“Don’t.”
At her word, he stopped. He stood statue-still in the middle of the crowd and looked down into the face of the woman in his arms. For the first time in his adult life, he did something monumental without thought or consideration or planning. When he would look back on it in the future, he would come to realize that he hadn't had a fucking clue how monumental it was. He moved his hands down her back to rest them low on her waist just above the curve of her hips. He bent to her ear.
“I’m going to kiss you, okay?” His voice felt rusty. She stiffened but she still didn’t move away from him.
She turned her face, her cheek brushing his. “Here?” Her voice was breathy and the heat of it slid across the side of his neck.
He slid his tongue out and lightly touched it to the curve of her ear. His groin tightened as she dug her nails into the short hair at the nape of his neck. “Right here.”
He moved his head even closer and caught the lobe of her ear in his teeth. A tremor visibly moved her body and he heard a soft gasp.
“You want to kiss me,” she whispered.
“Yes.” He slid his tongue down the skin in front of her ear.
“Okay.”
The word was barely out of her mouth before his lips were covering hers. It wasn’t like a first kiss. It wasn’t tentative or exploratory. His tongue stroked her lips and she opened her mouth and they were kissing. Hungry and searching and wet, the kiss was molten from the start and Maggie lost all awareness of where she was. He tasted minty and manly and hot. God, so hot she couldn’t have breathed if she had the wherewithal to remember how. It continued on and on, morphing into biting pulls of his lips with hers, darting of tongues and repositioning of heads. Finally, he pulled away slightly and rested his forehead on hers.
Maggie felt as though her legs were jelly, her blood was going to pound out of her veins, and heat spread low in her belly.
His hands had moved to cradle her head in his large palms.
“Christ almighty.” His voice was scratchy and thick.
Maggie made a decision, and it would change the trajectory of her life.
“Let’s get out of here.” She didn’t regret the words. She waited. This would not be fun if he wasn’t on the same playing field. But there was no way she had misinterpreted that kiss.
He moved, turning fast for such a big man, sliding his hand down her arm and grasping her hand tightly.
“Come on.” And they were moving.
They passed Kate and the guy with the creased jeans, and Maggie tugged on his hand.
“Give me a minute, okay?” She didn’t let go of his hand as she called to her friend. She did not want to have a long conversation, so she turned and raised her voice slightly so that she could be heard.
“Kate, I’m leaving. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She was aware that the other woman was looking at her with a poleaxed expression, but she didn’t care. This was not how things were done, but right then Maggie had no rational thought. She felt Logan move closer to her, and she watched as he held out a card to Kate and she took it.
“She’s safe. She’ll call you. You can verify who I am with the men at my table.” He turned to Maggie. “Did you drive?”
She looked at him li
ke he was speaking Chinese. He bent closer to her. “Baby, did you drive?”
She looked at him again, then managed to stammer, “We both have a car.”
“Good.”
They were moving again. He stopped to have a word with one of the men in his group who was standing at the bar and then they were heading for the door. In another time, Maggie would have been mortified that anyone would see her leaving a bar with a man that she had just met, but right then she could not have cared less. They exited the bar and his long strides were headed toward a big, black, expensive-looking pickup.
They reached the truck and he tugged her around to the passenger side, bleeping the locks and opening the door. She expected to be helped into the seat when his hands went to her waist. Logan had other ideas. Before she could take a breath, he had her up against the rear door panel and his hands were in her hair, his mouth on hers again. She kissed him back, thrusting her tongue into his mouth to tangle and parry. She pushed her hands into his hair, tugging slightly, and he groaned low in his throat. He pulled his mouth from hers and brought it to the skin of her neck and throat, nipping with his teeth and stroking with his tongue.
His thigh slid forward, more forcefully than in the bar, and she pushed her hips forward, meeting the thrust.
“Jesus, fuck, baby.” The words sent an aching shot of heat between her legs.
"Uh-huh," was all she could manage.