by CP Smith
He rolled sharply until I was beneath him. His nose was still swollen, his eyes bruised, but he was still the hottest man I’d seen in my life. And the bravest if those stories were true.
Reaching up, I cupped his cheek. “You were dreaming when I came in. I woke you because it seemed bad.”
His eyes closed briefly. “I lost friends during my enlistment.”
“And you were dreaming of them?”
“Remembering.”
“Was it bad?” I asked, running a finger across his bottom lip.
He dropped his forehead against mine but didn’t answer.
“Do you always sleep this late?” I tried to lighten the mood, since it was clear he wasn’t ready to speak about his loss.
He didn’t move his head away from mine when he shook his head. It was intimate the way he wanted to keep contact with me from head to toe, so I tightened my arms around his neck and held on.
“I fell back to sleep about an hour ago. There was a fire last night.”
“Frank’s place.” I swallowed nervously before asking. “Is he okay?”
He shook his head against mine and I closed my eyes to block out the pain. Tears formed for the sweet man who never hurt a soul. His family had been in Ennis for over a hundred years and beloved by everyone. Frank was in his late thirties but hadn’t married because owning a mortuary tended to creep women out. Now he was gone. The last remaining Wells. A family that helped found our tiny town.
I couldn’t control the tears for my sweet friend and my body began to shake with grief. Ennis was family. A single death rocked us to our core, even when age caught up with one of us. Each life was precious in our small community and left a hole.
Logan pulled me tighter into his body and rolled to the side, holding on while I silently cried for my friend, placing tender kisses on my forehead and neck to ease the pain. But the contact, though comforting, streaked across my nerve endings, causing a different type of sensation. One that woke me up in a different way. In a way I’d never had with a man.
They say that loss has a way of bringing what’s important into focus, and they’re right. It happened with my father. I hadn’t cared if I went back to school when my father passed away. The only thing that mattered was taking care of my brothers. Keeping us together. However, Frank’s loss hit me differently. His life was cut short by an accident, before he’d had a chance to find love or have a family. It brought into perfect clarity how fleeting life can be in the blink of an eye. I could die tomorrow, and everyone would say, “Oh, she was such a sweet girl. She tried so hard, but never got a chance to live. Such a shame.” And that scared the hell out of me.
When my father died, I was a kid on the cusp of adulthood, even though I’d been practicing for it since my mother died. But I’d been holding back on experiencing sex until I found the man who would hold my heart.
Ty had been my high school boyfriend. The kind who took you to dances and movies on Friday night. We’d been friends for so long, it just seemed natural to date. To practice with him until the right man came along. Deep down I knew he wasn’t my forever, and I think if he were honest, he’d say the same thing. Why else had he protected me for so long, yet never pushed our relationship past what it was now once I returned home. To me he acted more like an annoying older brother. One who would punch any guy who dared to touch his little sister, rather than a man in love.
When I ended things with Ty, it was for one reason. I was determined to find what my parents had. Determined to find a man who completed me so thoroughly, we didn’t know where one ended and the other began. I wanted a man who felt like coming home, who made me feel like my feet barely touched the ground when he was near. One who made the beat of my heart skip when he looked my direction. Like the one holding me right now while I cried for a friend.
Opening my eyes slowly, I stared at the man in front of me. Logan didn’t feel like practice. Hadn’t felt temporary from the moment we’d locked eyes. Even in those few hours when I was jealous of Kenzie, I still knew I could trust him without question. But it was more than trust now. We’d both felt it. He’d grounded me in a way no one else ever had, and in return I chased his ghosts away. We calmed demons for the other like two puzzle pieces destined to fit. And I wanted that destiny more than I wanted my next breath.
Logan held my gaze in return, running his hand up and down my back in a soothing motion. The air around us was static, it buzzed between us like an arc connecting the two pieces. I’d only known him twenty-four hours, yet lying there with him seemed natural. Like he’d been in my life for years. Like I’d wanted him for years.
The more he ran his hand soothingly across my back, the more my body woke up. The mere thought of having Logan inside me, of losing the last vestiges of my childhood, seemed to stop the tears in their tracks. Instead of being overwrought with grief, a fire burned deep inside my belly, ready to explode. I knew then it had to be quenched. That I needed more than anything to feel alive. I didn’t want to die like Frank had without experiencing all life had to offer.
Raising my head, I captured Logan’s mouth with mine and began to seduce him, running my hand up his naked chest so I could feel the life beating inside him. He opened his mouth instantly, took control, and the fire burst to life like a physical being, taking control of my actions.
“I need you,” I rasped out, rubbing my core against his leg.
He pressed his erection against my belly, and I moaned with anticipation, reaching between us to rub at his length. He hissed at the contact, so I cupped him and buried my face in his neck so I could tease him further. I wasn’t the least bit scared about what was happening between us. Sex was the most natural thing in the world. We’re designed to seek it out for pleasure and comfort. And having Logan’s mouth and hands on my body felt right.
In one fluid motion my hoodie was stripped from my body in a jerk of limbs, then heat seared through me as he captured a nipple through my bra and teased it mercilessly. My back arched at the sensation and I whimpered without embarrassment when he pulled my bra aside and sucked my nipple into his mouth.
With one deep pull, the ache in my core intensified to the point of pain. I’d masturbated plenty over the years, but my body was never truly satisfied. The anticipation of finally being full as I exploded in orgasm would be the death of me.
“Please,” I gasped when he found my other nipple. “I can’t wait.” Tears stung my eyes. The need growing higher with each flick of his tongue.
Like he’d been trained in the art of seduction, my boots and jeans left my body so smoothly, I almost laughed. I cried out instead when he stripped my panties away and spread my legs wide, burying his face between my thighs. The moment his lips closed around my clit, the deep throbbing in my core spiraled out of control and I ignited with a devastating orgasm.
“More,” was all I could say. I needed so much more from this man. His body pinning me to the bed, his cock driving inside me. The word love also tumbled through my headspace.
Logan nipped the inside of my leg and his body left mine long enough to strip his jeans off. He was back before my head cleared, his hard body covering mine like the warmest of blankets.
He captured my mouth and tangled his tongue with mine. I could taste myself on his lips, which only ignited me further, so I wrapped my legs around his waist and ground myself on his cock.
“Now, Logan,” I pleaded.
He seemed to pause at my insistence, then gathered my hair in his hand and tugged my head back, leaning his forehead against mine. Logan kept his eyes open as he began to fill me. His focus solely on my face until his eyes slammed shut and he gritted his teeth as if it hurt him to be inside me. “Christ. Are you . . .?” His question was almost strangled.
I could barely answer. The tension was too great, the fullness bittersweet. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
His body tensed tightly, then he wrapped me tighter in his hold, and devoured my mouth. I tried to move, to impale myself o
n him but he wouldn’t budge. I’d started to worry he would stop when he broke from my mouth and ordered, “Look at me.” The heat in his expression had turned to something more profound. A possessiveness overtook his features. “You give a man like me something he’s never had, something that solely belongs to him, and he won’t let go. Not ever.”
A tear ran down my cheek at his admission. There was a loneliness about him, along with the pain hidden behind his eyes, and I somehow knew he’d been alone a long time. I wanted more than anything to give him that. To give him a reason to get up each day and face his demons head on. “Then don’t let go.”
His expression flared to life and he took my mouth possessively. Dominantly. He eased into me farther with gentle strokes, stretching me bit by bit, then surged forward to claim me as his when I was ready. He swallowed my gasp when he broke through my innocence then held still until I adjusted around him. I panted until the pain subsided, then began to move against him as a different fire began to build again.
Logan was gentle at first, but the passion burning through my veins demanded he let go and take me like I was the only woman for him. And he did—until he’d built us both to a point—we exploded together in blinding light.
Ten
I Prayed For You
LOGAN STARED AT a sleeping Skylar. A knot formed in his chest as he watched her breathing rise and fall. He’d been searching for a way to ease the memories that haunted him, and it seemed raw possessiveness over a half-pint of a woman, who gave herself to him in a way no one ever had before, was the cure.
Raising his hand to trace the outline of her cheek, he watched intently as her eyes fluttered open. The light green color reminded him of jade. It was crisp and pure, like the woman herself.
Skylar woke slowly, confusion clouding her features, then pink rose up her neck and colored her cheeks before she smiled hesitantly at him. Her reaction just fueled his fire. She was unlike any woman he’d ever known. Confident yet vulnerable. Aggressive when needed but unsure at the same time. And braver than any soldier he’d ever met.
“We need to get up. The bar opens in an hour.”
Her eyes grew wide and she sat up on a gasp of air that had him chuckling. When she tried to scoot off the small bed, Logan grabbed her by the waist and hauled her back down, rolling on top of her so he could run his nose against hers.
“I prayed for you,” he admitted, not about to let her go before she knew his intentions. “In the desert at night, I prayed for you. Prayed when I was done with my career, you’d be waiting for me. When everything went to hell a year ago, I stopped praying and I lost my faith. Stopped believing in a just God when good men died for no reason. But the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew He’d been with me all along. That He hadn’t left me even when I raged at Him.” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, then one fell, so he wiped it away before continuing, “I’ve been traveling for months, Skylar, trying to find some semblance of peace to ward off my demons . . . And here you are—my salvation. After a year of walking on a tightrope, I’m finally on firmer ground because of you.” She started to speak, so he placed his finger over her lips to stop her. “I’m telling you this because you need to prepare.”
She waited a beat to see if he’d continue, then reached up and ran a finger across his bottom lip. “Prepare for what?”
He nipped her finger, and her eyes hooded with lust on contact, heating his blood instantly. “For the fact I’m not going anywhere. You also need to prepare your brothers as soon as possible, today preferably, because I’m not sleeping on a fucking cot for more than a couple of days. You’re mine now. Day and night.”
Her body softened beneath his and her eyes grew warm. He shuddered and hardened further when she ran her hands up his side until she could reach his chest. Her hand stilled over his heart and she closed her eyes with a smile. “Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. Campbell was right.”
Logan had no clue what she was talking about, and he didn’t care. She accepted all of him, so he lowered his brow to hers and drank in her scent. “Joy, huh?”
Skylar opened her eyes and stared back at him, a smile pulling brightly across her luscious mouth. “Do you like football?”
A slow grin meant to tease formed. “I like football.”
“Would you go to Jake’s game with me tonight?”
Logan rolled until they were lying on their sides, and noted how comfortable she was with him, as if they’d spent months or even years doing just that: lying in each other’s arms. “Are you asking me out on a date?”
She nodded with enthusiasm. “Yes!”
That knot in his chest tightened further, knitting deeper under his skin until it was almost hard to breathe. Two days ago, he was lost. Searching. Now life held promise again because of Skylar. For that, he’d go to a fucking chick flick if she asked him.
“I’m buying the tickets and popcorn,” he informed her.
“Then I’ll buy the hotdogs.”
“I’ll buy the hotdogs, too.” She wasn’t paying for a fucking thing when he was around.
Skylar pouted her lips, drawing his attention to her mouth, so he took advantage. She opened for him immediately, without any hesitation, and the second her tongue tangled with his, he was lost. Drowning in the taste of her.
Logan rolled until she was on top of him, giving her the power to continue or stop. The bar could open late for all he cared. Feeling alive when so much death had surrounded them both was more important. But fate had other plans because Skylar had forgotten to shut and lock the office door. They both froze when the front door slammed shut and Jamie called out, “Skylar!”
He’d never seen a woman move as fast as Skylar had when she realized she was half-dressed with her best friend heading toward the back. Before he could move, Skylar jumped up and slammed the office door shut and locked it before she began tearing through the sheets for her clothes, laughing as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Logan watched her as he dressed. The twinkle in her eyes as she kept glancing back at him burned a hole in his gut. He’d never been in love, unless you counted the deep bond between him and his brothers, so the emotion burning in his chest was foreign to him. If what he was feeling was anything close to that emotion, he knew he was fucked. Skylar could ask him for the moon right now, and he’d move heaven and earth to figure out a way to give it to her if she looked at him that way for the rest of his life.
_______________
While leaning over to grab a Heineken from the cooler, I felt a warm hand run across the small of my back where my hoodie had ridden up. I turned my head and watched Logan pull a pint glass from the shelf beside me then turn and fill it from the tap. Just that minimal contact was enough to jump-start my heart. I knew exactly what those hands could do to my body, and I was jonesing for a fix. If what we shared a few hours before was the same for everyone else, it’s a wonder anyone accomplished anything.
I turned to pop the top off the bottle, and caught Jamie staring between Logan and me with a funny look on her face. I handed off the Heineken to Dusty Banks then moved to the end of the bar so we could talk. I’d avoided her questions once Logan and I had come out front, using opening duties as a reason to stall. I’d kept her busy filling the peanut buckets while I stocked the fridge, but my time and her patience had run out. She’d been hanging in the shadows watching Logan and me while she conversed with customers for the past hour, but I could read her better than my brothers. She wanted answers and wanted them now. And considering he’d touched me at any opportunity, including a soft kiss to my neck when Jude Bronson smiled and winked at me when he entered the bar, the jig had to be up.
“You should be asleep. Is something up?”
She glanced behind me. “I’d say something’s been up. You slept with him, didn’t you?”
That stopped me in my tracks. Jamie didn’t beat around the bush, never had. If I wanted to keep the whole bar from hearing abou
t my sexual escapades, I needed to move this conversation away from prying ears. Ignoring her question, I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hallway.
I could feel eyes following us and my cheeks began to burn. “Keep your voice down,” I bit out. I didn’t need my brothers overhearing the town talking about Logan and me before I had a chance to speak with them.
She ignored me and smiled like I’d just given her a present. “Please tell me he was good. It would be disappointing if a man who looked like Logan performed poorly in bed.”
Jamie and I didn’t have secrets. She knew I’d been holding out for the right guy, just like I knew she was too. She flirted like nobody’s business, got asked out almost daily by customers, but she’d never slept with anyone either. Watching her confidence with men, you’d think she had loads of experience, but she didn’t. Her mother had gotten pregnant with her at seventeen and struggled to raise Jamie as a single mother, so she’d vowed the moment she understood how babies were made, she would wait.
I couldn’t help my lips twitching at the hopeful look on her face. Normally I would have said nothing, but this was Jamie. We’d shared everything since we were little. I wouldn’t lie to her now. “He’s amazing. Better than any of my fantasies.”
Jamie’s eyes twinkled as she looked over my shoulder. “Well, that’s good to know.”
A warm body pressed up against me seconds later and closed my eyes. “He’s behind me, isn’t he?”
“Yep.” She popped the P and laughed, then headed for the exit, shouting over her shoulder as she went, “See you after the game. Tell Jake to throw a touchdown for me.”
Instead of turning to confront Logan, I leaned back into his body and rested my head on his shoulder. “Go ahead and gloat.”
He didn’t say anything at first, just moved my hair until my neck was bare so he could place a soft kiss below my ear. Then he whispered, in that deep rumbling voice that did things to my insides, “It’s not gloating, if it’s true.”