“Thanks?” he said. The desire to hide himself never entered his mind. He stood in the center of the room, hands hanging at his sides, waiting for her to approach. “Is that what I’m supposed to say?”
Shaking her head, as if in disbelief, Veronica crossed the distance between them and put the foil wrapper in his hand. “Tell me again why some woman hasn’t scooped you up?”
“I’m not the marrying kind.”
“It’s a pity.”
As he put on the condom, Veronica’s hands skimmed the flexing contours of his body. Her fingers lightly trailed over each of the muscles in his abs, then glided to his pecs. His skin flared beneath her hands. Her touch was charged with something hot and intense, stirring a primal hunger inside him that tightened the skin over his bones.
“You’re overdressed for this occasion, Miss Vale.” Logan grabbed the bottom of her dress and lifted, peeling it from her body. He tossed it and stared at the beauty standing before him: a black lace bra cupped two full breasts. A flat stomach with a cute little pooch below her belly button drew his attention next. She was bare below the waist. Smooth and downright edible, but he already knew that. Unable to stop himself, he ran his hands over her stomach and up to her breasts. He cupped them in his hands. Brushed his thumbs over the lace hiding her nipples.
She shuddered, and then blinked up at him with those innocent brown eyes that made his entire body go rock-hard.
Out of nowhere, she pinched his nipple, slapped him in the ass, and laughed.
“Funny girl, huh?” Holding on to her shoulders, Logan looped his foot behind her ankle and knocked her off-kilter. He palmed the small of her back as she fell back, then guided her softly to the floor. She was still smiling beneath him, her cheeks flushed pink. “Let’s see if I can make that smile last all night.”
All night. This was it, Logan reminded himself. One night.
Feeling his smile begin to pull into a frown, Logan situated himself between her legs and kissed her to silence his thoughts. Veronica fisted his hair in her hands and cemented his mouth to hers, making the rest of the world disappear. He pressed his hips forward, then stopped. Let the thick tip of his erection pulse at her center and slide through her wetness. He pulled back. Eased forward. Swayed away, and pushed inside, a little at a time. With each gentle thrust, air rushed out of Veronica’s lungs on throaty sighs. She stomped her feet into the hardwood and rose up in time with his longest thrust, sheathing him inside her.
They moaned in unison as their hips met. Their gazes locked. Lust and insatiable need speared through him. His bones rattled. His spine straightened with a crack. His cock swelled so tight, he cried out.
He drove into Veronica again and again, sliding her back and forth along the floor. She moved in time with his thrusts, her body a perfect fit, a warm, sensual mold that seemed to be made for him. He couldn’t catch his breath. Couldn’t see straight. Her supple lips blinded him. Her creamy skin drugged him. Her thighs wrapped around him, cradling him in an exotic embrace. He couldn’t hear anything but Veronica’s ragged breathing and the drumming of his heart.
“Logan, holy heaven, you’re going to drive me…” She screamed as her core convulsed over his shaft, squeezing and releasing in erotic little pulses.
His release was there…right there. Painfully close. His balls seized. Air froze in his lungs.
The urge to claim Veronica as his Luminary and life mate decked him across the face. The human part of him wanted to release the tension balling at the base of his spine, but the werewolf part wanted to bond with Veronica and seal their fates together for the next thousand years.
He stilled. Forced the werewolf part of him to cool it.
“What’s the matter?” Veronica’s body rocked in an undulating rhythm beneath him. “Logan?”
He’d never felt the blistering sensation before—the uncontrollable urge to bond with someone—but he knew that was the feeling he’d just experienced. He felt leveled. Flattened. As though everything he had was about to be given to the woman beneath him.
A human woman.
He unsheathed himself from her center and rolled onto the hardwood so that they were lying side by side. He was wet. Covered in his sweat and her scent. The taste of her was still on his tongue. And he had a serious case of blue balls.
Veronica rolled over and propped herself on her elbow. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
You. He put his arms behind his head, craned his neck around, and looked at her. Really looked at her. She was gorgeous, there was no doubting it. And from what he’d gathered from following her around the last couple weeks, she was smart, too. But was his wolf form nuts? Bonding for life? With a human? This so wasn’t in the cards for him. This wasn’t happening.
He didn’t want anything long-term, and the werewolf act of bonding was about as long-term as you could get. Not only did the act bond a wolf to his mate, it lengthened both their lives to about a thousand years. A thousand years with one person? Nothing against Veronica, but he hadn’t planned on spending that amount of time with anyone.
He wished the feeling had struck him when they first touched, rather than now, when they were naked and lying on her living room floor. It would’ve been easier to stay the hell away from her. Luminary bonds revealed themselves differently depending on the position of the werewolf in his or her pack. For Alphas and other top-ranking positions, the spark of bonding appeared at first touch. For others, it took more time or closeness with the fated mate for the awareness to set in.
Damn fine timing.
Logan couldn’t breathe. Stifled. Damn. He was going to have to chew off a limb to get out of this mess. How could he bolt without hurting her?
“Nothing,” Logan said, getting off the floor. “I just remembered…” Problem number five million and one: my fated mate loathes werewolves. Fucking peachy. “…I have an early start tomorrow.”
Chapter Five
“Where are you going?” Veronica asked, slipping her dress over her head. “If something’s wrong, we can—”
“There’s nothing wrong.” Logan cut her off and shoved his legs into his pants. He snatched his shirt off the couch, picked up his shoes, and hightailed it to the door. “I just have to go, okay?”
This couldn’t be happening. Did she do something to stop him cold? Scream too loudly and embarrass him? Her mind was numb, so she couldn’t quite remember, but did something slip out of her mouth when she was in the throes of passion?
He’d had one-night stands before, she reminded herself with chagrin. Maybe what she felt wasn’t chemistry between them, but the effects of being with an experienced lover.
Maybe she wasn’t what he wanted.
“Logan?” She didn’t want to sound weak, so she pushed out the words harshly. “Did I do something wrong?”
He spun around, catching her off guard, and cupped her face. His hands were warm, causing a blush to fan across her cheeks. “No. You did nothing wrong. It’s just that…”
A switch flipped. He’d been harsh. Cold, even. Now, the gleam in his gray eyes was yielding. Hollowed out.
“It was a one-night stand.” He brushed his thumbs over her cheek, and her heart gave a hard clench. “It had to end sometime.”
“But—”
“Veronica, we have to stop before we make this ten times more complicated. You have no idea what it’s like for me.” He dropped his hands and turned out the door. He swung it open wide and marched onto the sidewalk.
She followed him. How was this night changing so quickly?
“This wasn’t exactly how I saw the night ending,” she said.
“Sure it was.” He strode across her front lawn and then turned back. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?”
Her cheeks heated. “Of course I did.”
“Didn’t we say it was only one night?”
She nodded.
“There you have it.” He held her gaze, shook his head, then slapped his hands against his sides. “I can’t j
ump through these damn hoops anymore. You need to know.”
“Need to know what?”
Logan strode past his truck and into the street. “I don’t usually work this way. I should’ve told you from the start.”
He wasn’t making sense. And he was going the wrong way.
“You’re walking home?” Following him to the edge of the lawn. Veronica brushed her hands up and down her arms. The rain had stopped and a harsh chill had taken its place. “You’re gonna leave your truck here?”
Logan strode onto the sidewalk across the street and hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m not walking home…I’m already here.” He fished a ring of keys out of his pocket and gave them a good shake. “I’m renting here for a few weeks, at least until Jake and Leah’s wedding.”
Wait…
She stepped into the gutter, her head filling with questions. Even though the street was narrow, barely big enough for two cars to pass with ones parked on each side of the street, it had never seemed so wide. “You know Jake?”
“We were in the Marines together.” He unlocked the front door and pushed it open. “And I’m the best man in their wedding.”
No…way. Couldn’t be possible. Could it?
She hadn’t met the new neighbor across the street. She’d seen the moving van and the boxes. She’d seen cars come and go, and had heard an annoying dog bark every morning, but had yet to see the animal or its owner. “I would’ve seen your truck or something. Why haven’t I seen you?”
“I park around back and come and go through the alley.” A huge golden retriever bumbled out the door and jumped on Logan, its paws reaching all the way to his chest. Logan shook his hands down the dog’s coat and grinned. “I like to keep to myself. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
“Why didn’t you say something when we pulled up to my house? No, there’s more to it than that. You know Jake, you know he’s marrying my sister, so you had to know who I was when you saw me at the wedding.”
“Yeah, I did.”
Veronica threw up her hands. “You could’ve said something!”
“Yeah, I could’ve.” He patted the dog’s head and scratched under its neck. “But you were so busy cashing in on your offer for your free shoes that I couldn’t fit a word in.”
She sucked in a clipped breath and fought the urge to charge him, and then smack him on his gorgeous face. Instead, she marched into the middle of the street. “So you just plan to live there until after the wedding?”
“That’s the plan.”
“What then? For how long?”
He shrugged. “Who knows?”
Oh, God, Logan was going to live across the street. Within reach. Within get-tipsy-and-storm-across-the-street-to-bang-on-his-door-in-the-middle-of-the-lonely-night distance. He probably slept in the nude, sprawled across his bed. Well damn it, she wasn’t going to be able to sleep, now. Not with mental images of Logan, buck naked and tangled in sheets, flashing through her head.
Feeling the blood drain from her face, Veronica backed away, closer to her side of the street, to sanctuary. “And we’re finished. That’s it? Jerk.” She tried not to sound disappointed, but damn it, her tone gave her feelings away.
He stopped giving attention to the scruffy animal at his feet and looked up. His body was hard and stoic as he stood and crossed his arms over his chest, a stark contrast to the way he’d been a few minutes ago. “Knowing Jake, I shouldn’t have let it go as far as I did. You’re right. I’m a jerk.”
He paused, waiting for her to say something. But what more was there to say? It’s not like Veronica could beg him to come back inside…although she totally would if she could somehow manage to keep some shred of dignity.
“Fine.” She walked across her lawn, hoping against hope that Logan would slip behind her, scoop her into his arms, and apologize for leaving so quickly.
What was wrong with her? She had to be a glutton for punishment. What kind of girl would want a man to make love to her, when he clearly didn’t want to finish the act himself?
A desperate girl.
A girl she refused to be for one second longer.
She locked the door, marched into the kitchen, and snatched her cell phone off the counter. She wasn’t sure if her sister would be awake, and didn’t want to startle her by causing her phone to ring, so Veronica texted:
What do you know about Logan Black?
Logan was the best man in their wedding. If he was a werewolf and Leah didn’t tell her, she was going to kick her ass.
Veronica wandered around, looking for her Siamese cat, Cocoa. She opened the door leading to the garage and the cat bolted inside, then curled herself around Veronica’s legs. She bent down and gave her favorite cat a scratch.
Her phone buzzed in her hand. It was Leah:
Jake sleeping. I’ll call tomorrow. Logan was in Marines with Jake. Best friends. Loyal. Hot, yes?
“Pssh,” Veronica said, heading down the hall. Saying Logan was hot was the understatement of the century. He’d nearly scorched the clothes off her body. She texted back:
Did you know he moved in across the street?
Veronica slunk out of her dress and tossed it into the washer on the way to her bedroom. She pulled on a nightgown and got into bed, pulling the covers over her head. She was so confused about the night. She was weak in the best way, blissfully numb from the waist down. But she couldn’t wrap her head around what happened. Logan had tried to be cold. He’d tried to brush her off. But something felt off about it. As though he was separating himself from her, despite himself.
Leah texted back:
Didn’t know. I’ll ask Jake if he set him up with the digs, but at least now you have a great view. ;-)
Veronica rolled her eyes and buried herself farther beneath the covers. It made sense that Leah would think having a hot neighbor wasn’t a problem, because things always came so easily for her. She’d probably walk across the street with a plate of cookies, get to talking, and her neighbor would be proposing by the end of the night, offering her everything she’d ever dreamed.
Veronica sighed and texted back:
Not funny.
The worst part of all was that Logan had seen Veronica at her most vulnerable. He’d pulled away. He hadn’t shared the same level of vulnerability with her. And now she’d have to get his measurements for his tuxedo for the wedding. She’d have to see him at the rehearsal dinner, and at the wedding itself.
“Ugh,” Veronica moaned, curling into a ball. “I shouldn’t have done that…I really shouldn’t have done that.”
No wonder she’d always set her sights on having a relationship that led to something serious. She wasn’t cut out for this laid-back, one-night stand crap.
As Cocoa jumped onto her bed and curled up behind Veronica’s leg, she realized that this was as good as it was going to get. She would be the cat lady who died alone in bed. The one walking around Seattle with furballs stuck to her pants like lint sheets and cans of Fancy Feast tucked away in her purse. You know, in case of emergencies.
Her first—and last—one-night stand had been a complete disaster.
Well, she corrected, peeking out from the covers. At least she’d had an orgasm. Three, to be exact.
That had to count for something.
…
Logan hadn’t slept a wink last night, so he’d beaten the shit out of the punching bag hanging from the center of his garage instead. He’d blocked out everything—her taste, her smell, the curves of her body—and had taken out all his aggression on the bag. It’d helped. Until his knuckles started to bleed through the tape and his shoulders cramped.
When the alarm clock went off at 6 a.m., Logan hit the shower and cranked the water handle toward cold. He had to shake this Veronica haze. He couldn’t stop thinking about the softness of her skin when he dressed in a gray polo shirt and dark-washed jeans, or when he slipped boots on his feet. And every time he blinked, he saw Veronica’s body sprawled on
the floor, her dress hiked up to her waist.
He didn’t want to complete the intimate bonding process—the werewolf’s equivalent of marriage—with anyone, let alone a human. That kind of life wasn’t in the cards for him. He was a hit man, for Christ’s sake. If there was a stable woman in his life, what would he do when he came home from work? “Honey, I’m home! Work was great. I slammed Butch’s face against a Dumpster behind Cosmo’s and finished the hit once I dragged him into the bed of my truck. Don’t worry, I’ll scrub the bloodstains out later. What’s for dinner?” So not happening.
He hadn’t even realized he’d been eating until his spoon slipped from his hand and flopped into his Grape Nuts, splashing milk all over his shirt. Fang looked up from the floor and whimpered.
“Damn it.” Snatching a towel hanging from the stove, Logan tried to scrape the wet drops away. It smeared the wetness into a funky blob. “Son of a—”
A loud, single-blaring honk sounded from outside.
He pushed back the chair and hauled ass to the front window. A taxi had pulled up in front of Veronica’s house, directly behind his truck. He was used to hearing her garage door open signaling her exit, but with her car in the shop, she must’ve called a cab.
“Damn it.” No chance to finish breakfast or wipe the mess off his shirt. “Where’s she going now?”
Veronica bolted down her walkway and hopped into the taxi. Once the cab pulled away from the curb, Logan snatched his keys off their hook and barreled out the door. His truck started up with a roar, and he peeled out to follow the fading yellow blur.
He wasn’t going to be able to protect her this way. Because he couldn’t keep his hands off, as Jake had asked him to do, everything had changed. He was going to have to say something about what he’d been hired to do, and why. If Jake didn’t say something by the end of the day, Logan was letting the cat out of the bag.
And he hated cats.
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