He pulled back and pushed all the way inside and Lauren mewled in the back of her throat as his fullness inundated her, her wet heat easing his way. His hand tightened and his face was slashed with lines of arousal. “But while you’re away, while all those motherfuckers are sitting with you and fucking around with you and doing nothing but dreaming about fucking your little ass,” he paused, as if his own words enraged him, and took another stroke and slammed back in. “Don’t you forget that you belong to me. Every inch of you, Lauren. It’s mine. You understand me? I’m not going to share. I’m never going to share, and I’ll kill any cocksucker who tries to take what’s mine.” His hand left her hair and slid down and lifted her chin. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes.” It was all Lauren could say. She understood all right. She understood that she shouldn’t love the tone of his voice, but she did. She understood that she shouldn’t find his words and his actions hotly addicting, but she did. She knew she shouldn’t love his over-the-top machismo, but Jesus, she did. And just as long as he continued to protect her, take care of her and cherish her and want her as badly as he did, she was going to ignore what she should be feeling, and concentrate only on what she was feeling.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, ready to concede this to him so he’d put her out of her misery and start moving. “Yeah, I understand. I’m yours and you won’t share,” she repeated succinctly. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
His fingers pinched her chin and he kissed her hotly, firmly, just once. “Yeah, that’s it,” he growled.
She pressed her hands to the back of his neck to urge him closer. “I agree, so will you just shut up and fuck me now?”
The last thing she saw on his face was total satisfaction before his mouth came back to hers. He began pumping into her with long, even strokes that completely decimated her and sent her heat index soaring. He adjusted her legs and sank in even more deeply, going all the way inside and hitting the sweet spot that had her coming in seconds.
Lauren heard a ringing in her ears and a faint scream coming from somewhere in the room and barely recognized that she was the one making the noise.
Logan reared up on his knees and began hammering her with such inflamed strokes that she thought she’d died and blissfully floated off to heaven.
She heard his low groan, and then it turned into a heavy growl as he pushed against her womb, coming inside of her and completing her in a way that she knew only he would be able to.
****
Lauren was gone for four days and Logan somehow managed to play nice on the evening that she returned. She had no idea how he managed it, but she gave him big points.
He took her out to dinner and he made slow, hot love to her, three times, in his bed. He didn’t refer to her trip at all, not even once, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Since he managed to restrain his words, she couldn’t really hold it against him when he held her just a little bit tighter, breathed in her scent just a little bit deeper, and pushed her to achieve more orgasms in one love-making session than she’d ever thought possible.
Yes, he played very nice. But the next night, it came close to all hell breaking loose again. And Lauren really didn’t know how it didn’t. She had a happy hour and dinner meeting scheduled with new clients that she couldn’t get out of. There were several members of their team going, and unfortunately, Nico was one of them. The guy just never really seemed to get that Lauren was involved with someone else, even though both she and Heidi had reiterated that fact to him several times.
He was obnoxious the entire night. His attitude reflected poorly on their company, and Lauren was so pissed she could hardly see straight. They managed to perform well at work together, so why did these after-hours meetings seem to screw him up so badly?
She breathed a sigh of relief when the evening was over. They almost got the client to sign, and there was little doubt in her mind that by the end of the week, they would.
She said goodbye to the members of her team, and she drove the clients, a man and a woman, to the airport.
All seemed well and the only thing she had to deal with now was Logan. She wasn’t too worried though, because she’d pretty much figured out how to handle him. She usually just let him have his tirade and then she let him dominate her in bed, which he seemed to need, as it was the only thing that soothed him. And it didn’t hurt that she craved it, as well.
There was one thing she couldn’t do, and that was worry about her job. So, she didn’t. She didn’t worry about her job, and she didn’t worry about Logan. It was true that his dislike of her job was a huge conflict, but in her mind at least, she’d figured out a way to make the two most important things in her life coexist.
So everything was going fairly damn well until her car spluttered and died. She’d been at the secondary, smaller airport on the south end of town, and now she sat in her car and wondered what to do.
If she called Logan, he would use this as an excuse to rage at her for being out too late, putting herself in danger and all that.
Unfortunately she didn’t have Triple A. And her father, who had always taken care of stuff like this for her, was at home in Ohio. For a brief moment, she thought about calling Heidi or John. But there was just one problem with that. Logan would find out and that would piss him off as much or more than her being out in the first place.
She abruptly quit putting it off and called Logan and waited.
“Where you at?” he questioned without any preamble, instead of answering with a simple hello. Lauren heard the sound of his voice and as always, it sent pleasure all the way to her toes. Would she ever get used to his caveman-like grunts? He never spoke in complete sentences. Everything was so basic with him.
“I dropped the clients at the airport,” she tried to sound matter-of-fact but wasn’t sure she’d pulled it off.
He must have heard something in her voice. “And?”
She took a shuddering breath. “Please don’t go off half-cocked.”
Three long seconds passed before he answered neutrally, “Okay.”
“My car broke down,” she announced on a deflated sigh.
“Are you with the car now?” His voice was suddenly all terse, very business-like.
“Yes. On the shoulder of the road.”
“Okay, that’s good. Do me a favor, baby.” His voice gentled and wrapped around her like a caress. “Look around you. Where’s the closest place with a lot of people?”
Lauren held the phone to her ear and swiveled her neck. “There’s a McDonald’s across the street.”
“Can you cross the street safely?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Grab your purse, switch on your flashers, and get over there and then call me back. Do it now.”
****
Logan forced himself to breathe slowly and steadily as he went to meet her. He knew she was safe; there wasn’t any reason he should be panicking. He focused on that calming thought as he drove up to the McDonald’s some twenty minutes later. He walked into the fast-food restaurant, and found Lauren sitting in a booth, reading on her cell phone. She glanced up with a look he couldn’t read when he came to stand over her.
He attempted not to touch her, just to prove to himself that he could, but it was out of his control. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips.
He stood back to his full height and studied her. She looked a little shell-shocked. “I didn’t see your car.”
She frowned. “They towed it.”
“What? You couldn’t stop them?”
“No. They said it was in the way and someone might hit it and get hurt. I didn’t want to argue because they might have been right.”
He gave her a look and tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Lauren followed him to his truck. He started the engine and then leaned toward her and tilted her chin up. “Are you okay?” He ran his eyes over her but he couldn’t make out what was making her hold herself so stiffly.
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“Yeah, just waiting.” Her voice sounded resigned and he didn’t care for her loss of animation.
“Waiting for what, babe?” he asked, as gently as he could while he inhaled the fragrance of her skin and tried to absorb the calming knowledge that she was indisputably safe.
“Waiting for you to start yelling,” she responded softly.
Guilt pierced him. “What makes you think I’m going to yell?”
She watched him, studying his features. “You want to, don’t you?”
He tried like hell to lie to her, but he couldn’t. “What I want to do is strangle your boss.”
A tiny hint of a smile lifted her lips and she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. “Thank you.”
She was thanking him? “For what?” he asked, the pleasure of her touch fucking with his brain just like it always did.
“For not taking this out of my hide,” she said, cutting her eyes to his.
Logan felt the arrow in his groin, just where she’d aimed it. “Oh, darlin’, just wait ‘til I get you home.”
****
The rest of the week flew by for Lauren. Logan took care of everything that had to do with her vehicle. He arranged for a rental to be delivered to her, and he handled the dealership that was working on her car.
Lauren had to admit, it felt nice to have him take care of her that way. Sure, she could have handled it herself if she’d had to, but why not let him? He expected her to let him do it, and she was busy with other things, so she let him handle it.
The days passed in a blur of work and Logan, and by the beginning of the following week, she had her car back.
She also had another dinner meeting scheduled, and she was forced to break the news to Logan when he texted her and tried to confirm where they would meet that evening.
I’m going to be busy until late. Maybe tomorrow?
What gives?
Dinner with clients.
He didn’t text back right away and Lauren knew he was thinking about what he would type. His texts always came back swiftly, and this time it didn’t. She knew he was upset, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it.
When he finally sent a message, it was a simple question. Is ten tonight okay?
God, she wasn’t going to get any sleep at all and decided to tell him so. I kind of need some sleep.
I’ll let you sleep.
Would he let her sleep? Lauren had no idea. The guy could burn the candle at both ends when he wanted to. Still, she did want to see him and she loved sleeping next to him. You want to come to my house?
He replied in two seconds: Sure.
Okay. See you at ten.
Lauren set her phone down and wondered what she’d just opened herself up for. He was always volatile when she got home from meeting with clients. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that he’d go ballistic on her ass once again.
Her stomach muscles clenched just thinking about it.
She did need sleep, but God, she was a lucky girl.
****
Lauren was totally wiped out when she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment at nine-thirty. She hated never-ending work days like the one she’d just had. She was so tired and already dreading the next day so much that all she wanted was a bed and a pillow.
As she was getting out of her car, Logan pulled in after her. As she gathered her things and pushed open her door, he came around and held her it open. There was no mistaking the grimace on his face. “I was trying to beat you here.”
“Why?” she asked as she began walking up to her apartment.
“Obviously, I didn’t want you walking around in the parking lot by yourself at night.”
Lauren wasn’t surprised. She knew him pretty well by now and this was just another example of his method of operation.
As she unlocked her front door, he stood to the side. “Why don’t you gather some things and we’ll go back to my place.” The way he projected the words could have been a question, but somehow, Lauren knew it wasn’t.
But she truly didn’t care where they slept. She was completely neutral on the idea and decided to let him have this one if it would expedite getting some sleep. “Okay. I’ll just be a minute … or you can go on and I’ll meet you there.”
“You think I’m going to let you walk in the dark by yourself just so I can get home a few minutes earlier?”
Well, hell no, what had she been thinking? “Okay, I’ll only be a minute.”
As Lauren gathered her stuff, throwing everything in the cosmetics bag that she’d learned to keep handy, she heard him in the living room, surfing through television channels. It didn’t take long for her to gather her work clothes for the morning, and she came out of the bedroom ready to go.
“We’re going to leave your car here. I’ll drive you back in the morning.” He didn’t take his attention from the television as he made that statement, but nevertheless, Lauren got the idea his focus was solely on her; she felt the subtle tension that held him so stiffly.
She debated on how to handle him. It niggled at her that every time she gave him an inch, he tried to push for a mile. Did he think that she didn’t notice what he was doing? But at the same time, she didn’t care one way or the other, in fact, she’d probably rather ride with him. She was tired and didn’t feel like driving, and her apartment was centered between his house and her work, so she wouldn’t be losing time in the morning.
“Then why are we even going? We should sleep here, it’ll be so much easier.” She turned as if the decision was made, and dropped her floral bag that held her things just inside her bedroom door. Then she went and sat by him on the couch as if she were settling in for a while.
Lauren fully expected him to go commando on her ass, because slowly and surely, he was always pushing her to stay at his house. But he didn’t. He was sneaky about it, damn him. And maybe he was actually telling the truth?
His muscles tensed as he turned to face her. “I’ve got another couple of hours of work I need to finish tonight and I need to be at the house to do it.”
She leaned back farther in her seat. “Then why didn’t you tell me to meet you there in the first place?”
“I thought I’d be finished before now. And time slipped away and I forgot to text you again.”
Lauren studied him as his perfectly reasonable words sank in. He picked up a strand of her hair and proceeded to annihilate her heart even more when his voice gentled. “But if you’re too tired to come with me, just rest here and I’ll go get my laptop and stuff and be back in half an hour. I should have brought it all when I left the house.”
Just when she thought she had this guy pegged. “Logan … “
His hand slid from her hair and his thumb swirled around her jaw. “What, baby?”
“I’ll probably be asleep when you get back … you know, too tired to … “
Her words trailed off as his fingers caressed the line of her cheekbone. He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “That’s fine. I want you to sleep. But you’re okay if I come back and finish my project and then sleep here with you?” As she watched him, he added, “Just sleep, okay?”
She reached out with trembling fingers and laced her fingers with is. “You want to just sleep with me?”
A muscle clenched at his jaw. “Yeah, I don’t know why, I seem to sleep better when you’re in my arms.”
At his words, her heart began slamming against her breastbone as emotion suffused her. She took a deep breath, not able to form an answer even if she’d needed to.
Chapter Eight
That night had been another pivotal point in their relationship. At first what she’d thought had been a power play, was actually anything but. Logan wanted her near him. It was obvious, she could tell, and he’d more or less admitted as much when he told her that he slept better with her in his arms.
After that night, they slept together every night, if Lauren was in town.
His place was bigger and nicer and ha
d that awesome swimming pool in the backyard, and a lot of Lauren’s things began migrating to live at his house. Lauren knew it was happening, and as every single item of her stuff found a new home, she knew she was getting in deeper. But that didn’t scare her; she was comfortable in their relationship and decided to go with the flow and see where it would lead.
One rainy Saturday morning a couple of weeks later, Lauren was trying to prepare coffee in his kitchen and found herself grumbling under her breath when Logan walked into the room. He was freshly showered and looked immaculate and she felt like everything was out of control in her life. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her neck. “What’s the problem?”
“Nothing,” she denied sharply, absolutely not her best in the morning without her coffee.
He spun her around to face him and tipped her chin up with a finger. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
She’d put up with it for about as long as she could stand it. Lauren threw out a hand and indicated his kitchen. “It’s all wrong.”
His eyes narrowed as he glanced around. “Nothing’s wrong with my kitchen. It’s exactly like the rest of my house. It’s organized and everything has a place.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, trying to shake him loose, too impatient to try to explain something to him that he was too male to see.
He frowned and his hold tightened. “Don’t blow me off. Tell me what the hell is wrong with my kitchen.”
“Everything,” she gritted out.
A sense of urgency seemed to come over him and any patience he had remaining, splintered. “Tell me,” he grunted.
Lauren blew out a breath. “The coffee cups should be kept in the cabinet above the coffee-maker. All the coffee stuff should be kept there. The hot pad holder thingies should be kept in the drawer next to the stove where they’ll be needed, not across the room in the top cabinet, where nobody can reach them. The glasses and plates should be in the cabinet either to the left or to the right of the dishwasher, where they can be unloaded more quickly, without having to take a million steps.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “I can go on.” She raised her eyebrows. “You want me to keep on or do you get the picture?”
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