Playing with Temptation (27 page)

With a groan, he buried his fingers in her wet hair and crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her deeply, passionately, as he backed her up against the glass wall and pinned her there with his slick, wet body. As if he’d flipped a switch inside of her, she turned just as aggressive, pushing her hand between them and wrapping it around his hard cock, stroking his thick length as if this had suddenly become a battle of dominance she intended to win.

He’d played this game with her before and knew she was angling to be on top, so to speak, so she could be the one in control and keep her emotions under wraps. So she could keep this encounter all about pleasure, without letting messy feelings take over.

Not gonna happen tonight, because when he had Raina beneath him, he was going to make her feel
everything
that was changing between them. There would be no hiding from her fears and no denying what she meant to him.

He tore his mouth from hers, shut off the shower, and in a move so quick it startled Raina, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed without drying her off. He set her down on the comforter, and before she had the chance to sit back up, he moved over her, using his knee to push her legs wide apart so he could settle his hips in between her soft thighs. The tip of his pulsing cock glided through her slit, her slick moisture lubricating the sensitive, swollen head.

She pressed her hands against his shoulders, trying to tumble him off her. “I want to be on top.”

“No.” He didn’t budge,
wouldn’t
budge. Bracing his forearms on either side of her head so that he completely surrounded her, he slowly pushed his dick along her soft, wet folds once again. “Do I need a condom?” he asked gruffly, dying to feel her bare, without anything between them, but only if that was what she wanted, too. The Players Club required regular health screenings; he was clean, and he was religious about using protection, but she made him crave skin on skin.

She bit her bottom lip as she curled her legs tight around the backs of his thighs, which tipped her hips up and positioned his cock perfectly at her entrance. “No, I’m on the pill,” she rasped, rocking against him. “I want to feel you inside of me.”

Permission granted, he buried himself to the hilt in one long, solid thrust, groaning as the hot, tight walls of her vagina gripped him and caressed the length of his shaft like a silken fist. She felt incredible, so sleek and smooth as he slowly, gradually pumped in and out of her. Again and again, until she was squirming restlessly beneath him and doing her best to try and speed up the pace of his measured strokes.

One of her hands twisted in his hair, giving her the leverage to arch her back so she could rub her clit against him every time he sank into her, while her other hand grabbed his ass and desperately tried to make him move faster. He was bigger and stronger, and no way was he going to let her dictate anything about this encounter.

Untangling her fingers from his hair, he grabbed the palm she had on his ass and pinned both hands right above her head. Careful not to hurt her wrists, he threaded their fingers together so she was completely at his mercy.

She glared at him, even as she panted for more. “Fuck me harder,” she pleaded.

She wanted a wild and mindless coupling, the complete opposite of what he was going to give her.

He dipped his head, brushing his lips across hers as he filled her once more, then withdrew so languidly it was pure torture for both of them—especially when her greedy body clasped around the swollen, sensitive head of his cock and tried to suck him back inside. The sharp arousal in his belly threatened his own restraint.

“I’m going to fuck you slow and deep,” he promised as he licked his tongue across her bottom lip. “I’m going to make you unravel from the inside out and come so hard you’re going to scream.” He pushed back into her, watching her eyes glaze over with heated lust. “And I’m going to watch your gorgeous face when it happens.”

He kept up the maddeningly erotic pace, now deliberately grinding against that bundle of nerves with every slow thrust inside of her. She gasped, her fingers tightening around his as Logan recognized the signs of her impending orgasm. Her head tipped back, her lips parted on a soft, sensual moan, and her stunning blue eyes dilated with desire. A beautiful flush of ecstasy suffused her complexion, and when her lashes fluttered closed as her sweet body began contracting around his cock, he issued a direct command.

“Look at me, Raina,” he growled fiercely.

She did, hiding nothing from him in that moment as she cried out his name and gave herself over to her searing release, her gaze locked on his. Her uninhibited surrender and the exquisite sensation of her inner walls milking him triggered his own mounting orgasm, and he quickened his thrusts. His gut tightened into a knot of pleasure so intense that when it finally exploded through him, he came so fucking hard he didn’t think he’d ever be the same again.

Once he was able to move, he rolled off her and pulled her up against his side so that her head was on his shoulder and one of her legs draped over his thigh. He pulled the other side of the comforter around them, and she snuggled up to him willingly. Most importantly, she didn’t ask him to leave—which was a damn good thing because he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

*     *     *

The ringing of
a cell phone at six thirty the following morning pulled Raina out of a deep sleep. When Logan untangled their limbs so he could reach across his side of the bed to grab his phone, the cool air that replaced the warmth of his body became a stark reminder that after this morning, he’d be gone. The thought caused her heart to ache, which told her just how far and fast she’d fallen for Logan Cruz.

He squinted to read the caller ID, then swore beneath his breath before answering. “Hey, Mac,” he said, his voice still gravelly from being abruptly woken up. “What’s going on?”

Mac. Dean’s partner and Logan’s boss. Considering the early hour, Raina figured it was an important call. Logan sat up on the edge of the mattress as he listened to Mac on the other end of the line, and she got out of bed so she could put some clothes on. Yeah, she needed that barrier between them, because she knew being naked around Logan would distract her from what she had to do this morning—say good-bye.

“
Today
?” Logan asked, his voice more than a little grumpy as he watched her cross the room to her dresser, then put on a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt. “What time?”

Sufficiently covered, she turned back around and caught Logan frowning at her, an annoyed look on his face, which she assumed was a result of whatever he had to do today, which interfered with his personal plans. She went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and continued to listen to the one-sided conversation.

“Yeah, yeah, of course I’ll be there,” Logan said, his tone resigned.

Needing a boost of caffeine, Raina headed down the hall to the kitchen just as Logan said, “Fine. Just email me the ticket information and itinerary, and I’ll be sure I make the flight.”

He was going out of town. Which was probably for the best. Forced time apart would make their separation easier to deal with and give Logan time to realize that she was
not
his forever woman, despite all the emotions she’d felt between them last night.

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, she made a pot of coffee, then leaned against the counter, waiting for Logan to join her. Minutes later, he walked into the kitchen, and the man just didn’t play fair at all. He’d put his jeans back on and zipped them up but hadn’t bothered to button them, and that tantalizing glimpse of his firm, muscled abdomen made an arousing surge of heat curl through her. He hadn’t put on his shirt, either, which left his gorgeous, chiseled chest on display. His hair was tousled, a seductive stubble lined his jaw, and his dark green eyes reminded her of how he’d commanded her to
look at him
when she’d climaxed.

That moment had been so incredibly intimate, as if she’d given him a direct, unprotected glimpse into her heart and soul. He’d stripped her bare—not just physically but in the deepest, most emotional way possible.

The corner of his mouth tipped up in a lazy good-morning smile, and her pulse skipped a treacherous beat. He was so damn hot, so insanely sexy, that it took real effort for her to not jump him one last time here in her kitchen. She purposefully glanced away and reached up into the cupboard for a mug. Just one, because she didn’t want to linger with him over a cozy cup of coffee, and besides, he obviously had somewhere he needed to be.

“I take it work beckons?” she asked, her tone deceptively casual.

“Yeah,” he said, not sounding at all happy about that fact. “I was hoping to have this last day off, but the firm is short-handed right now. They need a team to fly to Chicago for a few days to handle security detail for a client attending a political summit.”

She poured coffee into her cup and glanced over her shoulder at him, giving him an understanding smile. “Important stuff.”

He braced his hands on his hips, his gaze never wavering from hers. “You’re just as important.”

She swallowed back the swell of emotion that rose in her throat at his words and turned around to face him again. “Logan…please don’t make this any more difficult than it already is.”

He tipped his head, his expression patient, as if he’d anticipated this argument with her. “Don’t make
what
any more difficult?”

A flicker of anger surged through her, that he was forcing her to make this uglier than it needed to be. “You. And me.” She cut to the heart of the matter. “I don’t belong in your life. Trust me, I’m doing you a big favor by ending things now.” She was also saving herself from another devastating heartbreak.

His gaze narrowed as he processed her words. “How can you know that?”

“Because I’ve been through this before!” she said, her frustration getting the best of her.

He blinked at her in surprise. And now that that revelation was out, she knew he wouldn’t leave without an explanation, that she’d need to dredge up the past in order to make Logan understand and believe this was for the best.

“I’ve been with a man who said he was crazy about me,” she said, letting it all spill out before she changed her mind or Logan could interrupt her. “He even wanted to marry me. He was a successful real estate developer, we got engaged, and then one day, out of the blue, a month before the wedding, Derek issued me an ultimatum. I had to choose between him and my business, because he didn’t want people to think he was marrying a whore who sold porn. And he certainly didn’t want the mother of his children dealing with vibrators or bondage equipment.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Logan growled in disbelief.

Raina wished she was joking, but the truth still had the ability to feel like a sharp knife twisting in her heart. “You see, his family was embarrassed, no,
mortified
, by the fact that I sold sex toys for a living, and his colleagues had made some nasty and crude comments about me and my business, and Derek couldn’t handle it. I refused to give him that much control and power over my life and my business, and I walked away. But the few men I’ve dated since then have had the same mind-set. I was good enough to fuck in private, but what I did for a living was a dirty little secret they didn’t want anyone to know about.” And that cycle of being judged and condemned and ostracized had made it evident to her that she was better off alone than going through that pain and disappointment again and again.

Logan was standing only a few feet away, his hands fisted at his sides, and she could feel the anger vibrating off him. “Your ex, and those men, are assholes, and you thankfully dodged a bullet with that pansy-assed developer. I don’t give a shit what you do for a living.”

“But your sister does,” she said quietly, knowing how important Emily, his own family, was to him. “You were there at the dinner table on Sunday. You saw her reaction. She was horrified. I’ve learned the hard way that what a family thinks of me eventually matters. A lot.”

He swore out loud, his jaw clenched. “My sister will get over it.”

She wrapped her arms around her waist and shook her head, knowing that was unlikely. “It doesn’t matter, Logan.” She lifted her chin, trying to be firm and not fall apart. She could do that later, when he was gone. “I’m making the choice for you, for both of us, before things get any deeper between us.”

“Too late, sugar.” He walked toward where she was leaning against the counter and braced a hand on either side of her. “I’m already falling for you—”

Her heart slammed against her chest, and she pressed her fingers against his lips to stop him from talking, from saying the kind of words that would completely destroy her. “Logan,
no
.”

He gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away. “
Yes
,” he said, the emotion in his green eyes unmistakable. “I can
feel
it, and it’s like
nothing
I’ve ever felt for another woman.”

The pain inside her grew. “You loved Charlotte.”

“I was a boy, a teenager when we started dating,” he said, his gaze holding hers. “I loved Charlotte, but I know now that I wasn’t ever
in
love with her. If I had been, it would have killed me to walk away from her, even after what she did to me. Instead, I was
grateful
.”

“And in the long run, you’ll be equally grateful that you didn’t stay with me,” she refuted. “I’m not the kind of traditional woman you want in your life. The kind of woman you
deserve
to have in your life.”

Logan took a moment to inhale and exhale a deep breath after that comment, gathering his thoughts before he spoke. He knew this conversation with Raina wasn’t going to be easy, and she was doing everything in her power to push him away because she believed it was the best thing for
him
. But to hear and know that she didn’t think she was worthy of him, that she truly believed she wasn’t the kind of woman he deserved to have in his life, made him furious at every man who’d ever made her feel less than amazing and worthy of love.