Pursuit (9 page)

She certainly didn't need to worry about Logan getting all pissy on her.

She decided to ignore his bad attitude.
"Do you have plans this weekend?"

He didn
't answer for a moment, just took a sip of his beer and shook his head. "I'll probably work."

She nodded her head and offered him an olive branch.
"I'll be home Sunday night about nine if you want to come by." God, she hoped that didn't seem too needy.

The look he turned on her was piercing.
"For a quickie?"

She sucked a piece of salt off her straw and flashed her eyes at him.
"It doesn't have to be quick." She shrugged her shoulders and looked down into her margarita as she stirred it. "Or it can be, whatever."

"
Whatever?"

Lauren knew this could explode around them in a heartbeat if she let it. But for some reason, she didn
't think it would escalate to a break-up. She wasn't going to break up with him over this and she pretty much knew that he might be so pissed he couldn't see straight, but he wouldn't cut her loose. Besides, it wasn't her that he was angry with. It was
her job
. She took a breath. "You're reading too much into this. It's no big deal either way. You can come by if you decide you want to. Just text me and let me know."

"
Do you even care one way or the other?"

His tone was so neutral that Lauren couldn
't read him. He didn't seem as pissed as he had a moment before, and the question he asked seemed like an honest one with no hidden implications.

"
I'd like to see you," she answered quietly.

His steady gaze bore into her and she felt a flush cover her cheekbones.
"Okay, we'll plan on Sunday night then. Do you want me to pick you up at the airport?" he asked as his hand ran up and down her thigh.

Pick her up at the airport? For some reason that seemed like too much too soon.
"No, that's okay. I'll have my car."

"
It's going to be dark when you land . . . I'll pick you up." He said in a deep, controlled voice.

Lauren tilted her chin up a degree and shook her head at him.
"Nah. I'll drive." She attempted to use a tone that brooked no argument. If he dared to disagree with her, dared to impose his will on her this early in the relationship, Lauren was going to have to think twice about all of this. The alpha shit was fun in bed, no doubt about it. But every minute of the day? She sucked in oxygen followed by a healthy drink of her margarita.
It was a lot to think about.

****

Logan could have kicked himself in the ass. He needed to learn how to rein it in and damn quickly. When he'd made the mistake of
telling
her that he'd pick her up at the airport, her demeanor had changed. She'd gone from sweet, soft and biddable, to
'don't fuck with me'
in an instant.

And he planned on fucking with her, a whole lot more.

So he'd better get with the program, and if he couldn't do that, then he at least needed to bluff her into thinking he was with the program.

****

On Sunday night, Logan counted to ten as he waited for Lauren to open her front door. The weekend had been sheer, unmitigated hell as he imagined every bad scenario under the sun. The thought kept beating at him over and over again that he couldn't let her see how badly her out-of-town trip had affected him.

But he admitted to himself that the weekend had
not
been good. All he'd been able to think about was how beautiful she was, and he knew how badly he wanted her, so didn't it stand to reason that every other horny motherfucker out there would feel the same?

And goddamnit, she was almost like an innocent little virgin, inexperienced and having not a single clue what went on the minds of ninety-five percent of the men out there. He could just imagine some fucker buying one too many rounds and Lauren trying to keep up with the men by drinking with them. She couldn
't handle liquor, she'd admitted it to him and he'd seen it for himself. One margarita went to her head and lowered her inhibitions. He could just see some fucker walking her up to her room on the pretext of seeing her safely to her door and then trying to take advantage of her.

And not only did that piss him off, it put his protective instincts on high alert. Why the fuck should she have to deal with that? Did she get scared? Was she put in situations that she didn
't know how to handle that worried her?

No, the weekend had not gone well as he
'd imagined all kinds of crazy-assed shit happening.

Before he could get fired up even more, the door opened and she stood smiling back at him. The sight soothed the shit out of him, calmed the fires raging in his bloodstream, and he ran his gaze over her to make sure she was in one piece.

She looked fine, as if nothing or nobody could faze her, and her obvious happiness at seeming him made him take a bold move.

He pushed inside the apartment and turned and locked the door. Yeah, she looked good, but he needed a little something more than just a quick observation.

He reached out and grabbed her.

She gasped as her torso was propelled into his, but he didn
't stop to think. He was acting purely on physical impulse, and the impulse blaring through his brain was to strip her naked and push inside of her.

He wasn
't going to deny himself.

He took the time to kiss her once, only briefly, and then he lifted her up and carried her through to the bedroom. He pushed her shorts and underwear down her legs and tossed them to the floor. Lowering his head, he slid his tongue inside her mouth as he unsnapped his jeans and shoved them to his ankles.

Not bothering to step from them or to remove any more clothing, he clenched his stomach muscles as he forced himself to don protection as they stood by the side of the bed.

With that feat accomplished, he separated her legs and pushed her butt to the bed. Standing between her thighs, he grabbed her knees and levered them up and out and away from her body.

He could hear her panting breaths through the ringing in his ears but he couldn't stop or slow down.

He wrapped his hands through her hair, his fingers molding her scalp and as he came down over her, her spine hit the mattress. Her eyes held his with a possible touch of panic in their depths, but she wasn
't stopping him and thank fuck for that, because he didn't think he was capable of stopping.

The head of his erection unerringly found her wet heat and he began pushing into her, studying her reactions as he slid all the way inside. Relief hit him immediately, but her eyes began to close and he couldn
't stand it. "Look at me, Lauren," he managed in a voice he couldn't control.

She inhaled raggedly and opened her eyes, and the almost-drugged look he saw reflected there both fascinated him and fuelled the flames of his lust. The slight question he read in her eyes had him answering with an aggression he was incapable of taming.
"It. Was. A. Fucked. Up. Weekend."

She sucked in a breath and he felt his abs clench as he pushed harder and impaled her to an impossible depth that calmed him not one fucking bit.

She let out a tiny whelp and he stilled completely. "Did that hurt?"

Her eyes were huge and blue and she shook her head just once.

He pulled out and pushed in again and her breath strangled on an abbreviated cry.

"
Son of a bitch, babe
. Am I hurting you?"

"
No," she panted.

Relief grabbed Logan by the throat; he
'd stop if he had to.
Thank God he didn't have to
. He pumped once more and adjusted his hold as he tightened his hand on the side of her face and looked into her eyes. "I don't like it when you go out of town." He pumped again. "It sucked
pure shit."
He tried to shut his fucking mouth but the words kept spilling out as he thrust in and out of her. "There's no fucking way you can be safe out there." He attempted to take a calming breath but it didn't help and he kept on burying himself deeper with his words. "Somebody tries something with you and I swear to God, I won't be responsible for my actions."

Her eyes flared and he read what looked like distress as she took a shallow pant and stared back at him. He needed to shut the fuck up; he knew he must be scaring her but in that second, he felt her shiver of response and her uncontrollable physical reaction that manifested itself in a rush of moisture that wrapped around him where he penetrated her. It both eased his way as he pounded into her and goaded him into seizing her hands in a restraint that he needed more than anything he
'd ever craved before.

Oh my God
. She was crazy.
She was crazy
. She must be
insane
. How could she like this? Like it?
Hell, she loved it
. In what universe was it right for her to love the way he was hanging over her, holding her down, staking her to the side of the bed while his feet were still on the floor?

How could she love the way he had her knees shoved up to her hips in a position that put her under his uncontested control? How could the fact that he
'd stripped her of her shorts and panties while leaving the rest of her clothes intact excite her? How could she love the dangerous sizzle of his antagonistic words pummeling her brain while he pummeled her body with his?

How could she love the way he was out of control, almost out of his mind as he restrained her to the bed?

How could she trust him enough to even now, feel her imminent orgasm?

Oh God, she knew how
.

It was because of the wild look of relief that crossed his features as he sank inside of her on the first stroke. It was because of the fact that he hadn
't
been able
to take the time to remove the rest of their clothing before joining with her. She felt his need that could only be appeased with that joining he hadn't been able to wait another second for.

And it was because of the depth of his concern when he
'd thought he might be hurting her. He would stop if she asked him to; she had absolutely no doubt of that.

It was that level of trust that she already felt in his arms that was screwing her up so much.

So yeah, she knew why she loved this. As she sank under the most mind-blowing orgasm she'd ever experienced in her life, she knew she had the best of both worlds: she had an absolute caveman in bed . . . and one who cared for her.
And he wasn't capable of hiding either fact.

****

Another six weeks slid by and Lauren was getting in a little over her head. Logan was only showing her a good side, and she wondered what had happened to the crazy-assed man she'd first met. He was just as uncontrolled and hot in bed, but the rest of the time, he treated her with kid gloves.

He spoiled her, pampered her, and was protective of her.

She was beyond suspicious; she
knew
he was playing her. But it didn't matter. He was getting under her skin in a good way and she loved it.

She almost,
almost
wanted to have the 'exclusivity' conversation with him.

But she thought it was too soon, and besides, she wondered if they even needed it.

He showed no signs of even being interested in other women. Like, she didn't think he even registered that there were other women alive. Like there were no other women but her living on the planet.

They
'd gone dancing a few times, and when they walked into a club or a restaurant, she immediately noticed when other women checked him out. And why wouldn't they? He was infinitely hot, and if she could see it, then everyone else could see it.

But Logan didn
't seem to notice they stared at him or, in fact, even existed.

Which was good, it really was.

Although with no actual conversation, it kind of left their relationship status up in the air.

****

The night of her birthday, Lauren walked out of the bedroom ready to go out. Logan had asked her the night before what she wanted to do and she'd told him. She wanted to go out to a club where they would meet all her friends from work and dance the night away.

It seemed like a good and reasonable plan to her and he went along with it. The problem was, he
'd never met her friends from work and she was very much afraid that he'd assumed they would all be women.

And they weren
't.

It wasn
't as if she was a social butterfly, no matter what her mother called her, but she did have a lot of friends, both men and women. If you got down to it, John was probably her only true guy friend. Since he was gay, Lauren felt comfortable around him and she could just be herself. Heidi had invited the rest of the men who would be there tonight.

Lauren bent and grabbed her purse and Logan stood to his feet, frowning.
"You're wearing that?"

Lauren glanced down and looked at herself. She wore a red blouse with the shoulders cut out,
black shorts and stilettos. She glanced back up. "Too slutty?" She watched his intent stare and had to smile. "It's conservative slutty. I'll have you know these are lined, linen shorts."

He didn
't comment and Lauren received the impression that he couldn't. She almost laughed; she'd never even remotely seen him speechless before.

His eyes continued to run over her and when he didn
't speak, she said, "We're going to a dance club. I'm twenty-five years old and you know what they say: you're only young once. I'm going to be among friends and besides, I'm sure you wouldn't let any harm come to me, right?"

His gaze slid back to hers and examined her thoroughly. His look became territorial and Lauren was hit with the same shaky feeling she always got when he was this close to her. Butterflies started fluttering in her stomach and her knees weakened. He walked forward with a purpose and picked up a lock of her hair and twirled it around his finger until he stopped at her scalp. She felt the tug on her hair center all the way to the juncture between her thighs.
"Did I just hear you correctly?" The words rattled from his throat in a brusque, possessive tone. "Did you just grant me the right to be the man who protects you?"

Lauren
's heart began beating viciously in her chest. She heard his question through a roaring in her ears. Her remark had been off-handed. She hadn't really meant anything serious with her question, so why was he taking it so seriously and why did she think this was suddenly a pivotal moment in their relationship? She tried to think, tried to get her brain to work.

She licked her lips and tried to put the ball back in his court.
"Do you . . . do you want to be that man?"

His answer was a silent one. A glimmer of heat exploded in his eyes and he began nodding his head, slowly, up and down. With one hand wrapped around her hair, his other hand snaked up and wrapped around her cheek and lifted her face to his.

He bent down and kissed her, quickly but firmly.

He raised his head.
"Okay. It's a done deal."

The look in his eyes was scaring her shitless. Scaring her shitless and exciting the living crap out of her all at the same time.
Her mother had never told her that there were men like this one living on the planet. Nobody had ever warned her.
"Okay, yeah, but--" she began.

He cut her off.
"No buts."

Lauren was excited and nervous and panicky.
"Yeah, there's a 'but'."

"
And what would that be?" he questioned slowly and succinctly, only seeming to be humoring her.

"
I guess this means we're . . . exclusive--" she began, but he cut her off again.

"
Damn right," he breathed out in a possessive hiss.

"
Okay, so it's just you and me, but that doesn't mean . . . "

"
Doesn't mean what?" he questioned shortly, obviously wanting no conditions on the relationship whatsoever.

She narrowed her eyes and gathered her nerves together.
"It doesn't mean that you make the rules. You need to understand that going in. You're not the boss of me, you don't tell me what to do, what to wear, or what time I have to be home. We're together, but we're not married or anything like that, and I'm all grown-up and have been for some time and I make my own rules."

His eyes impaled hers but Lauren could tell he was listening to her mandate carefully
and strategically.
Damn him!
She'd been right!
It had been a strategy all along!
And suddenly she knew that whether she'd given him an opening or not, he'd planned on having a confrontation with her tonight about . . . boundaries. And she'd played into his hands with that statement about him not letting her come to any harm.
She really needed to watch what she said around this man.

His hands stayed plastered to her skull, and his body filled with a tension that was palpable.
"All right,
I agree,"
he answered in a voice that reflected his mercurial mood. "We're not married and I don't own you. You're a big girl and can live by your own rules,
for now
. All I'm going to say is one thing: You called it.
We're together."
His hand left her face and slid down and cupped the heat between her legs firmly and aggressively.
"And this is mine."
His fingers tightened. "Nobody fucks you but me, and if somebody lays so much as a finger on a single strand of your hair, they'll wish they were dead."

Lauren
's jaw dropped and she couldn't seem to close her mouth as he stared down at her.

"
You got that, babe?" He hissed out while his hand between her legs enclosed her in an unyielding grasp.

Lauren sucked in a ragged breath and nodded her head, too stunned to speak.
Son of a bitch.

She
'd just released the Kraken.

****

The very minute that they walked into the darkened club and found Lauren's friends, Logan knew he would have to pull off the biggest con job of his life. If he could con Lauren into thinking he was having fun and that he was as calm as shit, she'd never know that his insides were tied into knots and that he was actually running on a surge of adrenalin.

Her friends, whom he thought would be women, definitely included men. There were more women, true, and one in particular named Heidi who Logan focused on. This was the chick who wanted Lauren to start sleeping around and having
'fun'. It was enough to make him grit his teeth, but not enough to set him on the warpath.

Oh, no.

That was left to a couple of douche bags who Lauren introduced as John and Nico. Both were men she worked with, and Logan quickly realized it was this John fucker who she'd gone out of town with. The bastard just had to be single, tall and fit, and wouldn't you just fucking know it, had goddamn eyes for Lauren. The guy
could not keep his fucking eyes off of Lauren.

And of course, being the birthday girl, she was passed from one set of arms to the next and kisses and
goddamn touches
were plastered all over her.

Logan stood back and felt his temperature soar. His back teeth were clenched so tightly that his jaw was aching.

He knew that he needed to calm the fuck down, because Lauren had been looking at him like he was Attila the Hun ever since they'd left her apartment. One little innuendo about killing anyone who touched her, and she'd started looking at him as if he was crazy. Her eyes kept darting sideways at him, almost like she was sizing him up, and he knew she was speculating on his possible sanity or lack thereof. He needed to get his jealousy under control and he needed to do it now.

He took a stabilizing breath.

He could never let her find out how fucking jealous he was.

****

As the night wore on, Lauren watched Logan from below her lashes. He seemed to be handling everything okay. He was laughing and joking with her girlfriends, and he was
almost
pleasant to John and Nico, who Heidi had insisted on inviting.

But there was just something about Logan
's demeanor that Lauren didn't believe. It seemed almost contrived, although she couldn't exactly put her finger on why. She realized that by bringing him here, putting him among all her friends and co-workers, that she was putting him to the test.

She really liked Logan, cared for him deeply already. He was amazing, actually astounding, in bed. He made her insides quiver and the thought of breaking up with him made her extremely sad, upset if the truth were told.

But they had to be able to get along; they had to be able to have a social life that included other people. But this was all so new, and he was so very, very intense.

Yeah, intense. That was the word.

He needed to tone that shit down if he expected this relationship to mature into something more.

And holy crap, wouldn
't that be amazing? To experience that sexual chemistry all the time? To have that hunk of man-meat hanging over her in bed for the unending future?

Yeah, she wanted that. If he could just tone it down a bit.

She had to be able to keep her identity, to be her own person. It was way, way too soon to start giving into him.

If she gave in too soon, he
'd control her faster than
the blink of an eye.