SevenSensuousDays Read Online Free

anything. Someone
ordinary he could simply be himself with.
    That thought might have discouraged or insulted another
woman. Tessa had endured too much of her own pain to disregard his. Compassion
swelled in her for what he’d been through, the facts she recalled from the
newspaper accounts. Beneath that was stark female need. His voice was so strong
and sexy, while his rough good looks made her skin tingle.
    She cleared her throat and blurted, “Okay.”
    He smiled. A wondrous, unexpected smile. Tessa saw his
surprise that he’d done so, surely not meaning to. The same as when his
negligent perusal of her body had ended on her face, where he’d paused and
remained.
    Like now.
    He stared at Tessa. She did the same with him, unable to
help herself.
    Ronnie clapped her hands, breaking the magical moment. “Then
it’s settled. Let’s take a brief intermission before we move on with the
program.”
    Hushed conversations rippled through the audience. Servers
bent their heads to the clients, listening to the next round of orders, whether
it was for drinks or hors d’oeuvres.
    Brian unchained Tessa, but didn’t remove her shackles.
Leaning into her, he murmured, “That was something.”
    “It was, wasn’t it?”
    He grinned at her obvious astonishment. With the chain
wrapped around one hand, he led her off the stage, his broad shoulders blocking
her view of Logan. She sensed him watching…waiting for her arrival. For Tessa,
it took forever. She could only manage small steps in the pattens or risk
falling. Those men seated at the tables closest to her glanced up. At any other
time, Tessa might have worried about how she looked, whether they’d find fault
with her. Logan’s bid had changed that. She honestly didn’t care what they
thought.
    They seemed to know and offered smiles of encouragement, as
though she were in a sporting event they wanted her to win.
    Hadn’t she already done that with Logan having fought to
have her? Something no other man had ever done.
    Visions of him touching, taking her, danced in Tessa’s
thoughts, sapping her strength. Like a child just learning to walk, she had to
focus on her every move, making certain she didn’t stumble. Water sprayed her
ankles and calves as she negotiated the narrow walkway between the fountains
then down the next series of steps, at length arriving at Logan’s table.
    He lifted his face to her.
    The conversations surrounding them receded once more,
everything drifting away, leaving only her and him .
    He was even better looking up close, his lashes unspeakably
long, his irises definitely hazel, his mouth oh so inviting. Tessa edged
closer, enticed by what she saw and his presence. Compelling. Undeniably male.
A woman could get lost within the impassioned pressure from his lips. His kiss
deep, wet, satisfying. His big body confining hers. Her face pressed to his
throat, her breath warming him further.
    She suppressed a shiver of delight, her attention moving to
his shoulders, chest, then to what little the opened collar of his shirt
revealed. It took Tessa a moment to realize she was looking for scars from the
fire he’d been in. There weren’t any, only smooth sun-kissed skin. Perhaps he
hadn’t been hurt badly. She tried to recall what the articles about him had
said, but couldn’t.
    “Your prize,” Brian announced, delivering his rehearsed
lines in his thick Brooklyn accent. “Would you like me to secure her to the
column or on a pillow at your feet?”
    Logan regarded the garnets dangling from Tessa’s navel.
Pinpoints of crimson light skimmed her skin…her curves.
    A lifetime of being rejected, because of her weight, hadn’t
disappeared in an instant. However, Tessa wasn’t as daunted as she might have
been at him seeing her up close, without a stitch on.
    “Take them off,” Logan said.
    He wanted her fully nude? Not even wearing so much as body
jewelry?
    At his command, a rush of unrestrained desire swept through
Tessa. She was his for a week.