by Tina Donahue
Logan’s hand stalled on her clit.
Tessa didn’t break their connection as he expected, nor did she try to explain away her behavior or hide it. Nicole had once acted the same, focusing only on him. However, comparing Tessa to her was crazy. Thinking back, he now recognized Nicole’s intensity as a warning, something to fear, not the love he’d believed it to be.
Tessa’s expression was quite different. Beneath her searching gaze, he saw tenderness and a gentle spirit. The kind that healed a man’s battered soul and also put it at risk once again. Nothing lasted forever. Even when people led normal, uneventful lives, committed to their union all the way to the end, they still parted. One leaving the other behind.
Sad crap he didn’t want to think about any longer. Not when there was pleasure to be had.
He concentrated on her body, rather than her expression and brought Tessa to climax, fascinated at how her vulva deepened in color and her breasts jiggled with her unruly breaths. At last, she closed her eyes and collapsed against him, alternately panting and swallowing.
She needed to rest, but Logan couldn’t allow it. There was too much he wanted them to do. He laid several towels on the speckled marble, settling Tessa on them. She swung her hand to the side, then dropped it as though her arm was too heavy to keep up.
“What are you doing?” she murmured. “The bedroom’s only a few steps away.”
“Too far.”
“For what?”
Logan showed her, facing Tessa’s feet, truly nonchalant about his scars. They didn’t matter to him any longer, because they’d never bothered her. Not in the way he’d dreaded.
Unfolding his body over hers, Logan positioned his head near Tessa’s cunt, his balls and cock above her face. Without hesitation, she spread her legs to him, offering herself once more even as she drew his shaft into her mouth and suckled its length. Uncivilized noises poured from them both, intoxicating yet also comforting. She caressed his balls and dragged her fingers through his pubic hair. He spread her cheeks as well as he could, his forefinger exploring her anus as his tongue rasped her nub.
Before long, they indulged themselves to the extreme, sucking, licking, grunting, and groaning, pausing only to gulp air because their own arousal threatened to overwhelm.
Logan fought his climax as though his life depended upon it, wanting Tessa to come first. It was only right. He was the damn master…she was his willing slave.
Defiant as always, she outlasted him by a few seconds, for which he threatened to punish her.
“You damn well better,” she said, then added meekly, “Please.”
Lord, lord, lord. There just wasn’t another woman like her.
Wednesday soon melted into Thursday. Logan awoke alone again. After a quick search, he found Tessa in the pool. She floated on her back. Water slid over her belly, some of it trapped in her navel.
“Afternoon,” she cooed.
He tore his attention from her cunt and hips, bobbing on the gentle waves she’d made. “You let me sleep again?”
“You were tired. Fifty-five year old men get that way, but it’s okay. I understand.”
He growled and laughed, then dove in, chasing her across the length of the pool, catching her easily. With his body and superior strength, he backed her into the smooth wall at the swallow end.
“What are you doing?” she murmured.
He’d already cupped her ass in both hands, using the water’s buoyancy to pull Tessa up and into him. Answering her, he said, “Taking advantage of the short time I have left. Tomorrow you’ll have me pushing eighty.”
She ran her tapered nail down his stubbled cheek. “Ninety-three,” she corrected. “When one gets old, they lose track of time. But I under—”
She didn’t finish. Couldn’t. His mouth was over hers, his tongue probing deep. She purred and moaned as he plunged his cock into her cunt and they made love, just as he’d wanted, in the comforting water.
Before they collapsed into bed that night, he set his alarm for four a.m.
He woke at one the following afternoon. His shoulders bunched. He yelled, “Tessa!”
“In here,” she called from the bath.
He stumbled inside ready to raise hell for her having let him sleep, but didn’t when he saw what she’d laid out on the counter. “What’s this?”
“You need a shave,” she breathed, her face to his neck. “You’re beginning to look like a bum.”
He put her hand on his cock and murmured, “I thought I looked pretty damn good, considering my advanced age. You turned off my alarm. Why?”
She stepped back. “I got tired of it blaring. It was hurting my ears.”
And he’d slept through it? God, maybe he was getting old.
“Move your hand,” she said.
He looked down, surprised he was still pressing hers against his rod. He released her.
Tessa took another step back and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. With her head cocked to one side, she regarded his male equipment.
“Something wrong?” Logan asked, only because he knew there wasn’t. Not with that part of him.
“You may need a trim there too,” she said, pointing at his groin. “I’ll manscape you.”
“Man what?”
Tessa explained.
Logan wasn’t certain if she was yanking his chain about men getting their privates trimmed, like a goddamn hedge.
He laughed. “You’re serious?”
She nodded and moved closer, like she was ready to take a pair of scissors to him.
He sobered quickly. “No fucking way. Not this man.”
“I agree.” Sagged against him, Tessa ran her fingers through his thick pubic curls. “You’re fine there. Here too.” She tugged at the tuft in his left pit. “But a shave wouldn’t kill you.”
It might, given how beat he was from taking her repeatedly. “Are my chin and cheeks scratching you?” He eased away so he could see if his bristles had irritated her boobs, cunt or face.
“Only a little,” she said.
Damn. All of those spots on her were slightly reddened, harmed without him even realizing it or noticing until now. “Sorry.”
“Hey, hey, hey.” She cupped his cheek in her palm. “No real harm done.”
Well, not any longer that was for damn sure. “Hang tight. I’ll be done in a sec.”
Tessa stopped him before he could turn on the faucet. “I’ll do it.” She scrambled on the bath’s marble countertop, her legs parted, welcoming him inside.
Logan moved as close as the counter allowed, the chilled surface pressed against the root of his shaft.
Smiling, Tessa turned on the water, testing it until she liked its temperature. She wet his cheeks, chin, upper lip, and throat with such a gentle touch Logan’s knees just about buckled. After lathering his face with more care than he ever had, she warned him not to move.
“Don’t want to nick you,” she cautioned, showing him his razor.
“I’ll consider myself warned.”
But hardly obedient. As Tessa scraped off the whiskers on his right cheek, Logan played with her left nipple. When he decided to stroke her clit too, she jerked her hand. Shaving cream sprayed on his face and pec.
“Guess I shouldn’t do that, huh?” he asked.
Tessa tap, tap, tapped the razor against her chin, spraying both of them with foam.
He was a relatively good boy after that, not complaining at all when she slapped his hands away from her various body parts. Despite how he continued to misbehave, she did a great job on his face.
As he ran his hand over his baby-smooth cheeks and chin, she tugged the ends of his hair. “You need a trim badly.”
“Later.” He took the razor from her, dropped it in the sink and carried her piggyback style to bed.
That was yesterday…Friday. Now it was Saturday afternoon, her last full day here. She’d be going home tomorrow.
Logan slumped farther into his office chair, rooms away from Tess
a who still slumbered in their bed. Or rather, the one in the master bedroom that belonged to him, not them. For once, he’d awakened before she had, not even needing the alarm. Throughout the night, he’d kept jerking awake, too agitated to sleep deeply, afraid he’d come to just as she was leaving on Sunday.
He rubbed his mouth and ordered himself to forget about his turbulent emotions and do some work. These last days away from it had put him seriously behind. Once he got started on his projects again, he hoped to become so involved that the world around him would cease to exist. He wouldn’t brood over Tessa leaving, never seeing her again, because he couldn’t.
This was all about fun, nothing—
A sound in the hall interrupted his thoughts. He looked over just as Tessa reached the doorway. She stopped scratching the side of her boob in favor of smoothing back her bed-messy hair.
Logan pressed his feet into the floor, needing that to keep him from going to her. She looked too fucking adorable. Too damn real and enticing.
“Hungry?” she asked.
It took all of his will not to stare at her nipples or cleft. He noticed she didn’t hold back in the least as she studied his chest and cock, since he hadn’t bothered to get dressed either. “I had a bagel earlier. You go ahead.”
She padded into his office, turning briefly as Molly and Jack ran inside, making a beeline for her, not their master. The guy who fed, watered, and spoiled them rotten.
Bent at the waist, with her luscious ass facing him, Tessa scratched each pup behind the ears. She turned to him, a clump of her hair falling over her face. Tessa pushed it back. “Have they been fed?”
As if he’d forget? “Yep.”
She scolded the pups gently. “Then you guys have nothing to complain about. So you behave, understand?”
They licked her fingers as though she’d dipped them in Alpo. Tessa blew them a kiss and straightened. Both pups followed her as she bypassed Logan’s desk, taking in the room. It was the only one without a cathedral ceiling and windows everywhere, just two normal-sized panes on the west side. The sun’s rays spilled through the spotless glass, brightening the stone fireplace and brick walls.
“Whoa,” Tessa said, her hand to her throat. “I’ve heard of man caves before, but this really takes it to a new level.”
Logan joked, “You should have seen it before I had the bats removed and the windows installed.”
Tessa didn’t comment. She’d stopped at the cork board on the far side of his desk, the photos pinned to it. After studying a few, she glanced from them to him and back again, obviously comparing features. Trying to determine which boy was Connor. She leaned really close and stared at the picture of a small girl around Samantha’s age when she’d died, no doubt attempting to match her features with those Internet photos of Nicole.
Logan explained, “Those are kids who made it through surgery or whose health improved with the devices I helped design.”
Tessa stepped back and regarded the children with a different expression, one of hope rather than sadness, then turned to him. “Is that what you’re working on now? Another device?”
He’d been trying to but hadn’t gotten very far. “Yeah.”
“Can I see?” She went behind his desk and glanced at the schematic and notes on his computer monitors. Earlier, the monitors had still been in the upstairs closet along with the camcorders he set up when they’d been messing around.
With her hand on her thigh, Tessa leaned closer to the screens. “What is that exactly?”
“It’s for bone deformities. It uses magnets, rather than invasive surgery, to correct a problem.”
Her eyes widened. “Wow. How is it possible to do that?”
“It’s not really that hard when you understand the concept behind it.” He pointed to the screen and explained what he was showing her, how he’d come to use that particular tactic for the problem he was trying to solve.
He wasn’t even remotely into his demonstration when she interrupted him. “That’s really something. Be right back.”
Logan turned in his chair as she left his office, followed by the pups. He called out, “Where are you going?”
“Kitchen,” she shouted.
Suddenly she was hungry?
She was gone a good ten minutes. Logan knew, he kept checking the time. When he heard her padding back down the hall, he figured she had either grabbed something quick for breakfast or made a meal that she was bringing in here. No doubt something bland such as scrambled eggs or oatmeal since he hadn’t smelled anything cooking.
When he looked over, she breezed inside with her laptop.
Tessa pointed behind herself. “I put Jack and Molly in the family room. They’re watching Sesame Street. Good thing too. They’re both old enough to learn the alphabet. I warned them there would be a pop quiz at the end of the program.”
Logan didn’t even try to stop his laughter. “You’re planning your quiz on that thing?” He gestured to her tiny laptop.
“Oh no. This is for me.” Positioned to the side of his chair so she could see his monitors, Tessa said, “Go on. Tell me again how your device works. Start from the beginning…if you don’t mind.”
With the tip of his finger, Logan edged her laptop down so he could see the screen. She’d brought up Google’s homepage. “What are you doing?”
“As you explain, I’ll search for what you’ve said. That way I won’t be bothering you with a lot of silly questions.”
Silly? Logan had never been as touched by someone’s interest in his work or as humbled. “You’re not bothering me.”
‘Well I won’t be with this.” She pulled her computer away from him. “It’s been a lifesaver.”
“Huh?”
She waved her hand in dismissal. “Nothing.”
When she didn’t continue, Logan said, “Like when you looked me up on it?”
“No.” Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, and then she made a face. “I didn’t mean that at all. Felicity told me who you were and—”
“Felicity?”
“One of the other escorts—women at the auction. After she told me who you were, I shouldn’t have looked you up. That was a terrible thing to do. I wouldn’t want my privacy invaded. However, I wasn’t talking about that.”
Uh-huh. “Then what were you talking about?”
Tessa stopped rubbing the back of her neck and regarded him. Logan couldn’t be absolutely certain, but she seemed to be considering whether to tell him the truth or not.
“I’d really like to know,” he said. No lie. She had his full attention and curiosity.
Tessa’s face reddened a bit and then she shrugged. “One of my other clients is teaching me chess. Rather than bug him with a bunch of questions, I research what he’s said. I study moves on chess websites. I never knew there were such things until I started…”
Logan stopped listening. His mind kept snagging on her first words—other clients. Another man, like him, who’d paid for her time and apparently liked her so well, he wasn’t concentrating solely on the sex but was also teaching her board games.
A stab of jealousy hit Logan so hard, his entire body bristled. Who was this fucking guy? Someone her own age? A man she was falling in love with? Is that why she’d been reluctant to mention him?
Wait a sec. If that were true why in the hell was she here with him? Liking…no needing what they did together. Tessa might have been an escort with all that it implied, but she wasn’t a great actress. Logan had gone over his years with Nicole more than enough times to know when a woman was lying, when she had a secret agenda. He knew Tessa had craved his touch. Damn, she’d longed for it.
Besides, she’d told him the first day she was here that she hadn’t been talking to a boyfriend on the phone, because there was no other man. She wasn’t involved. In the least.
Her voice filtered back. “That way I can—”
She stopped as he took her computer and put it on the other side of his desk. Her shoulders slumped.
She looked embarrassed. “If I don’t use that, I may not follow what you’re saying. Don’t worry, I won’t be taking notes. I’m not trying to steal anything from—”
He interrupted her again, this time pulling her onto his lap. Before she could get one word out, he pressed his mouth to her ear and whispered, “I’ll explain everything. You don’t have to look up one fucking term. You’re not bothering me.”
She turned her head. Their mouths were only a breath away, hers scented with coffee. She must have taken a swig of what was left in the pot before returning here. “You’re sure?”
Of this, yeah. Of everything else, fuck no. “Now pay attention. There will definitely be a quiz at the end of my lecture.”
Tessa smiled and so did he.
For the rest of the afternoon, well into the night, Logan showed her all of his medical devices, explaining the intricacies of each much as he would to a first-year engineering student. She was still lost with the jargon, but understood the basic concepts faster than he would have guessed. He recalled when she’d told him she wasn’t as dumb as a stick. No kidding. Tessa was one of the brightest and wisest women he’d ever met.
Near dawn, they went to bed. Not to sleep, but to make love. Unlike the other times, he entered Tessa slowly, hanging on to each moment, searching her face to see if she liked what he was doing. If she needed it as much as Logan feared he did.
They kissed like real lovers…two people who might have been friends if circumstances had been different. They weren’t. They were both shaped by prior events, taking paths that would never connect for very long.
Maybe that’s why he savored their lovemaking this time even more than the others, trying to make it last as long as he could.
Not even after Tessa had drifted to sleep would Logan let go, wanting her to cling to him while he fought his own fatigue and the inevitable. Today was Sunday.
Their time together at an end.
Chapter Twelve
Tessa fought intense melancholy as she prepared to leave. The last time she’d been so low was when she’d finally accepted that she’d never see her dad again or have a real family to come home to. That chapter of her life was over. No matter how much she might have wanted things to be different, or back to where they’d once been, it wasn’t going to happen.
