Matter of Time (9 page)

“C’mere.” Logan’s tone was soft and pleading as he held out his hand for her. “Let me hold you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and held her ground, afraid if she went to him, she’d give in to the physical comfort of being in his arms and wouldn’t continue the difficult conversation. And there was still one important question she needed answered. “You married her to be a father to your child. Now you have three. Are you sure your marriage is really over and there won’t be any reconciling, even if it’s just for the sake of the children?”

“Absolutely not. The marriage has been over for a while, and there’s no salvaging it.” He stood and made his way across the room to her. “The divorce was supposed to have been final two weeks ago, but a glitch with the paperwork—”

Lizbeth threw up a hand to stop him from coming any closer and screeched, “Wait… what? You’re still married?”

He planted his hands on his hips, blew out a breath, and dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling. As far as she knew, he’d never lied to her, but he certainly acted like a man considering that option now.

After a moment, he said, “Technically, yes. But only technically. We’ve been living separate lives in separate homes for thirteen months. The kids come and stay with me a couple nights each week and on weekends, if I’m not traveling to races. All the settlement details have been worked out. I get my truck and the house I bought; she gets everything else. Except my business, because, well, I can’t make those outrageous alimony and child support payments without my business. It’s just a matter of signing on the line and filing the papers with the court.”

As she worked to process this latest bit of information, he closed the distance between them. “This was all supposed to have taken place after the divorce was finalized. I wanted it over and done when I saw you. But then the lawyer had to push it back, and Kevin couldn’t reschedule the open house, so…” He ran his hands down her arms and bent his knees to look into her eyes. “I swear to you. It. Is. Over. If it wasn’t the most crass thing in the world, I’d call Bobbi Jo and have her tell you so herself.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “That’s not necessary.”

But if she and Logan worked things out, there probably would be occasions when she needed to talk to Bobbi Jo, especially over issues relating to the kids.

The kids.

He said they stayed with him a couple nights each week and on weekends, which would limit his time with her. As if living on opposite sides of the state didn’t already present a multitude of issues that needed to be dealt with. Damn, there were so many obstacles to work through. How could they possibly deal with them all?

“I know trusting me again is going to be the most difficult thing you’ve ever done,” Logan said, cutting into her runaway thoughts and helping ground her back in the moment and the most immediate issue at hand. “But you trust Lucas or you wouldn’t have gone this far. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Lucas wouldn’t have set this up if he had any doubts about the finality of my marriage. Would he?”

“No, but…”

“But what?”

The doubt that had been creeping around the periphery a moment earlier rushed her. “There’s so much to figure out. It seems impossible.”

His eyes softened with warmth and understanding as his grip tightened on her arms. “We’ll work it out together. If you tell me you’re interested in rekindling our relationship, I promise you we’ll figure out a way to make it work. Nothing is impossible if we stick together.” He studied her for a moment and said, “Will you give me a chance?”

She wasn’t convinced it would be as easy as Logan made it seem, but her heart didn’t care if it was easy or not. It wanted another chance with Logan and demanded she trust him enough to take a leap of faith. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she nodded and said, “Yes, I’ll give you…
us
… a chance.”

His breath left in a whoosh as another broad smile lit his face. “Thank you.” He peppered her forehead, temple, cheek, and lips with kisses, then tugged on her hand and said, “Okay, enough talking for now. I need a snack. Come over here and let me feed you.”

L
izbeth had never felt more cared for than while sitting on Logan’s lap, letting him feed her strawberries, grapes, and pineapple. As always, when in close proximity, it didn’t take long for the heat between them to go from smoldering to nuclear meltdown.

After selecting the largest grape from the bunch, the corner of his mouth tipped with a sly smile as he dragged it through the cream cheese dip and coated the bright-green skin. Sex with him had always been fun, as well as intense, so she wasn’t surprised when he first brushed it across her lower lip, leaving a trail of creamy dip behind, before pushing the plump fruit between her lips.

Moisture puddled in her mouth as she bit down and the flavors of tart grape and sweet dip exploded onto her tongue, but it was the intense lust darkening Logan’s eyes that really got her juices flowing.

A low growl emanated from his chest as he lowered his head and swept his tongue across her lip to clean up the mess left behind. Muttering against her lips, he said, “Open for me, Lizbeth. Let me inside where I belong.”

And just like when he asked her to give him a second chance, she wouldn’t even think of refusing him.

This kiss was slower, sweeter than the one they shared in the bar, but she knew it wouldn’t stay that way. And she didn’t want it to. She’d never been one for slow, sweet seduction, but rather enjoyed hard and fast complete dominance that resulted in him taking what he wanted.

The problem was no one else satisfied her sexual appetite like Logan. She’d tried to find it with other lovers, but no matter how rough things got—and at times, it hadn’t been pretty—she never found the soul-deep connection she shared with him. Now, back in his arms, she realized it wasn’t the technique that made the difference; it was the man.

As the kiss grew hotter, she grew more restless, and when his hand snaked inside her robe to pinch and tweak her nipple, she nearly shot off his lap. Breaking away from his lips, she kissed and sucked the side of his neck… his collarbone… down the center of his chest.

He hissed and dropped back his head on a groan when she licked one nipple, teasing the other with her nail. His electric response injected her with an all-consuming need to touch and taste him everywhere, and she slid to the floor like Jell-O slipping out of a bowl.

Reading her intentions, he lifted his hips and eased down his sweatpants as she pressed hot kisses to his stomach, his hipbone, then down to his thighs. Only he could satisfy her years of starvation, and the second her tongue swept over his engorged head and she got her first familiar taste, her eyes closed with rapturous delight and she nearly wept with joy as memories and emotions assaulted her.

When his fingers speared her hair, locking her in place, she flipped her gaze up to meet his. His eyes were nearly closed, but the heat and desire blasting from him was unmistakable.

“Open wide, baby.” She eagerly followed the command, but when she wrapped her hand around the base of his shaft, he surprised her by shaking his head no. “Grab the front legs of the chair.” A cocky, lopsided grin curved his mouth, causing the scar over his upper lip to pull tight. “And hold on tight.”

Oh God.
Yes, yes, yes.
The chant echoed through her brain as he flexed his hips and pushed into her mouth. The burn in her lips and jaws as they stretched to accommodate his size was a welcome discomfort, and she took a slow, deep breath while allowing her throat muscles to relax.

“Damn, baby girl. That mouth of yours is still amazing.”

She whimpered in protest when he slowly withdrew, then moaned with pleasure as he pushed back in. With each thrust, he fed her a little more, and she shuffled forward on her knees, trying to get as close as possible so she could take all of him.

“Christ, Lizbeth, your mouth should be registered as one of the world’s greatest wonders.”

She would’ve laughed if said mouth hadn’t been so gloriously full. Her palms tingled with the need to touch him. To run her hands along his thighs and feel the raw strength and power of them as he drove into her… or cup his balls in her palm to increase his pleasure. But more than that, she wanted to bask in the glory of pleasuring Logan by following his rules, so she tightened her grip on the legs of the chair and held on tight.

The angle of her head limited her sight, so rather than trying to see his face, she concentrated on the view before her: still-toned abs, rock-hard thighs, and the occasional peek of his cock before it slammed back into her mouth again.

His muscles contracted a little tighter with each thrust, and her excitement grew as he inched closer to orgasm. Her bag of tricks for pushing him over the edge was limited since she couldn’t use her hands, but she wasn’t completely incapacitated. Each time he withdrew, she ran her tongue around the tip, paying special attention to the sensitive spot underneath, and when his thrusts carried him all the way to the back of her throat, she groaned long and deep, sending vibrations from her vocal chords into his cock.

“Fuck, yeah.” His hand tightened in her hair as he tried to hold his orgasm at bay, but victory was close at hand, and she wouldn’t be denied. With his next thrust, she drew another deep breath through her nose and moaned from her chest.

He half laughed, half growled as he bucked wildly and uncontrolled. “Goddammit. You win. I can’t—”

The words were cut off as he jerked and called out her name while jets of hot fluid shot down the back of throat. Her head buzzed from his tight grip on her hair. Then her body glowed with warmth as he used both hands to massage her scalp to ease the pain inflicted by being too rough. It was such a simple act, but one that made her feel completely loved and cherished.

While he worked to catch his breath, she slowly licked and laved him, cleaning him off while being careful to not to be too aggressive with his overly sensitized skin.

“You don’t fight fair.” His words were choppy and half broken with laughter as he struggled for air.

She laughed and licked her lips while enjoying the narrowing of his eyes as he followed the motion. “I didn’t realize we were fighting. Does that mean we can have make-up sex now?”

He grinned as he slipped his hands under her arms and lifted her back onto his lap. “Sweetheart, we have years of make-up sex to catch up on. But I need a minute to catch my breath.” He popped off the top of the shrimp salad and grabbed a fork. “And food for energy.” After taking a healthy bite of the salad, he winked and said, “Give me five and I’ll be ready to go again.”

*

The next twenty-four hours were among the best of Logan’s entire life. He and Lizbeth spent the remainder of Friday night catching up on each other’s lives while also getting reacquainted with each other’s bodies. She told him about her travels, family, and business. He told her about the business he started after retiring from racing and the new venture—a camp for underprivileged kids—he recently started with ex-BMX pro rider Steve Vex.

He shouldn’t have been surprised to find Lizbeth knew Steve, since they were from the same region of eastern North Carolina, but he had no idea Steve and Kevin Mazze were such good friends or that Lizbeth knew him so well.

There were brief periods of sleep following orgasmic crashes when they were so exhausted they couldn’t go any longer. But then one or the other would wake up and, unable to keep their hands to themselves, the seemingly endless loop would start again. He couldn’t remember ever having so much sex in one night, not even in college when he and Lizbeth spent more time naked than dressed.

Late Saturday morning, they ventured out for breakfast before going to Lizbeth’s hotel to pick up her things. She grumbled and complained about giving up her oceanfront balcony for his dark room at Pandora’s, but as soon as they got back to the room and he put the hooks mounted on the side of the bed to use, her complaining turned to begging… followed by barely comprehendible bursts of gratitude to him and any deity that might be listening. Since they ate a late breakfast, they skipped lunch but left again for dinner, this time taking Lucas with them.