SevenSensuousDays (7 page)

When he offered the garments to her, she couldn’t help but
tease, “Sure you don’t want to keep them?”

His face colored. He shoved the wad into her purse.

Tessa touched the bag. “I’ll take it.” She leaned toward
him. “If you don’t mind.”

Logan huffed out the huge breath he’d just taken and
delivered the purse. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

“I’m stronger than you can ever imagine.”

“Oh yeah?” He looked intrigued. “Tell me.”

“Later,” she promised. “At lunch. By the pond.” Hopefully,
they’d have a chance to talk about him then.

He must have guessed her intent, because his previous
interest turned guarded. Moving past her, he reached the door and opened it.

She entered first, stopping immediately, holding back a gasp
of surprise.

The foyer was cathedral-like, the steepled ceiling part
reddish wood, part glass. Sun drenched the numerous indoor plants, burnished
hardwood floors, and lengthy Persian rugs, the intricate designs woven in
crimson, blue and taupe threads. Outside of a mahogany credenza and a couple of
accent tables—with more waxy green plants on them—there was very little
furniture.

Just enough for her to bend over at the waist so Logan could
mount her from behind. Unless he directed her to her hands and knees so he
could take her on one of those ginormous rugs.

Tessa went dizzy at the thought. She pulled in as much air
as she could, detecting a hint of citrusy polish and an alpine scent, possibly
Febreze.

Unable to help herself, she gushed. “The pictures didn’t do
this place justice.”

Logan didn’t comment. Tessa glanced over. His head was bent
to her ass, his expression distracted, longing.

She should have undressed faster, and would have if she’d
known it would be as wonderful as this.

Wanting to play with him, she spoke louder, “Don’t you
think?”

He blinked, then regarded her. “I’m sorry. What was the
question?”

“Don’t you think that you have a really nice place?”

He regarded it as if noticing for the first time. “Yeah.
Sure.”

“Must be murder to keep clean.”

He lifted his shoulders. “I would imagine.”

“You weren’t expecting me to do much more than cooking for
you, right?” Tessa asked.

“Far more,” he answered immediately. “Though cleaning won’t
be a part of it.”

She grinned as he did, losing her smile first at the sudden
sounds she heard.

Faint clacking noises came from somewhere to the left,
followed by a couple of muffled thuds as though something or someone had struck
the wall. All too quickly, Tessa became aware of her partial nudity. Had one of
Logan’s caretakers come back to clean up a bit more, spray some extra air
freshener, make a late lunch?

She stepped back, her shoulder bumping his, her purse
covering her. She muttered, “Shouldn’t you tell them to stop?”

“Who?”

His breath brushed her neck, he was that close. Despite her
concern, Tessa shivered at its warmth and his scent, way better than anything
Febreze offered. “Your caretakers.”

“I told you, they’re gone.”

“Well, someone’s coming down the hall. Please tell them to
stop.”

“Can’t. They won’t listen.”

She made a face.

He smiled. “Relax. Look.”

Two Lab puppies, both black, rounded the corner, losing
their footing on the waxed surface. The first one, and then the second, bumped
into the wall. They recovered quickly and bounded toward Logan.

Tessa pressed her palm to her chest at how adorable they
were. The male puppy was all over Logan, jumping on his legs, licking his
jeans. The female pup gazed up at Tessa in wonder.

“How’d you get her to do that?” Tessa asked.

Logan picked up the male dog and scratched him behind the
ears. “Do what? She’s just sitting there on her haunches.”

While sucking a pacifier. It was pink with glittery sparkles
embedded in the plastic. The pup held it in her mouth just as an infant would. “Did
you teach her to suck on that thing?”

“And ruin her teeth?” He smiled. “Molly came that way from
the breeder. He said she took the pacifier from his daughter. His wife let
Molly keep it because it was the only way to quiet her down.”

Aw. “Poor sweetie.” Tessa slung her purse’s strap over her
shoulder and scooped Molly into her arms. The pup breathed and drooled around
the pacifier. “You missed your momma?”

She made a doggy noise that sounded like contentment or
love. Tessa rubbed her nose against the sweet thing’s snout. Molly let the
pacifier drop from her mouth, then licked Tessa with abandon.

She laughed. “Who’s the big boy?”

Logan glanced at his fly. Tessa elbowed him playfully,
filled with the confidence he’d given her.

“Oh,” he said. “You mean him.” He lifted the pup in one
hand. “This is Jack.”

“You’re a doll too,” Tessa said, shaking Jack’s paw.

He squirmed in Logan’s hand, wanting freedom.

“Can I take Molly into the kitchen with me?” Tessa asked,
retrieving the pacifier and offering it to her. “While I make us lunch?”

“Sure. If you can keep her in there, you’re a better man
than I am.”

Tessa tilted her head and regarded Logan’s full, luscious
length. All those hard slabs of muscle. One hundred percent male prime. “I
doubt that. What do you like to eat?”

He focused on her unprotected cleft and equally naked
nipples. “Surprise me.”

His baritone seemed even deeper.

“Sure you want that?” she asked.

Fascination swept over his face at what she might provide.
However, behind it Tessa still saw a bit of reserve. Not wanting any thoughts
to intrude, she gestured to her luggage. “Want me to take that?”

“I’ll put it upstairs. You’re going to keep your purse?”

“Absolutely. I’ll carry Molly in it.”

“You are brave.”

“Strong,” she corrected with a wink.

Logan didn’t return it. “No, brave. She’s not exactly what
you’d call housebroken.”

“Guess you’ll have to stay here then.” Tessa snuggled the pooch
between her breasts and kissed the top of her head.

“Lucky dog,” Logan mumbled.

“What was that?”

He lifted her luggage, swinging it back and forth as if it
weighed nothing to such a big, strong, macho man. “I’ll take this upstairs.”

“Wait.”

Logan paused at the bottom step. “Change your mind about
fixing a meal?”

Tessa didn’t answer immediately, noting what he’d left
unspoken. That she continued to delay the inevitable.

Damn right. She liked him more with each passing moment,
especially the way they flirted so easily. It felt good, needed, as though they
were beginning to be friends. She didn’t want an abrupt end to that, a shift to
something more erotic but less substantial.

Lust would come…when the time was right.

At last, she answered, “Not unless you refuse to tell me
where the kitchen is.” She arched one eyebrow. “I’m good with my hands, but I’m
no girl scout. Can’t start a fire with two sticks or anything like that.”

“Don’t be so certain.”

She fought her smile. “You don’t have a kitchen here? It’s okay
if you don’t. I’m not judgmental at all.”

“God help me if I’d been a conservative.”

“Your words, not mine.”

He narrowed his eyes and feigned a hard tone. “Down the hall
to your left. It’s the room with all the appliances in it. Just like the
pictures in Architectural Digest.”

“How convenient.” She grew as serious as he had. “Should I
holler if I get lost?”

“Just use your computer. Check out the floor plan the
magazine ran.”

They hadn’t. Not that Tessa could tell him that. He was
already climbing the stairs, with Jack doing his best to follow.

Had she teased Logan too much? No. He’d like it. Tessa knew
that as well as she understood her own heart. She craned her neck for a better
view, studying his firm ass and muscular thighs. Reaching the landing, he turned
and looked down at her as he waited for his pup.

Busted, Tessa couldn’t move or breathe.

Logan was far less emotional, showing no surprise or obvious
pleasure that she’d been watching. A few strands of his hair had fallen over
his forehead. It made him seem younger, almost boyish. He wasn’t though.
Technically, he was the master of this place and her until next Sunday. A man
who would demand when the time arrived. Of that, Tessa was certain.

His expression grew thoughtful, almost wanting. Before he
revealed too much of himself, he rounded the wall at the top with Jack yapping
at his heels.

Tessa waited until his footfalls had faded, then went down
the hall, holding Molly in one arm and digging in her purse with her other hand
for her iPhone. Although she’d turned the ringtone’s volume way down, Lady Gaga’s
Poker Face
sounded deafening. Who could be calling her now?

The display read
Felicity
.

“Hi, what’s up?” Tessa whispered into her phone.

“That’s what I was about to ask you,” Felicity whispered
back. “Everything all right?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“Ronnie called. She said you had kind of strange
conversation with Wallace on the way to Logan’s. She asked me if everything was
all right with you. I assured her it was, then figured I better call to make
certain. “

Tessa paused in the kitchen’s doorway. She tilted her head,
her chin going up, up, up at all those windows. “Wow, you’d never believe this
place.”

“What place? Logan’s home?”

Tessa nodded. She whispered, “You did tell Ronnie that I’d
never ask Logan about his past. Never. Not my business.”

“That’s basically what I said.”

“Good. I just want to know other stuff about him.”

Felicity mewled like an injured animal or someone on the
verge of orgasm.

“Are you with your guy now?” Tessa asked.

“Well yeah, but he’s sleeping. What did you mean by the
other stuff about him—Logan.”

Everything that’s left.
“Nothing bad, believe me. It’s
going well.”
Unbelievably well.
Tessa regarded her partial nudity,
trying to see it as Logan appeared to…as though she were luscious, succulent,
not lacking in the looks department. “You’d never believe what I’m doing. What
he’s already asked for.”

With his hands behind his head, Logan lay on the mattress in
the master bedroom, a king-size four-poster constructed of a dark wood the
decorator had chosen. Heavy beams supported the A-frame ceiling above him. The
west wall was nothing but windows, revealing the small forest that bordered the
house.

He didn’t bother looking at those trees or the rustic
ceiling. The posts at the foot of the bed had captured and continued to hold
his attention. He kept picturing Tessa secured to them, arms above her head,
nude except for her body jewelry, that awesome bra, and adorable shoes. He
really liked those little bows, so fucking innocent.

Sort of like the woman who wore them, though not entirely,
at least when they’d kissed. He recalled the taste of her lips and tongue, her
mouth loose and wanting beneath his. He remembered how rigid her nipple had
been after he’d run his forefinger around it, its natural tint a delicate pink.
The color of candy hearts so popular around Valentine’s Day, an unexpected
blend of innocence and seduction.

His cock stiffened even more. He adjusted his legs, hips.
Didn’t help. His jeans felt as though they were several sizes too small. It was
too hot in here too, the air close, stifling.

His thoughts out of control.

With Tessa secured to one of the posts, he’d be able to do
whatever he wanted for hours. Dragging his thumbs over her nipples, licking,
sucking them, grinding his groin into hers. Her sweet, smooth pussy would absorb
the roughness of the denim, his cock hard and meaty behind his fly.

She’d say something eventually. Or rather, surely. In that
department, she wasn’t at all shy. However, he’d quiet her down with his deep,
brutal kisses. Enjoying them and her…as an escort, not a woman he was starting
to like. That wasn’t in his program.

Downstairs, her sandals slapped against the hardwood floor,
the consistency of the sounds revealing how she paced. She was directly below
him in the kitchen, the vents delivering whatever noise she made to this room.
Jack scurried around, bumping into furniture, tripping on the rug as he tried
to locate the source of the tapping. Tessa’s voice cut in and out, her words
subdued, unintelligible. Either she was talking to Molly, herself, or perhaps
someone on her cell phone.

Wallace? Had she changed her mind about all of this?

A pang of worry tightened Logan’s chest even as good sense
told him she should have second thoughts. It would be best if she left before
they went any farther and things got too uncontrollable. Already this wasn’t
turning out at all as he’d expected or planned.

In the days between winning her at the auction and the
moment Wallace had pulled up, Logan kept seeing himself hauling her to this
room, ordering her to undress. While she was sprawled on the mattress, he’d
planned to enjoy her orally first, licking her soft petals, tonguing her clit.
When she was in the midst of her orgasm and then her afterglow, he’d intended
to strip and fuck her into tomorrow. Then repeat the same thing for seven days.

He’d hoped by the time she noticed what his nudity revealed,
she wouldn’t let on how the scarring bothered her. Trained to be the perfect
companion, she’d pretend his flaws were no big deal. If she’d been the typical
escort—which she definitely was not—her demeanor and words would assure him
that he was so hot, so fucking hung that was all she could focus on.

Not that he’d believe any of that shit. Better if she didn’t
talk at all about his body, pretending not to notice what was good or bad. He
certainly didn’t want her or anyone’s sympathy.