by Lori Ryan
“All right. Let’s get some sleep and see if we can track this guy down in the morning,” Chad said.
Logan would normally have plowed on, without sleep or thoughts of rest. He’d take a combat nap here or there and keep going, but he could see Sam had reached a breaking point. Maybe she hadn’t been kidding when she said she couldn’t sleep without him in the house. He’d been an ass since she’d dragged him in.
He said a quick goodnight to everyone and tugged Sam to her feet.
“Together?” Sam closed her eyes, flinching as she did so.
Logan laughed, putting his arm around her shoulders and walking up the stairs with her. He leaned down to her ear. “Yup, that was out loud, Sam.” He couldn’t stop laughing as she nodded her head, eyes still closed.
“I’ll fix it someday. There must be some way to train myself to keep my mouth shut.” No sooner had she said the words than a yawn took over and she covered her mouth.
Sam froze at the top of the stairs, eyes on the closed door to the master bedroom and what Logan knew lay inside: the bathroom where the attack happened.
“The guys moved my things into the guest bedroom. I’m staying in there for now.” She nodded to the room on the left and the small bathroom off of it. “I keep telling myself, the men are gone. The blood is gone. No one here can hurt me. It works. Sometimes. But, when I put my hand on the knob to go in there, I just can’t do it.”
He nodded and walked with her into the guest room.
Logan’s arms came around her and Sam’s body responded instantly, but she couldn’t will away the anxiety she felt. He would see her cuts, the stitches. He would see the ugly markings left on her that would never go away. The plastic surgeon said the scars would fade and be thinner and lighter over time, but that wouldn’t happen right away. For now, there was an ugly reminder of what had happened, right on her breasts.
“Hey,” Logan said, tipping her chin up to allow him to meet her eyes. “I will never, ever see any of you as ugly. You’re beautiful to me, inside and out, Sam. Nothing will ever change that.”
Sam felt a tear fall down her cheek despite her efforts to keep them at bay. She wanted so much to believe him but how could he not look at the cuts and think them anything but ugly and sickening?
“I’ll show you,” he said softly, and Sam might have wondered if she’d spoken the words aloud or he had simply guessed what she’d been thinking. But, he didn’t give her time to think again. He pressed his lips to her neck, just below her ear and she heard a soft moan fall from her mouth. The feel of his lips on her, of his tongue as he traced a path down to her collar bone, melted her concerns.
Sam let her head fall back as he nipped and licked and teased and caressed. Her body heated and she felt her breath come in pants. The tingling his kisses sent through her wasn’t like what she’d felt before with other men. He made her feel so much more. Want so much more.
She leaned her body into his, pressing her stomach and thighs against him, feeling the rock-hard erection that proved he had told her the truth. He did want her.
She heard his groan as she rocked her hips into him and he tore his mouth from her neck. He captured her mouth and delved into it with a hot and needy tongue as he pressed her back to the bed. How he managed to be both so gentle and so powerful at once, she would never know. He laid her down on the bed and stretched out next to her.
“Sam,” he said in a whisper. It was prayer and plea, want and need. It was asking permission and telling her he was going to please her in every way imaginable. All of it, in one drawn out syllable.
“Yes,” she hissed on an exhaled breath. It was a grant of permission, a plea to never stop. It was prayer and hope and her heart swelling to allow him in, completely.
Logan’s hands played over the shirt covering her breasts, gently tickling and teasing. Sam felt a moment of panic and her hands came to his wrists, grasping them tightly. Logan came up onto one arm and looked into her eyes.
“You never need to hide anything from me, Samantha. Never.”
And then he waited, not demanding, not seeking entry. Just waited. And she found it easy to let him in. She dropped her hands and watched as he undid the buttons on her shirt and slipped his hands inside, gently easing the cloth from her shoulders.
“So damn beautiful, Sam.” His words held a weight to them, a thickness she knew was honesty. He wasn’t telling her what he thought she needed to hear. Somehow, he saw something other than the wounds and the angry puckering of skin that hadn’t yet healed when he looked at her.
He kissed the skin around her breasts, careful to stay far away from her injuries.
She wanted more. Needed so much more from him.
Logan’s teasing continued as he worked his way down her body, kissing her everywhere. He set her ablaze and she whimpered, running her hands through his hair, gripping tight. She pulled him more tightly to her and panted with need when he removed her pants and panties. He wasted no time in finding his way to the center of that need. His mouth found her wet and ready for him and she pressed her hips higher. He answered the unspoken prayer in her head and cupped her clitoris with his mouth.
The wet heat enveloped her and she cried out, then covered her mouth with her hands. He didn’t pull his mouth from her when he chuckled and the vibration wrenched another moan from her body.
She let her hands find his shoulders and pulled him closer. “I need you inside me, Logan. Please.”
He took his time returning to her, his mouth continuing to torture her as he worked his way up her body. His fingers continued to tease her wet folds. He circled and slid inside and out again, circling over and over until she thought she would go mad.
And then those talented fingers pressed down on her clitoris in just the right way, with just the right pressure, and Sam’s orgasm exploded, washing over her. She clung to him as he kissed her and held her through it all. And, when the rolling waves subsided, he was there, watching her face with a look of awe.
“I want you,” she said bluntly and for once, she actually intended the thought to slip out. She needed him to know how much she wanted him. How much she needed to feel him fill her, for them to come together and melt to pieces in one another.
Logan stood and pulled his wallet from his back pocket to retrieve a condom and Sam realized, with a jolt, he still wore his clothes. She lay on the bed, completely stripped bare before him.
“Not fair,” she murmured.
“What’s that, angel? What’s not fair?” Logan began to undo the button and zipper of his pants.
“You’re wearing an overabundance of clothing,” Sam said with a grin and he shucked pants and socks.
“Better?”
“The best,” Sam said with a languid sigh as she reached out and ran a hand over the muscles cut into his stomach.
She let her hand fall down his body, tracing the scars on his hip. She licked her lips as her hand wrapped around the soft steel shaft jutting out toward her. Logan hissed through clenched teeth and she pulled back.
“You don’t have to stop,” he said, but she almost laughed at how tightly he clenched his teeth while he spoke.
She bit her lip and looked up into his eyes as she reached her hand back out. She wanted him inside of her so badly, her hands trembled with the thought of it.
“Yes, ma’am,” Logan said and rolled the condom over his length. She must have voiced one of her thoughts aloud, she realized, as he lowered himself over her.
Sam wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer. His gaze met and held hers as she felt the tip of his erection begin to glide up and down her wet slit. He slid inside her, only allowing the first few inches to enter and she moaned, pressing her hips up. She wanted more. She wanted all of him.
“Slowly,” he said, pulling out before easing back in again. “Samantha,” he said on a pained groan, “you feel so incredible. So damn amazing.”
“More,” was all she could whimper in response.
He obliged, pressing his full length into her in a long, languid motion that seemed to curl her toes and set her on fire. She moved her hips in small circles as he set a pace entirely too slow and tortuous for her. Where on earth did he get the kind of control he seemed to have?
“Faster, Logan. Please.”
“Can’t,” he ground out between jaws clenched tight with fierce concentration.
“Yes, you can,” she whispered as her tongue teased the lobe of his ear. She followed that with a small nip and he went wild, just as she’d hoped.
He bit out a curse, wrapping one arm around her waist as he slammed into her, setting a pace that made Sam see stars. Her body clenched around him and another orgasm built, more slowly this time, but with no less intensity.
As he let out a guttural cry and came inside her, Samantha felt her own orgasm wash over her, snapping all control. She bit down on his shoulder, sinking her teeth much harder than she’d intended into the taut muscle, but that only seemed to make him wilder. When the last of the searing pleasure drained, Logan was there, holding her.
He turned them so they lay on the bed together, his hands still running over her sensitized skin.
“Incredible, Sam,” he whispered, his eyes still on her. “You’re incredible.”
Sam closed her eyes and let his words wash over her. She had never felt so treasured with any other man. The care he took with her, the way he made sure she orgasmed before he did, all of it made her feel special.
Logan might think his time in the military had damaged him in some way, but she knew otherwise. She knew he was stronger than he could see right now.
He’d realize it eventually, but until then, she’d hold him up just like he held her up. She’d help him to see how incredible he was, just as he helped her to see how beautiful she was. They made each other whole in that way.
His words continued in soft, sweet whispers as she drifted off to sleep, and slept dreamlessly for the first time since the attack. A small part of her felt the way his arms held her tightly the entire night. The way he kissed her temple when she stirred and whispered in her ear until she fell back to sleep. The way he didn’t leave her side until she woke with the first rays of the rising sun, and he made love to her again.
Chapter 23
Ernie’s car was the only one that turned right at the end of the road that led out of Sam’s town house complex. Logan and Sam were in another car and Zach and Chad in a third. Both cars turned left to head toward One Church Plaza, where Sutton Capital’s office was located.
Billy stretched across the back seat of Logan’s car, head lolling off the edge of the seat as he napped.
“That’s seriously the calmest dog I’ve ever seen,” Sam said. “Do you think Ernie doped him up with something just to convince you he was a super cool, superhero dog? Maybe when whatever it is wears off, he’ll be bouncing off the walls and needing a ten-hour jog everyday just to maintain him.”
Logan laughed. “Jogging wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
Sam scowled at him. “Crazy man.”
She reached for the radio and turned it on, fiddling until she found a station she wanted.
“Really?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Yeah. What’s wrong with Garth?”
Logan grinned. “Not a damn thing, lady. Not a damn thing,” Logan said as Garth Brooks belted out the chorus of “The Thunder Rolls” as they pulled into the parking garage.
Logan realized as they parked and he checked their surroundings that he hadn’t been quite as on edge for the trip to work as he normally was in a car.
He’d been aware of everything going on around them, of course, but that seemed less an edgy response to grating nerves and more due to the actual threat against Sam than anything. Maybe it had helped that Chad and Zach had been in the car behind them.
When he was satisfied no one had followed them and no one lay in wait for them, he opened his door and rounded the car to get Sam. Chad and Zach joined them and they entered the building as a unit, Billy taking up his position at Logan’s side.
Logan almost laughed when he thought of the small bag of dog food and blanket he had stowed in the backpack on his shoulder. He’d packed a freaking lunch and bed for his damned dog. What the hell was happening to him?
When the group entered the twenty-sixth floor where the majority of the Sutton offices were, Chad and Zach turned one way to bring Jack up to date on things, while Logan and Sam headed in the other direction. They walked, side-by-side, back to where their offices lined the back wall.
Logan felt the looks of those he and Sam worked with and he was more than a little startled when the group, as a whole, broke out in applause. He didn’t know if it was for Sam coming back or what, but when people surrounded them and began to hug Sam and clap him on the back, with thanks for saving her, he wanted to crawl under one of the desks and hide.
He nodded his head a few times to people, but then felt Sam squeeze his hand. He didn’t know if she was feeling overwhelmed or if she was only worried he might be, but he tugged her back to her office and everyone fell away, going back to their work.
“They’re proud of you,” Sam said quietly as he closed the door behind them.
Logan didn’t say anything as he opened his pack and pulled Billy’s blanket out. He tossed it down in a corner of the room and then pulled Sam’s desk out away from the wall, taking care to move the two large computer monitors she had away from the edge first so they wouldn’t fall.
She watched but didn’t say anything as he centered the desk in the middle of the room and then went to his office next door, bringing back his chair. He gave her the majority of the desk, setting his chair and laptop opposite her and shut the door again.
Sam smiled at him and then slipped a finger into the gap between the buttons of his shirt on his chest. She tugged and he let her pull him close, where she wrapped her arms around his back and nuzzled into him.
He breathed a deep breath of her hair, loving the soothing scent of her shampoo. It wasn’t flowery. If anything, it was almost spicy and more what you might expect on a man, but it worked for her. It was just right somehow.
“Feeling a bit overprotective?” She crooned in his ear and he groaned as he kissed her mouth, slipping his tongue between her lips to taste her, feel the silken heat.
“Hell, yes,” he said and traveled to her neck where he found soft skin designed to drive a man out of his mind with need. “Sam,” he growled.
She moaned in return and slanted her head to the side, allowing further access to her neck and he let his lips trail lower, teasing her where her blouse dipped slightly between her breasts.
God, he wanted to tear her clothes off right here. He didn’t know if he’d ever get enough of her, but as the sound of their breathing cut through the silence of the room, sanity cut through his muddled brain.
They were in the office. He needed to get ahold of himself and exercise even a small measure of restraint if they were going to make this work.
He tore his mouth from her body and rebuttoned the button on her blouse he wasn’t even aware he’d undone, until that moment. He should probably keep buttoning them right to the top of her neck. Maybe if he couldn’t see the creamy expanse of her neck, she wouldn’t lure him in quite so much.
Oh hell, who was he kidding? This had nothing to do with what was showing or not. His imagination and memories did plenty where she was concerned.
He cleared his throat and took a very purposeful step away from her, setting her at arm’s length from him.
“I’m going to check in with Jack. You’re all right here?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. No one’s going to get to me here, Logan.”
He nodded and turned to the door, and then stopped with his hand on the knob and took a few deep breaths.
“Really, Logan, I’m fine.”
He laughed and tossed a look at her over his shoulder. “I’m, um, collecting myself.”
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br /> She looked at him quizzically, so he turned his crotch to her and gestured to where his arousal was evident.
Sam’s laughter was immediate, unrepentant, and utterly unabashed. And he loved it. Loved the joy in her face as he playfully scowled at her and tried to memorize the look on her face, to hold the memory to him forever.
Then, even as his mind vaguely registered Billy’s intent gaze on Sam and the whimper that came from the dog, Logan’s brain processed the red light pinpointing Sam’s temple. With a roar, Logan launched himself at Sam, taking her down to the floor. The sickening thud of her head hitting the wall behind her cut through the fog as he covered her body with his. Glass shattered behind them and the report of a sniper’s rifle sounded.
Logan heard chaos in the outer office as he pulled Sam against the outer wall of the office. The thick outer concrete wall beneath the window protected them. Pinned down, but protected.
He began to run his hands over Sam’s head, barely raising himself up on his elbows. Her eyes locked on his and relief flooded him to see he hadn’t knocked her out when he’d thrown her against the wall.
Thankfully, the glass of the windows was safety glass that cracked in harmless pieces, because they were both covered in bits of it. Only one shot came, but Logan remained where he was, providing cover for Sam as the door to his office swung open.
Logan had his gun in his hand, trained on the door, but quickly saw both Chad and Zach crouched on either side of the doorframe, guns in their hands as well. He could see the rest of the employees filing toward the elevators in a semi orderly exodus.
“Everyone okay?” Chad scanned the room and the space outside the now broken window.
“We’re good,” Logan said, the calmness in his voice belying the fury racing through his veins. They needed to track down this asshole and end this. No more standing by and letting the police take care of things for them. “It was an amateur; used a laser scope. Not to mention, shooting into this side of the building, at this time of day, almost guaranteed a faulty shot with the glare of the sun.”