was brand new!" she protested. But her real protest was against the tension she saw in him, the subdued anger over something in his past that he'd just displaced onto her gown. Why wouldn't he tell her what tormented him so?
"You just told me I paid for it," he said absently. His eyes were busy devouring her. "Get up on your hands and knees."
She suddenly noticed a fresh condom in his hands. "I don't want to have sex again!"
"You will." He wrapped an arm around her waist, flipped her onto her stomach and the next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees. The bastard! She tried to fall flat on the bed, not for any good reason except to thwart him. But his arm held her securely.
"Calm down," he said. "Unless you like it rough."
"I don't like it any way at all when I'm being manhandled by an oaf." Her hair hung down around her face, until he scooped it up and held it like a ponytail.
"I'll calm you then." He leaned over and pressed his mouth to the back of her neck. She had to bite back a moan.
"Feels good, does it?" His deep voice was rich with satisfaction.
"No!"
He kept kissing her, using his teeth, and her body betrayed her. Her hips pushed back against him where he was pressed against her.
"Not yet, sweetheart." He laughed.
"Why are you doing this?"
"I want to," he murmured. His words hummed against her ear just before he licked her there. "And you shouldn't lie about sex."
"I'm not lying." Was she? "I don't like sex when it's just—"
"Just what?" His panting breath caressed her ear. "Just hot enough to scorch the sheets?"
'Cold' was the word. As cold as lies, or colder. Because his refusal to communicate in any meaningful way left her feeling exactly as she imagined a paid escort felt. Physically satisfied, but emotionally devastated.
Her mind was losing control of her thoughts as he nipped her ear, and pinched her nipple.
"Are you ready," he asked.
She couldn't answer. She refused to admit the need she had for him.
He gave a low chuckle. "I can do this all night." His fingers moved down her body, slowly, and she knew where he was going.
She managed to grab his hand, halting its descent.
"Mandy," he said, his voice gruff. "The sexual chemistry we have is special. But it's just sex. Don't make more of it because I can't give you more."
She needed to say something, to grab the thought hovering just out of her reach.
He flipped her onto her back and adjusted his position so he was poised right at the entrance to her body. The broad tip of his penis teased her, sliding in just enough to make her catch her breath.
"Yes?" he asked. He pulled out the fraction of an inch. "Or no?" He waited.
"Damn you." She grabbed his buttocks and pulled him into her.
When she woke up in the morning, he was gone.
But the thought which had been teasing her was in the forefront of her mind, screaming in neon-bright words. She'd started this interlude to provide him comfort from whatever pain had afflicted him yesterday. But he'd ended it by insisting there was nothing but sex between them. The emotional comfort she'd offered had been thoroughly rejected.
Chapter 23
Later that day, when she'd reached her own apartment, Amanda got a text from Logan saying he'd flown to Hong Kong. He didn't mention the previous night and she figured he'd already forgotten it. He'd gotten some hot sex and was moving on with his life. She'd be smart to do the same.
The next three weeks passed in a blur of late nights and constant work. She spent a week in Texas working on the Dallas Robotics deal. Under the circumstances, she was unable to shake off the effects of her illness. Although her throat was better, and she knew the antibiotics had to have knocked out the infection, she was tired and lacking in energy.
When Logan called her into his office for a meeting on Monday morning, she approached him with a mix of dread and anticipation. Between his trip and hers, she hadn't seen him since she'd stayed in his home.
She couldn't be sure if his silence was due to disinterest, the press of business, or manipulation. Mostly, she feared it was disinterest, but she knew she had to be grateful for that. If he stopped pursuing her sexually, but maintained the business relationship, she still had a good chance of winning