For Kicks (12 page)

“This is what boneless feels like.” She bit her lip, so he leaned closer and did the same, nibbling a kiss across her grin until her lips parted, her arms reaching for him, her legs parting in welcome.

“Breeze.” He protected them and then nestled himself between her legs. “If it—”

“Stop thinking and keep making love to me.” She pulled him back into the kiss, a kiss so scorching his lips felt like they were on fire, like he could melt into her.

Joining. He wasn’t supposed to be scared. But the primal rush of emotions, the raw desire to crawl into her body and never come out swirled in the lust-filled fog that was his mind. He tried to shake it, to distract himself, but the world shrank as he positioned himself. She tilted her hips upwards, opening for him like a blooming flower.

She sucked the breath from his lungs as he filled her, digging her fingernails into his arms. He stilled, letting them both grow accustomed to the sensation. He’d never experienced anything so intense, and not just physically.

She released the breath she held, her body relaxing. He began to rock against her, in her, through her. She ran her hand up and down his back in time with the rocking, her lazy moans urging him on. He started to thrust in and out but her moaning stopped. Since she was so tight, thrusting became secondary, and he focused on the rocking, gripping her hips in one hand and grinding her against him.

Her breath caught, her hands holding him in place as the spasms began. The clenching, pushing and pulling of her innermost muscles shocked him. He came in a violent throb that shook him so deep he nearly collapsed, his vision narrowing until all he could see were her eyelids fluttering in ecstasy.

She went limp beneath him, her breaths slow and shallow as she stretched her arms overhead and purred like a cat. He wanted to stay inside her, to make her come again so he could feel her release around him, but he withdrew, saving that for another day when he wouldn’t have to worry so much about hurting her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, rolling them to their sides and curling himself behind her.

She hummed a response, snuggling back into him. “I can’t believe I thought I’d had sex before.”

He chuckled, squeezing her tighter. “It’s an honest mistake.”

“Thank you.” She pulled his hand between hers, kissing his fingertips. “You were amazing.”

“As were you.”

“Next time we can focus on you.” Her body stiffened. “I mean, if, you know, you ever want to try it again.”

“I already booked a flight to Michigan.”

“Michigan?”

“Next Saturday. Scheduled a day off so I could stay Sunday night too.”

She spun to face him. “For Nitrous?”

“For you.” He kissed her gently, but she deepened it, reaching a hand between them to grasp his rebounding arousal. “Baby, you shouldn’t push yourself. You’ll be too sore tomorrow.”

“Then teach me how focus on you.”

Beep. Beep. Beep.
The alarm blared for two seconds before Breeze’s hand found the switch. Jolted into consciousness, she looked at the numbers. Five fifteen. She could count on one hand the number of times she didn’t wake up before the alarm sounded and still have fingers left over.

“Come on, the sun’s not even up yet.” A deep voice rumbled behind her.

She froze. Her eyes widened, her breath becoming rapid and shallow as she realized last night hadn’t been another dream. Her chest tightened and she squeezed her eyes shut.

What had she been thinking? Why hadn’t she been thinking?
My God, Breeze, where was your impulse control?

“You’re so cold.” He wrapped his body around hers like a blanket, nestling his head in her hair. “Breeze?” He craned his head up and she hid her face in the pillow. “Are you okay? Your heart is racing.”

“No,” she whispered, biting her lip. How could she possibly explain how she felt without ruining the memory of an amazing night? How could she make him understand how frightened she was? A teeth-chattering, knee-quaking kind of terrified.

“Oh.” His whisper puffed against her neck and he lay back down. In a flash the blanket covered both their heads.

“What are you doing?” She turned to face him in the blackness.

“Shh. We’re hiding,” he deadpanned.

“If you’re making a joke, I don’t get it.”

“When you’re scared, you hide. We’ll stay here until you feel better.”

She shook her head. His lips softly brushed her forehead.

“While we’re here, if there is anything you’d like to do…” his hand rested on her bare hip, “…I’m more than game.”

“I have to check out and be ready before six thirty. The best-set starts at seven.”

“I’ll handle check out.” He held her close. “How do you feel?”

She snuggled closer, enjoying the cloak of blackness. “Good, kind of like after a workout. I don’t even remember setting the alarm last night.”

“I did. I didn’t want you to be late for work and risk someone finding out.”

“Oh.” Right, because they were a secret. One she didn’t think she’d be able to keep for very long. Unless he ended things abruptly. Then she’d be thankful no one would pity her.

“I don’t want to chase you anymore, and if someone found out, you’d make me start all over. Now that I’ve caught you, I want to show you there’s more to life than work.”

“And then? What happens when I’ve learned my lesson, Professor Fun?”

“Let’s just take this as it comes, one day at a time.”

She swallowed over the lump in her throat, her conscience mocking her with laughter. He really thought she could do this, have a fling, let go of her life plans along with her inhibitions. He bought it, the career-woman act she tried to sell the world.

But he was the one person she wanted to see her behind the mask.

Chapter Nine

“You don’t strike me as the knitting type.”

Breeze gasped, clutching the plastic learn-to-knit box against her chest. She turned her head, but wasn’t entirely surprised to find Logan next to her in the airport bookstore. She only just controlled the impulse to fling her arms around his neck and kiss him.

“How did you find me?”

“I fly out today too. Plus, I have your itinerary, and when I saw all your books in the trash, I figured you’d be looking to restock.” He stood so close to her at the display table, suggesting a cozy intimacy she refused to let herself buy into. “What about these?” He lifted a novel with a couple in a clutch position on the front, and another of a naked male torso.

“What about them?” She scanned the table for a distraction. He couldn’t know she read romance novels. She always left them on the plane for the next passenger.

“This looks like fun too.” He traded the novels for a kit promising to teach you to draw in ten simple steps. He offered the box to her and she looked inside at the coarse paper, charcoal pencils and instruction book. “You could draw something at each place you visit, like a travel diary.”

“All the hotel rooms look the same.” Breeze peeked back at her knitting kit, wondering if she really could knit a scarf in four hours like the box claimed. Her mother would be over the moon to receive a gift she’d made instead of bought.

“You could relax on the plane, or sleep.”

“I can’t sleep on planes.” Or let a minute go to waste.
“If you idle away your time, you’ll stall in the game of life.”
It felt like her grandmother stood beside her, whispering her mantra in Breeze’s ear.

Every moment needed to be filled with something to keep moving ahead. Work, education, chores. Something. She picked up another book on the table.
Meet Your Match
. The book of quizzes and questions promised to help you learn if you were dating The One. Her mother believed in soul mates, her grandmother thought the concept ridiculous. She opened the book and Logan moved to read it over her shoulder.

“That’s a bunch of garbage.”

“Are you an expert on dating? You must be quoted in here somewhere.” She flipped through the pages.

It claimed if you worked through the book with your partner, you could learn in a few short hours whether your relationship would last. If only life were really so black and white.

On paper she knew being with Logan was a bad idea. But within fifty feet of him her body overruled her mind. Not only was the timing off for work, commitment was hardwired into her brain while he didn’t seem to want anything more than a good time. He wanted a fling. She wanted a relationship, though she didn’t have time for one.

Maybe something existed in between, like an emotionally satisfying affair. Or maybe she should just scare him off before it all got too messy.

She turned, waving the book before him. “We should do this. It’s a fast way to get to know one another. And if we’re going to mix business with pleasure, I need to know as much about you as possible. We need rules, boundaries. I think the book will give us perspective.”

“Why, Miss Cohen, I have no idea what you’re referring to. And, no. Some junk written by someone who’s never met us is about as reliable as your astrology book. Whatever is meant to be, will happen.”

Breeze looked through the pages again. “Astrology said we should give it a shot.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I should thank my lucky stars then. I’ll do it, on one condition.”

“What?”

“Kiss me.”

“Logan, no.” She raised her gaze to his face. He grinned mischievously and she returned to the book. If she caught him smiling again she might give in. And then there would be no going back. “You never know who might see.”

“The world isn’t as small as you think, Breeze.” He reached out, his fingers twisting the ends of her hair. Which she’d left down. Because he’d asked her to. “Just so you know, I’m going to do it anyway.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” She looked up and instantly knew he would.

“Planes go down, Breeze. I don’t live my life afraid of it, but you can’t pretend it never happens. So, whether you like it or not, I’m kissing you goodbye. We can play your game and do it in some quiet corner, or I’ll do it at the terminal at the last minute. You’ll love that. All those people asking you about it the whole flight.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

Without issuing a denial, he snatched the copy from her hands and another from the table, her knitting kit and sketch box and walked to the front of the store. She followed as fast on his heels as she could.

By the time she made it to the register, her purchases were in bags and Logan was openly flirting with the salesclerk. Her chest constricted, stealing her breath.

Flirting. Right in front of her.

His words fake, promises empty. All designed to get her into his bed. Breeze blazed out of the shop and down the busy corridor at a fast clip.

Jealous. Not a good sign. He flirts and she wanted to jump across the counter. Or worse, kiss him breathless. Mark her man. How juvenile could she be? And yet, she’d do anything to quiet the green-eyed monster stirring inside.

Maybe she should duck into another store. Find a book on how to tell if you’re being scammed. Fingers gripped her arm, spinning her around.

“What the hell was that?”

“I should ask you.” She pulled at his fingers, but he held her firm. “You’re hurting me.”

“No, I’m not. Why did you run out of there?”

“I didn’t—let go of me.” He released her. Opening the bag, he pulled out a book and handed her the rest.

“Did you see someone you knew? You bolted like the place was on fire.”

“I didn’t like what I saw,” she whispered, realizing that they were drawing sidelong glances from the people around them.

“What?”

“Look, this isn’t going to work.” She lowered her voice further. “I don’t have time to waste on someone whose eye wanders at every opportunity.”

“Excuse me?”

“You were flirting with her,” she said behind clenched teeth, hating she couldn’t control her reaction. Being so emotional showed him too much of what she felt. She was an experiment to him—get the workaholic to let off some steam. He didn’t feel anything really, only wanted to get her in bed again.

“No. I don’t think so.” His brows knit together and he tilted his head to the side. “You think because of last night I need to be rude to every woman who crosses my path?”

“Let’s just both walk away like nothing happened.” She turned back around.

“Like hell.” He grabbed her arm again. “You’re looking for an excuse. You have to learn to trust me.”

“You’re crazy.” Her throat tightened. How did he do that? How could he tell when she was scared?

“A little. Especially when you close up on me.”

“Let me go. I need to think. I don’t like feeling this out of control.”

“Then stop thinking yourself out of being happy. Fear and distrust are dangerous enemies. They’ll blind you from what could be, and only show you things that don’t matter. Like how I speak with nameless salesclerks in airports. What does it matter when I’m there with you?”

“It matters. I can’t have a relationship with someone who sees me as a temporary diversion. A project.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Isn’t it? Beyond your determination to sleep with me, I know very little about you. Your hopes, dreams, plans for the future. Which means you don’t think we have one. So why waste another minute of our time?”

“Okay, you were obviously reading some jacked-up relationship psychology book along with your new-age stuff. Just enjoy what we have now, Breeze. Stop analyzing everything.” He extended his hand and she eyed it. “You trusted me before.”

She took his hand, not because she believed him completely, but she didn’t care to revisit how much she had trusted him before. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. She cursed the tingles prickling her body.

“Come on. Let’s go play your game.”

She followed him to a grouping of padded chairs along a window. Outside, she saw planes waiting their turn on the runway and her breath caught. She didn’t really want to get on that plane without kissing him goodbye either. So many emotions fluttered through her mind she didn’t know which to grab on to. She hated to be confused, didn’t have time for it in her life.

“Is it ever okay to lie?”