Pursuit (15 page)

****

Logan lay beside Lauren with his arm thrown over his forehead, taking huge drags of oxygen into his lungs. Nothing he'd ever experienced in his life could compare to what had just happened to him. Not before her, and not since he'd met her. It was always good with her, it had always
been
good, from the very beginning, but what she'd just said to him was literally blowing his mind.

He liked it. No question he liked it. Fuck, he loved it.

But had she meant what she'd said? Or had she only said it because she'd been under the influence of a powerful orgasm? Did she only think she loved him because he knew how to push all of her buttons, how to give her the kind of sex that he knew for a fact she loved and that she'd never had before he came along?

Whatever. He was going to hold on tight and soon, he would remind her of what she
'd said, because there was one damn thing he knew for sure: she was never getting away from him.

Never.

****

Lauren slowly recovered and she opened her eyes to find Logan flat on his back with his arm over his forehead, but his head was turned toward her and he was staring at her. His eyes held an expression she
'd never seen before, except for possibly the first time they'd gone to bed together. They smoldered with a feral fire, a possessiveness that was inflexible. He stared at her without mercy, with no respite offered, with an irrefutable look that told her unequivocally that she belonged to him. She could clearly read the expression on his face. Suddenly, she knew; the window of opportunity to try to impose her will was gone. Logan was the master and he was seizing control.

She shivered in reaction and wondered what had put that expression on his face. And then it hit her like a shot in the dark.

She'd said it out loud
. She'd told him the thing she'd been thinking for weeks. And he wasn't kicking her out of bed and picking up his cell phone to block his number.

Oh, no, quite the contrary.

By his look she could tell that he was claiming her. He was letting her know that he'd not only heard what she'd said, but that he wasn't going to let her take it back. He was invoking his authority and asserting his power.
He would get his way in this.

A mind-numbing arrow of bliss flipped her stomach over. And why shouldn
't she let him have his way?

There was no reason she shouldn
't.

He was a good man and she was madly in love with him.

****

Slowly, over the next two weeks, Logan made sure that Lauren almost completely moved in with him. As she stood in her apartment after work one day and looked at the non-existent clothes left in her closet, it suddenly hit her how much of a one-track mind he had about their relationship.

He wanted it cemented. Set in stone. He'd never told her, but she could clearly see it.

She looked around her apartment. Her furniture still remained, of course, as did most everything in her kitchen. But the stuff she used daily, her clothes, her toiletries, her personal effects, everything was at his house now.

She had a set of keys to his house, and he had a set of keys to her apartment, even though they never stayed here anymore.

As she stood and looked around, she realized how quickly her life had become centered around him. And she was glad.

He made her happy, and the only 'but' to the equation was how quickly it had all happened. She was twenty-five years old, and she had never really imagined herself getting in so deep at this age. Several of her friends had gotten married the second they'd graduated from college. So twenty-five certainly wasn't too young, but in that farthest area of her brain where she vaguely thought about a husband and children, she saw it in the future, maybe somewhere around twenty-eight or thirty.

Logan had turned twenty-nine the week before. She didn
't know why that thought suddenly seemed important to her, but it did.

She bent down and grabbed the bag she
'd been hunting for at the back of her closet and walked out to the living room and tried to focus.

Abruptly she came to a dead stop as the realization hit her.

Logan was going to ask her to marry him.

She took a deep breath and sank down on the couch. Now that she thought about it, there was little doubt in her mind. She didn
't know when or how soon, but the notion wouldn't go away. He was so utterly possessive that just living with her wouldn't be enough for him. He'd want it all. He'd want her body, heart and soul.

And he wouldn
't take no for an answer. He had no 'give' to him. She would have to decide if she was going to break up with him, or marry him. She wasn't going to break up with him,
no way
. There wasn't a decision to be made. There was no way in hell she was giving him up.

Her heart began pounding against her breastbone as she went over his actions. He
'd maneuvered her into this relationship from the very second he'd caught her staring at him, and she hadn't really known why, other than the obvious reason.

He
'd never said he loved her.

And she
'd never said it again, either.

But thinking about it now, and not for the first time, she thought he did love her. He was just too
'into her', too caring, too possessive, too protective. It was almost as if his world revolved around her, and she got a squishy, marshmallow-like feeling in the pit of her stomach just thinking about it. Yeah, he gave her goosebumps and butterflies, and they didn't seem to be letting up as the months slid by.

He was protective and so utterly possessive. She thought about what he
'd said to her about someday wanting his sperm. Lauren could well and truly imagine having his children. She tried to picture another man as the father of those ambiguous little babies, and nothing came to her. Just the idea repelled her. All she wanted was Logan.

So she knew he was going to ask her to marry him. Or if she knew Logan, he
'd probably
tell her
that she was going to marry him. And she was going to say
yes,
quick fast.

So, really, the only question was, when would it happen?

****

Logan pushed inside of Lauren and then stilled, trying to let the feel of her wrapped tightly around him soothe the ache he felt. Yeah, he had an ache, an emptiness in the pit of his stomach that he thought would be appeased by sliding into her, but it was still there, fucking with his head.

He kissed her gently on the mouth and smoothed back her hair. She was soft and hot and tight around him, and he knew in a few seconds he wasn't going to be able to control himself any longer. He was going to start pumping no matter what his brain was telling him to do.

But for now, he delved his tongue into her mouth and tasted her. She tasted of warmth and sweetness, of Lauren and. . . home. His tongue swirled around, tempting her to play with him. She moaned sweetly into his mouth, and she began sucking on his tongue as her hips lifted in a silent attempt to get him to move. An arrow of pure lust slammed him hard, but he still had a nagging emptiness that he couldn
't explain.

He lifted his head and stared down at her. She was peering at him intently, with her arms wrapped around his shoulders. She stared at him with a look of open desire, and his heart turned over in response.
"You're so sweet."

Her sultry look turned so tender that it almost took his breath away.
"You're sweet too, Logan."

He pushed farther inside and a spark arced between them, even as he quirked a half-smile.
"No, I'm not, I'm an ass." He tried to ignore the current of electricity that flowed between them and concentrate on her.

She hit his shoulder and lifted her hips at the same time.
"You're my ass."

He couldn
't help it, he let out a smirk and she said, "That didn't come out the right way."

He dropped a single kiss on her lips.
"I know what you meant."

"
And I'm right, aren't I? You're mine." Her blue eyes held his.

He nodded his head, his gaze on hers as the demand she made somewhat mitigated the ache he felt.
"Yeah."

"
And I'm yours," she continued softly.

"
Oh, yeah. You're mine." He slid out and pumped back into her, and she gasped. "You want me to do that again?"

She pushed her hips up to his, silently begging him for more.
"I always want you to do that again," she said in a voice colored with heightened arousal.

He slid his hands around her face.
"And I'm here to make you happy." He swallowed hard and tried to temper his voice. "I'll do it again if you tell me one thing," he bargained.

Her eyes were slipping closed, the purity in the lines of her face being replaced with a primitive hunger, but he couldn
't allow that to happen, not yet, not until he got what he needed from her to fill the starving place in his heart. "Hey, open your eyes."

Her eyes flew open.
"Please, Logan."
She wriggled against him, her hips thrusting up to his.

"
Okay. I'm going to give it to you, baby. Right after you tell me something."

Her eyebrows came together in confusion.
"What do you want?"

He stared down at her. He had to have this. He nudged her with his hips.
"Tell me."

She panted softly, her wet heat dripping for him the longer he made her wait.
"Tell you what?" she mewled as her internal muscles clenched around him, and he knew she was trying to soothe her own ache.

He gritted his teeth at her provocative action and refused to move.
"Tell me, Lauren."

Abruptly, he knew when she finally understood what he was asking. A pink flush came over her face and he felt the slight tremble of her hands at his shoulders. Her hips stopped moving and her eyes closed and then opened again. She licked her lips.

He could see it there. The truth. He could see the love shining from her eyes, but she wasn't opening her mouth to give him the words.

He had to have the words.

He tightened his hold on her cheekbones. "Baby, it's going to be okay. I've got you. You can trust me." He kept his words calm and steady so she wouldn't know how messed up he was on the inside. "I'll never let anything or anyone hurt you. I need this.
I need you
. You've got to give me the words again before I go crazy."

His eyes focused on her pink lips and surrendering for the moment, he dropped his mouth over hers.

****

His words captivated her. Lauren
's pulse raced as Logan's lips parted hers and his tongue thrust inside. Her brain was nothing but scrambled mush. But she did understand one thing. He was all but begging her to tell him that she loved him again. And although he hadn't just said the same words to her, what he had said had underlined how much he did love her.

He
'd say it eventually.

She wasn
't going to force him into doing something he wasn't ready to do yet.

And anyway, it didn
't matter because she knew the truth.
He loved her
.

She threaded her fingers through his hair and kissed him back with everything she had to give.

He slowly began to pump into her, and desire came slamming back and hit her so hard it almost took her breath away.

She met him slow thrust for slow thrust.

In a mad state of delirium, she felt his mouth slide from hers and fasten on her ear. He pulled her lobe into his mouth and sucked her there.

And then he lifted from her and she opened her eyes to find him staring down at her. She knew her own eyes were drugged with the passion that held her in its thrall, and as he slowly pumped into her, she knew, deep in her heart, that she could never live without him.

She swallowed and stared up at him. "I love you," she whispered, wanting nothing more than to give him what he wanted.

Lauren couldn
't describe the look on his face. His eyes closed for a second, and when they opened, he looked exalted. His features came alive and an expression of pure satisfaction lit his eyes.

His hands tightened on her and he stared at her as he slowly pumped into her, as if spellbound.
"Say it again."

She felt her heart sing with delight and peace infiltrated her system.
"I love you."

He slid in deep and Lauren gasped as he hit her womb. His eyes wouldn
't release hers. "Again," he hissed, as arousal turned his voice to gravel.

"
Logan--"

"
Again,"
he forced out between gritted teeth.

"
I love you."