She continued to admire him until nothing could have stopped her from climbing into that bunk next to him and molding her body to his hard-muscled form. He started awake with an inrush of breath through his nose and lifted his head to see who had climbed into bed with him. Toni doubted she was the first to force her attention on the man, and would probably not be the last, but the smile he gifted her pushed those thoughts aside.
“Is it time to get up?” he asked, rubbing one eye with a knuckle and yawning.
She shook her head.
“Good,” he murmured before tugging her against the wall of his chest. His hands slid down her back and grabbed her ass to pull her more securely against him.
She lifted a trembling hand to caress the warm skin along his side. She’d never really touched a man before. She wanted to experience all the differences between his body and hers with her hands and when she got up the nerve, with her lips.
“Can I touch you?” she asked.
“Isn’t that what you’re doing?” he said in a drowsy voice.
“Everywhere?” she clarified.
“Mmm,” he murmured. “I think I’m going to like this.”
“Will you tell me what feels good for you?”
“If you pay attention, it should be obvious.”
She smiled. Finally, something she excelled at. “I’m good at paying attention.”
He scowled. “I’m not. The only thing I’m good at is being a fuck-up.”
She rubbed his worried brow with her fingertips until his flesh relaxed beneath her touch. “You’re not a fuck-up, Logan. You’re . . .” Wonderful. She sighed internally, not wanting him to know how infatuated she was with him already. Or maybe her jumping into his bunk with him was a dead giveaway.
“Prove it. Name one thing I’ve done in the past twenty-four hours that wasn’t impulsively stupid.”
“Impulsive, yes, stupid, no. You’re a creature of instinct.”
“So now I’m a creature?”
“A man,” she corrected. “A sexy one who I can’t stop thinking about, even though I know I should be paying attention to my work.”
“I have the same annoying problem when it comes to you.”
“You don’t have to say things like that to get into my panties,” she said with a grin.
“But I do to make you smile.” He kissed her, and she melted against him. His lips moved to her jaw. “Besides,” he whispered, “it’s true. Why do you think I shoved both feet in my mouth at that radio interview?”
“Because you were looking for new adventures with religious zealots?” she teased.
“Because I wasn’t listening. I was too busy watching you.” He lifted his head and looked down at her. He grinned crookedly. “See, when I tell you things like that, it makes you smile.”
“It also makes my heart pound,” she admitted.
He shifted down her body to rest his head against her chest. She wondered if her heart was pounding hard enough to damage his hearing. She lifted a trembling hand and placed it on his head, allowing her fingers to toy with the silky strands of his hair. They lay like that for a long while. She breathed in his scent, which clung to the pillow beneath her head and the entire space of his bunk. She relished the weight of his head on her chest and the feel of his fingertips pressing into either side of her ribcage. Toni’s eyes drifted closed as her thoughts found rare tranquility.
“Didn’t you come into my bed with plans to seduce me?” he asked.
She laughed. “I’m not very good at it, if you can’t tell.”
“No, I can’t tell, and I have the hard-on to prove it.”
Her heart leaped against her ribcage. She didn’t know if she’d ever become accustomed to such shocking statements.
“Will you let me suck it?” she asked.
He laughed and lifted his head. She forced herself to look down and meet his gaze. He had every reason to laugh at her; her attempts to be sexy were ludicrous.
“Will I let you suck it?”
“If you’re afraid that I’ll hurt you . . .” She broke eye contact by tipping her chin up. “You’d probably prefer someone who knows what she’s doing. I understand.” She attempted to squirm out of the bunk, but he moved to cover her body and pinned her to the thin mattress beneath him. He grabbed her wrists and held them down on either side of her head. A thrill of unexpected excitement coursed through her body and settled as a throb between her thighs. She’d thought that being held down would be terrifying, but it was actually thrilling. Maybe someday she’d get up the courage to ask him to tie her to the bed.
“And I thought I was the stupid one.” He shook his head at her. “I never have a problem brushing off a woman I’m not interested in. I know how to say no. If I wanted someone else, I’d say so. The only woman I want is you.”
“Even though I’m inexperienced?”
“Hell, I think it’s because you’re inexperienced. It’s refreshing. Even other women who don’t have much experience sure don’t make it known.”
Toni gasped as realization dawned. “Oh. So I should pretend I know what I’m doing and muddle through it.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Nope. You should keep doing exactly what you’re doing.”
“Then please stop making this so hard. I don’t like it when you laugh at me.”
“I’m not laughing at you, lamb. You make me feel happy.”
Her heart skipped a beat. It seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Maybe she should visit a cardiologist. “I do?”
“You also make me talk too much. I’m going to shut up now and let you suck my hard-as-granite cock.”
He kissed her breathless and then rolled onto his side against the wall. She stared into his dreamy blue eyes for a long moment and then glanced down to see if his cock was as hard as he claimed. Not so unfortunately, she got distracted by his muscular chest. Palms flat against him, she explored the hard contours of his pecs. She found his abdomen to be equally mesmerizing and continued to stroke his skin until she noticed his breath was hitching. When she tugged the sheet off his hip, she recognized his predicament immediately. Long, hard, and impressively thick, Logan’s cock strained toward her. There was no way on earth that she could suck that entire thing into her mouth. She glanced up at him uncertainly, but he had his eyes closed and his lower lip trapped between his teeth. Toni longed to snap a picture of that face. Dear lord, if she included a picture of him like that in her book, every woman who saw it would need a change of panties.
Her gaze returned to his cock. This she was not willing to share with the world. Even though she knew it wasn’t feasible, she wanted him all to herself. Her fingertips touched the hard length of his cock, and it jerked. Startled, she drew her hand away. Was it supposed to do that? Had she hurt him? Maybe she shouldn’t be so bold. Logan produced a sound—half pleasure, half torture—but remained still.
Toni scooted lower on the bed until his navel was at eye level. She kissed his lower belly, delighted by the quivering quality of his flesh beneath her lips. She touched his cock with her fingers again, and Logan drew a shaky breath into his lungs. Did he like that? She thought so, but she couldn’t be sure. She was tempted to ask him, but remembered that he said she’d know what he liked if she paid attention. Steeling her nerve, she bent her head and drew her tongue over the enlarged head of his cock.
“Toni, please,” he whispered.
Please? Please what? She licked him again and waited for his reaction. She liked how a few touches had his breathing labored and his muscles taut. She felt powerful and a little sexy. And really horny. His hand moved to the back of her head. The muscles in his arm tightened, but he didn’t press her forward to force her mouth to take him, though she was pretty sure he wanted to.
As she worked up the nerve to go for it, Toni trailed her fingers down his thick shaft, tracing a vein just beneath his satiny skin. When her fingers brushed over the wrinkled skin of his testicles, he sucked in a deep breath. She wondered what he would do if she . . . Toni shifted lower and kissed the loose flesh beneath her exploring fingertips. She kissed his balls the way he kissed her between her legs, with coaxing lips and slight flicks of her tongue. He squirmed, his hands moving to the sheet beneath him, which he clung to with clenched fingers.