Free Fall

Chapter 8

When Lily could breathe again, she opened her eyes. She lay flat on her back on the floor of her living room, sprawled naked and damp and stuck to another body. A most excellent body that even now could affect her heart rate.

Logan pressed a kiss to her throat and turned her head toward his. Propping his head on his hand, he sent her a sexy smile.

Helplessly, she returned it.

He stroked his free hand down her torso, letting it come to rest just beneath her breast. His thumb lazily swiped at her nipple, which responded immediately to his touch. "Mmm." Bending over her, he sucked it into his mouth.

She heard her low, soft moan and pulled back, surprised that she could still want him. "Want something to eat?"

"No, thanks."

"I do."

He was silent while she got to her feet, hunting up the clothing they'd haphazardly tossed around them.

Where the hell was her tank top?

"Lily? You okay?"

"Are you kidding?" She let out a laugh meant to convince them both that she was totally okay, more than. She was merely starving, not desperately trying to avoid looking into his amazing eyes, hiding from the truth.

She was scared. Bone-deep scared that what they'd just done didn't seem like the usual wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. Worse, she had a feeling that she could have him every night of the three he had left here and she'd still feel the same way.

She couldn't find her panties so she shimmied into her jeans without them, and then tugged on Logan's T-shirt, which was inside out. With a growl of frustration, she ripped it off, and then found it tugged out of her hands.

Logan had gotten to his feet. Apparently not feeling the same need to dress, he stood before her gloriously naked and turned his T-shirt right side out for her, then let it drift down over her head. His fingers straightened the sleeves, and then he looked into her eyes. "What's the matter?"

"I told you, I'm hungry" She turned away but he snagged her and turned her back.

"What's the matter?" he repeated softly, making her throat tight and her eyes burn, which really bit. She never cried, and certainly not over a guy. She wasn't going to start now.

He stroked a strand of her undoubtedly wild hair off her face with a warm, callused finger. "Want me to guess?"

"I'm just-"

"Hungry. I know. What happened, Lily, did I get too close there for a moment?"

"Don't be ridiculous." She backed away and his hands fell from her. "Popcorn or toast? I don't have much of a selection because I usually head down to the cafeteria when I need something."

He looked at her for a long beat. "It doesn't matter."

"Popcorn," she decided and whirled away from his amazing body, from the look in his eyes that said he wanted to gobble her up whole again, as soon as he inhaled her thoughts.

Thoughts that weren't up for public consumption.

She stuck the popcorn into the microwave and watched the light come on, concentrated on the bag growing larger and larger, and when the microwave beeped, she nearly jumped. She took the bag out, carefully opened it and started munching.

Then and only then did she turn. Logan had pulled on his jeans but hadn't fastened them. He sat on her couch, legs out, arms spread over the backs of the cushions, watching her.

"It's hot," she said inanely, and stuffed another handful into her mouth.

"Come here."

"Yeah. Okay." She sat down next to him, leaving a wide space between them for her mental health, but he turned to face her, surrounding her with his bare chest and long arms, and it wasn't an unpleasant surrounding sort of thing at all. Neither were the odd little throbbing pulses her body kept giving off. The aftermath of hot, panting sex, she supposed.

His fingers stroked her shoulder, the back of her neck, and when she sighed, eventually sagging back, he pulled her in even closer. "So what do you do when you're not working?" he asked, reaching for some popcorn.

She opened her mouth and then closed it. She laughed.

"What?" he asked, drawing his finger over the skin on her shoulders.

"You want to talk and cuddle."

"Sure."

She stared at him but he wasn't kidding. He was a man, a red-blooded, earthy, sexual, gorgeous man. And they'd already had sex. So why the hell wasn't he running? Instead, he simply stretched out a little more, those long, long legs taking up a good amount of space, his broad chest looking scrumptious by firelight as he waited for her to answer him.

"I'm nearly always working," she said.

"I can see that. How about when the season is over?"

"We open the trails up for hiking and mountain biking."

He winced. "You must rescue people all year long."

"Yeah, but I didn't always work like this. Just this last year since my grandma died and I became manager. I used to be ski-patrol director, and in the other seasons I was activity director."

"You can't keep up this pace, Lily. You're trying to do it all."

She smiled sadly. "Well, it'd be easier to give up the outdoor stuff if I was loving the management side of things."

"Do you ever get away from here?"

"Once in a while I manage to see friends in town. Sometimes we travel around, checking out the other resorts. How about you? What do you do with yourself when you're not working?"

"I haven't been on vacation in years." His fingers continued to play at the back of her neck, making her want to stretch and purr like a kitten. "In fact, it's been a long time since I've been as relaxed as I am right now. Years."

"You haven't had sex in years?"

"I haven't been on vacation in years." He had laugh lines fanning out from his eyes, and they crinkled now. "Although to tell you the truth, I haven't had sex like we just did in a very long time."

"Me, either," she admitted softly, his ensuing smile making her feel as if she were the only woman on the planet. "So why haven't you vacationed in so long?"

He lifted a shoulder. "I love what I do and just rarely feel the need to get away from it."

Right. Yet another example of why this heart-palpitating urge to grab him and never let go was so very bad. He loved his life, his job, his everything. Hundreds and hundreds of miles away.

"My brothers would appreciate this place," he said, still playing with her skin.

"They both ski?"

"When they get a chance. Right now Tom is out on a ship in the mid-Atlantic somewhere, helping to keep the waters safe from terrorists and drug dealers. Paul is in the Gulf, doing the same thing."

His voice was filled with pride, something she knew was missing in her own siblings' voices when they discussed her. "How often do you see each other?"

"If you'd asked me when I was still at home, I'd have said too damn much. My dad worked long hours and I had to be mom, dad, brother, enforcer." He grinned. "I'm glad those days are over."

She ran her gaze over his fond smile and something within her softened. It was her guard, she discovered. She was losing it. "You're a man who's used to being needed. A man used to the weight of responsibility. So how come you're not married? Or in a relationship?"

"My work isn't really conducive to that. The hours alone would drain a relationship dry. And though most women claim they're attracted to a man with a dangerous profession, the reality is they're not. It's a lot to ask of someone, and I just haven't asked."

So he saw love as an obligation, something no one understood more than she. Love was an obligation, and it was also a pain in her ass.

"So what holds you back from being involved?" he asked. "Your own fierce independence? Or the wall you put up when someone gets too close?"

"Nothing holds me back from anything."

"That's right. You're fearless." His fingers were stroking her, lulling her, and she realized she'd settled back into the crook of his shoulder, against his side, as if she belonged there. Her hand had fallen low on his flat belly, rather shockingly possessively, as if she had the right. She stared at her hand on that vulnerable spot beneath his belly button, so flat and sinewy and male, and wriggled her fingers, thinking that it was his own fault her mind was wandering back to sex. He should have gone running when he had the chance. Instead, he'd stayed to talk, to cuddle, and he'd have to face the consequences… She slid her fingers down.

"Mmm," rumbled from deep in his chest. With the denim already unfastened, leaving his waistband loose, she reached the pot of gold with no trouble at all, laughing softly, triumphantly, when he turned out to be already hard. "Again, Lily?"

"Oh, yes." She stood only to strip her jeans back off before she fell on top of him. "Again."

Logan woke up to an affectionate tap on his bare ass. He was sprawled facedown and sideways across Lily's bed, with all the bedding wadded on the floor. Lifting his head, he squinted into her light brown eyes?

Vague images of her beneath him, over him, panting, by turns demanding and whimpering, turned into vivid memories, and he grinned.

"Oh, no, ace." Fully dressed, she backed up. "We're done."

Normally he'd be chomping at the bit now that he was awake, needing to get to work, but he didn't feel like chomping at anything but Lily's gorgeous, curvy bod. "Come here."

"I've gotta run."

Hmm. Seemed Lily was doing all the chomping at the bit for the both of them. He pushed himself up, but she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't get up, I just wanted to say goodbye." She blushed, which intrigued him given all they'd done to and for each other in the long hours of the night. "I didn't want to just leave you a note."

"I appreciate that."

She stood there in her loose black cargo ski pants and a snug red turtleneck, looking like winter personified. He sat up on the edge of the bed and pulled her between his spread legs, wrapping his arms around her middle, putting his head on her chest and hugging her.

For a moment her hands fluttered at his shoulders, then she slid them around him and squeezed. "Last night was…"

Tilting his head up, he smiled at her. "Was…?"

"Nice."

He laughed, watching her mouth curve-the same mouth that had been crying his name in a desperate mantra only a little while ago. "Nice? Last night was nice?"

"Okay, it was pretty damn amazing," she consented. "And wild fun to boot, which is always a pleasant surprise. But I'm not sure it's something we should repeat."

"Why not?"

Something flashed in her eyes. Unease? Fear?

What the hell was that about?

And then he got it.

She was afraid she couldn't keep it to just fun, not with him.

"Look, this was supposed to be a good time for what's left of your vacation," she said cautiously. "Even a great time. But that's all I've got to give."

"How do you know a good time isn't all I have to give, as well?"

"Is it?"

He watched her hold her breath, looking ready to bolt if he so much as said boo.

Or admitted that hell, no, it wasn't enough. "Yes."

"Promise?" she whispered.

"Do you ask that of everyone you sleep with?"

She let out a disparaging sigh.

"Do you?"

"No."

He found that fascinating. Hell, she was fascinating. He slid his hands down her pretty damn amazing body, cupping her sweet ass, nuzzling his face between her breasts. "I'll see you later."

"Promise me, Logan."

He bit the inner curve of her right breast, smiling when she shivered. "I promise to see you later."

"Logan."

He sighed. "Fine. I promise you're a good time, and nothing but a good time."

"Okay." She backed up. "Okay, then." Beneath her tight red turtleneck, her nipples were two taut points, begging for his attention. Her eyes revealed the arousal, and also a huge relief.

He felt the arousal, too, but not the relief. "Let me walk you out."

"No, that's all right."

He frowned when she turned away and moved to the door, shutting it behind her without a backward look. "Wow," he said to no one. Flopping to his back on her mattress, he studied the ceiling. Hard to believe it, but she wasn't being coy or playing with him. She'd said what she meant and meant what she'd said.

Fun, wild sex only. Nothing more.

Any red-blooded male would be dancing. He was dancing.

And if a small part of him wished things were different, he could keep that to himself. After all, he was only here for a few more days. Then it'd be back to his world.

Sans Lily.