Irreplaceable (22 page)

“Tonight?” His teeth ground out the word, and I blanched.
Before I could wonder if he’d read my mind or what was going through his, a flash
of determination crossed his dark, shadowy eyes.

“Tonight,” he repeated, as if testing the word in a new
voice—a calmer one.

He released my hands and worked down my dress tediously,
popping the buttons open one by one, torturing me with the deliberately slow
pace of his fingers. I reached down to help, but he grabbed both my hands in
one of his and, after placing a quick kiss to my thumb, returned them to their
position above my head. My actions only deepened my need for him, as he slowed
with now only one hand to undo the exasperating buttons.

After the final button, he looked up at me with a trace
of the smirk I rarely saw anymore and released my hands. I remained still,
anxious for his next move, but he didn’t keep me waiting for long. His fingers
drifted down between my breasts and he lifted one side of my dress slowly,
revealing the shameless corset, eager to finally greet him.

“You’re gorgeous, sweetheart.” His hand moved slowly,
undoing the ribbon just enough to reveal my breasts. “You don’t need this.”

His delicate touch unraveled the seal over my heart as
his fingers worked with tantalizing finesse, as though I were made of glass.
When he finally looked up at me, his eyes were filled with a concentrated
emotion I failed to decipher. A shiver raced up my spine and wrapped a chill
around my neck. It was something much deeper than lust, and it frightened me.

I squirmed, suddenly nervous. However, the moment Logan’s
mouth covered my nipple, all insecurities flew from my mind, replaced with the
numerous fantasies that had filled my dreams for months. Finally, they’d become
reality.

Logan’s diligent and skillful tongue was warm and wet.
His other hand freed my neglected breast and presented it with the same amount
of stimulating affection.

His mouth released me after he’d had his fill and moved
farther down, tugging the ribbon open, further revealing all that was hidden.
He kissed as he went and stopped over my bellybutton, looking up at me with
soft, unwavering eyes.

I flinched at the tenderness they held.

“I’ve never wanted anyone more, Cassandra. I wish you
could feel how much you mean to me. How much I lo—”

“Stop, please don’t ruin this.” The nerves were back,
pushing through the lust consuming me. Why did he have to go there?
This
wasn’t about love. It was about closure—for both of us.

When his mouth moved down and landed over my hip, I
moaned a deep, needy purr. His tongue swirled across my abs again, circling my
bellybutton and causing my hips to lift off the bed just enough for him to
snake one hand under me.

There’d been too many nights I’d lain awake, wondering
what it would be like—what Logan could do to me. So far, my fantasies didn’t
even touch reality. I’d expected for things to go faster. Mark had been my only
lover, and he wasn’t one to waste time when getting things going for himself.

I couldn’t really call Mark selfish in bed since I had no
one to compare him to, but the moment Logan unsnapped the first garter and slid
my stocking down my leg, setting them on the bed as if they were irreplaceable
treasures, I knew I was in for a night I’d never experienced before and never
forget. He did the same to the other side and then spread my legs just enough
to reveal the lace panties covering my smooth sex, glistening just for him.

I waited, closing my eyes in anticipation for the moment
to arrive—for him to remove his trousers and rest over me, pressed deep inside.
But it never happened.

With bated breath, I peeked open an eye and glanced down.
He was on his knees at the end of the bed, staring up at me, watching me. The
moonlight illuminated his face.

My legs pulled together, insecurity and fear working
against me.
Am I not good enough? Does he not want me?
Not again. I
couldn’t go through the rejection another time.

I sat up in a swift motion, but he was there pushing me
back down, his hands on my knees, parting my legs further for him to rest
between as I’d done to him moments earlier.

“Stay there.” His words were nothing but a clipped
rumble.

My heart thundered, stomach churning until he spoke
again.

“You’re so perfect.”

Perfect?
I was nowhere near it, but I wondered if
I was to him. The longer I lay there, the more anxiety riddled me. He stroked
the back of my legs that hung down off the bed, but didn’t make another move. I
needed to do something.

I sat up on my elbows and raised my brows. “You going to
make me beg?” I hummed.

Logan’s mouth twitched at the sides as his hands ran up
from my feet and over my thighs, where he leaned down and placed a slow,
sensual kiss over my scar.

He sat up further on his knees and whispered, “One day,
I’ll make you beg, but not tonight.”

The smile growing on my face couldn’t be missed.

“Not before I have at least one taste, anyway,” he added
under his breath.

Just one? What did that mean?

I opened my mouth to question it but fell back onto the
pillows, speechless, as his mouth began kissing around the one place Mark had
always neglected.

“Oh, God, Logan!”

My toes curled. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt
before, and he hadn’t even touched the main event. Just having him that close
was unexpected and savage. He ravaged my inner thighs with his tongue,
relentless and domineering. It was heaven. I relished the feeling, anticipation
surging through me, fueling my high, his attention diverted from my center for
longer than I could bear.

My legs trembled with desire when his fingers ran over
the lace covering me and slowly pulled the fabric aside. His tongue worked
closer, and when the scruff of his jaw rubbed across my newly bare area, I
screamed a full-on, hysterical scream.

“Wait! Stop! Stop! Stop!” I was on fire, and not in the
way I’d planned.

I pulled myself up, bringing my knees up to my chin and
fanning my hands over the raw skin while Logan stood and crossed the room,
flicking on the light.

My eyes blinked as they adjusted to the brightness, and I
watched in horror as Logan dropped back to his knees and spread my legs to
examine me.

His eyes never looked away from my sacred area as he
teased, “Well, I see you had more than a little makeup and hairstyling done
today sweetheart.”

Kill me now.

“It’s red,” he continued with a matter-of-fact tone.
“Looks tender.”

The heat in my cheeks had to have been just as enflamed.

“You should have told me. I would have been gentler.”

The man had been as gentle as you could get. I mean, his
kisses were as—

“Ohhhh,” I moaned, dropping my knees open and falling
back to the mattress as Logan blew a soft stream of breath over the fire
burning between my legs.

He was right—he could be gentler.

“Better?”

“Mm-hmm.” I bit my lip, hands covering my face but my
stiff posture melting away.

“Tell me, does it hurt here?”

My hands slipped down, gripping the comforter below me as
his tongue parted me down my center and slid over me with careful ease.

“Ohhh. Nooo. Perfect.”

“It’s gonna kill me to leave,” he rumbled, and his tongue
slid back down, careful not to brush the enflamed area.

Leave? What?
Before I could comprehend, he was
gone, my sex abandoned.

“Looks normal for being freshly waxed. You’ll be healed
up soon.”

That was it?
He was just getting started. And the
fact that he knew what a freshly waxed vagina looked like turned my gut.

The bed dipped from Logan sitting on it, and he pulled my
hand nearest him to his lips.

“I like you flushed. It’s adorable.” He grinned.

Great, I was adorable. Exactly what I was
not
going for tonight.
I closed my eyes tighter.

“Do you have any aloe lotion, or—” He stopped abruptly.

“They gave me a balm to apply, but it hadn’t hurt.” To be
honest, my body had spent the evening too aroused to think about the unfriendly
waxing job.

Wait, why did he stop talking? And what was that
ruffling—oh, crap!

My eyes flew open and I scurried up in horror, tugging at
the bag in his hand, but was too late. He pulled it out of my near-miss grasp
and held up the handcuffs.

“Interesting choice.” The corner of his mouth quirked up.
“You sure planned one hell of night. I hate to disappoint, but even if you
hadn’t been waxed raw, I wasn’t planning on having sex with you.”

“What?” I gasped incredulously.

He was lying. Had had to be.

“So, what, then? You would have just teased me and then
left?” A hard laugh shot out. “You’re lying!”

“That was exactly what I was planning on doing if you
couldn’t get out of your head long enough to see you were acting unreasonable.”
A serious scowl settled between his brows. “You think I couldn’t see through
your act all evening?”

Was he serious? I stood, wincing at the burn between my
legs, glowering down at him with a harsh gaze through narrowed slits.

“Oh, I’m sorry, does that upset you? Would that have led.
You. On?”

The sarcasm in his curt tone sent me over the edge. The
bag of sex goodies in his hands was ripped away and thrown at his head. He
ducked, a roguish chuckle filling the room at my outburst.

He was just going to tease me!
I was floored.
Logan always had to have control, and it pissed me off tonight.

“Tell me why that would bother you, sweetheart.” He
feigned innocence and sat back against my headboard, legs extended and crossed
at the ankles.

He really wanted to know why I’d be upset that he was
planning on walking out on me before I’d had my fill? Before I finally had a
piece of him, like he did me?

“Why?” I snapped, exasperated. “I don’t know…maybe it’s
because, yet again, you managed to manipulate me into calling the shots. Now
that you finally got a real taste—” I recoiled and dropped my head, unable to
face him.

“It’s over,” I breathed after a beat. “Whatever this was,
you made your point. We aren’t friends, and never can be again—it’s too
hard—and anything else is too ridiculous to consider. I wanted you, you hurt
me, and yet I let you do it all over again. I thought I could do this. I
thought I was stronger.”

I slumped back down to the bed, pulling the blanket over
my lap. I lifted my head just enough to peer over at him, and the intensity in
his eyes hooked me in.

“You’re gorgeous, okay?” I confessed. “Sexier than any
man I’ve ever met, and I freaking hate you for it. There—is that what you
wanted me to admit? That I’m weak around you? That no matter how hard I try, I
keep falling over and over again?”

His eyes grew softer, and he let out an unexpected
chuckle.

Humiliation stung my nerves and filled me with enough
strength to push myself back to my feet. I tugged my dress closed. Before I got
two steps from the bed, however, he yanked me onto his lap.

“Let me go!”

He must’ve seen the blood rushing to my cheeks when he
ground against my ass, because he moved quickly and pinned me down on the bed,
his arms on my shoulders. He smashed his mouth to mine, kissing me into
oblivion.

He pulled back too soon, just enough to speak, his breath
caressing my swollen lips.

“Do you honestly believe I could give you just one night?
After everything we’ve been through, you think I can handle just spending the
night inside you? And then what…you walk away feeling as though you bested me?
Who’s the one still playing games, Cassandra?” He released me and stood up, his
jaw working hard.

Sliding forward, I perched myself on the edge of the bed
with slumped shoulders. He knew what I was doing.

“Logan, we can’t have more. I offered you friends and I
offered you tonight, and then—”

“And then what!?” he shouted, startling me. “And then you
expect me to leave? Disappear out of your life? You may think me a bastard for
my past liaisons, but I’ve never taken a woman to bed who didn’t know exactly
what she was getting—who didn’t know I wasn’t available for a relationship. But
you…you turned the tables. And although I admire that about you, sweetheart,
I’m not playing.” He stalked closer, kneeing my legs apart and standing between
my open thighs.

I regarded him warily as the start of a smirk played on
his lips.

“But if it’s a game you need, sweetheart, all you had to
do was ask.”

What the hell did that mean? The whiplash of his mood was
exhausting. I needed to end things—break it off before it went any further.
Honesty was the best bet.

“I just thought that if we…” I blushed, then blurted out,
“…if you finally just fucked me already, we could both move on…have some
closure, and remove the tension destroying us.”

He cocked his head to the side, frowning. “The problem
with that is I don’t want closure, nor do I want to fuck you.” His eyes lit up
and traveled down to my breasts, which were peeking out from my open dress. I
closed it in quick, tight clutch.

A sweet, unexpected smile formed over his gorgeous,
kissable lips. “I want to make love to you, Cassandra. I want to hear you tell
me you feel it, too. And when you’re mine, body and soul, then I want you on
your knees begging me to fuck you till you’re screaming my name.”

I shuddered, his words filling me with something I’d
never felt before. I wasn’t scared, but strangely aroused.

We needed to stay on topic.

“Logan, this is the end for me. It’s over. Done.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it’s just the beginning. And
after what you instigated here tonight, you’ve proven exactly what I’d been
hoping for. You feel it too. You want me, but you’re scared.”