by Claire Adams
“Thank you for coming. I was going to call, but I thought this might be easier to explain in person.” Right, then he could use that killer smile – and body, to convince me I really want to be alone with him in his penthouse. It was already working and I was ashamed of myself for falling for it. “I got home, and my brother and sister in law were here. They were in the city and she hurt her ankle.” He made a face and said, “I thought we’d all just have dinner here together. I really hope you don’t mind?”
And just that easily, any residual anger I’d felt toward him a few seconds ago was gone. My emotions didn’t normally come and go that quickly, but something about Logan had them all over the place…or maybe I should say everything about Logan. “Oh no, I don’t mind. If I’m intruding on a family dinner…”
He took me by the hand and gently pulled me inside. “You are not the intruder here,” he said with a wink. “You were invited, but when family shows up, what are you going to do?”
I smiled as he closed the door behind us. “It’s fine, really.”
He put his hand on the small of my back and led me across the highly-polished marble floor and into a huge sitting room with thick white carpeting and a fireplace that covered one entire wall. The furniture was all black and instead of starkly modern as I might have expected, it looked plush and inviting. White throw pillows contrasted nicely with the white carpeting and the white and black marble tables on each end of it.
“Carolyn, Frank, this is Chloe.” Frank looked like an older version of Logan. He was casually dressed in jeans and a FDNY t-shirt. He got up to shake my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Chloe. I hope we didn’t ruin your plans for the evening.”
“Not at all, and it’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Hi, Chloe,” his wife said. She was a petite brunette, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say she wasn’t even out of her teens. “We were having a much needed night out in the city without kids and I twisted my ankle. We were just down the street, so my husband insisted we come here. I told him that his brother probably had other plans.”
“Oh no, really, it’s okay,” I said. “Is your ankle okay?” I noticed then that she had it up on the table. There was a pillow underneath it and an ice pack was draped across it.
“It’ll be fine. Frank checked it out, and it’s not broken. I’m actually embarrassed. I’m so out of practice at dressing up and wearing heels that six inches wasn’t a smart idea.”
I smiled and said honestly, “Trust me, I know the feeling.” I looked at Logan to see that he looked like he was trying to keep a straight face. He was probably thinking of having to catch me the night of the Halloween party.
“Chloe, please have a seat. Do you want something to drink?”
“Just water is fine,” I told him.
“Are you sure? My housekeeper makes a mean martini.” I didn’t want to admit to him that I’d never had a martini. I wasn’t even sure what was in it.
“Maybe after dinner. I’d rather not drink on an empty stomach,” I told him, hoping that didn’t sound too much like the country bumpkin I felt like when I was around him.
“That makes sense,” he said with another wink. Every time he did that, my stomach fluttered like crazy. It was like giant birds were in there trying to take flight. God help me if these people leave because for the first time since I was infatuated with my college Lit professor, my panties were soaked simply by being near a man, and any resolve that I wasn’t going to sleep with Logan had dissolved the second he opened the door.
“Well, I hope my brother is treating you right.” Frank looked at Logan and they shared one of those looks between siblings that only they understand.
“He’s treating me well,” I said.
“Sir,” a middle-aged lady in a black dress that looked vintage, but very stylish, and a severe bun on her head, had stepped into the room.
“Yes, Sarah?”
“Dinner is served.”
“Thank you.” Logan stood up and held his hand out to me. I took it and thought about earlier in the day how he’d held my hand on the way to Ground Zero, and the hug. I’d loved them both. His hand was big and warm, and I could feel the strength in it. His arms had been so warm; they had made me feel so safe – and so many other things that I didn’t think it was appropriate to feel.
I wondered if he knew what kind of effect he had on me. I gave him a sideways glance while we waited for his brother and his wife, and he was looking at me with those sexy blue eyes. My face felt hot again, and I saw his lips twitch. I was pretty sure that he knew. The question in the forefront of my mind was why would he waste his efforts on a farm girl from Minnesota?
CHAPTER TEN
LOGAN
When Frank and Carolyn showed up on my doorstep, I’d been furious. All I could think was that they were going to blow my date with Chloe.
Once I saw the swelling and bruising on my sister-in-law’s ankle, my conscience kicked in. I was about to call Chloe and cancel when my devious mind started devising an alternate plan. This would play right into where I wanted Chloe – in my penthouse.
It was a place I’d never taken a woman. My house was my haven away from everything, except my family. They obviously had an open invitation, even if sometimes their timing sucked. But if we got married, she’d be living there anyways.
That idea still seemed foreign to me. After Lisa, hot sex and short relationships filled any need I had for companionship. But this time, it wouldn’t be for love, or even sex — it was business. Although, looking at Chloe tended to make me forget this was strictly business.
I looked at her across the table now as Sarah and the cook’s helper Michael served the soup. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about her touched me in different places than other women.
Lisa was the only woman in my life who knew about my brother dying in 9/11, and that was only because she was there when it happened. I’d barely known Chloe a week, and I had already cried on her shoulder.
Maybe it was that fresh-faced, small-town girl aura that surrounded her. Or maybe it was because despite that innocence, there was something sensuous about her, and the contrast was what turned me on. I was wondering what she would look like in my bed when I heard my brother ask her,
“So, Chloe, how do you like New York so far?”
Her whole face lit up when she smiled. Everything about her was genuine. That might have been another reason I felt such a powerful attraction to her. I was so used to wealthy women throwing themselves at me. They had fake boobs, hair extensions, and veneers on their teeth. They were beautiful, but touching them felt almost like playing with a Barbie doll after a while.
While Chloe talked, not only with her words, but her expressive face and those deep, brown eyes, I wondered what it would feel like to wrap my hands up in all that silky, soft-looking hair spilling down around her shoulders.
“Earth to little brother.” I realized my brother had said something to me, and I’d missed it because I was so entranced by Chloe. Jesus, I was going to have to be careful I didn’t get too attached and forget the sole purpose of marrying her was to gain my citizenship quickly.
“Sorry, Frank. I was thinking about a meeting I had today. What did you say?”
“I said you should bring Chloe to the birthday party next weekend.”
“Whose birthday?”
Caroline gasped, and I looked in her direction. She smiled and winked at me as she said, “Your first-born niece is going to be heartbroken that her favorite uncle forgot her birthday, and Whitney will never let you forget it.”
“Of course, I didn’t forget Kimber’s birthday. I’m sorry, I was still slightly distracted. Chloe helped me think of a great gift to buy her. We’re taking her to a roller derby game next Friday night.”
Caroline smiled, and I got one of those looks your family gives you when they want you to know they approve of who it is you’re dating. “Wow, you’ll have to tell us how you convinced Logan t
o agree to a sporting event.”
“You don’t like sports?” Chloe asked.
“It’s not that,” I said, wondering if my brother and sister-in-law should be going. “I guess it’s just sitting outside, and the food is terrible.”
Chloe looked like she was trying not to laugh at me. “You don’t like hot dogs and salted pretzels?”
“I prefer steak and king crab legs,” I told her with a wink.
“I like steak,” she said, proving her point by taking another bite. “But the hot dog and huge soda and pretzels with cheese dip, they’re all part of the experience. Can I assume you’ve never been to a baseball game?”
“Since I’ve been grown?”
Frank laughed then, a deep, hearty laugh that I usually loved. I shot him a warning look, but my older brother wasn’t one to be warned. “When he was a kid, right. By the time my little brother was in middle school, he was already running his own little home business. He hated anything that got his hands dirty, and electronics were his life.”
Laughing, Chloe asked me, “So, you were a nerd?”
“I was preparing to become a business mogul,” I said, laughing at myself, too.
“I shouldn’t laugh at you, then,” she said with a wink that sent a wave of desire through me. “When I was in middle school, I was playing softball and riding dirt bikes and running amok on the farm. I could be a lot further in life now if only I’d started sooner.”
“Anyways…” I said with a laugh,
“Well, Chloe, what do you think about the party?” Caroline asked. “My sister and brother-in-law go way over the top, but it’s usually a lot of fun.”
“Um…sure, that sounds like fun.”
She couldn’t have really done anything but accept since she’d been put on the spot, but that was okay; without knowing it, my brother and his wife were moving things along nicely. By the time we finished dinner, they’d even invited her to the Winter Festival of Lights that my family went to together every November in Niagara Falls.
I was afraid maybe they were over-doing it. I didn’t want them scaring her away. It was easy to see that they liked her, even before my sister in law hugged me on the way out the door that night and whispered,
“I think this one is a keeper.”
I rolled my eyes, but little did she know.
After Frank and Caroline were out the door, Chloe and I took our coffee in the living room. She was sitting on the couch, and I was in the chair across the coffee table from her. Too far, but I was still trying not to scare her. “Dinner was great and it was really nice talking to your brother and his wife. They’re really cute together,” she said.
I smiled and nodded. “They are. I tell them they’re sickening because it’s my job as a younger brother to give him a hard time. But, I’ll admit to you that they’re cute if you promise not to tell them I said it.”
“I promise,” she said. “Have they been together long?”
I nodded again. “They met in high school and started dating the summer before their senior year. They’ve been together since.” I loved my brother and I was happy for him and Caroline, but I was also a little bit envious of what they had. “I hope they didn’t over-do it with the invitations.”
She laughed. “No, not at all. They’re very nice. But, I just didn’t want to say no about the party and Niagara Falls and be rude. I’ll beg off before.”
“You will not. You’ve already accepted. Now, you have to go.”
“Okay then. I guess if it’s a direct order from the boss, I must.”
“It’s not an order, but it is a heartfelt request.”
“Then, of course I’ll be at them both.”
“And, the roller derby game.”
“That one I can’t wait for, if for no other reason than to see you there.” I saw her look over at the clock on the mantle. “It’s getting late, and I should really go. I have a lot to do tomorrow with the Abbott account and all.”
I wasn’t ready for her to go, but hadn’t found a way yet to bring this around to what I did want without scaring her. She was just so sweet and so damned adorable. She sat her cup down and stood up, so I stood, too. “I’ll have my driver bring the car around. I’m glad you agreed to have dinner with me tonight. I enjoyed this a lot.”
She came around the coffee table and instead of stepping back so she could pass by me, I stayed where I was, putting us face to face…or face to chest since she was about a foot shorter than me.
There was a loose strand of hair hanging down along the side of her face and without even thinking about it, I took it between my fingers. It was as soft and silky as I had imagined it. I started to tuck it back behind her ear, and she tipped her head back to look up at me, and then she surprised the hell out of me by stepping in closer and letting me put my arms around her.
For a few seconds, the world stopped. As I looked into her eyes, I knew that she wanted me as badly as I wanted her. I leaned down, and she reached up to thread her fingers through my hair. I clasped my hands at the small of her back and pulled her body into me. God, she felt good. I leaned down even more and our lips met.
She let her lips fall open, and as I stroked my tongue against hers, I let my hands slide slowly up her spine. The feel of her body was incredible, but for the first time in my life, I realized just how sexy kissing could be, in and of itself. I felt like I could be content for hours just losing myself in the contours of her lips, the taste and texture of them and her tongue. She was so sweet.
She moaned into my mouth, and I sucked and nipped at her lips. She was completely responsive, sucking and licking and nibbling at mine, as well. My hands were getting bolder, and the more I felt her warmth as it radiated from beneath the dress she was wearing, the more I ached to feel what was underneath.
She pulled her lips back just enough so that she could form words, but I missed them as soon as she did. In a raspy voice, she said, “I want you, Logan.”
It shocked me, but the desire it sent coursing through me also nearly brought me to my knees. I let my hands move around to the front of her body and placed them gently over her breasts. She sucked in a hard breath, and I felt her hard and erect nipples against my palms. My mouth watered at the thought of licking and sucking them, tasting her.
“I want you, too,” I told her. My cock was already rock hard and pressing into the front of my pants trying hard to escape. I slid a leg in between her legs and heard her gasp as I let it slide across her wet panties. I kissed her again and rocked myself into her a few times before reaching down and cupping that sweet ass in both hands and lifting her off the floor.
I carried her down the hallway to my bedroom. She sucked and nipped at my neck as I did, making me almost afraid that I might come in my pants before I got them off. When we made it to my room and my bed, I sat down on the edge of it and held her in my lap.
Once again, she surprised me as her hands went to the buttons of my shirt and began undressing me. This girl was an enigma, and I fucking loved it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHLOE
As I fumbled with the buttons on Logan’s shirt, I had to ask myself what I was doing.
This was my boss. This man was one of the richest, most powerful men in New York, and here I sat on his lap unbuttoning his shirt like some kind of wanton tramp. I had it halfway open when it suddenly dawned on me that I’d been worried he was looking to bed me and here I was, the aggressor.
What must he be thinking of me? Will I even have a job tomorrow?
My fingers froze and I looked up at his face. His blue eyes were filled with desire and I could feel one of his hands sliding up my bare thigh. If I was going to stop this, I had to do it now.
“Logan?”
He had to clear his throat before choking out a, “Yes?”
“Is this wrong? I mean, because I work for you, is this bad?”
He smiled indulgently and shook his head. “It’s only wrong if you feel pressured, Chloe. Do you feel pressur
ed?”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “I feel like I’m pressuring you.”
He laughed, too, and pulled me into a hug with his warm, muscular arm. I felt his lips brush against the side of my face and then he slid them up to my ear and said, “Trust me, the only pressure here is in my pants.”
That was when he finished sliding his hand all the way up underneath my dress and suddenly, his fingers were brushing against the outside of my wet panties. Any hesitancy I might have felt vanished just like that.
I finished opening his shirt, and he rolled us over so that my back was against the bed and he was on top of me. I reached for his belt, but he stopped me. “My turn,” he told me with a sexy smile.
He took hold of the bottom of my dress and pulled it up slowly. I lifted my arms and shivered as his fingers brushed against my exposed flesh. I wasn’t an experienced lover, but it was obvious that he was. I’d never wanted anything as badly as I wanted him right at that moment.
He tossed my dress aside and with something in his eyes that looked like awe and sent jolts through my body, he used the back of his fingers to trace along my collarbones and the swell of my breasts. He pushed my bra straps off my shoulders and down my arms until my heavy breasts rose up and over the lace and revealed my nipples.
He groaned, and I felt another rush of wetness between my legs. Then, he leaned down to run his warm, wet tongue across the sensitive skin above my nipples. I arched my back up off the bed and let out a groan of my own.
He took the hint and let his tongue find one of my hard peaks. He slowly licked around the outside of it and then brought the other hand up and let his thumb and forefinger find the other one. He pinched it between his finger, and I arched up more. That was when he finally sucked the other one into his mouth.
Fireworks exploded in my brain thanks to sensations I’d never experienced before as he used his mouth to drive me to the brink of an orgasm without even touching my bare pussy.