Chapter Four

 

I dropped on the end of the bed with my head in my hands and my heart beating like a drum. I’d wanted him so badly, so desperately. I still did.

Standing, I walked to the French doors and stared out at the raging sea and the palms fronds flattening in the wind. I could still feel Logan’s mouth on my skin, his tongue tracing my lips. He’d been a hungry man but his appetite had been carefully harnessed. He knew his power, his size and his formidable strength.

Moving restlessly, I went into the en-suite and flicked on the shower. They said a cold shower worked for men so perhaps it would work for a woman, too. I had to do something to dampen the fire raging in me. The need, the want, the lust—it was like another part of my being, battling for control.

I stripped naked and stepped into the cool water. Reaching for my lily-scented shower gel, I soaped my body. My breasts were tingling and heavy, my nipples still hard and erect. As I washed between my legs my lips felt swollen and hot. Beneath my fingertips my clitoris was engorged and crying out for attention. I gave it a little rub, tipped my head up to the pouring water and squeezed my eyes shut, circling it some more. But it was no good, it just wasn’t right. An orgasm at my own hand would not take the edge off my appetite or the heat from the fire Logan had ignited. I would have to wait for it to burn itself out—which could be some time.

Beyond frustrated, I stepped out, dried off and pulled on sweatpants and a baggy gray t-shirt. I scraped my hair into a ponytail and applied salve to my wind-beaten lips to prevent them from chapping. I couldn’t stay in my bedroom all week, that was ridiculous. But if I made an effort not to look too good, scruffy even, then perhaps it would put Logan off me. Because my armor was thin, and if he kissed me again, touched me in his gentle, seductive way, I didn’t know if I’d be able to resist him.

I sprawled on the bed and read for a couple of hours, listening to the wind beating the villa and the bushes whipping against one another. Eventually thirst sent me into the living area, where I was greeted by the noise of a cheering crowd and a commentator jabbering eagerly from the surround sound. Logan sat on the sofa, much the same as yesterday—feet on table, beer in hand, hockey on screen.

I poured a tumbler of ice water and took a long drink, then helped myself to a glass of wine and walked over to him. I cleared my throat. “Hey.”

He didn’t look up.

“Can I join you?” I asked.

“Suit yourself.”

He took a long slug of beer as I sat down a safe distance from him. I didn’t want to smell him, or feel his body heat or be able to do anything dangerous like study his soft mouth too closely—the soft mouth that he knew how to use so well.

“What are you watching?” Duh! I could have kicked myself immediately.

“Vipers versus Washington Capitals. It’s an important match. We need the points to go above Seattle.”

“We?” I asked. “As in Orlando, your team? Why aren’t you playing?”

His eyebrows dropped low and he knocked back the last of his beer. “’Cause some dumb-nut wound me up last week and I lost it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I got dumped in the sin bin one time too many. I’m suspended from this game.”

“Because of the Russian?” My attention flicked to his forehead. “The one who high-sticked you?”

“Yep.” His jaw tightened and his lips mashed together. “That bastard has a lot to answer for.” His gaze slid over to me. “Sorry.”

He didn’t look it.

I took a sip of wine.

The whistle blew and the game started up. Logan leaned forward, put his beer on the table and rested his elbows on his knees. “Go on, Brick,” he shouted at the enormous screen. “Don’t let that fat...” he paused and glanced at me, “idiot have you like that.”

“Must have been awful growing up with that name,” I said.

“It’s a nickname, obviously.” He lifted off the sofa slightly as the puck shot toward the goal, but then he sank back down, deflated, when it missed. “Damn.”

I thought about it. “It’s still odd.”

“He’s tough, hard and dependable, like a brick. Everyone calls him it, even his mother now.”

The commentator’s voice filled the living room. “And that’s why they need Phoenix. A shot like that would have counted. A shot like that would have got this game off on the right foot for the Vipers.”

“You want another drink?” Logan stood, stepping past me to head into the kitchen.

“No, I’m fine, thanks.” I tried not to suck in the delicious scent he’d left hanging in the air right in front of me. He’d showered too, and I’d bet my best aromatherapy candle that his shower gel contained ginger, but only a drop, because the overall scent was like the first taste of mulled wine at Christmas, heavy and fruity, thick with promise.

He slammed the fridge door, dropped back down next to me and popped another beer.

“Phoenix has got to be kicking himself right now,” the commentator continued. “A match like this, with the Caps in top form. It would have been right up his alley. The Vipers really are going to miss his on-ice skill.”

“Who’s Phoenix?” I asked.

Logan took a deep breath and the muscle in his jaw danced. “Me,” he said with a scowl.

“He’s talking about you? You’re Phoenix?”

“Yeah, and everything he’s saying is right. I should be there, they could use me. I never would have missed the shot Brick just took. I’d have been three yards closer, I’m quicker, a better aim.”

“Modest too,” I said.

He gave a huff of amusement. “I’ve been doing it longer, he’s still a kid. He’ll get there soon enough.”

“So if Brick gets his name because he’s hard and dependable, why do you call yourself Phoenix?”

“I don’t and I didn’t choose it myself.”

“So why did they give you the name Phoenix?”

“Because I always get up. You know, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes.” He paused as the puck went dangerously near the opposite goal. When it missed he continued, “I get broken, winded, messed up, and I carry on. I’m not a sissy that cries to the refs at the first drip of blood.”

I would never have put Logan in the sissy category and I couldn’t imagine anyone, anywhere on the planet would. “So what happened last week, with the Russian?”

Logan frowned. “He shoved me against the boards one time too many so I retaliated.”

“But how did he cut your head? Didn’t you have a helmet on?” I gestured at the screen where the players wore helmets with cages covering their faces.

“I threw it off, it got personal.” He shrugged. “I lost my temper.”

I thought of how he’d held me, touched me. I couldn’t imagine Logan losing it, using that strength to fight, not now I’d seen, felt it used so gently and sweetly. “Do you do that a lot? Lose your temper.”

“Something I’m working on,” he said, turning to me. “It’s why Fergal sent me here, to have some time out, ‘get a grip’ he said.” He cocked his head. “I thought it was a crazy idea but humored him ’cause I had nothing else to do this week, but the thing is I’ve felt better…today at the cafe, you know, with you. I felt different, calm, like a weight had lifted from my shoulders.”

I nodded. “It’s my aura,” I said. “I have a blue aura, similar color to your eyes I believe.”

“It’s your what?”

“My aura, it’s pale blue. Blue is always a calming influence.” Well, most of the time it was pale blue, at the moment it was probably blotched with navy. “I have to work at it, of course, to keep it calm and healing, I have to balance my karma and ease through problems as they arise.”

“You have a pale blue aura that you have to work on? What, like a ring of blue…around you?” He was looking at me as if I were a total fruitcake. I’d seen the look before when I’d explained auras to people.

“Yes, my Aunt Belinda, God rest her soul, used to see it the best. She could tell what mood I was in before I said anything.”

“And…and do I have an aura?” He glanced down at his arms as if searching for a ring of color.

“Oh yes, but you can’t see your own. Yours is blood red with black lines streaking through it.” I studied him. “Though there’s not as much black today. Perhaps it was that upsetting your balance, making you lose your temper when you were playing.”

“Black streaks.” He shook his head. “In my aura?”

“Yes, they can’t be good for you, not really.”

“You’re saying black streaks in my aura caused me to pummel Yusof?”

“More than likely. Having just one pure color is the thing to strive for.”

“And how do I get that?”

“Keep hanging out with me, I guess,” I said with a smile. “It seems my aura is cleansing yours.”

He furrowed his brow and his wound creased. “You really believe that?”

“Yes.”

He huffed. “Well, if you cleansed it this morning I reckon you sent it completely black when we got back here.” He placed his beer on the table and I studied three neat lines on his shirt stretching between his shoulder blades as he leaned forward.

“So tell me the rules,” I said, feigning fascination at a penalty shot. “I’ve never watched a game of ice hockey in my life.”

“Brooke.” He sat back up.

“Mmm?”

“Was it something I did? Earlier. I could use the feedback.”

My heart did a flip of remorse. I should never have let it go so far. I should never have led him on by kissing him first. “It was nothing you did.”

“You just didn’t like making out with a thick jock like me, eh?”

“Logan, you might be thickset but there’s nothing thick about you.” My gaze scanned his shirt, tight around his biceps, then dropped lower to his wide, powerful thighs.

He grunted. “Yeah, well there’s obviously something fundamentally wrong with me. Like the guys said, I turned Tina off the whole male species.”

I looked at his handsome features, stiff with worry and frustration. “I’m sure you get plenty of offers from slim, glamorous ‘rink bunnies.’”

“Yeah, sure, but they’re exactly that, rink bunnies. They’re false and they just want to date a hockey player. They don’t want to date me. If I worked in a bank, or on a construction site, they wouldn’t be interested.” His gaze scanned down my t-shirt and sweatpants. “Besides, I don’t like skinny girls,” he said flatly. “I like women, women who are soft and have curves in all the right places. Women who look and feel like women. And I like women who like me for me, not because I’m good at whacking a puck into a net.”

I looked into his eyes for a sign that he was lying. Did he really like my curvy shape? There was no shifting of his irises, his words had been honest. It meant a lot to a girl who’d struggled to maintain a positive relationship with hips that wouldn’t fit into skinny jeans and breasts that needed support at all times. “I like you for you,” I said, my insides melting at his openness. “A lot.”

“Yeah, right.” He folded his arms and studied the screen.

Suddenly I saw a way to fix my karma. I could prove to Logan just how much I liked him and do something about the white-hot lust that he’d injected into my veins. I would simply refuse the money from Fergal. I still had my job at The Grill because I’d taken leave to come to the island. So I could revert to my original plan of working my way through nursing college. The bonus being, I’d have had a fabulous holiday to catch up on study, for free, and to top it all off, the company of a gorgeous, sexy guy.

Karma would be restored.

Simple.

I placed my empty wineglass on the table and moved closer to Logan. “I really am sorry about earlier. If I could explain I would.”

His looked at me and his gaze dropped to my mouth. I thought for a second he might shift away, but he didn’t. He stayed very still, frozen, as if exerting considerable willpower to remain motionless with his hands in his lap.

“Perhaps you’ll let me make it up to you,” I said quietly. I could already feel my body crying out for his. The remembered sensation of those lips on my naked flesh had my heart rate picking up and blood pooling in my pelvis.

“What, and have you walk away again?” He ran his tongue ran over his bottom lip, coating it in a soft sheen. “And leave me in need of another damn cold shower.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I pressed the palm of my hand to his stubbled jawline and kept his focus on me. “I’m staying right here.” I moved my head so close our noses touched. “On this very soft, very long sofa.”

His eyes narrowed.

“And I’m going to take off these old clothes,” I whispered onto his mouth. “If that helps persuade you to let me make it up to you.”

Heat smoldered from his intense gaze. “I’m persuaded,” he murmured, just before his lips took possession of mine. His kiss was still gentle but hotter than before, and there was an urgency to it now as well. His tongue plundered in, caught mine and started a crazy dance that took my breath away.

His hands brushed my stomach as he curled his fingers under my t-shirt, pulling it over my head and freeing my messy ponytail from its band. My hair settled on my bare shoulders, tickling the hypersensitive flesh. I got the feeling he wasn’t going to give me a chance to change my mind this time. But he didn’t need to worry, I was buzzing for him, as desperate as he was to pick up where we’d left off.

He paused in his kissing and looked at the white satin bra I was wearing. “Now that’s not old,” he said in a rumbling voice, brushing the tip of his thumb over the scalloped lace of the cup. “But I want it off anyway.”

He slid his hands up my spine and released the hooks of my bra, smoothing the straps down my arms and dropping it to the floor. My breasts hung heavy and free, aching with longing, my skin tightening in anticipation of Logan’s touch. He reached out and cupped the heavy underside of my left breast, filling his hand with my pale flesh and brushing his thumb over the nipple as he kissed me again.

Both nipples tightened and twisted. I reached for the top button of his shirt and, with fumbling fingers, freed it. Logan pulled back, released my breast and, without taking his hungry gaze from my chest, fisted his shirt between his shoulders and dragged it over his head.

Immediately the temperature cranked up. His body heat and divine scent had me squirming with impatience. The sight of his beautiful chest had my hands itching to touch him.

But Logan didn’t reach for me again, instead he stood, towering above me. He retrieved his wallet from his pocket, dropped it on the table and stepped out of his shorts, revealing tight black boxers. Then he stooped, wrapped an arm around my waist and effortlessly slid me lengthways along the couch so I was on my back looking up at him. “These have definitely seen better days,” he said, tugging at my sweatpants with determined fingers.

“I agree.” I lifted my hips so he could pull them, along with my white panties, down my legs and over my feet.

He shoved a hand through his hair and looked down at me sprawled naked on the couch. His eyes glistened with lust.

“And Phoenix is going to wish he was here!” the commentator shouted from the TV. The crowd erupted. The whiz of skates slicing over ice filled the room. “Phoenix will be so sorry to miss this.”

“Oh no, I’m not,” Logan said with a decidedly feral grin and hitting mute on the remote. “I’m exactly where I want to be. This is much more fun than work.”

The only sounds now were our rapid breaths, the wind screeching over the roof and the big, flat leaves whipping against the kitchen window. It was as though all my senses were amplified, heightened, and I was part of the storm, our passion was part of nature—it was meant to be.

Logan dropped, kneeling half on the floor, half on the sofa. He pushed up my knees, resting my left leg over his shoulder. He planted a kiss on my navel and settled his rounded biceps against my inner thighs. “You’re so soft,” he murmured. “Everything about you is soft and smooth and…” He dropped a kiss lower, in the center of my small patch of blonde pubic hair. “And delicious.”

I looked down between my breasts and tried to control a quiver running up my spine as he tilted my hips to his face. “You like that I’m soft…?” I managed as his gaze lingered on my exposed pussy. “You like that I’m soft and not all toned from the gym?”

“Hell, yeah.” He smiled up at me, a dark delicious smile that promised a whole load of sin. “And I’m gonna show you just how much I like it.” He ducked his head and I was left looking at that white scar through his hair, again. The delicate flesh on my inner thigh trembled at the moist touch of his tongue and the scratch of his chin. I dropped my head on the cushion and let out a small moan of appreciation as his fingers found my slick flesh, touching and separating my lips, pulling back the hood of my clitoris and exposing its dampness to the air.

His mouth was only a second behind his fingers, kissing and licking briefly before he created a solid, hot suction over my clit. It had been so long since Sam had treated me to this. He much preferred me doing all the work when it came to oral sex. And now the immediate, wild, barely remembered sensation stole my breath. My toes and fingers curled as a deep moan of pleasure escaped my throat. “Oh God, Logan,” I said, arching my back and clenching my fists at the sudden and devastatingly accurate aim of his caress. “That’s it, just there.”

He continued for a long, heavenly minute then released my clit and began to explore lower with his tongue, delving into my entrance with the tip and then spreading my desire for him into every crease and crevice of my pussy lips. My head fell to the side, my eyes squeezed shut. He was building me up so fast.

He upped the pressure and captured my clit again in a deep, luscious kiss, setting up a rhythm around my needy nub with his tongue. His fingers teased, hovering at my entrance but barely dipping in.

“Please,” I said, shifting my pelvis toward him. I felt like an empty vessel that needed to be filled. “Please, I need you…in me.”

He pushed one thick finger in right to the knuckle. I gripped him hard with my internal muscles. The first tug of an orgasm called to me and I moaned as he stroked over my G-spot.

He treated me to another finger, filling me deliciously then withdrawing. The climax was there, in the pit of my stomach, building like a rocket getting ready for takeoff. Having him sucking on my clit and filling me with his fingers was about to spin me out of control.

“Logan,” I panted. “I’m going to—”

He pulled his fingers out, lifted his face from between my legs and wiped his mouth on the back of his forearm. “Wait for me, sweetie,” he said, reaching for his wallet. The foot draped over his shoulder fell to the floor with a whump. He took out a blue foil package and tore at the wrapper with his teeth.

My vision blurred and my desperate clit was buzzing. Logan shoved off his boxers and released his erection. He hadn’t been joking earlier when he’d said he was big. He rolled the condom down his thick shaft and then loomed over me, one knee on the sofa, the other foot planted on the floor. I grabbed for his hard shoulders and stared into his eyes, which flooded with need and greed as he positioned himself.

I wrapped one leg around his waist and smoothed my palms over his marble-hard shoulders. He lowered his face and as his warm, musky tongue entered my mouth, pushed his cock into my body. I was so ready, so wet, but still the size of him stretching me, invading me had me groaning at the sweetest, most wonderful bite of pain imaginable.

“You’re not going anywhere now, are you?” he asked in a voice as smooth as velvet but at the same time as rough as sandpaper.

“No,” I said, dragging my fingers through his mussed-up hair. “No way. I’m staying…right…here.”

“Good, ’cause I’m just about to go past…” He pulled out and shoved back in. “The point of no return.”

“I’ve…gone…past…that,” I panted on the breaths expelled from my lungs with the force of each one of his now-hammering thrusts.

“So have I…” He gritted his teeth. “Is it good for you, Brooke?”

“God, yes.” I cupped his cheeks in my hands and stared up at his face. “So good, Logan, you feel so good.”

He pumped his hips faster, harder and I clung, welcoming each pound of his powerful muscles. His cock was so hard, rubbing over every spot on my internal walls perfectly and filling me completely.

He kissed me again, his tongue gliding in and around my mouth. His breaths became hard and sharp as he increased to an even stronger, faster tempo. I bucked up to meet him and his body pressed against my clit, hard and relentless, drawing me closer to orgasm. I reveled in the exquisite pleasure he was generating deep within me. Each wild push stroked me toward the explosion, an explosion that held all the promise of an almighty climax.

He tore his mouth from mine and ducked to suckle my nipple. I groaned with delight—mixed with everything else going on in my body the sensation was exaggerated, intensified. His driving hips didn’t let up as he nibbled and sucked then switched to the other breast, treating it to the same lapping and caressing.

“Logan,” I said, grasping his shoulders ass my clit prepared to reach the pinnacle of sensation. “Come…come with me.”

He raised his head and stared deep into my eyes without a pause in rhythm. “Now?”

“Yes…now.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, yes…”

He plunged in, deeper, farther, raw power behind the all-consuming movement. It was no longer harnessed and controlled, he was taking what he wanted. Taking what he needed from my body. I sucked in a breath, suspended in a moment of pure ecstasy.

I tumbled over the edge. My whole world splintered, shattered and my pussy erupted into a series of potent spasms that rocked me to my core. I cried out, overwhelmed, wrapping my arms around him and sinking my nails into his back. I spasmed and pulsed around his cock as lights burst before my eyelids.

He thrust one last time, buried as deep as he could possibly go. His muscles turned to granite and he swore like the bad boy hockey player he was. He scooped his arms beneath me and held me fixed against his chest. Then he, too, was pulsing, pumping inside me, and with his face nestled in my neck, his breath whooshed from his lungs into my ear louder than any storm.

My internal muscles gripped him, held him and absorbed his last pulsations as I tried to catch my breath around his weight.

“That was…” he said, lifting slightly and relaxing his crushing hold. “I’ve never had such trouble waiting. Stamina I have by the bucketful but Christ, you sap it away, Brooke.”

I sucked in a great breath of air. “Is that a good thing?”

“It sure feels good.” A crooked smile twisted his mouth. “It just means I might need a little extra training while we’re here.”

“Mmm.” I grinned, smoothing my hands over his tense butt cheeks. “I think we were in perfect synchrony, but practice can be arranged if that’s what you really want.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s what I want.”

Logan withdrew and stood, pulling off the condom. He walked naked to the kitchen and I heard the trash lid clatter.

“You always have a condom in your wallet?” I asked, sitting upright and pushing hair from my face.

“Yeah, habit left over from college years—I was ever hopeful.”

“Only one?” I wriggled into my panties.

“Yeah, only one.” He walked back over carrying two glasses of water and pulled on his boxers. “But don’t panic, I noticed Fergal keeps a stash in the main bathroom.” He gave a little snort of amusement. “I bet he brings his girlfriend here all the time, don’t you?”

I took a sip of water and reached for my bra. “He’s married to Sheila.”

Logan frowned and sank onto the sofa. “Oh, yeah, course he is.”

“You think he’s got a girlfriend?”

“I can’t discuss that with you, can I?”

“Why not?”

“Well, you probably know Sheila if your families are friends.”

“No, er, I haven’t seen Sheila in years.”

“Oh, well in that case, yeah, Fergal has a girlfriend. It’s common knowledge amongst the guys, she’s a young hottie.” He shrugged. “If you like that look.”

“What look?”

“Overly made up, stick thin and always teetering about on high heels—you know the sort.”

“Really, but he’s so old.”

“Yeah, old and rich. I guess she likes the rich part best.”

I thought of Giselle. She was always perfectly made up, very thin, had an unhealthy obsession with stilettos, and she was definitely interested in Fergal’s money. I had no doubt in my mind that Logan was talking about her.

I took a deep, purifying breath and put my arms through my bra straps. Whatever Giselle and Fergal got up to in the villa was not the same as what Logan and I had just done.

“Do you really need to put that on?” Logan said, eying my bra as I lifted my breasts into the cups.

“Yes,” I said through a smile. “I do.”

“Well it won’t be on for long, trust me…” He gave a naughty smile. “That was just a warm-up, remember?”

We watched the rest of the game in our underwear. Logan explained to me about icing calls and penalties and I tried to keep up with the difference between points and goals.

I became distracted when Logan reached for my sore foot at the second period break and carefully peeled off the bandage to check my wounds. Satisfied I wasn’t about to drop down dead, he rubbed and massaged my foot, ankle and calf. His big hands were surprisingly gentle for a man who spent most of his time ramming people into boards and whacking pucks with a stick. He swapped to the other foot just before Brick scored a winning goal in the final minute.

“That was great,” I said from my reclined position, reluctant to move anywhere. “I can’t believe I’ve never watched a hockey game before.” I let out a contented yawn.

“You liked it?”

“Yes, all that whizzing about, barging and fouling. Real entertainment.”

He studied me as if he wasn’t sure if I was being sarcastic. “You want me to get you a ticket for Saturday night’s game?”

“That would be cool.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really, I’d love to watch you play.”

“I’ll get you a great seat.” He grinned and hit the remote, silencing the commentators’ end-of-match chatter. “And you can come and meet the guys after.”

“That would be nice.” I glanced out of the glass doors. Dusk had taken hold and deep shadows stretched over the decking. “I think the storm has passed. I can’t hear the wind anymore.”

Logan looked outside. “Yeah, everything’s gone still.” He placed my foot on the cushions and stood. As he walked to the door I admired his butt—his boxer briefs clung tight to the outline of his cheeks and the two little dimples at the base of his back were perfectly symmetrical and deepened in turn as he walked.

“Yep, all calm again,” he said. “Battered and blown, but the sea is gentle and the trees aren’t bending over backwards.”

“Good,” I said, walking over and dipping my fingers into the dimples I’d been admiring. “That means I can go for a swim.”

“You want to after the sea anemone this morning?” He turned to me with a worried crease between his eyes.

“Sure, I can’t let that put me off.” I shrugged. “I adore swimming in the sea, especially in the evening, it’s so cleansing. I’ll just stay away from the rock pools.” I paused. “Want to join me?”

He licked his lips and his gaze dropped down my body. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?” I had a fairly good idea what he was about to say. The workings of Logan Taylor’s mind were becoming clear to me.

“We go skinny-dipping.” He circled my waist and smoothed his hand to the hollow of my back. “We take off our clothes and swim as bare as the day we were born.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t you think someone might see?”

“Not a chance, this is a private stretch of beach and I haven’t seen a boat since we got here.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and embraced me with both arms. “Go on,” he whispered.

I slid my fingers from his smooth dimples to the elastic of his boxers, poked underneath and stroked the top of his butt—it was hard with muscle, just like the rest of his body. “Okay,” I said, tugging at my bottom lip as a flutter of excitement tickled my stomach. I’d never been skinny-dipping before, I was always too busy worrying about covering up. It would be a new experience. “We’ll skinny-dip. But I’m not walking all the way down to the shore without a bra. It’s just not comfortable.”

Logan let go of me and opened the door. Warm sea air blew in. “Deal,” he said as he entwined his fingers with mine and tugged. “That probably gives you about thirty seconds of leeway then.”

We stepped over the decking and onto the beach. The sky held the last rays of the light from the west and in the east, dense navy had taken hold. The first stars had come out to play along with a creamy crescent moon.

“What star sign are you?” I asked as our feet halted just before the sea line. “Aries.”

“Of course.” I nodded.

“What do you mean, of course?”

“I should have guessed, that’s all.”

“What, because I’m like a ram, put my head down and charge?” He let go of my hand, reached round my back and released my bra, letting it drop to the sand.

“It’s the most masculine sign, fiery, quick-tempered. Warriors are nearly always Aries,” I said. The breeze tickled over my nipples and cool air swept over my flesh. The night air on my skin was wonderfully liberating.

“Mmm, that sounds like me.” He let his index fingers sweep under the heavy curves of my breasts. “I bet you’re the sexy lady, which one is that?” His fingers traveled to the waistband of my panties. “Virgo or something.” He stooped and pulled the slip of white material down my thighs and over my knees to my ankles.

I placed a hand on his hard shoulder as I stepped out of each leg. “Good guess.”

He stood with a grin and kicked out of his boxers. His erection sprang forward from his dark pubic hair and the pale moonlight cast sharp angled shadows over his perfect chest and abs.

One glance at his heavy, hungry eyes roaming my body made me wonder if we would make it into the sea. “Come on,” I said quickly, “let’s swim.” I waded into the tepid water. Delicate waves captured my lower legs, inviting me deeper. The gentle twilight was hypnotic and I rejoiced at my nakedness with each tiny splash that hit me.

Logan suddenly sprang into action. With a burst of noise and energy he took six enormous strides past me, kicked up spray and dived into the crest of a wave. His arms flew out to the side in great arcs and his head and back curled forward. The wave claimed the lower half of his body as it rolled over itself in a froth of ghostly white and he disappeared into the darkness.

I laughed and then tensed as the wave rolled past me and teetered my balance. He surfaced, flicking water from his hair, and took several fast strokes deeper out to sea. “Come on,” he called, stopping and turning to the shore. “It’s lovely.”

As the sea hit my thighs I fell forward and let it claim me too. The water lifted the weight of my breasts and as I kicked, coolness seeped between my legs. I caught my breath, the feeling of being so at one with the planet was breathtaking. I was part of the ocean, part of the sky, part of the universe, there was nothing between us.

“Hey, sexy Virgo,” Logan said, suddenly popping up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Can you stand here?”

I put my feet down into soft sand and found the ebbing water at my waist. “Yes.” I curled my hands over his corded forearms and leaned back against his warm, strong body.

“Good,” he said as he pressed a kiss to my temple. “’Cause I want to hold you, right here.”

I glanced back at the weak light pouring from our villa onto the beach. “Hey, what was that?” Something up the hill, to the right, had flashed from the undergrowth.

“What?”

“I thought I saw something, a flashlight perhaps.”

Logan raised his head and his shoulders shifted as he followed my line of sight. “I can’t see anything.”

“No, I can’t now either.” I frowned. “Perhaps it was a shooting star or something.”

“Mmm, or something.” He nuzzled into my neck again as he palmed the underside of my breasts. “You have the best…” He stroked his thumbs over my rigid nipples, already tight from the coolness of the water. “The best breasts I’ve ever been acquainted with.” He slid his big hands upward and cupped them entirely. “And the way they fit in my hands, perfect.”

I let out a sigh as the heat from his palms absorbed through my skin and settled between my legs. I leaned farther into him and his erection lodged tighter into the hollow of my back. “I’m glad you approve,” I said, tipping my head to the winking stars and letting the breeze lift my hair from my shoulders. Perhaps we were two halves and this crazy way of our paths crossing had been planned millions of years ago in the heavens.

“Sweetie, I more than approve. You’ve got me as high as those stars.”

“That’s your star,” I said, pointing. “The one with a hint of red.”

“It is?” He lifted his head.

“Yes, that’s Mars, the ruler of Aries.”

“Mars, as in the planet.”

“Yes, as in the planet, but Mars is also the Roman god of war, he’s confident and aggressive, full of ambition and energy.”

“You’re describing me,” Logan murmured, pressing a kiss to the pulse in my neck. “Especially when I’m hammering an opponent into submission.” His caresses left my breasts and dipped below the water line tickling at my waist.

“He’s also very,” I whispered, “sexual…in an assertive, impulsive way.”

“I’m feeling very sexual now,” he mumbled onto my shoulder. “In an assertive, impulsive way.” He sneaked his right hand lower as his other arm held my body tighter to his. “Open your legs,” he whispered into my ear as he ruffled his fingertips through my pubic hair. “Let me touch you.”

I went to turn around, I wanted more. I wanted to touch him. I wanted him inside me, but he halted my movements effortlessly and with barely a splash.

I huffed in frustration and a chuckle came up from his chest. “Easy, sweetie, I haven’t got a condom hidden in the waves, you know.” He pushed my feet apart with one of his and slipped his fingertips through the top folds of my pussy. “Let me give you pleasure, out here, in the ocean.”

He didn’t wait for me to answer and my knees turned weak as his clever fingers slid through hot flesh, easing apart folds to let the sea swirl over my clitoris. I reached back and hooked my hands over his shoulders, just managing to link them at the nape of his neck before I turned into a boneless heap.

“Tell me what you want, Brooke,” he said, his body holding me like an anchor in a storm. “Tell me what you want from me.” As he spoke the stubble on his chin rubbed my face and I knew he was looking down at my breasts lifted up to the night sky.

“I want you to…”

He reached farther down and slid his finger into my entrance. Cold and hot, all at the same time, it took away my breath and my words.

“You want me to what?” His voice was as smooth as treacle—thick, black, sugary treacle.

“I want you to…” He added another finger and pushed up higher, stretching me exquisitely and sharply. But the heat from the stretch was immediately washed away by the cool water around me, in me, the fire dampened so only the intense filling sensation remained. I moaned and contracted my internal muscles around him. How did he expect me to answer his questions when he did stuff like that?

“Maybe you want me to do this?” He pressed the heel of his hand over my clit and caught the tight bud in a long, slow glide as he pushed into me again.

“Oh, God, yes.” I groaned, suddenly glad of his arm supporting me. “Yes, yes, I want that, that’s it.”

“Anything else?” He began a steady pump in and out of me, never releasing my clit as he finger-fucked me.

“No, no that’s good.” I stared up at Venus. Phosphorus-white, it glowed down from the sky, which was rapidly becoming dense as velvet. I stared until my eyes blurred then squeezed them shut. Lost to everything except what Logan was doing to me. Where Logan was taking me.

“Is there a guy in your life?” He tensed as a stronger wave pressed against us, relaxing when it passed.

“No, no.” I shuddered with the sweet pleasure his touch was creating. It was building again, every cell in my body was tuned in to his promise of satisfaction and I was getting edgy with the need to come. “Not anymore.”

“Why, what you do with him?”

“I dumped him, he was a liar and a cheat,” I said in a strained voice.

“Mmm, need a warrior to go sort him out?”

“He’s sorted…ancient history.”

“But he hurt you?” His hot, open mouth just below my ear sent a shivery warmth sliding down my neck as his breathing picked up.

“Yes, but it was my fault. I never should have kept taking him back.”

“You like to see the best in people, Brooke.”

“I guess.” I loved the way he said my name, all soft and deep with the double “oo” extended in a drawl, it made my mouth go dry and my body ache for him to say it again.

“But he made it hard to trust again?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Why were we having this conversation as I teetered on the brink of orgasm? Was it because he knew I was too distracted to tell him anything but the truth?

“I could give you that.”

“What?” My mind wasn’t keeping up. Who could blame me?

“I could give you back your ability to trust a man.”

“Mmm, maybe…”

He upped the pace and with the heel of his hand added small rotations, sending my clit into a state of frenzy.

“Ahh…” I said, curling my toes in the sand. “I’m, going to, ahh, Logan…”

“Trust me to look after you, trust me to give you pleasure you didn’t even know existed.”

“Yes, yes, Oh, God, Logan.” White-hot liquid was pumping from my pelvis, flooding the rest of my body, preparing for takeoff. Had this moment been written in the stars for me? It sure felt like destiny.

He sped up his movements and held me tighter. The cool waves splashed around us but I was burning hot. I was getting ready to come. I could taste the salt in the air and the scent of his skin had settled in my mouth and nose, filling my lungs—filling my soul.

“Your pussy is greedy for me, it’s hot and wet and clamping my fingers, sucking me in.” He pressed his cheek to mine. “Look up, open your eyes and look at the sky.”

I opened my eyes and searched out Mars. The stars around it were like fireworks, dancing and partying all over the place, celebrating with me. I groaned and sank down farther onto Logan’s impaling fingers. I could hardly catch my breath, it had become lodged in my throat as every nerve in my body braced for the eruption.

“Come, come for me, sweetie.”

His hot, gravelly words sent the climax rolling through my body like a tsunami of pure bliss. The moment seemed to go on forever as Logan’s determined fingers kept me riding through the waves of sensation.

“Logan, Logan,” I half shouted, half groaned as my spine arched and my pelvis tipped for his thrusts. His hard cock jabbed into my back and his breaths were loud in my ear.

I let out a long, low moan as another tremor of pleasure tore through me. Mars still twinkled down. I focused on its ruby aura and let myself fly high on life, high on lust.

“That was amazing,” I panted, releasing my hands from behind his neck and hanging like a rag doll in his arms.

“Yeah.” He pulled from between my legs and spun me to his chest. “You like how I touch?”

“You touch awesome.” I pressed a kiss to his small, dark nipple and curled my fingers into the wet coils of his chest hair.

“I’m glad you think so.” He tilted my face to his with the crook of his finger.

I looked up into his eyes, small creases shot from the sides as they sparkled down at me through the darkness.

“I’ve never come so hard or for so long,” I said. “Only a man who completely understands a woman’s needs can do that, Logan.”

“Yeah?”

“Tina was obviously never really into men, because you could wreck a woman for all other guys, raise the bar so high it can never be matched.” I caught his face in my hands, and as my pussy gave a final spasm I kissed him hard and appreciatively. I, for one, had definitely never encountered a man like Logan Taylor, and I was already beginning to wonder if I ever would again.