Single Kid Seeks Dad Read online

  “Then let’s get this wicked woman inside before she turns into a Popsicle,” he said.

  Due to the late hour, the lobby was deserted except for a few employees.

  Lucy kept her expression blank as Logan murmured something about their feeling too tired to drive home after a party.

  “Trying to save my reputation?” she murmured as a bellman escorted them to their room.

  “Are you kidding? It’s mine I need to worry about,” he said straight-faced.

  Lucy’s eyes widened as she entered a large sitting room. The bellman turned on the lamp in the bedroom and pointed out the amenities before pocketing the tip Logan slipped him and leaving the room.

  “This is what makes it all worthwhile.” Logan walked over to the sliding glass door that opened onto a private patio and slid it open.

  Lucy joined him and inhaled the brisk scent of salt and the sea as she listened to the rumbling sound that she knew was ocean waves crashing on rocks.

  “The hotel is set on a rocky cliff that overlooks the ocean,” he explained. “Late at night you can hear the waves crashing down there and it sounds as if it’s right outside the door.”

  She smiled, picking up on what he really meant.

  “Wild?”

  She swore the gold dust in his dark eyes twinkled with light that warmed her from within.

  “Definitely.”

  Lucy sensed that Logan was deliberately holding back. He was allowing her to set the pace between them. While she appreciated his thoughtfulness, right now she wanted the man who kissed her with such abandon that he made her forget where she was. The man who kissed her with such sheer intensity that she forgot her own name.

  She looked down as she ran her fingers along the lapels of his jacket. She slowly slipped it off, folded it neatly and carefully laid it over the back of a nearby chair. Her shawl received the same care. Still not looking at him, she kicked off her shoes and took off her earrings.

  “No, please,” she said when he started to slide the door shut. “I like hearing the ocean.” She walked over to him. “It makes me think of us.”

  Logan traced the curving neckline of Lucy’s dress with his fingertip. The combination of cool silk and warm skin was arousing. He used his other hand to search out the pins holding up Lucy’s hair. He smiled when the heavy strands fell down around her shoulders.

  “This is the Lucy I’m familiar with.” He tunneled his fingers through her hair. “The wicked woman.”

  Lucy smiled back as she wrapped Logan’s tie around her fist and pulled him toward her.

  “And the wild man.”

  “There’s something to be said for taking things slow and easy.” He rested his hands against her waist as he dipped his head.

  Instead of the raw hunger he’d shown her at the club, Logan’s kiss was soft and gentle as he seduced her mouth with bare touches that tempted her to rise up on her toes to keep the contact.

  Lucy wanted to coax out the wild man. She stroked his lower lip with her tongue then nibbled a corner of his mouth. When that didn’t work, she moved in closer and slid her arms around his neck. She even shimmied her hips for emphasis.

  “We can’t dance without music,” he murmured with a thread of amusement in his voice.

  “Actually, I wasn’t thinking about that kind of dancing. Unless you know how to dance the tango.”

  Logan’s answer was to deepen their kiss. His hands roamed over her back, paused then moved in a circular motion against her spine.

  “Just one question,” he said against her lips. “Where’s the damn zipper in this dress?”

  Laughter bubbled upward. She lifted her right arm to show the zipper along the side seam.

  Logan muttered curses on dress designers who had to make it difficult as he ran the zipper down and peeled Lucy out of her dress. One look at her in a cream-colored bustier stopped his train of thought and shot his arousal sky-high.

  He swallowed as he fingered the dainty bow centered between her breasts. “If I’d known you were wearing this under that dress we would have ended up here a hell of a lot sooner.” Abandoning the bow, he skimmed his fingers across her bare shoulders and down her sides, acquainting himself with her curves.

  “I’m glad you’re impressed. Uh-uh-uh.” She wagged her finger back and forth at him. “I do not intend to be the only one standing around in my undies.”

  “Yeah, well, yours are a lot more interesting than mine.”

  “Let me be the judge of that.” She loosened his tie and pulled it over his head then worked on his shirt. Logan’s patience was further tried when Lucy took her time by pressing a kiss against each inch of bare flesh revealed with each opened button. “Now we come to that burning question,” she whispered against his navel. “Boxers or briefs.”

  Her question was soon answered when she discovered dark-blue boxers. But there was more. Lucy learned that there was a light dusting of dark-blond hair on sun-bronzed skin that arrowed down to his waistband. She found out that there was a great deal more to the wild man than she’d ever imagined.

  She had no idea how they ended up in the bedroom, but she wasn’t about to complain. With one hand still around her, Logan used the other hand to pull the bedspread down to the end of the bed. He carefully laid her back against the sheets before he followed her down.

  Lucy’s bustier seemed to disappear along with Logan’s boxers. The sensation of skin against skin was electrifying. She hungered for more even if she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted. That she wanted Logan was a certainty, but a part of her blindly searched for even more.

  Logan whispered raw words of desire against her skin as he trailed his fingertips across the topmost curve of her breasts. He praised the silken feel of her skin and told her how beautiful she was.

  Each touch was a trail of fire across her nerve endings that almost exploded when his mouth moved down to cover her nipple, drawing it into the heated wet interior of his mouth. The suckling motion seemed to send an electric shock through her body.

  “You’re like a dream,” he murmured as he brought the dark rose-colored nipple to a taut point.

  “Exquisite.” He admired the delicate contours of her ear.

  “Silk.” His mouth moved over her jawline. “What?” He felt her smile without even seeing it.

  “I like feeling wicked.” She circled her fingertip in his navel then did a little exploring of her own. “Very wicked.”

  “Wicked is always good.” Logan started a path of kisses down the center of her chest. When he reached her waist, he dipped his tongue into the delicate hollow of her navel then continued downward. He dropped a kiss just above the soft brown hair before delving below.

  Lucy’s eyes widened as she figured out Logan’s destination.

  “I—” was all she managed to get out before Logan’s mouth covered her core. She felt herself spinning out of control. She wanted to move her hips, but he’d grasped them so she could only take in all he gave. In desperation, she tried to reach for his shoulders to pull him upward, but soon she forgot everything but how he was making her feel. She was past caring that the world around her no longer existed. All that mattered was Logan and what he was doing to her. She gasped as her body tightened into an unbearable knot of sheer sensation before the explosions went off inside her. She quickly learned that was only the beginning.

  “My wicked woman,” he said as he moved up over her and thrust inside.

  She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him deeply. She wanted him to feel the primitive emotions boiling inside her.

  She didn’t need to worry. He was sharing the chaos she felt.

  Logan quickly realized Lucy was a perfect fit for him. As he moved within her, he felt the connection as if they were truly one. He gritted his teeth against the pleasurable pain as her inner muscles contracted around him, pulling him even deeper.

  He looked down at her face. Her hair was fanned out over the white pillow in glorious disarray. She looked like t
he poster child for perfect sex. The smile curving her lips rivaled the sun, but it was the expression in her eyes that hit him like that ton of bricks again. He swore the words that raced through his brain were broadcast loud and clear to the entire planet.

  So this is what happens when you fall in love.

  Chapter Eleven

  “So this is what they mean about being ravaged.” Lucy rolled onto her side and propped her head up on her hand. “Who knew?”

  Logan opened one eye and slowly turned his head to one side to look at her. He was still in the process of trying to find the rest of his brain, not to mention his body, while lying next to him was a ball of energy. He was beginning to think he was the one who’d been ravaged.

  “I’m glad to hear that milady approves,” he said lazily.

  “Oh yes, milady approves very much.” Her purr stroked across him like a silk scarf trailing across sensitized bare skin. She rolled over onto her stomach and rested her chin on her laced fingers which were propped on his chest. Her smile of satisfaction was echoed in his own grin. “Didn’t you say something about room service offering milk and cookies?”

  He grabbed the phone off the nearby table. “I’ll see if they’ll do a little substitution for the milk.”

  A half hour later, Logan, wearing a thick terrycloth robe provided by the hotel, accepted a small trolley from a waiter who only stayed long enough to open a bottle of champagne and pour it into two champagne flutes.

  “Cookies and champagne! I love it!” Lucy looked delighted at the late-night treat. Wearing an identical robe, she picked up a cookie and nibbled on it while Logan poured the champagne into two glasses. They carried their snack back to the bedroom.

  “White chocolate chip and macadamia nut,” she announced, holding up her cookie. “Still warm and chewy. Now, this is service.”

  Logan leaned over to take a bite out of her cookie, but she laughed and held it out of reach. She relented and broke off a bite and held it out. He nibbled his way through the cookie so he could do the same to her fingers. He repaid the favor by holding up another cookie.

  “Chocolate chip, still warm and chewy.” He waved it under her nose. She closed her eyes and inhaled the rich chocolate aroma before closing her lips over the cookie edge. She bit down and chewed.

  “My, my, you do know how to pamper a lady, Dr. Kincaid.”

  Logan held up his glass. “Here’s to the wicked woman.”

  She held up her own. “And to the wild man.” They clinked glasses and drank to make their toast official. “Long may we reign.” She leaned over for a kiss, which he obliged with a great deal of enthusiasm. It was some time before they parted.

  “You don’t need the rest of those cookies right now, do you?” He took the glass out of her hand and set it to one side.

  “I don’t know. They’re still warm.” She arched an eyebrow. “Are you planning on ravaging me again?”

  “Yep.”

  “And then I can ravage you?”

  “If I’m still alive by then.” He kept moving forward, which meant she had to lie back. Exactly the position he wanted her in.

  “I really like this hotel!” Lucy laughed as Logan shrugged off his robe and divested Lucy of hers.

  She wasn’t thinking of cookies anymore.

  LOGAN COULDN’T REMEMBER ever experiencing a night like this: lovemaking that was so powerful he felt as if he’d been turned inside out, shared laughter that made the experience that much more special.

  But all in all, it still came down to Lucy. He hadn’t expected her enthusiasm.

  Even now, with her hair disheveled, not a speck of makeup on her face and eyes dreamy from their lovemaking, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  A voice deep down warned him this was also one very dangerous woman. He didn’t want to fall in love. He didn’t want commitment. Just because Lucy enjoyed the more rural area of Sunset Canyon now didn’t mean the day wouldn’t come when she’d prefer moving back to Orange County with its faster pace and more glamorous lifestyle.

  “I really like you,” he said quietly without thinking twice about what he was revealing.

  Lucy looked surprised by his statement.

  He went on. “I feel as if there are all these layers to you and I keep discovering something new. With everything I learn I like you even more.”

  Smiling broadly, Lucy, who had been kneeling on the bed, moved across the rumpled sheets and settled herself on his lap.

  “Guess what, hot stuff, I like you, too,” she confessed.

  He wiggled his eyebrows and prompted, “Because…”

  “Because,” she said, drawing the word out, “you also have all these layers. Peeling them away shows much more than this aging surfer image you sometimes like to show.”

  “Aging surfer?” Logan winced. “Go ahead, say what you mean, Lucille. I can take it.” He tightened his grip around her waist as she leaned back, obviously confident he wouldn’t let her fall backward. He wondered if she realized how much her complete trust in him touched him.

  Lucy looped her arms around his neck. “Actually, my full name is Lucinda Jeanette Stone Donner. My mother was under the influence of a lot of drugs at the time and she wanted a name that flowed.”

  “Lucinda Jeanette.” He rolled it around in his mouth. “It sounds like you.”

  “No, it doesn’t. All through school I was asked if I was really in love with Schroeder.” She mentioned the piano-playing character pursued by the bossy little Lucy in the “Peanuts” comic strip. “But let’s get back to you. I could have gone into a deep depression after meeting your drop-dead gorgeous high-school girlfriend.”

  He groaned at her reminder. “I knew I should have stayed away from my reunion.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. We gave people something to talk about when you dragged me out of there,” she pointed out.

  “I’m usually a lot more civilized, but there’s something about you that brings out the beast in me.”

  “I can tell.” She wiggled in his lap. “Unless you’re too tired, that is.”

  He lifted her up onto his erection. “What do you think?”

  THE SUN SHONE brightly across Logan’s face, urging him to open his eyes.

  He had no idea what time they’d finally fallen asleep. They’d made love, talked lazily and finished the champagne, then made love again.

  He felt more relaxed than he had in a long time. And it all had to do with the fetching woman in his arms.

  Hmm, wait a minute. With eyes still closed, he mentally took inventory. He was in bed but he was alone.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead.”

  Logan opened his eyes and viewed a picture he knew he’d never forget.

  Wearing Logan’s suit coat, Lucy stood at the end of the bed. Even with all the buttons fastened, the neckline revealed a good deal of cleavage and the hem revealed even more bare leg. The sleeves hung down to cover her hands and only showed the tips of her fingers. He was positive she wasn’t wearing anything under it.

  “Good morning, Dr. Kincaid,” she said in a husky voice that felt like rough velvet against his skin. “This is your wake-up call.”

  “Nice jacket.” His voice was raspy from sleep and arousal.

  “Thanks.” She pirouetted to better show it off.

  “Take it off.”

  Two seconds passed before the jacket hit the floor and a nude Lucy was kneeling on the bed and pulling back the sheet.

  “Just as long as you remember you said I could have it,” she murmured, prepared to take her time exploring his body.

  “TELL ME about Carly.”

  Lucy and Logan had chosen to have their breakfast on the patio. As he’d said the night before, the sounds of the ocean were softer, punctuated by the shrill call of the seagulls flying overhead.

  “We dated.”

  “Cute, Kincaid.” She playfully punched his arm.

  “That’s me.”

  “Give me more than a brief synopsis. Wa
s she your first serious girlfriend?” Lucy still wore Logan’s suit coat. He’d settled on wearing the slacks.

  They sat side by side on a lounger with the table in front of them. To be on the safe side, Logan had requested two carafes of coffee.

  Lucy shared her Belgian waffle topped with strawberries while Logan fed her bites from his omelet.

  “Yes, she was,” he admitted reluctantly, suddenly finding his toast interesting.

  “Did you two lose your virginity together?” She took the toast out of his hand, liberally spread blackberry preserves on it and handed it back to him.

  “Damn, woman!” He barked a short laugh. “Is there nothing sacred with you?”

  “Which means you did.” Lucy’s voice softened.

  “Carly and I dated, we did all the idiot stuff kids our age did and thought we’d love each other forever. Then a couple months into our senior year, she met a guy in college who said all the right things, so she broke up with me. At the time I was pretty hurt, but I got over it.”

  “And now she’s come back and thinks you’re a good prospect again,” she said.

  “She’s from a long time ago. I have no desire to relive old times. Thanks to you I don’t have the energy to do anything,” he muttered with a devilish glance in her direction.

  “So what about your ex-wife? Where did she come in?” She munched on her bacon.

  “You better be prepared to tell your part,” he said.

  “I already told you about Ross.”

  “You coasted through the subject,” Logan reminded her. “There has to be more to it.”

  Lucy’s smile dimmed. Logan hated seeing that happen. She’d been pure sunlight before. How much had that bastard hurt her?

  “I met Ross in college. I was the starry-eyed freshman, he was the serious senior. He had plans to make it big in the real estate market and actually accomplished his goal. He owns a great deal of property in the Seattle area. We were married seven months after we met. I quit school and we moved up to Seattle. It was as if he had the Midas touch with property and he did very well from the beginning. I didn’t enroll in school up there. I wanted to help him realize his dream.” She nodded when she saw Logan’s expression. “Yes, we’re talking the usual story of a young woman giving up her dreams because she thought she was working toward a mutual future.”