I wipe some snot from my nose, laughing through the tears. “I’m so sorry, Logan. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he says softly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “We can talk more when we’re back home. Let’s get you there soon before you freeze.”
Home. The word wraps around me like a blanket, and I realize just how fitting it is. Lost Haven really has become home. A home I was trying to run away from. But I guess one more night can’t hurt.
Logan reaches into the bed of the truck and pulls my duffel bag out with one strong arm, and I grab my laptop bag from the passenger seat. He offers me the other arm to lean on as we make the trek back to the cabin. I didn’t make it very far, turns out, so the walk isn’t too bad, especially with Logan’s giant footsteps paving the way. We don’t talk, but I can feel a very important conversation brewing between us.
Logan leads me back into my cabin and gets to work building a fire. Once it’s roaring, I stand just inches away from the woodstove, letting its radiant heat begin to defrost me.
“Here, take this,” Logan says, and I turn around to see him holding out a thick wool sweater. “Your clothes are soaked.”
“Thanks.”
I fumble with the zipper of my coat, my fingers frozen and barely functional. After a few moments of watching me struggle, Logan intervenes.
“Can I help?”
“Yes,” I say softly, and he pulls down the zipper of my jacket inch by inch. The whole time, I stare into his eyes, trying to read the dark expression on his face.
“What are you thinking?” I ask him, tilting my head to the side.
He meets my eyes for a second before peeling the coat off of my shoulders and kneeling in front of me to unlace my boots. “Come on, let’s get you out of these clothes. Then you can tell me why you were trying to steal my grandfather’s truck.”
Unexpectedly, I laugh. “I wasn’t trying to steal it. I guess I thought I’d call from the airport, and someone could come pick it up once I was in the air.”
“You really didn’t want to see me before you left, huh? Didn’t want to say good-bye?”
My heart squeezes painfully in my chest. I open my mouth to answer, but say nothing. What can I possibly say?
“Let’s just get you changed into something warmer. Then we can talk,” he says gruffly before standing and walking to the opposite side of the cabin to pour himself a drink. He keeps his back turned, either to give me some privacy or because he can’t even look at me. Probably both.
I look down at my wet pants and socks and slowly peel them off, then pull the wool sweater on over my head. It’s so big that it brushes against my bare knees. Even better, it smells just like him.
“All done,” I say meekly. As I step up behind him, he turns, chewing on a smile he tries to hide when I wave to him, my hands drowning in fabric. “It’s just my size.”
“You’re still shivering,” he says, stepping toward me and offering me his drink, some dark amber liquid, then he wraps a fleece blanket around my shoulders.
I accept the drink and take a sip. Whiskey. He laughs a little at the way I wince.
“I should’ve brought your namesake shandy instead,” he says coyly as I cough away the sting of the liquor. “You all right?”
“I’m okay,” I assure him, reaching out to take his big, rough hand. “I’m sorry for causing all of this trouble.”
“I don’t understand why you would just leave like that.”
The hurt in his voice almost breaks my heart in two. I never, ever want to hurt this man again. I close the space between us, close enough to feel his breath.
“I thought it would be easier,” I whisper as a stray tear runs down my cheek.
“For who?”
“For me.”
Logan surges toward me, capturing my mouth with his in a kiss unlike any we’ve shared so far. Our past kisses couldn’t possibly hold a candle to this one. This kiss—this incredible kiss—tastes like devotion and desperation. I can’t get enough of it.
Pressing onto my tiptoes, I wrap my arms around his neck just as he grabs my hips, yanking me against him with a growl. When his tongue brushes mine, I sigh into his mouth, all memory of the cold replaced by the fire of our touch.
What was life like before I stepped into Lost Haven? I can’t even remember.
“Logan,” I whisper against his lips between open-mouthed kisses.
His hands trail a path down my hips and over my ass to grasp my bare thighs, lifting me into the air and pressing me flush against him. Locking my ankles behind him, I chase the sensation building between my legs by grinding against the hard muscles of his abdomen.
With a groan, Logan lowers us onto the bed, and soon he’s pulling off the very sweater he tried so hard to get me into.
We can’t fight this anymore . . . that much is obvious.
One by one, our clothes fall to the floor in a heap. The fire crackles faintly in the background, overpowered by the hammering of my own heart. Logan sits back to unbutton his jeans, surveying my naked body beneath him. He looks at me like he owns me, one hand running possessively down my body from my neck to my pelvis.
I squirm beneath him, eager to finally feel all of him inside me. But Logan has other plans in mind, leaning down to kiss me hard on the mouth before kissing and nipping a trail of kisses over my breasts, my belly, and finally, between my legs.
“God, Summer. Fuck,” he murmurs between adoring kisses to my clit.
I buck like a wild animal beneath him, moaning his name like it’s the only word I remember. It may as well be with the way his mouth is replacing every thought, every worry with pure, unmitigated pleasure.
When Logan resurfaces, his mouth is slick, and I watch with hungry eyes as he tugs off his jeans, reaches into a back pocket to grab a condom, and rolls it over his length, which is wow—impressive. Our eyes lock, but this time there’s no uncertainty between us.
We want this. There’s no stopping us now.
Logan sinks into me with one long, slow thrust. I press my face into his neck, my body shuddering in pleasure.
He murmurs sweet words, telling me how perfect I feel. The tilt of his hips is perfect, but the pace is maddening. It’s like he wants to feel every inch of me around him. When I can’t take it anymore, I urge him with my hips until Logan is fucking me truly, deeply.
It doesn’t take long for the tension between my legs to boil over, and soon I’m gasping through an orgasm that has me seeing stars. Logan moans into my ear, leaning over me as he rocks through his own release.
We lie there in a sweaty heap, catching our breath. Now would be the time for reality to catch back up with me, but all I can manage is to curl into his side and press lazy kisses against his shoulder. A smile twitches on his lips, and he sighs with total satisfaction.
Now all we need is for tomorrow to never come.
19
* * *
LOGAN
Sunlight filtering through the front windows wakes me, and a smile lifts my lips when I open my eyes. Summer is still beside me. She’s curled on her side, facing away from me, and I roll closer, tugging her warm body next to mine.