‘I’m not thinking of Catherine. Not at the moment. Should I be?’
‘No. I think it’s good. But I don’t understand why you were reluctant to approach Polly.’
They moved closer to the water’s edge and the sea rushed in, swirled around their ankles and then retreated with a gentle hiss.
She glanced back and suddenly realised how far they’d walked. ‘I can’t see the others.’
‘Does that matter?’
‘No. I just thought you might want to be getting back so that you can—’
‘Are you afraid of the dark?’ He gave her a lazy smile and took her hand in his. His fingers closed over hers, his grip strong and firm.
‘I’m not afraid of the dark.’
Without announcing his intention, he gave her a gentle pull and started walking away from the sea in the direction of the dunes.
What was he doing? ‘Logan—’
‘Don’t say anything.’ His voice sounded strained and suddenly her heart was beating so rapidly that she felt dizzy. This was ridiculous. She was walking hand in hand along a beach with a man she adored. And she didn’t have a clue what was going on. She just didn’t know what to say or do.
They crested the first dune and then slithered and slipped down into the dip. The sea breeze immediately faded away and they were enclosed, cocooned by the gentle swell of sand that created an intimate atmosphere.
‘Logan, I really think we should—’
His mouth came down on hers with a hunger that knocked the breath from her body.
For a moment Evanna just stood still, so shocked that she couldn’t move. She felt the firm pressure of his hand behind her neck, felt his other arm slide round her waist, dragging her hard against him. And then she felt the tip of his tongue demanding an entry and excitement devoured her like a ravenous beast.
Her lips parted against his and she melted into the heat of his kiss, her senses stirred and tumbled as she closed her eyes and sank against him. Shock and surprise melted into frantic excitement. She tried to speak. Tried to reason with him. But his kiss was fierce and greedy and he clearly had no interest in conversation.
With a swift, purposeful movement he undid the tie at the back of her neck and pushed the sundress down over her hips, leaving her in only her skimpy bikini. The air was warm and yet she was shivering uncontrollably and he dragged her closer still, murmuring something incoherent against her mouth.
‘Logan…’ She didn’t know what he was saying. She didn’t know what he was thinking. Or what he was doing.
‘If you want to stop me, do it now,’ he breathed, pulling away from her just long enough to allow him to remove his shirt. He dropped it onto the ground, gently pulled her off balance and lowered her onto the soft mattress of sand. ‘Are you going to stop me, Evanna?’
Evanna opened her mouth to suggest that they talk, but he kissed her again and all she was aware of was the hard, male press of his body against hers. Her head was spinning, her thoughts were jumbled and speech suddenly seemed impossible.
‘Evanna?’ His voice was low and deep and he trailed his mouth over her collarbone, down to her breast.
She felt his fingers pull aside the fabric of her bikini, felt the cool night air touch her exposed nipple and then gasped with shock and agonising pleasure as he took her in his mouth. The skilled flick of his tongue drove hot flashes of fire down her body and she writhed under him in an instinctive attempt to get closer to him. Her hips lifted in an unconsciously feminine gesture of desire and she felt the rigid length of him pressing against her. Hard and ready. He wanted her. Logan wanted her. And she couldn’t believe that it was actually happening because although she’d lived this precise moment so often in her dreams, she’d never once allowed herself to believe that it might become reality.
Then he turned his attention to the other breast and all thoughts of reality vanished as the excitement levels became almost unbearable.
She needed him to touch her. Properly. And he obviously knew that because she felt the smooth slide of his hand over her heated flesh and then the subtle movement of his fingers as he removed the final item of her clothing, leaving her naked and exposed.
His fingers cupped her and he paused for a moment, his breathing fractured as he struggled for control. His mouth hovered above hers, their breath mingling as he murmured her name, and then he lowered his head and kissed her again, his fingers moving gently and skilfully until he found that one secret place that was waiting to be discovered.
‘Logan, please…’ she sobbed against his mouth, and reached down to fumble with his zip, driven by an emotion far more powerful than common sense.
She forgot that they were on a public beach and that others might chose to walk the way that they had walked. For Evanna, the world began and ended with Logan. No one else existed.
‘Evanna—my beautiful, gorgeous, Evanna.’ His voice was a deep, husky caress and she was so dizzy with excitement that her only response was a shake of her head.
She wasn’t his Evanna. Neither was she beautiful or gorgeous, but she didn’t even care. All she cared about was now. What he was doing to her. And what she wanted to do to him.
Her fingers were on his zip again but he shifted away from her and slid down her trembling, excited body, tasting and touching, using his lips and tongue to expose all her secrets. And he wouldn’t let her hide. When she tried to pull him back up her body he gently resisted, pulling away from her seeking fingers, and she felt the rough scrape of male stubble as he moved his lips across her stomach. Then came the gentle nip of his teeth on the inside of her thigh, and finally the skilled flick of his tongue against the nub of her womanhood. And the heat of his mouth and the damp stroke of his tongue felt so maddeningly good that all thoughts of protest evaporated before they’d even formed in her head and she allowed him intimacies that she’d never allowed another man.