s ‘big hunk of deliciousness’ is headed this way. And I’d bet my military stripes he’s not interested in small talk.”
Growing tense, Allison glanced over her shoulder. Logan stormed toward her with determined strides. Her good mood vanished. “He’s the last person I want to talk to now.”
“Not talking is not an option. I know that look. I’ll catch up with you later.” Devon fled.
Allison cursed herself again for agreeing to ride with Logan. She should’ve refused his invitation in the first place.
Logan crossed the space between them. His eyes flashed with copper sparks. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“I didn’t want to be found.”
Spinning her around to face him, he gripped the arms of her bar chair. His thighs wedged her legs apart to accommodate his stance. “If you’d stuck around, I could’ve diffused the situation.”
“You’ve done enough for one night, don’t you think?”
“What does that mean?”
“I want to leave.” Since I got here.
“Fine.” He pushed away from her chair. “I’ll grab our coats.”
She hadn’t expected him to agree. “You can’t go, Logan. You’re the guest of honor.”
“As the guest of honor, I can do whatever I want.”
“Then the rumor mill will have all the ammunition it needs to crucify us.”
His gaze sharpened. “I dare them to say it to my face.”
She threw her hands up. “That’s the point of gossip. Doesn’t matter if it’s true. It’s supposed to be secretive. And destructive.”
“I can institute a policy against that. Handy thing, being the boss. And right now, I don’t care what anyone thinks.” He threw a fifty on the bar to cover her three-dollar tab.
Grabbing her hand, he led her to the coat check. She ignored the hot tingles leaping from his palm to hers. He helped her with her jacket, shouldered into his, and they waited in the lobby for the valet. When the college kid pulled the Escalade up to the restaurant, Logan made sure she was settled in, shut the passenger door and went to the driver’s side.
Thankfully, the weather had cleared. She’d be able to drive her car home from the office without a problem. Except, as they pulled onto the street, she noticed he was heading in the wrong direction.
He ran a hand through his hair. “I want to apologize for Vivi Dunn’s interrogation. You didn’t have to answer her questions.”
“Really?” Her palms turned face-up in her lap. “What choice did I have?”
He fell silent for a minute. “You grew up surrounded by world-class talent. Can you sing?”
“To myself, in the car. Or in the shower. That’s as far as my vocal talent stretches.”
“So what else don’t I know about you that I should? Did you hula-hoop with Pavarotti? Play hopscotch with the Phantom of the Opera?”
A snort of amusement escaped her. “I wish.”
“I never noticed you talk with an accent.”
“Wherever we went, I learned how to blend in. That’s why I speak so many languages. When I came to America, I adopted the news anchors’ speech I heard on the nightly reports.”
“Makes sense.” He sprayed windshield fluid and hit the wipers to scrape away grime kicked up by the car in front of them. “You’ve spent your life in a constant state of change. You’ve had to adapt like a chameleon.”
She’d never thought of it that way. “You do what you have to do, to survive.”
“I understand. More than you know.” He sent her a meaningful look, and she saw the compassion in his eyes. If Logan’s military experience was anything like her ex-husband’s, the Special Forces had sent him all over the world to meet with heads of state or hide out in hovels undercover. Always vigilant, prepared for anything. They were wanderers, both. “Were you ever onstage?” he asked.
“I had a few cameo roles, but no one took the time to teach me more than the basics.”
“Must’ve been lonely. Never staying in one place long enough to make friends. Never hanging with kids your age, playing kick ball or freeze tag.”
A pang of regret echoed in her chest. “You do grow up fast. When I was young, it was dazzling. Bright lights. Roaring applause. Egos bigger than the European Union. I can see why my parents craved the glitz and fame.” Her forehead pinched. “I begged my parents to send me to boarding school. But applying to an academy required money, entrance exams, paperwork. Things they couldn’t be bothered with.” Old disappointment surfaced. She stared out the passenger window, watching streetlights reflect off damp trails streaming down the glass.
“Listen,” he said finally, “I should’ve cut off Vivi when I had the chance. Won’t happen again.”
“You’re right. In six weeks I’ll never see those people again. Even if I did, I can fend for myself. You’re not my keeper.”
“Still—”
“Chalk it up to a bad night.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be that way.”
“What did you expect, Logan?” she shot back.
“Not what happened. I didn’t think things would go downhill like that.”
With an acidic tone, she replied, “Then we’re even. I didn’t expect your coworkers’ wives to share the juicy tales about your past love life. Awkward doesn’t begin to describe it.”
Logan took his eyes off the road to shoot her a glance. “They wouldn’t dare.”
“Those people couldn’t wait to show me how insignificant I am. Just another one of your conquests. Here today, gone tomorrow.”
His grip flexed on his steering wheel. “What the hell do they know about us?”
“Logan, there is no us.”
He went quiet. He took his foot off the gas as they eased up to a red light. “Now I get the rumors.”
She said nothing.
“I want to think of us as…‘us.’”
“Trust me, you really don’t.”
He let out an exasperated breath. “Haven’t you thought once about that night? Am I the only one who sees where this can go?”
She stared at her lap. “What if I have? It doesn’t change my situation. I’m not at a point in my life where I can have a relationship.”
“So you keep saying,” he said angrily.
“Then why are we discussing it?”
Logan punched the gas when the light turned green. Because I can’t let it go.
As he pulled off the main roads onto Allison’s street, he braced for an argument. He wasn’t disappointed.
She swiveled to him. “You’re supposed to drop me off at my car. At work.”
“I saw some issues with your security system. Thought I’d fix them.”
Her face went white. “It wasn’t installed correctly?”
“It’s fine. It works. But I can make it better.” I can make a lot of things better.
Concern creased between her eyebrows. “I thought I ordered the top of the line.”
“To an extent. There are software updates I can access and download to enhance what you have.”
Her hands curled around her purse. “How long will it take?”
“Not long. Believe me, you’ll feel a lot safer when I’m finished.”
After a few tense moments she murmured, “All right.”
At least that got him into her apartment. After that the options were endless. He’d take her on her bed, the couch, the floor if they didn’t make it that far. It seemed like forever since he’d touched her skin. She’d become an addiction, and nothing except having her naked in his arms would satisfy this need.
He managed to calm his raging hard-on long enough to park, grab his laptop from the backseat, and follow her upstairs.
As she unlocked her three deadbolts, he experienced a swell of protectiveness. It bothered him that she needed this level of security to make her feel safe.
“What do you plan to do?” she asked, tapping in the code to silence the alarms.
; Something totally inappropriate. While she hung up her coat, his gaze traveled her hourglass contours. Damn. “I need to set up my laptop and download the software updates.” He explained the procedures as he went through the motions. He’d rather be doing a different motion, like gliding his hips between her thighs.
He wiped his forehead. He logged into his office account using his personal password. Nothing happened. “Does the building have wi-fi?”
She rolled her eyes. “They don’t guarantee anything beyond heat and plumbing. Sometimes that’s too much to ask.”
“Not helpful.” He really needed to get in touch with his Realtor tomorrow. He didn’t like her living in this hole. He tried accessing a wireless network via several accounts until one let him through. “Looks like ‘babydaddy9’ saved the day.”
“How nice of him,” she said dryly.
The USB port on his computer allowed him to save the data to a thumb-drive and insert it into a portal on her home system. But it only accepted a partial upgrade. He considered his options. “I might have to do some of this the old-fashioned way.”
“Meaning?”
“Hardwiring.” He removed the panels from her systems, saw the tangle of yellow, red and blue circuits. “We need to cut the electricity.”
She edged back. “Why?”
“Certain wires transmit to our company routers for remote accessibility. I need to re-rig your system.”
She frowned. “Sounds complicated.”
“Nah. Just a few tricks I learned from the bomb squad.”
“Seriously?”
He chuckled. “Defusing bombs wasn’t my gig, but I’ve hacked into telephone wires and broken into armored cars with less. This is cake.”
“If you say so.”
He sensed her nervous tension as she led him to the fuse box in her hall closet. She pushed aside two coats then rearranged a stack of sealed moving boxes to clear the way. It struck him that she was all packed and ready to go. She could leave town tomorrow. He didn’t like it.
“You’ve been here six weeks and haven’t unpacked?”
She brushed off his remark. “Non-essentials. No need.”
He thought about her sparse furnishings, her bare walls, the lack of anything personal in this space. “Why not?”
Pink arcs crested her cheeks. She didn’t meet his eyes. “You never know when you’ll have to pick up and leave at a moment’s notice.”
“No, I don’t know. Why do I get the impression you’re used to living out of a suitcase?”
“I travel for work,” she said irritably. “Wherever the job is, I go.”
“How can you do that? Just drift from place to place without anyone knowing where you are or where you’re going?”
“Practice.”
Her sharp reply left him wondering what was really going on. “Don’t tell me you do this by choice.”
“You do what you have to do.”
He didn’t believe her. No one lived like this, without friends or family or home, for no good reason.
“I can change that.” The words slipped out before he’d considered them, but he didn’t plan to take them back.
“No, you can’t.”
“I’ll extend your contract. You’ve more than doubled our client reach. It’s a no-brainer.”
“Not interested. Thanks anyway.”
His internal alarm system told him something was wrong. He wanted to know why she moved around so much, what kept her so isolated, why she refused to let him get close. “Allison, what are you so afraid of?”
Once he asked the question, an answer came to him. It wasn’t something. It was someone. God, it made so much sense. It’d been staring him in the face this whole time. The shadows behind her eyes she thought he didn’t see. Her secretiveness. The way she walked around with her guard up twenty-four-seven. It all added up to one thing. She was on the run from a threat that had terrorized her so badly she didn’t know how to trust, how to be vulnerable, or admit she needed help.
Unfortunately, wanting to protect her, and her allowing him to, were in direct opposition. He’d faced worse. A nameless threat wouldn’t stop him from helping her, going to the ends of the earth to keep her safe, keep her in his life. Probably an irrational response toward a girl he hardly knew, but there it was. Might’ve had something to do with his long-held admiration for her intelligence, the polished professionalism she’d exhibited over the years they’d crossed paths at security-based functions. The hint of a free spirit hiding beneath her classy formality, that he’d finally seen her release with him in the bed of a hotel room. She’d always intrigued him, caught his attention in a crowded room, made his blood sizzle with desire.
She embodied for him that something different he’d been searching for a long time. This wasn’t the kind of thing a guy experienced and moved on—this was the real deal.
Now that they’d spent time together and he’d confirmed his desire ran deeper than surface attraction, he wouldn’t abandon her or ignore her, the way everyone else had in her life. Maybe she just needed someone on her side, someone she turned to when she faced the darkness alone. He wanted to be that man. And if Rick thought she was another Natalia, he was dead wrong. Logan knew it this time.
Allison’s forced laugh pierced his troubled thoughts. “I’m not afraid of anything. You’re too paranoid. Which I guess is a good thing considering your line of work.” She pointed to the electrical panel. “You wanted to cut the power, right?”
He nodded. He braced one hand against the upper shelf as he reached for the fuse box.
Their bodies pressed close in the small closet. He notched the fuses to the left. The lights went out. Darkness enveloped them. He inhaled the scent of her hair, her skin. Base urges surged inside him.
As he drew back, he couldn’t resist letting his fingertips glide against the indentation of her waist. She pulled in a quick breath.
Before he could help it, he grazed his knuckles up the center of her back, sifting his fingers through her hair. He traced the baby-fine silk at the top of her neck. His erection pulsed.
“Logan.” She choked on his name, as she escaped his embrace. He let her go. For now.
“This won’t take long.” He found his small LED flashlight in his laptop bag. He switched it on and stuck it between his teeth. The stream of blue light allowed him to work in the dark. As he finished connecting the white and yellow wires, he glanced at Allison from the corner of his eye. The glow of his flashlight barely illuminated her. She hunched over the calendar in her day planner. Her eyes skimmed quickly as she flipped pages, her face shockingly pale. He closed the panel then took the flashlight in his hand, spotlighting her. “Counting down the days until your next road trip?”
She slammed the planner shut. “N-no, nothing like that.”
Yeah, right. “Your upgrades are in progress.”
“Really, that’s all it took?”
“I told you it would be painless.” He sealed both panels, tapped another code into his laptop, and his downloads zipped through to completion.
“As a bonus of the upgrades, you’ll be linked to my private Stone Security server that’ll send you upgrades automatically from now on.”
“That’s very generous. I didn’t expect that.” Her face softened with a gorgeous look of trust that took his breath away. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“I can think of one way.” In the next second pulled her into his arms. Their bodies sealed together. She offered no protest as his arms tightened around her waist. He murmured low, “I want to give you what you need. What we both need.”
Her back straightened against the wall. “I know…” She didn’t stop him as his mouth fastened on the side of her neck.
In the dark, touch became more powerful. Sensation overtook reason. Heat and need pulsed through him. He drew on her skin, sucking in the taste of her, memorizing her texture. He dragged his lips up her throat, whispered in her ear. “Let me touch you.” His tongue traced the
curve of her ear, dipped into the delicate canal. She shivered. “I can make you forget about everything.”
“That’s the problem,” she murmured. Her body refuted her statement by pressing harder against him.
An invitation he gladly took. “Just you and me.” He glided his palms up her bare arms. “Right here, right now.”
When she exhaled, he inhaled. Nothing existed outside this moment. She consumed him.
He scattered kisses over her face, the corners of her mouth, her chin as her head tipped back. “I want to make you feel beautiful.” Make you need me. “Make you sigh and then make you scream.” Can’t get enough. “Remind you how good it was the first time.” How it can be even better.
“I remember.” Her lashes fluttered closed. Lingering resistance drained from her, and she went slack in his embrace. He guided her arms up around his neck. Her nails scraped through his hair. His whole body throbbed.
“Damn, what you do to me.” He pressed his barely contained erection against her hip.
“It’s mutual.”
He captured her lips and didn’t hold back. He poured scorching need into his kiss. His tongue dove deep, curled around hers, conquering her mouth with every sweep.
If he had more control, he’d spend hours kissing her. He wasn’t that man tonight. Not with bright-hot desire coursing through his veins.
His hands roamed over her curves. When he cupped her breasts, her nipples tightened and she arched into his greedy palms. He kissed a path down to her cleavage, shoved her neckline aside along with the lacy edges of her bra. He plucked her nipples with his tongue, tugged them with his teeth. Her soft moans set him on fire. He wanted to tear away the fabric that kept him from tasting every glorious naked inch of her. His hands moved lower, fingers splaying over her backside, pinning her against his rock-hard length.
When he closed his fists, her dress bunched between his fingers. He inched it higher, gliding his hand down until his fingertips met skin. He groaned into her cleavage. Then he slid his touch up her thigh, lifting the hem of her dress. He traced the satiny line of her panties to the juncture of her thighs. He found her damp with proof of desire. He edged the cloth aside, gliding his fingers along her smooth slit, moving in a slow sensual rhythm.
