She threw her head back and moaned as he flicked his tongue over her nipples. God. There was only one sound in the world more erotic than Emma’s moans—the sound of his name on her lips when she came. And he planned on hearing that sound several times tonight.
Her fingers tangled in his hair and then drifted up and down his neck and his back. His skin came alive under her touch, tingling and burning and spurring him onward. The passion he felt when he was with her was uncontrollable, a raging fire, unlike anything he’d ever known. He never wanted it to end.
Gently, he pushed her back on the bed and continued to kiss and touch her as she scooted backward until she was completely laid out and he was lying next to her. He slid her panties, her last remaining item of clothing, down over her perfect, creamy legs and then off completely.
“This is how I like you. Naked,” he rasped.
Her breath caught. He loved that. He loved being able to affect her with a word or a touch.
He slid down her body, trailing his tongue in small circles over her belly and pushing her legs apart. He moved his head down her smooth, silky thighs and kissed his way back up towards her center, loving the way her breathing got shallower and more rapid with every flick of his tongue, every inch he moved upward.
Finally, he arrived between her legs and covered her entirely with his mouth, his tongue laving her feminine folds again and again. He’d teased her so much by that point that she was dripping wet and ready for him. Her hips bucked upward to meet his mouth, and her hands flew to the back of his head, tangling in his hair.
Her back arched as she cried out through panted breaths, “Oh, God! Yes…that feels so good… Your tongue feels so good.”
He trailed his tongue up and down over her hot flesh, loving the sweet taste of her, the way she wriggled and moaned as he licked her. He pushed two fingers inside her, and her walls clenched against them as he moved them within her, flicking his tongue over her stiff pleasure button as he did so.
His ears buzzed with rushing blood as he worked his tongue and fingers faster and faster, bringing her closer to orgasm. As he felt the intensity in her movements and her breathing building to a peak, he intensified the speed with which he was working her body. He could sense her getting close, and he wanted nothing more than to send her crashing over the edge, to feel her powerful orgasm against his mouth and his hand and know she was feeling that pleasure wash over her in waves because he was the one that had given it to her.
Her hips bucked upward, her back arched, and a primal cry tore through her. He felt a sense of visceral pride. He never felt more like a man than when he was making Emma feel completely like a woman. He loved it.
As her orgasm ebbed and quieted, he kissed his way back up her sweat-slicked belly, pausing at her flushed breasts. He continued upward, nuzzling her neck, until they were face-to-face. He gently kissed her, stroking her hair and running his hands all over her body, loving how hot her skin felt, how alive.
Her hands roamed his body as well while they kissed. His pulse started to pound harder at her insistent touches, and he ached for her to touch his hard length. He reached down and slid his boxer briefs off, setting his dick free, finally, from its last restraints.
She gently pushed his shoulder, guiding him back down on the bed. When he was lying flat on his back, she sat up next to him with a wicked smile.
“My turn,” she whispered, a naughty sparkle in her eye.
She raked her eyes up and down his body and then followed suit with her hands. He didn’t know which felt hungrier and more powerful on his skin: her touch or her gaze. Both were intensely erotic, and both were working together to create the hardest and strongest erection he’d ever had in his life.
*
As Emma ran her hands over Logan’s rock-hard muscles, everything inside her turned to quivering jelly. She wanted to commit every inch of Logan—his body, his face, his eyes, his words, his soul—to memory.
Each time she was with him, especially when he was naked, every rational thought deserted her and she was filled with just one thing: hunger. Hunger to be closer to him, to devour him, to take him inside her and let him fill her up. It was an irresistible compulsion she couldn’t deny.
But if this was going to be their last night together, she didn’t want to waste a second. She couldn’t lose herself in the sensual stratosphere he shot her to. She needed to stay totally present.
Lowering her head, she took him into her mouth. She loved how powerful she felt when she sucked him. She moved her head up and down, keeping her lips tight on his shaft and swirling her tongue around him when he was completely in her mouth. He grew even harder and stiffer against her tongue, and she couldn’t help but think ahead to how amazing it was going to feel when he buried that steel erection inside her soft folds.
But she wanted to make this last as long as she could. To make love to him with her mouth. To savor the salty taste, the feeling of his girth brushing the inside of her cheek, the sensation of his engorged tip at the back of her throat.
“Fuck, baby. That’s amazing,” Logan groaned, his hands tangled in her hair.
She looked up at him at the sound and saw that he didn’t have his head thrown back or his eyes shut tight as she’d imagined from his tone. Rather, his deep-brown gaze was staring straight down at her. He was watching her lips move over his length with a fiery intensity that made her core clench and caused her to become even wetter than she’d been before.
Their gazes locked, and they stayed that way for a moment, completely still, communicating on a deep level that went beyond words. Then, slowly and without breaking eye contact, she sealed her lips tighter around his shaft and sucked him deep inside her mouth again.
She continued like that, sliding up and down on his steel-hard member while looking directly in his eyes, loving the feel of his strong fingers tangled firmly in her hair.
When he was about to explode, his hands moved from her hair to under her arms to pull her up. Knowing that he was about to take over, she placed her hands on his chest, halting his progress, and threw one of her legs over his hips so she was straddling him.
As much as she loved his dominance in the bedroom, she needed to be in control. She needed to be the one driving this encounter. At her pace, her time. From the moment she’d realized she loved him, her heart had gone into a jet wash and her life had been in a flat spin. If she had a chance at coming out of it better than Goose had in Top Gun, then she had to be the one in control.
Biting her lip, she positioned herself over him then lowered herself onto him with a measured pace. Slowly, inch by inch, she accepted his thick flesh. When she was filled to the hilt, her inner walls squeezed him, milking his body as she began to rock her hips in a sensual rhythm.
As she rode him, Logan’s large hands ran up her body and cupped her breasts. He hissed in a breath as he played with her nipples, massaging her full mounds. The feeling of his hands on her, of his body inside her, had her skyrocketing towards release.
She increased the speed of her undulations, her body seeking completion. Her legs began trembling from exertion as she moved on top of Logan’s rock-hard arousal. Then Logan’s strong hands left her chest and grasped her hips, guiding her rhythm and forcefully pulling her down on every thrust. Each time she sank onto him, she felt herself building faster towards a powerful orgasm.
Just as fatigue started to set in, Logan flipped her over, and the surprise of the movement made her gasp. The gasp transformed into a groan as pleasure flooded through her more intensely than she’d ever experienced before.
She found herself face down on the bed, her backside angled upward as Logan thrust into her again and again from behind. It felt like he was penetrating every inch of her, filling up every corner of her body. He was consuming her—body, mind, and soul.
His pace grew faster, more intense and powerful. Every last cell was coiled and ready, raw and aware of the powerful sensations rocking over her.
Closing
her eyes, she concentrated, letting every feeling she’d developed for Logan wash over her at once. She didn’t try to control them, protect herself, or hold back. In fact, she did the opposite. She opened the floodgates and invited all of the feelings to rush through her at full strength.
Desire consumed her. Safety enveloped her. Love poured through her.
The desire, safety, and love she felt hit her in an overpowering wave, bringing with them physical sensations that were just as powerful. Her body’s reaction was almost immediate. Emma’s core clenched as her body exploded into fireworks, and a cry tore from him at the same time. The weight of his body leaning over her, wrapping her up in his arms as their muscles trembled together, caused the powerful sensations swirling and rocking through her to multiply.
As their climaxes subsided and they collapsed together on the bed, panting and sweaty, Logan never unwrapped her from his arms. He held her as they came down from their releases.
Emma was thankful she wasn’t facing him, because if she had been, he would’ve seen the tears falling down her face as another emotion claimed her. Love’s most common side effect: heartbreak.
Chapter 24
‡
Emma shut the top drawer in Drew’s room and took one more visual pass of the area to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything. Another quick inspection of the closet and under the bed assured her that she hadn’t.
Not that it would’ve been the end of the world if a sock or even Drew’s favorite shirt got left behind. They were just going to be across town at Mountain Ridge. At least, for the next week. She’d booked their flights back to Seattle earlier that morning.
Last night had been incredible. Logan had fallen asleep around one a.m., holding her in his arms after they’d made love twice. Emma had watched him. Not in a creepy way. She’d just taken advantage of the opportunity to study his beautiful face while she could. During the three hours she’d stayed wide awake beside him, his arms holding her in place, she’d come to a few decisions.
First, she and Drew couldn’t stay there. Even if she was able to hide her feelings from Logan, the last thing she needed was Drew picking up on them. As much as he wanted a dad right now, and as much as he loved Logan, if his bloodhound nose got on the my-mom’s-in-love-with-the-coolest-guy-in-the-world trail, she’d never get him off it.
So she’d called Amanda at six a.m.—because she knew she got up at the crack of dawn—and asked if there were any cabins available at Mountain Ridge. Luckily, there was. Emma’s plan was to stay at the resort for another week while she finished When It’s Magic and then fly back to Seattle, which would give her two weeks to get Drew ready for sixth grade and a month to finish writing When It’s Fate.
Go Team Emma!
She’d already braced herself for Drew’s inevitable disappointment over the fact that they weren’t staying with Logan. She just hoped that it would be somewhat lessened by the fact that they were staying at his second favorite place in Hope Falls.
Whether he was upset or not, this was the right thing to do. She couldn’t stay at his house, having dinners, movie nights, game nights and everything else families did together with a man she was hopelessly and completely in love with.
Emma grabbed his duffel bag, walked to the front door and set it down. She had already taken her things to the rental car. Now, she just had to decide whether she should wake Logan up and tell him that she was leaving or write him a note.
Her head was voting for the note. That would be the least messy. If she had a face-to-face with him, things might get uncomfortable. And by uncomfortable, she meant that she might end up crying like a baby and speaking incoherently.
With a note, she could clearly and concisely express her gratitude and appreciation for all he’d done for her and Drew. She could edit, which was—in her opinion—a writer’s greatest tool. Magic was made in edits.
Her gut, however, was telling her to wake him up and face this situation like the adult she’d been pretending to be for the past ten years. Its argument was strong. Logan deserved hearing it from the horse’s mouth—she was the horse in this scenario—that she was so grateful for him having let her and Drew stay there. That he’d given her so much in such a short amount of time that she didn’t know how she would ever repay him.
On the cons list for having a face-to-face was that she didn’t need to be a meteorologist to know there was ninety-nine point nine percent chance of precipitation falling from her eyes. She’d been crying off and on for the past five hours, and even now, she was holding on by a very thin thread. Saying goodbye to the man she was madly in love with would most certainly snip that thread right in half.
Closing her eyes, Emma rubbed her hands over her face as she sighed. Why had she always wished she were an adult when she was little? It was hard. At least trying to be a responsible one was. She guessed that, if she didn’t care about doing the right thing, her life would’ve been a lot easier.
But she did care, and in her soul, she knew that this might seem like an insignificant decision—note or talk—but it was important to her to handle this the right way.
“Emma?” Logan’s deep voice filled the front room.
Slowly, she lowered her hands from her face while her heart pounded so hard that she thought it might beat right out of her chest. Logan was standing in the hallway, with no shirt, his sweats hanging low on his waist. Really, it was one of his best looks.
The good news was that her decision had been made for her. The bad news was, now that she was looking into the chocolate pools—commonly referred to as the windows to the soul—she had no idea what to say or how to get through this.
“Going somewhere?” He crossed his arms and inclined his head to Drew’s duffel bag.
“Um…yeah… I just… I’m…” she said breathlessly, her tongue suddenly feeling like a bee had stung it. “Drew and I are going to stay at Mountain Ridge.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why?”
Good question. A minute ago, the list of reasons had been running through her mind like she had been scrolling through the contacts on her phone. But right now, she had nothing.
“I’m, ummm… I need to finish my book,” she stammered.
What?
Where in the heck did that come from?
His left brow rose as he asked, “You can’t do that here?”
“No.” Emma shook her head as tears began to fill her eyes.
“Why?” Logan’s jaw ticked.
Irritation was radiating off him, and she understood why he was frustrated. Instead of talking to him and then moving out like a normal person, she’d made the decision and packed up in the middle of the night like a thief.
Logan deserved better. Logan deserved the truth.
Her bottom lip quivered as she took in a deep breath, and a single tear slipped down her cheek.
“Um, because I love you,” she said, her voice trembling as much as her bottom lip. She tried to smile as she explained, “I didn’t mean to fall in love with you. I really thought that we could…you know… That I could…that I could separate my feelings from our research. But I was wrong.” She sucked in a shaky breath as she sniffed, shrugging her shoulders in frustration. “Actually, I think it might’ve happened even if we hadn’t started…doing research.”
She grabbed Drew’s bag then stood. With every ounce of sincerity in her body, she said, “I just want to say thank you, Logan. Seriously, you’ve been so amazing to Drew and me, and I honestly don’t know how to repay you. I hope that what happened between us doesn’t keep you away for five years like when you came to visit in Seattle. Drew loves you. And, obviously, I do too.” She gestured to herself, trying to lighten the situation a little.
It didn’t work.
Logan didn’t smile. He didn’t move. He didn’t speak.
Not knowing what else to do, she lifted her hand in an awkward goodbye. “So thanks again, and I’m sorry for….how things worked out. You were…are amazing. Thank you.”
<
br /> Turning, she opened the door and rushed to her car as fast as possible, tears streaming down her cheeks. When she got inside, she shut the door, placed her hands on the steering wheel, and took one last look at the cabin.
If this were a book she was writing, Logan would chase after her. Tell her that he loved her and couldn’t live without her. That, whatever they had to do, they would figure it out, because unless they were together, nothing else mattered.
As she stared at the front door, which she hadn’t shut in her rush to get out of there, she couldn’t help but hope that Logan would appear in it. That, just this once, her life would have a happy ever after.
But the door slowly swinging closed, reminded her that this was real life, not a romance novel. And reality was cruel. She’d learned that lesson long ago.
As she put her car in reverse, her tears dried up and her emotions went numb. She reverted into a mode that she unfortunately knew all too well.
Survival mode.
No matter what—whether it was finding out at sixteen that she was going to be a mom, having her parents abandon her, becoming a widow and single mom before she was even legally allowed to drink, or having her heart broken into a million pieces by the first man who’d made her see herself as a woman—she would survive.
As she drove away on autopilot, she said her personal mantra. “You can do this. No matter what happens, you will be fine.”
Chapter 25
‡
“Thanks for coming out on the water with me today. I hope we can do it again sometime,” Charlie said from the passenger’s seat of Logan’s pickup.
Magic Kiss (Hope Falls Book 11) Page 24
