“So what? You like sparring with me?”
“No. Well, yes, but…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what it is about you. At times I’m sure there is not another living creature on this earth who aggravates me so.”
“How very kind of you to say,” she said sarcastically as she turned to leave.
“But then other times…”
The drop in his voice made her stall. Waiting, she only heard his gentle breathing. Peering over her shoulder, she watched him.
“Other times what?”
“Other times, I feel like I’ll go mad if I don’t touch you.”
The raw honesty in his tone made Faith’s heart hurt. Yes, she knew that feeling. The feeling of wanting to drag him down to the ground and roll around, if only to feel his hands on her.
Faith swallowed, desperate to keep such emotions off her face.
“Well, I hope you will keep such thoughts to yourself, because I—” She tried to say that she didn’t feel the same, but the words stuck in her throat.
Before she could adequately answer, Logan’s hand touched her cheek and rocked her slightly back before pulling her into a searing kiss.
A dozen glass bowls breaking at once was the closest Faith could come to describing what it was like, being caught in Logan’s kiss. The pure exhilaration of doing something so reckless and downright dangerous, coupled with the simmering desperation that had simmered within her for weeks, caused a combustible reaction.
She stood on her tippy toes and pushed back against him viscerally, craving to be consumed by this man. There was no reason for her to be so infatuated with someone who aggravated her as he did, particularly when he owned something that could destroy her. Still, this limitless desire to be overwhelmed by him in every way made her shake with need.
He pulled away too soon, leaving her dazed and falling forward.
“Tell me,” he spoke, his breathless, ragged voice filled with yearning. “Tell me that there is not something between us.”
“There is n-nothing—”
But he kissed her again, almost as if he could banish her foolish words, and for a moment, she wished he could.
Despite everything that had happened between them—their arguments, and their circumstance regarding the painting—Faith was utterly enthralled with Logan’s kiss. She was a willing victim of his dominance, if only for the few moments they shared here and there.
But the painting did separate them, and as much as she longed to continue, she knew she could not give in. She pushedat his shoulders, tearing her mouth away from his as they both gasped for uneven breaths.
Focus, she scolded herself silently. She couldn’t let Logan’s kisses distract her from the fact that he refused to destroy the one thing that kept her in constant worry.
Logan’s full mouth pressed against her temple as they both breathed unevenly.
“What will it take?” he asked quietly after only a few moments. “Anything.”
Faith’s mind barely understood what he meant. What was he asking?
“Wha—”
“There is desire here, Faith. I can barely contain it. Every time you are in the room, I’m beyond myself. Tell me, what it will take to have you?”
As his meaning dawned on her, a cold, cutting drip touched the back of Faith’s neck while a distant rumble sounded. Grateful that her face was pressed against his shoulder, concealing her shock, Faith held onto him, unsure how to answer. Then he spoke again.
“I know Donovan hurt you. I know he betrayed your trust, but I promise, I would never treat you in such a cowardly manner,” he said. “Not if you chose me as you did him.”
Faith’s brow scrunched together as her mind reeled. Did he…did he think she had slept with Donovan? A shiver went through her as she began to understand.
“I—I don’t know,” she stuttered, still hiding her face as her mind reeled.
“I know Donovan’s disloyalty has burned you and I know it would be outrageous to ask you to trust anyone again, but the passion of painters, by your own admission, is exclusively to the canvas. Whatever transpired between you and he, I doubt verymuch your needs were met and I find the idea of seeing to said needs to be the most pressing matter in my life currently.”
