Page 15

Logan

Her mouth met his, and heat exploded down his spine. He didn’t think, just reacted, wrapping his arms around her waist, hauling her up against him, and kissing her exactly as he’d been dreaming up for weeks now.

It was better than he could have imagined.

Her lips were soft, her mouth was slick and hot, and her tongue met his stroke for stroke.

Eventually, though, he had to pull back to breathe.

“Logan,” she murmured, when their lips parted.

He knew the feeling. His lungs were screaming, but his mind was demanding more, now.

“Lori,” he groaned, dragging his mouth along her jaw, tracing it along the shell of her ear, noting that she shivered when he made it to the spot just behind it. Then her fingers were in his hair, and she was yanking his head so their mouths met again, and they kissed and kissed and kissed.

Her hands slipped under the hem of his T-shirt, nails dragging along his back.

“Off,” she demanded, yanking it up and because it was fewer clothes rather than more, he broke their mouths apart and tugged it over his head.

Hers was next, Lori grabbing the bottom and pulling it off without ceremony.

It landed on the floor next to his, but when she made to reach for the button on her jeans, he stopped her.

“Hey,” he murmured. “I don’t think—”

“I want you, Logan Smith,” she said. “So, I guess the question is do you want to stop?”

He froze for a heartbeat before his lips curved. He didn’t think he would ever be able to predict what this woman was going to say. “I don’t want to stop.”

“Good.” A beat. “Do you have a condom?”

“Yup.”

“Good.” Her fingers flicked open the button on her jeans, tugged at the zipper, and shoved them down her legs. They tangled at her ankles and she teetered, but Logan lurched forward to grab her, sweeping her up into his arms. “The one time I don’t change into pajamas,” she muttered.

“I happen to like that ass in jeans,” he murmured, shifting her weight as he walked so he could help her untangle the denim from her ankles.

“Pajamas would make for easier access.”

“Sometimes easy access isn’t everything.”

She paused, eyes coming up to meet his, lips curving. “True.”

He got the jeans off the other foot and let them fall to the floor, and then he had his arms full of beautiful woman, breasts encased in black lace, pussy in . . .

“Are those unicorns?”

Her cheeks flared red, but she didn’t look away. “Unicorns happen to be very sexy,” she grumbled.

Considering they were on the woman he was crazy about, Logan wasn’t going to argue. Instead, he tossed Lori onto the bed, followed her down, and let his mouth tell her exactly how much he enjoyed them.

She tasted of honey and sunshine.

Her skin was silk.

Her breasts . . . well, he lost his mind for a bit there, kissing and sucking at the pebbled tips, kneading the round globes, licking and tasting and laving every inch of them. And then every inch of her.

Her pussy tasted like honey, too.

And he couldn’t get enough, using his tongue on her labia, pressing and flicking it against her clit, slipping a finger inside her until he found a rhythm that had her hips jerking up and pleadings escaping her lips in gasped exhales.

“Logan— oh. Fuck,” she groaned, head writhing on the pillow. “Yes. Like that. No, faster. Yes. That. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t—”

She broke off with a long keening moan, pussy convulsing around his fingers.

Logan’s head was spinning, the taste of her on his tongue, her scent in his nose, his cock ready to break in half, but he paused, waited for her eyes to flutter open.

“Are—”

Lori reached for the button of his jeans . “Inside me. Now.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, extracting the condom from his wallet, brushing her hands away, unbuttoning and pushing his jeans down before rolling it on. Twenty seconds later, he was between her thighs and pushing home.

Fucking. Best. Thing. Ever.

She was tight. She was hot. She was—

Lori kissed him.

—everything.

He moved, thrusting in and out, desire spiraling out from his cock and shooting down his spine. It was absolutely the best thing he’d ever felt. In fact, it was so good that he didn’t even register the fact that his hip was twinging.

Logan couldn’t feel anything except him, Lori, and the magic they were making.

He didn’t last long.

But luckily, neither did she.

Thirty seconds later, he slipped a hand between them, finding a spot that made her arch and cry out, pussy clenching around him as she toppled over the edge.

He was right behind her.

He’d started the night thinking he’d be getting nothing more than friendship with Lori and trying to convince himself that it was all she was willing to give, and so he needed to be content with it.

He ended the night pulsing inside her.

Life had dealt him another sharp left.

But this time, he didn’t mind.

The morning, however, wouldn’t be so kind.

“I’m late!” Lori shot out of bed, completely naked, hair an absolute mess, and ass shaking in his face.

Best. View. Ever.

But then he processed what she’d said.

Shit. Fuck.

He’d screwed her over again with another meeting for her boss.

“Here,” he said, leaping out of bed and making a mad dash for her clothes. “Get dressed, get to the office. I’ll go next door and get your laptop and drop it with a change of clothes later.”

The panic disappeared, relief taking its place. She leaned toward him, pressed her mouth to his for a brief second. “You’re the best, Logan Smith.”

“Go,” he said. “There’s a spare toothbrush in the drawer next to the sink.”

He threw on a pair of sweats as she ran into the bathroom then hustled to grab her purse and her cell, putting both where she couldn’t miss them by the front door. A moment later, he grabbed the spare key to her place that Brandon had hanging in his hall closet, and was out in the hall.

And running straight into Brandon.

Who had a beautiful blonde standing behind him, one who was apparently madly in love with his brother, but who Logan hadn’t known about until Lori had mentioned her.

Secrets. His brother was all about the secrets.

“Whoa, Log,” Brandon said.

“Hey,” Logan said. “I’m happy to see you, but just a second. Lori needs—”

Hip twinging, he’d definitely overdone it on round two the previous night, he darted across the hall, opened Lori’s door then spent the next few minutes dashing around her place and shoving things into her backpack. Clothes, underwear, fancy sneakers, laptop. All check.

Then he hustled out, thinking maybe he could catch her before she’d gone.

Instead, when he came out, the elevator doors were closing, Lori presumably within them, and his brother was glaring at him from his condo’s door with crossed arms. “What the fuck, dude?”

Logan sighed and pushed past him, heading toward the bedroom to put on a shirt and shoes.

Cassie, or at least that was who he assumed the blonde was, was standing uncomfortably in the hall, and he paused.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m Logan. Come in”

“Cassie,” she murmured as she and his brother trailed him into the condo.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, moving toward the bedroom.

She nodded, glanced uneasily from Logan to Brandon.

A few minutes later, Logan was dressed, teeth brushed, and facing a pissed off older brother.

“What in the fuck are you doing with Lori?” Brandon snapped

Logan stifled a sigh, decided to counter-attack. “Why didn’t you tell me about Cassie?”

Brandon’s teeth clicked together.

“I know you two are friends,” Logan said. “But I like Lori, a lot.”

Brandon sniffed. “Sure, you do. I know all about how you like women,” he muttered.

“Because you saw me trying to cope when the worst shit of my life happened. Yes, I was drinking. Yes, I was fucking. Yes, I was absolutely out of my mind.” He sucked in a breath.

“Look. I know we both hold a lot of stuff to our chests, but I’m not the asshole I was a year ago.

I fully admit I was a fucking mess then.

I didn’t know what I was doing. Who I was any longer.

My friends were severely injured or dead and—”

Cassie gasped.

Logan dropped his chin to his chest. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it that way—”

She crossed over to him. “Logan. No. Oh my God, I’m sorry. I—”

Brandon touched her shoulder, tugged her back.

“Hey, I get it. You were running.” He glanced down at Cassie.

“That seems to be a Smith trait, but that doesn’t mean you’re good enough for Lori.

She’s my best friend, and her ex was an asshole.

She deserves someone who isn’t bogged down by the past, who can live in the present.

No offense, Log, but you’ve got a lot of baggage. ”

He did.

That much was true.

“And I know Lori is beautiful and convenient but—”

“I love her.”

Both Cassie and Brandon’s mouths fell open.

But it was the gasp in the hallway that set his heart sinking.

Lori was there, Brandon’s condo door wide open, her face pale, keys dangling from her fingers. “I-I sh-shouldn’t have heard t-that,” she stammered. “I’ll g-go.” She spun around and ran .

The backpack hit the ground as he chased after her, snagging her arm just as she made it to the hall.

“Shit, Lori,” he said. “I didn’t mean for you to hear that. It’s too soon, I know. I—why are you here?”

She shakily held up her cell. “Heather had to cancel. I figured I’d come back and change.” A shuddering breath. “Did you mean it?”

Fuck.

But he couldn’t lie to her.

“I did,” he said and hurried to add, “I know it’s insane.

I know we’re just starting to learn each other, but Lori, you’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.

Hands down. I want to learn you more, for us to spend more time together, for you to forget you heard me declare my love so that I can take you somewhere romantic in a reasonable amount of time and tell you then.

” He cupped her cheek. “I want to do this right with you and—”

“I love you, too,” she blurted. “I agree this is insane and too fast and—well, you can just forget you heard it, too”—a smile—“so I can tell you again later.”

His heart had been pounding out of his chest, but at her words, it relaxed. “Really?”

Her finger came to his lips. “Shh.”

“Tell me again.”

“Later,” she admonished.

And then she dropped her hand to his shoulder and rose on tiptoe. He didn’t need any further encouragement. Logan bent his head and kissed her. Then kept on kissing her until Cassie and Brandon came out of the apartment and caught them.

“You boys will talk the rest of this out later,” Cassie said, waving as she tugged Brandon toward the elevator.

And Cassie was right.

Brandon and Logan did talk it out later.

In fact, they talked it out so much that Brandon decided that this new Logan, the one who’d decided to go back to school, the one who didn’t get drunk in bars any longer, who didn’t hide beneath painful memories to keep the world at a distance, was absolutely perfect man for Lori.