Series Starter Firsts in Series Collection - Kaylee Ryan Page 0,277

The guys are gone and it’s just us. I need to use these next twenty-four hours or so to convince her she needs to stay, with me, for me.

I count to one hundred and silently take a few steps back. With a deep breath, I walk heavy on the floor to alert her of my presence. I stop in her doorway. She looks up and her flesh is a light shade of pink. She’s embarrassed, more than likely she’s nervous that I heard her.

“Hey, did you get everything taken care of with Cassidy?”

“Yes. She wanted to know if you all would be willing to visit Children’s Hospital. There is a teenage boy battling cancer and he’s ‘your biggest fan.’ I didn’t even bother asking. I knew you all would agree. I told her to send me some dates and times next week and we would be there.”

“Definitely.”

Logan grins.

“Good, now let’s go for a swim. The guys all went home for the night. They won’t be back until tomorrow evening. Time for a little break.”

“I thought you all wrote through until you finished the album?” she questions.

“That’s our normal routine, but we’re mixing it up.”

“I’m sorry. I can leave. I knew me staying wasn’t a good idea.”

I step into the room and around her desk. Kneeling beside her chair and clasping my hand around the back of her neck, I pull her closer to me. “You staying here is the best idea I’ve ever had. We’re on our own time frame and the guys just wanted to be in their own beds for a night. Besides,”—I run my thumb over the pulse in her neck—“this gives me time with you.”

She opens her mouth to speak, and I place my finger over her lips. “I want to relax with you. Please go change into your swimsuit so we can sit by the pool.” I’ll beg her if I have to.

She looks away and stares off for a few seconds, before those big brown eyes focus back on me. “Okay.” Her words are so soft I barely hear her, but I did hear her and my heart is racing. I’m fucking ecstatic to spend the day with her.

“Perfect. I’ll meet you out by the pool.” I place a kiss to the tip of her nose and saunter out of the room.

Chapter 27

Logan

I’m nervous. In Hawaii, I wanted Kacen. He was a nice guy with a body made for my viewing pleasure, and he was supposed to be a fling. Something that I’ve never done, but let my best friend convince me I needed. After my ‘on again off again’ saga with Daniel, I just wanted to feel . . . alive. I wanted to know what it felt like to have a man want me. Daniel, he said all the right things, but there was never passion or yearning in his eyes when he looked at me. Kacen, his deep blue irises burned with hunger, and it was all for me.

It was different because I let myself indulge for once in my life. It was supposed to be ‘what happens in Hawaii stays in Hawaii’ or stays in my head, but that’s not my reality. My reality is that Kacen unlocked something inside of me that night. I’ve never felt desire like I did with him. Never felt a kiss, a simple touch on my arm that would cause a need so deep inside of me that my breath would catch in my throat. He was a dream, a fantasy that I was able to live for a very short time, a memory that I will always cherish.

My present reality is that same man is my boss. My boss who, as of the last two days, has been treating me like he did in Hawaii. He’s bringing back the fantasy, and the lines are starting to blur. My head knows that relationships are not worth the time, effort and, eventually, the pain they cause. My heart reminds me what it felt like to have him hover over me, to have him push inside of me, what it felt like to lose control. That man is sitting poolside waiting for me. That man is the one who just told me with conviction in his voice that he wanted to spend time with me. My head and my heart are in a battle, and I’m afraid to choose a team.

I finish changing into my bikini, the same one I wore in Hawaii. I grab a