Chapter 10
Gaia’s eyes opened slowly and she stared at the watery sunshine streaming in through the filmy curtains. As memories of the night before started to seep into her mind, she smiled. Logan’s muscular arm was wrapped around her and his hard chest was pressed against her back. She could feel the heat of him pressing against her body and loved it. The warmth and closeness, the intimacy even when he was still asleep, was more wonderful than she could have imagined.
Of course, everything from last night was better than she could have imagined. She was both shocked and amazed by the way Logan had made love to her last night. Over and over again, he’d guided her through a sensual storm, holding her gently as she found heaven every time.
For several moments, she just lay there, enjoying this moment, savoring it. Because she knew what she had to do.
When she felt him start to waken, a smile drifted over her features.
“You okay?” he asked, his arm tightening around her waist. And that other part of him, the part she would have thought would be sore by now, came to life once more, pressing against her bottom.
“Yes. Better than okay,” she said, but not turning around to look at him. After last night, after everything they’d done, she wasn’t sure she could look him in the eye. She knew she would have to eventually, but Gaia was going to hold off for as long as she could.
Then she remembered what she’d have to do. With a sigh, she let her fingers drift over his arm, savoring this special moment with him because it wasn’t going to last. As soon as she told him what her brother was planning, he would be gone from her life forever. She might even be blackballed from the design industry. She knew that Logan had the power to do that.
And that was okay. She hadn’t been able to rein in Freddy, so whatever the consequences, she’d deal with them. There were other cities in which she could work. She’d make it. Everything was going to be okay.
“Don’t do the waterfront project,” she whispered, her body tense and wary of his reaction.
When she felt the soft kiss on her shoulder, she wasn’t sure what was going on. “Did you hear me?” she asked, turning slightly to look at him.
He didn’t appear to be overly concerned with her statement. His eyes were moving down her side, her waist, his hands sliding along her skin as well. “Is that because of your brother, Freddy?” he asked, still focused on her. His eyes moved to her breasts, and he pulled the sheet away.
“You know about Freddy?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ve known about him since our first meeting. He’s working on a crew with Tommy at the moment. He’s actually a damn good worker, from what Tommy says.”
Glancing over at the bedside table, she realized that his glasses were sitting there. That meant….
Gaia grabbed his hand, trying to stop his exploration so she could focus on his words. “I know that he applied for several jobs but…” she stopped his hand when he started to cup her breast. “Logan, stop it. I’m trying to concentrate.”
He smiled and shifted so that he was over her instead of behind her. Gaia was now flat on her back and he was looking at her breasts, his body shifting again so that he was between her legs. “I am trying to concentrate as well. You’re the one on a different subject.” He pinned her hands above her head with one of his hands.
“Logan!” she gasped when she felt his mouth cover her nipple, his teeth coming into play as well. For a long moment, she couldn’t remember what she’d been trying to tell him. “How is this possible?” she sighed when he moved to the other breast.
“Oh, the possibilities are endless,” he told her smugly as his mouth explored, teased and tortured.
“Logan! This is important!” she yelled, but his mouth was distracting her and she had problems focusing again. She pulled her hands out of his grip and grabbed his head, pulling him away from her breast so that he had to listen to her.
Logan sighed and rolled over, but pulled her along with him so that she was on top now. This position allowed his hands more freedom and he smoothed his fingers along her back and her bottom. “You don’t want to move forward with the waterfront project because your brother is trying to get revenge on us for the land my father bought about ten or twelve years ago. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
She pulled back slightly, her hands braced on his chest as she stared down at him on shock. “You know about my brother and my family history?”
His hands cupped her bottom, shifting her so that she was more perfectly aligned with his own body. “I looked a bit deeper into your brother a few days ago. Plus, the security team runs a background check on anyone who brings an idea to us. It was something my father put in place a long time ago. Pretty smart guy,” he said and pulled her legs down so that her knees were on either side of his hips. She heard the foil wrapper when he tore it, but she didn’t connect the sound with what he was about to do.
A moment later, she closed her eyes as he slid inside of her, shocked by how easily he could manage that. “Logan,” she sighed, pressing her hands against his chest.
“Say my name again, Gaia,” he ordered, his hands moving to her hips, showing her how to move, to shift against him.
“Logan,” she whispered again, bracing herself as she took over the movements.
“Again,” he commanded, his thumbs flicking against her nipples.
“Can’t,” she said and focused all of her attention on moving, shifting against him, finding the best pace, and the movement that felt extremely good.
Logan watched, enjoying the view from this angle. He loved the way she shifted, finding her own pleasure, and it was damn hard to stop himself from climaxing when she continued to shift against him like that! He wanted to toss her onto her back and have his way with her, but she seemed to be enjoying herself too much. So he held back, keeping his hands on her breasts in order to stop himself from taking control of her hips.
When he felt her start to come close, he brought his hand lower, pressing his thumb against that nubbin to help her over the edge. When he felt her body tighten around him, he couldn’t hold back any longer. Everything inside of him exploded as her body throbbed, contracted, and tightened. When it was all over, Logan held her close while they slowly came back down to earth.
A long time later, he rolled over so that he was on top once again. “Damn,” he groaned as he looked down at Gaia. “You are amazing.”
She laughed, her hands reaching up to touch his hair. “I don’t think I did a whole lot, other than enjoy the activities.”
He laughed as well, kissing her lips gently. “Tell me about your brother,” he suggested softly.
Gaia sighed and slipped out of bed, grabbing one of the hotel’s thick, fluffy robes. “It appears you’ve known about him all along. What else do you want to know?”
Logan pushed several more pillows behind his back and watched her as she paced back and forth at the end of the bed. “I know that your father died of liver failure, leaving you and your brother to fend for yourselves. I know that you took care of your brother even though he was older than you and could have gotten a job more easily. He only works sporadically, even though he’s a damn good carpenter. He’s doing general construction at the moment because we don’t have a whole lot of carpentry available. But if something comes up, I will definitely steer him towards something that could challenge him a bit more. He’s doing basic, manual labor right now.”
She stared back at him, stunned by his words. “You’d let him work for you and even watch out for him, knowing what he’s trying to do?”
Logan smiled slightly, a quirky smile that hit her heart hard. “Honey, you’ve been doing just about everything you can to discourage us. You sent up enough red flags for us to follow so we’re watching him. And yes, watching out for him.”
She was relieved that Logan realized she wasn’t trying to help her brother. That she was, in fact, trying to slow him down. “Please don’t tell him what I’ve been doing.”
“I have no intention of doing that, but why? Would he hurt you?”
Gaia laughed, a harsh sound that she tried to stop. “No. He wouldn’t ever hurt me. At least not intentionally. But…” she hesitated, not wanting to say the next words because it felt so disloyal. But Logan deserved the whole truth. “Something isn’t right with Freddy. I’ve been trying to get him in to see a therapist, someone who could, hopefully, evaluate him and help him. This obsession with getting revenge against your family, it’s not right. It just isn’t the way a normal-thinking person would react.”
“I agree. Is he like this all the time?”
She shrugged. “My father was pretty devastated by the loss of his farm. But he wasn’t a very good farmer, so I don’t know why he cared so much. He could have taken the money from the sale of the land and done something great with his life. Unfortunately, the taxes on the land kept going up while the commodities prices went down. He couldn’t handle both.” She grimaced. “He wasn’t a good farmer, but he was an even worse businessman. My mother left him when we were small. I don’t even remember her but I think he considered himself a failure as a husband too.” She looked up at the ceiling, remembering the sadness that seemed to always surround her father. “He tried. But he just couldn’t make anything work.”
Logan already knew most of that. He hadn’t realized the greater history. Or the way it most likely had made her feel while growing up. “How did Freddy react when the land was sold?”
She bit her lip, thinking back to her own excitement at the prospect of starting over. “I loved my new school in the suburbs. Freddy seemed to fit in pretty well at first, but it was most likely harder to fit in at his grade level. The cliques and the friendships had already been formed by that age. And you know how cruel high school kids can be.”
Logan shrugged one of his huge, wonderfully broad shoulders. “I played football, so I was most likely one of the obnoxious kids in school.”
Gaia laughed, her golden eyes moving over his incredible body. “You probably dated all the pretty girls in school too, didn’t you?”
He grinned, completely unrepentant of his high school conquests. “All the pretty ones that Luke wasn’t dating.”
“I’m relieved that you two didn’t share.”
He laughed, thinking she was adorable. “No. We never shared. Still don’t,” he told her. “So your father died and you were stuck handling everything. What happened? How did Freddy go from a reluctant teenager to a vengeful mastermind?”
She chuckled at his description of her brother. “I think he’s pretty inept at his mastermind schemes.”
“Only because you keep messing them up.”
She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I’m not doing a very good job of messing up the waterfront project, am I?”
He shook his head. “No. That one is brilliant.”
“But,” she lifted her hands into the air, “the saltwater, the age of the building. It can’t be a viable project.”
He shrugged. “It is. The construction used to build that structure is sound, Gaia. I promise you that. Teague and I have been all over that building, as well as the land around it. It won’t stand up to an earthquake, but Teague even has some ideas on how to resolve that issue. We haven’t fully committed to the project, but we’re running numbers, trying to decide if the idea could be profitable.”
Her relief was swift and intense. She should have known that Logan wasn’t the kind of man to just jump into something. Steele Industries was a huge company. They’d put processes in place to protect themselves against incautious actions. “You think it could work?”
“Yes,” he replied as he lifted the bedside phone and dialed. “It might really work.” Someone obviously answered his call. “Send a full breakfast up to the penthouse suite, please,” and he set the phone back down. “I’m also irritated that I hadn’t thought of it myself. You are ingenious.”
Gaia knew that her cheeks were heating up with his praise and she turned her head slightly so he wouldn’t see how she was affected. His soft laughter told her that she hadn’t fooled him a bit.
“Well, if you do decide to move forward with the project, I won’t take the finder’s fee. I’d suggested to Freddy that we use it as a memorial for my dad, maybe set up a charity to help other kids that are in the same situation that we found ourselves in. But Freddy didn’t want that. He didn’t care about anything other than bankrupting your family.”
Logan’s eyes widened slightly. “How in the world was he going to bankrupt us?”
She sighed and sat down on the side of the bed. “In for a penny, in for a pound I suppose,” she muttered. But then he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead gently. “He wanted your firm to do all the work and then discover too late that the building wasn’t sturdy enough. He figured you and your brothers would invest in the project and then, when the condos didn’t sell, you would be bankrupt.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed as he thought through some if the things he and Teague had found. He didn’t say anything to Gaia, not wanting her to worry, but his arms tightened slightly around her. “That’s not going to happen, honey.”
She turned slightly, looking up into his eyes. “But the building, even you said it would cost upwards of about twenty million dollars just to renovate it. That’s not including the marketing and the sales staff that would need to be on hand for months, maybe even years, to sell the units. And what about the maintenance staff? The building personnel? There are a lot of…” she couldn’t finish off her sentence because he was kissing her again.
When he lifted his head, he smiled slightly. “Honey, this would be a very small project for my firm. It wouldn’t even be counted as a major investment. I could handle the twenty million dollar tab myself and it wouldn’t even put a dent in my net worth.”
Gaia stared at him for a long moment, not really understanding. “But…” she didn’t like the fact that he was so wealthy. That put him in a different category of men. “But you’re an architect,” she said, her eyes wide as she pulled back slightly.
He took her hand and kissed the palm of her hand. “Yes. I’m an architect. As well as part owner of the company. My father gave us each twenty percent of the company while he retains the final twenty percent, allowing Zeke to control those shares. None of us have ever disagreed with Zeke on anything. We run our sections of the company and can be kicked out, our shares taken back if we don’t perform, but…” he shrugged, dismissing whatever the conditions were.
“But the four of you perform,” she filled into the silence he’d allowed. Yes, she could understand how that could work. Four men, all of them strong, competitive, and powerful, brilliant, actually, working together and competing.
“It doesn’t seem like the four of you compete with each other,” she commented, needing to understand. Then she shook her head. “No, it isn’t any of my business,” she decided, lifting her hand when he opened his mouth to explain.
The doorbell rang at that point so he didn’t have time to reply. He looked at her with something akin to amusement and stood up. “I believe breakfast has arrived,” he said and grabbed the other robe. “I’ll be right back.”
He walked out and Gaia stood up to pace for a moment. Staring out of the window, she tried to calm her frantic mind. Why was it relevant if he was wealthy? She’d already decided last night that this was a one night fantasy. She glanced through the bedroom door, her body tingling with anticipation at the thought of doing some of those things again. This morning.
Biting her lip, she thought about some of the ideas zinging through her mind. Could she? Dare she? Couldn’t they just have fun this morning and go their separate ways later? Right after breakfast, she thought.
With that thought firmly in her mind, she turned from the window, tightened the belt of her robe and walked slowly out to the living room area. Then stopped in her tracks.
Okay, so yeah, she’d seen the “room” last night when he’d brought her up here, but the lights had been dim and her mind had been on other things. Seeing it now, in the bright light of the morning, she was stunned by the enormous room. It wasn’t just a bedroom and living room area. This suite had a living room with dual sofas, a fireplace, a dining table and…well, it looked like there were other rooms on the other end of the suite! What had Logan done? This place must be costing him a fortune!
“Are you hungry?” he asked, pouring a cup of coffee from a silver coffee service. “It is hard to get a bad cup of coffee in this town, but I know that this coffee is exceptional.”
He walked over to where she was standing in the middle of the room and handed her one of the china cups. She glanced down at the cup and almost laughed. It was tiny! The cups she used at her house were about four times the size of this one. Well, and they were filled with a mixture of coffee and hot chocolate but then…so was this one!
How in the world had he discovered her secret? She was always so careful! “I think I’m in an alternate universe,” she said softly, still staring at the cup in her hand.
“Why do you say that?” he asked, leading her over to the table and pulling out a chair for her.
She sighed as she sat down, careful to keep the robe closed over her legs. “Because nothing is making sense,” she told him and sipped her mocha before propping her chin on her palm. It was amazingly good, she thought. Of course, he was drinking coffee, black and strong. She could smell it from here and she smiled, thinking that this man was pretty amazing.
His eyebrows shot up with those words. “You got all that from me handing you a cup of mocha?”
She laughed softly. “This isn’t a normal cup of hot chocolate and coffee mix,” she said and took a long sip.
He chuckled. “I agree. But you have to admit, it’s pretty good.” Leaning forward, he lifted the silver covers from several of the chaffing dishes. “Hungry?”
As the smell of the delicious food hit her, Gaia suddenly realized that she was starving! “Yes. Actually, I can’t believe how hungry I am,” she said and lifted one of the covers while he piled delicious looking scrambled eggs to her plate. He then spooned rosemary potatoes, some sort of spicy vegetables, pancakes and three muffins.
She stared down at her plate and covered her mouth with her hand.
“What’s wrong now?” he asked, putting even more onto his own plate.
She almost snorted with laughter because he honestly looked confused by her amusement. “Logan, I can’t eat all of this.”
He leered at her. “Sure you can,” and he sampled a bite of his eggs. “And you will. You’re going to need your energy, so eat up. I’m not letting you out of this suite until tomorrow. And maybe even not then.”
She shook her head. “I’m guessing checkout is in a couple of hours.”
He laughed softly. “Honey, I have this place all weekend.” He took her hand and tugged gently so that she sat on his lap. “So we can relax and take our time,” he purred, loosening the belt on her robe. “And I can have my way with you,” he finished and, when the robe was around her waist, hanging loosely from her elbows, he lifted a bite of eggs to her lips, offering it to her.
She took it and savored the cheesy, spicy eggs.
“We can’t stay here,” she sighed, trying hard to remember her resolve.
He brought a strawberry to her lips and she bit into the juicy fruit. “Why not?” he asked.
Mumbling around the fruit, she got out, “Too expensive,” but then he dipped his finger into the whipped cream and spread it over her nipple. Before she had the time to gasp, his mouth was covering the cream and the gasp turned to a moan. She pressed her hands against his shoulders. “You can’t,” she whispered.
He leaned back, surveying his handiwork and keeping her from pulling the robe back up to cover herself. “I can’t?” he asked, his eyes surveying her figure.
“Aren’t you sore?” she asked, blushing just a bit.
He was still for a long moment as he looked at her, then he threw back his head and laughed, holding her close. In between bouts of laughter, he kissed her gently, shaking his head.
“Is that your way of saying that you are too sore, Gaia?” he finally asked, still snickering slightly.
Gaia’s mouth fell open. She wasn’t sure how to answer him so she looked down, away, bit her lip, and then…
“It’s okay, honey. You don’t have to answer that. I’m sorry that I’ve…”
He was going to stop?! She didn’t want him to stop! Grabbing his shoulders, she turned to face him more fully even though it was slightly awkward while sitting like this on his lap. “No! I’m not…I mean…that is…” the heat in her cheeks intensified as she stumbled around on her words.
“You’re not too sore?”
She shook her head, still unable to say anything. “No. I just thought that you might be.”
She felt the room spin. A moment later, she realized that she was now lying on the dining room table with Logan leaning over her. “Men don’t get sore, Gaia,” he explained smugly, his green eyes moving over her nakedness with wicked intent. He picked up the bowl of whipped cream, setting it closer to her hip. “I could make love to you ten times today and still want more.”
Gaia swallowed. Ten times? Then she looked at the bowl he was moving closer to her shoulder. “Uhhh…what are you going to do with that whipped cream?” she asked in a whisper. She suspected she knew what he might do. Hoped he might do it. But….
“Ah, Gaia,” he stuck his finger into the whipped cream again, smearing it over her other nipple. “I find that I’m very…” he looked at her whipped cream covered nipples, “very hungry this morning.”
Gaia gasped when his warm mouth covered her cold nipple. The sensation was incredible! Her arms wrapped around his head, her fingers clinging to his hair as his tongue and mouth did amazing things to her breast.
He repeated the process over and over again as he slowly made his way down her body until he reached the pinnacle of her need. She tried to hold off. But his fingers had done an excellent job of smoothing the whipped cream over that area of her body. By the time his mouth moved to lick everything off, she was already out of her mind with desire. Her body started convulsing with that delicious, intense pleasure almost as soon as his mouth covered her core. And boy, was he thorough in cleaning off all of the whipped cream!
So when it was all over, Gaia sighed with happiness. “I think breakfast has just become my new favorite meal,” she told him, reveling in his deep, husky laughter.
But she wasn’t finished. Oh no. Not by a long shot!
Pushing at his shoulders, she sat up, grabbed his wrist and dunked his finger into the whipped cream. When she lifted that finger up, she pulled it to her mouth, her tongue and lips lapping up the cream. She would have smiled, but she was too turned on already. Those sounds he was making were pretty amazing.
Pressing his shoulders back, she pushed him into the chair again. Letting the robe fall off of her fully, she took the bowl of whipped cream and followed his example. She knew now that his flat, male nipples were almost as sensitive as her own, so she teased that area, licking off a thick layer of whipped cream before moving down his stomach. Inch by excruciating inch, she teased and tormented him.
When she reached that final point, one hand wrapped around his erection while the other dipped into the whipped cream before doing the same torture to him that he’d done to her.
Unfortunately, he had more discipline at this game. Well, and he was stronger. He gave her a few minutes to lick and enjoy that part of his anatomy before…
Once again, she was lifted up and laid out onto the dining room table. She almost laughed when the foil wrapper tore, but she was relieved that he had protection close by so she didn’t have to wait. When he entered her this time, she was more than ready for him. With each deep thrust, he took her higher, the pleasure almost painful as he drove into her. The dishes on the table clattered, but neither of them cared. Both were too intent on making the other person feel incredible.
So when she tightened her inner muscles around his erection, he reached down and pressed that button, teasing her the way that she loved so much. Both of them reached that pinnacle of perfection at the same time and Logan absorbed her cries into himself as he kissed her.
A long time later, Gaia turned her head and looked at the now-cold breakfast. Shockingly, all of the dishes were still intact. Maybe it had only been her body that had exploded so amazingly.
She giggled and Logan lifted his head to look down at her. “What’s so funny?” he asked, enjoying the dimples that she was too relaxed to hide from him now.
She laughed again, her head turning to look at the plates. “The orange juice tipped over,” she said, pointing above her head to the glass of juice that was spilled across the table. Thankfully, none got onto the floor but she heard Logan laugh as well.
“I guess this wasn’t the best place to start something.”
Gaia shrugged a shoulder. “I thought it was perfect,” she said, almost whispering the words as she smoothed her hands over his strong back.
He looked at her, his body already coming to life once again. “I agree.” But he lifted her up into his arms and set her back down into the chair. “Eat. You’re going to need your strength,” he told her.
So she did. And she did!
For the next two days, Gaia had the most erotic, fun-filled, amazing weekend of her life. She kept telling herself that she needed to leave. But she didn’t. It was magical being with Logan, who had no inhibitions, loved the same kinds of movies, and pulled her close, giving her that warm touch that she’d craved all her life, but had never experienced.