Pursuit (16 page)

His hands left her face and slid underneath her to lift her butt up. With a strength that sent crazy tingles through her stomach, he rose to his knees and brought her with him, until he knelt on the bed in a vertical position and held her pinned over him, his arousal pushing even deeper inside of her.

Her hands fell to his shoulders and gripped him there as lights began to dance in her head. Her lungs hurt as she tried to pull in enough oxygen, and a molten river of need hit her between the thighs as her body flooded with liquid heat.

He grasped her, his hands sinking under her butt and he lifted her up and down, stroking her on his erection and causing her world to become engulfed by the electricity that coursed between them.

He was purely masculine; he was strength personified.

She held none of the power between them, and yet she never felt powerless. He controlled her physically, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she controlled the happiness between them.

And with that knowledge, her heart turned over and currents of pleasure ran up and down her spine and exploded in a jolt that had her clinging to him as her inner muscles clenched around him. She could feel his muscles cording beneath her, she felt the surge of blood that hardened him that last bit, and she felt the groan that built in his chest before it erupted and exploded from his throat.

She held on tightly as he held her captive, and with the thought in her head that he was the best temptation she
'd ever come across, she let her brain float away from her body and let her orgasm take over and blend with his.

Two weeks later, on a Wednesday, Lauren came from her immediate boss
's office feeling completely shell-shocked. She stumbled to her desk and sat down before she fell down. She couldn't get a grip, couldn't form a single thought in her head.

Five minutes later, she was still sitting like a zombie when Heidi walked up and grimaced.
"Your face is white. Are you okay?"

Lauren looked at her friend and only managed to shake her head.
Hell, no, she wasn't okay.

"
What's wrong?" Heidi questioned, pulling up a chair and sitting down close enough to Lauren so they wouldn't be overheard.

Lauren glanced around and made sure no one was close by.
"They want me to move to L.A," she said tonelessly.

Heidi reared back, completely speechless for a couple of seconds.
"No fucking way."

Lauren took a deep breath.
"Yeah. They do."

"
What for?" Heidi asked in a quick whisper.

"
You're not going to believe this," Lauren whispered back, not quite believing it herself.

"
Try me," Heidi challenged.

Lauren held her friend
's eyes and said slowly, "Vice-president of sales."

"
No fucking way," her friend breathed out again.

"
I know, right?" Lauren asked, shocked to her core.

"
Holy shit. I thought you were going to say something like 'assistant to the CFO', or something like that."

"
I know, if they want me to move, it should be for a financial position, if anything, right?" Lauren lifted her hand to her forehead and rubbed. She was quickly getting a stress headache.

"
Well, yeah, but I can see why they'd want you in sales, too. But vice-president? Holy crap, Lauren. You can't turn that down, can you?"

Lauren worried her lip before answering.
"I don't know. I don't know what to do. They've given me a week to decide. The old guy, Richardson, he's finally retiring."

"
I'm going to miss you," Heidi said as if it was a done deal.

Lauren shook her head.
"I don't think I can take it."

Heidi looked thunderstruck, but she quickly recovered.
"Because of Logan?"

Lauren nodded her head and Heidi continued with a hint of a question,
"The amount of money they're offering--"

Lauren cut in,
"Is un-fucking-believable."

Heidi took a deep breath, commiseration in her eyes.
"But Logan is also unbelievable."

Lauren nodded again, her eyes wide.
"Yeah."

"
Son of a bitch," her friend blew out a breath.

Lauren grimaced.
"I know."

"
Sales," Heidi pondered out loud. "Are you really that good? I mean, I know you're a closer, everybody around here talks about how you can get anybody to sign practically anything. But is it true? I thought maybe it was just an exaggeration."

Lauren shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess. I don't think of myself as a salesman, though. I damn sure don't have the gift of gab or whatever. I think maybe I just know numbers and can usually get the clients to understand how they'll make a profit. A quick return on investment, that's what they're wanting and I tell them how it will happen." Lauren studied Heidi and slowly grinned as pride in her achievement came to the fore. "And I can do it with a smile on my face."

Heidi gave Lauren a knowing look.
"Yeah, and I'm sure that face of yours doesn't hurt anything either. Especially since ninety percent of our clients are men," she teased without an ounce of jealousy or animosity.

Lauren didn
't take offense but the words struck a chord of panic. "Logan's going to shit a brick."

"
From what you've shared about him, yeah, that's a given. So, you're probably not going to take the job?" Heidi asked, her curiosity as strong as her disbelief.

"
It goes without saying that you're sworn to secrecy about this entire conversation?"

Heidi gave her a withering stare.
"Duh."

"
I don't think I'm going to take it," Lauren admitted.

"
If I were you, I don't think I'd take it, either. There are always other jobs. And you're damn good, Lauren. If you pass this up but stay with the company, other stuff will come up. They're still going to love you just as much. But no matter what you decide to do, I'd for sure let that caveman of yours think you're mulling it over."

"
Well, I
am
mulling it over," Lauren responded quickly.

Heidi waved a hand.
"You know what I mean. This is a perfect opportunity to get the dude to commit. I mean, you
do
want him to commit, right?"

"
Yes. If I didn't, I'd probably be packing my bags about right now and looking for condos online."

Heidi grinned.
"So, don't lose the opportunity to scare him shitless."

"
I don't want to play games with him."

"
Oh, my God, Lauren
. What planet are you from? It's
all
a game. Every damn bit of it is a game. Books have been written, you know? There are rules you have to live by to get a man to commit."

Lauren sucked in a deep breath.
"Yeah. It doesn't matter whether it's a game or not, because I have to feel him out, because if he's not in this like I think he is, I need to know
this week."

"
I can tell you the dude's in it. He's in it for the duration. Just from the things you've told me and the few times I've seen how he acts around you, trust me, that guy ain't letting you get on a jet and move cross country." Heidi said with exaggerated passion as she crossed her arms and shook her head. "Ain't happening."

Lauren took comfort from Heidi
's certainty. "You sure?"

"
Oh, my God. Of course I'm sure. The dude's crazy about you."

Lauren
's nerves stayed on high alert. "I hope you're right."

****

Lauren decided to wait until Friday night to broach the subject with Logan. She was honestly conflicted, but she acknowledged to herself that with just one word from him, she'd be fine to let the job go and stay where she was.

But if she
'd never met him . . . she'd be in Los Angeles faster than a heartbeat.

Texas wasn
't really her home, it was just the place she'd moved for her job. Her job was what was most important to her at this stage in her life, or at least it had been, before she'd met Logan.

But now, there was Logan.

She soaked in the bathtub for a while because he'd texted her and said he was going to be late. He wanted to go to the Mexican restaurant that they both enjoyed, and Lauren wanted to get the hard part over with before they left the house. She needed to be able to study his reactions, and she couldn't do that in a noisy restaurant. So, telling him here would be best and she needed to do it as soon as he came home because she'd already put it off for two days.

So now, she was almost ready to go out. She sat in the master bathroom at the vanity that was now hers and applied mascara, which would be the last step of completing her make-up. While she waited for it to dry, she glanced down and saw that her fingers were trembling.

How would he react to her news?

How should she
bring it up so she could get an honest answer from him? Heidi seemed to think he was in this with her for the long haul, and if Lauren was honest with herself, she did, too. But she needed something definitive, maybe even tangible so she didn't blow away a career move with the kind of money that could change her future.

Of course, she
'd rather her future be changed with Logan.

The door slammed and she heard him coming through the house.

Within seconds, he stood in the threshold, looking down at her where she sat in bra and panties on the small seat between their two sinks.

He stood without speaking, and Lauren could see his knuckles turning white where he clenched the doorframe on both sides. His shoulders looked a yard wide and he wasn
't smiling as he watched her like a predator ready to pounce. Sexual chemistry, hot and heavy, pulsed between them. Her emotions were running high, and with a wave of apprehension she realized she wasn't going to get to make her announcement the way she wanted to.

She was going to have to handle him the same way that she
'd handled her mother when she'd been sixteen and had that damn car wreck. She'd called her mom, and the first thing out of Lauren's mouth had been,
I'm okay. I'm not hurt.
And that was exactly the way she was going to have to handle Logan now.

The first thing she had to say was that she wasn
't going away. That had to be the very first thing out of her mouth. Because if she didn't say it . . . if she just announced she'd been offered the job . . . good Lord, she didn't want to think what his reaction would be.

She attempted to maintain her fragile control as he watched her, his expression filling with primal intent. Warmth surged through her at the look on his face, and for one second, she thought about falling in with his obvious plans for her. But she couldn
't do that.

She had to tell him now. She had to get this over with, and see if it would play out the way she imagined it would. Heidi was sure that Logan would commit. Lauren didn
't want to force a commitment, but neither did she want to continue imagining that a future existed between them if it really didn't.

He took a step forward and her pulse became erratic, mixed with both hope and fear.

She opened her mouth to try to stop his approach. "I need to tell you something."

He halted in his tracks, a foreboding look darkening his face. Lauren knew her voice had come out shaky, and already she could see the expression that came over him when he didn
't care for something.

When he didn
't care for something that had to do with her.

She knew her fears were probably premature, but they gnawed away at her confidence.
She just wanted to stay here with him. And she needed to know he wanted that, too.

He stood completely still, his muscles corded with steel and Lauren opened her mouth to speak, but then paused and licked her lips.
Tell him already. Say the words. Say, 'I'm staying here'. Just do it.
"I was offered a job in Los Angeles." She was already trying to focus on his reactions and she realized that her voice was uncharacteristically expressionless.

And then she realized what she
'd just said.

The breath slammed from her lungs as her words rang in her ears.
Had she said that? Why had she said that?
How could she have messed up so badly?

She opened her mouth to fix it but nothing came out as she saw the look that came over his face. He stayed still for the count of two seconds, his legs braced apart, and then he surged into action. He stormed toward her and invaded her personal space with a jerky movement of his body. He caught up her wrist, and encircled it in his fingers. Her breath quickened as he pulled her from her seat with a physical force she couldn
't fight against. Her butt landed against the granite top of the vanity unit and she opened her mouth to say what she needed to say before he lost it completely.

His fingers tightened until they were like steel bands around her wrist. She began to hyperventilate and every thought flew from her brain.
She was supposed to be saying something right now. What was it?
Her breath fragmented as an enraged snarl left his chest and erupted from his mouth.

He stared down at her, his nostrils flaring and his shoulders seeming to grow wider by the second. She could see that his jaw was clenched, his eyes narrowed to slits, and a coil of tension held him inert for a heartbeat.

And then he exploded into action again. With his booted foot, he kicked the door shut behind him and still holding onto her wrist like a metal vise, he turned around and twisted the lock.

Jesus Christ.
This should
not
be exciting her.

He swiveled back to face her and his torso slammed into hers. He repositioned the wrist he
'd captured and held it out to her side, away from their bodies. Then he lowered his head until his eyes were so close to hers that she could see the flecks of gunmetal that encircled his pupils. His mouth flattened and his lips pulled back from his teeth.
"You're not going anywhere."

His eyes turned as dark as the blackest coal and she could barely breathe as she looked up at him.
"Logan--"