by Pam Godwin
Kaci’s husband.
Gay.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood there. Remotely, I heard the rasp of my thinning breaths as my thoughts filtered through every interaction I’d shared with Kaci and every goddamned thing she’d said. About Collin. About love. Maybe the clues had been there all along, but Jesus, I would’ve never guessed this.
The longer I stood there, the lighter my chest felt. She loved her husband, but not in a way that would threaten her future with me. Her marriage was a ruse, one that had likely been forced on them in lieu of Trenchant’s goddamned image. God, it all made sense now.
I backed out of the room on silent feet and strode down the hall, headed toward the other bedrooms at the opposite end of the condo. Each step ladened with guilt, every breath filling with hope. Fucking hell, why hadn’t she told me? I’d treated her like a cheater. I’d judged her. Used her. How could she not hate me?
My gait quickened, my blood seething beneath my skin in my urgency to find her. When I pushed through the door of the second largest bedroom, the remnants of my shock fled into the stillness of the room.
The king-size bed was empty, the blankets twisted and thrown to the side. My attention caught on the couch that faced the windows, my eyes locked on the curl of blonde hair draped over the armrest.
Anticipation built in my gut. I locked the door and covered the distance, my need for her powering my strides. I needed her in my arms. I needed her to forgive me. I needed to protect her, to make her happy. My needs with her were endless and intoxicating, and I would spend the rest of my life fulfilling each and every one if she let me.
Rounding the side of the couch, I knelt before the illumination of her sleeping figure and removed my gloves. “Night-vision off.”
Her lashes fluttered but remained closed. The moonlight from the window cast a glow over her golden hair and paled the smooth skin of her long legs folded beneath the tangle of her nightshirt.
The sight of her curled in the corner of the couch wrapped a painful fist around my heart. It also magnified the significance of her loneliness.
She wouldn’t be alone anymore. She belongs to me.
I drank in every detail of her body, from her delicate bone structure and soft breaths to the curl of her fingers beneath her cheek. A steady, calm pulse of peacefulness floated through me, filling me with euphoria. I didn’t want the moment to end, but I couldn’t stop my hands from sliding over either side of her face. “Kaci. Wake up.”
She stirred, her breath hitching and her eyes blinking away sleep. I held her face as she straightened her head and stared at my visor, her hands lifting to wrap around my wrists.
There was no surprise or fear in her gaze, her silence passing long and deep with the whisper of the vent in the ceiling. Finally, she licked her lips and released a heavy breath. “I’m not dreaming?”
I shook my head.
Her eyes widened. “You said my name.”
I nodded.
She moved her hands from mine to hook a finger beneath the collar of my leather jacket. “I love the ties, but this—” Her other hand slid over the side of my helmet as her face transformed into a breathtaking smile. “This is you.”
“You knew.”
His synthesized voice hummed over my skin, caressing every nerve-ending in my body. Not even shock or the dregs of sleep could dull his effect on me.
Logan. A man who didn’t have hairy moles, a unibrow, or bucked teeth. Maybe I was shallow, but God, I wanted him to be the man under that helmet so damned badly.
How many times had I imagined his thick, low timbre beneath the distortion, his golden-green eyes behind the black visor, and the sculptured body I knew so intimately stretching the seams of those leathers?
I slid to the edge of the couch, my knees bracketing his hard thighs, and gripped the sides of his helmet. “I hoped.”
With his huge hands cupping my face and all his imposing strength kneeling between my legs, I couldn’t stop the shiver of hopeful excitement. He was here. Damn all the consequences that would follow. He’d come for me, and Trenchant didn’t seem to be on the agenda. At least not at that moment.
I only wore a t-shirt and panties. Yet the surrounding air rose in temperature, fleeing the space between us as an invisible line pulled us together. His hips rolled into the V of my thighs, grinding in a slow circle. He pressed me into the couch, and his jacket creaked with the movement. A tremor quaked over his body, all that leather rubbing against my t-shirt and hardening my nipples beneath the thin fabric.
My breath quickened, and his followed, faster, louder. That sound, his need, surged a tingling up my legs as my brain dizzily grabbed hold of reality. The commanding suit and tie, the powerfully-built muscles, the aggression exuded on a bike and in a boardroom, every masculine tool that held me captive was all wrapped-up in one destructively-sexy, badass package. And all of it was right here, vibrating between my legs, burning for me.
A spasm convulsed through my inner walls, and my thighs opened wantonly. I slid my thumbs along the seal of his visor, trying and failing to unlock it from its closed position. “I need to see you.”
Bathed in the glimmer from the lights beyond the windows, he released my face and unbuckled the chin strap. His hips shifted with the movement, whispering cool air over the damp crotch of my panties. I wanted him there, and the thought produced a torrent of clenching inside me. “Hurry.”
My lungs filled with air as the slow lift of his helmet revealed the cords of his neck, his strong whiskered jawline and, my God, those lips.
I launched at him before the chin guard cleared his eyes. Grabbing his wide shoulders, I captured his mouth and stole his surprised exhale. The helmet thumped somewhere behind him as his fingers shoved through my hair and his tongue curled through my mouth, claiming and fighting and claiming again.
His stubble scratched a trail of fire around my lips. Zaps of electricity ricocheted through my body. My mouth closed over his, pulled back, and attacked again, over and over, filling the room with the wet smacking sounds of our hunger.
The aggressive press of his jaw controlled the movement of mine, and the toe-curling stroke of his tongue spiraled more wet heat between my legs.
He broke the kiss, and his gaze lifted, searching my eyes. The dark blond strands of his hair stood up every which way, a delicious contrast to the clean-cut, gelled look in the office. Pale flickers of light danced over his perfectly straight nose, the etched planes of his chiseled cheekbones, and the moisture glistening on his parted lips.
I couldn’t look away from those lips, and as they tilted into a gentle smile, months of anxiety and loneliness tumbled off my shoulders and scattered into the dark. Why did that smile have such an effect on me? I loved his broody, lopsided brow, but his smile? It held conviction and healing, a promise that this beaten-down connection between us would survive, despite the lies and betrayal.
He unzipped his jacket and shrugged it off. As he yanked off his shirt, his bare shoulders and biceps played and flexed beneath his smooth skin, his eyes never leaving mine. “We have shit to hash out, and we will. I’m not going anywhere.” He glanced at the door and back to me. “I locked the door. I know what’s going on down the hall.”
I straightened, my mind piecing together his meaning and the implications. “You saw them?”
“They were asleep.” His attention lowered to my lap. “Widen your legs.” He leaned over me, a twitch jumping in the carved bricks of his nude chest. “Wider.”
My body obeyed as my protectiveness of Collin held onto the conversation. “It’s his secret, Logan.”
He nodded, gripped my ankles, and stretched them farther apart, propping my feet on the edges of the cushion. I held breathlessly still, lost in the stroke of his knuckles as they slid along my legs, from my knees to the edge of my panties.
“Fuck, Kaci, I’ve missed you.” He flattened his hands on my inner thighs, framing the triangle of my white panties. His thumbs traced just outside
the edges of the lace, caressing the sensitive skin. “So soft here. Like silk.”
I jerked my hips, my clit pulsing against the piercing and my pussy quivering to be stretched and filled.
He leaned into me, his brow resting against mine as he hooked a finger in the crotch of my panties. “What would Collin do if he walked in right now?”
I tried to form a coherent thought, but sweet fucking hell, that finger. He worked it through my folds, teasing the edges of my opening, around and around without entering. “Logan, please.”
He shifted closer, his chest pressing me into the corner of the armrest, all his hard, heated flesh enveloping my senses. His mouth opened to accommodate his staggering breaths, and his hips rocked with the sudden thrust of his finger.
Shock waves trembled through my insides. His mouth closed on mine, his tongue a gentle lick compared to the violent drive of his finger. One commanding thrust followed by another, and I was completely at his mercy. Wet and needy, I melted like butter, falling helplessly, shamelessly, under his spell.
He brushed his lips over my cheek, my eyelids, my nose, returning to my mouth and kissing me again, deeper, harder. His hips rolled in a seductive grind, rocking his torso with the pace of his finger. The position of his body put his groin at the edge of the couch, and I wondered if he was rubbing his cock against the cushion to assuage the ache.
“Does he have a key to your bedroom?” His finger circled my piercing, his mouth moving against mine. “Anything I need to worry about if he finds Evader here? Or finds me as Evader?”
I dug my nails into his shoulder blades and bucked against his touch. “He’d knock before using the key.” I licked my lips, my heartbeat elevating with my need for relief. “He’s not possessive or conniving. Not— Oh God, right there.”
He shoved two fingers inside me, his head falling to my shoulder as he pumped in and out. “Not what?”
I grabbed his hair and held him against me as I flexed my hips, clenching my muscles and fucking his hand. “He’s not a bad man, Logan. I know him.”
He pulled his hand away and brought it to his mouth. “Not what I’m asking.” He wrapped his lips around his wet fingers and sucked, his eyes closing. His nostrils flared, and a low moan rumbled deep in his throat.
I shuddered, mesmerized, as he opened his eyes and returned his hand between my legs.
“You need to understand…” He thrust his fingers inside, sparking a tremble along my thighs. “If Collin does anything that forces me to run, we are running. You and me.”
A confrontation with Collin would likely result in an airing of secrets. Would Collin call the cops and turn in the notorious Evader? Would he call his father and devise Logan’s death? No fucking way. Not Collin.
His hand stopped moving, his fingers curling along my inner muscles. “We’ll decide what to do about Trenchant together. And if we have to run, we’ll do it together. The fourth option.”
Running away together. The fourth option. It sounded so fairytale-ish. But that didn’t stop a very hopeful flutter from taking flight in my stomach. “And if I tell you to walk away from your revenge?”
He removed his fingers, laced them through mine, and moved our hands to his chest. “Feel that?”
The thump of his heart strummed against my palm, steady and strong. I nodded.
“It beats for you, Kaci. I choose you.”
The last traces of tension loosened from my muscles and broke free. It was dangerous to cling to those words, to believe that regardless of what happened, he wouldn’t leave me. But the risks he’d taken to sneak into my condo, not knowing if Collin would turn him in or tell his father, attested to the fact that he’d given up his revenge.
I’d lived in constant paranoia since I married Collin, always on guard about sex and relationships, but not now. Not with him. Funny that the man who betrayed me made me feel…less worried? Certain? Safe.
He tilted his head, his face so close his breath brushed my lips. “And if you have to trade your career for a life on the run?”
I untangled our hands and placed both of mine on his whiskered jaw. A fever of emotions coursed through me, but one sentiment burned stronger than all the rest. “I go where you go.”
His face hardened beneath my palms, his eyes holding mine hostage. “Unless it’s prison or death.”
A swallow formed in my throat. There was definitely no us in either of those scenarios. “Then we fight and evade.”
He rose and smacked a hard palm against my thigh, startling a gasp from my lips. “Stand up.”
Evidently, he was done talking. And done waiting because he gripped my hand and jerked me to my feet. I followed willingly, a glutton for the sexy way he took charge.
Leaning into my back, he walked us toward the bed, clicking on the lamp as we went. “I’ve thought of nothing but you every day, every second.” His hands curled around my hips, lifting the nightshirt and yanking it over my head. “It’s been a month, Kaci.”
Only the panties remained, and my bare skin shivered beneath the caress of the air, my nipples tightening into needy points.
“No girlfriends? Or flings?” I kept my back to him, staring at the empty bed. Why the hell was I asking this? Yet I couldn’t stop. “I’ve seen you at the races. You damn near have to beat the women off you.”
He spun me, and the backs of my legs hit the mattress. With his hands on my waist, he lowered me onto the bed and dragged me to the center on my back, the sheets soft and cool against my skin.
Leaning over my body, he propped his fists on either side of my hips. “It's only been you since our night in the elevator.”
My mouth dried as I connected that night to every moment since. He saved me from the bald man in the alley. He blackmailed my family and fucked me in a hotel room five days later. He followed me on Rogers Avenue and told me he was angry with his mother. “You knew that was me on the bike? All this time?”
He straightened and released the button on the waistband of his leathers. “My helmet”—he lowered the zipper on his pants—“has night vision, among other things. I didn’t know who you were until you removed your helmet in the elevator.”
Okay, wow. Finding out the woman sucking him off was his brother’s wife? That explained his sudden freak out. And now I was curious about the other things his helmet could do.
He removed his boots. His pants went next. Then he stood before me, a powerhouse of twitching muscle, all long, strong limbs and a huge, hard cock. Really hard. Long. Thick. Distracting.
“Keep staring at it.” He gripped the base with a tight fist as his gaze roamed my body and landed on my face. “You’re about to feel exactly how hard the last month has been.”
His voice was casual, but the intensity of his golden-green eyes said so much more. His wide stance and the V-line etching his abs didn’t move. Time didn’t move as we stared at one another, our thoughts colliding and twisting together, our eyes communicating on a level that transcended words. In that single moment of eye contact, we fought, apologized, forgave, and fucked. Then, through that power of silent understanding, we shared our fears, desires, and hopes.
It left me trembling for more.
Lifting my hips, I slid off my panties and tossed them. He tracked my movements, his fist tightening on his cock. I planted my feet on the bed, spread my legs, and slid my finger along my slit.
A wave of twitches rippled over the tensile muscles of his torso right before he shot forward. His body covered mine, his heavy bulk crushing my air and jump-starting my heart. His ragged breaths heated my face as he lightened his weight with his arms and spread me wider with the force of his legs.
His head dropped against mine, and he looked down the length of our bodies. Hand on his cock, he positioned himself and rubbed the tip through my folds.
I flexed against him, his lips separating, our exhales merging.
Then he raised his eyes and stared intently into mine. “I’m clean. No more shit between us, okay?”
>
No more secrets and no more condoms? I nodded, grinning. I was on the pill. But instead of asking about that, he thrust. A hard, claiming shove to the root.
We shuddered together, joined as closely as two bodies could be. He buried his mouth in my neck, mine dropped to his shoulder, and he groaned so hungrily it made my heart pound and my pussy clamp down.
His body tensed and shook over me, against me, surrounding me. He rotated his hips, slow and patient, dragging his cock deep inside, letting me adjust to his size.
Then he moved. Fast. Ruthless. Out of control. He was carnal need, power, and passion. I felt it in every drive of his length and the hard contractions of his ass beneath my hands.
He swept me up in his madness, overwhelming me with a thousand sensations at once. The stroke of his tongue on my neck, the leather and soap scent of his skin, the rippling packs of muscle in his back, the soft tousle of his hair, the scratch of his hard nipples against my chest, his eyes finding and locking on mine, and the sudden and mind-blowing shock of my orgasm.
I came hard and long, a moan tearing from my throat, every molecule in my body on fire with tingling pleasure. When I caught my breath, it escaped with laughter.
“There’s my girl.” He kissed my forehead, pulled out, and flipped me to my belly. My pussy was still pulsing from my release when he entered me in one, long slam of his hips.
He bent down and brushed a kiss over the top of my spine. Propping his upper body with one hand, his other caressed my thigh, moving higher until he reached my hip bone and lifted it to angle my ass in the position he wanted.
I rocked my hips, dragging the heated steel of his length in and out. “I don’t know if I’m up for a repeat of last time.”
His hand stopped my movements, gripping my thigh and yanking my butt tight against his pelvis. “Yes, you are.”
With his cock still buried and his knees on the outsides of mine, he wove his fingers through my hair and lowered his hard, warm chest against my back.
Then, on hands and knees, he rode my body the way he rode his bike. With intimidation, recklessness, and unharnessed energy. Collin’s words, and while they rang true, I shuddered at the memory of him imagining his brother like that.
