by JJ Ellis
**********
At six p.m. the next day, Logan flew out of Casper/Natrona County International Airport and landed at McCarran International at eleven p.m. By midnight he was at his aunt’s house. His cousin Abigail and her husband Sam had met him at the airport, insisting that she drive his rental car and Sam drive their car since he hadn’t slept more than three hours the night before. He made a mental note not to mention stuff like that to his Aunt Charlotte. But in the end he was happy to talk to Abigail. She had been Ben’s best friend, and talking to her about him was the perfect way to know he finally had his brother tucked away safely in his heart. He knew for sure he was no longer capable of living in the past.
He hugged Abigail goodbye and watched until she climbed safely in her car with Sam, then he turned and walked to the front door. Before he could even knock, Charlotte was ushering him inside.
“Welcome Logan,” she gushed as she hugged him. “It’s so good to see a genuine smile on your face.”
“It’s actually good finally having a genuine smile,” he said, kissing her cheek.
“Come on into the kitchen with me. I’ll make us a snack.”
“You read my mind Aunt Charlotte. I’m famished.” Logan sat down at the breakfast bar while his aunt made them sandwiches.
“I’ve met your young woman and the baby,” Charlotte said between bites. “What you did for them was selfless.”
Logan shrugged it off. “So, how are they?”
“They are fine, aside from missing you that is.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. He had worried about them since the day they left. “Well, I’d better be getting out to the guest house and let you get to bed. I’m sorry you had to stay up so late for me.”
Charlotte smiled at him. “Nonsense. I always stay up really late when your uncle is gone. I like to read when I don’t have to listen to him snoring.”
“It sounds to me like you’re almost glad he had to stay in Harper’s Rock longer,” Logan teased.
“That reminds me,” Charlotte started. “Is he really hurt or is he faking to be able to hang out with Jackson longer?”
Logan laughed and hugged her. “He’s really hurt…and getting on Jack’s nerves. I’ll see you tomorrow Auntie. Thanks for letting me stay.”
“You’re family, kiddo,” she said, pulling a set of keys from her pocket. “Sleep well, you have a busy day tomorrow.”
**********
Logan opened his eyes to the sun shining brightly thought the drapes. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand to check the time. It was ten-thirty in the morning. He really had been tired; it had probably been years since he’d slept that late. Feeling this rested was definitely worth the lost time in his day. He felt like he could take on the world.
Stretching, he climbed out of bed and went straight to the shower. His excitement about the day ahead nearly made him use hand lotion as shampoo. When he grabbed the wrong sample bottle off the counter. Hell, he couldn’t even concentrate enough to not nick himself when he shaved.
He fled the bathroom as quickly as he could, hoping to avoid killing himself before he got to his cousin’s house. When he was fully dressed he triple checked his plans and walked out the door. Fifteen minutes later he was parked two houses down from Jackson and Deborah’s. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he sent a text to Jayna. “Hey, what’s up? I’m coming to visit!”
“Yay! I’m so excited. When are you coming?”
“Soon,” he replied.
“So you aren’t sure when? I’m so excited. CJ will be so happy to see you.”
“I’ll let you know my exact plans as soon as I can. I have a surprise being delivered for you.”
“A surprise, huh?”
“Yeah, the delivery man will call Jack when it’s there. When you go outside to get it, don’t take CJ with you. You’ll definitely need both hands."
“Okay…Any hints? Why do I have to go outside to get it?”
“The delivery man only guaranteed delivery to the driveway. And NO HINTS. I gotta go. I’ll call when I know my plans."
“Okay ttyl.”
Logan pulled up Jack’s contact info and dialed.
“Hello C…”
“Don’t!”
“Uh okay. What can I do for you?”
“Tell Jayna her surprise is waiting in the driveway.”
Logan ran up and stood at the end of the driveway, between the two cars sitting there. Soon, the door opened and Jayna stepped outside. She looked absolutely beautiful. “Don’t come any closer,” he called to her.
Her head shot up and a smile formed across her face. “What…”
“I love you!” he said loud and clear. “I love you so much Jayna. I’ve been so stupid. I have so much to tell you, to apologize for…”
“Can I move now, Logan?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “If I don’t have my arms wrapped around you soon, I might just lose my mind.”
Before he’d even made it halfway through the sentence, Jayna was running between the cars and launching herself into his waiting arms. He held her tightly, not wanting to let her go. “Can you forgive me?”
“You’re here,” she whispered. “That’s all I care about.”
Logan kissed her hard and quick. “Are you willing to give this whole love thing a go with me?” he asked hesitantly.
“I’ve been willing,” she laughed. “I never stopped being willing.”
“I love you,” he said, looking directly into her eyes.
“I love you too,” she said, followed by a sweet slow kiss. “Would you like to see CJ now?”
“Oh yeah! Where’s my boy?” He reluctantly let her go and when they got around the cars, his cousin and Deb were standing there, all smiles. Deb was holding CJ and quickly handed him over to Logan. They all walked into the house where they were greeted by Jackson’s preteen twins, Mikey and Maddie, and their toddler Leo.
Logan sat down with the baby snuggled close in his arms. “I missed you so much little man.” CJ squirmed and Logan held him away from his chest to look at his face. “Hey there.”
“He’s happy to see you,” Jayna said, sitting down next to them. “Look at that smile.”
Across the room, Jack snorted. “Just gas,” he mumbled.
“Still king of the smart asses, I see,” Logan joked.
“Play nice, you two,” Deb said pleasantly. “Or these two kids here won't be the only ones on backyard clean up duty for misbehaving.”
“What did you do?” Logan asked, directing his question to his notoriously mischievous cousin instead of the two kids.
“What?” Jack exclaimed. “They’ve been warned time and time again to do as I say and not as I did in the past.”
“Incorrigible!” Deb murmured as she ushered the two older kids outside to complete their punishment clean-up of the back yard.
Logan looked down at the child in his arms. “Do as I say and not as Cousin Jackson does. Okay kid?”
Jayna leaned her head on his shoulder. “You know, we’ve been talking a lot over the last week or so.”
“Oh, about what?” Logan asked as he snuggled CJ close again.
“About how he wants you to be his daddy. You know, since he already has your last name and all.”
“Well kiddo, what do you think?” CJ burped and Logan chuckled. “I think he said he’s willing to give me a chance.”
“We both are,” Jayna said softly. “You’re going to be a great daddy.”
“So I take it you’re willing to come back to Harper’s Rock with me?”
Jayna kissed his cheek and snuggled closer to him. “Yeah, it started to feel like home to me.”
“Lunch time!” Deb called from the breakfast nook. “And then you two need to get out of here and spend some time alone. Your son will be babysat by me and the two best eleven-year-old helpers in the world.”
“Is that okay with you?” Logan asked Jayna, unsure of how she felt about leaving CJ.
&
nbsp; “Yeah,” she whispered. “I got a clean bill of health from the doctor.” Her eyes sparkled and Logan suddenly felt like skipping lunch. But they stayed and ate, catching up with Jack and Deb as Logan held onto CJ. By two o’clock they were in his rental car on the way to the guest house. When they arrived, Jayna excused herself to take a shower. When he’d first texted her, she had been helping Deb and Jack clean the garage.
Logan decided it was the perfect time to call his mother.
“Hey son! How was your flight?”
“It was fine, Ma. She’s coming home with me. They are both coming home,” he nearly sobbed.
“Oh, I’m so glad. I can’t believe that in one fell swoop you are a boyfriend and a dad. I just never thought it was possible…”
“That makes two of us,” Logan admitted. “But here we are.”
The line was quiet while Evelyn chatted with Ethan then she came back on the line. “Your uncle wants to know why you're on the phone with me when you should be with Jayna.”
Logan’s voice broke with laughter. “Tell Uncle Cowboy that his princess is doing great but she does miss him. And Jayna’s in the shower so I’m calling to ask you a favor.”
“Okay, what do you need?” she asked. “I already checked on the store earlier.”
“It’s not the store, Ma. I need you to find someone to deliver baby furniture to my house. Could you pick a room and make it into a nursery for CJ?”
“Oh, of course I can. That will be so much fun! Should I get those painted wooden letters so he has CJM on his wall?”
“Actually Ma, I’m his legal father, so it would be CJH. But I think that’s a great idea.”
“Boy, you and Miss McIntyre have some explaining to do…”
“When I get home in a few days, Mama. Make the room look great! I trust you.” He quickly hung up the phone and collapsed back onto the bed. Now that that was over, he could concentrate on having the best night of his life with the woman he loved. For the first time in his life he would be making love to someone, not just having sex.
**********
“I’m sorry I fell asleep on you,” Jayna said. “I haven’t slept too well in a while.”
“That’s okay. I knew you were tired. And I got a chance to talk to my aunt for a while."
“So, where are we going?” she asked as the freeway sped past them.
“One of my Brother Russell’s restaurants. He runs them from Harper’s Rock now, so I figured I would check on one of them while I was here.”
Jayna remained quiet for the rest of the trip and Logan started to worry. He wasn’t used to seeing her like this. Was she having second thoughts?
Logan stopped the car in the parking lot and turned to Jayna. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “You were expecting me to…to have sex with you. I didn’t mean to disappoint you.”
“No!” he exclaimed. "Stop right there. You did not disappoint me. You could never disappoint me just because we didn’t get to have sex. Why do you think that, Sleeping Beauty?”
Tears formed in her eyes and a few trickled down. “Reginald used to get so angry if I wasn’t…compliant with his needs. I feel bad that you’ve had to wait.”
“Oh Jayna, sweetheart. I don’t ever expect anything from you. We do what we want, whenever we want to. My needs or wishes are no more important than yours. Do you understand?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking into his eyes. “And I was just so tired.”
“And I also know that we have the rest of our lives to make love. I wasn’t worried about waiting for you to wake up and for us to have dinner together.”
“I hope it won’t always be like this,” she said softly. “I don’t want you to have to live in Reggie’s shadow.”
“We’ll work on it together. It will just take time for you to get used to your new life of freedom.”
“I can’t believe how fast being in a real relationship changed me for the worst,” she worried. “When we were just acquaintances and then friends, I never felt like I needed to be inferior to you. But now…”
“Stop Jayna,” Logan said pulling her close. “You’ll just torture yourself. We will work through this together. But right now, I want to eat. I’m starving.”
“Me too,” she said with a sigh. “Let’s go eat and then get back to the guest house.” Her voice lowered and she caressed his chest with her finger. “I get to have my boyfriend pressing his way inside of me for the very first time. It’s kind of one of those things a girl looks forward to.”
“Keep talking like that and we’ll both be quite hungry come morning.”
********
“Is everything okay?” Jayna asked as she stepped out of the bathroom. Logan had received an emergency call from the grocery store when they arrived back at the guest house from dinner.
“Yeah,” he sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. “They had a big power outage in parts of town today and we had to discuss what gets tossed.”
“Oh no. I hope it wasn’t too bad of a loss.”
“Could have been worse,” he sighed again, stripping his shirt off. “But the grocery store will survive. The ice-cream shop, on the other hand, lost their full inventory.”
“That must have been some power outage,” she said, moving to stand in front of him.
“I’m just glad it’s not happening here,” Logan stated as his eyes set on her body.
“Why?” she whispered, reaching out to rest her hands on his shoulders.
“Because I can’t wait to see every beautiful inch of you as I make you squirm with pleasure."
“Maybe you should get started with that,” she breathed, lifting her tank top over her head, leaving her in just a pair of lace panties.
“If you insist,” he ground out, pulling her close and resting his lips just above her belly button. “I can’t believe I’ll finally get to taste you.” His lips and tongue burned a path down her stomach to the waistband of her panties as he dropped to his knees on the floor. He continued to rain kisses downward, stopping briefly to tease the very heart of her desire.
Shifting his attention to her left hip, his teeth grazed her though the thin fabric. Gentle kisses followed. Her other hip received the same attention before his fingers tucked inside the lace waistband and he gently eased the garment from her body. Sweet, wet kisses played over her now bare skin.
“Oh Logan,” she whimpered. “I made you wait six weeks, please don’t make us wait any longer.”
“But I like teasing you,” he murmured, running a finger along her folds. He dipped one quickly inside then pulled it out again.
“Logan,” she moaned.
He chuckled and pulled away from her. “Get on the bed, sweetheart,” he encouraged, following her while admiring every inch of her. His own body ached with his need to possess her. But this time he would actually get to. His hand moved up and down her supple thighs as he spread kisses up her arm and shoulder to her neck. When his teeth nibbled gently at her jaw line, she gasped and shivered. “Are you cold?" he asked, looking into her eyes.
“No,” she insisted with a quick shake of her head. “A little bit nervous…and a lot excited.”
“Don’t be nervous,” he soothed, moving to his knees next to her. “I’ll never hurt you.” He spread kisses across her breasts as he moved his body between her legs. The kisses soon moved down her ribs and stomach as his hands moved to her hips. “I’m finally going to get to taste you,” he murmured, a smile forming on his lips. “It feels like I’ve had to wait forever." His mouth came down on her in the most intimate of kisses and her back arched up against him.
Logan kept her hips raised in the air as his tongue explored every part of her only to settle onto her sensitive, swollen spot of pleasure. His grip on her remained steady and strong as he lowered her back to the bed to continue his teasing exploration.
When Jayna’s breathing changed to fast, audible pants, he knew it was time to bring her home. With well-pl
aced pressure of his tongue, given and taken away in quick succession, a long loud moan shattered the silence in the room.
Logan released her hips and moved up her body. “The best dessert I’ve ever had,” he whispered, just seconds before kissing her gently but quickly.
“Mmm,” she sighed. “Now I’m glad you didn’t have any at the restaurant.”
Logan chuckled and pulled her close for a long, deep kiss. When they pulled apart, his hand drifted from her neck to her breast where his mouth soon took over and his hand continued its journey down her body.
As he caressed and kneaded her, she undid his jeans, slipping her hands inside. He shifted and she began working them down over his hips. Within seconds he was naked beside her.
“Finally,” she whispered, looking into his eyes. “We can truly be together."
“I’m so fucking excited at the prospect. I’m afraid I’m going to go too fast and hurt you."
“Then let me do the initial work,” she said, pushing him over onto his back. Quickly she straddled him. “Are you ready Logan? Or do you want to wait a bit longer?” she teased.
“If I have to wait much longer, I might just die,” he said breathlessly. Her heat was so close he could practically feel it, and then she positioned him just outside of her opening. He wanted to push up against her and feel her surround him, but he held back. The worry over hurting her was much stronger than his desire to be inside her. He held his breath as she slowly eased herself down on him. And when he was in as far as she could handle, he allowed himself to feel the wet heat that enveloped him.
“Was it worth the wait?” she asked, her eyes closed and her head thrown back as she pulled up off of him.
“Yes!” he cried out as he pushed upward, into her again. “Oh God, yes!”
The pained sound of his voice had her looking down at him. It wasn’t a bad pain though. The look on his face was one of complete surrender to her. They both knew at that point that he had taken a leap of faith and had landed safely with her. “I love you, Logan.”