A Soldier's Christmas

by Lexi Buchanan

  As soon as Logan pushed her inside the doors of the B&B, Emma looked up and met the startled gaze of Adele. Her look soon turned to interest and then she walked toward them. Emma inwardly sighed and turned her body into Logan’s.

  He had no problem showing his affection for her, and helped her out of her jacket, hat, and gloves before he took his own off, and then grabbed her hand—their fingers entwined.

  “Emma?”

  Emma plastered a smile on her face, and turned to Adele.

  “Hi, Adele. How are you?” she asked politely.

  “I’m well, thank you, Emma,” Adele answered, but her eyes were glued to their joined hands. “You know each other?” she asked, finally looking at them.

  “Yes, we do.” Logan took charge because she had no idea what to say to get her and Logan out of the reception area and up to his room.

  She wasn’t embarrassed at being seen in the B&B with Logan, or the fact that she was headed upstairs to share his room, she just didn’t want to be rude to Adele in order to get upstairs.

  “If you’ll excuse us,” Logan tugged her to the stairs, “we have a lot to discuss.” He didn’t wait for a response, and had her halfway up the stairs before she knew anything about it.

  She giggled. “That was sneaky.”

  “Shush, she might follow us yet.” Logan tugged Emma along to his room, opened the door, and shoved her inside.

  Emma didn’t feel nervous with being locked away in a room with Logan, although a small part of her wondered at that. Shouldn’t she be nervous? Instead of thinking too hard, she deposited her outdoor gear on the coat rack, and kicked her boots off, as did Logan, before she finally turned and faced him.

  As he stood beside her, she took in the tempting, attractive physique of the man who she’d yet to admit held her heart. His muscles rippled under his black shirt and quickened her pulse. Her eyes traveled downward while she admired the strength of his legs. On her way back up his body, she noticed the growing bulge behind his zipper, and the quickening of his breathing as their eyes met.

  Chapter 11

  Logan’s pulse throbbed like the rest of his body after Emma’s heated gaze had traveled the length of him. He briefly met her eyes before he did some looking of his own.

  Her auburn hair fell around her shoulders, and caressed the top of her round breasts. Her waist was trim and led to curvy hips and shapely thighs that made his mouth water. His gaze met and held Emma’s as he took a step closer and cupped the back of her head.

  He’d yet to taste her plump lips, at least the way he wanted to. As his head dipped, he heard Emma’s sigh of pleasure, and then his lips met hers. His tongue traced the soft fullness of her lips before he covered her mouth hungrily. His arousal for the woman in his arms was difficult to ignore and as she wrapped herself around him, there would be no doubt in her mind about how she affected him.

  He forced his mouth from the delicious softness of Emma’s, but he found that he couldn’t stop touching her with his lips and carried on kissing her. Along her chin and down to the hollow of her neck before his lips found their way instinctively back to hers.

  Their bodies clung together, and it was the urge to thrust his pelvis into Emma that had Logan ease the kiss. His body ached for her, but he wasn’t going to make love to her, yet.

  Logan brushed a gentle kiss across her forehead, and stepped back. He found her hand, and held tightly. “I have three weeks,” he smiled, “to make sure you never want to leave my side.”

  Her eyes widened. “You don’t intend on making love with me for three weeks?”

  He smirked. “You weren’t listening. I said that I have three weeks to make you never want to leave my side, and I intend on making love to you, over and over again, to help your decision along.”

  He saw the minute his words sunk in.

  Emma smiled, not just with her lips but her eyes lit up with happiness. “I already know what my answer will be.”

  She moved to the window and gave him a view of her shapely bottom when she bent to look out. He groaned and averted his eyes, but they wouldn’t leave Emma and kept seeking her out.

  “You hungry?” he asked, not recognizing his voice. “They deliver dinner to the room if you ask.”

  Emma looked over her shoulder at him, and smirked, “If you’re not on the menu, then I’ll have the chicken with sautéed potatoes, chocolate mousse, and a glass of white wine to wash it all down with.” She shrugged. “And having it delivered to the room would be good. I don’t want to share you with anyone.”

  “That suits me just fine.” Logan turned away before he touched her again, and found the telephone in the room.

  It didn’t take him long to place their order, and he sighed with relief when it wasn’t Adele or Greg who took the order. He expected Adele to deliver the food, though. She wouldn’t be able to help herself.

  “How long did they say the food would be?” Emma asked from behind him.

  He turned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his body. Emma wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him.

  “Not long,” he answered. His hand reached up and caressed along Emma’s smooth cheekbone. She nuzzled against his hand, her eyes closing in pleasure. “I think I may need to stop touching you for now.”

  Her eyes blinked open. “I don’t agree.” She kissed his cheek, and stepped back. “But, I do need to remove my clothes for tomorrow from my purse.”

  Tomorrow? Clothes?

  He watched as she removed a shirt and pink underwear from her large purse. He couldn’t remove his eyes from the silk in her hands, and the image in his head of her wearing the items she held had his blood pumping south.

  Emma noticed the direction of his gaze, and smirked. “Just in case it’s taking you a bit to figure it out, I have no intention of going home tonight. I’m not leaving you.” She opened the wardrobe and placed her clothes on the shelf with his shirts. “You might disappear.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, unless you’re with me.” He moved to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “But you have to stop flashing your silk underwear.” He kissed her nose. “I’m only human, and you’re one sexy woman.”

  Her face lit up. “Sexy.” She grabbed hold of the belt loops on either side of his jeans and tugged him against her. “Hmm, you’re not so bad yourself.”

  He laughed, and rubbed his pelvis against her. “That’s what imagining you wearing those silk pink panties did to me.”

  “I’m wearing the same set but in purple. You’ll see those for yourself tonight so you won’t have to imagine what I look like in them.” She teased. “I forgot to bring anything to sleep in.”

  He groaned and dropped his forehead to Emma’s. “Your parents are going to kill me.”

  She chuckled. “No they won’t. But, I have to admit that with me staying here tonight, the whole town will be aware of that fact by morning.”

  About to open his mouth to reply, someone knocked on the door.

  “Food.” Emma smiled. “Should I get the door?” She glanced at his groin and grinned.

  Logan twitched behind his zipper and knew he should agree, but he wasn’t going to let her face Adele on her own. “No, I’m good.”

  He backed away and opened the door to a grinning Adele and Greg. His eyes filled with amusement when he met Greg’s.

  “Come in.” He stood back, and his mouth watered as the smell of the food hit him. “That smells good,” he said as his stomach growled.

  “So, Logan, you and Emma, huh? Never saw that one coming,” Greg mumbled.

  Emma chuckled and stayed silent while Adele looked between them both.

  “Have you known each other long because I can’t believe you’d be here, Emma, after only just meeting someone?” Adele questioned.

  Logan hissed between his teeth. “We’ve known each other for two years, and if you don’t mind, we’d like to eat our meal while it’s still warm.” He took hold of Emma’s hand and waited
for them to leave.

  Greg didn’t look too happy with his mom, and Logan guessed they’d be having words once they left the room.

  As soon as the door closed, he turned to Emma. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “Babe?”

  “I’m okay, Logan. I was shocked to have Adele talk to me like that, but I really am okay and don’t doubt my decision to be here with you.” She reached up and kissed his lips. It was a mere touch of lips that lasted for a second, all too brief.

  He joined her at the table for dinner, and couldn’t decide what he wanted to do with her. She was beautiful and fresh faced, and she had an innocence about her that touched him deeply. He didn’t doubt for a second that she had a naughty side, and he couldn’t wait to see that side of her. He was just unsure about how wise it was for them to share a room when he constantly wanted to peel her clothes away.

  She had a beautiful figure and his eyes had taken in every inch of her as she moved. The thought of having her naked and spread out on his bed caused his dick to ache. Who was he kidding? His dick had been involved from the minute she’d stepped into his arms back at her parents’ house. He’d just had better control over his body while being glared at by her mom and brother-in-law. Emma’s sister had been happy to have him there, even if the other two hadn’t.

  He’d already been in love with Emma before he arrived in town, and before he met her, he’d hoped he wasn’t in love with the idea of Emma as opposed to the woman herself. He was glad to know that it was this woman who held his heart.

  “Are you not hungry?” Emma asked, watching him while she ate her potatoes.

  He glanced down at his plate of food and realized he hadn’t touched any of it. “I am. Just distracted with thoughts of you.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise before one side of her mouth curved upwards. “Good thoughts?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  He dipped his head and ignored the speculative look that appeared in her gaze.

  Chapter 12

  The food was delicious, and, although they ate in silence, Emma wouldn’t have exchanged the company for anything. They’d both passed glances back and forth through most of the main course, and it had just felt nice to be with Logan.

  From the minute he’d shown up at her house, she knew that her life was about to take a turn in a new direction—a direction that she couldn’t wait to take. Somewhere over the past twelve months, her mom had stopped pushing her into marriage and decided she wanted to keep her at home. And the sad truth was that she let her. Instead of standing her ground and admitting to the life she had started to create for herself, she kept silent. If she chose to tell her family, it wouldn’t go down too well because she’d kept it a secret.

  She had a bad feeling that her mom might know what happened to her letters to Logan, but how had she not received the ones Logan sent to her. Emma had been the one to check the mail on a daily basis.

  “What happened to your letters,” she blurted the question out, and caused Logan to pause with a spoon of the chocolate mousse on its way to his mouth. “I was just thinking.” Emma put her cutlery down and Logan followed suit. “Say for instance that my mom is responsible for you not receiving my letters. I don’t understand how I never received yours because I’m the one who would bring the mail in.”

  “I wish I knew.” Logan drank from his bottle of water.

  Emma sat back and wondered aloud, “My mom mailed most of the letters to you; apart from a few that I mailed myself.” She chewed on a fingernail. “But then, why did you not receive any over the past six months because there is no way I didn’t mail some of those.” Emma sat back and sighed, no closer to knowing what happened to their letters.

  “The letters would have come through the same post office, right?” Logan offered.

  Emma sat up straighter. “Oh...Maggie runs the place, and she’s a good friend of my mom’s.” Emma’s heart sank. Surely her mom wouldn’t be so cruel as to stop their letters from reaching their destination. “If what I’m thinking is true, then isn’t that illegal, especially for Maggie?”

  “Yeah.” Logan wiped his mouth on a napkin before he laid it on the table. “We need to be careful, Emma, and maybe ask your mom if she has any idea why the letters stopped. I don’t want to accuse her if she’s totally innocent, but I do need to find out why, otherwise, it will only continue to annoy me.”

  “I need to know as well.” Emma stood, and slipped onto Logan’s lap, her arms went around his neck as she rested her head against his chest. “I missed you.”

  Logan dropped his chin to the top of her head, and whispered, “I missed you, too.” He placed a kiss to her silky locks. “So much, Emma.” His hands caressed, back and forth, along her back.

  She felt pleasure at his touch and the way his hands moved over her back. Her mind drifted and she wondered what it would be like to be under him—naked. She could feel his strength through his shirt and wanted to feel his chest against her bare breasts. Her nipples would harden, like they had done, while his chest hair tickled them to arousing tightness.

  Her breathing had become heavier, and so had Logan’s, not to mention the hardening bulge beneath her bottom. Emma wiggled and smiled when Logan gripped her to him, and a small gasp escaped between his lips. “Stop. Wiggling.”

  Emma raised her head and met Logan’s aroused blue eyes. She cupped his face, turned to straddle him, and rested her forehead against his. She rotated her hips over his hardness, and bit her lip in pleasure as they touched in just the right spot between her legs. “I’m yours, Logan. I have been since the beginning. Please make love to me.”

  He caught his breath. “I need for you to be sure, because I won’t let you walk away from me after I’ve made you mine.”

  Emma’s heart soared when she realized that Logan was in the relationship with her just as deeply as she was with him. She didn’t need to think about her answer because she’d been ready for him for a long time. As she dipped her head and fluttered light kisses along his lips, she gave him her answer.

  She felt Logan as he slipped his fingers through her hair and held her head in place while he deepened the kiss. Their tongues caressed as their mouths melded together. Emma’s arms were tightly wrapped around Logan’s head as she kept him under her.

  Her senses swam in pleasure at the taste of her man, and shards of lust, which caused her nipples to tingle and harden into tight, aching buds, trailed down between her legs as they soaked her panties.

  Logan was rock hard as she rocked and ground down on him, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. She needed him inside of her.

  Breaking from the kiss, Emma grabbed Logan’s shirt and yanked it over his head. She practically purred when she saw his golden torso with a light sprinkling of hair that disappeared beneath the belt of his jeans. As she scraped her nails down from his chest to rub over his nipples and along his waist, his stomach muscles quivered and hollowed out as he moaned.

  “We need to slow down,” Logan hissed as Emma dipped her finger into his jeans. “Emma...fuck!”

  Her finger while inside his jeans, discovered his erection so she teased and aroused him more by lightly dragging her nail over the crown and into the wet slit. She rubbed his wetness around the thick head and met his heavy-lidded gaze.

  His breathing was heavy and his legs trembled under her as she dipped her head and lapped at his nipples.

  “I want you so hot for me that your control snaps.” Emma bit a nipple and felt his reaction as he jerked against her fingers. “I want to feel all this steel,” she squeezed his shaft and watched as his eyes closed, “inside my tight sheath.” She licked up to his ear and nibbled his lobe. “I’m on the pill to regulate my period, so I want to feel you release inside me, and I want to know what it feels like to have your seed dripping out of me…claiming me.”

  Logan growled and shot to his feet with Emma clasped tightly in his arms. He dropped down onto the bed with her under him, and nothing
had ever felt as hot. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to go slow with how worked up I am.” He went for her shirt, and froze with one hand on the shirt and the other on her purple, silk clad, breast…

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  Emma thought she was hearing things.

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  “Oh, God.” Logan dropped his head to her chest and panted against her. “I can’t...get that.”

  “Do you think they’ll go away?” Emma asked, but she already knew the answer.

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  “Fuck,” Logan cursed, and reluctantly climbed from Emma.

  Emma sat up and found herself nearly eye level with Logan’s groin. He looked really hard and uncomfortable behind his zipper.

  Her eyes met his.

  “I’ll survive, but I can’t get the door.”

  “You go into the bathroom, and I’ll get it.” Emma stood and placed a soft kiss to his lips. “We’ll pick up where we left off after they’ve gone.” She straightened her clothes, ran her hands through her long hair and, before she unlocked the door, she looked over her shoulder to make sure Logan had disappeared into the bathroom. He was just about to close the door when Emma spotted his shirt on the floor. “Logan, take your shirt.”

  He grabbed it and closed the bathroom door as he threw her a tortured grin. Emma turned and pulled the door open. She wasn’t happy with the interruption and planned on giving Adele a piece of her mind, until she met the smirk on her brother’s face.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m staying in town tonight so I thought I’d stop in to see you.” He grinned and walked into the room carrying a package, which he left on the table by the door. “You alone?”

  Emma resigned herself to him being in the room and closed the door. “No, I’m not on my own as you probably know.” She narrowed her eyes. “Mom called you. Didn’t she, Travis?”

  He grinned. “Yeah, she did.”

  The bathroom door opened and Logan stepped out.