by Marie Kelly
“Any news?”, the soft question behind her caused Tara to leap in the air, her heart beating wildly as she spun around to come face to face with Logan.
His hands snapped out to steady her, “Sorry didn’t mean to startle you. You OK?”, his expression now one of concern as she huffed out a laugh.
“I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t hear you. You have the stealth of a cat.”
Logan nodded, an apologetic twist on his sensuous mouth. “Yeah. I like to get up early, and most of my dates don’t. So I got in the habit of moving quietly”, his look playful, “Ninja-like.”
Aware that he still held her, Tara stepped back, giving him a shaky laugh, the idea of strange women in his bed filling her with the white heat of jealousy, she not understanding why she would feel that way. She and Logan were friends – nothing more, nothing less, her traitorous body giving a shiver of regret. “Well, all I can say is they must have far sweeter managers than I do. I haven’t managed a lie-in after seven since I got to this town.”
His eyes widened in genuine surprise. “Wow. Ross is a hard ass.” Tara snickered as she nodded, moving into the kitchen.
“Damn right – pity me. Well, if you are not going back to bed, want a coffee?”
She was aware that he trailed behind her, his small sound of longing answer enough as she hunted around for the ingredients. “How about I send out for breakfast”, he offered, Tara looking in the fridge with a frown.
“Why do you need to send out? You have plenty of stuff here.”
Logan grimaced. “Well the housekeeper doesn’t get here till after nine and I burn everything even though I am careful and watch over things diligently. One minute it is uncooked, next I blink and voila… Burnt.”
Tara gave him a ‘yeah right’ look, her mouth curving into a smile. “I think I can manage some bacon and eggs if you are feeling adventurous.” His wary look made her throw the tea towel at him as she set to work preparing food for them.
From his seat, Logan watched as she bustled around, every move precise, and soon bacon was under the grill, eggs were frying and bread was in the toaster. As the coffee percolator buzzed she was already plating up the delicious smelling food, his stomach rumbling with appreciation.
When she joined him, he dug into the food, his eyes closing with pleasure. “Sunny. I may just have to keep you around. You can cook, save lives and have a sense of humour… And not once have you even asked me who my favourite designer is.”
She regarded him over her cup, a twinkle in her eyes. “Only because I was scared you might tell me.”
When finished, he lifted his empty plate and hers, insisting on ‘cleaning up’, Tara admiring his technique for filling a dishwasher before he once more joined her. “So Ross is surrounded by Susans, is he?”
The unexpected question sent Tara’s stomach hurtling downwards, her fingers gripping the cup harder. “W…What?”, all she could muster as he regarded her with a polite smile.
“Susan is your real name right? And I heard you tell him to give Susie a hug from you… You must know her well.”
Putting down the cup before the contents sloshed over the top, her hands were shaking so hard, she nodded, willing herself calm. “Yeah, I have known her forever… We are close.”
Logan chuckled, seeming to miss her discomfort. “That must make his job hard. Knowing that if he pisses you off you can call his mummy on him.” By now, some semblance of calm was once more descending on Tara, the realisation that he had bought the ‘mother’ story bringing an equilibrium to her. However, his next words nearly saw her splutter out the small sip of coffee she had once more attempted. “Is he gay?”
With eyes wide, she stared at him. “Ross…gay?” A laugh fell from her lips as his face scrunched up in embarrassed laughter.
“OK. I guess not. It is just that I don’t get any sign that he is attracted to you. And I find it hard to believe that any straight man would not be.”
Tara’s eyes dropped to her cup, a small flush of pleasure washing over her as she cocked her head, “Not all men.” Her look swept back to meet his. “You and I are just friends.”
For a second there was silence before Logan stood, moving to the kitchen door. “Well I had better hit the shower”, before pausing at the door, giving her a long sensual stare. “And why you think I don’t find you attractive is beyond me, I recall being very clear that I did. I thought we had agreed to see how things went… And for the record I think they are going well.”
With that he left the room, Tara staring after him in stunned shock, his words still hanging in the air. He was still attracted to her? A small groan escaped her soft lips. She might try and tell herself otherwise, but truth was she felt the exact same way. This was a disaster in the making. She had thought that she had swooped in and rescued her sister, sailing her life into clearer, trouble free waters, but the truth was she was pointing it towards a huge iceberg, an iceberg called Logan Callen and she did not have the willpower to change course. She had to find a way not to be alone with Logan, for her sister’s sake.
By midday, Tara was running out of excuses to keep away from Logan. After he had showered, she only then decided to get herself washed, taking much longer than she needed to, wallowing in the luxurious bath until her fingers resembled prunes. Wrapped in a towel, Ross then phoned, Tara relieved to hear Susan on the other end of the line. While she sounded weak, she was upbeat and in seemingly good spirits.
Stepping away from her, Ross sounded happier, his earlier tenseness gone, relief filling Tara. He had updated her on Susan’s recovery, she delighted to find out that she was doing even better than either expected. The received selfie picture of Ross and Susan as he held up his phone showed a very different woman from the one she had seen only weeks earlier. Her sister had styled her hair and put on some makeup. She was even smiling, Tara also happy to see how she leant in to Ross. Perhaps he should not write off any relationship between them after all.
After she thanked him for the picture, he laughed, his voice becoming more playful. “I left the bikini at the side of your bed… Do you like it?” Tara startled. With everything that had gone on, she had completely forgotten about it, quickly moving and retrieving the large designer bag. Emptying the contents on the bed she frowned, her hands pushing aside the mountain of tissue paper, before eventually finding the smallest bikini she had ever seen. Lifting the scraps of material, her mouth fell open, horror filling her.
“I am not wearing this”, she stated flatly, the gentleness in her voice gone, “There is not enough material in this to hide anything. I am just going to wear my one-piece.” She heard Ross chuckle, knowing that his next words were not going to be good.
“I thought you might feel that way, soooo I may have accidentally brought it with me. Seems you wear that or nothing.”
Tara spluttered her indignation as she stared at the delicate blue bikini, finally folding her arms mutinously. “Fine. Then I will not go.”
She could hear muffled sounds before Susan’s voice came across the line. “Tara. Please. Just remember, nobody will even know it is you. They will all think it is me. Plus you can’t go to Landen Derry’s pool party looking anything other than sexy, it is just the way it works.”
Groaning, she savaged her bottom lip, misgiving on her expression before sighing, “OK. But you better get better soon Susan… Oh and smack Ross for me.” She could hear her sister giggle, the sound not forced but genuine, hearing it making everything suddenly so much better. Susan was on the way to recovery. Signing off, she looked at the time. It had gone from hours to kill to minutes to get ready.
Pulling on the bikini, she had to admit that it showed off her body to perfection, Tara glad of every spin class she had taken, the classes at the time more of a stress release, but the side-effect of a toned body welcome at that point. Dragging on the dress Logan had bought her the day before and pulling her hair into a casual knot, she took one last look, nodding as she muttered to herself, “Good enough.�
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Skipping down the stairs, she stopped seeing Logan already at the bottom of the landing, his head turning to her, a large smile on his face. “Well Miss James. Don’t you look lovely?” Tara grinned back at him as she allowed herself to take him in. Wearing cream slacks and a black t-shirt, he looked sexy, Tara swallowing to hold back the small groan. Why did this man have to be so gorgeous?
Moving outside, her eyes widened seeing yet another sports car, this one a two-seater. Laughing, she shook her head. “How many of these do you have?”
His mouth curved into a smile. “Don’t they come with the houses?”, his cheeky response making her chuckle.
“OK… So how many houses do you have?”
This time he shrugged “Six or seven. Something like that.”
Sitting back, she sighed, instinctively knowing that they would all be the same level of luxury as the villa and his penthouse. How the other half lived.
Arriving at Landen Derry’s house, the car was opened by valets who took the keys from Logan, allowing the couple to move into the over-the-top mansion. Already the place was busy, Tara recognising many celebrities from both the big and small screens. She tried hard not to show her awe, aware that Susan mingled with these people all of the time.
“Logan!”, the loud welcome came from behind, Tara surprised as Logan seemed to tense, his hand in hers squeezing a little tighter. Turning, she could see the polite smile he used for casual acquaintances, the realisation hitting her that his smile was always warm when levelled at her.
“Hello Landen”, Logan replied, “May I introduce Sunny James to you?”
Before her Tara watched the tall handsome man before her. He had the kind of boyish good looks that many found attractive, his hair cut to fall against his tanned face. However, his flamboyant shorts and shirt, and the way he stood told her that he would certainly not be interested in her, her lips quirking seeing the way his eyes slid down Logan. No, definitely not her.
“It is nice to meet you Landen”, she smiled, her hand extended to his, his eyes following it before taking it with his own.
“So. You must be the man-eating, pill-popping, drunken starlet I have been hearing so much about.” Around her she could hear snickers along with Logan’s breath of anger, her free hand gently holding him back as she felt him move forward, knowing he would defend her.
Smiling widely she nodded. “That’s right. And you must be the queen bitch, career-ruining gossip hag I have been hearing about.”
Now there was a small gasp from the crowd, Logan moving closer to her. Landen however, previously disinterested, stared at her, before his mouth curved into a large smile, laughing. “Oh my God. A starlet with a spine!”, his tone now genuine, as he hooked an arm through hers dragging her away from Logan. “Is it true that you saved that man in the restaurant?”, his head moving closer to hers, “And OMG… Logan Callen… Is he as yummy as he looks?” Throwing Logan a ‘help me’ look over her shoulder she could see he was laughing, shaking his head.
It took nearly half an hour before Landen would let her go. He seeming to have decided that she was his newest best friend. Finally however, she escaped, meeting Logan at the poolside. By now he had changed into swimming shorts, his toned muscular body attracting many of the young stunning women who were making a beeline for him. Tara was sure that not all would even know who he was, just that he was a grade ‘A’ hottie.
Stepping up to him, with mischief in her eyes she shook her head. “Mr Callen. Honestly, I cannot leave you for a moment before you are flirting with every woman in the place.”
He growled softly, a deep sigh leaving him as he joined in the game. “I thought you had abandoned me. What else was a man to do but look for a replacement?”
Tara made a small “pfft” sound before pausing, a chuckle leaving her. “True enough. Given your attention span, I am surprised you waited this long”, her nose scrunching up playfully as he laughed.
“Sunny, you are a wicked, wicked woman”, his head moving closer to her, “And well played with Landen. I thought I was going to have to punch the bastard.”
Shrugging, she began removing the dress, kicking her shoes off. “I have met men like Landen before. You just have to show them you are not going to be pushed around”, not adding that she had to deal with every kind of person on a daily basis in her role as a nurse.
Logan turned to order her a drink, “True, but it could have been…”, the rest of the sentence lost as he caught sight of Tara. Now only wearing the bikini Ross had bought, her hair pulled down, his mouth fell open, aware that he was not the only man staring at the woman before him.
While she was beautiful, there was something else to Sunny James, an almost surreal ‘look but don’t touch’ quality to her, an intangible innocence which had heads turning. “Dear God you are beautiful”, the words out before he could stop them.
Before him Sunny blushed softly, pleasure in her features as she sat on the lounger next to him. “Thank you. I was going to kill Ross when I saw this bikini… And he took my other bathing suit, so I had no choice.”
Passing a glass of champagne to her, he lifted his own bottle of water. “Well, remind me to tell Ross that he is doing a hell of a job.” Tara narrowed her eyes at him as he wiggled his brows.
Surprisingly, the party was fun, both Logan and Tara enjoying themselves. She had found herself introduced to many directors, she smiling seeing the way Logan made their relationship, even if it was only for appearance’s sake, clear. She was touched by the way he felt he had to protect her from the obvious interest of many of the powerful men.
By the time the two were ready to leave, the sun had already dipped below the horizon, darkness descending and the sound of cicadas filling the air. Although careful with all she had drank, Tara could still feel the way the couple of glasses she had through the day made her insides warm, her eyes flicking to the man driving. Beside her Logan drove with a masculine grace, easily controlling the powerful vehicle. She found herself staring at his arm, wondering how it would feel to have his hands on her, stroking her, the memory of the way he had kissed her on the boat making her belly clench. How would that mouth feel?…
“You must be tired.” His unexpected words made her jump, a blush rising to her cheeks as she looked away, pushing her X-rated thoughts to the side.
“N…no. I don’t feel the least bit tired”, she finally managed, as he swung the car through the gates of his own villa, a sensual undercurrent to his voice.
“Really? Then perhaps you would like a drink by the pool.”
Before she could say no, he had pulled up and was moving around to open her door for her. “S… Sure”, she managed, not able to think of a single good reason to escape. She had already denied being tired.
Following him inside, he poured them both some more champagne, this time he joining her. Stepping closer, his eyes shone as he clinked glasses with her. “To Sunny, the sweetest man-eating, pill-popping drunken starlet it has ever been my pleasure to meet.”
Tara could not help as laughter spilled from her lips, their eyes locking, both shining with shared fun. Finally she pulled herself together enough to clink her glass back with his. “To Logan. The most overbearing, pompous and sexy man it has ever been my pleasure to meet.”
Freezing, horror filled her eyes at her own words, a slow smile spreading over his face. “Sexy again huh?”
Her eyes dropped as she searched for something to say, words failing her. She felt his fingers take the stem of her glass, both deposited on a table, before his finger hooked under her chin, lifting her head to him. “Sunny James. Don’t think I did not notice you avoiding me this morning. I let it go because I thought you didn’t feel the same. But you do don’t you Sunny? You feel the exact same.”
She could only watch as his head moved closer, her eyes locking with his, her breathing becoming more ragged as she waited, yearning for his mouth on hers. However, when only a hair’s breadth away, he stopped, heat warming hi
s dark eyes as he whispered, “Am I right?”
Groaning, her fingers grasped his t-shirt, lifting herself on tiptoes to bring their mouths together, her voice a soft sigh, “Yes.”
His arms wrapped around her waist hauling her in as his mouth took hers. Tara fell into his kiss with everything in her. She returned it with an equal passion, her hands wrapping around his neck as he lifted her high against him. The feel of his erection pressing into her belly only added to the white hot liquid pooling between her legs, her body shuddering. When had she ever felt such a need?
Logan pulled his mouth from hers, kissing along her cheek to her ear. “Susan…”
Her groan stopped him, her words breathy, “Sunny, please call me Sunny”, an understanding growl leaving him as he nibbled her ear, his warm breath sending all new tremors through her.
“Sunny, I have never wanted a woman more. No contracts… No agreements…”
Pulling his head once more round to her lips she silenced him before whispering into his mouth, “Stop talking Logan and take me to bed.”
For a moment Logan paused, his mouth curving into a large smile before he dipped, sweeping her into his arms and striding purposefully upstairs. “Yes Ma’am”, his words making her dissolve into laughter in his arms.
On reaching his bedroom, he kicked the door closed with one foot before placing her so gently onto the bed. Leaning over he once more kissed her, one hand sliding into the softness of her hair, while the other began sliding along her collarbone, a half-sigh half-gasp ripped from her as his large hand slid between her breasts before flicking one of the buttons on her dress.
