by Soraya Lane
“Crap,” he muttered, taking her hand firmly in his.
“It’s okay, it’s just one pap,” she said.
He didn’t care if it was one or twenty, he was still pissed at the intrusion. The photographer was escorted from the restaurant within minutes, but Logan knew it had been enough to rattle Candace. He had his own personal reasons to hate the media, and he wasn’t going to let them ruin Candace’s evening, not when she’d been so excited about an anonymous night out.
“Word will be out soon, so I’ll take you straight to the hotel,” he told her, before remembering what he’d promised Jimmy. “Before we go, I did promise our waiter an autograph in exchange for his discretion. If he was the one who tipped that guy off, I’ll kill him, but I think I made it clear enough already what the consequences would be, so I doubt it would have been him.”
Candace’s smile diffused his anger as easily as someone blowing out a candle.
“Logan, we’ve sat here alone without anyone bothering us for the best part of a couple of hours. I don’t care about one photographer finding us, but you’re right about word not taking long to spread.”
“So you’re not angry?” He was confused—and he was seriously pissed.
Candace plucked a pen from her purse and signed an unused white napkin on their table.
“This is for your friend,” she told him. “Do you want me to settle the bill and give it to him?”
Logan was reaching for the napkin when he froze. Had he just heard that right?
“You’re not paying the bill.”
“Of course I am,” she said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I asked you out for dinner, and I don’t care how PC the world is supposed to be, but you taking care of the bill is ridiculous.”
“Logan—” she started, but he cut her off.
“Do you really want to insult me?” he asked.
“I’m just used to...”
“Jerks, if they let you pay. I don’t care who you are. The only thing I care about is that you’re a woman and I’m a man, and that means I take care of our bill tonight.”
He watched as she shut her mouth and shrugged, clearly giving in. “Well, all right then. Thank you for a lovely meal, Mr. Neanderthal.”
Logan burst out laughing as they walked to the front of the restaurant. “I know I’m old-fashioned, but seriously. Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be treated like a lady.”
He paid and passed his friend the napkin as they said goodbye, before walking out the front door.
“And just because you’re a soldier doesn’t mean you have to...”
Her words faded as someone yelled her name, and Logan sprung straight into work mode, putting his arm around her shoulders and hurrying her forward. There were a couple of guys trying to get close with their cameras, but he ignored them and just focused on propelling Candace away.
“We’ll be fine once we get to the car,” he told her, his palm firm on her shoulder.
“They’ll follow us straight to my hotel.”
“You want to go somewhere no one can bother you?” he asked.
“Please.”
“Then I’ll give them the slip and we can head straight to my place. No one will ever find you there.”
Logan didn’t know why he said it, why he’d even thought to take her back to his house, but he had and now there was no going back. The last time he’d let a woman into his home had been...Logan swallowed and moved faster, listening to Candace’s heels as they beat a rhythm against the sidewalk. When he’d admitted to his friends that it had been a long time since he’d let a woman into his life, he hadn’t been exaggerating.
He’d enjoyed tonight because he hadn’t let himself dwell on the past, and if he wanted to survive having Candace at his place, then that’s what he’d have to keep doing. There was no point thinking about the woman who’d hurt him, or anything else about what had happened in the past few years.
For months, he’d been telling himself that it was time to move on with his life, to put his past behind him, but some things were easy to think and a whole lot harder to put into practice. Especially when the darkness of his memories crept into his brain just when he was least expecting them.
CHAPTER FOUR
CANDACE COULD FEEL her heart racing—it was like her pulse was thumping in her head it sounded so loud. Fleeing the paparazzi and heading for Logan’s place had seemed like the safe option when he’d suggested it, but now she was starting to panic. It was one thing to have dinner with the man in a public place, but going back to his house? Not something she’d ever usually do, especially with someone she’d just met, without anyone else knowing where she was.
They pulled up in front of a row of two-story houses. There wasn’t a garage, so Logan parked on the street, and she waited for him to come around to open her door. It gave her time to calm her breathing and think about how to handle the situation.
“We managed to lose all of them, and I doubt they’ll come looking for you in the suburbs.”
She stepped out of the vehicle and shut the door behind her, before following Logan to the front door of his house. Nerves made her stomach flutter, but she ignored them. It was time she started trusting her own instincts.
“I should probably call my manager, just to let him know where I am.” Candace didn’t like the fact that no one in the world knew where to find her if they needed her. Although come to think of it, she did have a tracking device on her phone, so her manager could locate her if he made an effort.
“Candace, you can do whatever you like, but if it were me? I’d be telling him you were safe and that you’d see him tomorrow. Unless you’re okay with that same shark frenzy we just escaped from turning up outside here with telescopic lenses.”
She grimaced. “You really don’t like him, do you?”
“If I’m completely honest with you, I have my suspicions that the hate mail and threats you’ve been receiving aren’t real. I don’t want to point fingers, but there’s only one person I can see who could be responsible, if my theory is correct.”
Candace was sick to her stomach hearing his words, but she also realized that Logan could be right. She’d never have thought it before, had never thought it, but she also wasn’t prepared to defend Billy without looking into it further. Without her mom to guide her, she knew she could have overlooked something, but if Logan’s hunch was correct...She swallowed but refused to push the thoughts away like she usually would. She had only herself to rely on now, and that meant investigating the situation thoroughly if she needed to.
“Say you’re right,” she said. “What do you think I should do about it?”
“Ask him outright. I bet you’ll figure it out the moment you catch him off guard and see the look on his face. Just trust your instincts, because they don’t often let you down when you listen to them.”
It was a serious accusation to make, but she would do exactly what Logan had suggested. What did she have to lose if she was wrong?
Logan flicked the lights on as he walked inside and she jumped back as his dog came bounding toward them.
“Hey, boy, settle down,” he instructed, bending to give his dog some attention. “You remember Candace?”
She stayed in place, back to the front door, not certain about the excited canine. He was sitting to attention, perfectly obedient, but she still wasn’t ready to trust him quite yet.
“Look, I just know Billy’s type, and I’m a pretty good judge of people,” Logan said, which made her flip her attention back to him and away from the dog. “I’ve spent enough time with dogs to know that they sense things in people, and I’ve started to understand the signs.”
“So you think I should get a dog and let him choose my crew?” she joked.
Logan smiled, but his expression was still serious. “No, I think you need to listen to your gut and trust your own instincts. If it’s not him, you’ll know.”
Well, that was
exactly what she’d done by coming here, trusting her gut, and she was already doubting herself.
“This is a nice place you’ve got,” she said, changing the subject.
Tomorrow she’d figure out how to deal with her manager. Tonight, she just wanted to forget all the stuff that had been troubling her for so long. If she was going to start trusting her instincts, then she was going to start with how she felt about Logan.
Candace looked around, liking the white hall and the open-plan living space she could see into. Logan motioned for his dog to move away, and they all walked through the house.
“Have you lived here for long?” she asked.
Logan crossed the room to the fridge and she sat at one of the high-backed chairs at the counter that split the living room from the kitchen.
“I purchased this place soon after my parents died, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep it.”
He held up a beer and a bottle of water, and she pointed to the water.
“Are you planning on going back to your ranch?”
Logan shrugged. “I want to spend a lot of time there, but I haven’t really decided what to do with myself. Once this job is finished, I should officially be discharged for retirement from the army, and so will Ranger.”
She smiled when he passed her the water and she opened it, taking a sip. “I’m guessing you get to keep him?”
“Yeah. That grey muzzle of his means he’s done his time. He’s worked as hard as any human soldier since he was a couple years old, but the stress and discipline eventually gets to them, just like it does us. I paid to get him home, and my parents actually started a foundation to make sure working military dogs receive the retirement they deserve.”
“I love feel-good stories like that. Working for charity means a lot to me.”
They were silent a while, Logan standing with his beer in hand, looking at his dog, and Candace looking around at his home. She knew that soldiers didn’t earn a heap of money, and his house was furnished beautifully in a masculine kind of way, which was making her realize that his family must have been relatively well off. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it made her curious about who he was and why he’d spent so many years in the army if he hadn’t had to, financially.
“Logan, why did you take me out for dinner tonight?” she asked, unable to keep the question to herself.
His dark eyes locked on hers, sending goose pimples across her skin, making every part of her body tense.
“There was something about you that reminded me of myself,” he said, his voice an octave lower than it had been before. “I liked you, and I guess I also wanted to show you that you could just spend a night out in Sydney like a regular woman. But it kind of backfired in the end, because we never even made it to a bar.”
Candace swallowed, not sure where her confidence was coming from but suddenly needing to know more, wanting to know what Logan thought of her. She knew it was needy, that she should have just shut up, but the way he was looking at her, the way she was reacting to him, was more than just platonic.
“So this wasn’t technically a date?” she asked, dropping her gaze and fiddling with the label on her water bottle.
“Do you want this to be a date?” he asked straight back.
Candace didn’t look up, not straightaway, but she heard Logan move, his boots echoing out against the timber floor until he was standing beside her. He reached for her bottle and pulled it away, sliding it across the counter just out of her reach. Then he took her hand, his palm closing over it, waiting for her to respond.
She forced herself to raise her chin, to meet his stare.
“Candace?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Do you want this?” he asked, bending slightly, his mouth stopping barely inches from hers.
Candace didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything, because as badly as she knew she should say no, she wanted it. Her body was humming like an electric current was running through it, all her senses firing to life, desperate to connect with Logan.
He paused for what felt like an eternity, before cupping her cheek and touching his lips so gently to hers that she almost didn’t feel it. His lips hovered, pressed lightly, before his entire mouth moved against hers. She matched his pace, loving the feel of his warm, soft lips, the touch of his palm against her skin.
Candace sighed as he pulled back, like he was giving her the chance to change her mind, and she reached for his shirt, pulling him back toward her. His mouth was firm to hers again, tongue softly teasing hers, desire making her stomach flip with excitement as Logan’s hands skimmed her waist before settling on her hips. His fingers were still then, the only part of his body moving was his lips, and Candace wanted more. She was hungry for him, craving the kind of contact she’d avoided for so long.
Candace ran her hands down Logan’s chest until she reached the hem of his T-shirt, slowly touching beneath it, connecting first with the waistband of his jeans and then with bare skin. She let her fingertips explore his rock-hard abs, the warmth of his skin and the hardness of his muscles, making her moan into his mouth.
She had half expected him to pull back, to tell her no, but there was nothing about Logan’s body language that was saying no. His hands matched hers, disappearing under her top and touching her bare skin, the slightly rough edge of his fingertips making the sensation even more erotic.
“Logan,” she moaned, knowing she should stop but giving it only a fleeting thought.
His mouth became more insistent, crushing her lips before he started kissing down her neck, to her collarbone, his tongue tracing across the tops of her breasts.
Candace fisted her hand in his short hair, fingernails scraping his scalp.
“You want me to stop?” he mumbled, lifting his head to look into her eyes.
She shook her head. “No.”
Logan didn’t need any further encouragement. His mouth met hers in a wet, erotic kiss, before he scooped her up into his arms as if she were weightless, carrying her through the kitchen, marching down the hall. Candace sighed against his mouth, her lips moving in a lazy movement in time with his, their kiss less intense now but still making her belly flutter with anticipation.
It had been so long since she’d kissed a man, since she’d been intimate, and instead of being scared of it like she’d thought she would be, she could feel only a burning sense of desire. That even though she’d never had a one-night stand in her life, been with a man she wasn’t in a committed relationship with, there wasn’t a bone in her body that didn’t want this right now. She was always the good girl, the one who stayed out of the media and never made a wrong step, but she was on the other side of the world with a man who’d shown more interest in keeping her away from the limelight than trying to be in it himself. So if she was going to do something reckless, then why not with Logan?
She’d tried marriage, tried settling down, and it had been disastrous. But this? This felt right in every way possible.
“Candace, we don’t have to do this,” he mumbled, walking with her in his arms until he could set her on the bed.
“I want this,” she whispered as he covered her body with his, her legs looping around his waist so he couldn’t get away, locking him in place.
“I’m not going to ask you again, but I will stop if you ask me to,” he told her, propping himself up on his elbows and looking down at her, his hazel-brown eyes like pools of the darkest chocolate in the half-light. “You just say the word, and I’ll stop, okay?”
Candace nodded, suddenly feeling vulnerable with this gorgeous, big man lying on top of her, yet being so careful with her at the same time. The last man she’d been with had never put her first, had hurt her with his mind and with his fists, which made her even more attracted to Logan. The fact that he was so strong yet so gentle told her that she’d been right to trust herself, at least in spending one night with him. In letting him be the first man to
get close to her since her divorce.
“Thank you, Logan,” she whispered.
His eyebrows shot up. “For what?”
“For just letting me be me tonight.”
He dropped a slow, careful kiss to her forehead. It shouldn’t have, but it felt more intimate than all the touches, all the kisses, they’d already shared.
“I haven’t been me in a long time, Candace, so this is a first for me, too.”
She had the feeling like they were two lost souls who’d found one another, two people who’d crossed paths for a reason, if only for one night. Logan had shared some of what he’d been through with her, and she’d hinted at her past, too—just enough so they both understood that they were the way they were for a reason.
Logan stared at her, his gaze unwavering, until she arched her body, stretching up to catch his mouth, to start the dance that they’d started in the kitchen. His gaze went from thoughtful to something that scared and excited her in equal parts, his mouth insistent, his hands even more so as he pushed up her top, sliding it up high so he could touch her stomach and then her breasts, his fingers teasing her nipples through the lace bra she was wearing.
Candace was just as desperate for him, wanting his bare skin against hers, needing to feel his naked body pressed to her own. She wanted Logan to make love to her, and she wanted it now.
*
Logan was trying hard to hold back, to let Candace set the pace and not push her, but after months serving overseas and hardly even seeing a woman, having Candace beneath him was sending him stir-crazy. She had a body like he’d never touched before—her waist was tiny, her limbs long and slender, and her breasts... He stifled a groan. They were full and luscious, and he wanted them free from the scrap of lace she had them covered with.
When she arched her body into him this time, her chest pressed to his, he took his chance to reach behind her and unhook her bra. He wanted to touch her, taste her, feel every part of her. And his impatience was starting to get the better of him. It wasn’t often he could block everything out—his past, the memories—but with Candace, right now he couldn’t think of anything else.