Logan wasn’t convinced. “You’ve swelled up a bit where he hit you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Really?”
“Just shut up and kiss me.”
As fierce as his desire was for her, Logan wasn’t about to rush the moment he’d been fantasizing about for weeks. No matter how deeply lust sank its talons into his groin, he intended to explore every inch of her skin, taste each sigh, absorb the entirety of her surrender.
He applied gentle kisses to her parted lips, causing her to murmur in encouragement. With his weight pinning her, she had little hope of wiggling and driving him mad with provocative movements, but her hands were free and she used them to her advantage.
After ruffling his hair and tracing his spine, she tightened her grasp on his shirt and pulled it free of his pants. Braced against the first touch of her skin against his, he kept up the slow seduction with his lips and tongue. She sighed as her palms connected with his lower back. Logan couldn’t prevent the instinctive twitch his body gave as she raked her long nails up his sides.
Ignoring the heat blazing between them, he cupped her cheek and licked at her lips, running his tongue along her teeth before flicking her tongue. Beneath his palm he felt her facial muscles shift and knew she was smiling. He kissed her nose, a grin of his own blooming at her heartfelt sigh.
“Why so impatient?” he teased, taking her plump lower lip between his teeth and sucking ever so lightly.
Her nails bit into his back. “Because five years of foreplay is too long.”
“Five years?” Carefully avoiding her bruised jaw, he nuzzled the soft skin below her ear, inhaling her smooth, fresh perfume and the sharper tang of her earlier stress. If nothing else reinforced his need to take his time, this reminder of what she’d been through tonight did. “Is that what we’ve been doing all this time?”
“Of course.” She adjusted the angle of her head to grant him better access to her neck.
“How do you figure?”
“You don’t seriously think all that animosity between us was anything other than frustrated sexual energy, do you?”
He knew what it had been on his part, but was surprised she admitted to being similarly afflicted. “Are you saying you’ve wanted me this whole time?”
He tried to make his voice sound shocked, but ended up fighting a groan as she found a way to free her left leg from beneath him. By bending her knee, she was able to shift his hips into the perfect V between her thighs. Her intimate heat pressed against his hip even through the layers of fabric between them. Breath rasping in and out of his lungs, he held perfectly still to savor the sensation.
“Of course.”
He believed her because whenever they touched, the walls tumbled down between them. And in this place where they communicated truth as easily with words as they did with their bodies, he was in serious danger of falling hard.
Was that why he’d doubted and taunted her all these years? Because he suspected that if they had a civil conversation he might have to face just how crazy he was about her? All her flaws became insignificant. All his misgivings seemed to be paranoia.
“Make love to me, Logan,” she pleaded when the silence dragged on too long. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”
“I want nothing more,” he admitted. “But let’s take it slow.”
“Slow?” She didn’t look happy.
“Slow,” he confirmed. “You’re worth savoring. Relax.” He reclaimed her lips and soothed her with soft, romantic kisses. “We have all night.”
* * *
Scarlett put her impatience aside and let Logan set the pace. The ache between her thighs didn’t abate, but neither did it intensify as they exchanged a series of slow, sweet kisses. The give-and-take of his lips against hers was comforting and the fog of desire dissipated from her mind, offering her a chance to enjoy the feel of his strong body where it pressed against hers and the subtle cologne he’d applied for their date tonight. She concentrated on relaxing her muscles, ignoring the hunger needling her. Logan was right. They’d waited this long. Why rush it?
His kisses did unexpected things to her emotions. Lighter than soap bubbles, joy pushed outward from her center. Logan made her feel like no other man ever had. Cherished. Appreciated. Understood. The excitement she’d expected to feel as his body mastered hers was tempered by the need to relish every second of their time together.
“Why are you smiling?” Logan asked, drifting his lips across her eyelids and down her nose.
“I’ve never necked on the couch like this.”
“Never?” Surprise peppered Logan’s question. “I find that hard to believe.”
“It’s true. Necking is something you do with your boyfriend on your parents’ couch or in the back of your boyfriend’s car.”