Northern Fascination (10 page)

He wrapped his arm around her from behind, pulling her up against him. “I could come over for breakfast tomorrow morning, or is that putting me at the center of your universe?” His warm lips teased at a spot on her neck.

She leaned back into him. “Breakfast is fine. I’ve got to eat.” She felt his smile against her skin. “How about you pick up a couple of Alaskan specials and I’ll have the coffee ready?”

He turned her in his arms. “Oh, now I have to bring breakfast?”

“Well, of course.” She blinked at him in mock innocence. “How else are we going to eat?”

“This cabin doesn’t have a kitchen?”

“Of course it does. And you’re welcome to use it. But since I don’t keep much food in the house, you’d have to bring whatever you wanted to make.”

He laughed. “Take-out’s fine.”

“Oh, good. Because now that I really think about it, I don’t have any pots and pans, either.” They walked to the door and she saw him glance at their picnic still strewn on the floor. “Don’t worry about it.” It was amazing how good sex and two orgasms could tire a woman right out. “I’ll return everything to Merrilee tomorrow.”

“Okay. Two Alaskan specials. What time?”

“Let’s aim for eight. I want to see what it’s like in the morning.”

“It?”

She stood on her tiptoe and whispered in his ear. “Us. Sex. Get plenty of rest tonight.”

He hugged her tight and lifted her off the ground, kissing her good-night as he set her back on her feet.

“I’ve created a monster.” His smile said he’d be ready.

L
OGAN SIGNED OFF HIS
computer the next morning. Even though he was officially on vacation, he’d checked and answered emails and taken a quick look at the financial markets. Some habits you just couldn’t break. However, he was now officially on vacation.

Chaz had already lined up travel plans to Barton.

He headed down the hall to the communal shower. Luckily he was the B & B’s only guest so there was no waiting for the bathroom.

Within minutes he was standing under the onslaught of warm water. Lathering up, he shook his head over Jenna’s question about how he felt.

That just sounded like some getting to know his inner child nonsense. He knew what he thought and that was what was important. He thought she’d always fascinated him to a degree and that actually spending time with her would take care of that. He’d find she was just an ordinary person—a wonderful one, but ordinary—and he’d be able to put his fascination to rest.

Only that wasn’t the case at all. Just when he thought he was getting to know her, figuring her out, nailing her down, he found out he’d only touched the tip of the iceberg. She, however, was no iceberg.

She had to be the most unique, intriguing woman he’d ever met. If anything, his fascination for her was increasing. The more he knew, the more he wanted to know.

He’d always lived his life according to plan. He’d never questioned the plan or the dictates—he just sort of rolled with the expectation. All his life he’d thought he was driven and on-course, but instead, he now knew he’d just been drifting along, never questioning or challenging, just doing.

On the other hand, Jenna didn’t seem to live her life according to any rules except her own. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted…because that was what she wanted. She was as much her own person as anyone he’d ever met and that was some damn potent stuff—being your own person.

It hit him. She thought outside the box, and lived outside the box while he’d spent his whole damn life crammed inside the box.

He turned off the water and grabbed a towel. Maybe that’s what came from thinking and never feeling. He’d be damned if he knew anymore.

If he was on vacation, maybe he’d just take a vacation from his life totally. Maybe for once, now that he’d figured out he’d been in the box, he’d step outside of it. What was the town motto? Something about leaving behind what ailed him. And while he was drawing on mottos and pithy sayings, how about “what happened in Good Riddance would stay in Good Riddance.”

He realized one of the things he really liked about Jenna was that she pulled him out of his comfort zone. She always had. So, while he was here, maybe he should just embrace stepping out of his comfort zone for the next two days.

He reached for his shaving kit and then stopped. Nope. He’d give that a break as well.

A quarter of an hour later, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, he headed downstairs, his step lighter than it’d been in a long time, perhaps ever.

“Morning, Merrilee, Bull,” he said, greeting the older couple.

Merrilee smiled, a knowing look in her eye. “Good morning. You’re certainly looking chipper this morning.”

“It’s the first real day of my vacation.” From his life, as he knew it. And it might’ve had something to do with having had stupendously great sex with an incredible woman last night. Not that he said that. And not that he had to. He was pretty sure they’d figured it out.

“Good deal. Got any plans?”

“Breakfast at Jenna’s—”

“From next door?” Bull said.

“Yep.”

“She doesn’t cook,” Merrilee tossed in.

“That’s what I hear.”

“It’s true.” Merrilee poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Logan. “I walked her through baking boxed brownies once. Really, it’s best if she just avoids the whole kitchen experience.”

He grinned, inhaling the fresh-brewed aroma. “At least she knows her own limitations. Clint’s taking me out cross-country skiing this afternoon and then I’m playing poker with Sven and the guys tonight.”

“You need a cigar?” Bull said. “I have ’em flown in. A man is a better poker player when he has a good cigar.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Logan said. “I appreciate the offer but Scotch is my poker weakness.”

“You should stop by and see Bull’s humidor over at the store. It’s gorgeous,” Merrilee added.

Bull nodded. “It was a gift from my wife, well, long before she was my wife.” He put his arm around Merrilee, pulling her close. “It took me twenty-five years to convince her to marry me.”

“That’s a long time.”

“I know. But I also knew from the first time I laid eyes on her she was the one.”

“Kind of a feeling in your gut?” Logan spoke without thinking.

“Exactly. I think I’d have followed her to the ends of the earth if that’s where she’d wanted to go. Finally, I had to put the ball in her court. I’d waited and waited but the next move had to be up to her.”

Maybe it was a gust of cold air or something but gooseflesh prickled Logan’s skin and his scalp tingled.

“Drop by this afternoon,” Bull said.

“He wants to show off that spiffy humidor.”

“Nothing wrong with that. Logan strikes me as a man of discerning taste if he came all this way to see Jenna, so I believe he’d appreciate it.”

He gave up the fight. Fine, so he came all this damn way to see Jenna. He got it. Bingo. Bullseye. Denial dead and buried. “Thanks. I’ll drop by later today.”

He inched toward the door. “I guess I better go pick up breakfast. I don’t want to keep Jenna waiting.”

Merrilee burst out laughing and exchanged a look with Bull. “No, you definitely don’t want to keep Jenna waiting too long.”

Logan didn’t get it. Obviously he’d missed something. Perplexed, he looked to Bull for an explanation.

“I know, son. Sometimes we’re not meant to understand them.”

But Bull had apparently gotten it. Whatever the joke, Logan let it go. He had a beautiful woman waiting on him.

J
ENNA HAD THE DOOR OPEN
before Logan could knock. “Morning, stranger,” she said.

“Morning, beautiful.”

She closed the door behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him good morning. She’d showered and dressed in a pair of white lace panties, her silk robe and nothing else.

“Mmm,” he said. “You taste like mint.”

She smiled, leading him toward the kitchen. “And you taste like coffee.” She’d been turned on all morning. He’d been teasing with his monster comment last night but really, it wasn’t too far off the mark. Now that she’d had him, she wanted more.

He put the take-out bag on the counter and turned to her, trapping her between him and the counter. She liked feeling the hard press of his body against the front of her and the solid counter behind.

There was something faintly predatory about his smile that set her pulse racing. “Now that I have both hands free, let’s try this again.”

This time their kiss was hot and hard and left no doubt as to what each of them had in mind. Logan caught her buttocks in his hands and squeezed. Jenna groaned into his mouth.

One kiss and her panties were damp.

“How do you feel about eating later?” she said, breathless, hungry for him.

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” he said. “Do you want to go to your bedroom?”

“No. Here. I’ve always had this little fantasy about doing it in the kitchen, maybe because I don’t have any other use for the room.”

“Oh, honey, I’m good with that.”

She pushed his coat off his shoulders and he shrugged the rest of the way out of it, letting it drop to the floor behind him.

Dear God, he felt good and he smelled good and she wanted him with a desperation she’d never experienced. He kissed her again, his tongue exploring the recesses of her mouth. She arched against him, grinding her mound against his erection. Oh, yes.

He kissed her as if he wanted to devour her and she loved the intensity. It was as if he needed her as desperately as she needed him. She ached inside for him, for the closeness they’d had the previous night.

He dragged his mouth from hers and kissed along her jaw, down her neck. Her gasp echoed in the kitchen and she issued a breathy, “Yes.” He bit lightly at the juncture of her neck and shoulder and the sensation arrowed straight through her, arousing her even more. He took her pebbled nipple in his mouth, robe and all, and sucked. She moaned her pleasure, her acceptance.

“You like that?” he asked, his breath hot against her skin.

“Yes.”

He repeated it on the other side, leaving the material wet and cooling against her aching points.

She might’ve been a virgin up until last night, but she’d done plenty of reading and listening to other women. If you wanted something, you needed to let your man know. And she knew just what she wanted.

She reached between them and caught his hand in hers. Spreading her legs slightly, she guided his hand to the edge of her wet panties. “This is how much I like it.” She slid his finger beneath the elastic and satin and he took over from there.

He tested his finger against her slick wetness and drew a shuddering breath. “Oh, Jenna. Baby, you’re so wet,” he whispered as he stroked her.

“I know. That’s what you do to me.”

He swooped down capturing her mouth with his, his kiss hot and hard as he fondled her. Sweet mercy, it was a different sensation from having him inside her but as good in a totally different way. His fingers were magic against her wetness. Then he inserted a finger inside her and she cried into his mouth, it felt so good. A second finger joined the first and she dug her fingers into the muscles of his shoulders.

With his fingers stroking in and out of her, he found her clit with his thumb and Jenna truly thought she might die if he stopped what he was doing to her. “Please, don’t stop…”

Now she was holding on to his shoulders because she wasn’t sure if her legs would support her. He buried his fingers all the way inside her, his one finger rubbing a spot just inside her while his thumb continued to stroke and massage her. Tension mounted inside her until she thought she might explode…and then she did. She clung to him as he brought her past the brink of pleasure and she came in great waves.

When her orgasm finally subsided, they held on to one another, her breath coming in great gasps, his ragged against her neck.

“Oh, my,” she said, feeling boneless and fluid and wonderful. “That was better than masturbating in a hot tub.”

He looked at her, slightly dazed. “Huh?”

“I said that was better than masturbating in a hot tub. You know, when you’ve got that jet of water hitting you just right.” She tilted her head back and looked up at him. “Well, I guess you wouldn’t know. I’m sure it’s different for guys but for a woman, you just sit in front of that jet and ‘wow.’ But it isn’t as ‘wow’ as that just was.”

“Well, I guess it’s good that I feel better than pulsing water.”

“It is. The water feels pretty darn good.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Heck, yeah. Why do you think so many woman dig a jetted tub? It massages a whole lot more than just a girl’s back.” There was a look on his face, an added glimmer in his eyes. “You know what I think?”

“What do you think?” His voice held a low, rasping note and he moved his finger against her thoroughly wet channel again.

“I think that idea turns you on, doesn’t it?”

“You turn me on, but yeah, it does.”

“I think you’d like to watch and then come in and finish up the job.”

“Yes.”

She reached between them and stroked her hand along the ridge pressing against his jeans. “Speaking of finishing up the job…” She unzipped his pants and reached inside his underwear, freeing his jutting penis. She ran her hand over the taut, velvet skin, feeling him tremble at her touch. A pearly drop of fluid gathered at the head.

She knelt before him. “Do you mind if I…”

Logan looked at her as if one, or both, of them had lost their mind. “Do I mind? Uh, no. Give me a second.” He unbuckled his belt, unsnapped his jeans and tugged both his jeans and underwear down.

This time she backed him up against the counter. “Are you uncomfortable in here?”

“Honey, I’m fine if you’re fine.”

Jenna knelt in front of him, more than fine. This was definitely a different perspective and she had to say, it looked a whole lot different up close and personal. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen a penis before—well, as a matter of fact, she’d seen his last night but the bedroom had been fairly dark and it’d been halfway down her body.

Erotic and arousing, his sprang from a nest of dark, curly hair and curved. His balls hung full and heavy below. She leaned in closer, inhaling. She liked the way he smelled—a musky, masculine scent. Curious, she took him in her right hand and licked up the length of him. She liked the feel of him against her tongue and he obviously liked the feel of her tongue against him if his heavy sigh was anything to go by. She did that a few more times and then she took him in her mouth.

She’d been a little uncertain but she liked the taste and feel of him. And he’d made her feel so good, she wanted to do the same for him. She wanted to bring him pleasure. She wanted him to experience that same almost mindless satisfaction that he’d given her. And even though she’d just had an orgasm, she had to admit having him in her mouth turned her on all over again.

Her girlfriends had always been a divided camp—they either liked going down on their men or they didn’t. There didn’t seem any in-between. She was finding herself on the “like” side of the fence.

“Uh, watch your teeth, honey.”

Oops. She worked her mouth and tongue over and around him, loving him, taking her cues from the sounds he made, which further excited her. There was something very erotic, very satisfying about bringing pleasure to your partner.

“Jenna, I…I can’t. I’m going to…”

She stopped for a second. “Then do.”

“You’re sure?”

“There’s only one way to know whether I like it or not and I like it so far.” She took him back into her mouth.