Chapter Nine
STORMY WAS QUIET on the drive out of the city. She was still fidgeting with the seam of her jeans and hugging the passenger door. They’d stopped at a market before leaving the city, and Logan had stocked up on enough groceries to tide them over for a few days and had picked up sandwiches for dinner, which they’d eaten on the way. He’d hoped she’d close her eyes and get some rest on the drive out to his cabin in the Silver Mountains in Sweetwater, New York, but he’d had no such luck. Every time he stole a glance at her, the thin layer of ice he’d held tenuously in place around his heart since they’d set out for the cabin melted a little more. It was all Logan could do not to pull her against him and help ease her worry. He told her about the tracking devices he’d found and tried to reassure her that he had a plan, although his plan was loosely threaded at the moment, overshadowed by the need to get her to safety. He had less than seventy-two hours to get to Kutcher, and come hell or high water, he’d nail the bastard.
It was dark by the time they wove up the mountain road, led by streaks of moonlight carving paths through the trees. Stormy made a sad noise in her throat that tugged at Logan, wiping away the last of his resolve. He reached for her hand, and for a split second their eyes connected before he had to turn back to the road. In that instant he saw deep wells of sorrow. He wished he were driving his father’s old truck, which he kept at the cabin, instead of his car. It had a bench seat, and he could have held her close while he drove.
He turned down the dirt driveway and stopped the car in front of the iron gate. The hell with professional distance. Distance was the last thing she needed. She’d had distance for as long as she’d been running. He unhooked his seat belt and hauled his thick body over the console to pull her against him. Her body was rigid at first as he stroked her back. “I’ve got you. You’re safe with me.”
Darkness peered through the windows, keeping the sounds of night at bay and leaving them in a bubble of silence. He could have held her all night right there on the secluded drive on the Silver Mountains, but he wanted her safe and comfortable. He touched his forehead to hers.
“Hey.”
She lifted a tenuous gaze.
“I’ve got you.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
For the first time, she looked fragile. Her eyes were soft, her shoulders low. Her walls were coming down, and that made Logan’s protective impulses even stronger. He’d been on high alert as they’d left the city and had taken the long way to the property to avoid being tailed. There hadn’t been a single set of taillights for the last twenty miles.
He settled back into his seat and used the remote to open the gate, still holding her hand. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as he drove up the long dark driveway toward the cabin.
Logan parked the car and flicked a code on the remote. Porch and floodlights illuminated a thirty-foot area around the two-bedroom cabin.
“Where are we?”
“Silver Rock Mountains, upstate New York. I own two hundred acres. You’ll be safe here. I’ve got surveillance cameras throughout the property, but there’s no need to worry,” he assured her. “No one knows you’re here.”
“Wow. You’re like one of those guys in the movies, where in a few hours you can become invisible.” She sighed as she unhooked her seat belt. “What I wouldn’t give for that skill.”
Logan got out of the car and opened her door.
“And you’re a gentleman.” She smiled up at him, looking markedly less worried than she’d been moments before. Logan knew she was good at slipping in and out of the armor she wore in public, and he wasn’t buying the no-fear mask she was wearing.
“I guess my mama raised her boys right.” He reached for her hand and helped her from the car, then retrieved her bags. He had everything he needed at the cabin, from clothing to tactical gear and equipment.
Out of habit, he scanned the area as they ascended the steps to the wraparound porch.
“I bet this place is gorgeous in the daylight.”
“Night or day, if you ask me.” Logan pushed the door open and scanned the interior. It was a simple cabin with a bedroom on either end, a small kitchen to the left, and a wood-burning stove surrounded by stone just beyond. Reclaimed barn wood lined the far wall. Logan watched Stormy take in the leather recliners in the living room and the old leather sofa beside the stove. Her boots resounded on the hardwood floors.
“This is exactly how I pictured you’d live.” She ran her hand over the marble countertops in the kitchen. “I love how you’ve combined old barn wood with higher-end elements, and the stainless-steel stove and fridge are a nice touch.”
“Careful. Your interior decorator side is showing.”
She smiled. “So important PI stuff included digging up my career?”
“Just a little.” He didn’t want her to feel too exposed, but he wanted her to know that he wasn’t oblivious to who she was, so he turned the conversation from her back to the cabin. “My father had a thing for stone. Probably because he could never afford it.” Talking about his father made his muscles cord tight, and he didn’t know what possessed him to mention his father to Stormy.
He’d bought the property after he’d returned to civilian life, as a place where he could escape the guilt of not being there when his parents needed him. Finding out that guilt stayed with him like white on rice was a harsh reality he’d still not gotten used to. He’d added the stone at the last minute. His father was the hardest-working man Logan had ever known, though he’d never made much money. Logan had carried one image of his father with him for years. They’d just arrived at Hal Braden’s ranch in Weston, Colorado, for him and his brothers to work for a few weeks. Hal was a hulking man at six foot six, with shoulders as wide as a doorframe. His father had walked inside beneath Hal’s big arm, the two men looking as close as brothers. Logan’s father had turned to him and said, When you build a home, son, do as Hal did. Use stone and wood. Stone for solidity and stability and wood for compassion and warmth.
He felt the walls closing in on him with the memory and escaped to the bedroom off to the left, where he shrugged Stormy’s bags onto the bed. He’d never brought any women to the cabin before. But it had been the first and only place that had come to mind with Stormy. He decided not to dissect that too closely as he watched her through the open bedroom door. She bent to remove her boots, and he tried not to stare, or let his mind wander too far, but seeing her bent at the waist conjured up all sorts of lewd thoughts. He shifted his eyes away.
She’s got a guy after her and you’re thinking of fucking her. Real nice, Logan.
“That’s better.” She carried her boots to the mat by the door and wrinkled her brow. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Logan shook off his lustful haze and joined her in the living room. She sank into the sofa with a sigh and closed her eyes. He paced, too revved up to sit still.
Stormy patted the sofa beside her. “Sit down. You’re making me nervous. I thought you said we were safe here.”
“We are.” He stopped pacing and crossed his arms. Her eyelids were heavy as she curled her feet up beside her and slid a little lower, resting her head on the cushion.
“Then why do you look like a puma guarding its territory? Your shoulders are tight, and you’re probably going to crack your teeth you’re clenching them so hard.”
He smiled at her observation. What she didn’t see were the thoughts racing through his mind. The battle between right and wrong. His emotions had already jumped over the invisible line, and he was doing all he could to get back on the right side of it.
“The sheets on the bed are clean if you want to rest.” It had been about a two-hour drive from the city, and after working all day and not getting much sleep the night before, she had to be exhausted.
“Are you kidding? How can I sleep knowing you’re out here stalking around?”
“Sorry.” He went into his bedroom and grabbed the laptop he kept there, then sat beside her on the couch. At least if his mind and hands were busy, he wouldn’t be thinking about touching her.
He pulled his cell from his pocket and turned on the hot spot for the Internet, watching her as he waited for it to connect. Her eyelids became hooded, and her arms wrapped around her middle as if she were cold. Logan set the laptop on the coffee table and covered her with the throw from the bedroom.
She pulled it up beneath her chin with a sleepy smile. “Thank you for everything, Logan.”
He smiled, feeling the impact of the realization that he’d do anything for her. He sat stock-still, momentarily blown away by the depth of his feelings for her. She sank farther down into the cushions, startling him out of his stupor.
He settled the laptop on his lap and checked on the emails he’d sent that morning to his contacts at the prison where Kutcher was being held. A while later Stormy’s feet nudged their way onto his lap, and he shifted his laptop to accommodate them. Her features had softened the way they had last night. She looked peaceful, as if she felt safe, and that last bit made his chest feel full.
Logan forced himself to concentrate on tracking down Bob Kanets, the dealer he hoped he’d be able to coerce into ratting out Kutcher for drug trafficking. If he was successful, it could keep Kutcher behind bars for at least a few more years. An hour later he had a list of Kutcher’s associates along with a trail of gas and other receipts marking his territory. He sent a text to Marco and got the lowdown on Winters, who seemed to have taken his advice to heart, going straight from work to home and staying put for the night. Marco would continue to tail him for a month. One piece of shit out of the way.
Stormy shifted beside him, and he wondered if it would be better if she felt like a stranger, because falling for a woman wasn’t in his plans, and as he set his laptop on the coffee table and lifted her into his arms, he knew it was exactly what was happening.
He carried her into her bedroom, pulled the blankets back, and set her down on the sheets. Light from the living room provided just enough illumination for him to see her lips curve in a sweet smile.
He debated undressing her so she’d be more comfortable, but didn’t trust himself enough to keep his desires in check. Instead, he pulled the covers up, moved her bags to the floor, and checked the locks on the windows. It felt strange to leave the bedroom when he wanted to climb in beside her and hold her safely against him. Keeping a professional distance sucked.
He left the bedroom door cracked open as fatigue settled into his bones. He checked the lock on the front door one last time before stripping down to his briefs and falling into bed.
STELLA AWOKE WITH a start. She thought she’d heard a noise, but she was so tired that she wasn’t sure if she really had or if it was part of the nightmare she’d been having about Kutcher. Her eyes darted around the dark, unfamiliar room. Her heart thundered in her chest, and the only thing she heard was the blood rushing through her ears. She took a few deep breaths, telling herself that it was just a dream.
She’d awoken a while ago feeling bound by her clothes, and she’d stripped down to her underwear, taken off her bra, and dug a T-shirt out of her bag. As her heartbeat calmed, she took stock of the positive things in her life. It was one of the ways she’d gotten through the long nights these past few months, because focusing on all she’d left behind or how scared she was would render her useless.
She was alive. That topped the list of blessings.
She was safe in Logan’s cabin. God, Logan. He’d looked like he was ready to pounce earlier in the evening—either on anyone who came near her, or on her; she’d had a hard time deciphering his desire from his protective instincts. He was a complex man, but she trusted him, and liked him way too much. Great. Now she was getting hot and bothered by just thinking about him.
Her eyes danced around the room to distract herself. There was a large wooden dresser on the far wall, and dark curtains covered the windows. The whole cabin felt masculine. Like Logan. She hated sucking him into her nightmare of a life, but at the same time, she was thankful he’d been there when she’d needed him. She heard a noise outside her window, and she clutched the blanket to her chest, holding her breath while she listened to a scratching noise on the deck. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she caught sight of a man filling the doorframe with a gun hanging from his right hand, and screamed.
“It’s me.” Logan pulled her against him as she fought to climb off the other side of the bed. “It’s Logan. You’re safe.”
“I heard a noise,” she panted out.
“Raccoons. They wandered onto the deck.”
Raccoons. Not Kutcher.
Her heart felt like it was going to explode. She clutched Logan’s arms.
“It’s okay. No one knows you’re here. You’re safe. I promise.”
“Then why do you have a gun?” she whispered, too afraid to speak louder.
“Habit.”
As her mind came into focus, she became aware of his bare chest against her cheek, his thick, bare thighs beneath her. In her panic she must have scrambled onto his lap. She closed her eyes as her fear spun itself into lust. She pulled from his arms but immediately felt vulnerable again.
“St-stay,” she pleaded.
He didn’t respond immediately, and as her senses righted themselves, she felt the reason he was holding back. As she’d been assessing her own desires, he’d gone gloriously, impressively hard as steel beneath her.
“Not a good idea.” His voice was thrillingly low and rough. “I need to be alert.”
“Well, I think you’ve achieved that.”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his jaw twitching.
“I just don’t want to be alone. Please? We won’t…”
She knew they’d both be testing their willpower, and she watched as he fought some kind of silent battle that had his eyes narrowing and his jaw clenching again. He set her off his lap and scrubbed a hand down his face.
“I promise not to touch you.” She tried to sound confident, but all of her girlie parts were begging her to lie.
He made a noise deep in his throat that could be read as anger or desire, and the way his muscles were strung tight made her not want to take a chance at guessing the wrong one. He looked away, and when he met her gaze again, his eyes had gone dark and seductive.
“Stormy.” He was breathing hard. “It’s not your touch I’m afraid of.”
She thought about that for a minute before it clicked. “Oh. Then I won’t let you touch me.”
He scrubbed his face again.
“Please?” She didn’t want to be alone. She hadn’t slept in days, and she desperately needed to rest. At least that’s what she told herself as she tried not to admit—even to herself—that she wanted to be close to Logan. On the drive up from the city, the distance between them had felt too vast. When they’d arrived at the cabin, she’d wanted to curl up on his lap and feel his arms around her as she rested her head on his shoulder. She was good at lying to herself, but they were momentary lies, chased by a truth she couldn’t avoid. She was falling for Logan Wild.
Without a word he set the gun on the bedside table and crawled between the sheets. He lay on his back, the sheet tented by his erection. She pretended not to notice and fought the urge to wrap her body around him like a second skin. He draped his arm over his eyes and lay rigid beside her. She turned onto her side with her back facing Logan, knowing she’d made a mistake. There was no way she’d be able to resist him.
She did feel safe. Safer than she’d ever felt in her life—at least from outside forces. But her heart wasn’t safe at all. Logan didn’t have anything to gain by helping her. She hadn’t offered him money or her body or anything in return, and here he was, opening his cabin to her and putting his own life on hold. She inched toward him out of a desire to be close to the man, not the PI, and she felt him tense up even more. Her back met his side. Her legs touched his. His skin was blazing hot, and that heat spread through her like wildfire. She needed to feel his arms around her. Even if they didn’t have sex, she wanted to feel like she was his. To pretend, even for a few minutes, that she wasn’t on the run from a maniac and that she and Logan could actually have something real between them.
“Stormy…” he growled.
“I’m sorry. I just want to be closer.”
He made another sexy, guttural sound as he curled his body around hers. One strong thigh slid over hers, and a thick arm circled her chest. His hand cupped her breast as he spooned her. Stella closed her eyes against her mounting desire, acutely aware of his heat, his strength, and his massive erection pressing against her ass. She tried to ignore his hot breath on her neck sending shivers of anticipation through her.
She was not going to get a lick of sleep tonight.
Lick. Hmm.
His hard length felt like a passionate challenge, impossible to resist. She nuzzled against him.
“Stormy.” A warning. He tightened his grip and pressed his hips forward.
His conflicting messages made her smile. She trapped her lower lip between her teeth and tried to ward off the urge to tear her panties off and ease down onto him.
Her heart raced.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
His cock twitched against her.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
His lips met the curve of her shoulder, and she felt herself go damp. She tried to convince herself that he was just getting comfortable and his lips had landed there by accident.
He moaned.
Lordy, Lordy.
“I want to make love to you,” he whispered.
She forced herself to stay still, because she was worried that if she moved at all, she’d climb on top of him and ride him like a bull. This had to be a test. He was seeing how trustworthy she was. She’d said she wouldn’t let him touch her.
“But you said…” Her words drifted into the darkness. She knew what he’d said, and she knew he felt the same bond between them that had started as protector and victim and changed at breakneck speed into so much more.
He shifted her onto her back and gazed into her eyes with so much raw emotion, she lost her ability to speak.
“I don’t want to fuck you, Stormy. I want to make love to you. There’s a difference. I’ve never wanted to make love to a woman before. Fuck? Yes. Take? Yes. Make love? Only you, sweetheart. That is, if you want me to.” He touched her cheek, and the intimacy of it sparked an immediate and total release of the emotions she’d been trying to deny.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Logan…”
“Not a fuck. I don’t want to be one in a line of dicks, Stormy. I want you to trust me, to be with me and only me.”
“No line…God, Logan. I haven’t even been with a guy in months. I’ve been trying to push away my feelings for you and remain strong, but I can’t. They’re too much. Too real.”
He searched her eyes, and she knew as he slanted his lips over hers and kissed her tenderly that he saw the real her breaking through as strongly as she felt it. Everything about the way he kissed her, the way his hands moved over her, was different. He was caressing instead of groping, as if he were touching her for the first time. He gently removed her shirt, raining kisses down her neck, over her breasts, and then he came up and loved her mouth again. She’d never been touched like this. She felt special, cherished, and it had been so long since she’d been herself that she didn’t know what to do with the emotions burning inside her.
His hands played gingerly over her ribs as he kissed his way south, lingering around her belly button, placing enticing kisses low on her belly. She wanted him to go lower, wanted to feel his mouth on her, his tongue inside her, but he was moving up her body again, torturing her in the most delicious way. Lapping each taut nipple, heightening her anticipation with every slick of his tongue, every touch of his hands. She felt the facade she’d been hiding behind slipping away. He was breaking through the prickly persona she’d worn like a coat, quieting the fear Kutcher had instilled in her and reawakening deeper emotions she’d long ago buried.
“You’re so beautiful, Stormy.”
Stormy. Guilt threaded through her. He wasn’t Kutcher or someone who was out to hurt her, and she was still treating him like he was. He gripped her hips and kissed the tops of her thighs, looping his finger into her panties and dragging them down, leaving her bare beneath his glorious body. He splayed his hands over her thighs. The heat of his calloused palms seeped into her bones as he brought his mouth to her center. She bucked against his mouth with the first flick of his tongue over her sensitive flesh. He tightened his grip on her legs, tucking them beneath his arms, against his muscular sides, and lifting her hips off the mattress, allowing him better access to drive her out of her freaking mind.
When he sank his fingers deep inside her, her toes curled under.
“Ah, you like that,” he said before sinking his teeth into her inner thigh.
She gasped. “Logan…”
“Did I hurt you?”
“God, no. Please, more, Logan. More.”
His lips quirked up with a devilish grin. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll get you there.”
His mouth came down again while his fingers played over the spot that made her blood hotter, heavier, and her breaths shallow. Waves of pleasure rolled down her spine, through her limbs. He teased that spot over and over. She came hard and fast, infused with shocks that radiated through her chest. He lapped and loved her through the very last wave of pleasure. He must have slipped off his briefs, because when he sealed his lips over hers, she felt the wide tip of his arousal pressing against her wet center.
Jesus, everything felt bigger with Logan, better, more real. And if there was one thing Stella wanted, it was real. She clutched at his biceps, and her stomach fluttered. She didn’t just want real. She wanted Logan.
Guilt felt like a wall standing between them.
“Wait, Logan.”
LOGAN KNEW HE’D taken a chance by opening himself up to Stormy, but he couldn’t resist. Now the fear in her eyes nearly flattened him. Had she not wanted this? Had he scared her off? If this wasn’t real, he knew for a fact that he’d never know what real felt like.
“Wait.” Her voice softened.
Her hands slid down his arms, and he felt hope slipping away. They came to rest on his cheeks. God, he loved her touch.
“Stormy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
She pressed one finger to his lips. “Shh. You didn’t do anything wrong, Logan. You did everything right.” She smiled up at him, and he saw her remaining walls come crumbling down. “My name is Stella. Stella Krane.”
He let out a breath he hadn’t realized had been caught in his throat and dropped his forehead to hers. She trusted him, and in doing so, she righted everything that had felt wrong with his world since his father died.
“Stella. I’m falling hard for you, Stella Krane.”
A trickle slipped from the corner of her eye. He kissed the salty tears, then lowered his mouth to hers as their bodies joined together. He buried himself deep, perched above the woman who opened his heart and made him feel again.
Logan had never felt so alive or so vulnerable.
Stella rocked her hips, and he pressed in deeper, keeping her still.
“I just want to feel you wrapped around me for a minute.”
“Yes.” Her legs circled his waist, locked at the ankles.
He moved slowly at first, eking out every second of loving her he could. Logan reared up, drinking in the flush on her chest, the sheen of sweat on her brow. Her eyes darkened as he thrust in deep. She frantically clutched at the sheets, fighting her release.
“More, Logan. God, give me more.”
He gently turned her onto her stomach and lifted her onto her knees, kissing the hollow at the base of her spine, teasing her clit, weighing what she really wanted from him. How far she wanted this to go.
“Take me, Logan. I can’t wait any longer.”
She pressed her ass back as he entered her wet center. He wanted everything with Stella. He wanted to climb into her skin and experience every emotion she did. He wanted to make her feel things she’d never felt before, but mostly he wanted her to feel safe every second they were together.
He pressed his chest to her back and nibbled the shell of her ear. “I want to touch you, Stella. I want to touch your ass.”
“Yes.” One long, heated breath.
“You’re sure?”
“God, Logan. I want this. I want you.”
He kissed his way down her spine, his heart racing with anticipation, full with emotion. He spread her cheeks and teased her hole with his thumb, earning a sweet, sexy moan. She moved in time to each hard thrust as he taunted, but he didn’t enter her ass. It was too much to resist. He was afraid she’d change her mind, and there was no going back. He gripped her hips and drove his cock into her center deeper.
“Keep touching me, Logan. I love when you do that.”
His slick chest met her back as he reached around to her mouth. She sucked his fingers, nearly making him come. He slid one wet finger into her tightest orifice and felt her sex go impossibly tighter. A heady groan escaped his lungs as he reached around her waist with his other hand to stroke the secret spot he knew she loved. She pressed back, taking his finger in deeper.
“Ohgodohgod. Logan.”
She panted, rising up and bringing them as close as two people could get. Her head fell back as the orgasm tore through her, claiming her, pulsating around Logan’s hard shaft. He wrapped his arms around her as she seated herself fully on his lap, her inner muscles still claiming them both.
“God, Logan. That was…” She panted. “Amazing.”
He gathered her hair over one shoulder and kissed the back of her neck.
“I want you on top of me so I can watch you come.”
He lifted her easily by the waist, lay on his back, then lowered her onto his slick erection.
“Oh, God.” She pressed her palms to his chest as she rode him. “You feel so good.”
“Good doesn’t even come close…”
It took all his focus to keep from coming. She was so beautiful, opening up to him, riding him, becoming one with him. He couldn’t wait another second; had to see her come so he could give in to the mounting pressure of his own release. He pulled her down on top of him and kissed her hard.
“Come for me again.”
He sucked one breast into his mouth while squeezing her other nipple between his index finger and thumb.
“Ohgodohgodohgod.”
He brought his hand between her legs and stroked her the way she loved. She gripped his shoulders and slammed her eyes shut as she spiraled over the edge. He swept her beneath him mid-orgasm and drove into her hard and fast, prolonging her orgasm and taking him right up to the edge. His balls tightened, and his body flashed hot as he ground out her name—Stella—and surrendered to his own intense release.