His arms slipped around her easily, his breath tickling the back of her neck, and she had to fight back the sudden thought that she could have happily stayed like that for the rest of the night.
For the rest of her life even.
‘Forget what may or may not be in the future. Can’t we just focus on the here and now?’ He broke the silence. ‘Come with me. Be my date to the ball.’
She felt like she was cracking open. That quickly.
That easily.
‘We agreed no dating.’ She barely recognised her own voice in that hoarse whisper.
‘Fine.’ She could feel him shrug against her back. Controlled. Unconcerned. The exact opposite of the way her own heart was beating so fast in her chest she feared it might beat its way out entirely. ‘Don’t call it a date.’
‘You just did,’ she forced herself to point out, whilst he lowered his head further, his mouth grazing the back of her neck and sending her thoughts spiralling.
‘Then it was a poor choice of words. I apologise.’ He grinned, and she could feel his teeth skimming her skin. He didn’t sound remotely apologetic. ‘I take it back.’
‘You can’t just take it back.’
‘Sure I can.’
And it was terrifying how desperately she longed to accept. It sounded like such an innocent suggestion—a simple date. But the truth was that there was nothing simple about it.
Going to the hospital ball as Logan’s date would send the entire hospital rumour mill into over
drive, and the last thing she wanted to have was her colleagues gossiping about her.
But more than that, going as Logan’s date would be as good as accepting that whatever was going on between them went beyond the physical act of sex. It would mean acknowledging that she wanted more from Logan—and Jamie—especially after the comment that old woman had made as they’d been swinging Jamie through the park.
She could still feel the pain that had sliced through her in that split second. Much like the pain that had sliced through her a few moments ago.
Wanting so much more that it was like looking into the deepest, blackest abyss, knowing that if she fell she would never climb out again.
And she couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t. Not after Carrie. Not after all that had happened. She couldn’t risk opening up her heart again, only to go through that pain again.
‘Kat?’ His voice broke into her thoughts, soft and concerned. ‘What’s wrong?’
If she told him, that would be it. Over. And she wasn’t ready.
She just needed one more night, one more touch, one more taste.
She had to have that one final memory that she could cherish for ever. Long after Logan and Jamie were out of her life.
Cranking up her smile to mega-watt level, Kat shook her head.
‘Nothing is wrong at all.’
He wasn’t buying it for a moment.
So she did the thing she knew that would work. The only thing she knew to be the truth between them.
Twisting around in his arms and pushing him back so that they could see each other, Kat hooked her fingers under the over-sized shirt and pulled it up and over her head, so that she was standing in front of him completely naked.
Her nipples pulled tight as the cool air caressed them. But, then, with Logan’s gaze on them they would have anyway.
And he dropped to his knees, right there, and hooked one of her legs over his shoulder, until she was leaning back against the wall, her hand threading through his hair and her breathing ragged in the mere anticipation of his touch.
He waited. So infernally long that she thought she might die, then, at last, he pressed his mouth to the inside of her thigh, laying waste to her wherever he kissed. He moved up and down the thigh, lifting her foot so that he could trace his kisses, and his tongue, all the way down to the back of her knee. Over and over, until her supporting leg was shaking and she feared it might collapse beneath her.