Sarah Morgan Summer Collection

Naked.

And dripping wet.

Logan stared and then he almost swallowed his tongue.

Her legs were long and slender, her hips wonderfully curved and her breasts full and crowned by rosy pink nipples which glistened with drops of water from the shower.

‘Evanna!’ He croaked out her name and she froze to the spot and her eyes widened and locked with his.

For a long, pulsing moment they both stood. Staring.

The atmosphere crackled with tension and then she came to her senses, gave a squeak of horror and looked around desperately for something to cover herself up with, but there was nothing. ‘I forgot to grab a towel—I—I was—You can’t look—Logan!’ Her voice was tortured with embarrassment as she glared at him. ‘Stop looking at me! It’s not very gentlemanly.’

Gentlemanly?

At any other time Logan would have laughed at her use of such an old-fashioned word but he was too busy being thoroughly ungentlemanly to respond. In fact, he didn’t really know what he was doing. His brain had ceased coherent thought and his eyes were definitely under independent rule. It wasn’t until she moved her hands down to cover herself that he realised his gaze had been firmly fixed on the tempting shadows between her legs.

All the oxygen seemed to have been sucked out of the air and Logan suddenly couldn’t breathe properly.

She was still trying to shield herself with her hands but he already had an all too clear image of her lush feminine curves imprinted on his brain.

He’d known Evanna for his whole life and he’d thought that he knew everything there was to know about her. He knew that she was kind, endlessly patient and had a good sense of humour. He knew how she liked her coffee, he knew that she liked to run and swim. He knew that at school she’d been top in English but hopeless at maths. She was his sister’s best friend and he knew her well. Really, really well. Up until today he would have said that there was nothing about Evanna that he didn’t know.

So why hadn’t he known that she had a body straight out of a hot male fantasy?

Gripped by lust, he closed his eyes briefly to try and erase the image and dragged a towel from the cupboard.

‘Here …’ His voice hoarse, he clutched the towel, intending to hand it to her and move away, but he couldn’t prevent himself from taking one more look and then found he couldn’t stop looking. The creamy skin of her shoulder and the tempting swell of her breasts were more addictive than any drug.

She had fantastic breasts.

Had she always had those breasts or had she suddenly grown them?

Why had he never noticed her breasts before?

Jabbing his fingers through his hair, he tried to look away but his eyes just wouldn’t obey his brain. Her hair was soaking wet and hung halfway down her back, and she was deliciously slippery and gleaming wet after her shower. His mouth dried and he realised that any moment now he was going to power her back against the wall and take her. Hard. ‘I—You—’

‘For crying out loud, Logan, stop staring!’ Her voice sounded strangled and her expression was horrified as she snatched the towel and held it in front of her. ‘You’ve seen me in a bikini a million times so I don’t see why seeing me naked is such a big step.’

Had he seen her in a bikini? His mind dulled by lust, Logan struggled to think. Yes. He had seen her in a bikini. So why hadn’t he ever noticed her body before? Was he blind? Stupid? Both? Lost in an explicit fantasy involving his hands and mouth on those delicious curves, it took him a minute to realise that she’d asked him a question. ‘What? Sorry?’

She stared at him in exasperation. ‘What is the matter with you? I asked you what on earth you were doing here, anyway.’

Taking a fast ride to paradise? ‘I live here. I think.’ He wasn’t sure of anything any more.

‘Well, I know that you live here. I’m not stupid.’ She tightened her grip on the towel, trying to hold it in place. ‘But I wasn’t expecting you home. You’re supposed to be working.’

He’d never heard Evanna snappy before but she was decidedly snappy and he found her efforts to maintain her dignity and privacy incredibly endearing. Water clung to her dark lashes and her cheeks were pink with embarrassment.

‘I was working,’ he drawled softly, ‘but I wanted—I needed.’ He couldn’t remember what he wanted or needed because it had been superseded by something else entirely. Her.

‘Oh, forget it! It doesn’t matter now.’ She interrupted him and backed into the bathroom, glaring at him as if he’d committed a terrible sin.

And he hadn’t. Not yet.

But in another moment he might do just that.

The temptation to just grab her and bring his mouth down on her soft, pink lips was so overwhelming that he clenched his fists by his sides, just to make sure that he wasn’t tempted.

‘Oh, this has got to be the most embarrassing moment of my life,’ Evanna muttered, pushing the door closed between them and leaving it open just a crack. ‘Stop staring and pass me my clothes.’

‘Clothes?’

‘Yes, Logan,’ she snapped. ‘My clothes! They’re in a pile on the floor outside the bathroom door. Get a grip! Did you leave your brain behind at work?’

In all the years he’d known her, he’d never heard Evanna irritable before. She was the most tolerant, patient person he’d ever met but suddenly she was behaving as though he’d done something grievously wrong.

‘Evanna.’ He tried to keep his tone mild. Tried to sound indifferent. ‘There’s no need to be embarrassed. I’ve known you all my life.’

And he’d obviously been walking around with his eyes shut!

‘Well, that doesn’t mean I want to stand in front of you stark naked! My clothes, Logan! They’re in the bag by your feet. And don’t you dare ever breathe a word of this to anyone. If I am on the receiving end of a single knowing wink when I walk into the pub, you’ll be finding yourself a new practice nurse.’

Logan dutifully found the bag and handed it to her. She virtually dragged it from his hand and closed the bathroom door firmly in his face.

Logan stared at the wood. He could have told her that it didn’t make any difference, hiding behind a door or a towel. He could have told her that the image of her lush, naked body was now firmly fixed on his extremely over-heated brain. But he thought that in her current mood she just might hit him so he stayed silent and tensed slightly when she dragged open the door and faced him.

She was wearing skimpy shorts and an ancient T-shirt in a washed-out, faded blue and her long, damp hair was caught up in a ponytail.

She looked like the old Evanna. Except that she didn’t. Because now he knew.

He knew what was underneath the clothes.

‘I’m dressed,’ she said through gritted teeth, thrusting the damp towel into his hands, ‘so you can stop standing there, gawping.’

‘Evanna—’

‘Oh, grow up!’ Her cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink and she scurried into Kirsty’s room, leaving Logan staring after her.

Aware that he needed to pull himself together, he drew in a deep breath and tried to think about something boring and inconsequential.

Anything that would take his mind off the vivid image of Evanna’s naked body. Since Catherine’s death he hadn’t thought about a woman—hadn’t wanted a woman.

Until now.

Frustrated and taken aback by the strength of his own reaction, he suddenly knew that he had to get out of the house before he did something that would embarrass both of them. This was Evanna. They were friends, for goodness’ sake. Somehow he had to erase that image from his mind and go back to the way he’d seen her previously—as a colleague and a lifelong friend. The best friend he had. Thoughts of sex had never intruded on their relationship before and he couldn’t let it now.

If she knew just how much she’d affected him, she’d feel awkward. Their entire relationship would change. They wouldn’t be able to work together properly. They.