Crashing Together (Silver Bay Book 2)

by Amelia Judd

  Tipping her chin up, Logan forced her to meet his eyes. “You didn’t do anything. Something shitty was done to you.” Rubbing his thumb along her jawline, he held her gaze.

  Kat’s heart zoomed into overdrive, kicking up her breathing a few notches. Her mouth slipped open to compensate for the sudden need for more oxygen.

  Logan’s eyes darkened as his gaze dropped to her lips. With excruciating slowness, he drew his thumb across her bottom lip. “So bloody soft,” he murmured before dropping his hand away.

  Instinct driving her, Kat leaned forward and brushed her lips against his.

  He froze.

  Hoping like hell he didn’t pull away, Kat kissed him again and pressed herself against his body. A shudder ran through him, and then—thank God—he kissed her back.

  Logan’s kiss eclipsed even the most vivid of her fantasies. As his mouth moved slowly, thoroughly, over hers, all thoughts of the past flew from her mind. Her only semi-coherent thought being that no one had ever kissed her with the same mesmerizing mixture of tenderness and desire.

  His taste on her lips, his body pressed to hers, and the low groan of need sounding from the back of his throat heated her blood and scorched her senses. Kat ached for more and tried to send him the message by moaning and pushing harder against him. Either Logan didn’t understand, or he chose to ignore her. He continued the slow exploration of her mouth—nipping, teasing, tasting at a leisurely pace, and quickly driving her crazy with desire.

  Sliding a hand into her hair, he tilted her head to the side, allowing access to the sensitive nerves along her neck. He trailed warm, wet kisses down the exposed expanse of skin, pausing to unhurriedly nip and suck the spot under the corner of her jawbone. Her nipples tightened while the rest of her throbbed.

  “Why is it that the slower you go, the faster you make me want you to go?” Kat said, squirming in his arms. “Is that part of your master plan?”

  She felt his grin against her neck. “Darl, with you there is no plan. No, scratch that. There is a plan, but I can’t seem to stick to it.” Shaking his head, he let go of her, and rose to his feet. “Living with you is like walking across the bloody Outback with an ice-cold bottle of water that I’m not allowed to drink.”

  “Thanks,” she responded with a smile.

  “It wasn’t a compliment.” He grimaced. “I can’t figure out if you’re my punishment or my reward.”

  “Um. Thank you?”

  “Again. Not a compliment.”

  “It kinda sounded like one.” She shrugged. “Just to be clear, does that whole Outback-water-bottle analogy mean we aren’t going to have sex tonight, or are you just thirsty?”

  Logan’s eyes narrowed and a low rumble of frustration rose from the back of his throat. “We are not having sex tonight.”

  He towered over her, breathing heavily and clenching his fists. Damn, frustrated looked frickin’ sexy on him.

  Kat tipped her head to the side. “Why not?”

  “Because you’re vulnerable, so it would be the wrong thing to do. And for some bloody reason, I can’t get past that.”

  Kat swallowed a laugh. “This is a real low point for you, huh?”

  He shoved a hand through his hair. “You have no idea,” he muttered.

  “Would it really be so bad to take one little sip of water from that bottle? Might be all it takes to quench your thirst.”

  “Or I might drain it in one gulp and still need more. You wanna risk it?”

  The burning look in Logan’s eye crackled with an intensity that immediately silenced her. Waves of desire, frustration, and a quickly fading restraint poured off of his tensed body.

  She sat wide-eyed and frozen to the spot. What the hell did he mean by that? Kat opened her mouth, but no words came out.

  A humorless smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “Yeah. I didn’t think so.”

  She heard Logan pass behind her and go into his room. She waited to hear his door close and the lock click into place, but neither sound ever came. She didn’t know if he’d done it intentionally, but leaving his door open soothed her nerves. For the first time since the mugging, she went to bed that night with her own bedroom door unlocked and wide open.

  Lying in bed, feeling both nervous and excited by the small step, Kat promised herself that tomorrow night she would try sleeping with her bedroom window cracked open an inch.

  Even baby steps could eventually lead the way to normal, right?

  Chapter 9

  “WHERE are we going, and why am I not driving?”

  Shifting the car into fourth, Logan looked over at Kat sitting beside him in a stretchy black workout outfit. She seemed more curious than irritated by his mysterious invitation to join him for the day.

  “We’re going to Milwaukee, and you aren’t driving because the last time I let you get behind the wheel, you hit every blasted pothole in the road. On purpose.”

  She laughed. “Fair point.”

  It had been almost a week since he’d come home to find her frozen, pale, and death-gripping a salad fork in the living room. When she’d told him about the attack, he’d nearly gone crazy with rage. Even now, he wanted to rip the bastard’s head off and probably would if he ever found him.

  But today was about being prepared, not getting even. He just hoped the decision to keep this a secret from Kat didn’t turn out to be a major mistake. He knew it was a risky move. Hell, she might refuse to participate, but he still had to try something. He couldn’t stand the thought of ever seeing her so scared and vulnerable again. And like it or not, he wouldn’t always be there to protect her.

  “So why did I have to wear comfortable clothes today?” She frowned. “I should be dressed a little nicer if we’re heading into the city.”

  He blew out a breath and glanced her way. “I’ll tell you where we’re going. But you have to promise not to permanently damage any of my favorite body parts.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “No way I’m making that promise. Spill it, McCabe. What did you do?”

  He turned his attention back to the road, trying like hell to look casual. “I signed you up for a day-long women’s self-defense class. Even though you don’t have to attend, I hope you’ll consider it,” he added quickly before she could argue. “You can’t let the assholes of the world stop you from living, but I’d feel better knowing you can beat the shit out of any guy that bothers you again.”

  “What if you’re the guy bothering me?”

  He chuckled. “Then you should definitely beat the shit out of me.”

  “This class will teach me how?” She sounded intrigued.

  “Too right.”

  “Okay, big guy.” She clicked her tongue. “I’ll do it.”

  “Should I be worried by how happy you sound right now?”

  “Too right,” she said, mimicking his accent.

  He grimaced. “Remember, you promised not to damage any parts that won’t recover.”

  “Actually, I remember not making that promise. Don’t worry, though, I’m not mad. I’ve been thinking about taking a class like this since the night it happened.” She turned to look out the window. “But every time I thought about looking for one, it brought back memories I wanted to forget.”

  Cursing under his breath, Logan let up on the accelerator. “I’m sorry, darl. I’m a no-hoper.” He should have realized this would bring back memories of the attack. “It’s too soon. I’ll take you home.”

  “No.” She put her hand on his arm and paused, waiting for him to glance at her. “I want to do this. I need to do this.”

  “That’s ace,” he mumbled, trying to ignore his reaction to her touch. Kat didn’t need a horny bloke to deal with today. “If you’d like, I could also teach you how to lift weights to add a few pounds of muscle. I know that might not be enough to take down a guy who outweighs you by a hundred pounds, but it could help you get away.”

  “Actually, I’d like that a lot. My gym isn’t close, so I don’t get there very oft
en. Plus, I don’t know how most of the machines work or what weight I should be using. I usually just hop on the elliptical for as long as I can stand the boredom, then head home.”

  “That’s pretty typical. A lot of people get stuck in the same exercise routine because they don’t know what else to do. And when they do try something new, their form usually sucks. They can end up hurting themselves.”

  “Sounds like you know a lot about this.”

  “My mum got me a job at a country club when I was younger. Working in the fitness center was one of the things I did there.”

  “Is your mom still in Australia?”

  “Yip. After I finished school, she married a bloke with three boys. They all live outside of Sydney.” He grinned. “Sounds like the boys are real hell-raisers. Mum said they make raising me seem like a walk in the park.”

  “I like them already.” Kat chuckled. “Do you visit often?”

  “Nah. They don’t need me around. Mum has plenty of help taking out the rubbish now.”

  “Need? No. But I’m sure they’d want you around.” Kat shifted in her seat to stare at him. “Did you help your mom a lot growing up?”

  “It was just the two of us. As soon as I was big enough, I took care of the stuff requiring any muscle since Mum’s just a bit of a thing. She took care of everything else.” He shrugged a shoulder. “She had it rough raising a kid alone. I did what I could to help but still wish I could have done more.”

  “So how’d you get from Australia to Costa Rica?”

  “After Mum got married, I landed a job on a cruise ship.”

  “Seriously, you worked on a cruise ship?” Kat laughed. “I don’t picture you fitting into one of those tiny bunks below deck.”

  He grinned. “Since I had a certification in personal training, they hired me to oversee the fitness program on the ship. The job came with a slightly larger cabin.”

  “I bet the single women looking to make memories on their vacations loved you. Do I even want to know how many of them you hooked up with during your time at sea, sailor?”

  He gripped the wheel and pretended to concentrate on the traffic in front of him, hating the reminder that women didn’t want or need a guy like him around for long. “It wasn’t that many.”

  Kat grunted. “To you maybe. So you’ve worked as a fitness trainer, adventure travel guide, a surf instructor, and you helped Pax run the social outreach program at La Vida. Anything else important I should know about?”

  “Nope. I got on a cruise ship in Australia, and I got off in South America. I bounced around there for a while, then headed north. Stayed in Costa Rica for a while after meeting Pax.” He shrugged. “Came here after that.”

  “Sounds like the abridged version of a very colorful story,” Kat said. “I won’t push for more info since the full details might send me into cardiac arrest. Change of subject. Any updates on Bennett Industries’ fledgling community outreach program?”

  “As soon as your mum and dad agreed to focus the program on the elderly, things have started taking shape.”

  “That’s great! There’s a limit to the number of yards I can mow every week. How do you plan to round up volunteers?”

  “I’ve got an idea, but I wanted to run it by you since you’re from here and know better than I do whether it will fly.”

  “Shoot.”

  “I’ve heard the local high school requires all senior students to perform volunteer work before they graduate. What if we partnered with the school? The students could come to us when they had hours to fill, and we could match them up with an older person who’s requested help. Hopefully, some of the kids would enjoy the work enough to continue helping out after they’ve filled their requirement.” He shifted his gaze to Kat. “If it’s done right, the students might even learn a thing or two from the old folks.”

  “I love it.” She grinned. “You could call it Seniors Assisting Seniors or S-A-S. But let’s pronounce it like the word ‘sass.’ It has a nice ring to it.”

  “With a name like that, you should be running it,” he teased.

  “I’ve got enough on my plate. But I’m happy to help …” She paused, pulling her phone from her bag. “I’ll text a friend who works at the school.” She punched the screen for a minute then tucked the phone away. “Done. I’ll let you know what he says.”

  “He?” Logan grunted, the gender of Kat’s friend irritating him more than it should.

  “John Vornado. He’s a counselor at the high school. We graduated together.”

  “Is that all you did together?” he asked dryly, looking her way.

  “Nope.”

  “What else did you and John do together?”

  “Nothing much. Nothing that I’m not willing to do with you.” She winked at him. “Why? You jealous?”

  “No,” he snapped.

  “Really? ’Cause you look a little jealous.”

  Logan growled under his breath, flexed his fingers, and re-gripped the wheel. “New topic.” Just because he hated the thought of Kat with another guy didn’t make him jealous.

  “Okay. Fine.” She laughed. “Tell me what else you’re doing at work while we wait for John to respond.”

  “Trish and I are looking for a few full-time employees to bring on board. We need a small staff to turn it over to once I leave.”

  “Trish? As in Trisha Thumble, the perky blonde who works in the legal department?”

  “Yeah, your dad asked her to help me get things up and running. Once the groundwork is laid, she’ll return to legal work.”

  “Careful, big guy. I’ve known Trisha for years. No way she’ll return to working on briefs without attempting to get into yours first.”

  He stifled a grin. “I appreciate your concern, but Trish isn’t my type.”

  “You have a type now?” Kat asked, turning to study him. “When did that happen? I thought you were an equal opportunity seducer of female hearts.”

  Damn. She had a point. He’d never been picky about women. Trish had a cute face and curvy body that he would have taken interest in not that long ago, but he hadn’t thought twice about her. Nope. All of his thoughts were stubbornly, idiotically focused on the spitfire sitting next to him.

  Maybe it was a case of wanting what he couldn’t have. The cramp in his arse suggested the attraction had more to do with her sharp wit, quick smile, unfiltered comments, and the soft heart she tried to hide behind a tough exterior.

  No doubt about it. Kat was complicated, and he’d avoided complicated for years. Simple suited him better. Simple equaled fun. Simple meant walking away without regrets or guilt. No one got hurt when relationships remained simple.

  “So what’s your type?” Kat prodded.

  “Simple.”

  “You like simple women? As in simpleminded?” she asked, her tone a mixture of pity and disbelief. “Or do you mean easy instead of simple? Is this one of those Australian-English to American-English translation issues? Because I definitely see easy women as being right up your alley.”

  He tightened his grip on the wheel. “I didn’t mean simple women or easy women. I like simple relationships.”

  “I hate to break it to you, big guy, but if it’s simple, it ain’t a relationship. Relationships are complicated, painful, and sometimes so frickin’ frustrating you want to run the opposite direction screaming obscenities at the top of your lungs. And that’s not the worst part.” Kat snorted. “The real rub is relationships can also make you feel so damn great you start to believe they’re actually worth all the horrible shit they put you through in the first place.”

  He grimaced and rubbed a painful knot at the back of his neck. “Christ, if that’s true then we’ve been in a relationship since the day we first crashed together.”

  “Yep,” Kat agreed cheerfully. “But you’ve locked that chastity belt of yours so tight we haven’t been able to enjoy the fringe benefit of unlimited orgasms.”

  Chuckling, he looked her way. “You’re relentless.
”

  She flashed him a cheeky smile. “It’s one of my best qualities.”

  “That’s debatable.”

  “Really? Which of my many qualities would you debate to be my best?”

  “Tough call. Maybe your modesty. Or your mild temperament.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “No wait, it has to be the way you’ve showered me with warm, gentle affection.”

  “Damn, big guy, you’re right.” She slugged him hard on the shoulder. “I’m a real catch!”

  “Ouch.” He rubbed his bicep. “For a little thing, you pack a big punch.”

  “After today it’ll be even bigger. Hey look, John texted back.” Kat studied her phone for a beat. “When will we be home tonight?”

  “Probably by five. Why?” he asked, turning into an industrial park on the northern end of Milwaukee.

  “I want to talk to John about SAS. It would help to have him on board.” Kat typed a quick response. “It’s all set. I’m meeting him for dinner tonight. It shouldn’t be hard convincing him it’s a great idea. I can be very persuasive.”

  The thought of Kat using her powers of persuasion on some other guy shot his blood pressure into the red zone. “I’ll come along in case he has any questions you can’t answer,” he said, pulling to a stop in front of a single-story beige building.

  “Sorry, big guy, I haven’t needed a chaperone since I was fifteen and Dad made Hannah sit between me and Gabe Leyden at the movie theater.” She tapped her window, pointing to the building. “Is this the place?”

  “Yeah. Do you want me to come in with you?”

  “Nope. I’ve got this.” She started to get out of the car, paused, then turned back to him, her expression suddenly serious. “Thanks for doing this, Logan. No matter what I’ve said in the past or what I’m bound to say in the future—you really are a great guy.” She kissed his cheek and went inside.

  He was left speechless and more than a little worried about the uncomfortable tightness in the region of his heart.

  •••

  Kat slipped into a pair of slim-fitting jeans, an airy white peasant top, and a kick-ass pair of glossy red wedge sandals. She finger combed the long, loose waves of her hair, leaving it to fall freely around her shoulders. She played up the slight slant of her eyes with dark eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and a touch of mascara. One dollop of dark red lip gloss and her favorite faux snakeskin clutch later, and she was ready for her date with John.