He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not

angry about that, but you treated me like a pariah all day. How do you think I felt when everyone around me saw how embarrassed of me you were—”
    “I wasn’t embarrassed.”
    She threw her hands in the air, then crossed them over her chest. “We’re getting nowhere.”
    They sat in silence for several minutes. She did her best to ignore him, not to mention the growing erection beneath her bottom. How could he be thinking about sex at a time like this?
    “I’m sorry, Mandy.” He leaned forward and nibbled on her earlobe.
    She jerked away and struggled to maintain her anger, in spite of the jolt of desire that one little touch had evoked.
    He sighed. “I’m not very good at controlling my anger when it comes to you. That doesn’t excuse it. I know that and I’m sorry my behavior embarrassed you, but if you ever do something like that again, I can’t promise I won’t act like an ass again. I’ll try,” he said, holding up a hand to halt the angry words she was ready to spill. “I can’t promise I won’t do that again but I can promise that I’ll try. Fair enough?”
    It was a lousy apology but she knew it came from his heart. She would have preferred a promise that he’d never do something like that again, but he was too honest for that. He knew his limits. She grudgingly nodded her agreement.
    He pulled her back to lie against his chest, tucking her head beneath his chin, stroking her hair and massaging her scalp. “I’ve made a promise to you. Can you make one to me?”
    “Depends on what it is.”
    He chuckled, a deep rumbling sound that tickled her ear where it rested against him.
    “Promise me you won’t ever put yourself in danger like that again.”
    She shook her head. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I reacted. Just like you can’t promise me you’ll never get that angry with me or shut me out like that, I can’t promise not to try to protect the man I love, even if it means danger to me.”
    His fingers stilled where they rested in her hair. She suddenly realized what she’d said, and hoped he hadn’t noticed. She hadn’t intended to be the first to say it.
    He cupped the sides of her face, tilting her head up to look at him. “You love me?” he asked, his voice husky and low. His hands shook and his eyes had turned so dark they were almost black. As much as she regretted saying it first, she couldn’t let him think she hadn’t meant it.
    She turned her head slightly and kissed his palm. “Yes. I love you.”
    He crushed her against himself, covering her mouth with his and thrusting his tongue inside, stroking in and out in a frenzied rhythm that left her clutching his shoulders and drawing up her knees to cuddle him against her.
    When her tongue stroked lightly against his and she sucked his tongue, he shivered against her and groaned low in his throat.
    Suddenly he twisted and pulled her beneath him, frantically tearing at the fastenings to his pants as he continued to ravage her mouth.
    She strained against him, jerking off his tie, struggling with the buttons on his shirt until she gave up and ripped it open. Buttons flew against the wall and onto the floor.
    He broke their kiss so he could work her shorts down her hips. She eagerly lifted for him so he could slide them off, even as she struggled to push his own pants down his thick muscular thighs.
    She’d never felt so consumed with raw hunger before, not even on that first night they’d made love. She was wild for him. He tugged her tank top and bra over her head and leaned down to delve his tongue into the valley between her breasts, squeezing and molding them with his hands.
    “Logan, your pants, take them—”
    “No time, can’t wait.” He thrust inside her with his pants tangled around his knees.
    She bucked beneath him, her head thrown back against the chaise, matching his rhythm with her own. Pushing and straining, they franticly raced toward their shared goal.
    She felt him tighten inside her and knew he was close. She was close, too, and when the first flutterings of her impending climax rushed through her, she threw her head back against the lounge, her fingers digging into his back, reveling in the sensation as it built within her.
    He sucked in his breath and grew even harder, thrusting with quick, deep strokes into her. “Come with me, Mandy,” he urged. “Let yourself go.” He leaned down and grazed his teeth against her nipple, pulling the swollen tip into his mouth, sucking in unison with