LOGAN (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 5) (31 page)

The shock of sensation jolted her so intensely that only the press of his mouth kept her hips on the bed. As his tongue rekindled her smoldering fire, his fingers scissored rapidly back and forth inside her. Within seconds she cried out again but the grip she had on his hair was anything but relaxed.

"
Please
, she gasped. I need you inside me.
Deep inside me!
" she added in a strained, barely audible voice. "You win. I lose. Okay? Stop torturing me!"

Logan's heart swelled. He'd done it. Seduced her to a point of her begging. Another part of his anatomy was uncomfortably swollen but denying his own pleasure was part of his plan to win her over. "I'm not trying to torture you," he said with a chuckle. "I'm just trying to please you... and show you—"

She wrapped a hand around his shaft and squeezed so hard he was stunned into silence.
"Stop talking!"
she demanded in a deep, unfamiliar voice. The next instant, with more strength than her petite body should have been able to muster, she flipped him onto his back, pinned his shoulders down with her hands and mounted his erection.

Logan might have been able to enjoy her aggressive behavior if he had ever seen any hint of it being possible... or if he didn't feel how dangerously hot her body suddenly was...
or see the whites of her eyes turn blood red
.

Only because he had held back so long did he remain rigid enough for her to take what she wanted from him, but once she was finished and slumped into an unconscious heap on top of him, even his manhood lost interest in having a happy ending.

In all his fantasies about Tarla, she had never turned into an alien bent on sucking the life out of him.

* * *

"I want an explanation," Robin stated without preamble.

Geoffrey blinked the sleep out of his eyes and strained to focus on the woman standing over him with her fists planted on her hips. Even half asleep and in the dim light, he could tell she was furious with him. "I beg your pardon?"

"No, I will not pardon you. Not unless your explanation is completely believable."

Geoffrey pulled himself to a sitting position, careful to keep the sheet over his lower parts. When he'd opted to sleep in the nude, as he regularly did, he hadn't expected Robin to accost him in the middle of the night. "I will be most happy to explain whatever you'd like, but could it not wait until we've both had a bit more sleep?"

Robin huffed. "That's easy for you to say.
You
weren't laying here wide awake wondering whether you had bad breath or body odor!"

Geoffrey pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. He was fully awake now but she still made no sense. "I'm afraid you have me at a distinct disadvantage, Robin. Perhaps if we begin again and you explain what you want
me
to explain, we can solve your insomnia."

Robin huffed again and paced back and forth a few times before she could get it out. Even when she began to speak, however, she faced away, rather than look at him when he answered. "Do you prefer men? I mean, if you do, I'm fine with that, as long as I know it up front."

Geoffrey couldn't have been more stunned. He couldn't imagine what he'd done to cause her to question his sexual preference other than wearing a pink nightgown, and he hadn't been given a choice about that. However, he figured if he ever wanted to go back to sleep, he'd best answer her question. "No. I do not prefer men."

"Then what is it about me that you find so unattractive?"

Her second question proved he
could
be more stunned after all. "I... I don't find anything about you unattractive, Robin. You're... you're a lovely woman." Possibly the loveliest he'd ever encountered, he added to himself.

She whirled around at him and crossed her arms defensively. "Then why do you step away when I come near? Why do you avoid looking me in the eye? Why haven't you picked up on a single one of my obvious flirtations? And don't tell me it's because you're trying to fit in around here. You were doing your best to ignore me from the first minute we saw each other. I will admit that it's very self-centered of me, but I am not accustomed to being ignored by men. Usually it's the other way around. On the rare occasion when I choose
not
to ignore the man, I expect him to at least... show interest in return."

Geoffrey was finally following her train of thought, convoluted though it was. He had unintentionally bruised her feminine ego. By
not drooling over her the way he was tempted to do, he'd become a challenge to her. Though he had wished her flirtations were based on a mutual attraction, he hadn't believed it possible. That would have been no less than a miracle in his mind. Now it was up to him to say something that would soothe her injured pride and spare him embarrassment at the same time.

He cleared his throat and chose a lead-in sentence. "I have a confession to make." Although he avoided looking at her, he sensed her coming to his side.

"A confession?" she asked, her tone of voice revealing her eagerness for an acceptable excuse.

He nodded. "I'm... I'm incredibly shy around women. Especially exceptionally beautiful women like yourself. I never know quite what to say or how to behave."

She sat next to him and smiled as he tried to make more space between them. "I really do make you nervous, don't I?" she asked sweetly. "I don't mean to. I just go after what I want. Really, there's no reason to be nervous," Robin assured him. "Unless you're a virgin. You're not, are you?"

Geoffrey was able to chuckle at that. "No, I am not a virgin either."

"Good. Then there really is nothing for you to be shy about with me. I have all the same parts as any other woman you've been with. And if there's anything you're not sure about, I'll be more than happy to help."

He cleared his throat again and tried another tack. "My being shy is not the only thing holding me back from... from acting on my attraction to you. I pride myself on being a gentleman, as old-fashioned as that may sound. A gentleman would never take advantage of a woman when her resistance was down, even if she thought she wanted him at the moment. To pursue you in any way while you are so vulnerable, would be akin to my seducing a grieving widow. Only a rogue would behave so unconscionably."

Robin narrowed her eyes at him. "Hold on one teeny second. Let me try to rephrase your explanation into plain English... I mean, American. You think this wacky situation we're in has made me a weak little girl whose mind is too mucked up to know the difference between being attracted to a man and needing a strong shoulder to lean on."

Geoffrey grimaced at her annoyed tone. "I merely said that you're vulnerable right now—"

"News flash, smartass. I was attracted to you the first time I saw you,
before
we boarded the plane. Not only did I think you were an absolutely gorgeous specimen, there was something about you—your aura maybe—who knows, but it made me want to find out more about you. If all I needed was a man to protect me from the unknown, do you honestly believe I would have picked
you
rather than Logan or T.J. or any of the other muscle-bound young apes in our group?"

Geoffrey didn't know whether he'd just been flattered, insulted or chastised, so he gave no reply whatsoever. It worried him that her arguments sounded logical. Despite his belief that this was all just a game to someone as attractive as Robin, he realized she had the power to force him to play if she remained determined to do so.

"Time's up, Geoffrey," Robin said, breaking into his imaginings. "You don't want to answer my question because you know I'm right and you're wrong, but you're not ready to admit it. So let's make a deal. You say you're attracted to me but don't want to take advantage because I'm vulnerable right now. Okay. How much time do you think needs to go by before I stop being vulnerable and start knowing my own mind?"

He could see where this was headed and tried to derail her. "A year."

"
Bzzt!
Wrong answer. Try a week. One has gone by already. More than enough time to get over a shock."

"Not true. The current situation, with us sharing living quarters, is a brand new shock. Six months."

"One."

"Three," he said, combing his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Dammit, woman! I don't even know what I'm negotiating about any more."

"Two months," she said firmly. "I won't insist you give up this foolish chivalry for two months. But if I still want us to be more than roommates after that, you're mine to do whatever I want with."

Geoffrey shook his head and sighed. Since he was certain her interest in him could never last as long as two months, he agreed to her ultimatum.

"Good. Now there's just one more thing." Before he could avoid her, she twined her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his. He gently resisted for a moment, but she held tight until he was kissing her back. For a few more seconds she savored the intimacy, then she eased away. "I just thought you should have a taste of what you'd be enjoying tonight if you weren't such a perfect gentleman."

Before she went back into the bedroom, he asked, "You really didn't find any of the other men to your liking? I would think Logan—"

"Nope. You're the one. Besides, Logan's not available. He just doesn't know it yet."

She left him in the confused condition she'd intended and returned to her own bed, alone. She didn't feel badly that he'd negotiated her into a two-month period of neutrality. After a kiss that magical, he'd never be able to hold out that long.

* * *

Nadia shoved her breakfast aside. How could they expect her to eat this slop every day for the next five years? The least Parisia could have done was to send Fulton over to prepare her meals and take care of her laundry!

Losing Fulton after putting so much time into his unique training made her punishment that much worse. She wondered who would hire him now, and whether his new employer would figure out how to bribe him for gossip about his previous mistress, even though it was strictly forbidden for housemen to discuss their past or present employers.

If others learned of the services she had required of him, she might have difficulty hiring any houseman in the future. Even if she managed to acquire someone suitable, she knew she would never again be able to take the risks she had before—not if she ever wanted to climb back up the political ladder.

And the only thing that was going to keep her spirits up for five years was the belief that it was possible for her to recapture lost ground one day.

She was no longer under guard and the restraints on her wrists and ankles had been removed, but what good did it do? She was still a prisoner in a primitive commune while the Earth women now had freedom in her world. Ray Higgs, the scarred man, and the pretty blond man were gone too. By eavesdropping she'd learned of the outrageous defense plan Parisia had pushed through Parliament. If only she had been there...

But she hadn't been and there was no use fretting over past mistakes. What she had to do now was figure out how to improve her present circumstances.

Escaping was not an option at the moment. The controller had gone with the pretty man and her earlier plan to get Simone to help her was no longer feasible. Not that anyone would stop her from going into the transfer room and pleading for assistance while Simone was on duty. It was just logical to assume that Simone would never jeopardize her own future by aiding an ostracized citizen.

Actually, the only option she did have was which communal task she would perform in exchange for sustenance. As if it wasn't demeaning enough to have to manage without a servant, the earth cretins kept insisting she would have to do manual labor or she would not be permitted to eat. And it wasn't even decent food!

The mere thought of dealing with smelly four-legged beasts or dirtying her hands in the fields was completely repulsive to her. It was beyond her imagination to envision herself serving or cleaning up after men. The only chore she thought she might learn to tolerate was the preparation of food. At least that work was done indoors and required clean hands.

"Mornin', ma'am. Nadia, aint' it?"

Nadia looked up... and up. The man who had dared to approach appeared to be taller and broader across the shoulders than she was. His hair was blond, but cut so close to his scalp that he looked nearly bald.

"I'm Guy Wilkes," he said, as if she should be impressed, then sat next to her without asking permission.

She glared at him but it didn't seem to faze him in the least.

"Thought you might be needin' a friend about now." With a bold look on his face, he placed his hand over her knee.

Shocked at his impertinence, she bolted up from her seat. "How dare you touch me without permission?" she hissed. "I will report you to... to whomever has a semblance of authority in this deplorable place."

Wilkes laughed out loud and slapped his thigh. "I'll be goddamned! You really do think you're some sort of queen bee, don't you?"

She rose abruptly and started to walk away but he grabbed her robe and brought her up short. Sneering at him over her shoulder, she ordered, "Release me this instant, or I'll..."

"Or you'll
what
?" he challenged her right back. Standing up, he exchanged his hold on her robe for a fistful of black hair, tugging hard enough to make her eyes water. "If you think you can scare me like you did that wimp Higgs, you'd better think again, babe. In my world—which happens to be this here farm at the moment—men do the orderin', not broads. And that includes when, where and how we screw."