“Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron? What, you’d boss me around in a tender way?” She raised a disbelieving brow.
“Yeah. Say the word, Cherry, and I’ll show you exactly what I mean.”
His words, along with his body heat settling under her skin, made her tremble. “I just lost a fiancé today, and there’s been too much water under the bridge. Maybe . . . your hang-up isn’t about me in particular. Is there another incident—”
“I know what happened. I know what’s in my heart,” he growled each word fiercely, fisting the cheap bedspread beneath her. “It was you. It’s always been you.”
Those words sounded so romantic, and the female in her really, really wanted to believe them. But they almost didn’t compute. Yes, she’d pined for Logan, but him for her?
Oh, God. Her next confession was going to open her up wide, but he’d been so painfully honest, how could she be anything less? “I saw a therapist shortly after college. I went to him for a good two years. He suggested that my hang-up about you stemmed from the fact that our break was really sudden. He suggested that I simply needed closure. Maybe that’s what you need, too. Maybe we just needed to talk it all out and know the score—”
“No. I know what I need, what I’ve always needed.” Logan wriggled his hips between the slight spread of her thighs, forcing them wider, until his c**k settled right against her pu**y. “Cherry, I need you.”
Then he rocked against her, igniting her body with sensation to match all the emotions swirling inside her. Tara closed her eyes. God, it would be so easy to give in. He wanted her. Between her tears and her loathing, she’d fantasized more than once about what it would be like for Logan to make love to her again. Never in her wildest fantasies had she imagined that she’d actually have this opportunity again.
She licked her lips. “Logan, really, maybe you’re mistaking some old emotion or the need for closure for actual love. Someday, you will fall in love with the right person and—”
“You think I’ve never been in love? Baby, I never fell out of love with you.”
Tara’s heart lurched in her chest. And something that felt way too much like joy raced through her veins like a heady drug. She had to take a deep breath and stop herself. Everything on his face underscored his honesty—at least as he believed it. But how could he know for certain? If what he said was true, he’d never really been in another relationship, so it was possible he’d fixated on her because she was the last girl he’d tried to love. There was too much behind them, and even if she put the BDSM thing aside, their lives were going in opposite directions. She might have a mountain of feelings for Logan, but being with him so soon after getting out of a relationship with Brad . . . Frying pan, meet fire.
But she wasn’t immune to his pain. If he was stuck here, then perhaps she could help him out. Maybe it would be good for both of them to get the closure they’d never had.
“Kiss me, Logan.” When his entire body tensed, she added, “Please.”
“If I start, Cherry, I won’t be able to stop.” He caressed a gentle hand down her hair, over her shoulder, brushing the side of her breast to settle at her waist.
“You sure? It’s been five years . . .” Would he still be able to? Would he feel empty afterward, as he did with the others?
“Oh, I’m dying to prove that, with you, everything will work just fine.”
“Then kiss me,” Tara repeated.
She’d worry about tomorrow when tomorrow came. Tonight, she’d be with him, try to heal his pain, scar over her own. He’d done an incredibly selfless thing to protect her all those years ago. She might wish that he’d told her what was going on. But at the end of the day, he’d been young and he’d done what he thought would be best for her, shattering his own heart in the process.
Clearly, he cared about her. But unending love?
They were going to be together until she went undercover. Maybe it would be best, for both of them, to spend the rest of the week together, training hard by day, working through their issues by night. Maybe by the end of the week, both of them would be ready to move on with their lives, sane, happy, and whole.
“Cherry, baby . . .” he breathed out, then settled his mouth over hers.
The kiss was soft as a rose petal. He clearly leashed himself, sinking into her mouth slowly, as if worried that he would scare her.
When his tongue brushed her bottom lip, then curled into her mouth, Tara opened to him. There was no place she’d rather be than here tonight with Logan. Maybe they weren’t meant to be together forever, but every time he touched her she felt some inexorable bond with him, an invisible line that ran between them over the years, unchanged, unbroken.
Logan moaned, then nudged the little spaghetti strap of her nightie down her shoulder, then shoved the garment under her breast. The cool air hit her nipple, and it puckered. He covered the little bud with his hand, pinched it with his fingers. Then he looked down at her with burning blue eyes, already panting.
“Take it off for me.”
That was his Dom voice. She couldn’t fail to recognize the lower, silkier tone. Her pu**y clenched. She nodded.
He eased off of her, still hovering above her. He gave her just enough room to pull the garment up her body and over her head. She used it to shield herself.
Logan’s stare raked her body. Around the edges of the little nightie, he could surely see that she hadn’t been wearing any panties. “Fuck, Cherry. I can’t wait to get inside you, baby. Hand the nightgown to me.”
Those hushed words, his low command, made her insides flip, then melt. Of the lovers she ever had, none had ever made her feel as beautiful and desired as Logan.
Tara was shocked to feel a blush creeping up her skin as she handed the little cotton garment to him. “Can we kill the lights?”