After the final button, he looked up at me with a trace of the smirk I rarely saw anymore and released my hands. I remained still, anxious for his next move, but he didn’t keep me waiting for long. His fingers drifted down between my breasts and he lifted one side of my dress slowly, revealing the shameless corset, eager to finally greet him.

“You’re gorgeous, sweetheart.” His hand moved slowly, undoing the ribbon just enough to reveal my breasts. “You don’t need this.”

His delicate touch unraveled the seal over my heart as his fingers worked with tantalizing finesse, as though I were made of glass. When he finally looked up at me, his eyes were filled with a concentrated emotion I failed to decipher. A shiver raced up my spine and wrapped a chill around my neck. It was something much deeper than lust, and it frightened me.

I squirmed, suddenly nervous. However, the moment Logan’s mouth covered my nipple, all insecurities flew from my mind, replaced with the numerous fantasies that had filled my dreams for months. Finally, they’d become reality.

Logan’s diligent and skillful tongue was warm and wet. His other hand freed my neglected breast and presented it with the same amount of stimulating affection.

His mouth released me after he’d had his fill and moved farther down, tugging the ribbon open, further revealing all that was hidden. He kissed as he went and stopped over my bellybutton, looking up at me with soft, unwavering eyes.

I flinched at the tenderness they held.

“I’ve never wanted anyone more, Cassandra. I wish you could feel how much you mean to me. How much I lo—”

“Stop, please don’t ruin this.” The nerves were back, pushing through the lust consuming me. Why did he have to go there? This wasn’t about love. It was about closure—for both of us.

When his mouth moved down and landed over my hip, I moaned a deep, needy purr. His tongue swirled across my abs again, circling my bellybutton and causing my hips to lift off the bed just enough for him to snake one hand under me.

There’d been too many nights I’d lain awake, wondering what it would be like—what Logan could do to me. So far, my fantasies didn’t even touch reality. I’d expected for things to go faster. Mark had been my only lover, and he wasn’t one to waste time when getting things going for himself.

I couldn’t really call Mark selfish in bed since I had no one to compare him to, but the moment Logan unsnapped the first garter and slid my stocking down my leg, setting them on the bed as if they were irreplaceable treasures, I knew I was in for a night I’d never experienced before and never forget. He did the same to the other side and then spread my legs just enough to reveal the lace panties covering my smooth sex, glistening just for him.

I waited, closing my eyes in anticipation for the moment to arrive—for him to remove his trousers and rest over me, pressed deep inside. But it never happened.

With bated breath, I peeked open an eye and glanced down. He was on his knees at the end of the bed, staring up at me, watching me. The moonlight illuminated his face.

My legs pulled together, insecurity and fear working against me. Am I not good enough? Does he not want me? Not again. I couldn’t go through the rejection another time.

I sat up in a swift motion, but he was there pushing me back down, his hands on my knees, parting my legs further for him to rest between as I’d done to him moments earlier.

“Stay there.” His words were nothing but a clipped rumble.

My heart thundered, stomach churning until he spoke again.

“You’re so perfect.”

Perfect? I was nowhere near it, but I wondered if I was to him. The longer I lay there, the more anxiety riddled me. He stroked the back of my legs that hung down off the bed, but didn’t make another move. I needed to do something.

I sat up on my elbows and raised my brows. “You going to make me beg?” I hummed.

Logan’s mouth twitched at the sides as his hands ran up from my feet and over my thighs, where he leaned down and placed a slow, sensual kiss over my scar.

He sat up further on his knees and whispered, “One day, I’ll make you beg, but not tonight.”

The smile growing on my face couldn’t be missed.

“Not before I have at least one taste, anyway,” he added under his breath.

Just one? What did that mean?

I opened my mouth to question it but fell back onto the pillows, speechless, as his mouth began kissing around the one place Mark had always neglected.

“Oh, God, Logan!”

My toes curled. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and he hadn’t even touched the main event. Just having him that close was unexpected and savage. He ravaged my inner thighs with his tongue, relentless and domineering. It was heaven. I relished the feeling, anticipation surging through me, fueling my high, his attention diverted from my center for longer than I could bear.

My legs trembled with desire when his fingers ran over the lace covering me and slowly pulled the fabric aside. His tongue worked closer, and when the scruff of his jaw rubbed across my newly bare area, I screamed a full-on, hysterical scream.

“Wait! Stop! Stop! Stop!” I was on fire, and not in the way I’d planned.

I pulled myself up, bringing my knees up to my chin and fanning my hands over the raw skin while Logan stood and crossed the room, flicking on the light.

My eyes blinked as they adjusted to the brightness, and I watched in horror as Logan dropped back to his knees and spread my legs to examine me.

His eyes never looked away from my sacred area as he teased, “Well, I see you had more than a little makeup and hairstyling done today sweetheart.”

Kill me now.

“It’s red,” he continued with a matter-of-fact tone. “Looks tender.”

The heat in my cheeks had to have been just as enflamed.

“You should have told me. I would have been gentler.”

The man had been as gentle as you could get. I mean, his kisses were as—

“Ohhhh,” I moaned, dropping my knees open and falling back to the mattress as Logan blew a soft stream of breath over the fire burning between my legs.

He was right—he could be gentler.

“Better?”

“Mm-hmm.” I bit my lip, hands covering my face but my stiff posture melting away.

“Tell me, does it hurt here?”

My hands slipped down, gripping the comforter below me as his tongue parted me down my center and slid over me with careful ease.

“Ohhh. Nooo. Perfect.”

“It’s gonna kill me to leave,” he rumbled, and his tongue slid back down, careful not to brush the enflamed area.

Leave? What? Before I could comprehend, he was gone, my sex abandoned.

“Looks normal for being freshly waxed. You’ll be healed up soon.”

That was it? He was just getting started. And the fact that he knew what a freshly waxed vagina looked like turned my gut.

The bed dipped from Logan sitting on it, and he pulled my hand nearest him to his lips.

“I like you flushed. It’s adorable.” He grinned.

Great, I was adorable. Exactly what I was not going for tonight. I closed my eyes tighter.

“Do you have any aloe lotion, or—” He stopped abruptly.

“They gave me a balm to apply, but it hadn’t hurt.” To be honest, my body had spent the evening too aroused to think about the unfriendly waxing job.