“Shut up. We’re here to talk about you. Not me.”
I laugh and nod, kicking out one of the chairs next to me. “By all means then, have a seat.”
“How are you doing, Hon?” Izzy asks, looking at me with a concerned expression as she sits down and crosses her arms on the table.
“Well, let’s see. I’m locked in my house because some psycho is leaving dolls on my doorstep, and I’m not talking to my boyfriend since he thinks he can run my life but he won’t leave me alone so we just walk around the house, not speaking to each other.”
“Ali, he’s just trying to protect you,” Carly says, and I nod.
“I know that but I wish he would just cool it a little bit. If he had just talked to me about it, I probably would have agreed with him, but he didn’t. He bulldozed over me and started barking orders.”
“Sounds a little bit like you’re taking shit out on him,” Izzy says, giving me a look. “This is hard for both of you, and there is no handbook. Hell, even the cops can’t do much right now. Maybe you should just cut him some slack.”
I bite down on my lip as I mull over what she said. “Yeah, you’re right,” I whisper, and she nods, standing.
“Then, our work here is done.”
“What? You’re leaving?” I ask in a panic. I hate being cooped up in this house, and I don’t want them to leave me yet.
“Sorry, Hon. We just swung by on our lunch break and traffic was awful. We’ll stop by tonight if you want,” Carly offers, and I nod.
“She’ll be busy,” Logan says from the end of the hall, and I jump, pressing my hand over my chest as my heart pounds. Jeez, where the hell did he come from? Carly and Izzy give me sympathetic looks as they hug me and duck out of the kitchen. Logan stomps down the hallway and sits in the chair next to me. When the door closes, he holds out his hand.
“Come here, Kitten.”
After a moment of hesitation, I stand, deciding to let it all go as I grab his hand. He tugs it, pulling me into his lap, and moving me so I’m straddling his thighs. “We done with this fighting bullshit, Darlin’?”
I sigh and press my hands to his chest. “Maybe.”
“Just maybe.”
“Are you done acting like a Neanderthal and ordering me around and running my life?”
He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me closer, dropping his head back to look up at me. “Ali, I’m just trying to protect you.”
“I know that but you’ve got to talk to me, too. I’m an adult, and you’re treating me like a child. Chances are I would have agreed with you if you had just had a conversation with me before you went and called my boss. I was terrified that night, and then you just steamrolled me.”
He watches me for a moment before sighing. “I’m not going to apologize for the things I’ve done to keep you safe but I am sorry for not talking to you. This shit is so hard on me, Babe, and I get tunnel vision. I can’t stop thinking that I’m going to lose you just like I lost her, and I can’t do it. I can’t lose you, too.”
“I know,” I whisper, pressing my hand to his face.
“I don’t know what I would do if I lost you, Baby,” he whispers, his voice raw, and it reaches into my chest and squeezes my heart.
“Well, it’s a good thing you’ll never have to find out then, huh?”
He forces a smile but I can tell that he’s not buying what I’m selling. “Are we good?”
“Yeah, Logan,” I say, leaning in and hovering over his lips. “We’re good. Always.”
* * * *
“Wake up, Kitten,” he whispers in my ear, his breath fanning out across my skin as he cages me in with his arms and legs. Groaning, I turn my head into the pillow, trying to get away from him, and he laughs. “Uh-uh, Darlin’. It’s time to get up.”
“It’s Saturday,” I say, trying to roll over, but he stops me.
“Yeah, but we got somewhere to be.”
I peek open my eye and look up at him, his dark hair messy from sleep and a sly grin on his face. “Where?”
“It’s a surprise,” he says, smacking my ass, and I jump. “Come on, get up.”
Rolling over to my back, I shoot him a skeptical look but he just laughs. “What are you up to?”
“Guess you’ll just have to get up and find out.”
I lift my hips off the bed, pressing into his erection, and he fights to keep his eyes open.
“But there’s so much more fun we could have here,” I tease, batting my eyes at him as I reach down and wrap my fingers around his cock.
“Kitten,” he rasps, his eyes glowing with a primal need that sends a shiver down my spine, “you’re getting in that shower one way or another. How quickly you do it, however, determines if you get this cock or not.”
He thrusts into my hand, and I moan before pushing him off me and jumping out of the bed as he laughs. Glancing back at him, I pause and turn to just look at him. He’s sprawled out across my bed, naked as the day he was born with his hand on his chest as he looks back at me with love shining in his eyes. Happiness swells up inside, me and it feels like I may just burst from it.
“Hey, Logan,” I whisper, and a soft smile pulls at his lips.
“Yeah, Gorgeous?”
“I love you.”
His smile slowly melts away as he just stares at me, the intensity in his eyes overpowering as he meets my gaze and holds it there, like he can’t physically look away. There’s so much that passes between us as we look at each other across my bedroom, and I can’t believe that I ever doubted this. Our connection is present in every single look, every little touch, and I hate that we wasted time skirting around each other.
He sits up and scoots to the edge of the bed and holds his hand out to me. I go to him without a drop of hesitation and straddle his lap as he wraps his arms around my waist. As he smiles up at me and pulls me closer, I wrap my arms around his neck and lean down, gently pressing my lips to his. He trails his hand over my hair, cradling the back of my head as he takes control from me and teases my lips with the tip of his tongue.
I sigh, melting into him, and he runs his tongue slowly along the roof of my mouth, and I tremble in his arms. Humming his approval, he stands with me in his arms and starts walking to the bathroom without pulling away from my lips. It’s a little awkward but we make it to the bathroom, and he presses one last sweet kiss to my lips before pulling away just enough to turn on the water.
“Was that your way of saying, ‘I love you, too’?” I ask, and he smiles.
“No.”
I scowl and he laughs, reaching up and smoothing the crinkle in my forehead.
“I can’t find the right words for what you mean to me, Ali. Every time I think I’ve got a grip on this emotion, you do something and my feelings for you grow, eclipsing the sensation I just felt moments before. Each time I think I couldn’t possibly love you any more, you go and prove me wrong, and a simple word like ‘love’ just doesn’t do it anymore.”
“Well, that’ll do,” I whisper, unable to catch my breath after his beautiful words, and he laughs. I’ve never felt more loved than I do in this moment, and I throw up a massive thanks to the universe that all the stars aligned when they did and brought Logan and I together. He kisses me again and walks us into the shower, careful not to stick my face under the water, and I grin at him.