much.” He’d spent days working his ass off to get back to her, thought about her when he shouldn’t have, used the knowledge that he’d see her again as motivation to press through to the end of the case.
He crouched in front of her, being more real with her than he’d ever been with any woman. Jennifer deserved it. “You were the only thing I thought about. I’m a man of my word. If I say I will call, I will. I keep my promises. I’ll prove it to you, and I’ll make it up to you.”
She stared at him as if trying to decide whether to trust him.
“Then you didn’t answer my texts or my calls. Around ten last night, I called Joe. He told me to give you time. So I called Noelle. She refused to give me any information. But she tried to call you. I went over there two hours ago, and she was getting as concerned as I was. She finally convinced Joe to give me your address. At that point, it didn’t matter. I was going to use all my connections to find you.” Logan softened the tone of his voice and took one of her hands. “I knocked on the door. Rang the bell.”
“I guess I did have the music a little loud.”
Which he’d turned down. “You had a key under a fake rock. Only honest people think they fool anyone. No more keys in easy access,” he said. Seeing her there when he’d walked in, naked, back arched, moaning in tiny frustrated sounds as she sought a climax she couldn’t reach had affected him in powerful ways. He wanted to be the only one to please her. For a man who’d spent years avoiding relationships, he was intensely attracted to this woman. “Then l saw you, trying to steal an orgasm that you promised me. Me, Jennifer. It’s mine to give, not yours to take. Mine.”
She shuddered.
“You promised you’d be patient.”
“I thought… I remembered the story about Helen.”
“That relationship was over,” he said. “We both knew it. She had the guts to end it before I did. But you… I asked you to wait.”
She exhaled, and the color of her eyes lightened.
“Now. Don’t make me repeat my order.” He held out his hand again.
Her internal struggle didn’t last long. He knew she was as hot for him as he was for her. She could have thrown him out or used a safe word, but she hadn’t.
She picked up the vibrator and turned it off before placing it in his palm.
“Thank you,” he said as he stood.
Slowly she slipped from the bed, and the robe fell to the floor.
He stepped back to give her room. She looked at him for a few moments. Then she lowered her gaze as she knelt.
The free clamp swung, pulling on the one still attached to her nipple. Her wince prompted him to say, “I could take that off for you, but I’m not going to. I want to see you suffer.”
“I have been.” She looked up at him. “When I thought you wouldn’t call.” Her voice was breathless, aching…killing him.
“Trust takes time,” he agreed, his voice gruffer than he’d meant it to be. “We can start by having you move into my place.”
“What?”
“You can keep this one until you have faith in the relationship. In me. In us. And that’s built over time. If that’s what you want.”
“I agree about the trust. But I like this house. It’s close to my work, and I like the neighborhood. If you’re going to be gone for long periods, I want to be in a place that I chose. I want to stay here.”
“Do you have a basement?”
Her pussy flooded with moisture. “Yes.”
“And the canary-yellow walls are going?”
“Tomorrow.”
“You’ll be naked, unless you bought coveralls. I can’t wait to clean the overspray off you.”
“I…” On her naked thighs, she turned up her palms in supplication. “I missed you.”
“Then let’s take that first step.”
“Yes. I’d like that, Sir.”
He was desperate for this woman and fighting his natural instinct to toss her on her back and fuck her ragged. “There’s a penance for trying to steal my orgasm.”
“Even though I waited almost a week?”
“Even though.”
She licked her upper lip.
“What’s your safe word?”
“Marshmallow,” she said.
“Unless you want to use it, drape yourself over the footboard.”
Jennifer didn’t hesitate for a moment.
When she started to stand, he said, “I’d prefer you crawl.”
Even though her breath caught, she got on all fours. The chain attached to the