Authors: Sarah West
Passion's Tide (27 page)
“You do realize what you’re asking of me, don’t you?” She nodded quickly. “Amber, are you sure you want this?”
“I’ve never been so certain of anything in my life.”
“You know that if you change your mind…I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop?” He halted in front of her, afraid to touch her, afraid to break the final boundary that separated them.
“I won’t change my mind.” To prove her point, she took his hand and brought it to her chest, pressing it flat so that he could feel the accelerated rhythm of her heartbeat. “I don’t know what this feeling is…I only know that I feel safe in your arms. My heart races every time I see you, I can’t catch my breath when I’m around you, and I’m on fire whenever you touch me…”
And then he kissed her.
Though she’d been kissed by Logan before, nothing could compare to the heat and ferocity of the way he kissed her now. She clutched the front of his shirt and tilted her head back, allowing him to ravage her mouth. Wanting to feel his skin beneath her hands she clumsily untied the laces that held his shirt closed at the top, and sensing her haste he pulled it over his head, the air cool on his bare skin. A shiver traveled down his body as she ran her fingertips through the course hair on his chest, arching her back against him, needing to feel the warmth of his body against hers. With a savage urgency he tore the red skirt from her waist and threw it to the floor, his mouth never leaving hers, and leaned her backwards onto the bed.
The expression on her face surpassed any of his wild fantasies, and he prayed to god that this wasn’t a
dream that he would soon awaken from. As she squirmed beneath him, his fingers expertly undid the tiny hooks on the front of her corset one by one until she was left wearing only her thin chemise. Her rosy nipples peaked under his touch as his knuckles grazed her breasts over the soft fabric, which he wasted no time in stripping off her, letting it whisper to the ground next to her corset.
She felt brazen as she lay naked, trembling in anticipation beneath him. His heated gaze
swept
over her body, and then he was caressing her, stroking her skin and sending tremors through her veins. His hands were hot, hungry, seeking. He lowered his head to her breast, taking a nipple into his mouth and sucking hard, her gasp unheard as blood pounded in his ears, drowning out all other sound. He kissed a path down her stomach as she inhaled sharply, and then he was lifting her leg and kissing her thigh, her knee, her calf, her ankle, the arch of her foot, his mouth leaving a trail of moisture that chilled in the humid air. She closed her eyes to his assault, the terrible ache inside of her growing more and more urgent with each brush of his lips against her skin. She tried to pull him against her, her hands reaching for the front of his pants, but he stopped her with a chuckle.
“Be patient, sweetheart,” he whispered against her burning skin, “it’s better if you wait.” But she didn’t want to wait; she wanted the fulfillment that only he could give her. Again she tried to untie his breeches, and again he stopped her, this time bringing both her hands above her head. He gave her a wicked smile and ran a hand along the curve of her body, relishing the feeling of her quivering against him as he teased her.
“Please don’t make me beg, Logan,” she rasped.
“Well, now there’s an idea. I think you’d look very appealing on your hands and knees…but since you did ask nicely…”
And then he brought his head to hers for a passionate kiss
,
his fingers hover
ing
at the apex of her legs, hesitating before dipping into the slick moisture. She cried out, overwhelmed as a wave of desire passed through her. She opened her eyes to see him watching her, a look of complete concentration on his face, his grey eyes stormy with seductive promise. “Is this what you wanted Amber?” She dropped her head in consent as he continued his blissful torture, her hips lifting of their own accord and giving him access
as he
lower
ed
his face between her legs.
She had barely enough time for the shock to register before his tongue darted out and took possession of her, flicking against her throbbing bud, his fingers still sliding inside of her. Embarrassment washed over her at being so exposed, and she tried to push him away. He resisted, and her next objection died before it reached her lips as th
e
familiar heat spread to her toes. She clung to him and buried her hands in his thick hair, urging him on.
And then the inferno inside her ruptured, and she rode the wave of pleasure as sensation after sensation spiraled through her, taking her to a precipice she could only
have
imagine
d
. A cry
escaped her
as she fought to hold on to the last tremors of ecstasy.
Logan wordlessly slid from the bed and removed first his boots, and then his breeches. The sight of him, raw and naked, so male and ready for her made her feel wanton and primal, and she opened her arms to him. He came to her on the bed and she sidled up alongside him.
Her fingertips stroked his chest as his eyes followed her every movement. She looked pensive.
He caught her chin in his hand and turned her face to look at him. “What is it?”
“I want…” she trailed off.
“Sweetheart, tell me,” he
said gently
, gazing into her troubled eyes.
“I want to make you feel like I did,” she admitted, a flush rising from her neck to cover her cheeks. He cocked an eyebrow.
“You do?”
“More than anything.”
“Then touch me.”
She bit her lip. “I don’t know how,” she confessed, and then flushed even redder as he began laughing. “It’s not funny! What if I don’t do it right?”
He shook his head, still
smiling
at her. “You’re lying here naked and you’re worried about not knowing how to touch me? Amber, every time you place your hands on my body you’re doing something very, very right.”
“Really?”
“I give you my word.”
“What about when I do this…” she mumbled against his shoulder as she began feathering kisses against his bronzed skin. “Or this…” her hand slid over
his taut stomach, moving lower and tangling in his short, dark hair. “What about this?” she asked as her fingers brushed his heavy arousal. It jerked at the sudden touch and she withdrew, then tentatively wrapped her palm around him, his breath increasing with every touch.
He felt like silken steel against her hand, and her eyes took on a triumphant gleam as she stroked him gently at first, and then harder and faster as he pushed himself against her palm. “My god, Amber, you don’t know what you’re doing to me,” he growled, the tendons in his neck visibly straining, his muscles vibrating.
Without warning he grabbed her hand and flipped her over onto her back, kissing the surprised gasp from her mouth. “I can’t let you tease me too much, my little siren, or our time together will be brief. And I’ve waited far too long to lose a single minute with you.”
He lowered himself above her, his arms braced on either side of her head and shaking with restraint. “God, you feel so ready,” he said, his voice hoarse as he positioned himself between her legs. She shut her eyes, her need overpowering. He parted her curls with his fingers and guided himself into her slick entrance. “Amber, look at me.” She met his gaze and saw the tender regret in his face. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
She smiled. “You could never hurt me.”
“I only hope you can say that with certainty when this is over,” he said, and without another word broke through the tight barrier that blocked his entrance, and buried himself inside her. There was a blinding flash of pain, but it passed and left her with a throbbing soreness and a strange, but not unwelcome feeling of fullness. “I promise that it’ll be better next time,” he said, his eyes never breaking from her face, looking for any sign of regret.
She experimentally shifted her hips, pleased to find that the discomfort eased somewhat. “It doesn’t hurt much now,” she assured him, “It just aches a little bit.”
“I can help you forget that,” he said as he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her and claiming all that they had been denying for so long. Buried to the hilt inside of her, he was aware only of the joining of their bodies and the insatiable need growing in him, and with painstaking gentleness he began moving. He had been right; any thoughts of pain were erased from her mind, as the slow heat began building once again.
With a
now recognizable sensation, she welcomed him inside her, stretching her, filling her completely. Her arms lifted to his shoulders, nails biting into his flesh as he entered and withdrew again and again, all with agonizing self-control.
She whimpered at his mercilessness, needing more of him, deeper, harder. Lifting her hips with each thrust, she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer to her. It was at this moment that Logan lost all hope of restraint, and he drove into her fiercely, swallowing her cries of pleasure as he raised her arms above her head and intertwined their fingers. The rhythm of their lovemaking was erratic and urgent, as Amber lost herself to the impossible friction. Higher and higher she rose until the earth around her exploded in a mind-shattering release, her body convulsing and her muscles contracting around him.
Logan groaned low in his throat as he clenched his jaw and watched her climax, overwhelmed by her passionate beauty. Indeed, her body was glowing with desire beneath him as he came close to his own release. His thrusts came harder, went deeper as he surrendered to the madness, her name pouring from his lips as he shuddered and spilled himself deep within her, fusing their bodies and losing himself in her arms.
He collapsed on top of her, drained of energy and sated beyond belief
.
As they lay there, chest to chest, their twin heartbeats slowly began to return to normal
.
At last Logan withdrew, leaving Amber with an unexplained sense of loss, and rolled off of her, clim
bing from the bed and walking towards the opposite side of
the room
.
She turned to her side and watched him as he took a cloth from the dresser and dipped it into the bucket of water that she had never removed from earlier in the evening.
It seemed such a long time ago to her, she realized with a start, that she had been
seething
with anger at the very man who now approached her with compassion
i
n his eyes
.
He settled onto the bed and instructed her to lie on her back, then began to wash the bloo
d from her thighs. As the cool cloth touched her sensit
ive flesh between her legs she jumped a little and hissed a breath, her mouth parting as she watched his
careful hands
.
His erection stirred at her reaction, and her eyes widened with shock.
“Aga
in?” her voice sounded her disbelief at his quick recovery
.
He laughed.
“Not right now, sweetheart, you need to rest.”
“I’m not tired,” she assured him, until a traitorous yawn gave away her exhaustion
.
He finished cleaning her and tossed the rag across
the room, then lifted her limp body so that he c
ould pull down the blankets and place her back into the bed
.
He climbed in beside her and covered them both as she snuggled against him, her head resting on his chest
.
His arm wrapped around her and he pul
led her tight.
“Good night, love,” he whisper
ed against her hair as he kissed the top of her head, and they both drifted
off
to sleep.
Logan was asleep in his bed, dreaming once again of Amber
.
In this particular fantasy, she was stretched out alongside
him, her head resting in the nook between
his shoulder and chest, a leg draped over his
.
A contented sigh slipped from her lips, still swollen from his kisses the night before
.
Her sinful hands began roving the hard planes of his naked body, leaving a burning trail where her skin scorched his
.
His arousal sprang to life as her fingertips grazed the thick length of him, and he moaned.
A sudden knock at the door pulled him into a semi-somnolent state
.
“Go away, Marcus,” he grumbled as he returned to his pleasant dream, where the angelic redhead was waiting for him
.
As he tugged her body closer to his own, he heard her giggle
.
Logan quickly rolled on top of her and opened his heavy eyes
.
Beneath him, Amber’s gaze was locked on his.
“Are you a dream?”
he asked, his voice a low rumble in his throat.
She smiled at him and shook her head
.
“I’m very much real,” she replied
.
“Were you dreaming about me?” He threw back the blankets to real the evidence of his
reverie.
Amber viewed it with a mi
xture of apprehension and longing as she pulled herself to her feet
.
“Why are you dressed?” he asked her, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed
.
“And who was at the door?”
“I woke up a little while ago, so I went down to the galley and asked Ab
e to drop off some breakfast for us,” she explained while she cleared the table and retrieved the tray from outside the door
.
“I also requested that hot water be brought up, so that you might bathe. I know you didn’t get a chance last
night, what with e
verything that happened…” she blushed.
He finished pulling on his breeches and approached the table, scanning the food selection
.
There w
ere
fruit, pastries, bread with jelly and two steaming cups of coffee
.
“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” He gave her a brief
embrace, kissed her on the cheek and sat down to eat
.
Cutting into an overripe apple, he offered her half. She wrinkled her nose
and declined, reaching instead for a piece of hard toast
.
“Amber, we should probably talk about what happened between us.”
“What is there to talk about?”
His voice softened
.
“How are you feeling this morning?
“Perfectly fine, despite some lingering soreness.”
“That’s good, but that’s not what I was referring
to.”
“If you’re wondering about whether I regret my actions, the answer is no, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“How about the undeniable fact that you are no longer a virgin? Surely you must have thought about the ramifications of our actions?”
She cocked an eyebrow
.
“Seems to me you weren’t too worried about any
ramifications
last night. And besides, no one needs to find out.”
“What about your future husband?”
Her face drained of color
.
“Damn it all, I hadn’t thought that far ahead
.
I suppose I will just have to fake it when the time comes
.
Some red wine on the sheets, a little feigned discomfort, and he’ll be none the wiser
.
Besides,” she said with a smile as Anton entered carrying buckets of steaming water
,
“
i
t sure as hell beats the alternative.”
Logan stood and helped fill the tub, then began undressing
.
“Which is what?”
“Marrying you.”
“Why would that be so terrible?” he asked as he sank into the water
.
To his chagrin, Amber burst into
laughter
.
He frowned
.
“I don’t see what’s so funny about it
;
it has the potential to work
.
Can you check and see if there are any more bars of soap in the grey trunk? They should be under the shaving supplies.” The soap came whizzing over the screen and landed in the water with a splash
.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” They sat in silence on opposite sides of the screen, Amber picking at the remains of breakfast and Logan washing himself
.
He was trying to rinse the suds off of his back when Amber spoke again: “You missed a spot.”
“How do you know?” he asked as he tried to twist his head around to see if she was right.
“Because I can clearly see you in the mirror from my seat at the table
.
Or were you not aware?” she asked, watching his
mouth
melt into an e
mbarrassed frown.
“So you saw that then,” he mumbled.
“Saw how you tricked me into believing this screen was a gift, and yet it was only a means for your perversion? Yes, I happened to notice that.” She appeared behind the screen, an accusatory expression on her face.
“The truth is I had no knowledge that positioning it there would allow me to watch you.” She was silent
.
“When did you discover this?”
“Yesterday.”
He chortled
.
“I suppose that explains your choice of attire for the evening,” he said, glancing at the red skirt that was still in a ball on the floor by the bed
.
“But is that why you don’t want to marry me? You can lock yourself into your very own room with the bathtub if that’s the problem.”
She grabbed the towel from the stool beside the basin and tossed it
at him
.
“That’s not the problem and you know it
.
We’d be absolutely miserable!”
“Why?” he asked, cleaning off his face with the towel and dropping it onto the floor
.
“I think we’re well suited enough.”
“Well suited?” she echoed in disbelief
.
“Logan, you are the single most aggravating man I have ever had the misfortune to meet
.
Marrying you would be the biggest mistake of my life.” He reached up and grabbed her forearm, and with a tug pulled her into the water.
“Really, I aggravate you?” He grinne
d as she sputtered and flailed, trying to right herself
.
“I had no idea.”
Her hair was plastered to her face and the look she sent him would have frightened a lesser man, but he stood his ground
.
“You want to know the real reason I could never marry you? It’s because you are a pirate! A despicable scoundrel, a murderous rake, a….”
“Roaming rogue?”
She glared at him
.
“When we arrive in England I never want to see you again
.
I’ll return to my peaceful life that existed before you barged in and everything went to hell
.
I’ll forget all about you, Logan Jeffries.” She tried to stand, but his grip on her wrist prevented her
.
“Let go of me!” He ignored her, and instead reached up to brush a piece of wet hair that clung to her cheek, flushed red with anger
.
Her breath stilled.
“Why are you lying to me, Amber?”
“I’m not lying,” she countered, rather unconvincingly
.
His hand moved to cradle the back of her head, and before she could offer any resistance,
he
pulled her down on top of him and kissed her hard
.
For a moment she forgot all about the argument they had been having, but the intrusion of his tongue into her mouth reminded her
.
With a cry she pushed against his chest, but for all it was doing he might have well been made of stone, as he paid her no notice
.
She could feel his arousal between her thighs, and the traitorous need growing inside her.
He would forever recall the exact moment her resolve shattered
.
She sagged against him and gave into the kiss, throwing her arms around his shoulders
.
With a triumphant groan he grabbed the wet hem of her chemise, dragged it over her head and threw it aside
.
A quick perusal of her luscious body reminded him why he couldn’t get enough of this woman
.
She was silent during his scrutiny, but moaned in pleasu
re as he lifted her hips and lowered her onto his hard length
.
She sank down, relishing in the feel of him inside her, surrounded by the warm water that helped facilitate his entry without hurting her bruised flesh.
Logan reclined in the tub, his eyes glued to the angel who now sat atop him
.
His large hands were splayed upon the small of her back, and without a word of question, Amber listened to the insatiable hunger within her and began moving
.
He bared his teeth in response to the
sensations he was experiencing. Unable to remain a casual observer he lifted his hands to her full breasts, cupping them as she continued to rock against him.
“Am I doing this right?” she asked
him with a coy smile, knowing
from his expression that she was.
“Yes, you little minx, you’re doing everything right
.
But if you stop right now, I will kill you.”
She laughed
.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on stopping.” She flipped her hair back and increased her rhythm, using her hands to brace herself against
his broad chest.
Mesmerized by her unbridled passion, he watched in amazement as she closed her eyes and moaned, increasing her speed even further
.
Every movement was untutored and yet far from unskilled, and he rejoiced, not for the first time, in the
knowledge that he was the only one who had seen this sensual woman totally uninhibited
.
He lifted his hips, driving himself even deeper into her and bringing her over the edge
.
With a cry,
she
clawed at his skin and her muscles clenched around him, causing his own staggering release
.
She fell forward, his arms moving to cradle her quivering body against his own
.
Amber lay in the tepid water, collapsed against
his chest until she was confident her shaking legs would be able to support her weight
.
Still
she wobbled a little as she stood.
“Will it always be like that?”
“With me it will,” he replied with a cocky
smile
.
She decided to ignore him as she crouched to retrieve her soaking
chemise from the floor
.
Logan whistled at the sight of her naked form bent at the waist
.
“Amber, how can you even blame me for watching you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You are absolutely, without a doubt, h
ead-to-toe breathtakingly beautiful.” Surprised, she scanned his
face
for a sign of sarcasm, but seeing none, she was touched.
“Oh, well, thank you
.
That means
a lot,” she confessed
.
She was going to say more, but at that moment, Logan rose from the tub.
He noticed her silence and followed her appreciative gaze
.
He chuckled
.
“Maybe the real reason you were so upset is because you wish you had discovered the mirror first, so that you could exploit it as much as I did.” She threw open the lid of her trunk and pulled out a fresh pair of breeches and a clean shirt
.
Laying them on the table, she reached for her dagger and tossed it into the air, catching it by the hilt and spinning it
.
“What are you doing with that?” he inquired as he tugged on his pants.
“Contemplating your death,” she told him
.
“I was thinking I would tell your men that you couldn’t support your giant ego and you collapsed under the weight
.
It was a tragic accident, but I have to say, I saw it coming.”
“Oh, very funny.”
“I do try.”
“You wouldn’t kill me, anyway
.
You’d miss me too much.”
