Chapter 20 #2
No stopping.
No slowing.
Nothing but need that grew stronger. Deeper.
Nothing but the two of them.
Nothing but pleasure.
The pleasure broke over her first, and his mouth took hers, swallowing her desperate cry. As her inner muscles strained around him, clamping oh-so-fucking-tightly, he climaxed with an orgasm that rocked him to his very soul.
The thunder of her heartbeat still echoed in her ears. Aftershocks of pleasure trembled through her body. Logan had wiped everything else from her mind. No guilt. No fear. No rage.
Instead, he’d given her pleasure. Enough pleasure to leave her limp and sprawled and sated on the bed. Boneless.
He’d gone to ditch the condom. Stopped to turn off all the lights.
Now he was back, sliding into bed. He curled his body behind hers, tucking her against him.
One arm around her stomach. Her ass pressed to him.
To the dick that was already hardening once again.
One of his strong legs slid between hers.
But the pose…
It didn’t feel like it was about domination or sex.
It just—it felt protective. Like he was curling his body around hers in order to keep her safe. To…comfort her?
Her breath whispered out. “I want five minutes.”
“I’ll give you a lifetime.”
She blinked. Sleep tugged at her, but that deep, rumbling response of his…
His lips brushed against her shoulder. “When will you realize, I’ll give you anything you want?”
Anything? Oh, that was tempting. Because, maybe, deep inside, she’d started to dream a little bit. To think about what it might be like if she wasn’t working a cover story. If she could have a chance to stay with Logan. To truly be his wife.
You don’t get that life. Stop it. “I want to ask you some questions, and I need you to answer me honestly.”
“You’re my wife. As soon as we said ‘I do’ in that drive-thru, I planned to always be honest with you.”
He said those words like he meant them. “Logan…” No, no, better to start with something else. She cleared her throat. “What do you want most in this world?”
“I have what I want most.”
Right. He had power. Wealth. He had—
“I have you.”
Those words pierced through Charlotte. “What?”
Another soft kiss on her shoulder. “But after you, I’d like revenge. That’s pretty important to me, too.”
She stiffened. “Revenge?” Not at all what she’d expected to hear from him.
“Um. That’s why I understand Jezebel so well. I tend to be the eye-for-an-eye type, too. You take something that is mine, you hurt something that is mine, and I’ll take your fucking eye right out of your head.”
Chilling words delivered in a deep, warm rumble.
“Jezebel has spent a lifetime working to get criminals locked away.” His voice turned musing as they curled together in the dark.
“Bet it was quite a shock for her when she realized how badly she wanted to torture and kill a man in order to avenge her niece. Probably thought she’d take the high road if ever confronted with a vicious choice like this one.
But that high road? Sometimes, it’s just not the path meant for everyone. ”
“Why do you want revenge?” No, more than that. “Who do you want to hurt, Logan?” She couldn’t believe he was just sharing this part of himself with her. Absolute honesty. It was staggering and terrifying at the same time.
Terrifying because he was truly trusting her with his darkest secrets.
“I want revenge because I don’t think a killer should get away with murdering my parents and completely destroying the family I had.
I happened to like that life. I liked my mother’s homemade cinnamon rolls.
I liked my dog. I liked going to baseball games with my dad and catching foul balls and eating popcorn and…
” His breath blew lightly over her shoulder as he exhaled.
“My mom didn’t die quickly, baby. Not sure if that part was in the reports that the CIA created on me.
She lingered for six hours. My mother fought to live.
To stay in this world with me. But her wounds were too severe. ”
“Logan.” Her hand curled around the arm that pressed to her stomach. There was pain and rage echoing in his voice.
He’d helped to take her pain away. He’d replaced it with pleasure. She wanted to help him, too. To soothe. To comfort. To give him so much more than pain.
“I’ve been hunting this particular individual for a long time.
Closing in. Like you, I have my suspect list. I didn’t rush into my vengeance.
Had to be sure, you know. Not like I want the wrong person to suffer.
” A long pause. “I’m all about keeping my friends close, but I like for my enemies to be even closer. ”
“You invite your enemies to your card games,” she said. Because he did. Ares, Pierre—
Soft laughter. “Now you’re catching on.”
She thought about the players at his games. “Logan?” Charlotte could barely choke out his name as she centered in on one strong possibility. Someone who’d known his family. Someone who had been around when his father and mother still lived. “Is it—”
“Do you think that you could ever love me, knowing what a cold-blooded monster I truly am?”
“You are not.” A hot flash of anger spiked in her blood. “You’re not a monster, so don’t ever say that, understand me? Do not.”
Silence from behind her.
“You didn’t answer the question, sweetheart. You sort of just focused on something else.”
She had. Her eyes squeezed closed in the dark.
“I could be charming,” he murmured. His hand slid down her body. Dipped between her legs. Her legs were already spread because his leg was between them. So when his fingers trailed down her body, he went right to her core.
Stroked her clit as he curled around her.
“I could say all the right things. I could act like I wasn’t bad. I could put the world at your feet. Give you anything your heart desired.” One finger thrust into her. “Say what you want, and I would give it to you in an instant.”
She wanted him. He was what she wanted.
A second finger pushed into her. Her hips arched back against him.
Their pose hadn’t been sexual two minutes ago.
But now…
His fingers slid out.
“I could do anything you wanted.” His voice was the darkest temptation. “Give you anything.”
Her hand reached down and grabbed his wrist. “Do not stop.”
“You want me again, baby?”
Charlotte was pretty sure that she’d always want him. “Yes.”
“You want me inside of you? Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Let me get a condom.”
He rolled away from her. Pulled away. Dammit. She wanted him. Thrusting into her. Nothing between them. Him going deep and hard. Her getting lost to pleasure again so she didn’t have to think. Because if she had to think too long, she might just admit the truth. To herself. To him.
I want Logan to love me. I want the fantasy. I want to imagine a life with him.
He curled around her once more. His leg went right back between hers. His hand slipped around her body as she remained on her side, nestled with her head against the pillow, with her left hip pushing down against the soft mattress.
His fingers caressed her clit.
His dick pushed into her, just a few inches at first because her body was tight and sensitive from before. He worked his cock inside of her. Determined. Even as his long, strong fingers kept stroking.
Then…
His dick thrust deep into her.
All the way.
A gasp broke from her lips.
One of her hands had clamped around his, pushing his fingers harder against her clit. Her other hand dug deep into the pillow beneath her head.
He withdrew.
Thrust right back into her.
Her breath choked out. From this angle, the way he was pushing into her…
He withdrew and plunged deep again. Over and over. Even as his fingers stroked her.
Her eyes squeezed shut because his dick was hitting her in the most perfect way, in the best spot, and there was no buildup to pleasure.
There was just a sudden, hard eruption that shook her whole body, and she found herself curling forward, her muscles clenching as the orgasm seemed to burst from deep inside of her body.
“Yes,” he gritted out. “Fuck…yes.” He came, too. She felt the hard jerks of his hips behind her, and her pleasure just seemed to increase. Almost violent in its intensity. Unlike anything she’d ever felt before in her life.
When it was over, she sagged against the bed.
He left her. But only for a few moments.
Long enough to throw away the condom, and then he was back.
Curling around her again. Except, this time, she rolled toward him.
Curled around him. Put her head on his chest. Her hand on his stomach.
Her leg slid over his because she wanted to be as close to him as she could.
It wasn’t about the sex. Though, yes, that had been unbelievably, insanely good sex.
It was about him.
Do you think you could love me…
“Yes,” she said. Charlotte did think that she could love him. Mostly because she already did love him. His wicked grin. His outrageous attitude. The way he said and did whatever he wanted.
The way he held her in the dark.
The way he stayed at her hospital bedside when she needed him.
“Yes,” she whispered again. His breathing had deepened.
The darkness around them was so complete in that room.
She figured he was already asleep. She could feel the steady beat of his heart beneath her head, so he had to be asleep, right?
That meant it was okay for her to confess, “I could love you. I do love you.”
Then…
His heartbeat kicked up beneath her ear.
Charlotte realized that Logan hadn’t gone to sleep, after all.