“You and those damn rules,” I whispered, brushing my lips against his.
He spoke between kisses. “I wanted to do it right. Be the kind of person you deserve.”
I stood on my tiptoes to deepen the kiss, but his gaze fell over my shoulder to his phone, lit in the grass. “Uber’s here.”
I groaned.
He lunged for the phone. “Trust me. It’ll be worth the wait.”
The Uber swept to a stop in front of the Fleur de Lis, its tall spire rebuilt, gleaming against the night sky. When I turned to Logan, I knew my heart was in my eyes.
He squeezed my knee. “I owe you a night here.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and managed a smile. “If a freak thunderstorm hits tonight, I’m quitting the library to become a climate activist.”
He roared a laugh and pushed open the door. “Come on, Ruby. I’ve been waiting a long time to kiss you in the Governor’s suite.”
Unlike the first night, this time we didn’t stumble down the hall to our room. We might only have this one night together, but it wasn’t casual. When we stepped inside the suite and the lights glowed, illuminating Logan’s serious face, my heart began to race.
“What?” He stepped closer. The perfect picture, standing where he’d stood months before.
I shook my head. “You’re too beautiful. Too much.”
He stared at me for a long, charged moment. And then slowly, he sank to his knees.
“Logan—”
“Ever since the night we met, I’ve been trying to figure out what your eyes reminded me of. I finally decided they’re honey-brown with green flecks. A constellation trapped in amber. The gold is brightest when you’re happy.” He looked up at me like a knight pledging allegiance. “They’re so beautiful I had to train myself not to look at you too long when I spoke. Otherwise, I would’ve been lost every time I tried to give a speech.” Gently, he pulled up the layers of my dress. “The way you smell drives me wild. Flowers, but so light it disappears when you try to chase it. Every time it hit me in the conference room it took all my willpower not to climb across the table and kiss you. My couch smelled like you for a full day after you came over and I curled in those blankets when I got home from work and tried to tell myself I was just in the mood to watch movies all night.”
I stood stock-still, drowning in his litany. Logan hooked his fingers under the lace of my panties and tugged them down. My legs felt boneless as I leaned against the wall, shoulder blades first. When he looked up, his eyes were smoldering, his voice hypnotic. “I’ve memorized the way you look when you’re happy, the way you sound when you laugh, how you press your eyes closed when I touch you.” His voice thickened. “Like now.”
My eyes fluttered open.
“All I’ve thought about since the last time we were in this suite is how much I wanted to rewind time and come back. Do everything different.” He touched me between my legs; long, unhurried strokes. My head fell back against the wall. “I told you I think I lose my mind around you. The truth is, I feel like a teenager again, the way I can’t stop thinking about you, the things I have to do just to get relief. You thinkI’mtoo much foryou?” He shook his head. “You’rethe one who’s too much. Do you know what it’s like to work for something your whole life and then have someone walk in and become the most important thing to you in an instant? Everything changed at the drop of a hat. It’s fucking disorienting, Alexis. You turned me upside down.”
“Please,” I whispered. My knees bent at his touch, his words. My shoulders sank down the wall.
“And now all I can think is...” He moved closer still, sliding on his knees across the floor. “Fuck leading anyone. I want to follow you on my hands and knees across the desert.”
I was already so turned on that when his fingers slid inside me, even so carefully, I arched off the wall. He followed his fingers with his mouth, licking and curling his tongue until I made a sound close to a sob. Each stroke made my body crackle to life, a landscape of small fireworks. The sensations built and built until I felt like I might scream.
I twisted my fingers in his thick hair and he hummed into me, making me rise to my tiptoes. He released my dress and his hands slid to the small of my back, pulling me nearer, fingers digging into my spine like he couldn’t get me close enough. The pressure of his tongue intensified and I realized he was showing me how hungry he was, how desperate I made him, in a way that was stronger than words, strong enough to erase what any other man had ever told me. The knowledge that he craved me this intensely—had craved me for months—made me feel so powerful. Powerful, and safe. I sank against the wall, muscles relaxing that final crucial inch. So when he circled his thumb, tongue urging me on, building a pulsing pleasure inside me, I cried out. He squeezed my hips, licking me softly as I came down.
I dragged in mouthfuls of air as Logan staggered to his feet, pupils blown, looking half-drugged. “Your mouth,” I rasped. “Of course you can do that with your mouth.” Logan Arthur’s mouth was trouble in so many ways.
He grinned and seized me, kissing me fiercely in a way that told me he was just getting started. For a minute I simply drowned in him. Kissing him, touching him, was the best feeling on earth. When I finally pulled back for air, I was no longer embarrassed by what I wanted. “More,” I whispered.
He bit my bottom lip. “Turn around.”
I obeyed. Logan’s hand spanned my waist, keeping me steady, while he slowly unzipped my dress. The straps fell away like petals off a rose. He traced a finger down my spine. “So beautiful it hurts,” he whispered, kissing my neck. Goose bumps lifted over my whole body.
I was naked and he was still in his tux, but for once I didn’t mind being the center of attention. I tilted my head to give him better access to my neck. My nipples peaked as Logan’s hands slipped around me to cup my breasts, drawing me closer until my back was pressed firmly against his chest. For a moment we just stood there, lost in how perfectly our bodies fit together.
I could feel the evidence of how much he wanted me pressed against my back, and pushed past my shyness. “When I imagined this, I pictured...”
He sank his teeth gently into my neck. “Tell me.”
“Upstairs.”
