Northern Fascination, page 11
Careful not to put all of his weigh on her, he nonetheless collapsed on her. And she knew she’d never be the same again.
LOGAN RETURNED FROM THE bathroom and slipped back into Jenna’s bed, his heart still pounding. She smiled, a sensually lazy curl of her lips. He pulled her close to him and she snuggled against his side, her hair tickling against his still-damp skin.
He could hardly think straight. He looked up at the ceiling and tried to marshal his thoughts. Making love had never been like that ever before.
“Jenna.” He didn’t have anything in particular to say, he just wanted to say her name aloud. He smoothed his hand over her hair. She lay spooned next to him, her skin like soft velvet, her hair spilling against his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay.”
“Can I ask you something? You were engaged?”
She seemed to know what he was asking. “Tad had problems. So, he really was just as happy to not sleep together. He just wanted to have me on his arm.”
“And before that?” He had to admit he was curious. She’d been responsive. Sex with her had been incredible so it wasn’t as if she had a problem, or at least not one he’d seen.
She traced the birthmark, a kidney shaped darker patch of skin, on his chest with her forefinger. “My parents have both been married just a couple of times.” She smiled at the irony of her parents numerous marriages. “From the time I graduated, I wanted to build a life for myself. I’ve seen so many women, my mother included, derail themselves by getting wrapped up in sex and relationships. And I guess I never found anyone special enough to put myself through that. It never felt right.”
He smoothed his hand over the curve of her shoulder, her skin smooth satin beneath his palm. “And now?”
She swirled the tip of her finger against his wrist. “I never met another man who made me feel the way you do, who I wanted the way I wanted you tonight.”
That was some heady stuff. And he’d never been anyone’s first.
“Jenna…” Expressing himself, talking about how he felt didn’t come easy to him. He didn’t have any experience in that area, but dammit he’d try. “It’s never been like this before, either. It’s never been this good. You make me feel like no other woman’s ever made me feel.”
She smiled and pressed a kiss to his bicep. He wasn’t through spilling his guts. “In school, I had such a thing for you.”
“You did?”
“Uh-huh. Apparently I’ve still got a thing for you,” he said, grinning. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be naked in bed now.”
“Excellent point.”
When he left, he wanted to leave her with memories no other man could ever live up to. He wanted to be the first in every respect—the first to kiss every inch of her, to initiate her into the different rites of lovemaking. There was something about knowing no man had ever done the things he could do with her that made him want to bang his chest and swing from a vine.
He wanted to map her, explore her, chart her territory, find out what her most erogenous zones were so that he could know how to give her the most satisfaction.
“Jenna.” He liked saying her name, the way it rolled off of his tongue. He trailed his fingers down her chest. “Your skin is so soft.” Lightly, he traced the outline of her breast and then teased his fingertip around her pale-pink nipple.
She sighed, “Oh, Logan.”
He smiled and leaned forward, licking the same path he’d just touched. She shuddered and wrapped her fingers around his shoulder. Her soft noises of pleasure brought him satisfaction.
Shifting down the bed, he nibbled his way down her belly. He planted sucking kisses on the sweet spot of her hip. She wriggled beneath him and laughed. “That tickles.”
He smelled her, the enticing scent of her arousal. Her pubic hair was trimmed close. He continued to kiss his way down her body, raising her leg to lick the skin just behind her knee. “Umm.”
He spread her legs and lay down between them. Her woman’s scent beckoned him. She looked at him, excitement glittering in her eyes.
“Put your legs over my shoulders, honey,” he said, his voice harsh with the need to taste her.
Jenna did as he requested. It was like warm weighted satin draping over him. He closed his eyes, inhaling the fragrance uniquely hers. Opening his eyes, he sucked in an unsteady breath.
She was like a delicate flower opened before him, her petals glistening as if drenched by a summer rain. A need to bring her pleasure again, to satiate her, to render her mindless with ecstasy overwhelmed Logan. This wasn’t about him. It was all about Jenna.
He teased his tongue along the delicate folds, gathering her sweet moisture.
“Oh,” she gasped, her thighs tightening against his shoulders.
“Relax,” he said in a soothing tone.
“I’ll try, but that felt so good.”
“It’s about to feel a whole lot better,” he said, not arrogant, just sure, her words stoking the fire inside him.
He bent his head and lapped at her, one long stroke against her silken channel. She uttered a gratifying moan. He tried different pressures, strokes, angles until he knew what she liked and how she liked it.
He tasted and teased and taunted until she was writhing, her hands clutching the sheets. “Please…now…”
He felt her tension mounting, her pleasure building toward a pinnacle. And it was heady stuff knowing he would be the one to take her there.
Within seconds she shattered, her hips moving as she spasmed beneath his mouth. Tasting her pleasure on his lips, her soft cries echoed in his ears like a sweet refrain.
JENNA LEANED DOWN to pull up the covers and was suddenly very much aware of muscles she hadn’t even known were there. “Ow.”
“Are you okay?” Logan looked at her with tenderness and concern.
“I’m fine. Just a little sore, but in a good way.” She wondered if all lovers were as attentive and thoughtful as this man and then dismissed the idea. She’d heard too much girl talk to have such a foolish notion. She knew better. “That was definitely worth the wait.”
He smiled, his expression faintly smug. Which was fine by her. He’d earned the right. She felt somewhere beyond good. “I’m glad you weren’t disappointed. I have a feeling you’d have said so if you were.”
“Oh, not disappointed at all. In fact, I’m looking forward to doing it again. Now I know what all the fuss is about.”
“Good. So am I, um, you know, after some rest.”
She laughed. “You’re going to have to leave soon. I’m tired.”
“Fair enough.”
“But you don’t have to get up and leave just yet.” She liked this laying in bed together business. “You know the town’s not going to sell out.”
“Yeah. I do. Merrilee and I talked yesterday and then again today.” He paused, a frown of speculation wrinkling his forehead. “Did you think sleeping with me…?”
“If I weren’t so exhausted that might make me mad. But I’m too tired for me to get upset. Of course not. I slept with you because you turn me on. End of story.”
He turned his head and smiled at her. “I’m glad I turn you on because you definitely do it for me.”
Despite being tired, she felt a newfound playfulness with him. “How do you feel about that?” She laughed at the consternation that crossed his face. “Relax. That was a joke.”
He laughed and rolled out of bed, getting to his feet. He snagged his briefs off the floor. “Okay. I don’t know what your schedule is like but would you care to go cross-country skiing with me tomorrow?”
She settled on her side, watching him. He really was a beautiful man. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass.” As he pulled on his underwear, she noticed the muscles in his butt flexing as he bent over. “I have the morning off but I’ve already got some things planned and I don’t particularly like cross-country skiing. But we could get together again tomorrow night.”
Logan tugged his undershirt over his head. “Sven invited me to play poker with him and some of the guys tomorrow night.”
“No problem. I’ve got exercise class tomorrow night until eight. Gus’s closes at ten. Just come over afterward.”
He pulled on his jeans and looked at her as if he wasn’t quite sure he’d heard her correctly. “You’re saying that you don’t mind if I play poker tomorrow night and then drop by after that?”
“Sure.” She leaned over the edge of the bed and tossed his shirt to him.
He caught it one-handed and shrugged into it. “You’re good with us just getting together tomorrow night?”
It wasn’t hard to figure out where he was coming from. “Logan, I want to get it on with you. We don’t have to be connected at the hip. Well, I guess technically getting it on is being connected at the hip, but you get my drift. I’ve got a life. Just because we’re good in bed together doesn’t mean you’ve become the center of my universe. And I don’t expect to be the center of yours, either.”
He tucked in his shirt and zipped his jeans. “You’re the most unusual woman I’ve ever met.”
“If you say so.” She’d seen other women throw everything away after hooking up with someone. Heck, her mother specialized in it. They met a guy and suddenly everything revolved around him. Only, it totally threw that person out of whack when there wasn’t a him around anymore. Jenna had no interest in taking that path.
He sat on the edge of the bed. “Okay, here’s a hypothetical question for you. Would you be upset if I forgot your birthday?”
This could be tricky. “Are we dating? I mean I know we’re not dating now, we’re just on a date. In your hypothetical situation, are we dating when you forget my birthday?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a no-brainer. Heck, yeah, I’d be upset if you forgot my birthday.” She paused but he didn’t ask when her birthday actually was. Okay, then. Clearly they weren’t dating yet. “So, what does that prove?”
He reached over and pressed a quick kiss to her bare shoulder. “Nothing really. Only that we can lie in bed together and have an inane conversation.”
Jenna liked this teasing side of him. She stifled a yawn. “Okay. It’s just as well you’re dressed because now I’m kicking you out.” She climbed out of bed, picked her robe up from the chair in the corner of the room and pulled it on.
He wrapped his arm around her from behind, pulling her up against him. “I could come over for breakfast tomorrow morning, or is that putting me at the center of your universe?” His warm lips teased at a spot on her neck.
She leaned back into him. “Breakfast is fine. I’ve got to eat.” She felt his smile against her skin. “How about you pick up a couple of Alaskan specials and I’ll have the coffee ready?”
He turned her in his arms. “Oh, now I have to bring breakfast?”
“Well, of course.” She blinked at him in mock innocence. “How else are we going to eat?”
“This cabin doesn’t have a kitchen?”
“Of course it does. And you’re welcome to use it. But since I don’t keep much food in the house, you’d have to bring whatever you wanted to make.”
He laughed. “Take-out’s fine.”
“Oh, good. Because now that I really think about it, I don’t have any pots and pans, either.” They walked to the door and she saw him glance at their picnic still strewn on the floor. “Don’t worry about it.” It was amazing how good sex and two orgasms could tire a woman right out. “I’ll return everything to Merrilee tomorrow.”
“Okay. Two Alaskan specials. What time?”
“Let’s aim for eight. I want to see what it’s like in the morning.”
“It?”
She stood on her tiptoe and whispered in his ear. “Us. Sex. Get plenty of rest tonight.”
He hugged her tight and lifted her off the ground, kissing her good-night as he set her back on her feet.
“I’ve created a monster.” His smile said he’d be ready.
10
LOGAN SIGNED OFF HIS computer the next morning. Even though he was officially on vacation, he’d checked and answered emails and taken a quick look at the financial markets. Some habits you just couldn’t break. However, he was now officially on vacation.
Chaz had already lined up travel plans to Barton.
He headed down the hall to the communal shower. Luckily he was the B & B’s only guest so there was no waiting for the bathroom.
Within minutes he was standing under the onslaught of warm water. Lathering up, he shook his head over Jenna’s question about how he felt.
That just sounded like some getting to know his inner child nonsense. He knew what he thought and that was what was important. He thought she’d always fascinated him to a degree and that actually spending time with her would take care of that. He’d find she was just an ordinary person—a wonderful one, but ordinary—and he’d be able to put his fascination to rest.
Only that wasn’t the case at all. Just when he thought he was getting to know her, figuring her out, nailing her down, he found out he’d only touched the tip of the iceberg. She, however, was no iceberg.
She had to be the most unique, intriguing woman he’d ever met. If anything, his fascination for her was increasing. The more he knew, the more he wanted to know.
He’d always lived his life according to plan. He’d never questioned the plan or the dictates—he just sort of rolled with the expectation. All his life he’d thought he was driven and on-course, but instead, he now knew he’d just been drifting along, never questioning or challenging, just doing.
On the other hand, Jenna didn’t seem to live her life according to any rules except her own. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted…because that was what she wanted. She was as much her own person as anyone he’d ever met and that was some damn potent stuff—being your own person.
It hit him. She thought outside the box, and lived outside the box while he’d spent his whole damn life crammed inside the box.
He turned off the water and grabbed a towel. Maybe that’s what came from thinking and never feeling. He’d be damned if he knew anymore.
If he was on vacation, maybe he’d just take a vacation from his life totally. Maybe for once, now that he’d figured out he’d been in the box, he’d step outside of it. What was the town motto? Something about leaving behind what ailed him. And while he was drawing on mottos and pithy sayings, how about “what happened in Good Riddance would stay in Good Riddance.”
He realized one of the things he really liked about Jenna was that she pulled him out of his comfort zone. She always had. So, while he was here, maybe he should just embrace stepping out of his comfort zone for the next two days.
He reached for his shaving kit and then stopped. Nope. He’d give that a break as well.
A quarter of an hour later, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, he headed downstairs, his step lighter than it’d been in a long time, perhaps ever.
“Morning, Merrilee, Bull,” he said, greeting the older couple.
Merrilee smiled, a knowing look in her eye. “Good morning. You’re certainly looking chipper this morning.”
“It’s the first real day of my vacation.” From his life, as he knew it. And it might’ve had something to do with having had stupendously great sex with an incredible woman last night. Not that he said that. And not that he had to. He was pretty sure they’d figured it out.
“Good deal. Got any plans?”
“Breakfast at Jenna’s—”
“From next door?” Bull said.
“Yep.”
“She doesn’t cook,” Merrilee tossed in.
“That’s what I hear.”
“It’s true.” Merrilee poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Logan. “I walked her through baking boxed brownies once. Really, it’s best if she just avoids the whole kitchen experience.”
He grinned, inhaling the fresh-brewed aroma. “At least she knows her own limitations. Clint’s taking me out cross-country skiing this afternoon and then I’m playing poker with Sven and the guys tonight.”
“You need a cigar?” Bull said. “I have ’em flown in. A man is a better poker player when he has a good cigar.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Logan said. “I appreciate the offer but Scotch is my poker weakness.”
“You should stop by and see Bull’s humidor over at the store. It’s gorgeous,” Merrilee added.
Bull nodded. “It was a gift from my wife, well, long before she was my wife.” He put his arm around Merrilee, pulling her close. “It took me twenty-five years to convince her to marry me.”
“That’s a long time.”
“I know. But I also knew from the first time I laid eyes on her she was the one.”
“Kind of a feeling in your gut?” Logan spoke without thinking.
“Exactly. I think I’d have followed her to the ends of the earth if that’s where she’d wanted to go. Finally, I had to put the ball in her court. I’d waited and waited but the next move had to be up to her.”
Maybe it was a gust of cold air or something but gooseflesh prickled Logan’s skin and his scalp tingled.
“Drop by this afternoon,” Bull said.
“He wants to show off that spiffy humidor.”
“Nothing wrong with that. Logan strikes me as a man of discerning taste if he came all this way to see Jenna, so I believe he’d appreciate it.”
He gave up the fight. Fine, so he came all this damn way to see Jenna. He got it. Bingo. Bullseye. Denial dead and buried. “Thanks. I’ll drop by later today.”
He inched toward the door. “I guess I better go pick up breakfast. I don’t want to keep Jenna waiting.”
Merrilee burst out laughing and exchanged a look with Bull. “No, you definitely don’t want to keep Jenna waiting too long.”
Logan didn’t get it. Obviously he’d missed something. Perplexed, he looked to Bull for an explanation.
“I know, son. Sometimes we’re not meant to understand them.”
But Bull had apparently gotten it. Whatever the joke, Logan let it go. He had a beautiful woman waiting on him.
