Simply Scandalous (Simply 2)

“Any slower and I might have to strangle you.”

“You have to admit, it’s a helluva way to go.”

She yanked back on his hair and he grinned.

“Easy, babe.” But despite his soothing words, his body was hammering for release. And she’d just given him the okay.

What came next defied anything in his experience. He’d meant to move but she beat him to it, and what he’d expected to be an in and out satisfying of their bodies turned into a rocking, twisting motion that had the effect of drawing him into her, body, heart, and soul. The tempo increased, and she bucked and undulated against him and he against her until the swaying and twisting had his body reaching… cresting… peaking on a wave of something so strong, so deep, everything inside him was swept away.

* * *

When had she fallen asleep? Catherine blinked into the sunshine streaming through the open blinds. She stretched and felt the protest in muscles she’d overused last night. It felt decadent to wake up in Logan’s bed after the endless hours they’d passed here. It felt even better to be entangled in his arms. He’d tossed one leg over hers as if to lock her in place. She laughed. It wasn’t as if she was going anywhere, she thought. Not until noon when she had to head home and get ready for the party Pot Luck was supplying the decorations for tomorrow. As parties went, this one was simple because it just required setup.

“Something funny?” Logan asked.

“You’re up.”

He grasped her hand and edged it downward. “In more ways than one.”

His deep voice wrapped around her. “You’re bad,” she murmured.

“And you love it.” In one smooth motion, he rolled over her, bracing his weight on both hands.

She loved… Oh, no. No way. Not so soon. Not now. Not this man. She scrambled to get away, but his lower body held her fast. And the more she squirmed the more their bodies connected. The more his solid erection pressed tight against her. Hot, pulsing, liquid heat spread through her.

“Stop squirming, Cat.” His voice was deadly serious. “Now, before something happens you obviously don’t want, why don’t you tell me what has you spooked?”

She stopped, then shook her head. She may have bared her body to this man but no way would she bare her soul. She couldn’t give him that kind of power over her.

“Okay, how about I tell you what has me spooked. You can go next.”

“Sounds fair.” And it would give her time to regain her equilibrium and come up with something else to tell him. Anything was better than the truth.

What a joke. Catherine Luck, daughter of a supermarket clerk and a man she didn’t even remember, in love with Logan Montgomery, son of the most powerful judge and family in the state. If she wasn’t careful, the hysterical laughter she felt bubbling to the surface would turn into buckets of tears. And Catherine never cried. Not since the Christmas she’d realized Santa was a fraud and her father was never coming back.

“Look at me.”

She forced herself to gaze into his handsome face. The only way to conquer her fears was to overcome them. She’d done it before, she could do it now. The smile she faked was more difficult. “Okay, you go first.”

“You’re running from me. No matter how deep I dig, no matter how honest I am or how much of me I reveal, you run the other way.”

She couldn’t deny it. Not only did he open up verbally, but he didn’t hold back when they were in bed, either. Catherine had limited experience. But even if her sexual past was uneventful, she was smart enough not to think that an earth-shattering experience between the sheets had any meaning outside the bedroom. Her mother had done that. Head over heels in love with a man who wanted her in bed and no place else.

She shook her head. That wouldn’t be her fate.

“I’m not running from you, Logan. I’m…” She thought of everything she could say and opted for the truth. “I’m running from the result.”

He rolled to his side. “Back to that again, are we? The differences? The idea that we won’t last?”

She couldn’t deny that, either. “Yes.”

“Okay, we’ll play it your way. One day at a time. It works, it works. It doesn’t, it doesn’t. That make you feel any better?”

His compelling eyes stared into hers.

“No,” she admitted.

“Good.” He treated her to a heart-stopping grin. “That tells me you care.”