Pursuit (14 page)

Logan felt the arrow in his groin, just where she
'd aimed it. "Oh, darlin', just wait 'til I get you home."

****

The rest of the week flew by for Lauren. Logan took care of everything that had to do with her vehicle. He arranged for a rental to be delivered to her, and he handled the dealership that was working on her car.

Lauren had to admit, it felt nice to have him take care of her that way. Sure, she could have handled it herself if she
'd had to, but why not let him? He expected her to let him do it, and she was busy with other things, so she let him handle it.

The days passed in a blur of work and Logan, and by the beginning of the following week, she had her car back.

She also had another dinner meeting scheduled, and she was forced to break the news to Logan when he texted her and tried to confirm where they would meet that evening.

I
'm going to be busy until late. Maybe tomorrow?

What gives?

Dinner with clients.

He didn
't text back right away and Lauren knew he was thinking about what he would type. His texts always came back swiftly, and this time it didn't. She knew he was upset, but there wasn't a lot she could do about it.

When he finally sent a message, it was a simple question.
Is ten tonight okay?

God, she wasn
't going to get any sleep at all and decided to tell him so.
I kind of need some sleep.

I
'll let you sleep.

Would he let her sleep? Lauren had no idea. The guy could burn the candle at both ends when he wanted to. Still, she did want to see him and she loved sleeping next to him.
You want to come to my house?

He replied in two seconds:
Sure.

Okay. See you at ten
.

Lauren set her phone down and wondered what she
'd just opened herself up for. He was always volatile when she got home from meeting with clients. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that he'd go ballistic on her ass once again.

Her stomach muscles clenched just thinking about it.

She did need sleep,
but God, she was a lucky girl.

****

Lauren was totally wiped out when she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment at nine-thirty. She hated never-ending work days like the one she'd just had. She was so tired and already dreading the next day so much that all she wanted was a bed and a pillow.

As she was getting out of her car, Logan pulled in after her. As she gathered her things and pushed open her door, he came around and held her it open. There was no mistaking the grimace on his face.
"I was trying to beat you here."

"
Why?" she asked as she began walking up to her apartment.

"
Obviously, I didn't want you walking around in the parking lot by yourself at night."

Lauren wasn
't surprised. She knew him pretty well by now and this was just another example of his method of operation.

As she unlocked her front door, he stood to the side.
"Why don't you gather some things and we'll go back to my place." The way he projected the words could have been a question, but somehow, Lauren knew it wasn't.

But she truly didn
't care where they slept. She was completely neutral on the idea and decided to let him have this one if it would expedite getting some sleep. "Okay. I'll just be a minute . . . or you can go on and I'll meet you there."

"
You think I'm going to let you walk in the dark by yourself just so I can get home a few minutes earlier?"

Well, hell no, what had she been thinking?
"Okay, I'll only be a minute."

As Lauren gathered her stuff, throwing everything in the cosmetics bag that she
'd learned to keep handy, she heard him in the living room, surfing through television channels. It didn't take long for her to gather her work clothes for the morning, and she came out of the bedroom ready to go.

"
We're going to leave your car here. I'll drive you back in the morning." He didn't take his attention from the television as he made that statement, but nevertheless, Lauren got the idea his focus was solely on her; she felt the subtle tension that held him so stiffly.

She debated on how to handle him. It niggled at her that every time she gave him an inch, he tried to push for a mile. Did he think that she didn
't notice what he was doing? But at the same time, she didn't care one way or the other, in fact, she'd probably rather ride with him. She was tired and didn't feel like driving, and her apartment was centered between his house and her work, so she wouldn't be losing time in the morning.

"
Then why are we even going? We should sleep here, it'll be so much easier." She turned as if the decision was made, and dropped her floral bag that held her things just inside her bedroom door. Then she went and sat by him on the couch as if she were settling in for a while.

Lauren fully expected him to go commando on her ass, because slowly and surely, he was always pushing her to stay at his house. But he didn
't. He was sneaky about it, damn him. And maybe he was actually telling the truth?

His muscles tensed as he turned to face her.
"I've got another couple of hours of work I need to finish tonight and I need to be at the house to do it."

She leaned back farther in her seat.
"Then why didn't you tell me to meet you there in the first place?"

"
I thought I'd be finished before now. And time slipped away and I forgot to text you again."

Lauren studied him as his perfectly reasonable words sank in. He picked up a strand of her hair and proceeded to annihilate her heart even more when his voice gentled.
"But if you're too tired to come with me, just rest here and I'll go get my laptop and stuff and be back in half an hour. I should have brought it all when I left the house."

Just when she thought she had this guy pegged
. "Logan . . . "

His hand slid from her hair and his thumb swirled around her jaw.
"What, baby?"

"
I'll probably be asleep when you get back . . . you know, too tired to . . . "

Her words trailed off as his fingers caressed the line of her cheekbone. He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
"That's fine. I want you to sleep. But you're okay if I come back and finish my project and then sleep here with you?" As she watched him, he added, "Just sleep, okay?"

She reached out with trembling fingers and laced her fingers with is.
"You want to
just
sleep with me?"

A muscle clenched at his jaw.
"Yeah, I don't know why, I seem to sleep better when you're in my arms."

At his words, her heart began slamming against her breastbone as emotion suffused her. She took a deep breath, not able to form an answer even if she
'd needed to.

That night had been another pivotal point in their relationship. At first what she
'd thought had been a power play, was actually anything but.
Logan wanted her near him
. It was obvious, she could tell, and he'd more or less admitted as much when he told her that he slept better with her in his arms.

After that night, they slept together every night, if Lauren was in town.

His place was bigger and nicer and had that awesome swimming pool in the backyard, and a lot of Lauren's things began migrating to live at his house. Lauren knew it was happening, and as every single item of her stuff found a new home, she knew she was getting in deeper. But that didn't scare her; she was comfortable in their relationship and decided to go with the flow and see where it would lead.

One rainy Saturday morning a couple of weeks later, Lauren was trying to prepare coffee in his kitchen and found herself grumbling under her breath when Logan walked into the room. He was freshly showered and looked immaculate and she felt like everything was out of control in her life. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her neck.
"What's the problem?"

"
Nothing," she denied sharply, absolutely not her best in the morning without her coffee.

He spun her around to face him and tipped her chin up with a finger.
"Tell me what's wrong."

She
'd put up with it for about as long as she could stand it. Lauren threw out a hand and indicated his kitchen. "It's
all
wrong."

His eyes narrowed as he glanced around.
"Nothing's wrong with my kitchen. It's exactly like the rest of my house. It's organized and everything has a place."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, trying to shake him loose, too impatient to try to explain something to him that he was
too male
to see.

He frowned and his hold tightened.
"Don't blow me off. Tell me what the hell is wrong with my kitchen."

"
Everything," she gritted out.

A sense of urgency seemed to come over him and any patience he had remaining, splintered.
"Tell me,"
he grunted.

Lauren blew out a breath.
"The coffee cups should be kept in the cabinet above the coffee-maker.
All
the coffee stuff should be kept there. The hot pad holder thingies should be kept in the drawer next to the stove where they'll be needed, not across the room in the top cabinet,
where nobody can reach them
. The glasses and plates should be in the cabinet either to the left or to the right of the dishwasher, where they can be unloaded more quickly, without having to take a million steps." She stopped and took a deep breath. "I can go on." She raised her eyebrows. "You want me to keep on or do you get the picture?"

His face was expressionless for a moment. But then it changed and he looked astounded, as if a light bulb had just gone off in his head. Then he began laughing. He glanced around the kitchen and then back to her. He frowned in confusion.
"What's wrong with the plates being in the cabinet directly above the dishwasher? Why to the left or the right?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and would have slammed her hands on her hips if he hadn
't held her so tightly. "Because I'm too short to reach that cabinet when the dishwasher is opened. I have to walk all the way around it and then go up on my tip-toes."

There was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes and she felt like hitting him.
"Why not just stack them on the counter and close the dishwasher and then put them away?"

She felt a flare of temper and gave him a withering stare.
"Are you arguing with me just for the sake of an argument?" She exhaled a pent-up breath. "I don't like to extend housework. I like to get it finished quickly and stacking the dishes is adding another step to the process."

"
So, basically you're okay with the kitchen, you just don't like the way I have things arranged?"

Her lips flattened and she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yep." She took a deep breath and took a look around. "The kitchen itself is gorgeous."

He shrugged his shoulders.
"So change it."

Lauren didn
't think she'd heard correctly. Mr. Perfectionist was telling her she could mess with his stuff? "I'm sorry, what?"

"
Change it. Move the crap around. Put it where you want it. I don't care; I don't spend a lot of time in here." He turned to walk out. "I've got work to do, let me know if you need help with any of the heavy stuff." And then he stopped and turned and faced her again. "Lauren . . . if there's anything
at all
about the house you don't like, just change it and if you need help, tell me, okay?"

She nodded, and after he left, Lauren leaned back against the sink, totally discomfited. He
'd answered her in a serious tone, as if he really wanted her to be happy and at home. She took a few deep breaths, trying to slow her heart rate. And then she glanced around at the gorgeous kitchen with a tiny arrow of excitement that she tried to suppress. This was going to be fun.

But crap.

Things were getting deeper by the day.

****

Two hours later, Logan walked on silent feet to the bar that overlooked the kitchen. Lauren was on her knees with her head and shoulders inside one of the lower cabinets and all his stuff was in piles and stacks on top of the granite countertops. A sharp, fierce coil of pleasure heated his guts as he silently watched her.

The feeling wasn
't sexual. At least not for the most part. His satisfaction was coming from having her in his kitchen, messing with his stuff, moving it around and putting her mark on it,
making it hers
.

Whoa
. He wanted his kitchen to be
her kitchen
. That was damn basic.

He stood and watched her for a few moments, enjoying the sway of her hips and the perfect roundness of her butt as she reached farther into the low space. He swelled against his jeans, but he fought his arousal, because this moment wasn
't about sex. A gratified smile twisted his lips, and a haunting fire licked down his spine.
He was getting so close. So fucking close to his goal, that he could taste it.

It didn
't escape Logan's notice that he should be running for cover and throwing her out of his house. That's what guys were supposed to do when women got too clingy, wasn't it? But damn,
she
never got clingy. Besides, Lauren wasn't like other women. Other women, he could barely tolerate. They were usually good for only one thing, but that wasn't the case with Lauren. Lauren was her own woman,
damn it;
she had a life of her own and he continually had to ram himself against her reserved outer layer so that he could be a part of that life.

But he was getting close.

He'd have her, and sooner, rather than later, if he had his way about it. She was like the proverbial Little Red Riding Hood, taking one step too close to the Big, Bad Wolf.

And when she did, he
'd have her. And that would be that.

****

Lauren turned off the water in the shower stall and breathed a sigh of relief. Crawling around in the cabinets and moving everything around had taken a lot more work than she'd expected. She grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her body and walked out of the bathroom.

Drying her hair with another large towel, she came to a dead halt in the middle of the bedroom. Her stomach twisted with heat, and her nerves jangled to life.

Logan lay on the center of the bed, completely nude, with his hands laced behind his head, staring straight at her. He lifted a hand and crooked a finger at her, and Lauren's eyes took in his straining erection.

"
Come here," he drawled deep in his throat.

Never thinking to deny him, never wanting to, like an automaton, Lauren took two seconds to squeeze the excess moisture from her hair and then dropped the towel on the floor. Goosebumps shivered over her skin and as his erection jerked and throbbed, her feminine channel flooded with answering moisture.

It was a damp and dreary day, romantic in the bedroom with the rain softly falling against the windowpanes, and Lauren didn't hesitate. She dropped the remaining towel that hid her body from his, and climbed over the foot of the bed.

Their glances connected and his arrogant half-smile disappeared completely as tension gripped his muscles. Incendiary heat built between them and the primal expression on his face accelerated the blood as it pumped through her veins. She felt an intoxicating need to take him into her mouth. He only ever allowed it for a small while; his patience was always tested and she never got to play with him the way she wanted to. It never failed, he always flipped her to her back before she got what she wanted; he rarely allowed her to bring him to completion this way. But when he did, it was awe
- inducing.

Lauren looked at the washboard abs of his six-pack clenched in uncontested strength. He seemed to lounge back almost indolently, but she knew him well enough to know it was a facade; he looked as if he could attack in two seconds flat if he wanted to or needed to. She smelled the raw sizzle of primitive hunger that wrapped around them. His face was stamped with authority, like he was about to get his way in all things, but Lauren was about to dispute that dominance in a non-verbal way of her own.

She slowly scooted up another few inches, keeping her eyes on him the entire time, as if he were a sleeping lion that couldn't be trusted. His legs were spread just enough that she could slide between his thighs and keep her own legs tightly closed. She made the move and took his straining cock triumphantly in one hand.

His head jerked and he sucked oxygen in through his teeth.
"Lauren,"
he growled, his hands staying behind his head for the moment, but the muscles in his forearms were strained and his biceps bulged.

She leaned down and took a single swipe with her tongue, her lips against the head of his arousal as she held his eyes.
"Hmm?"

"
You better be careful,"
he said in a rough threat that sent chills down her midsection, but scared her, not in the least.

"
I'm always careful around you, Logan," she purred, taking another swipe with her tongue. "I'd be crazy not to be."

She found a drop of pre-cum, sticky and salty, and as he watched, she licked it up and savored it on her tongue before swallowing. Then she moved up another notch and fastening her eyes on his, she took him deep in her mouth and held him there.

His eyes flared and his hands jerked down and landed on her shoulders. Lauren felt the small, square package he'd held ready in his fingers the entire time. He watched her now, intently, looking drugged and mesmerized as she continued to taste him. Lauren sucked and licked him, exactly the way they both liked it best.

He groaned, deep and long, and Lauren thought for a moment that he would let her finish what she was doing, but it wasn
't to be. He released her and lifted the plastic package to his mouth, ripping it open with his teeth. He moved her away and pulled her up to him by the shoulders, donning the protection quickly. "Later." And then he flipped her to her back and came over her. He moved down over her stomach, scattering a wet path of kisses over her belly. He stopped and draped her thighs over his shoulders and began performing the same act on her that he'd just made her abandon on him. His tongue was hot and wet, and he put his finger on her clit and began massaging it, in time with the strokes of his tongue as it plunged in and out of her.

Lauren saw stars and began to feel a familiar tightening sensation, but he knew it, damn him, and he changed his tactic. He slid his long, thick, middle finger inside of her and began swiping her clit with his tongue, abrading it and rubbing it until her world narrowed to him and only him.
"Logan," she began.

"
What," he asked, in a deep, rough voice, but he never stopped.

"
Logan," she tried again.

"
What?" he asked more harshly as she began a keening sound that signaled her coming release.

Lauren
's brain liquefied and colors lit the sky. At the height of her orgasm, her thought process splintered and all she could think of was one thing. "I love you," she panted in mind-blowing oblivion, just as her world exploded around her.

He held her tightly with his mouth and hands for a few seconds while she rode her orgasm, and then he pulled away from her only long enough to crawl on top and sink inside of her.

He took one deep breath and began lunging inside of her, his hold on her unbreakable.

Lauren knew something was different, but she was too far-gone to identify what it was. She only knew Logan was following her over, coming inside of her and that he was gripping her more tightly than he
'd ever done before. She let go of the tiny thought that plagued her and focused on the joy that he'd brought into her world.