Page 34 of The Player Next Door
“Never met someone on the dance floor?”
“Um, no.”
“Oh, well, it’s not that different from meeting them elsewhere, except you let your bodies do the talking first.”
Clare nodded absently, eyes dropping to his forearms. He had rolled his sleeves up to bake and now it seemed like she couldn’t tear her eyes away from them and the fine dusting of flour over them. She licked her lips and nodded again.
Logan managed to wipe the smile from his face before she looked back at him. “Right, but like I was saying, there has to be a first step of some kind, even if it’s brief. An exchange of intentions, if you will.”
“And then?”
“Then, if you’re on the same page, you move somewhere more private.”
“Or not,” she pointed out, and this time he didn’t hide his smile.
“Or not,” he agreed. “And then, well, you know.”
“Enlighten me,” Clare said, fidgeting. He watched her awkwardly cross and uncross her arms, letting his grin deepen.
“Come on, you’ve had hookups outside of me.”
“I haven’t, actually.”
“Really?” he asked.
“Really.”
He processed that information. He had figured she was more into relationships than he was, but not to this extent. “So casual isn’t your usual thing, then.”
“Call it expanding my horizons,” she said, boosting herself up onto the counter. Her feet thumped against the thin wooden door of the cabinets and she drummed her fingertips on the work surface.
Right.Logan knew what he was good for, but that didn’t mean he was going to back down from a challenge. “Okay then. Where we were?”
“Privacy.”
“Right, privacy.” Logan pushed off the sink and took a step toward her. “You’ve met each other, you’re on the same page. There are sparks. This is when the seduction truly begins.”
Clare made a slightly choked noise in response, but she was watching him avidly, movements suddenly stilled.
He let his grin get a little darker, more potent. He was treading on thin ice, a mere translucent veneer between him and dark, dangerous depths. But Logan wasn’t much for thinking. He felt, and he did, that’s all. “A lot of people think seduction is about getting what you want, but it isn’t. It isn’t about getting someone to give you what you want, it’s about convincing someone totakewhattheywant.” Another step forward, another hard swallow that he tracked down the column of her throat. A voice in his head whisperedhit the brakesbut the train had long since jumped the tracks. This was something he knew, something he was good at.
This was something hewanted.
Clare cleared her throat, but her voice still came out breathy and shaky. “And how does that work?”
Logan fitted himself between her knees, hands pinned flat to the counter on either side of her thighs. “Convincing someone to take what they want?” he said, acutely aware that this close, the light brown flecks in her eyes looked golden. The freckles on her nose came into sharp focus, along with the pinkish tint staining her cheeks. There was an eyelash that had fallen to her cheekbone and he brushed it away with his thumb, dragging his gaze back to hers.Slow down, his brain hissed, but a deeper part urged himkeep going.
He trailed his finger along the curve of her jaw, tilting it up. He watched the flush on her skin deepen, her pupils dilate. “Well, first . . . you make it clear you want the same thing.” He put his hands back on the counter, fingers splayed to overlap hers. “You give them an opening,” he said, his own voice going hoarse. He leaned forward until the tips of their noses touched, but no further.
Clare reached out and grabbed him by his belt loops, tugging his hips flush with the counter. “You mean like that?” she said, grinning up at him.
Logan’s heart did an odd stutter-step. “I did, yeah,” he said, chuckling. He threaded his fingers into her hair, cupping his palm around her jaw and resting his thumb on her lower lip. He pressed down lightly, parting her lips, wondering idly why it felt like his heart was pounding harder than it ever had. He had kissed dozens of women, probably hundreds, and never once did it feel like his nerves were this overloaded, sending jittery, shaky signals through his body even as he laughed and pressed their foreheads together.
It has to be her call.That was his one coherent thought: Clare needed to start this kiss. He needed to be certain this was what she wanted, because then maybe it wasn’t so bad, what he was doing.
Chapter Seventeen
Clare was having an out-of-body experience. She could have sworn she was floating above herself, watching Logan slowly prowl toward her. Watching her own arms reach out and tow him closer, giggling confidently. Watching his hand span her jaw, his other hand skating up the outside of her thigh to rest at the hollow of her waist. Their breath mingled and his nose brushed along the length of hers, nuzzling into her but not letting their mouths touch.