“Come on, boy,” I said in his ear. “I got you. Let’s get out of this storm.”
Julia followed me as I trudged across the sand, her head bent against the wind and her soaked clothes plastered to her body. The trek wasn’t an easy one. My feet sank deep into the sand with every step, and Decaf felt heavier than ever with his water-soaked fur. But I wasn’t going to leave him out here alone, especially since I knew Julia wasn’t going to leave him alone either. Step by step, I moved forward until finally we reached Julia’s car. She opened the back door and I gingerly set Decaf down on the backseat. He wagged his tail at me appreciatively as Julia climbed in behind him, crooning soothing words in his ear.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to just climb into Julia’s car without an invitation, but she was too preoccupied with Decaf to realize that I was standing out in the middle of the rain. I wasn’t about to leave her alone out here, though, so I went back to my car and sat inside of it, waiting to see what she would do. I at least wanted to follow her back into town to make sure she made it okay on these slippery roads.
After a few more minutes, the rain seemed like it had let up just a little bit. It was still a steady downpour, but it wasn’t the same lashing, violent rage that it had been. Every now and then, I tried to peer over at Julia’s car to see how she and Decaf were doing, but in the dark and the rain it was too hard to really see anything. So I waited. And waited.
After about ten minutes, I was suddenly startled by a sharp rap on the passenger window. I jumped, and then looked over to see Julia motioning to ask whether she could come in. Hurriedly, I unlocked the doors and reached over to help her open the passenger door. She quickly climbed in, getting a ton of water all over the leather passenger seat. Oh well. Now it would match the water-stained driver’s seat, which was soaked from my sitting in it. I was going to be reimbursing the car company for a lot of damage, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I had found Julia and been able to help her.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
She nodded, her soaking ringlets dropping even more water as she bounced her head. “I’m fine. I just…it’s just…Decaf.”
“Is he alright?”
“For the moment. I wrapped him in his blanket and he’s sleeping. I think his hips have gotten so bad that he just can’t walk anymore at all. I was hoping to win the cake contest but now, I don’t know…”
As she trailed off she burst into tears. Her emerald green eyes were rimmed with red, and I had a feeling she’d been crying long before the storm even started.
“Hey,” I said, reaching over and gently grasping her chin in my fingers I turned her face toward me. She met my eyes, but looked conflicted, like she didn’t know whether to thank me or hate me. “I think you’re going to win that cake contest. Don’t worry about that.”
She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “But how? Did you pull out of the contest?”
I laughed. “No. I entered, but I made my own cake. And trust me: your cake sculpting skills are much better than mine.”
She looked confused. “But I thought—”
“That I was just trying to sabotage the contest and make you lose? I know. Megan told me. But that was never my intent. I was only trying to figure out a way to see you without going to your café and having the cops called on me. And I wanted to show you that I do care about the locals here on Driftwood Island. I thought that maybe participating in the Summer Fair would show you that.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’re at least going to let me visit your café again? It’s the only decent place on this island to get a coffee.”
“Oh, come on. Your resort has coffee.”
“And it’s god awful. Seriously. I’ve tried to get Zach to change the type of coffee we use or something but he says it’s good enough and that no one really cares about how their coffee tastes, anyway.”
“Is he insane?”
“A little bit. But enough about him. This is about me. Can I come back to your café now?”
Julia sighed. “Yes. Of course. In fact you can have free coffee whenever you want it, after what you did for Decaf tonight. How did you even know I was out here?”
“Megan told me. She was pretty mad at me until she saw the cake I baked. Trust me, it’s awful. There’s no mistaking the fact that I definitely didn’t pay anyone to do that for me.”
Julia looked down. “I guess I owe you an apology. I’ve treated you like crap since the moment I met you. I never even gave you a chance, but it seems I was wrong about you. You’re not just out for yourself.”
“No. I’m not. But I guess I don’t blame you for thinking that way. My resort doesn’t exactly have the best track record here with the locals. But I promise you, I’m going to try to change that. Do you think you could at least give me a chance to do that?”
I didn’t dare ask for more. Julia was talking to me, and admitting that I possibly wasn’t horrible enough to call the cops on just for existing. As much as I wanted to kiss her, and to rip off her soaking wet clothes and mine so that only skin remained between us, I wasn’t going to push things too quickly and ruin them. If I could just get her talking to me, that was a start. I could work with that.
But then, she did the unthinkable. She smiled at me, and instead of answering me with words, she leaned in and put her mouth on mine. I instantly thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
And that was it. That was all the invitation I needed. I was going to make her mine tonight, and I didn’t give a damn how badly we messed up these leather car seats.
“Come here, you,” I growled, and pulled her closer to me using a handful of her glorious, soaking wet curls. The lightning flashed around us and the thunder clapped, but I didn’t notice it anymore.
Now, and forevermore, there was only her.
Chapter Ten
* JULIA *
I shivered, but not because I was cold. I shivered because Logan’s lips on mine, and his hands on my body, were the most wonderful thing I’d ever felt. I couldn’t contain the rush of happy emotions that surged through me. It seemed strange that I’d hated Logan only an hour earlier.
But I hadn’t known who he truly was. I’d never given him a chance, and I felt somewhat ashamed of that. I had always tried to be an open minded person, but I realized now that I’d judged him from the moment he first walked into my café. He’d been trying from the beginning to tell me that he was so much more than his last name. I was finally listening.
I was vaguely aware that the storm outside still raged, but I didn’t care anymore. Decaf was safe, thanks to Logan, and I was safe as well, if a bit drenched. But I hardly noticed my wet clothes. There were too many other amazing things to notice.
Like Logan’s tongue, pushing past my lips and into my mouth, hungrily reaching for my tongue. The hint of stubble on his cheeks tickled at my face, and the palms of his hands cradled my cheeks. I was on fire in a way I never had been before. I wondered if this was the night I would finally know what it felt like to have a man inside of me.
I felt nervous. What would he say if he knew I’d never done this before? Would he think I was a child, unworthy of his attention? Would he pull back and move on to the next girl? I was pretty sure that a man like him could have pretty much any woman he wanted.
I was going to have to decide quickly how I was going to handle this. His hands were sliding down from my face now, and reaching to tug the hem of my tank top up and off my body.
“Wait!” I yelped. Great. I probably sounded like a frightened chipmunk. A half-drowned frightened chipmunk. I must look like such a mess right now, with my wet hair in complete disarray and my makeup completely washed off my face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice deep with concern. “If you’re not ready for this…I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. But I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you right now. And I have to say, an erection inside a drenched pair of jeans is horribly unco
mfortable.”
He chuckled and nodded down toward his crotch. I followed his gaze without thinking about what I was doing, and then I gasped. His jeans were tented up by a huge erection. I didn’t have much experience with this sort of thing, but I was pretty sure that most men were not that big. The sight of him, so excited for me and my body, made me both more nervous and more excited at the same time. I could feel the hot juices of my own desire oozing out from between my legs. My panties were soaked, and it wasn’t just from the rainwater. Still, despite how turned on I was, I felt afraid. I had been waiting for a chance like this for forever, and now that the chance was here I was panicking.
“Julia? Talk to me? I’m not going to force you to do something you don’t want to do. But I know you want me, too. I can see desire written all over your face.”
“I do want you. It’s just that…oh god. This is so embarrassing.”
“What is it? You can tell me anything.”
I took a deep breath and looked up at him, my cheeks flaming hot with a mixture of passion and nerves. “I’ve never done this before.”
For a moment, he looked confused. “You’ve never…”
“I’ve never had sex,” I said flatly. “I’m a virgin.” I couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. What was he going to think? That no man had ever wanted to touch me before?
He let out a long, deep breath, then reached to pull my chin up so that I was forced to look him in the eye. “How is it possible that a woman as gorgeous as you has been prancing around this island in a tiny bikini all her life, and somehow has never been with a man? I know damn well it wasn’t for lack of offers. The local guys here aren’t all blind. They must have been falling all over themselves for the chance to sleep with you.”
I shrugged. “They were. But I wanted my first time to be special.”
His eyes were on fire. I had never seen anyone looking at me so intensely. He stroked the side of my face with his thumb, and I could feel his heat rushing from his body into mine. “I’m not sure the backseat of a car in the middle of the storm of the century is special. But damn, I want you so badly. I want the privilege of showing you how amazing sex can be. I want to make you mine.”
“I think that no matter where we are, giving myself to you would be special.” I trembled as I spoke the words, but if he noticed he didn’t say anything. Instead, his eyes filled with such a tender look that I thought I might cry. I’d been waiting my whole life for someone to look at me like that—like I was the only other person who existed in the world. Like I wasn’t just a prize to be won, but a treasure to be cherished.
“Come on.” His voice sounded impossibly husky. Impossibly hungry. He climbed over the center console of the car and into the backseat with surprising dexterity, then turned to pull me along with him. The backseat of the car was surprisingly roomy. At least, it looked that way compared to the tiny backseat of my coupe. I didn’t have much experience with luxury cars, and I had no idea what kind of car this actually was, but I could tell it was expensive. The soft leather of the backseat felt more comfortable than my bed back in my tiny little beach cottage.
“We’re going to ruin your car’s seats!” I said, feeling suddenly self-conscious about how much water I was getting everywhere, and about what other bodily fluids might be smeared across the seats in the process of my losing my virginity to a billionaire in the back of a car that no doubt cost more than my house.
But Logan didn’t seem at all concerned. He was already reaching once again to pull my tank top off of me, and this time he was determined to finish the job.
“Don’t worry about the car. It’s not even mine, it’s a rental. Trust me: the rental car company will be happy to charge me an overpriced cleaning fee that’s twice what it costs to actually take care of any damage we do. And I’m happy to pay that fee, if it means I get to be with you now. Because I’m sure now that I’m never going to be happy with any other woman. You’re too intoxicating. You’ve ruined me for anyone else.”
“You haven’t even been with me yet. How can you say that?” I could feel my cheeks heating up, and I knew I was blushing.
“I’ve seen your smile. I’ve heard your laugh. I’ve tasted your lips. That’s enough for me to know that there’s no one else like you.”
His hands were moving to remove my bikini top now. He gently reached behind my back and undid the strings, then pulled it off, leaving my breasts bare in front of him. He gazed at them for a moment, shaking his head in wonder.
“My god. You’re perfect.”
He moved his hands so that one was covering each breast. His palms felt so warm and strong, and I could feel my breathing growing even more rapid. I found myself overcome with an urge to rip his clothes off. I had never been the bold, brazen type, who took what she wanted from a man. But I had also never wanted someone as badly as I wanted Logan. I felt different. Like I was more of a woman than I’d ever been before. I reached for his t-shirt and started to pull it off, which wasn’t easy since it was soaking wet and sticking to his skin. He chuckled as I struggled with it, then reached to help me.
When his chest was bare before me, I sucked in my breath at the sight. How was it possible for anyone to be so perfect? His broad ribcage tapered down to a perfect six-pack and just a hint of a v-shape in his muscles that teased me as it pointed toward what waited below his jeans. Everything felt surreal right now. Was I really about to let this male specimen of perfection make love to me? I had never been so glad that I’d held out and waited for the right moment for my first time. No one I’d ever met—local or tourist—had ever compared to the man before me.
“So, where were we?” He reached his hands back to my breasts, using his thumb and pointer finger to squeeze the hard nubs of my nipples. I trembled at his touch, closing my eyes to drink in the hot electricity that ran through my body. I could feel a delicious pressure building in my core, and I couldn’t help but moan. I had always worried that I would be so nervous the first time I slept with a man, but right now I was too blown away by what I was feeling to waste time being nervous.
Logan took his time, slowly moving his hands away from my nipples to make room for his mouth. When he took hold of my hard nubs with his teeth, I thought I was going to cum right then and there. His electric heat spread through my body, radiating out from every part of me that he was touching.
“My god. You’re perfection. I need more.” He let his hands slide down the sides of me, then reached for the button of my jean shorts. “Come now. Let’s get these soaking clothes off of you. We wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.”
He winked at me, and I moaned again. His deft fingers undid the button and zipper of my shorts, then he hooked his thumbs over both the shorts and my underwear and shimmied them down and off together.
“Not fair,” I gasped. “You should be naked too.”
He grinned. “I suppose you’re right. I wouldn’t want to catch a cold, either. I need my strength to pleasure you.”
I reached for the button of his jeans, but I felt like I was all thumbs. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to be anything even close to coordinated when my whole body was filled with so much ecstasy. Logan laughed and reached down to undo the button himself.
“Let me help you with that.” He stripped out of his jeans and underwear with surprising dexterity for someone who was squashed in the backseat of a car. Yes, it was a large backseat, but still. He took his clothes off with more speed than I had anticipated, and soon I found myself staring at his huge erection with nothing blocking my view.
“You’re huge!” I exclaimed before I could stop myself. I felt an immediate wave of embarrassment. I must sound so naïve and inexperienced. Still, I had never seen anything like the giant, stiff rod in front of me right now. I didn’t have a lot of experience with men’s anatomy, true. But I’d caught glimpses here and there of the local boys when they decided to go on one of their skinny dipping rampages. Logan was definitely a step above anything I’d ever glimpsed. A
huge step above.
“It’s all for you, baby,” he whispered. He’d somehow positioned himself kneeling on the floor of the car beside me, and he gently pushed me down so I was lying flat on my back against the luxurious leather.
“Just relax,” he said. He reached one hand up to brush loose, damp strands of hair away from my face, and with the other hand he reached down and cupped my sex.
The nerves I’d been dreading started to appear. What if he didn’t like what he felt? What if I should have gotten a full Brazilian wax instead of just having the salon clean up my bikini line? What if I was too wet? Was he going to think I was too easy to please, like some desperate little girl?
“Hey,” he said in a low, soothing voice. “I thought I told you to relax. Don’t worry. We’ll take things slow.”
I took a deep breath and nodded. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin this moment by getting too much into my own head. I closed my eyes and drank in every glorious sensation that was filling me. In the next instant, he slipped one of his fingers between my folds and deep inside of me. Even his finger felt huge inside of me, and I could tell that it wasn’t going to take long for him to push me over the edge into a full blown orgasm.
“Logan,” I whispered, loving the way his name sounded on my lips. In response, he pushed his finger deeper, searching until he found my g-spot. The moment he touched me there, I sucked in my breath and felt my whole core beginning to tense up. A pressure was building within me unlike anything I’d ever known.
“You like that?” he whispered. “Good, because, there’s more where that came from.”
He leaned forward, placing his lips on mine and letting his tongue once more slip past my lips. His chest pressed down against my breasts, and I felt his heat all over me. The wonderful tingling pressure became too much too bear. I felt connected to him at every angle—his body on my body, his tongue on my tongue, his finger inside the most secret part of me. With a sudden rush of fire, my release overtook me. My inner walls clenched around his finger, and I couldn’t help but arch my back as I tried to contain the waves of pleasure that were washing over me.
Craving Him: A Billionaire Beach Island Romance (Billionaires of Driftwood Island Book 1) Page 7