Cassidy shivered at the hunger her body picked up in his tone. She couldn’t fathom that he might actually want her as much as she wanted him, and yet every feminine instinct flooded her with the knowledge that he did. It seemed incredible. Impossible. And she daren’t move in case the fragile moment was ripped away from her and revealed as a figment of her imagination.
‘Cassidy?’
Her name was both a question and a command on his lips, and she didn’t move as he shifted closer. If she leaned back the barest inch they’d be touching, his front to her back, his hands on her body. His warm breath on her neck. Every cell in her body urged her to do it but she couldn’t. She couldn’t make that tiny move to show what she wanted because the fear of making a mistake overwhelmed her.
And then Logan’s hands settled gently on either side of her hips, taking the decision out of her hands.
Cassidy’s breath left her lungs in an excited rush. Hearing it, Logan’s fingers tightened as he nuzzled her hair aside, his lips soft as he kissed the tender skin beneath her ear. ‘You taste better than I imagined.’
Cassidy shivered, arching her neck to the side, a quiver racing through her as Logan’s lips seared a path to the pulse point at the base of her neck. Need flooded the space between her legs and she sagged against him.
‘And you feel better than I imagined.’ His hands came more fully around her, splaying across her belly and coming t
o rest under her raging heartbeat as he took her weight back against his chest.
Cassidy’s breasts ached to have him shift his palms higher, a small keening sound ripping from her throat as he kissed the base of her neck, his teeth biting gently on the tendon that joined her shoulder. Her whole body drew tight at the contact, a stab of piercing pleasure shooting from her breasts to her core as he finally moved his hands and cupped her in his palms.
Her sob of pleasure was lost as one of his hands rose to turn her chin as his mouth captured hers. Twisting in his arms, Cassidy plastered herself up against him and wound her arms around his neck, her mouth open to the delicious thrust of his tongue.
The distant sound of crystal clinking and the soft strains of the cello couldn’t compete with the sound of her heartbeat in her ears as Cassidy gave herself over to the madness of Logan’s kiss.
Her father’s early warning to ‘hold out until you know it’s real’ was muddled with the bizarre feeling that this was real, and then her sister’s voice joined the mix, urging her to soak up every experience while she was here.
But neither message mattered. All that did matter was for this madness to continue. For the clamouring in her body, and the desire to touch this man, be met.
Now.
Always.
‘Logan?’
His confident mouth slanted across hers, teasing her and devouring her in turn, his tongue seducing her to open and cling. Cassidy moaned and the kiss deepened until they were both panting.
Logan leaned his forehead against hers to catch his breath. ‘I don’t know what this is,’ he murmured, his voice like velvet-covered gravel. ‘And I don’t care. I want you in my bed. Tell me you want to be there too.’
The raw need behind his command sent a shiver up her spine, creating a tingling sensation that spread over her skin. She did want what he wanted. She wanted to be in his bed with a desire that terrified her because she was very afraid that she wanted it too much. If it was just a matter of physical release she might not be so perturbed, but she couldn’t hide from the feeling that it was more than that, at least for her.
‘Cassidy?’ His lips grazed her ear lobe, his warm breath sending her brain into free fall. ‘Tell me.’
‘Yes.’ Her arms tightened around his neck as she gave herself over to a need that was greater than fear. ‘Yes, I want to be in your—oh!’
Even before the words were out of her mouth he was lifting her and striding toward the entrance to the rose garden. Overawed at the powerful muscles in his shoulders that flexed beneath her hands, all Cassidy could do was bury her head against his shoulder and hang on.
Logan didn’t know how he made it to his apartments without being seen by anyone other than the two guards stationed outside his door but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything right now but the woman in his arms and the ache in his body. He hadn’t meant this to happen, hadn’t expected it to happen, but now that it was he knew he needed it more than he’d ever needed anything.
‘Cassidy?’
She looked up at him, her moss-green eyes soft, her body pliant in his arms. He groaned and bent to her, taking her mouth in another deep, hungry kiss.
Her fingers slid into his hair and Logan was beyond reason, completely lost to the feel and the taste of her, the soft curve of her body in his arms. The trickle of worry that perhaps he needed her just a little too much was replaced by the burning desire to strip her naked.
He released her legs so that her body slid down his, but he didn’t let her touch the floor. His hands banded around her as he continued to devour her mouth, one hand sliding lower to cup her bottom, the other moving up to the back of her head, his fingers tangling in the silky mass of her auburn hair.
Cassidy writhed against him, the little sounds of pleasure coming from her lips driving his need higher.
Conceding that if he didn’t leash his lust for her this would be all over in a matter of minutes, Logan dragged air into his lungs and stood her beside his bed.
She looked at him with glazed eyes and he leaned forward and took her mouth in another addictive kiss.