But for now, he delved his tongue into her mouth and tasted her. She tasted of warmth and sweetness, of Lauren and. . . home. His tongue swirled around, tempting her to play with him. She moaned sweetly into his mouth, and she began sucking on his tongue as her hips lifted in a silent attempt to get him to move. An arrow of pure lust slammed him hard, but he still had a nagging emptiness that he couldn't explain.
He lifted his head and stared down at her. She was peering at him intently, with her arms wrapped around his shoulders. She stared at him with a look of open desire, and his heart turned over in response. "You're so sweet."
Her sultry look turned so tender that it almost took his breath away. "You're sweet too, Logan."
He pushed farther inside and a spark arced between them, even as he quirked a half-smile. "No, I'm not, I'm an ass." He tried to ignore the current of electricity that flowed between them and concentrate on her.
She hit his shoulder and lifted her hips at the same time. "You're my ass."
He couldn't help it, he let out a smirk and she said, "That didn't come out the right way."
He dropped a single kiss on her lips. "I know what you meant."
"And I'm right, aren't I? You're mine." Her blue eyes held his.
He nodded his head, his gaze on hers as the demand she made somewhat mitigated the ache he felt. "Yeah."
"And I'm yours," she continued softly.
"Oh, yeah. You're mine." He slid out and pumped back into her, and she gasped. "You want me to do that again?"
She pushed her hips up to his, silently begging him for more. "I always want you to do that again," she said in a voice colored with heightened arousal.
He slid his hands around her face. "And I'm here to make you happy." He swallowed hard and tried to temper his voice. "I'll do it again if you tell me one thing," he bargained.
Her eyes were slipping closed, the purity in the lines of her face being replaced with a primitive hunger, but he couldn't allow that to happen, not yet, not until he got what he needed from her to fill the starving place in his heart. "Hey, open your eyes."
Her eyes flew open. "Please, Logan." She wriggled against him, her hips thrusting up to his.
"Okay. I'm going to give it to you, baby. Right after you tell me something."
Her eyebrows came together in confusion. "What do you want?"
He stared down at her. He had to have this. He nudged her with his hips. "Tell me."
She panted softly, her wet heat dripping for him the longer he made her wait. "Tell you what?" she mewled as her internal muscles clenched around him, and he knew she was trying to soothe her own ache.
He gritted his teeth at her provocative action and refused to move. "Tell me, Lauren."
Abruptly, he knew when she finally understood what he was asking. A pink flush came over her face and he felt the slight tremble of her hands at his shoulders. Her hips stopped moving and her eyes closed and then opened again. She licked her lips.
He could see it there. The truth. He could see the love shining from her eyes, but she wasn't opening her mouth to give him the words.
He had to have the words.
He tightened his hold on her cheekbones. "Baby, it's going to be okay. I've got you. You can trust me." He kept his words calm and steady so she wouldn't know how messed up he was on the inside. "I'll never let anything or anyone hurt you. I need this. I need you. You've got to give me the words again before I go crazy."
His eyes focused on her pink lips and surrendering for the moment, he dropped his mouth over hers.
His words captivated her. Lauren's pulse raced as Logan's lips parted hers and his tongue thrust inside. Her brain was nothing but scrambled mush. But she did understand one thing. He was all but begging her to tell him that she loved him again. And although he hadn't just said the same words to her, what he had said had underlined how much he did love her.
He'd say it eventually.
She wasn't going to force him into doing something he wasn't ready to do yet.
And anyway, it didn't matter because she knew the truth. He loved her.
She threaded her fingers through his hair and kissed him back with everything she had to give.
He slowly began to pump into her, and desire came slamming back and hit her so hard it almost took her breath away.
She met him slow thrust for slow thrust.
In a mad state of delirium, she felt his mouth slide from hers and fasten on her ear. He pulled her lobe into his mouth and sucked her there.
And then he lifted from her and she opened her eyes to find him staring down at her. She knew her own eyes were drugged with the passion that held her in its thrall, and as he slowly pumped into her, she knew, deep in her heart, that she could never live without him.
She swallowed and stared up at him. "I love you," she whispered, wanting nothing more than to give him what he wanted.
Lauren couldn't describe the look on his face. His eyes closed for a second, and when they opened, he looked exalted. His features came alive and an expression of pure satisfaction lit his eyes.
His hands tightened on her and he stared at her as he slowly pumped into her, as if spellbound. "Say it again."
She felt her heart sing with delight and peace infiltrated her system. "I love you."
He slid in deep and Lauren gasped as he hit her womb. His eyes wouldn't release hers. "Again," he hissed, as arousal turned his voice to gravel.
"Logan--"
"Again," he forced out between gritted teeth.
"I love you."
His hands left her face and slid underneath her to lift her butt up. With a strength that sent crazy tingles through her stomach, he rose to his knees and brought her with him, until he knelt on the bed in a vertical position and held her pinned over him, his arousal pushing even deeper inside of her.
Her hands fell to his shoulders and gripped him there as lights began to dance in her head. Her lungs hurt as she tried to pull in enough oxygen, and a molten river of need hit her between the thighs as her body flooded with liquid heat.
He grasped her, his hands sinking under her butt and he lifted her up and down, stroking her on his erection and causing her world to become engulfed by the electricity that coursed between them.
He was purely masculine; he was strength personified.
She held none of the power between them, and yet she never felt powerless. He controlled her physically, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she controlled the happiness between them.
And with that knowledge, her heart turned over and currents of pleasure ran up and down her spine and exploded in a jolt that had her clinging to him as her inner muscles clenched around him. She could feel his muscles cording beneath her, she felt the surge of blood that hardened him that last bit, and she felt the groan that built in his chest before it erupted and exploded from his throat.
She held on tightly as he held her captive, and with the thought in her head that he was the best temptation she'd ever come across, she let her brain float away from her body and let her orgasm take over and blend with his.
Chapter Nine
Two weeks later, on a Wednesday, Lauren came from her immediate boss's office feeling completely shell-shocked. She stumbled to her desk and sat down before she fell down. She couldn't get a grip, couldn't form a single thought in her head.
Five minutes later, she was still sitting like a zombie when Heidi walked up and grimaced. "Your face is white. Are you okay?"
Lauren looked at her friend and only managed to shake her head. Hell, no, she wasn't okay.
"What's wrong?" Heidi questioned, pulling up a chair and sitting down close enough to Lauren so they wouldn't be overheard.
Lauren glanced around and made sure no one was close by. "They want me to move to L.A," she said tonelessly.
Heidi reared back, completely speechless for a couple of seconds. "No fucking way."
Lauren took a deep breath. "Yeah. They do."
"What for?" Heidi asked in a quick whisper.
"You're not going to believe this," Lauren whispered back, not quite believing it herself.
"Try me," Heidi challenged.
Lauren held her friend's eyes and said slowly, "Vice-president of sales."
"No fucking way," her friend breathed out again.
"I know, right?" Lauren asked, shocked to her core.
"Holy shit. I thought you were going to say something like 'assistant to the CFO', or something like that."
"I know, if they want me to move, it should be for a financial position, if anything, right?" Lauren lifted her hand to her forehead and rubbed. She was quickly getting a stress headache.
"Well, yeah, but I can see why they'd want you in sales, too. But vice-president? Holy crap, Lauren. You can't turn that down, can you?"
Lauren worried her lip before answering. "I don't know. I don't know what to do. They've given me a week to decide. The old guy, Richardson, he's finally retiring."
"I'm going to miss you," Heidi said as if it was a done deal.
Lauren shook her head. "I don't think I can take it."
Heidi looked thunderstruck, but she quickly recovered. "Because of Logan?"
Lauren nodded her head and Heidi continued with a hint of a question, "The amount of money they're offering--"
Lauren cut in, "Is un-fucking-believable."
Heidi took a deep breath, commiseration in her eyes. "But Logan is also unbelievable."