The Posse (16 page)

“No.” She answered his
question. “It doesn’t. But you know, I never made out on the dance
floor. I was too shy to do it with Daniel, in front of
everyone.”

Logan smiled and slipped his
fingers beneath the top of her dress, found her nipple. He rolled
it gently and Jude sucked in a breath between her teeth.

She could feel evidence of
his desire pressed at the juncture of her legs, and she began
rethinking her objection to the secluded sand dunes.

“Logan.” She kissed his ear,
sucked the sensitive lobe into her mouth and was rewarded by his
groan. “Logan...can we go somewhere? My house or yours?
Please?”

“Mine is closer. Is that
okay?”

“Closer is good.”

Logan laughed, low and
sensual.

“Let’s go.”

***

Jude had always loved Logan’s
house.  Its open floor plan and walls of windows looking out
onto the ocean felt like an extension of the beach, one that was
protected from rain, from the sometimes-intense heat and from
blowing sand.

Although she’d visited the
house frequently while Daniel was alive, she hadn’t been beyond the
kitchen and great room since her first tour after the house was
built.  It felt very strange to climb the steps to Logan’s
bedroom, following him as he held her hand.

The upper level of the house
jutted out farther than the first floor, and with the wall of glass
facing the beach, the bedroom gave the sensation of floating over
the sand.

Jude walked to the windows
and peered out into the velvet darkness. “Oh, Logan. This is so
beautiful. Sometimes I forget how talented you are.”

She turned, smiling. Logan
had stopped at the top of the stairs, where he stood staring at
her, wearing an inscrutable expression.

“God, Jude. You’re
gorgeous.”

She felt the heat rising in
her face. “You make me blush more than anyone I’ve ever known.”

He crossed to her, took her
into his arms. “Why is that, do you think? I only speak the
truth.”

“I think it’s because you
say things I never expected to hear from you. And it makes me feel
...” She searched for the word. “Desired.”

“You are. Very desired.” He
kissed her neck and then her lips. “And loved, too.” He took a
deep, steadying breath and squared his shoulders. “I said it
before, but Jude, I want to be clear. I love you. I’m
in
love with you.”

She searched his eyes,
falling into the depths of the brown irises. Licking her lips, she
laid a hand on his cheek.

“Logan, I have always loved
you. Maybe in a different way than what you’re saying, but I have.
This is all happening so fast for me, and I need a little time to
catch up to you. I don’t want to say anything until I’m sure. Does
that make sense?”

“Of course it does.” He
brushed hair off her forehead and framed her face. “I hope it
doesn’t mean you won’t stay tonight.”

She smiled and fit her body
even closer to his. “I asked you to bring me to your house, didn’t
I? It wasn’t to play pool.”

He laughed. “I’m glad to
hear that. Though I’m thinking a game of strip pool might not be
out of the question.”

His mouth swallowed her
answer as he finally gave in to the overwhelming need. He opened
her lips beneath his and tangled their tongues. Jude shifted to
give him better access to her and slipped her hands under his
shirt. She ran her nails lightly over his back, humming in pleasure
at the feel of his muscles.

“You know all those mornings
you’ve come to drink my coffee?”

“Mmm hmmm...” Logan was
distracted by her neck, tonguing the erratic pulse there.

“Did you realize I was
ogling you every time you left?”

He straightened, smirking.
“Really? So every time you were giving me a hard time about
mooching off your coffee, you were thinking of this?” He grabbed
her hands and moved them lower.

Jude laughed. “You’ve caught
me.” She found the hem of his shirt and tugged it upward. Logan
stepped away just enough that she could take it off him. She rubbed
her hands over his chest, as liquid heat settled lower within her,
giving her the courage to let her lips follow her hands. She
trailed her tongue over his pectorals and then on the flat discs of
his nipples.

Logan growled between a
clenched jaw. “Bed.” He scooped her up in one fluid movement and
dropped her on the king-sized mattress.

Giggling, Jude scooted
toward the pillows. Logan unbuckled his belt, undid his shorts and
kicked them off. Keeping his eyes fastened on Jude, he slid off his
boxers as well.

Her heart pounded, looking
at him standing before her, lustful and unashamed. She swallowed
hard, torn between the desire to reach for him and her inclination
to dive beneath the covers of the bed.

He crawled onto the bed,
smiling as he approached her.

“You look like a lion.” Jude
curled up close to the headboard. “Like a predator.”

He laughed. “And you look
entirely too dressed.” He reached for the edge of her sundress, but
Jude covered his hand.

“Logan...” She bit her lip,
trying to decide how to go on. “I’m not...you know, I’m not the
same girl I was thirty years ago.” She touched his chest, trailed
her hand down his stomach. “I’m not in the same shape you are.”

He brushed her hair back,
nuzzled her collarbone. “Jude, I saw you last night. Has something
changed since then?”

She shook her head. “Of
course not. But you were—you know, we’d both had a lot to drink.
And it was pretty dark. Plus, the heat of the moment--”

Logan moved the straps of
her dress from her shoulders so that they hung on her arms, making
the bodice sag tantalizingly between her breasts. “I hadn’t had
that much to drink. Not as much as you. And it might have been
dark, but I have excellent night vision. There was plenty of heat,
sure, but Jude...” He dipped his head low to plant a kiss on the
top of her breast. “Believe me. You’re beautiful.”

He pulled the dress down the
rest of the way to her waist, ran his lips over the soft skin that
rose above her strapless bra. Jude closed her eyes and leaned back,
sighing in pleasure.

Logan reached behind her and
unclasped the bra, smiling in her eyes at the sight of her breasts
in his hands. He took advantage of her pose—arms behind her, chest
thrust into prominence—to pull a nipple into his mouth. He suckled,
bit gently and then covered her other breast with his hand. When he
moved to the other nipple, Jude moaned.

He kissed down the middle,
to her stomach, pausing only long enough to tongue her naval before
he eased the dress the rest of the way off her, groaning when he
saw the tiny purple lace of her underwear.

“Are you trying to give me a
heart attack?” He slipped a finger under the top and ran it back
and forth, grinning up at Jude. “If I had known you were wearing
these all night, no way we would have made it through dinner.”

“Glad you like them.” Jude
fell back into the pillows and arched as Logan rubbed lower,
covering the heat at her center with two fingers. He kept up steady
pressure through the lace even as his mouth followed along. He used
his teeth to drag the underwear down just enough above her knees.
Hovering above, his fingers still moving within her folds, he
looked up at her.

“Is this okay?” Without
waiting for a definite answer, but going slow enough that she could
stop if she wanted, he lowered his mouth to replace his fingers.
Jude writhed and amped up her moan to a near-shriek as the
sensation broke over her in a crashing wave. Her breath came in
small pants, her hands moving restlessly over his hair, until his
tongue plunged within her.

“Logan!” She dug her nails
into his shoulders, his name both a prayer and praise. He slowed
his pace, kissing her down her legs to her feet while she lay
liquid, boneless, arms next to her head on the pillows.

When he joined her, one
finger making circles up her torso to her breasts again, Jude
turned her head and smiled. She raised one hand to snag his neck,
drag him closer for a kiss that made him desperate.

When she pulled back a
little, she kept her eyes open, on his, and moved her hand to touch
him. Logan sucked in a breath.

Jude had never touched a man
other than Daniel; they’d been together for so many years that
their only experience was each other. Closing her hand around
Logan’s smooth hardness, a part of her still marveled at the fact
that Logan wanted her, that she had elicited this response in
him.

She held him tightly, moving
up and down, her eyes never leaving his face. Pleasure was etched
there; his eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open as he groaned.
She rolled up onto her knees for an easier angle, but he caught her
arm.

“I can’t take much more. “
His voice was rough. “I need you, Jude. I need to be in you.”

She slid onto him and kissed
his chest. “I want you.” She held his face between her hands and
opened her mouth over his lips as he rolled her to her back.
Without breaking the kiss, he raised himself over her and slid
within.

They stopped, for just a
moment, their eyes locked. Logan smoothed her hair from her
face.

“I love you, Jude.”

She reached up, touched his
cheek, raised her head for the most tender kiss she had ever known.
She fell back again as he began to move, slowly at first and then
faster,  with more aggression.

Her fingernails raked his
back, and she arched up to meet every thrust. The pleasure built
again to the point where Jude felt she had to let it go or she
might shatter into a million pieces.

She half-screamed his name,
tightening around Logan in pulsing spasms that undid him. He
plunged into her one last time as every muscle in his body tensed
and he roared her name.

He fell onto the bed next to
her, rolling her with him so that their connection never broke.

They were quiet, not
sleeping but content. Logan stroked her hair, ran his fingers
through the strands.

“Logan?” Jude’s voice was
muffled against his shoulder.

“Hmm?”

“Do we have to go back
tonight and get all that stuff at the pavilion?”

He shook, and she knew he
was laughing.

“No. I texted Karl on the
way here, asked him to clean everything up and leave it on my
deck.”

She pulled back, eyes
widening. “So he knew we were here? The whole time?”

Logan rubbed her back and
pulled her closer. “No, of course not. Don’t you trust me? I told
him I was taking you home. My car is in the garage, so there’s no
way he could know that I meant I was taking you to
my
home,
not yours.”

“Ah.” She relaxed again,
looped her arm around his neck, shifted only slightly to let him
kiss the pulse in her throat.

“So...does that mean dessert
is downstairs on your deck?”

He propped up on his elbow
to look down at her. “Do I take it you’re hungry?”

She smiled. “I could use a
little something sweet. I kind of worked up an appetite.”

Logan chuckled and rolled
over, breaking from her. He stretched once, reaching up as his body
became one large quiver. He jumped from the bed, unabashedly nude,
and reached over to give her rump a light smack.

“If it’s food you want, it’s
food you’ll get. Besides, you need to hydrate and fuel up for round
two.”

“Round two?” Jude’s eyes
were round as she watched him disappear into the bathroom. She
flopped back onto the pillow and laughed. Life was so strange. Here
she was, a grandmother of all things, having mad sex with the
hottest man she knew. In her wildest dreams, she never would have
imagined herself here, doing...this.

She hopped up from the bed
and followed Logan, eyes dancing.

“Logan!” she called. “Could
round two include ice cream?”

***