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  “But I should have thought about it when you said you saw a light. I’m used to crap like this but you’re not. It was my responsibility, it’s my fame that’s affected you and your reputation.”

  “There’s two of us standing there,” I said, looking at the photo again. “Two of us responsible for where we have sex.”

  Logan picked up his mug, drained the last of the coffee.

  “This is not your fault and I don’t blame you… Neither will my father,” I said. “And besides, no one is interested in me, or who I am. They’re just interested in you and what you’re doing while you’re out of the game.”

  “Well, there’s no prizes for guessing now, are there?” He lifted his head and with relief I saw a sparkle return. “At least it boosts my rep in the locker room. The guys will know now I don’t turn off all women.”

  I could have retorted that he would turn on one hundred percent of straight women. And that every woman who looked at that photo would be jealous as hell, but I selfishly decided not to put that thought into his head. I kinda liked having him to myself.

  “I’ve already spoken to Fergal’s assistant,” he said. “She’s upping security around the villa’s grounds. We won’t be bothered again while we’re here.”

  “Oh, okay, good.”

  He studied me for a moment. “You’ll still come to the game on Saturday night, won’t you?”

  “Of course I will.”

  “I was worried you wouldn’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Because this is my life, this is what it’s like, day to day, and if we leave a game together you’ll have to expect interest from the press.” He reached for my hand. “Since Tina left they haven’t had any fodder for gossip when it comes to my sex life.” His right eyebrow twitched. “Not to say I’ve been abstinent, I just haven’t met anyone I was happy to go public with, be seen out with until now.” His eyes locked with mine. “And now there’s a ‘mystery woman’, there’s going to be a lot of interest.”

  “Well, this is one hell of a way to get seen out with someone.”

  He lifted the back of my hand to his mouth. “Was good, though, wasn’t it?” His hot breath tickled my skin and sent little darts of pleasure up my arm.

  I looked at my face again in the picture. There was no denying what he’d just said, it was written all over my expression. “Yes,” I said, “it was really, really good.”

  * * * * *

  Logan went for a run on the beach and left me with my bagel and coffee. I couldn’t help but read the whole article once he’d disappeared into the distance. My gaze was pulled to it like a magnet. It was like having a big cake and being told not to eat it, irresistible even though you knew it would make you feel sick.

  “Vacationing in paradise, he looked the picture of happiness and contentment. Fergal Gunner is going to be glad he sent his best, not to mention most expensive forward away for the week, sun, sea and…sand being the perfect antidote for a player who’s lost his temper one time too many lately.

  “Great things will be expected now from Phoenix on Saturday against the New York Islanders, if he’s not getting a touch of every puck and a piece of every play then questions will be asked about his future in Orlando. Is he financially viable? One bad game doesn’t make a season, but any more altercations or visits to the sin bin and the bad boy of ice will be skating right out of the tunnel and right off the team.”

  I pulled in a deep breath. Bad boy of ice. Logan was bad all right, but in the best possible way. I looked at the picture again and a blush came to my cheeks. I wasn’t the sort of girl who normally indulged in shenanigans such as skinny-dipping. And I should have known it was never going to be without consequence, not with a hockey player, not with a big, sexy, dominant man who’d definitely fallen under the spell of my curves.

  But the thought of us being watched last night, watched from the bushes by someone with a long lens and a night-vision camera, gave me a weird thrill at the same time as it made me hopping mad. It had turned into a sex exhibition for some money-hungry photographer, and now the whole country was reading about me and seeing my face at the pinnacle of pleasure.

  My blush receded. At least I didn’t really have to worry about any family seeing it, since I didn’t have any who walked this earth anymore and Giselle would no doubt think it a hoot.

  I felt the heat on my cheeks return at the thought of Max, my boss at The Grill, an avid NHL fan, reading this particular sports section. Seeing my face contorted with ecstasy and the big, black block over my breasts would probably cause him to choke on his morning bacon roll and keel over dead. That would send my balance out of kilter for years.

  Sighing, I licked butter from my fingers and finished my coffee. I thought of Saturday, of having to face the crowds, the press and the other players now that I’d promised to go. It obviously meant a lot to Logan. We hadn’t known each other long but there was a strong connection between us. Something drawing us together like the faithful flock to Mecca. I didn’t want to fall in love with him, or even get a crush on him. It was too soon and too complicated, at least until I refused the money and removed that component of our paths crossing.

  I looked at the gentle undulation of the waves stretching over the horizon. It was impossible to change history. I knew that. I was here because I’d wanted money, a whole lot of money, and there was no changing that fact. But regardless of the method of our meeting the heavens had brought our souls together. All I had to do now was take the money out of the equation for the future. Because it just didn’t seem right and it certainly didn’t bode well for my karma.

  Carrying my breakfast things into the kitchen, I paused at the phone on the hall table. I had a sudden urge to speak to Giselle, tell her everything and see what she made of it all.

  I dialed her silver cell phone. It rang six times before I remembered it was her afternoon to meet Fergal for their “cream date”. I dropped the phone back in the receiver as an image of Giselle and an old, gray, skinny guy covered in whipped cream entered my head. I shuddered and headed toward my bedroom. It was an image I could have done without.

  Shutting myself in my en-suite, I conjured a picture of Logan’s big, hunky, golden body covered in whipped cream—whipped cream topped with strawberries and chocolate sprinkles—and maybe a few marshmallows and cherries for good measure. Now that was much better, and it brought a smile to my face as I set about my morning beauty regimen.

  An hour later, just as I was getting bored of my nursing texts, Logan appeared in the doorway. He paused, reaching up and curling his fingers over the doorframe and hung there, eyeing me sprawled on the bed.

  His dark, rumpled hair suggested he, too, was fresh from the shower. I licked my lips, he was temptation personified with his broad bare chest, loose gray sweats and bare feet. My gaze slid down his body—apart from a few scars, dents and nicks, his skin and muscles were as solid and flawless as polished brass. I felt my body tingle as a flood of need and female appreciation swamped through me.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, fine.” Apart from the fact I was getting so turned-on just by looking at him that I might actually fling my desperate body at his any second.

  “Sure?”

  “Not a lot we can do about the newspaper is there?” I guessed that was what he was talking about, rather than my nymph-like thoughts.

  “Nope, once it’s printed it’s out there, but tomorrow it’ll be old news.”

  I swung my feet off the bed and tossed my book to the side. My nerves were jittery and my heart fluttery, I didn’t trust myself to stand.

  Logan let go of the doorframe and walked toward me, glancing at my discarded book with hooded eyes. “You finished reading?”

  “Yes, I’m bored stiff of anatomy.”

  His brows raised and an amused grin tilted his lips. “Mmm, anatomy makes me stiff too…especially yours.”

  My breath scratched my throat. I wanted him so badly. Now that I knew how Loga
n could make me feel I was greedy for more, much more, and I had to let him know. “So what are you going to do about it…bad boy?” I reached for the waistband of his pants, tugging the elastic and urging him between my knees. Another, even stronger rush of desire seized me as the scent of the rich shower gel we’d used last night filtered up my nose and reminded me of him filling my mouth.

  A feral look crossed his face and the amusement left his eyes. He glanced at my breasts, barely contained in a tight white tank top. “I’m going to give you a real good, real interesting lesson in anatomy.” He swiped his tongue out the corner of his mouth and licked across his top lip. “You’re gonna learn all about your body and exactly what it likes best.”

  My nipples tightened. Just his gaze turned me on to the point where I was buzzing, actually contracting my internal muscles and imagining him in me again. It was crazy, this new, uncontrollable lust. I’d never felt anything like it before.

  He stooped and curled his fingers beneath my t-shirt, yanked it up and over my head. My hair piled around my shoulders and I pulled in a tight breath.

  “Damn, that’s almost too pretty to take off,” he said, looking at my pale pink bra laced with tiny flowers. “Almost, but not quite.” He slid his expert fingers behind my back, released the hook and slipped it from my body.

  My gaze was caught by the growing bulge beneath the soft material of his pants. Impatiently I tugged and dropped them to his thighs. He wore nothing beneath and his hard cock sprang out, right in front of my breasts, the engorged head just an inch from my cleavage, highlighted by sunlight spilling in from the open French doors.

  “Now that gives me an idea for your first lesson,” he said, palming my breasts. “A damn good idea.” His voice was so sandpaper rough it had my skin prickling.

  He pressed his hips forward so the length of his shaft wedged in between my breasts, flattened his palms, stretched out his fingers and gently angled my soft breasts so they totally surrounded his cock, creating a long, fleshy channel to hold him tight.

  His face darkened and his abs, right in front of my face, turned to a wall of bricks. “Fuck, that’s nice,” he said. His gaze caught mine. His eyes shone a deeper blue than usual, glazed with lust. “You okay with this, sweetie?”

  How could I not be? It felt wonderful, the sensation of his hot cock pressed against my sternum. And the delicate inner section of my breasts holding his satiny skin was so erotic my panties were getting wetter and hotter by the second. “Yes,” I said, pressing my hands over his and increasing the pressure around his cock. “Yes, Logan, it’s good for me. Really good.”

  He let out a groan and dipped his knees so his cock dropped to the bottom of my squeezed cleavage then shifted upward, dragging his hard shaft through my skin until the scarlet head surfaced.

  I let out a moan to match his. My stomach clenched and my pelvis tightened. My nipples were so aroused they’d twisted to hard bullets poking toward him.

  His head tipped back as he dipped again, rode back up and then repeated the action. I pressed harder against his hands, giving him permission to tighten the channel he was fucking. I wasn’t going to break.

  “God, this must be every man’s fantasy,” he said on a sharp breath. “So fucking hot…” The tips of his thumbs found my nipples and he plucked the stiff peaks.

  I let go of his hands, left him to hold my breasts in place, and reached for his bare butt. The skin was so smooth over marble muscle. God, I loved his butt. When I looked up at him, there was a mixture of raw possession and sweet tenderness in his eyes as he stared down at my body taking his.

  “Come,” I said in a voice so husky I surprised myself. “Like this, come on me.”

  I didn’t need to tell him twice. His nostrils flared and he ducked down and smoothed upward with more force. He shut his eyes tight and bared his teeth, hissing in a breath.

  Then he pulled back, grabbed his cock in his hands and began working his shaft, hard and urgent, jerking it in a rapid back-and-forth movement.

  “Hold yourself together,” he said in a tight voice. “Quick.”

  I let go of his sweet butt. Lifted my breasts again, squashing them together. Watching him pump himself was hot, so hot, and he was so near to climax I could see his slit widening. I trembled with need of my own, I could barely catch my breath.

  “Yes, yes, fucking…yes…” he grunted as the first warm, creamy splatter hit my cleavage dead center. He groaned as if in agony and his cock pulsated again. More pearly jets shot from the head, spurting onto my breasts. He directed his cock to the left and the right, covering me in his sticky release.

  As the last drip seeped from the end, he stooped and his mouth caught mine, plunging his tongue in as he threaded his hands into my hair and held me tight. “You’re something else,” he murmured between kisses. “Too damn good to be true.”

  I was as breathless as he was. “Wait there,” he said, releasing me and kicking completely out of his pants. “I’ll be right back.”

  Chapter Seven

  I sat on the edge of the bed, heart hammering, dizzy with lust, waiting and wondering.

  He appeared back at the door in less than a minute, white washcloth in one hand, white beach bag in the other.

  “What’s in there?” I asked, pushing my hair from my sweat-damp face and eyeing the bag.

  His gaze deepened and he stepped closer, taking up my space and reminding me of his dominating size. His cock had gone to full hardness again already.

  “Just something I found in the cupboard in my bedroom.” He put the bag on the bed and gently wiped the cloth over my chest. It was warm and damp and he wiped away his semen effortlessly.

  “Strip,” he said.

  I stood on legs weak with anticipation and wriggled out of my sweatpants and pink panties. He pulled open the bag and propped it on the bedside table.

  I leaned over to take a look. Straightaway I found myself flushing on my cheeks, my chest and in between my legs. There were a pair of black leather handcuffs, several tubes of lube—some used, some new—a scattering of condoms and two enormous pink vibrators. There was a smaller box, too, sealed with film from the shop, a cellophane window revealed a long, tapered sex toy with a wide base and two folded arms. My blood pressure rocketed. I had no intention of going near someone else’s vibrator, but that thing was new and Logan was eyeing it with a decidedly wicked glint.

  “What’s that?” I asked, a small spurt of concern mixing with my curiosity and desire.

  “That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he replied, cupping my face in his hands. His voice deepened. “I want to take you somewhere exciting and sexy and so damn hot it’ll blow both our minds.” His lips were almost touching mine, his low voice a hypnotic murmur. “Do you think you can trust me, sweetie, to take you there and bring you back?”

  I looked at the naked need in his eyes. He’d just come but he was still hungry for me, not satisfied until I was. “Yes,” I said quietly, “Yes, I trust you, Logan.”

  “Enough to let me have total control over you and even if you think it’s not what you want, allow me to carry on?” He licked his lips. “Trust me to show you how good I can make you feel deep, deep inside?” His eyes gleamed with self-assurance as the deep timbre of his voice vibrated through me.

  “Yes.” I had no idea what I was agreeing to but I trusted him to be in charge of my sexual satisfaction more than I’d ever trusted any other man. “Yes.”

  I didn’t have time to change my mind. Quick as a flash he had my wrists down by my stomach and pressed together in just one of his hands. In a swift movement he wrapped the cool stiff handcuffs around them and clicked them secure. I went to tug them but instead squeaked in surprise as he threw me down on the bed and dropped his bulk on top of me.

  His carnal smile ripped a tremor from my guts. I got the feeling he was done with gentle seduction, and the sheer size and strength of him had me delirious with anticipation. “I’m going to fuck you now, Brooke. You read
y?” I suddenly got an idea of what it must be like for an opponent facing him on the ice—I was glad he liked me.

  “Yes!” I said, spreading my legs and trying to hook my captured wrists over his head. But he shifted, gripped my waist and flipped me onto my hands and knees. Pulses of heat and pleasure tore through me as I looked down at my breasts hanging heavy and aroused. He moved me around as if I was a plaything supplied for his enjoyment.

  “Keep still,” he said as I wriggled and attempted to face him. “Keep still and let me look at this pretty ass of yours.” Big hands wrapped around my hipbones and pulled my butt upward. My elbows dropped on the mattress and I arched my spine. I was open and exposed to his gaze—my pussy and my ass. I trembled with need but was helpless to do anything about it.

  Firm hands kneaded my buttocks, palming the soft flesh. I sank my forehead into the mattress, shutting my eyes and breathing through an adrenaline rush that was making me dizzy. I felt so close to coming already. Logan was getting quite kinky. I hadn’t expected it but, damn, I had a feeling it was going to be good.

  He released my buttocks and set about exploring with his fingers. Down the cleft of my butt, over the tight ring of my anus and into my sopping folds. “Please,” I said, bucking away as he touched my most intimate hole and then back for more as he found the entrance of my needy pussy. “Please…”

  “All in good time,” he said through a chuckle.

  I huffed in frustration. Just because he’d already come, he could afford patience. Not fair.

  “Is this what you want?” He penetrated me with two fingers, right to the knuckle, stretching me deliciously. I whimpered an agreement as he began a slow, steady pump, stroking the ultrasensitive pad of flesh on my inner wall, which was already pulsating for more. “You like that?” he asked, bending over to nibble my ear.