Slow Hands

by Faye Avalon

  His gaze met hers, the gleam unmistakable and that cocky grin in evidence. ‘Amen to that. I’m thinking I’d like to bulk-buy.’

  ‘Women’s panties?’

  With his eyes on hers, he tugged the underwear over her knees and down her legs. ‘Only the kind you wear.’ Tossing the panties to the floor, he placed his hands on her knees. ‘But right now I’m more interested in what they’re designed to cover.’

  Her stomach did a very pleasurable roll as his fingers dug into her flesh and he eased her legs wider. Her skirt stretched across her upper thighs and air whispered over her panty-less state, making her muscles clench in heady anticipation.

  He pulled her even closer to the edge of the desk, before pushing her skirt up over her hips.

  April revelled in the slight flare of his nostrils as he looked at her, in the way his chest expanded and a muscle flickered in his jaw. She tried to sit up, intending to reach for his zipper. She wanted him—wanted him right at the place where heat raged between her legs. But he stepped back, his hands sliding to her thighs.

  She’d expected him to reach into his pocket for a condom, but instead he brought his hands up and pressed his thumbs to her folds, opening her up to his gaze.

  Instinct had her trying to close her legs, but the heat from his eyes burned into her sensitive flesh, making her want too much. She wanted this, wanted him. She wanted adventurous sex, wanted to experience sex in its rawest and most explosive form.

  But was she ready for it?

  What about keeping control?

  What about making sure she held all the cards?

  Would she get that with Logan?

  With someone as powerful and sexually adept as him? With someone used to calling all the shots, used to being in charge?

  Damned right she would.

  She widened her legs even more, offering herself to him and challenging him to take her body in whatever way he wanted. She was due. And then she intended to take him. To make him shiver and burn in exactly the same way he was doing to her.

  Wanting to even up the scales, she tried to reach for his zipper again, but he batted her hand away.

  ‘I told you. I need to eat,’ he said, in a deep, husky tone that was barely a rumble. ‘And right now I’m bloody starving.’

  Anticipating what he was about to do, April bit down hard on her lower lip, preparing herself for the feel of his hot mouth, his exploratory tongue. But when he leaned down, instead of tasting her, he pursed his lips and blew a stream of warm air along her slit.

  Her intimate muscles tightened and trembled as he continued to subject her to the same delicious torture. Her breasts tightened, nipples hardening to almost painful buds, and an arrow of reaction shot from her nipples to her core.

  She wriggled her hips, trying to ease the almost painful pleasure that ricocheted through her feminine centre, but still Logan didn’t let up.

  ‘Bloody hell... Will you...just...?’

  He touched a fingertip to her heat, just the briefest, lightest touch, but she rocked her hips so violently that she arched off the desk.

  ‘Just what?’ he said, giving her that cocky grin again and touching her lightly once more.

  ‘You said you...needed to...’

  ‘Eat you? Yeah, well. I always enjoy an aperitif before the main course.’

  He touched her again, and this time he slid his finger along her wet length.

  April arched again, pushing herself up against his subtle touch, wanting to make him increase the pressure. Needing him to give her more.

  ‘What is this?’ she grumbled, even as she continued to arch and buck beneath that barely there touch. ‘Are you all talk...is that it?’

  His low laugh echoed around the room. ‘Baiting me won’t help your cause.’

  ‘What is my cause, exactly?’

  Another laugh, this time accompanied by him pressing his finger a little way inside her. ‘You want my mouth on you,’ he said easily. ‘You want my fingers deep inside you.’

  ‘And you’re waiting for what? An invitation?’

  This time his laugh was downright lewd. ‘You’re lying there with your legs wide open, your nipples poking through your tee shirt, your pretty little pussy wet and throbbing for me. I’d say the invitation has well and truly been issued.’

  ‘Then why don’t you RSVP, for pity’s sake?’

  ‘Suspicious and impatient? That’s quite a combination.’

  ‘I’ve already told you. I’m not—’

  She didn’t finish the thought, or the sentence, because Logan tilted the angle of his finger and pushed deep.

  ‘Yes...’ Greedily, April clamped around him. ‘More...’

  He obliged, pushing in another finger, and started to work her.

  Oh, hell, but he took his time. It was as if she felt every centimetre of her inner flesh, every part of her that he touched as he slid those adept fingers in and out of her heat.

  Slow, she thought dazedly. So exquisitely slow. She’d always longed for slow, always wanted a man to take his time with her. To experience sex as a languid, drugging adventure that didn’t need to go fast. She’d wanted the whole journey, not just the end product.

  And Logan took it slow.

  He brought her to the peak, then eased off just enough to bring her down a notch. She wanted to come, and yet she wanted this to last. She wanted to remember it all. To have a barometer against which to judge every future sexual encounter.

  Funny, but from the moment she’d clapped eyes on Logan she’d known he would be her barometer.

  She sucked in a breath as he took her up again, using the easy slide of his skilled fingers to work her into a frenzied state where her entire reality was pinpointed on the spot where he focused.

  This time he didn’t retreat, didn’t ease off. He just watched her with those now slightly hooded dark and dangerous eyes. Watched her arch, wriggle, moan. Watched her as she came.

  April wanted to close her eyes, as if doing so would pull the switch on the intensity of all that gleaming cobalt blue as his gaze bored into hers. But everything was heightened, sensation shuddering through her body like the aftermath of an earthquake.

  Still he stroked her, playing her body like a bloody master. Soon she was rising up again, the orgasm gathering with each slow and masterful stroke of his fingers.

  Leaning down, he pressed his mouth to the spot just above where his fingers penetrated, and April sucked in a breath. The tip of his tongue touched her lightly, pressing and retreating in the exact same rhythm as his fingers did inside her.

  The dual assault sent her ever upward and she arched her neck, letting her head fall back. ‘That’s...that’s incredible... Just don’t...’

  She hardly recognised the half-plea, half-moan that came from her throat.

  In answer, Logan withdrew his fingers and pressed his mouth hard against her, sliding his tongue deep into her heat before retreating, then pressing down hard again.

  The room began to spin and April grabbed at the desk, her fingers curling into the wood as she tried for purchase. Something, anything, that would keep her grounded. Finding nothing, all she could do was let herself go, enjoy the heady pull of that expert tongue as it played with her most sensitive flesh and pushed her ever higher.

  She came again. A delicious roll of sensation that seemed to go on and on, shooting her into sensual orbit. She spun there, in a vast expanse of pure sensation, until her body went into lusty spasm and everything froze in space.

  She sucked in a breath, her hips collapsing down against the desk as her whole body gave out in the aftermath of yet another intense orgasm.

  Logan kept his mouth clamped over her until she found her breath, and then he slowly withdrew his tongue and, after a final press of his lips to her flesh, raised his head. His mouth was wet with her, his lips gli
stening with her desire.

  April didn’t know what to make of it. Richard had rarely gone down on her, and on the odd occasion he did, he didn’t stay long enough to get her ridiculously wet.

  But Logan had. Hell, the man had got her wet long before he’d even got her horizontal.

  Logan stood, moved between her legs and slid his hands beneath her backside. With his eyes on hers, he drew his tongue across his lower lip, then grinned.

  ‘I suppose you’re going to say that wasn’t bad for a starter course?’ April managed, when she was sure she could string enough words together to form a coherent sentence.

  ‘Complaining?’

  Not about his ability to provide the most amazing oral sex.

  ‘How could I? You made me come twice.’

  ‘I can do better.’

  Any better and she wasn’t sure she’d be in a fit state to get herself home any time soon.

  Now that she was coming down from those incredible orgasms she felt kind of disorientated. Unbalanced. Off-centre. He’d shaken her up, she realised. In more ways than one.

  She’d anticipated a quick-fire release for both of them, something urgent, passionate, and mutually satisfying. What she hadn’t expected was his steely determination to take his time, to ensure her needs were met, her pleasure achieved, before even considering his own.

  She’d never felt that level of someone’s focus before. Had never been looked at the way he looked at her. As if, in that moment, he wanted everything she had. He wanted her thoughts, wanted her secrets.

  No, he didn’t just want them. He demanded them.

  It felt like he’d stripped away an essential part of her, and she didn’t like it.

  Time to level that playing field.

  April hiked herself onto her elbows and sat. ‘You’ve got impressive moves. I’ll give you that. Now it’s time to show you mine.’

  She reached for his trousers, but again he batted her hand away.

  ‘I haven’t finished yet.’

  April frowned, then glanced down at the very obvious bulge in his pants—the one she’d been unsuccessfully trying to get her hands on.

  ‘This doesn’t seem particularly fair.’

  ‘What? Me giving you orgasms?’

  ‘Me not giving you them.’

  He still stood between her legs, his hands sliding up and down her thighs. But he was watching her as if he was trying to figure something out.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Just wondering why you’re looking at me as if I’m some kind of snake charmer. The kind you can’t take your eyes off for fear that he’ll release his snake and make it bite you.’

  April huffed, and glanced down at his bulge. ‘That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do. Release your snake.’

  ‘Ha!’ He drew a few strands of hair back from her forehead. ‘We’ll be having sex, April. Have no doubt of that. But I’d prefer that you didn’t have your eyes clamped open the whole time, as if I’m about to dupe you in some way.’

  ‘You’re being ridiculous.’

  But it unsettled her that he’d clicked in to one of her biggest fears. Had she been that transparent? Had she been so intent on keeping control of the situation that she’d subconsciously sent out warnings that she didn’t entirely trust the situation? That she didn’t entirely trust him?

  ‘Ridiculous? Maybe. My cock would agree with you, seeing as it’s hard and throbbing right now, and I want nothing more than to be inside you. But not at any price. You’re suspicious of me. You think our having sex will complicate things. You still don’t entirely trust that I’ll act in your best interests once I’ve gotten between your legs.’

  ‘You have already gotten between my legs.’

  He wrapped his hands around her waist and brought her off the desk to stand in front of him. ‘And I’ll let you think on that. On how it felt to have me go down on you. We’ll call it a prelude of things to come.’

  ‘I get to think on that, do I?’ April said smoothing down her skirt. ‘And what do you get to think on? You never even let me touch you. If I’m suspicious of anything, it’s that. I mean, what kind of man passes up the opportunity of a hand-job?’

  ‘This kind. Especially when I get the feeling the woman is keeping score.’

  * * *

  Logan half expected steam to come out of her ears. He knew April was up for some hot and steamy sex as much as he was, but he didn’t like the way she looked at him, with distrust in her gaze. He wanted more from her. More with her.

  Despite her impatience, her demands for him to get on with it, he sensed she’d held back. So he’d pushed her, coaxing her to let go, really let go. Which probably made him a bloody moron, looking a freaking gift horse in the mouth like this. Especially when he had a hard-on throbbing in his pants that definitely wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

  He should be celebrating a woman who didn’t seem likely to make demands, who didn’t want anything other than casual, no-strings sex.

  Yet here he was wanting more. He wanted to snap that fierce control, have her lay herself open to him. He wanted to know what locked her down tight and kept her one step removed from just letting go.

  April had his juices flowing from the start, and he’d known the feeling was mutual. Beneath her suspicion he’d seen desire, need. But she didn’t trust him. Which meant that if he wanted her—and he did—he needed to prove his assertion that sex could coexist perfectly well alongside his ability to act professionally.

  That meant getting Veronica Lebeck to back off.

  Since he’d be away for the next few days, he’d asked his brother to get the low-down on Haydon’s current relationship with the woman. Logan needed to tread carefully, because there was no way he planned on upsetting his relationship with the man. If it wasn’t for him, Logan would likely still be trying to piece his family back together, might still be trying to reunite his siblings after they’d been separated, scattered to the winds, all those years ago.

  Even if Haydon was still seeing Veronica, Logan doubted she’d have any solid evidence with which to pursue her claim against April, so he just needed to make her accept the futility of threatening legal action. That would hopefully appease Haydon and take the weight off April’s mind and leave her free to concentrate on other things.

  Namely, heating up the sheets with him.

  He wanted her. Shit, but he really did.

  For one night? For several? He didn’t rightly know. He liked the way she challenged him, the way she pressed for answers. How she wanted to know exactly where she stood. Add that to the apprehension, the doubt he glimpsed in her, and she presented an enigma.

  Was that part of the attraction?

  All he knew was that he wanted her to trust him. In and out of the bedroom.

  ‘What do you mean, keeping score?’ April said fiercely. ‘What do you think I am? Some femme fatale, totting up my conquests for my little black book? I don’t even know why you’re making a big deal about this. You claimed it didn’t have to be complicated and now you’re the one making it exactly that. It’s just sex.’

  ‘Exactly. But when we fuck I want you completely at ease in my bed.’ He placed his hands on either side of her face and held her steady. ‘And, while there doesn’t have to be complications between the sheets, something tells me you’re a complicated woman. The kind who needs to work it all out in that head of yours, make sure all your ducks are in a row. You say you don’t want the waters muddied, that you need to focus on your priorities. That’s entirely understandable, and I get it.’

  ‘But you thought you’d go ahead and muddy the waters anyway? Just to make sure you kept the upper hand?’

  ‘What the hell does that mean?’

  She stepped away, smoothed down her skirt again as she searched for her panties. ‘You want the power here, don’t you? To
keep me dangling while you assess whether or not you’re going to help me. Treat me to oral sex without letting me return the favour. I bet that feels great, doesn’t it? You have all the control and I have absolutely none.’

  ‘I still don’t know what you’re talking about. In what way do I have control, exactly? I’ve got a throbbing, aching cock, while you’ve had two orgasms.’

  ‘And just to make doubly sure I’m aware that you’re in the driving seat,’ she said, as if he hadn’t spoken, ‘you’re now graciously allowing me to ponder on those orgasms and accept them as a prelude. And where is my underwear?’

  It took Logan a moment to get his head in gear, but then he looked down and saw the pillarbox-red panties at the side of his desk.

  She’d pissed him off, accusing him of taking ‘control’ of a situation as if it was a dirty word. As if taking control was wrong.

  Fuck that.

  In his experience, someone had to do it. There were too many people in this world who thought they could renege on their responsibilities. Too many people who simply walked away when the going got tough, and to hell with who was left to pick up the damn pieces.

  What was so wrong with wanting to be in control?

  Because she’d annoyed him, Logan walked to his desk and snapped up the underwear. Okay, so if he was such a control freak, then he’d damn well give her something more to complain about.

  She reached out her hand, cocking her hip when he simply held on to the scrappy lace.

  ‘I’ll keep these,’ he said, shoving the panties into his trouser pocket. ‘Might as well live up to the label you’ve pinned on me. Or should I say labels? What have we got so far? Controlling, unprofessional, power-crazy...anything you’d like to add before I call the printers?’ When she just glared at him, he shrugged. ‘So, yeah, I’ll keep these. We’ll call it a little memento of our evening.’

  Her fiery brown eyes narrowed and that sexy hip cocked even more. ‘You’ve already got a memento, haven’t you?’

  Yeah, well, he couldn’t argue with that. The taste of her lingered on his lips, her scent was heady in his nostrils. The touch of her hot, wet flesh was still making his fingers burn from where they’d sunk deep inside her.