Daniel mumbled, “Gee,” and wouldn’t let go.
“What’s going on, Gina? Where’s Hannah?”
Suddenly Gina was annoyed with his attitude. It wasn’t as if she’d planned this. It wasn’t as if—“Hannah’s in her room. I told her I’d buzz her after Daniel fell asleep. I didn’t come here to steal the silver, Logan. She called me because Daniel was crying, and she couldn’t get him quieted. Apparently the thunder scared him. She insisted he was calling my name.”
Logan raked his hand through his hair. “I don’t get why he’d call your name. It’s not as if you—”
“It’s not as if I take care of him every day, feed him, bathe him, put him to bed. No, I don’t do those things. But over the past weeks, he and I have developed a rapport. He knows he can trust me, even though he doesn’t like some of the things I ask him to do. He knows I…I love him.”
Their gazes locked and neither of them could turn away. Gina wished she hadn’t divulged what she had, but it was the truth. Logan was very big on the truth. What would he say if she said she still loved him?
She wasn’t going to go there. She couldn’t.
Finally, he tore his gaze away and stood, still studying his son as if he didn’t understand what had happened.
“I don’t think Hannah expected you home tonight, did she?” Gina asked.
“No. I told her I’d be home tomorrow or the next day. I kept thinking about Daniel, this being my first trip away from him for a while. When I called, Hannah said everything was fine.”
“It was, until the storm hit.”
“Do you want me to take him? I mean, I know you have to get home.”
“I’m my own person now, Logan. Raina knows where I am. But if you don’t want me here, I can leave.”
He looked torn between what was best for his son and what was best for him. Finally he suggested, “When he falls asleep, lay him in his crib. I’ll take over from there. I have to take a shower. I’ve been in meetings for the past forty-eight hours, then storms delayed us in Chicago.”
Again he studied her with Daniel, but his gaze lingered on her face. She saw those sparks in his eyes, the same sparks that had been there when she was eighteen.
Daniel stirred and her attention shifted to him.
When she looked up again, Logan had left the room.
Logan stood in the shower, letting the stinging cold water hit his body. He willed it to chase away the desire for Gina, the need he struggled to hide. Damn it, but he wanted her and there were so many reasons why he shouldn’t, not the least of which was Daniel.
He switched the water from cold to hot but the warmth did nothing to ease the tension in his neck and shoulders from too many meetings and too much negotiation. He’d packed a week’s worth of work into two days so he could return to his son.
And his son had turned away from him—toward Gina.
Was it simply the fact that he was a man and Daniel needed a woman’s touch? Apparently Hannah’s hadn’t worked.
He soaped with a vigor that was almost abrasive and he toweled off with the same vehemence. He’d never in a thousand years expected Gina to be here when he got home. What had Hannah been thinking?
She’d been thinking about Daniel.
With a sigh, Logan admitted he couldn’t be upset with Hannah. She always did what was best for his son. He wished he knew exactly what that was at this point.
Maybe Gina would be gone by the time he returned to Daniel’s room.
Avoidance? That’s your strategy? his common sense asked him.
He thought that avoidance might be a good thing right about now as he slid into a pair of gray jogging shorts, still aroused. The air-conditioning in the house sent drafts across his wet back, but he hardly noticed as he pulled on a T-shirt, forgot about shoes, ran his fingers through his still-wet hair, and with some reluctance went to Daniel’s bedroom.
Gina had switched off all the lamps except for the Winnie the Pooh nightlight that glowed like a beacon in the corner of the room. She stood at the crib, patting his son on the back. Her profile was backlit, limned in the golden light. Her soft curls lay along her cheek, down her neck to her shoulder. Her nose was straight except for that tiny little bump. Her small chin was defined and the outline of her lips—
She apparently sensed him watching her because she dropped her hands to her sides and turned his way. “He’s asleep. He’s tuckered out from all that crying.”
As she walked toward him, Logan stood perfectly still.
She stopped in front of him. “I’ll be on my way now.” She didn’t even take a breath before she walked into the hall.
Swiftly, he went after her and caught her hand. “Gina, wait.”
She looked up at him with those big brown eyes that had captivated him when he was twenty-two. “This is difficult for both of us, Logan. I didn’t know whether to come or not. I didn’t mean to overstep—”
Before he could even think about what he was doing, he swore, brought her close, then held on to her as if she were a vision who might disappear. She didn’t push away. Not wanting to scare her or panic her or let any demon from her past raise its head, he gently pushed her hair back from her ears and kissed her. It was a soft tender kiss that told her he remembered everything they’d once had.
She wrapped her arms around him tighter and buried her head in his chest. “Logan.”
He didn’t know what she was trying to tell him. He was aroused and he knew she could feel it.
“Gina,” he murmured. “There’s a connection between us that’s been there from the moment I met you. And it’s still there.”
After she pushed away from him, she gazed up at him and took his face between her hands. “I know.”
“Do you want to come to my bedroom with me?” He nodded to the door down the hall.
“Is that where you and your wife slept?”
He shook his head. “No. We took a suite upstairs. This one was a guest room. I had it and Daniel’s room redone before he came home from the hospital.”
Gina’s voice was soft, as if she was afraid to say the words out loud. “I want to come to your bedroom with you.”
Unable to help himself, Logan swept her up into his arms. His bare feet made no sound on the carpeted hallway and when he pushed open the door to the bedroom, it creaked. The hall light spilled inside, but Gina wasn’t looking around at the decor. She was looking at him.
After he set her by the side of the bed, he tossed back the covers, then hesitated. He’d heard of rape victims having flashbacks. He didn’t want to trigger anything that would cause her panic.
“Logan, don’t look so worried. Try to forget about my past, please.”
“I want you to understand something, Gina. I haven’t been with a woman since before Amy died. I’ll try my best to hold back with you, to do whatever you need. I will stop if you ask me to. I want to make that clear. But I want you with a need that’s been building for weeks. You have to understand that, too.”
“Undress me, Logan,” she said shakily. “Let’s just start with that.”
He was heading into troubled waters. Once they started getting swept away, how difficult would it be to turn back?
When he looked into her eyes, he didn’t care. When he let himself feel the heat between them, nothing else mattered. That was what concerned him most.
Still he went ahead, slid his fingers under her top, and slowly pulled it up and over her head. Standing before him in her bra, she smiled at him, a sweet, encouraging smile that told him she definitely wanted to go ahead with this.
As she reached for his T-shirt, she said, “Maybe we can do this at the same time.” She lifted his T-shirt up, stood on tiptoe to drag it up over his chin and his head.
He mumbled, “Maybe we can.”
When she slid her hand over his chest, his breath hitched.
“Your skin is still damp.”
To talk, he had to breathe. “It was still wet when I dragged on my T-shirt.�
�
“Do you often dress without drying off?”
He laughed. “Only when I’m in a hurry.”
“No hurry now,” she said, leaning forward, kissing his chest.
He slid his hands into her hair and gently tugged her away from him. “This is about you, too. You don’t have to prove anything to me. I know it’s probably easier for you to focus on my pleasure than yours, but I want you to be here, Gina, really here while we do this.”
He saw her chest rise and fall as she closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again. “I’m here.”
Her vulnerability awed him. She trusted him completely. That was the responsibility he had to handle like a treasure.
Bending forward, he kissed her while his hands caressed her back and unhooked her bra. His mouth told her in a hundred ways how much he desired her. She didn’t hesitate to stroke his tongue with hers, to put her hands on his body, to rub down his spine until all he wanted was to bury himself deep inside her. When he broke off the kiss, her fingers went to the drawstring at his waist and his went to the button on her shorts. They stripped each other quickly and crawled into bed together, eager and short of breath.
They lay face-to-face for a while, touching and kissing. Logan wanted to make sure Gina was ready for him…wanted to make sure she didn’t doubt what they were doing…wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything to make her afraid.
Finally, when he didn’t think he could hold back any longer, he asked, “Are you on birth control?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t even think about it. I never thought we’d—”
“I have condoms in the drawer.”
Her eyes asked him what her lips wouldn’t.
“The box has never been opened,” he said with a wry chuckle. “I was saving them for the day I was ready.”
“Are you ready?”
He nodded. “All I know is that at this moment, I want you, and I need you.”
As Gina caressed him, he groaned, wondering at the same time what was going through her head.
But she didn’t say. She just whispered, “Get the box and I’ll put one on you.”
He slid over to the nightstand, searched in the drawer and found the box in the back. Quickly he took out a packet and handed it to her. He was a man who usually took control of any situation he was in, but he knew tonight he couldn’t. He had to let Gina take the lead.
He lay back and watched Gina tear open the packet. She was beautiful as she sat up and slid out the condom.
He’d turned on the bedside lamp and now he asked, “Do you want me to turn that off?”
“No. I want to see you, and I want you to see me.”
He knew exactly what she meant. She didn’t want him to get confused and imagine his wife’s face in his mind.
“Gina—” He had to keep her focused on him, in the now, right here.
She didn’t roll the condom on right away, she teased him first with her fingers. His jaw locked. His hands clenched into fists. He had to last for her. He had to do whatever was necessary to make this good for her.
After she’d finished, he exhaled and reached for her. “On top of me, Gina. You set the pace.”
Now she looked a little rattled, as if the extent of what they were going to do had hit her.
“We can stop,” he forced out when it was the last thing he wanted to say.
Instead of answering directly, she stretched out on top of him and requested, “Kiss me again.”
Logan gladly fulfilled her request, alert for any nuance of change. Soon, however, he was absorbed in their passion, aroused to a limit he’d never experienced…using willpower in a way he never thought possible.
She must have realized he was at the end of his control. As she broke the kiss, she sat up and straddled him.
Logan’s aim was to give her mindless pleasure. He stroked her breasts and thumbed her nipples until she moaned and murmured his name.
The next thing he knew, she was allowing him to slowly enter her. He gazed into her eyes and saw only pleasure as she began to move. He held her hips as they both began to glisten with passion, as her soft cries mingled with his groans. When she moved faster, he rocked with her. Seconds later she cried out, calling his name.
He knew everything was all right. He knew she’d stayed here and had allowed herself to fly with him. She kept moving, her body tightening around him until his climax hit, too, and his need was satisfied in a shuddering release.
It was a long time until they could both catch their breaths. After they had, he gathered her into his arms.
“Are you okay?” He leaned away slightly to study her face.
She smiled at him. “I’m more than okay. How about you?”
“More than okay.”
The problem was he didn’t know where they should go from here.
Gina was still floating in a sensually induced haze when Logan returned from the bathroom. Everything about tonight had been unplanned and surprising. She didn’t know what was going to happen next.
Is that so bad? she asked herself, knowing organizing and compartmentalizing and planning had become defense mechanisms over the years. If she knew what was in a room before she walked into it, she could stay safe. If she dotted every i and crossed every t, nothing would surprise her. If she ate the right foods, exercised enough and took self-defense courses, she could defend herself no matter who came after her. She’d lived her life without any deviation from her carefully chosen path.
Until she’d impulsively decided to return to Sagebrush. Until destiny or serendipity had put Daniel’s chart on her desk. Maybe fate wasn’t that mysterious. She’d moved into the Victorian with Francesca, become friends with Tessa—
The Victorian. The rumor. Any woman who resided there would find true love. She’d found true love once with Logan and turned her back on it. But now…
When he climbed into bed beside her, she didn’t know what to expect. Did he have regrets? Had tonight been physical rather than emotional for him? What would he want now? What would he do next?
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked.
She shook her head. She didn’t need something to drink. She needed to know what was in Logan’s head.
“That really was good for you?”
She knew he meant their lovemaking. He couldn’t bring himself to use the words, she supposed. She knew tonight might not have been possible with anyone but Logan. She’d known he’d never hurt her. With each kiss and each touch, he’d respect who she was and what she’d been through. She trusted him implicitly, at least where a physical intimate connection was concerned. She wasn’t sure about their emotional one. Was he really ready to move on? Had he truly forgiven her? Would he trust her to put a commitment to him and Daniel first above all else?
“Logan, I’m more than okay. Tonight was wonderful. This couldn’t have happened with anyone but you.”
“I didn’t intend for anything to happen.”
“I know.”
They both looked toward the monitor and Daniel sleeping soundly in his crib. “We’re getting to know each other all over again,” he murmured.
“Is that something you want?”
“I thought I didn’t. I thought Daniel and I would be better off going it alone. But tonight, when I came home and saw you with him, I began to doubt that decision.”
“For your sake or his?”
“For both our sakes.” Now he brushed his thumb across her cheek and laced his fingers in her curls. “Maybe we should try being friends, try being lovers, and see where it goes. We won’t rush headlong into anything.”
So he could hang on to his wife’s memory? Or was he protecting himself in case she turned her back again? She wouldn’t do that. She couldn’t.
“I’m not sure I understand what you want,” she admitted. “A weekend together, now and then? Should I stay in or out of Daniel’s life? Do you want me here to help put Daniel to bed? Do you want to go riding toge
ther, be seen in public, have dinner at my mom’s house?” She hadn’t intended for all the questions to spill out, but they just had.
“I don’t have the answers, Gina, but I do have a suggestion.”
“What?” She liked the sense of anticipation in his voice.
“Next weekend, I have to go to Houston. How would you like to come with me?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’d love to go with you.”
“I’m having a full day of meetings with the people who run my foundation,” he explained. “They’re going to catch me up on the research, explore ways to help pregnant women with cancer. If you’d like, you can sit in on the sessions with me. There’s a dinner and dance Saturday evening to raise money. We’d have Friday night together and Saturday night after the dance. I’m thinking about asking Hannah to go along with Daniel. I don’t want to leave him again after what happened tonight. That way I can spend time with him on and off while we’re there. What do you think?”
From the sounds of it, he would be incorporating her into his life. And not just his life, but Daniel’s, too. “I think it’s a terrific idea. I can help with Daniel.”
Logan slipped his arms around her and brought her close to him. “I’m not asking you to go along for that reason.”
“I know.”
“Do you think he’ll handle a plane ride okay?” Logan wondered.
“We’ll make it okay. With you, me and Hannah, he won’t be bored.”
Logan laughed, an honest-to-goodness, genuine laugh. “You’re right about that.” He lifted her chin and kissed her deeply. Afterward, he said, “I guess we should get some sleep.”
She’d like nothing better than to sleep all night in his arms.
She suddenly realized that wasn’t exactly true. She’d like nothing better than to spend every night in his arms.
Chapter Eleven
Gina sat quietly beside Logan at the dinner-dance Saturday evening, taking in the conversations swirling around her at the long table.
The Texas Billionaire's Baby Page 14
