Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
T he light from the bathroom flooded out through the steam-filled doorway as Logan padded quietly out into the bedroom. He halted, feeling heat purl into his lower body. Jess had laid down on the bed, oblivious to the blankets, the oversized terrycloth robe bulky around her as she slept deeply. Her hair was partly dry, not even combed, she’d been that exhausted. His heart bloomed in his chest as he stood there, a towel wrapped around his hips; the woman’s robe that, in her daze, she had left for him having proved impossibly and comically small, unable to wear it. Pushing his fingers through his damp hair, he couldn’t avoid the fact that, sometime while Jess was sleeping, the robe had slipped off, revealing nearly the full length of her left leg, from mid-thigh all the way down to her delicate foot. She had amazingly beautiful legs. Logan’s gaze moved slowly, appreciatively, down her exposed limb. This woman was in top shape; no flab on her, just lean, tightly muscled, with a sculptured thigh that damn near made him salivate. He could feel his reaction. Not good. He wasn’t about to take advantage of her.
The low light moved softly across her face. He saw the tension in it, knowing that shock had its way with a person for days, weeks, even months after a death. There were some recent pink scars on her calf that reminded him of shrapnel wounds. Her left hand was laying out across the pillow, and he saw how swollen and bruised-looking her knuckles were. That was the fist she’d hit the Ranger with, and he smiled a little. Jess might have been drunk and exhausted, but the woman knew how to land a mean uppercut. She hadn’t been just messing around with the Ranger who’d thought he could reach out and touch her without her permission.
Her hair was drying, lying like a black cloak across her shoulder, hair he wanted to slide his fingers through, feel how clean and silky it was. More than anything, Logan wanted to kiss those soft, parted lips of hers. Jess had a wide mouth, lips full, beautifully shaped. Groaning to himself, Logan shook his head and walked over, pulling the sheet up and across her shoulders. It was best if he couldn’t see her partly undressed. Damn, if his teammates knew he was sharing a room with such a gorgeous woman and not laying a hand on her, they’d never let him live it down. Shaking his head, Logan took a second towel, dried off his hair, then ran his fingers through it, taming it into place.
Tonight, whether Logan wanted to or not, he was going to have to sleep in the room’s overstuffed chair. Logan didn’t trust himself to sleep in the same bed with Jess. He didn’t even know if she was married or not. Or where she was based. Sitting down, the second towel wrapped around his shoulders, he closed his eyes. It was midnight and he was exhausted. In moments, having trained his body to go to sleep on command, Logan spiraled into blackness. He’d have given anything to lay down on that bed next to Jess, ease her into his arms, hold her, and sleep with her. He’d been six months without a woman. He missed their warmth, their softness, and their quiet, healing strength. And there was a woman less than eight feet away from him, sleeping. Beautiful. Sexy. Off limits.
***
The flashback started insidiously for Jess. She was at the well-drilling truck, listening to the jackhammering going on ceaselessly as the equipment pounded another forty-foot casing into the sandy earth, hunting for the water table. Her men knew what they were doing. It was her job, as supervisor of her crew, to walk about, check the equipment, make sure there were no breaks in any lines, and that everything was working. She’d checked the fuel gauge and made sure enough gasoline was in the tanks to keep those casings going into the ground they’d just drilled. Jess spotted Dan’s short blond hair and saw all six feet of him on hands and knees, peering at something. The thirty-five-year-old Navy chief knew a drill truck and rigging like few others ever would. Jess had learned a lot from him over the five years they’d been together on the same Seabee team.
She ambled his way, the Afghan dust rising up in puffs with every step of her leather combat boots on the gray-tan sand. They were in a pro-Taliban valley, on the slopes of the mighty Hindu Kush mountains, and everyone wore their sixty-five-pound Kevlar vests and sweated like pigs. The May temperature was hitting a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, already. Lifting off her tan baseball cap, and wiping off her brow, she came around the front end of the drill truck.
“Find something?” she called, leaning down, hands on knees, peering beneath the rig where Dan was.
“Yeah,” he grunted, backing out from beneath the hood area and slowly straightening to his full height. “Got an oil leak.”
“Crap,” Jess muttered. She watched as Dan rocked back on the heels of his desert-colored boots. Even though they were in the Navy, they were land based and wore desert cammos, not the “blueberries” uniform of shipboard personnel.
Dan lifted his own cap off his head, grazing his short blond hair with one dusty hand. “Yeah.” He grinned, flashing her a smile. “Not like we can hop in a truck and drive down the block, find a gas station, and buy a hose, right?”
Jess grinned back, always looking around. The Taliban were active in this area. She wore a .45 pistol at her waist. Everyone did. And then, she saw a white Toyota Hilux barreling down the dirt road toward them. Squinting, she saw at least four men in the bed of the truck, with rifles.
“Dan, we got company, and it doesn’t look good,” she warned swiftly, grabbing the radio from her pocket. Instantly, she called the ODA, a Special Forces A-team that was stationed with this and four other villages in the area. Captain Sean Anderson answered.
Jess called in what she saw, as well as the direction they were coming from. She heard the captain’s voice go flat.
“Take cover, Jess. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Oh, hell,” Jess muttered, and she told Dan.
Instantly, Dan was bellowing at the crew to shut everything down. He was striding forward, Jess right on his heels. She’d pulled the .45 pistol out, her heart hammering, adrenaline flooding her bloodstream. The Toyota truck was racing at high speed toward them, a rooster tail of yellow dust rising a hundred feet high into the hot air behind it.
And then, she heard the shots being fired at them. Some of the bullets struck the truck. Others hit the drilling-equipment crane on the back of it. Sparks flew. She ducked. This is going to be bad….
Jess screamed. She jerked upright in the bed, her arms flying outward, caught up in the nightmare.
Instantly, Logan snapped awake at the terror in her voice. Launching himself out of the chair, he saw her sitting up, her face tight with terror, sobbing. He saw her eyes fly open, tears streaming down her face. He knelt on the bed, reaching out for her shoulder.
“Jess!” he growled, giving her a little shake. “Wake up. Wake up, you’re having a bad dream…” Logan saw the glazed look come to her eyes, the tears streaming down her taut cheeks. The robe had pulled open, revealing the swell of her breasts. Groaning, Logan sat down next to her, leaned against the headboard and hauled her into his arms. She whimpered, resting her head against his chest, trembling. Oh, hell….
“Jess,” Logan murmured soothingly, running his hand lightly across her dried hair, “it’s all right. You’re safe, safe… I won’t let anything hurt you…” and he kissed her hair, inhaling the flowery fragrance in the strands. She sobbed, her fingers pressed against his chest, trying to hide. Logan knew she was still caught up in the flashback of whatever had happened to her. His chest became wet with her tears. Her sobs filled the room, tearing out of her, every one of them shaking her body. Logan held her more tightly. She was almost in a fetal position against him, still trying to hide. “Shhhh,” he whispered, his voice hoarse, low, “it’s all right, Jess. You’re safe… no one is going to hurt you…” Logan knew the only way to get someone out of the clutches of a crippling flashback like this was keep talking in a low, calm voice to them. Sooner or later, they would hear the person’s voice and start orienting toward it, instead of the battle web they were caught within. And Logan had no doubt that Jess had been in one helluva firefight.
It hurt him that she was trembling like a frightened rabbit in his arms, hunkered down against him, her face pressed against his chest, gasping and sobbing. He placed small kisses across her hair, grazing her tearstained cheek with his fingers, trying to calm her. Gradually, Jess stopped crying, and he could feel her beginning to relax. “That’s better,” he rasped against her ear, “you’re doing fine, Jess. Just keep listening to me. Come back to now. Let that flashback dissolve…”
She felt so damn good in his arms. One of her legs was across his. Logan stared at that beautifully curved thigh, felt the warmth and velvety texture of her skin against his darker, hairy leg. It was like looking at beauty and the beast. He felt her shift, and he allowed her to sit up, his arms falling away, but keeping one hand against the small of her back. The robe had parted, and he could see the full swell of one of her breasts, shadowed, and softly curved. He wanted to run his fingers around that luscious curve, find and capture that hidden nipple beneath the robe. Cursing himself, Logan forced his mind back to Jess, the person. She sat up, wiping tears away with trembling fingers, realizing her robe was open. Logan eased it closed. Okay, he had this. He caught her marred gaze.
“Better?”
Sniffing, Jess saw the warmth and concern in Logan’s blue eyes. She felt his hand resting gently against her lower back. Absorbing it all, she gave a jerky nod. “I-I-I’m sorry….”
“I’m not.” Logan reached out, pushing some of her thick, black hair gently back across her hunched shoulder. “Want to talk about it?” He saw her lips glistening with tears, saw the lower one tremble. Yeah, she was crashing. Hitting that brick wall everyone hits after a firefight. Logan knew different people handled it differently. Women cried. Jess was excruciatingly vulnerable, raw even. Logan couldn’t help himself, wanting to touch her. NEEDING to touch her because it was helping him with his own grief he’d savagely suppressed deep inside.
Jess felt the powerful protection Logan was feeding her wash across her once more. She closed her eyes, so badly needing every small, light touch he’d give her. When his calloused fingers grazed her damp cheek, she wanted so much more from this man. It vaguely hit her that he was dressed only in a towel wrapped around his hips. His chest was broad and deep, a sprinkling of dark brown hair across it. There was such powerful masculinity oozing out of him. It was nothing overt; it was just THERE, and it was affecting her as a woman. His scent lingered in her nostrils, part soap, part male. She felt her lower body react. Logan was affecting her just as powerfully as the grief that paralleled that feeling right now within her. She felt so vulnerable. In all her years in the Navy, she’d never been in a firefight before. And it shook her in ways she could never have anticipated.
“I-uh… I was in a firefight with my team,” Jess whispered brokenly, holding his empathetic blue gaze. She felt his arm come up and over her shoulder, his fingers moving gently against her upper arm, as if to comfort her. Logan’s touch felt so good. When he eased her toward him, Jess went. Because she hungered for human contact, desperate for a safe place right now, from feeling so raw and unsafe. The fight in the bar had stripped open an already festering wound.
“Where?”
“On the slope of the Hindu Kush, a… a valley.” Instantly, she saw Logan’s eyes narrow. Felt a shift of energy around him. Felt his arm tighten around her as she rested her head on his shoulder, her brow against his jaw. Closing her eyes, Jess started rambling, words tumbling out, sometimes out of order, sometimes in such a rush she felt like if she didn’t get it all out, she’d die. It was that visceral. “I’m a Seabee. I work with well-drilling teams. We’re in that valley to drill a well in each of five villages. We knew it was pro-Taliban. We knew it was dangerous.” She choked, feeling his other hand move slowly up and down her left arm. He must have sensed how needy she was for his touch. “T-they hit us from a Toyota truck. Six of them. Dan… my chief… he was like a brother to me… took a bullet in the thigh. I saw the bullet tear into his leg, saw the bone break and saw the artery torn… oh, God… Logan, it was horrible,” and she pressed her hand against her face, more tears flooding her eyes.
“I know it is, Jess, I know it is,” and he threaded his fingers through her hair, feeling the strength and silkiness of the strands. He held her tightly as she sobbed. When she quieted, he asked, “Was that who was in surgery yesterday afternoon when I came into the lounge?”
“Y-yes.”
She felt so damned fragile in his arms. Logan’s mouth flexed and he slid his arm around her waist, tucking her tight against him, feeling her utterly trust him, nuzzling his neck and shoulder. He was no stranger to firefights. He lived for them. But most people, when trapped in one, wouldn’t’t feel or react like he did. As a warrior, he lived for the conflict. He wanted to take down the bad guys, and it didn’t bother him that he was the instrument of their destruction.
Leaning down, he kissed her hair again, breathing in the floral scent, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he muttered against her ear. “I really am.” Because she’d lost someone she loved like a brother. “You have to hold him in your heart’s memory now, Jess. Dan won’t ever die in there.” He felt her nod once, her fingers splayed out across his upper chest, her warmth and softness meeting the tough, tinseled firmness of his sunburned flesh. His muscles responded to her innocent caress. Logan didn’t know how to interpret what was happening between them. His erection was full, pushing against the towel, obvious. But he wasn’t sure Jess was even aware of it, as wrapped up in her own shock and grief as she was right now. Never had he felt so damn protective toward a woman before. Jess was different. Beautiful. Courageous. Hauntingly vulnerable. And trusting him to do the right thing. Although Logan was worried he might be losing perspective on what that meant in this moment with Jess in his arms. He could feel the lush swell of her breasts through the robe, pressing against his chest, teasing him. Making him want forbidden fruit. He would not initiate anything with Jess. That would be taking unfair advantage of her. And Logan might be horny as hell, throbbing with a bitch of an ache, but he wasn’t going to use her. No way.
Logan’s low, gruff words, Dan won’t ever die in there , shattered through Jess. She wasn’t even aware she was moving her hand in exploration across his broad chest. The male scent of him was stirring her lower body to bright, throbbing life. Jess didn’t understand how she could feel so grief stricken and yet be longing, aching, to have Logan inside her. Jess felt dampness collecting between her thighs, feeling like if she didn’t make love with this man, she was going to die. The emotion was so vivid, so visceral, that she felt pushed along by invisible hands toward Logan. Her mind wasn’t working coherently. Jess felt utterly exhausted and yet never more vibrantly alive than right at this moment. In Logan’s arms. She could feel his lean, hard body against hers, feel the palpable electricity between them. Wanted more. Wanted HIM. How could that be, under these terrible, heart-wrenching circumstances? Dan had just died. She had nearly died in that attack.
Logan stilled as Jess leaned up, her mouth seeking his. It stunned him. He hadn’t anticipated it. And yet, as her mouth, soft and searching, brushed against his, as if to ask him if he wanted to return the kiss, a groan began deep in his chest. He took her mouth gently, testing, asking without language whether she really wanted this or not. Wanted him now. It was survivor sex. Did she realize this? Her mouth opened like a lush bloom against his, and Logan dragged in the scent of her skin, her fragrance filling him, making him ache even more, if that were possible. Logan turned toward Jess, sliding his hand upward, cupping her cheek, angling her mouth so he could take her deeper, his hunger on a leash, but a leash that was shredding in a helluva hurry. He heard her moan as he slowly moved his tongue across her full lower lip, felt her respond by pressing her breasts wantonly against his chest. He had to think for both of them, and think was the last thing Logan wanted to do.
He eased from her mouth, watching her glazed eyes slowly open, their green depths filled with arousal. It wasn’t his imagination. It was as real as it got between a man and a woman. His lips hovered just above hers, his eyes locked with hers. “Jess,” he rasped thickly, “is this what you really want? People do weird things after a trauma like you have just gone through. I don’t want to take advantage of you or have you be sorry tomorrow morning.”
The urgency was overwhelming. It just kept on feeling like if she didn’t love Logan with the fierceness that was driving her, she would die. She saw his blue eyes narrow, thoughtful, aroused, just like her. Jess knew he wanted her, but she felt him pulling away. It almost felt as if he were trying to protect her in this crazy, upside-down circumstance. She looked deep into his eyes, saw he wanted her and, at the same time, him trying to do the right thing. Whatever that was. She’d felt a connection with this SEAL from the moment he’d stepped into that surgery lounge. It was there, strung silently, teasingly between them again… right now… Aching. Wanting. Needy. Her throat burned with so many shed tears. “I need you, Logan…”
The sweetest words he’d ever heard.
“Are you protected?” he asked and saw her shake her head. “Okay,” he murmured, releasing her. “I need to get a condom out of my wallet. Stay put.”
Jess felt like someone else. She would never have loved a stranger in this kind of situation. But now, as she saw Logan walk over to his Levi’s, she felt like a mare in heat and him a stallion; driven by primal instincts, erasing her common-sensed mind, who she was, until there was nothing left except the want to have this man bury himself deep within her. Jess felt the pulverizing need to seek relief. Focus on something that was beautiful, powerful and life affirming. When Logan turned back, moonlight caressed his tall, powerful body. The towel had dipped lower, his erection obvious.
Logan stood before her, watching Jess, gauging her. Jess’s gaze was on his erection. He pulled the towel free, rolling on the condom. Her gaze didn’t waver. There was no fear in her eyes. Just—need. Placing a knee on the mattress, he eased Jess onto her back, lying down beside her. The milky light of the moon spilled into the room, accentuating the soft curvature of her face and her parted lips. He eased his hand around her jaw, tipping her chin a little, their eyes meeting. “Look,” he said in a rasp, “you’re experiencing something that I’m familiar with, Jess. When a person’s in a firefight, or any kind of life-and-death trauma, they reach a point in the process where they want to prove they’re alive.” His voice lowered and he eased his fingers along the slope of her velvet cheek, watching her eyes partly close, telling him it gave her pleasure. Logan wanted to give her so much more. It had been a driving power pushing him since he’d first laid eyes on her. “It’s called survivor sex, Baby. And I really want you to think it and us—through before we do this. “One other small matter: Are you married?” he asked.
“No…,” she saw some relief in his eyes. At least he had honor just by asking this very important question.
“Engaged?”
“No…”
“Anyone waiting for you where you work or back home in the states?”
She shook her head, becoming more solemn because he was taking responsibility in this moment for her and himself.
He rasped, “Seriously though, I don’t want you having regrets tomorrow morning. Feeling guilty?” and he waited. This was not a one-way street. And he didn’t want any guilt that she might be feeling, either. “Okay?”
“No guilt,” Jess whispered, her voice strained. “All I know, Logan, is that I need YOU. It’s you. From the very first time… when I saw you in the surgery lounge.” Jess licked her lips, giving him a confused look. “I don’t know what it is that’s pushing me to wanting to love you…”
“We’ll probably never see one another again,” he told her, frowning. That hurt to even say it, dammit. Because Logan wanted to drown in her eyes, find life and heat in her lush, curvy body. He wanted to know what she thought, wanted her on every level. And that was a first for him. Women, to him, were made for sex. That was all Logan had wanted from them since… no, he didn’t want to think about his past. But now… with Jess… it was frighteningly different and he felt like she did: he didn’t have a damned clue as to what was going on between them or why. He couldn’t untangle his need of her and contain it within his steel-trap mind. It was as if both of them were offline somehow; prey to their primal animal instincts and that was it. His body ached for her. His heart was going through wild shifts and he couldn’t explain the bubbling happiness radiating throughout his chest like heated rays of sunlight.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Jess nodded. She opened them, staring fearlessly into his troubled, narrowing gaze. “I-I know….” Her heart felt as if it had been torn out of her chest at the mere thought of never seeing him again. “I just feel so broken inside, Logan,” Jess said, in a low, anguished voice. “I just need… you… what you can give me… it will help me heal. I know it will…”
Logan understood only too well. “We’re both in the same place,” he told her, kissing her cheek, her brow, inhaling her fragrance. “I want you just as badly as you want me, Jess. We can give each another something good, something important tonight between us… healing… life… not death…”
Logan had the words she couldn’t articulate. A little hitch in her throat made her unable to speak, but she held his gaze, focusing on his every tender, hesitant touch. She slid her fingers around the nape of his neck, pulling him down upon her, wanting his mouth against hers, to take her someplace away from the fierce, serrating pain cutting deep within her. This time, his mouth was not tentative as he curved and imprisoned her lips beneath his. She got a taste of his power as a man, the sleek steel of his corded arms bracketing her. His hand slid down to the sash of her robe, pulling it free, and her skin danced in anticipation as he pulled the garment open, baring her breasts to him. Jess felt no shame. His fingers followed the swell of one and she moaned into his mouth, arching upward, wanting desperately for him to touch her hardened nipple screaming for his skillful attention.
Logan’s mouth left her lips and gave her what she so desperately wanted. He suckled her gently and Jess started coming apart in his arms, feeling her lower body turning hot, hungry and melting. Her mind dissolved beneath the fiery shocks radiating from her breast, jolting hotly into her wet channel. Twisting, she pushed hungrily against his hips, feeling him groan and tense. Jess wanted nothing more than to drown in every stroke of his fingers, his mouth teasing her, his lean, taut thigh sliding across hers, opening her. Opening her to him. Her breath grew uneven, her pulse leaping as he moved to her other breast, capturing the nipple, giving it lavish attention as well. The pleasure was incredible! It was as if she were burning up, aching, starved for his touch. Logan knew how to please a woman, there was no doubt of that in her barely functioning mind. He was strong, but he monitored his strength as he moved his mouth down the center of her torso. She squirmed as his tongue moved slowly into her belly button, heat erupting between her thighs, a whimper tearing out of her mouth. Her fingers opened and closed against his thick, broad shoulders, his masculine scent filling her flared nostrils.
As he kissed the curve of her taut thigh, Logan slid his hand over her other thigh, feeling her tense. Jess felt his hips move hungrily upward and wanted him to touch her in her secret place of pleasure. Please her. Oh yeah, he sure as hell was going to do that and so much more. There was a wildness glimmering in her half-closed eyes, her lips parted, still wet from his last kiss. More than anything, Logan wanted her to orgasm first. His pride, his desire, was to always please his woman first, last and best. It wasn’t just about sex. It was about teamwork; something SEALs valued above all else. Logan wanted to see Jess melt into his arms, hear her cry out in gratification. Moving his finger up the inside of her thigh, close to her entrance, he found she was so wet it made him want her even more. The sex scent of her was an aphrodisiac to Logan as he teased her moist folds, feeling Jess whimper and then sob. Her hips pressed toward him, and he smiled, leaning down, kissing the silky curls of her mound as he slid a finger slowly into her entrance.
The combination made her gasp, her hands frantic, dancing across his shoulders, her body tense, hips thrusting. Finding that sweet, swollen knot of nerves, he stroked her while sliding his other hand beneath her restless hips. Angles created pressure, but also gifts, and they were everything, and Logan moved her, finding out just where it gave her the most intense pleasure, hearing the soft moans, the whimpers rolling out of her exposed throat. As Logan moved his fingers deeper, he discovered just how tight and small she was. His mind locked on that discovery as he teased her, feeling her walls begin to contract. How long had it been since Jess had had sex? A long time. This warned Logan to go slow. He couldn’t just pump into her, taking her hard and deep. There was no way she was prepared for it. And then, he felt her walls contract, heard her cry out, felt her hot fluids flowing across his finger, her spine a taut arch as she orgasmed. Logan felt powerful, felt good about giving her that very needed release she so desperately hungered for and deserved. He absorbed her softening cries, her fingers digging deep into his muscles. She was hot. So hot. And wild. There was no inhibition in Jess at all and he gloried in that. She was untamed, ravenous and as he milked every bit of that first orgasm from her, prolonging her pleasure, gifting her. Logan smiled. Yeah, this woman was special, no doubt. She was comfortable with her body, liked sex one helluva lot, and celebrated it with her sweet moans and cries. He felt an incredible release of the heaviness that had inhabited him since the firefight. Just watching her full lips curve into a satisfied smile made him feel it even more intensely. And he’d barely touched her. She was like a finely strung instrument, the lightest touch rippling deep and wide within her body.
The heated waves just kept flowing throughout Jess’s lower body. She had closed her eyes, drifting, floating, absorbing every intense, pleasurable moment Logan gifted her with. She felt him move, felt his long, hard body lay next to hers. She barely opened her eyes, smiling up at him, seeing the glint in his own narrowed eyes. “That was… wonderful… thank you, Logan….”
He smiled a little, caressing her flushed cheek. “There’s more to come,” he growled. “How long has it been since you had sex?”
Jess laughed softly. “I’m a little rusty.”
Logan met her smile. “I like a woman who goes wild in my arms. You’re more animal than human. I like that,” and he kissed her mouth, luxuriating in the softness of her. Easing his mouth away, he held her lustrous gaze. “How long, Baby?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Over a year.” Jess saw him shake his head and focused on his hand trailing slowly down her left arm, his calloused fingers eliciting more fires of pleasure across her skin.
“You felt really tight and small.”
“My job doesn’t work well with having a steady relationship,” she murmured wryly.
“I’m not in a relationship, either,” he rasped. “Nor am I married or engaged. We’re free to be who we are, Jess.”
Logan moved his mouth against her lips, feeling her instant reaction, her own mouth opening eagerly to his, pulling him in, her tongue as bold as his was. Logan knew he’d met his match. Her utter feminine fearlessness was the biggest turn on of all for him. As he licked Jess’s full lower lip again, and heard that same moan vibrate in her throat, he said, “We’re more alike than I could ever have guessed. But I sure as hell couldn’t hold out for a whole year.” He heard Jess give a throaty laugh, her eyes sparkling with gold in their depths. She was truly sated and happy, Logan realized. There was such an artlessness to her.
It made Jess feel better knowing that Logan wasn’t married. She’d made a point to never make love to a man who was, because of the morals of the situation. Yes, it was lucky he was single because, just being with Logan, all her morals were gone anyway; burned up in the heat of his mouth, his talented hands and hard male body. She watched his eyes change, a feral look coming to them as he eased up on his knees, put one across her leg and pulled her open. She burned and ached to have him inside her. She craved Logan. All of him. Any way she could have him. As he settled between her legs, she sighed.
“Hurry,” she whispered. “I want you in me so badly….”
Logan leaned forward, gliding his torso up across her belly, chest hair tangling in her tight nipples, hearing her sigh, her hips moving to meet his in invitation. As he planted his elbows at her shoulders, he framed her face with his hands, moving his erection to her wet entrance. “I want to see your face when I enter you,” he rasped, his voice thick with hunger. Her answering smile tore at his senses. So fearless. Bring it on. He moved slowly into her, watching her eyes, watching her expression closely. But he was the one who gritted his teeth, dragged in a deep breath, feeling her warmth wrap around him so tightly it pulled a groan out of him. He rested his brow against hers. Felt her hands move like feathers across his back, the caresses light, meaningful. And, as her fingers slid down his long, tense body, settling on his hips, Logan felt her lift hers. She’d read correctly that he was afraid of hurting her. She was small. And she sucked him deeper into her, hearing her own sigh, but it wasn’t a sound of pain. It was relief, maybe.
Logan moved slowly, in and out, getting her lower body to accept him. Each time he moved more deeply, her fingers tensed against his hips, and he heard that hum of pleasure vibrating in her throat. Maybe he was the one being prudish here? Jess was asking him bluntly, hands on his hips, urging him forward, to come fully within her. Logan lifted his head, his gaze pinned to her half-opened, sultry-looking eyes. This time, he surged into her. The moment was shocking to both of them. He felt as if a fist had just grabbed him, damn near painful. Jess had gasped, her eyes flying open, her lips parting. Logan cursed to himself, realizing he’d screwed up.
She had to be in all kinds of pain because he sure as hell was close to it himself. But then, he felt her body relax, adjust to him, and she was moving her hips rhythmically against his, the sounds bubbling up her throat telling him she enjoyed their rocking motion. Okay, so, he really had been being conservative with her, but Logan didn’t care. Her gaze was blinding, green eyes filled with dappled gold, speaking directly to him, letting him know just how much pleasure he was giving her. Logan couldn’t ever recall feeling this good about sex, about loving a woman, in his memory. And he had a damned good memory. There was just something so natural and honest about Jess that she made every stroke feel like a hot rush of lava melting pleasurably between them.
Her eyes began to close, and he felt her body getting ready for another orgasm. Logan brought her right to that precipice by angling her with his hand beneath her hips. Jess’s breath caught, and he felt that swift tightness contract around him and then that sweet, hot flood of fluid drowning him. It was then, only then, that he took her hard and pumped a few strokes into her before he felt the bolt of heat roar down his spine, spilling out of him. He gripped the covers on either side of her head, teeth clenched, head down, paralyzed with the visceral, scalding pleasure burning through him. Her cries matched his groans. His whole body quivered uncontrollably as his own release surged and throbbed out of him. As Logan weakened, he fell against Jess, their skin damp, sliding against one another. He felt like he’d just died and gone to heaven.