Behind her, a deep, throaty laugh rumbled. “That will make me stop in my tracks.”
Before she could come up with a retort, his hands were between her legs, smoothing up and down the inside of her thighs. Tracing her. Learning her. They brushed high, but not high enough. The throbbing intensified.
She shut her eyes and silently begged for him to take the next step. The buildup would bury her if she didn’t get what she needed soon. But Logan was stringing things out, relishing his power over her. The sound of a zipper being drawn down ratcheted up her heartbeat. Something soft hit the floor. Yes, yes, yes.
His palm came down onto her ass with a sharp crack. “Oh!” The cry flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. After all that waiting, she hadn’t been sure what to expect.
A gentle touch followed, his hand rubbing the stinging spot in circles. Soothing. Preparing. Warmth radiated through her, the sharp pain fading quickly. Another swat followed on the other cheek, and her body jolted.
“You’re pink already,” he said, his voice strained. “So pretty and pink.”
Another hand came down. Addison’s whole body hummed in response, delicious heat flaring in her like a struck match. Smack, smack, smack! Her sex ached for him; it clenched with each hit. His hands smoothed over her, helping to spread the tingling throughout her body.
“I can’t wait anymore.” His hands left her and a moment later she heard foil tearing.
Then he spun her around, picked her up and planted her on the back of the couch. When he finally pushed inside her it was sweet relief. She arched, tilting her hips to let him go as deep as possible. Pain flared as his fingers bit into her tender backside, holding her firm while he thrust into her.
“So tight.” He pressed his face against her hair. “So soft.”
Addison wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, clinging to him like she was falling and he was the hand that could save her. In that moment he was the only thing tethering her to earth. The only thing she cared for.
“You make me crazy,” he muttered as he brought his lips to hers. Peppering kisses all over her.
“You are crazy,” she panted.
Her head lolled back, but he fisted his hand in her hair and yanked her face up, crushing his lips down to hers. His tongue drove its way into her mouth and she moaned into him. Every one of her senses was overloaded—from the warmth on her skin to the sound of his labored breath as he thrust into her. The scent of sweat and something uniquely him. The taste of scotch on his lips. She wanted to absorb it all.
“Only when I’m with you.” He palmed her breast through her bra, rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger until she writhed in pleasure. “Always when I’m with you.”
The words pushed her closer to the edge. In his arms she felt as though she mattered, as though they were equals. Her whole body clenched as he increased the pace, practically lifting her off the couch while he slammed into her.
“I’m so close.” She ground the words out. “Please, Logan. Please.”
Their bodies were mashed together, tight and hot. Slick with perspiration. He angled her back to increase the friction and a moment later she exploded with sweet release. Her muscles clamped down on him and he followed her over the edge, saying her name over and over like a prayer.
* * *
SOMETIME LATER, AFTER they’d showered and gotten lost in each other again, they sat on Logan’s balcony. Addison had raided his freezer and found an unopened pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, which she’d claimed. She dug her spoon into the chunky dessert and popped some into her mouth.
“You never struck me as an ice cream guy,” she said, licking the spoon clean. “Especially not chocolate cherry flavored.”
“It’s yours, remember?” He interlaced his fingers behind his head and stretched back. “We were working on a board presentation a few months ago. You said my cupboards made you sad.”
“And you never opened it? Geez, ice cream doesn’t last longer than a day or two in my freezer.” She chuckled. “I guess some girls want to leave a toothbrush and I just want something sweet.”
“You’ve always had a thing for sweets. Remember that time we went to Magnolia Bakery? You begged me to go because you’d heard the older girls at school talking about when they’d seen it on Sex and the City.”
“And Dad wouldn’t let me watch it. I was so mad at him.” She sucked on her spoon. “But then you took me there and bought every little cake that I pointed at.”
The memory made her smile. Gruff twentysomething Logan in his combat boots, shoulder-length hair and all-black outfit and a sheltered, seventeen-year-old Addison who still hadn’t grown out of her pink phase. What a strange pair they’d made. Eventually she’d grown up and he’d mellowed out until they found a middle ground. But he’d looked out for her from the beginning, even if it was only to smooth over her teenage drama with her dad.
“I’ve never seen such a small person devour so much cake in all my life. I think I blew half my paycheck on that trip.”
“Worth it. That was some damn tasty cake.”
Addison closed her eyes and let the cool breeze brush over her skin. The warm weather was gathering steam and soon the city would turn into an oppressive, sticky mess like it did every summer. They probably only had another week or two before it hit.
“We should get to bed,” Logan said, looking down at his watch. “I want to get an early start tomorrow so we can knock off after lunch and check out your apartment.”
“Can’t I just sit here and pretend everything is normal?” Her eyes scanned the glittering skyline.
Sometimes Addison would sit on her own balcony and wonder about all the people scurrying through the city, small as ants, while she sat and watched from above. Who were they? What were they doing? Where were they going? It made her feel small, but in a good way. Like her issues were only a speck of dust.
“Everything will be normal, once we figure out who this guy is. But until then, we can’t ignore reality.” He stood and held a hand out to her. “Come on, I’ll even let you pick which side of the bed you want.”
“Is that your way of asking me to stay with you tonight?” She slipped her hand into his, relishing his strength as he hoisted her to her feet.
“I’m not asking, Addi. I’m telling. Remember our deal?” He motioned for her to walk ahead of him. “Now get that precious ass inside before I get the idea to spank you again.”
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING Logan woke early. He wasn’t used to sharing his bed, nor to being woken up in the middle of the night by wandering hands and muffled sleep-talking. But stroking Addison’s hair until she’d calmed enough to fall into a deeper slumber had dislodged something in his chest. Almost as if a piece of the wall around his heart had broken away.
And what good will that piece do floating around in your chest? It’ll carve you up.
He’d dressed quietly, taking only a moment to watch the goddess in his bed. Her blond hair had spilled over his navy sheets, and a pale hand hung over the edge of the mattress while she slept facedown on his pillow. She had taken up the whole bed, her limbs stretched out like a starfish.
They’d both grown up as only children, so sharing wasn’t something that came naturally to either of them. But he liked that about her. She wasn’t afraid to make her presence known; she didn’t shrink into a corner or stand at the edge of a crowd.
Addison was nobody’s wallflower.
Unable to bring himself to wake her, he slipped out. The fresh air would do him good before he started his workday, and he didn’t know if Addi needed a coffee first thing. She’d made one at the cottage. Better, in his mind, to burn a few dollars on a drink she may not want than potentially face the wrath of an uncaffeinated woman.
He walked back from his
favorite coffee spot with a latte for her and an Americano for him. The city was starting to wake. People filtered out of their homes onto the tree-lined street, dressed in suits and all manner of fashionable things. Despite growing up in such a cosmopolitan city, Logan had little time for fashion...unless it was related to Addison’s lacy underthings.
A wave of lust washed over him. Last night he’d let himself go in a way that was truly foreign. He’d been unable to hold back. Unable to rein in his passion and desire. The fact that she’d trusted him enough to hand him the keys to the kingdom unsettled him to his core. He didn’t deserve it.
But now he’d tasted the forbidden fruit and he was hungry for more.
A woman exiting his building held the door for him and he nodded to her with a quick smile. He’d lived in this building for four years and he didn’t have a relationship with a single one of his neighbors. He knew plenty about them, as any good security guy would from general observation. But that was how he lived his life—with a divide between him and the people around him.
He juggled the two coffees in one hand while he unlocked the door, almost walking smack into Addison. “Leaving without me?”
“Oh, I thought you’d already left.” She shook her head, her hand fluttering up to the pearls sitting along the neckline of her sleek emerald-green dress.
He swallowed past the lump that sat like a boulder in his throat. Of course she’d assumed he would walk out without saying goodbye. “Here, I got you a coffee.”
“Thanks.” They stood awkwardly in the middle of his apartment, neither one ready to make the first move.
In the light of day, they were unsure where things stood. Did she want to continue with the bet? Or had she changed her mind now that the lust-frenzied moment was over? Should he mention it or let it go?
Grow some balls, will you? It’s like you’ve never spoken to a woman before.
He cleared his throat. “You look very nice.”
To his surprise, a hearty chuckle bubbled out of her. “Logan.” She pressed a hand to his chest. “We don’t have to pretend that we’re dating. So cut the crap with the niceties, okay?”
“Fine. Is our bet still on?” He sipped his drink, silently giving himself a point for the faint blush that fanned out over her cheeks.
“I don’t renege on a bet, no matter how unscrupulous my competitor.”
“Then take off your panties.”
She sucked on the inside of her cheek for a moment before placing her coffee and purse down on the table and reaching under her dress. Her hips wriggled as she dragged a scrap of lace down her thighs. He wasn’t even sure a piece of material so small counted as underwear.
“Where do you want them?” She held them up with one finger, her direct expression daring him to balk.
“I don’t care where you leave them, so long as they don’t come to the office with you. I want to spend all day knowing there’s nothing but a breeze under that pretty dress of yours.”
“Your wish is my command.” She dropped the thong onto the floor right where she stood. “Shall we go?”
She picked up her coffee and purse, shooting him a smug expression as she walked past him to the front door. “That bulge might be a bit of a problem in the office.”
He didn’t give her the satisfaction of looking down to what he already could feel was a rock-hard erection. “My bulge, my problem.”
“Whatever you say, Master.”
They walked to work in relative silence, but they didn’t bother to enter the building separately. It wasn’t unusual for them to arrive around the same time, so none of the staff members looked at them strangely. But Logan felt a prickle of unease under his skin. His life had been upended by Addison and her games.
And he was adding gas to the fire by bringing the teasing out into broad daylight.
“Good morning, Logan.” His assistant, Emily, smiled up at him as he walked past.
Logan nodded briskly. The games could wait. He would not let his employees see that anything was going on between him and Addison.
“Rhys was here a moment ago looking for you. He said it had something to do with what you talked about yesterday,” she said, cocking her eyebrow. “Very cryptic. Your calendar is clear until nine thirty if you want to catch him before your one-on-one with Owen. Rhys said he would be at the café downstairs.”
Logan didn’t even bother to check his emails before he turned tail and headed back the way he’d come. If there was an update on Addison’s stalker, he wanted to know about it immediately.
As Emily had said, he found Rhys in the back corner table in the Brunswick Café, a regular haunt for Cobalt & Dane’s employees.
“I hear you wanted to see me,” Logan said, taking the seat across from Rhys. “I’m hoping you’ve got news.”
“I do.” Rhys sipped on a tall black coffee. “It might not be exactly what you want to hear, but we have some progress.”
“Talk me through it.” Logan leaned back in his chair. “In English, if possible.”
Rhys smiled. “All right, boss, I’ll dumb it down for you.”
Logan grunted. “Watch it.”
“So, after our chat yesterday we created a fake profile and email account for Addison and loaded it onto the dummy device. Then we enabled the virus by opening the attachment in the email. I had Quinn monitor the activity overnight, and yes—” he held up a hand “—before you ask, I told Quinn to not to talk about it. Despite the fact that I completely disagree with you keeping Addison in the dark.”
“I appreciate that.”
Rhys shook his head, but didn’t argue. “The bad news is that our stalker figured out pretty quickly that it was a dummy account. We didn’t have time to create fake content and files to keep him hunting around.”
“Okay, so what did you find out?”
“Well, he’s smart enough to use a proxy server to hide his location. So he might not be a tech genius, but he knows enough to cover his tracks, to some extent. However, we may have found something in the Trojan itself.”
“Inside the virus?”
“Well, in the code. Quinn decompiled it so she could see if there was anything hidden inside that might point to the identity of either the hacker or, at the very least, to the person who wrote the code. Often these people will hide messages or signatures, kind of like how an artist might sign a painting.”
“They’re not artists,” Logan said, his lip curling at thought of this guy plotting to harm Addison behind the safety of his computer screen.
“Well, they kind of are. Not all of this kind of code is bad. Sometimes it’s used for penetration testing. We use a similar code to—”
Logan held up a hand. “Can we focus on the important stuff?”
“Right.” Rhys nodded. “We found the name DaZetta1 in the code. I have no idea if this is our guy or just the person who made the Trojan, but it’s something. I’ve got Quinn going through a few popular hacking forums to see if we can figure out who DaZetta1 is. As soon as I have more information, I’ll let you know.”
“Well done. I appreciate your work on this.”
“Does this mean I’m back in the good books?” he asked drily.
A smile tugged at Logan’s lips. Rhys had gotten himself in hot water a few months ago by sleeping with the employee of one of their clients. In some companies, it would have gotten him fired. But Logan knew loyalty when he saw it, and Rhys had the heart of a lion. Still, all Logan’s employees were aware that if they crossed a line they’d be made to pay their penance.
And how are you paying your penance? What the hell would Daniel say if he knew what you’d done with Addison?
He swallowed his worries and pushed up from his chair. “Help me catch this fucker and then we’ll talk.”
10
AD
DISON STOOD INSIDE the elevator, tapping her Louboutin heels impatiently while she watched the floor numbers count down. Her phone had rung twice during her last meeting and she knew it was the real estate agent calling about the office space.
With everything that’d happened last night, she’d forgotten to call the guy back. However, succumbing to a night of passion with Logan didn’t mean her plans had changed. She would strike out on her own and she didn’t want to do it working at her kitchen table or in a coffee shop. If people were going to take her seriously for once in her life, she needed to look the part. And that meant having a place of business.
Besides, she’d already decided to poach two of her staff members: one of her bright young recruits from the communications team and her HR manager. The three of them would make a fabulous team, and Addison couldn’t do it all on her own. Hopefully they trusted her enough to make the leap from an established company to a start-up.
The elevator pinged as it arrived at the ground floor and Addison quickly made her way through the foyer and out into the sunshine. The sun was high in the sky, the air starting to thicken with humidity. She found the missed call and dialed the number back.
“Hi, Richard, this is Addison. I’m sorry I didn’t have the chance to call you back yesterday.” She stood out of the way of the afternoon crowd, watching the city hustle and bustle right before her eyes.
“That’s no problem at all,” Richard said. “Is now a good time to talk?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
Richard rattled off the details of the office space that was going to be available for viewing next week. Eight hundred square feet with one glass-walled office and room for a few desks in the main area. It shared a bathroom with one other business on the second floor. Close to the subway. Lots of natural light.
“It sounds perfect.” Addison felt a flutter in her stomach. “It’s exactly what I’m looking for.”
Mr. Dangerously Sexy Page 10
