Summer with the Soldier (Holiday Encounters Book 4) Read online

  Every inch of me ached to reach out to touch him, to soothe the crinkle between his eyebrows. To sift my fingers through his hair. The compulsion was too much for me to resist, and before I knew it, I had my hand against his jaw. Prickly whiskers scraped my palm.

  I moved my thumb to the corner of his mouth, stroking slightly as I admired his full bottom lip.

  A hand shot out and captured my wrist for the second time in one night. I gasped and found myself staring down into wild, confused eyes.

  “Jade?”

  “Logan. Let go,” I whispered.

  He immediately released me. “I'm sorry—”

  I pressed a finger to his lips. “Shh. It’s okay. It’s my fault for sneaking in here in the first place.”

  I removed my finger and finally gave into instinct, brushing the tips of my fingers over his close-cropped hair. “I’m the one who should be sorry for waking you up.”

  As I watched him closely, so many emotions moved through his eyes, I couldn’t keep up. I tipped my head to the side. “You okay?”

  He stared up at me, half dazed from sleep and maybe something else. I had to remind myself he just returned from months in Afghanistan. He had to be dealing with some heavy-duty jet lag, not to mention culture shock.

  He shook his head, not taking his eyes off me.

  I slid onto the bed next to him, my hip pressing against his beneath the covers. I ran my hand over his forehead, up into his hair and then down again, caressing the side of his face. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  His eyes drifted closed, and I couldn’t help myself. I gave into the urge driving me and leaned down to press a kiss against his lips.

  I meant it to be only a quick, comforting peck, but he must have had other ideas. As I went to pull away, one of his hands came up and caught me behind the head, gently but firmly cradling it and holding me hostage against his mouth.

  His lips were warm and firm as he slowly nibbled, kissing first my bottom lip and then the top. This was no comforting, hello, nice-to-see-you kind of kiss. This was a Kiss. With a capital K.

  As if to prove it, his tongue darted out and danced against the seam of my lips. I slid forward, giving him my lips, myself, anything he wanted.

  He stroked his tongue into my mouth, seeking, tasting. He slid it back and forth over my own tongue, mimicking the act of sex as he plunged deep and pulled back, once and again. I moaned and his hands tightened on me.

  I pushed closer, wanting more. This is Logan, my brain told me.

  Oh, yeah, this is Logan, my body replied languidly, lost in the feel of his mouth on mine, his tongue caressing mine, his taste, his scent. The tang of salt and sand clung to him, inflaming my senses even more. The world centered on our mouths, the only place we connected, and I was lost to him.

  He eased back a little and I tried to follow him with my mouth, wanting more. Needing more.

  He chuckled and trailed nibbling kisses over my jaw.

  “Impatient,” he whispered close to my ear.

  And again it came to me—this was Logan. I pulled back a little so I could look down at him. In the dark, I couldn’t make out his features clearly, let alone any emotions that might be working there.

  For a moment, fear gripped me, a tight vice around my stomach. I’d slunk into his room in the dark. I know he said my name, but he was startled and disoriented. Did he even know who he kissed? Did he think I was a different brunette? The one he’d spent all that time with on the beach?

  “Logan?” My voice was small, tentative.

  “You okay, Sweet Pea?”

  Relief poured through me and right on its heels, hot, tingling desire.

  “I’m good,” I whispered, and I knew why I chose this room, this man, instead of the door across the hall. From the second I spotted Logan on the back deck this evening, some new and nameless emotion moved through me. I didn’t know why, after all these years, it was Logan who elicited these feelings. I’d spent the evening trying to fight it, trying to palm it off on someone else.

  But no matter how hot, how sexy, how sweet Will Canter was, for me, he was no substitute for Logan.

  Whatever tomorrow might bring, I couldn’t make myself walk away from him tonight.

  “You’ve got too many layers.” I smiled down at him.

  “Layers?”

  “Yeah, layers—comforter, sheets, and I’m assuming there’s some clothing under there somewhere. Layers.”

  His grin flashed white in the dark room. “Layers. Gotcha. Though there might not be as many as you’re thinking.”

  “Hmm, I might just have to investigate this myself,” I teased. I gripped the comforter where it had slid down around his bare chest.

  His hand came up and held mine still. I moved my gaze up to meet his, uncertain.

  “Jade...are you sure?”

  I melted a little more at his concerned tone and shook off his hand.

  “I’m sure.” I leaned down and kissed him, my tongue sliding into his mouth for a quick taste of him before I pulled back a few inches. “So sure.”

  He let go of my hand and I resumed my exploration, slowly peeling the comforter down his body. I dropped it so it puddled somewhere around his feet, all the while holding his stare with my own.

  Only a white sheet covered him now, and judging by the outline of his body, he wore nothing else. The thought that the only thing standing between me and naked Logan was that sheet, made my mouth go dry.

  Before I could unwrap him further to find out for sure, Logan took over. He sat up abruptly and the sheet fell to his waist. I had half a second to admire the broad planes of his chest before he snagged me, his arms coming around me like steel bands and dragging me down to the bed.

  He twisted me so I was beneath him, his shoulders above me like massive wings. The sheet tangled around us and his lips came down on mine, hard and demanding.

  I answered his kiss with equal fervor. Every inch of my skin became sensitized and even my bikini and sarong became too much to bear against me.

  I ripped my mouth from his. “Logan!”

  He didn’t pause. Logan bent his head and traced his tongue down the column of my neck, biting down when he got to where it met my shoulder. I cried out and raised my hands to his head, trying to fist his short hair, pulling him closer.

  His tongue snuck out to tease and soothe the spot he’d just left stinging. I tilted my head to the side, giving him unfettered access. His hands rested on my ribcage, and as I took stock of all the sensations I was experiencing, I became conscious of his thumbs flicking back and forth slowly against the skin of my belly. The feeling brought every nerve ending in my body to tingling attention.

  Slowly, ever so slowly, he inched his hands upwards, his thumbs never ceasing their movement against my skin. He continued up until he reached the underside of my breasts. His thumbs brushed against the material of my bathing suit and he froze, pulling away from me.

  “You have too many clothes on,” he growled.

  I grinned. “I’ve never heard anyone complain about me wearing my bikini.”

  “No? They must not have had you under them in the bikini.” His hand slid around my back and yanked at the tie there before moving up and tugging at the one around my neck.

  In an instant he was stripping the scrap of electric blue material away from my skin. Before he could even get his hands back on me, my nipples reacted to him, pebbling to hard points.

  His hands returned to exactly where they’d been, palms resting directly underneath my breasts. His thumbs began their maddening motions again, skimming my sensitized skin.

  He continued moving upwards until his thumbs brushed my nipples. I arched up off the bed, my toes curling into the rumpled sheets.

  Impossible. The way Logan Murphy made me feel was impossible. My best friend’s big brother made me feel more with a simple swipe of his thumb than anyone had before.

  Logan Murphy. Where had all of this come from? I raised my hand and held it to his che
ek. Such a strange feeling, all this desire building in my belly, tingling in my breasts, pooling in my center. All for Logan. I caressed his cheek, my hand sliding down, enjoying his rough stubble. I skimmed down to his chin, my thumb sliding over his lips in a motion that mirrored his thumbs against my nipples.

  He caught it between his white teeth, and for an instant he was my Logan, the one I knew all the years growing up. The one who liked to play and have fun. My heart stuttered in my chest as I stared up at him, fascinated by the melding of two such different men—my childhood playmate and the hardened soldier.

  Logan licked the soft pad of my thumb before releasing it. I rubbed it over his lips and arched up to capture his mouth with my own.

  He met me halfway, mouth open, tongue licking out to tangle with mine. He dropped his weight on me, the whole length of him pressing down on me and trapping his hands between us, over my breasts.

  I welcomed his weight, spreading my thighs to capture him between them. He moved and for a second I feared he was pulling away.

  “Stay with me, Logan,” I said, half whisper, half whine.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Sweet Pea.” In one twist, he managed to pull the crisp, white sheet and my sarong from between us. He came down again, pressing me into the mattress with his hard body. Now only my bikini bottom remained between us.

  His erection nudged my center through the bathing suit. I arched up to meet him, rubbing against him. I slid my hands over his shoulders. I stopped when my hands encountered hard ridges on his shoulder blade.

  “Logan?”

  He must have sensed my distress at feeling the scars marring his skin. He was quick to soothe. “Shh. It’s okay. All healed.”

  “But—”

  He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine once more, swallowing what I was going to say as my mind emptied of everything but him. He tasted me so thoroughly, I was left in a hazy fog when he moved his mouth to kiss his way down to my breasts.

  The haze cleared when his lips surrounded my nipple and he sucked, laving it with his tongue. He gave it a tiny nip that forced a moan from me before moving on to the other breast.

  I writhed against him, arching up in my need for more. For him. There was no room for any other thought.

  He read the restlessness of my body and answered it with his own, rubbing his hardness against my covered sex. I thrust up to meet him, but before I could get the friction I desired, he slid down, his mouth moving over my belly and lower, licking and kissing as he went.

  When his mouth got to the top of my bathing suit bottoms, he stopped and pressed a kiss there before he reached up to my hips and hooked his fingers in the waistband. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, he peeled them off, sliding them down my legs and over my feet.

  He tossed the bottoms over his shoulder carelessly. I expected him to slide right back to where he was before. Excitement strummed every nerve in my body at the thought of having him hot and hard and exactly where I wanted him.

  But he didn’t slide all the way back up. Instead, he took a delicious detour. He smoothed his hands over my legs, spreading me open as he moved. He stopped only when my thighs were parted and then it was only to dive forward to cover my pussy with his mouth.

  Logan Murphy’s tongue is on my clit. The thought came to me from out of nowhere, but then I had no room for thought. He worked me over with his tongue, teeth, and lips, leaving no part of my sex untouched.

  His tongue delved into me followed by a finger. He moved his mouth up to find my small, sensitive nub, and slid a second finger inside me, gliding back and forth. I clutched the sheets by my hips, easing my legs wider so he had an all access pass.

  “So good,” I moaned. “Your mouth is so good, Logan.”

  My words and the little noises I made in the back of my throat seemed to urge him on. He attacked my sex like a soldier going into battle. I arched up, crying out as my body skidded close to the edge of some precipice. And then he sucked my clit into his hot, warm mouth and pushed me right over. I came with a violent buck of my hips.

  He lapped at my folds as I rode out the waves of my orgasm, my body held in a tight bow. He let up only when I eased back onto the mattress.

  Before I could come fully back to my senses, Logan moved his body over mine. He used his elbows to brace himself and cupped my head in his big hands.

  My eyes fluttered open to find him staring down at me with an intensity that stole the breath I’d just started to get back.

  “You taste so fucking sweet, Jade.” As if to prove his point, he leaned down and kissed me, licking into my mouth, sharing my taste with me.

  I moaned into his mouth and my body reacted like I hadn’t just had one of the best orgasms of my life. Desire washed over me, pooling in my belly, leaving me writhing against him.

  “I need you, Soldier,” I whispered.

  Logan didn’t require further invitation. His hard cock prodded the warm, wet folds of my sex. I shifted my hips to accommodate him, to welcome him in. His erection nudged my entrance, and he moved slowly—oh, God, so slowly—into me.

  Inch by inch the plump head of his erection opened me, gliding inside me. I raised my legs and wrapped them around his hips, holding him close and urging him to fill me.

  He obliged. In one swift movement, Logan’s hard length was seated fully inside me. He stopped and his fingers tangled in my hair, pulling a bit so slight pain mingled with enormous pleasure, leaving me a mindless mass of need.

  “You feel so good wrapped around my cock, Sweet Pea.” His hoarse voice came at me in the dark, pure gravel and sex. I shivered and shifted my hips, urging him to move.

  He gave in again, slowly slipping himself out of me and then sliding back in to the hilt.

  I arched up to meet him, and bucked my hips. “More, Logan. Please.”

  Logan glided in and out slowly once more, but before he could slip all the way out, he reversed directions and changed his pace. He slammed into me, his hard shaft hitting me in all the best places.

  “Oh, God, yes. So good.” My eyes fell closed and I clutched his shoulders.

  He picked up his pace, his cock pounding into me. I met him thrust for thrust, everything in my body pulled tight, straining toward my release.

  “Open your eyes, Jade. Look at me.”

  I obeyed his harsh command. I opened my eyes and met his stare. His eyes were fathomless in the darkened room. His stare invaded me as deeply as his body did as it moved in and out of me. The planes of his face stood out starkly, the skin of his cheeks pulled tight with the strain of holding himself back.

  The way he looked at me, the way he felt inside my body, the old affection mingled with this new fascination, it all combined in a mass of churning emotion and desire inside me until I broke. My orgasm hit me like a freight train, hard and more intense than anything I’d ever known.

  I cried out loud, his name breaking from my lips over and over, the chant almost a prayer.

  He was right behind me. His hips lost their rhythm, moving erratically as he found his own release. With a groan he jerked into me, spilling hot and wet deep inside me before collapsing on me, his face tucked into my neck. After a few minutes, Logan shifted his body, moving to lie at my side. I missed his weight immediately. But was pacified when he gathered me close, skimming the tip of his nose along my cheek.

  I cuddled into his chest, loathe to lose his warmth, my nails skimming down his back. He pushed my hair back from my face in an oddly tender gesture. I stared up at him and he leaned down and placed a light kiss on my lips.

  “Stay.” His words were a command I had no desire to challenge.

  All I could manage was a nod. For some reason I couldn’t quite fathom, emotion clogged my throat, making words all but impossible.

  He eased back against the pillows, my head on his chest. He had one arm around my waist, the other at my jaw, stroking gently, almost reverently. I snuggled in closer and could feel the effects of the late hour, alcohol, the sand and surf a
nd world changing sex lulling me into sleep.

  My last coherent thought before I drifted off to sleep in his arms—I had sex with Logan Murphy.

  I slipped into slumber with a smile tilting my lips.

  Chapter 6

  Holy crap, I had sex with Logan Murphy. I came awake in an instant the next morning. Despite a slight hangover and the lack of sleep, I knew exactly where I was. And who I was with.

  Somehow we’d managed to stay in the same position we were in when we fell asleep. I twisted my head on his chest to look up at him. Still asleep. I might be panicking a little in the light of day, but not enough that I didn’t take a few seconds to drink my fill of all that was Logan.

  His dark eyelashes rested on his cheeks, his short-cropped dark hair looked about the same as it had when he arrived at the house yesterday afternoon. Even in sleep he didn’t look like the same easy-going Logan I’d grown up with. His cheeks had sharpened, his jaw and mouth hardened. Small lines creased the skin around his eyes.

  I resisted the urge to trace my finger over his features. I definitely wasn’t ready to face him this morning. Was there enough caffeine and Advil in the world to get me ready to face Logan?

  Or, holy hell, Katelyn. I dropped my forehead against Logan’s shoulder. How on earth would I tell Kate that I slept with her brother?

  The answer came to me in an instant. I wouldn’t. I’d put it in the vault, lock it up and throw away the key. No way would I share with any of my friends what exactly had happened last night.

  Not that I thought Kate would be angry about Logan and I. No, quite the opposite. She’d be planning our wedding and naming our kids.

  A twinge of—something—tightened my belly for an instant. But I couldn’t take time to explore it. The idea that Logan might feel pushed into a relationship he didn’t want in order to placate his sister pushed a jolt of panic through me. I needed to get out of here.

  Regret coursed through me at the thought of leaving him. I wanted nothing more than to tuck myself into his side and sleep for a few more hours before we woke and started all over again.