Unmistakably Us (Imagine Ink Book 5)

by Verlene Landon

  She didn’t say a word, just leaned in and kissed him with a hunger he didn’t expect. He devoured her mouth in return. With hesitation, he ended the kiss and led her to the tiny bathroom. Adjusting the knobs to the optimal temperature, Logan lifted her into his arms and stepped over the side into the inadequate flow.

  “I can stand, you know. I’ve been bathing myself for quite a few years.”

  Ignoring her, Logan carefully sat with January cradled in his lap. “Shush, let me take care of you. Trust me, I’m not exactly a caring person, so just lean back and enjoy the temporary lapse in my personality disorder.” He joked…but not really.

  Taking care of someone or exhibiting any kind of nurturing behavior was beyond his capacity. He administered aftercare when the knots caused too much irritation to the skin—can’t enjoy Kinbaku without it—but this was wholly unprompted.

  While it disturbed him, he was also enjoying it in a weird way. Before he washed away her smell with cheap hotel soap, he tried to appreciate every nuance of it. Until now, he had simply thought of it as sun-dried laundry kissed with morning dew or some other canned description those lotion companies in the mall used. Now, he realized it was more new beginnings and hope. The fresh crispness of her natural scent always shined through even the designer perfume she wore on stage, at least to him.

  Logan didn’t care to cover up her intoxicating scent, but he wanted to wash her hair. With one last inhale against her head, he slid them both forward until the water cascaded down her locks.

  He reached for the standard hotel shampoo and adjusted his knees and January for a more conducive position. Sensing his intention, January dragged her leg across his belly to sit straddling him, giving him the joy of looking at her face when he washed someone else’s hair for the first time.

  As he began to lather and massage her scalp, her eyelids slid down and her head dropped back. She was getting just as much pleasure from it as he was. He wasn’t even thinking about sex for practically the first time since he’d met her. He didn’t have an angle, nor was he using it to get in her pants; he genuinely wanted to do it.

  However, her moans and the wiggle motion she was doing changed that right quick. He was ready to go again in no time. Hard as granite. Not bad recovery time for someone his age.

  Five

  Tonight was a night of wows. Wows everywhere. It was the Oprah show of fucking wows.

  Wow in the back of the club. She had never done anything like that before, had never even dreamed of it.

  Wow to Logan’s…everything. Fuck me sideways, the man is built, and those piercings, capital Y-U-M-ilicious. Before tonight, January didn’t even know half of those existed.

  Wow to how she acted. January was not a racy girl. She showed her tits and fake flirted, but she was as vanilla as they came where sex was concerned. Or at least, she had been. She should be embarrassed by how she had acted. Lord knows, her mother would have a fucking coronary if she knew. Ew, no. No Mom in my head right now.

  And the biggest wow of all? This sweet side to Logan was completely unexpected. If someone had bet her, she would have taken them up on it and bet the farm, so to speak…and she would’ve lost it all.

  She hadn’t bargained for this side of him, and it terrified her as much as it was exhilarating. Logan, testosterone wrapped in a leather jacket kept a ratty old elephant in an outdated hotel room. Yeah, she noticed it in the chair when he sat down earlier. He’d tried to hide it so she didn’t dare ask, but that Logan was scary.

  The Logan she planned to fuck and enjoy in the Biblical sense was angry and edgy, dangerous in that sexy because you know it’ll piss your parents off, kind of way. Borderline douchebag level, who she wouldn’t think twice about walking away from after she was sated.

  This Logan? This Logan was dangerous, and not in the exciting way; in the holy shit, I could lose my heart kind of way.

  Not good January, not good.

  January hardened her resolve, fortifying the protective barriers she’d erected around her heart years ago. She was waxing poetic in her head and comparing her situation to a castle with a curtain wall. Her heart was the castle, and she had to protect it from being breached.

  Those thoughts fled as Logan continued to massage her scalp. It was relaxing and erotic at the same time. Her body started to rock against his without thought or instruction from her brain.

  When she shifted her hips and rocked again, that piercing hit her clit just right, and she damn near saw stars. She did it again and again with the same result. Logan begin to rock with her, and the combination was explosive.

  “You like that, do you?” he asked with a smirk. January didn’t answer. She didn’t even really give a flying fuck what he had said. She was almost ready to rocket to the stars. He could recite the Pledge of Allegiance or read the ingredients on that travel-sized shampoo, for all she cared.

  “Wait until it’s inside. You’ll like it even better,” he growled in her ear. Before she had a chance to process the words, he was…and hot damn, did she like it better.

  “Fuck, Logan,” was all she was able to push past her lips before she was hurtling over the edge to an amazing orgasm. His piercing deserved a blue ribbon.

  January’s knees gave out while she was rocking out the aftershocks, but Logan was attentive and continued the rhythm she couldn’t.

  A series of stuttered “uh” sounds were all that escaped her as she tried to shout or moan or…something. That piercing was dragging along her g-spot, back and forth at the perfect pace to draw her pleasure out. Before that moment, January was unaware it was possible for an orgasm and aftershocks to last more than a second or two. Even when she pulled out her favorite wand, she never managed to draw them out, and of course, no man ever tried.

  Just when she thought it was coming to an end and she took a deep breath for the first time since it started, Logan’s grip on her hips became punishing, and he slammed her body to his. Instead of retreating, he ground her down against him. One knee raised while the other lowered, pushing her slightly off-center toward the cracked pink tile.

  That change of angle was pure ecstasy. Logan was relentless and moved her body just enough to circle that spot inside that felt like Heaven. No more retreat, just a pleasure swirl that blinded her with bliss.

  Now, she was incapable of even the series of incoherent “ohs.” There wasn’t enough oxygen entering her lungs to make a sound other than pants.

  She never fully recovered from her last orgasm to say this was a new one building, but it was certainly rebuilding or something.

  The only thing grounding her was Logan’s teeth tugging her ear and the filthy words he was firing out around them. This man was dirty as fuck, and she loved it.

  Suddenly, his teeth were gone, but his dirty words still filled the air, and his piercing was still circling inside her. One hand left her hip and not so gently gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him and demanding her undivided attention. His other hand still led the dance.

  “Fuck, you’re the picture of perfection when you’re riding my cock.” January managed to focus on his face. His eyes were blazing and intense. The dim yellow light above the sink didn’t reach the pink depth of the shower/tub combo. The trick of light cast a strange shadow over Logan’s face. The amber brown of his already intense eyes appeared as a glossy patent leather black, and it felt like he was staring deep into her soul.

  “I can feel it, you know. The ripple of your pussy stroking my cock is begging for me to bathe it in my scent.” Not missing a beat with his hand at her hip, he kept up the punishing pace, but he dragged her face within an inch of his.

  His eyes were rapidly darting between hers. January didn’t dare look away. It was a silent command she obeyed.

  “It feels better than even that pretty throat doing it. Up and down without ending after a few seconds, fuck, do you know how amazing that is? Riding that edge for this long.” January felt her body clench at his words. Apparently, dirty talk is my thin
g. Who knew?

  His body halted, and she whimpered. “Oh no, you aren’t going yet. We are going to dance on this razor for a bit longer. If you feel like falling over the edge, you stop yourself, or I’ll do it for you, understand?” January nodded as best she could with him gripping her chin and not yielding. “If I must stop you, there will be consequences.”

  Logan started the swirling pace again, but now he added a small thrust. She felt her body engage that edge again, and she sighed in relief. Not because she feared the punishment he promised or the pleasure, but because she didn’t want to disappoint him. She wanted to please him, and that disturbed her to no end. She wasn—

  “No! You don’t go anywhere when I’m inside you. That’s a punishment.” January came out of her head, and there was a look on his face that borderline scared her but turned her on more.

  “Yes, Logan.” She managed to force out and dropped her eyes to where their bodies were connected. It was something she never watched before. She’d never had sex with the lights on. Never wanted to see it, but being connected to Logan like this made her feel like a wonder woman, a woman who took no shit from anyone…ever. Like a woman who wouldn’t ruin the next decade of her life for parents who didn’t love her?

  Without thought, one of her hands dropped to his navel. She let her finger lazily follow the trail below it to where they were connected. “Beautiful.” She breathed and allowed the hand to move around his waist and anchor there. It was a picture of raw beauty. His large, rough hand on her hip and her smaller smooth one on his opposite hip. Their bodies rolling together.

  She appreciated the differences between his heavily tattooed, tanned, and pierced skin against her smooth, ivory, and for the most part, blemish free, skin. She had some tattoos that no one saw until her top was off. January realized she was seeing this view better than she should with her chin held high.

  Tilting her face back to his, she realized he’d released her face. Logan was staring at her with emotions she couldn’t identify. His fingers were buried in the back of her hair, and his thumb gently caressed her cheek. It was at such odds to the Logan of just ninety seconds ago. This man was even more beautiful, if that were possible.

  “Fuck.” He growled and destroyed her mouth with a searing kiss. His lips stopped, and with eyes closed, he dropped his forehead to hers. Their breath mingled, and their dual panting was drowning out all the other sounds, even the sound of the cold shower that was splashing her back. At some point, Logan must have slid them toward the back of the tub so the water wasn’t directly on her.

  January wasn’t sure, but she thought he had spoken, and with despair, no less. Something that sounded like, you were not supposed to be like this. I don’t have a battle plan for this you. She was about to ask him to repeat it, but she never got the chance.

  Logan was a man possessed. His hand left her hair and gripped her hip again, forcing her arm to retreat. “Fuck the edge.” With that, he dragged her hips back his entire length and slammed her back down. Repeatedly and almost violently. It was wonderful.

  January was wound tight, ready to blow when Logan dropped his head and bit her nipple. She flew higher than before. Her vision damn near went black. Her body was clamping so tight, she swore she felt every vein in his dick. The fullness was overwhelming. It was apparent he was having trouble pulling all the way out. His every attempt dragged the ball of his piercing along the inside of her body in such a way that seemed to prolong her pleasure.

  When he exploded with a curse of his own, his hot cum just added to the escalation she was experiencing. He was as deep inside her as possible and grinding again, but this time, his cock pulsed. The pulsing, the wet heat, and the teeth still gripping her nipple sent her right back over the edge before she could even come back.

  January was unaware how long they sat there connected and panting with cold water splashing around them. It wasn’t until she felt him slip from her body that she realized the impact of what they had done. She practically crab-walked away from him, but in reality, she was running away from what they had done.

  She stepped from the tub, grabbed a towel, and darted into the main room, Logan on her heels. She turned his way, searching for her clothes, when she noted the hurt on his face. He thought she was rejecting him. She wasn’t, but she was so frazzled, she couldn’t soothe his ego. She needed a morning after plan.

  “Shit, I can’t believe we did that without a condom. I’ve never—”

  Logan caught her by her shoulders and gave her a shake. “January, stop. I’m clean.”

  She dropped her clothes and sat despairingly on the bed, head in hands. “I’m not worried about that, but I CANNOT get knocked up.”

  Logan knelt in front of her and gently cupped her face. “Oh, Rabbit. That’s the least of your worries with me. I had a vasectomy when I was eighteen. There are some people in this world who shouldn’t procreate, and I am at the top of that list.”

  His words should have calmed her, but the despair in his eyes broke her heart. What person thinks at eighteen they shouldn’t ever have children? Her hands gripped his face, and her lips descended, drawing him into the kiss.

  The look in January’s eyes was a new one to him. He expected pity, and of course, it would make walking away from her easier if it were, but it wasn’t. It was an unidentified emotion, one he had never been gifted before, so he had no reference point.

  But what scared him most was what he wanted it to be…for a split-second, anyway. He was still trying to identify it when she kissed him and led him up the bed on top of her. They laid there for quite some time, just kissing and learning each other’s bodies without having sex.

  It wasn’t something he would have thought he would enjoy, but he did. Immensely. Until she called a halt to their grope fest, reached down for his cock, and guided it slowly into her body.

  When he was inside her, he didn’t feel like the kid that no one wanted, that no one loved. He felt treasured. He felt like he was good enough. Not just good enough to fuck—he had no doubts about that—but good enough, period. Good enough to share something intimate with. Good enough to care about.

  How she did that, he couldn’t figure out, but it scared the fuck out of him. He had thought that was what was missing, and he never thought to have it, but now that he was getting a glimpse of it, he didn’t know what to do—how to accept it nor how to let it go as agreed. Finally, he put those thoughts far from his mind and enjoyed a less frenzied aspect to sex.

  Even without emotion, Logan didn’t know how he was going to be able to just end this. She made him want to be honest and open. With her, with Michael, with himself.

  He couldn’t get enough of her, this innocent stripper who sucked dick like a pro. After he exhausted her body, he wrapped her in his arms as she slept. It felt right to have her there. Talk about scary shit. If all the other shit didn’t already terrify him, that was the worst.

  Logan was well into his third decade, swiftly approaching his fourth, and he had never shared his bed with anyone. Not for sleeping. When the fucking was done, they were on their way or he was. The last person who held him as he slept had left him with his asshole of a sperm donor to protect her own child.

  I could need her.

  That was the last thought he had before drifting off to sleep with his arms tangled with hers, but she wasn’t a spooner. She was face-to-face holding him just as tightly.

  Logan woke some time later to take a piss and realized January had bolted. Her clothes were gone and the bed was cold. A quick flip of the curtain showed the absence of Demon.

  “Fuck,” he cursed as he tried to slam the curtains, but they offered no satisfying bang sound as they fluttered down. Logan questioned the origin of the curse while he stood taking a leak. He couldn’t decide if he was more pissed because she had snuck out on him—which normally he would be relieved about—or because he enjoyed cuddling with her way too much.

  Jumping in the shower to cleanse off the remnants of las
t night offered him the opportunity to think.

  Would it really be so bad if they made a semi-regular thing of this, still casual, but kind of exclusive?

  Yes, you asshole, it would. When has anyone you ever counted on to be there, stayed? When has anyone ever wanted to?

  But maybe it could be different this time. Maybe, he could get to know his brother and the Reids, and just stick around for a bit.

  Yeah, and somebody might actually want you. Keep dreaming, sucker.

  Talking to yourself is one thing, but arguing is quite another.

  “Thanks a lot for the fucked-up DNA, you dick. Apparently, it comes with a side of crazy, too. Just add that to list of things you saddled me with.”

  Logan often cursed his father aloud. It was probably the one thing that kept him semi-sane all these years. It felt good to just put it out there in the universe. He never got a chance to tell his father what he thought, nor did he have a death wish.

  The sun was just rising when he arrived at the hangar. He was early, for once in his life. He keyed in the code and started cleaning up around the area; he’d noticed it was getting a little out of hand.

  Then he cleaned the Cessna inside and out and had it shining. After he cleaned everything he could inside, he walked the fence-line looking for FOD.

  Familiar voices drifted from the hangar as he approached. His chest swelled a bit hearing the praise Michael was heaping on him in his absence. Logan felt a little slimy listening, but he had never had anyone talk about him doing a good job or saying they thought he was good person. John even chimed in about offering him a full-time position with them.

  Logan wondered if the reason it mattered now was because of January or was it that his brother thought of him in a positive light.

  A dark cloud dampened his just boosted mood. He won’t when he finds out you’ve been hiding it.

  Logan was not happy with this side of himself. He survived his life by not giving a shit. How does a pussy make a man change overnight? It doesn’t, damn it. It’s temporary insanity brought on by lack of sleep and being sucked dry.