Stay With Me (6 page)

She was right. He and Logan had dropped the ball in their relationship with her, and it sickened him that he hadn’t seen it until it was too late. Too late to prevent her hurt and sadness.

He wouldn’t allow that it was too late for their marriage.

He glanced up at Logan, who was preparing to phone in the room service order. “She’s exhausted,” he murmured.

Logan frowned as he held the phone to his ear. “She looks different. I can’t put my finger on it. Somehow she seems more fragile. I don’t know, like she could break at any time. I don’t like it.”

Rhys didn’t respond because Logan broke off to place the food order. He was right, though. Cat looked fragile. Dark shadows rested in the hollows beneath her eyes. Hollows that didn’t used to be there. She was thinner too. There was a sadness that hung over her, one that suggested it wasn’t a recent unhappiness but one that had resided for a length of time.

His jaw tightened as his teeth came together. They would change this. He would change it. He couldn’t remember not loving Catherine. Yeah, he’d taken her for granted in a huge way, but never because he didn’t love her or want her with every breath he took.

Logan hung up the phone and glanced toward Rhys. “Food will be here in twenty minutes. We’ll let her sleep until then.”

Rhys lightly touched her cheek with his finger. He wanted to kiss her. He ached to love her, to make love to her, just the two of them. He looked back up at Logan. “I want some time with her,” he said in a quiet voice.

Logan nodded and ran a weary hand through his hair. “We both need time with her. She booked two weeks at this resort, but it’s going to take longer than that to make this right.”

“What are we going to do about work?” Rhys asked.

As much as they were willing to do whatever it took to get Catherine back, as important as she was to them, they couldn’t just blow off their commitments. It would ruin them.

Logan slouched down into a chair several feet from the bed. “I’m going to make some phone calls in the morning, iron out as much as I can, streamline things so they can run as long without us as possible. I don’t think Catherine means for us to do anything drastic in regards to the company. Her point is we’ve cut her completely out of the picture.”

He sighed and tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling.

“And she’s right. That’s what we’ve done. Here we are poised to land the biggest deal of our lives, and at the same time, we figure out what utter fuck-ups we are.”

His chin came to rest on his chest as he refocused his attention on Rhys. “What the fuck are we going to do, Rhy? We can’t lose her. We can’t lose our business. I feel like everything is slipping away, and it scares the shit out of me.”

It was unusual to see a chink in Logan’s armor. He was always controlled and methodical. Now he looked defeated.

“We win her back,” Rhys said simply. “We give her a vacation to remember, but more importantly, we make her remember how much we love her.”

Logan nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’m just…worried.”

Rhys looked down at Cat, the soft rise and fall of her chest. “So am I,” he admitted.

Catherine awoke to the smell of food. Seafood. Rhys was propped on an elbow at her side, and Logan was busy setting food on the bed. She glanced down at the selection, and her stomach promptly revolted.

Saliva pooled in her mouth, and her stomach heaved. She took in several short breaths, praying she wouldn’t need to make a run for the bathroom.

She closed her eyes as the knot grew bigger inside her belly. A flush of heat billowed over her body, and then she went cold just as quickly.

Throwing off the covers, she lunged out of bed.

“Cat, what the hell?” Rhys demanded.

Her bare feet hit the tile of the bathroom floor, and her knees quickly followed as she gripped the toilet seat with her hands to steady herself.

Stomach lurching, she painfully heaved, nothing coming up as her belly clenched and spasmed. Still, she couldn’t stop the dry retches, and moaned when her body convulsed again.

“Cat, honey, are you okay?”

Rhys put his hands on her shoulders then slid his fingers over her hair to pull it out of the way.

“What the hell is wrong?” Logan demanded from the doorway. “Do I need to get a doctor?”

She shook her head sharply even as another dry heave seized her.

“Easy now,” Rhys said soothingly. “Do you want something to drink? Would that help?”

She leaned into his shoulder, feeling like a wet noodle. She’d gone too long without eating, but the idea of the seafood waiting for her made her stomach protest all the more.

“I just need something to eat,” she said as she pushed away from Rhys. She looked apologetically up at Logan. “Something besides seafood?”

“There’s soup and a pasta starter,” Logan replied. “That okay?”

She smiled and tried to stand. Rhys caught her in his arms and hoisted her upward. “I’m fine, Rhys,” she said. Then she turned back to Logan. “Soup and pasta sound wonderful.”

They sat on the bed, cross-legged, her naked except for the sheet draped across her lap and Logan and Rhys in shorts. The soup soothed her stomach and allowed her to eat the pasta. She was hungrier than she’d thought and finished not only her portion but the men’s as well.

“No more skipping meals,” Logan said darkly. “You haven’t been sleeping either.”

She eyed him levelly. “I haven’t been sleeping well in ages, Logan. I never sleep well when you and Rhys aren’t there.”

Dark color flooded his cheeks, and she felt a twinge of guilt. She hadn’t really meant it as a dart, but as an honest statement of fact.

“What would you like to do tomorrow?” Rhys asked.

She turned to him and pursed her lips. “Honestly? I’d like to have breakfast at a little shack I found while surfing the internet. It’s down the beach, and they’re supposed to have wonderful food. Then I’d like to do some sunbathing and maybe a little swimming.”

She shifted her gaze to Logan to see him staring intently at her. “Then I’d like to come back and take a long, hot bath, maybe schedule a massage in the spa and then go out to dinner and dancing.”

Logan scowled. “I don’t want another man’s hands on my wife. I’ll give you a damn massage.”

She laughed. “Who says it would be a man?”

“Don’t want us to rub you down?” Rhys asked with a wicked grin.

“I’d love it,” she said honestly.

She stared at the both of them, their relaxed postures, the easy smile on Rhys’ face.

“I’ve missed this,” she said. “I’ve missed you.”

Logan leaned forward, his hand cupping her chin with a firm grip. His lips brushed across hers, lightly at first then coming back, firmer, more demanding.

“I’ve missed you, baby. So damn much.”

She brought her hand up to his cheek. Her lips parted as his tongue probed and pushed inward. To her surprise, as she pulled away, Rhys was gone.

She blinked in surprise and surveyed the room. “Rhys?” she called.

“He’ll be back, baby. He’s leaving us alone for a while. A favor I intend to repay as soon as possible.”

She turned her stare back to him. “Oh.”

“You’re right,” he said reluctantly. “Rhys and I haven’t treated this relationship as one between you and me and him and you. It’s not fair to you, and we want that to change.”

“No more passing me off to the free man?” she asked with a slight lift to the corner of her mouth.

“I have a feeling, before long, you’re going to be very, very sick of seeing us,” he said as he pulled her to him again.

She melted against him, absorbing his warmth. “Not a chance,” she murmured against his mouth, just before she kissed him. Hard.

“Uh, baby? I thought you said no sex.”

“I lied.”

“Tell me you’re planning to have your wicked way with me,” he said in a tone so hopeful she had to laugh.

On hands and knees, she crawled up his body, letting her breasts slide over the tops of his legs and then his abdomen. The shorts he wore bulged at the crotch, the material tight and straining.

“Is that for me?” she asked sweetly as she gave his cock a gentle pat.

He grabbed her hand and cupped it over his erection until she could feel the length of him in her palm.

“Oh, it’s for you all right,” he said with a grunt.

She leaned down and grazed her teeth across the material of his shorts. He cursed and flinched, his legs trembling beneath her.

Repositioning her hands, she put them palms down across the tops of his thighs. His skin was warm and hair-roughened beneath her touch. She slid her palms upward, underneath the legs of his shorts, inward until she boldly cupped his hardness.

Her fingers flexed and skimmed down to the base and below to his sac. She fondled and rolled it in her hand until he arched his hips, straining for more.

“Take them off, Catherine,” he rasped.

She smiled and removed her hands. She tugged at the waistband of his shorts, pulling them down around his hips as he bowed upward so she could remove them.

When she had them around his knees, he growled with impatience, reached down and yanked them off before throwing them across the room.

“Come here,” he ordered as he reached for her.

She went willingly, pressing her body to his. She sighed in complete and utter pleasure as his body cradled hers. They fit so perfectly, blended together, her soft curves to his harder planes.

She twined her arms around him and just laid her head on his chest for a long moment. He kissed the top of her head and ran his hands lovingly up and down her back, petting, caressing, feathering light touches across her skin.

“I’ve missed you so much, baby.”

She turned her face into his chest and kissed his skin.

“I want you to ride me,” he said as he lifted her upward. “Just like you did Rhys. You looked so damn sexy. I’ve never wanted to be him so bad in my life.”

She barely had time to grasp his cock and position him before he lowered her down. He held her for a moment to give her time to adjust and then pulled her until she sheathed him completely.

Her hands flew out to brace against his chest as she twitched around his cock. She felt impossibly stretched, deliciously so. She was slick around him, and she slid up and down with ease.

There was comfort in their familiarity, that after so long, they could come back together, remembering every touch of the past. Her chest tightened, her heart seizing with love.

“I love you,” she whispered, echoing what filled her.

“Oh baby, I love you,” he returned.

He reached up, cupped her face and pulled her down to meet his kiss. He rolled his hips upward, thrusting into her even as his tongue thrust between her lips.

She met his tongue with her own, tasting him, absorbing his strength, his scent.

“I’ll never let you go,” he whispered. “You have to know that.”

A fist clutched at her throat. Her nose stung, and she fought the swell of emotion. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to reach out and hold his words close to her heart. More than anything she wanted to be with him and Rhys. Always.

“I don’t want to go,” she said in a broken voice. “I never wanted to go anywhere. But I couldn’t stay, Logan.”

He kissed her again, swallowing her distress. His arms encircled her, his hands splaying out over her back, cupping her tenderly. They slid down to her ass, and he lifted then lowered her, aiding his thrusts.

“Ride me, baby. Sit up and take your man. Take him hard.”

She rose, feeling like a goddess, power flowing through her when she saw the feral light in his eyes. He wanted her desperately. No matter the past, right here and right now, he only saw her. Only wanted her. He was hers to command, his body her playground.

Her hands trailed up the midline of his chest, then parted as her fingers circled his nipples. She played in the fine hairs on his upper chest, then chased them down his firm belly to his navel.

The muscles in his abdomen clenched and rippled as she picked up her pace. She squeezed her knees against his sides, threw back her head and raised her hands to her breasts.

He trembled and shook as she rose and fell above him. She cupped her breasts in her palms and pinched the nipples between her fingers, elongating them into taut peaks.

His fingers dug into her hips as she continued to tease him. “I’m close, baby. So close,” he groaned. “Come with me. I want you with me.”

She paused for the merest of moments. Leaning down, she swept her lips across his in a tender kiss. “I’ve never wanted to be without you, Logan.”

Clutching him to her, she undulated her hips, closing her eyes as her orgasm blew like wind, the most gentle of breezes, through her groin.

Warm, sweet, and spreading like honey, pleasure…love. She shook, and he held her. His cry sounded in her ears as he flooded into her.

Suddenly she was swept into the grip of yet another orgasm, sharper this time, the first merely a prelude.

“Logan!” she gasped.

He fused his mouth to hers, gasping for breath even as he took hers. He devoured her, ravenous, hungry. His teeth grazed her lips, nipped then sucked avidly.

His hands gripped her buttocks, pressing her against him as he bucked underneath her. Finally he slowed, his thrusts more gentle, long and easy.

She came to rest on top of him, her body limp and satisfied, draped across him like a rag. His hands caressed her, moving over her curves with tenderness that made her ache.

“Can you reach the covers?” he asked faintly. “Because I’m not sure I can move.”

She chuckled softly and reached blindly down, groping for the sheets. She made a halfhearted kick then pulled them over her body to cover them both.

“Another nap sounds pretty damn good,” he murmured in her ear.

“Want me to move?” she asked in a sleepy voice, though she had no desire to go anywhere.

“Don’t move a muscle. You feel good.”

“Love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too, baby.”

He squeezed her close to him, and for the first time in a long time, she felt like things would actually be all right.