Two Times as Hot

by Cat Johnson

  “Emma?”

  “Hi.” She smiled, looking a little tentative as she hovered in the doorway.

  Happiness warred with confusion as he took a step forward. “What in the world . . . What are you doing here? Is Becca okay?”

  Surely Tuck would have called him if there were something wrong.

  “Yeah, she’s fine. Just a social call.” She looked so sweet, so good, it was all he could do not to stalk to where she stood and plant a big kiss on those tempting lips.

  What the hell? Why couldn’t he? There wasn’t anyone around, and it could be just a friendly kiss. They were friends, kind of. Weren’t they?

  “It’s nice to see you.” As his pulse roared in his ears, Logan moved toward her and bent low. He pressed his lips to hers in a quick, chaste kiss, and fought the need to go further.

  “It’s nice to see you, too.” Emma’s gaze traveled from his cowboy hat, to his pearl-snap plaid shirt and worn denim jeans, to end at the leather of his boots. “I know Tucker had you wear the hat and boots for the wedding, but when did you turn full-time cowboy?”

  Logan knocked the brim of his hat back to get a better look at her and shrugged. “I guess it’s an easy habit to fall back into. There was a day, before the army, when I was in a cowboy hat and boots from sun up ’til sundown. That’s what happens when your dad owns a store that specializes in western sporting goods . . . and other assorted sundries.”

  He glanced around, remembering the packed boxes of inventory and the decision he’d put off making regarding what to do with all of it.

  Emma looked closer at the displays of stock surrounding them. “I love it. It’s got charm. Like the old country store on Little House on the Prairie. Remember that TV show?”

  “Yeah, I do. My mom never missed an episode.” Logan smiled. Good memories from a time when he didn’t have a care in the world save for keeping up with his homework in addition to his chores, which in hindsight, was a pretty good deal compared to adulthood.

  “Where I live in New York, stores like this are usually tourist traps. They’re in quaint little towns within driving distance from Manhattan so they can grab the folks who want to get away to the country for the weekend.”

  “Tourists?” Logan let out a snort. “No tourists are coming here, and if they do, it’s not to buy any of this stuff.”

  “You’d be surprised. The places I’ve seen are designed to look like charming old-fashioned shops to lure in the city people, then they hike up the prices and make a killing.” Emma crossed the short distance toward the register and picked up an item sitting there. She raised one brow. “You’re definitely not pricing this stuff high enough.”

  He laughed. “For a store in a small town in Oklahoma, I am. You can’t get much more than that around here. Maybe I should consider packing all this stuff up and driving it to New York where I can get top dollar.” The plan seemed pretty good to Logan since Emma lived there.

  “Well, don’t do that right away, because I’m here for a long visit.”

  “Really?” This news was as good as it was unexpected, just like Emma’s sudden appearance in the shop.

  “Yup. I’ll be here visiting with Becca. Hanging out. Soaking up the Oklahoma summer sun. I was hoping I’d get to see you, too.” She turned and caught him in that gaze that never failed to draw him to her.

  For the first time in what seemed like a very long time, Logan felt happy about something. “I think that can be arranged.”

  “Are you sure? I know you’re busy with your dad and the store.” A strange expression clouded her features. “And if you’d rather not . . .”

  “Emma, I’d love to spend more time with you while you’re here.” Logan remembered his time wasn’t his own right now. “As much as I’m able to with all that’s going on.”

  It was enough to make a man weary to the bone, thinking about everything he had to deal with right now, when it would be so easy to forget about it all and escape into Emma.

  “Good.” Her gaze intensified as she watched him. “How are you doing, Logan? Are you okay?”

  “Sure, I’m fine. Dad’s making progress. I’m getting my land legs back here at the shop.” He shrugged. “It’s not now I’m worried about so much. It’s when I have to go back to Stillwater for the fall semester that I’m most concerned with.”

  Then, he didn’t know what the hell was going to happen, and delaying the decision regarding the future of the shop hadn’t helped his unease.

  “Yeah, I bet. Well, for now, I’m here to help you in any way I can. Need some shelves dusted, or something?” Emma smiled.

  “No.” Logan shook his head. “You’re not going to help me while you’re on your vacation, and I’m sure as hell not going to let you do any dirty work around here.”

  “Then maybe I can do something else. I am a graphic designer, after all. And some of your signs could use a good makeover. Maybe a punchy slogan. Some nice graphics.” She raised a brow and glanced in his direction.

  Some of these signs had been here since he was in high school. Nostalgia aside, they did look pretty old, and not in a charming way. A small change like that might freshen up the store. It wouldn’t hurt, even if they did decide to sell it.

  Smart and sexy as hell—Emma had it all. It was good to see her again.

  Logan smiled. “Okay. That I might let you do. If you insist.”

  “I do. And maybe you’ll let me rearrange a few things? Change some of the displays a bit?” She eyed the display of work-boot laces hanging by the cash register.

  “You are bound and determined to help, aren’t you?” He crossed his arms and tried not to think about wrapping them around her.

  “Yeah. I’m sorry. That’s horrible of me to even ask, but it’s kind of been a dream of mine. When most little girls wanted to play house, I used to play store.” She shrugged.

  Logan laughed at that revelation. “Far be it from me to deny a woman her lifelong dream. If that’s what you want, go for it. Rearrange anything you want.”

  A smile lit Emma’s face as she moved a step closer until they were inches apart. “Thank you.”

  “Anytime.” If this was all it took to make her happy, Logan would let Emma play store all she wanted.

  As she stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss near the corner of his mouth, Logan realized there were so many other ideas he had that he hoped would make Emma happy. The least of which would be allowing her to move the shoelace display.

  After her kiss, Logan gave in to the urge he’d been fighting. He wrapped his arms around Emma and held tight. She snaked her hands around him and squeezed him back. Dropping his chin to rest on the top of her head, Logan realized something. On the outside, he’d been holding himself together for everyone else, but deep down he was ready to snap. It wasn’t until he held Emma, leaned on her, literally, that he realized he needed someone to lean on.

  She remained quiet. Neither of them spoke as they just stood, holding each other. He felt her breathing as her back rose and fell beneath his hands. He smelled her perfume and her shampoo. It all took him back to a time when he was carefree and happy. Back to the night of Tuck’s wedding when the biggest thing Logan had to worry about was getting Emma alone.

  The memories of their time together, the ones he hadn’t had time to revisit lately, surfaced and his body reacted. Emma pressed against his growing length. His erection was wedged between them and making his jeans really uncomfortable.

  She glanced up, her eyes heavily lidded with what he hoped was need for him. “How bad would it be if you locked that front door and put an Out to Lunch sign up? Just for a few minutes.”

  “I can definitely do that.” Though he hoped whatever they did together would take more than a few minutes.

  His heart pounded as he strode to the front door and turned the lock. Looking back at Emma, he couldn’t believe what a welcome sight she was. He wanted her. Needed her. How much he hadn’t realized while they’d been apart. Now, together again, it was clea
r.

  Grasping her hand in his, Logan pulled Emma to the back room before someone saw them. Once they were out of sight of the front windows, Logan’s resolve broke. His mouth punished hers with a rough kiss he couldn’t control.

  He stopped kissing her to yank his belt buckle open, and then it hit him. “Shit. I don’t have a condom.”

  The last thing he’d thought about this morning, or hell, even over the past month, was having sex. He sure as hell didn’t keep a condom stashed in his jeans, and birth control was the one random thing his father didn’t sell here.

  Emma touched his forearm. “Logan, it’s okay. We don’t need one.”

  She must have gone on the pill since he’d seen her last, and he couldn’t be happier.

  “That’s good to hear.” His voice seemed almost feral to him, as he finished opening his pants and crowded her between his body and the workbench.

  Logan went to work on her clothes, not stopping until he’d stripped off her black knee-length shorts and her lace underwear so she was naked from the waist down. He hoisted her onto the workbench.

  It was high, built by his grandfather to accommodate the tall men in the Hunt family. It helped prevent backaches when working at it. The height put Emma in the perfect position for Logan to appreciate what he’d been missing. He ran his hands from her waist down to her thighs. He spread them wide and took in the view.

  Reaching between her glorious legs, he spread her lips and drew in a breath when he saw the tender, pink flesh hidden there exposed. All the while, she watched him with those eyes, so deep, like pools of cool spring water. He’d missed her.

  He slid one finger inside. It was going to feel so good to bury himself in that tight heat. The thought stirred something deep inside him. Brushing a thumb over the hidden bundle of nerves, he watched her eyes drift shut and her mouth open. She drew in a shaky breath.

  Here on the workbench next to the saddle he was supposed to be working on for a customer, Logan had every intention of working Emma to orgasm.

  Determined, he used both hands and mouth until she began to shudder beneath his touch. Her muscles clamped down and began pulsing around his fingers inside her. He held himself in check as long as he could, until the spasms began to slow, and then he couldn’t wait any longer. He pushed the elastic of his underwear out of the way and thrust deep into Emma. While her bare feet were braced on the edge of the table, he clung onto Emma’s hips and rocked into her, hard and fast.

  The wooden workbench groaned from his motion. Logan spared a brief moment to hope the legs would hold under the stress. He looked up to meet Emma’s gaze as she watched him. It made him want to kiss her.

  While still buried inside her, he did just that. Logan pulled her upright and took possession of her lips. She gasped for breath as his mouth covered hers.

  The table was the perfect height as he pounded into her. How had he never noticed that? All those years he’d worked here as a teenager, thinking of nothing except the clock and when he could go home, he’d never considered how convenient this big bench would be for certain activities. He appreciated it now, as Emma perched on the edge, clinging to him. He ran his hands over her back and felt her heart thundering beneath her ribcage.

  Having her in his arms again so unexpectedly made him want to hold on and make this last. Breaking the kiss, he moved to bite on one earlobe before he pressed his mouth against her ear and said, “God, I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.” She sounded breathless.

  “How long are you staying?” It was crazy to ask while he made love to her, but he needed to know. Logan held her tight and thrust inside one more time.

  Her mouth opened on a gasp and her muscles clenched around him. “Two weeks.”

  As their eyes locked, he knew that two weeks of stolen moments with this woman wasn’t going to be long enough.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I’m so happy you’re here.” Becca wrapped her arms around Emma and squeezed. All the air whooshed out of Emma’s lungs from her sister’s enthusiastic stranglehold on her.

  Emma let out a breathless laugh and extricated herself from Becca’s grasp. “I’m happy to see you, too.”

  “Did your plane land late? I expected you over an hour ago.”

  What could Emma say to that? Maybe she should lie. If Becca had already checked the airline’s website, she wouldn’t be asking because she’d know the flight had landed early. The last thing Emma wanted to do was admit she’d picked up the rental car and driven directly to Logan’s shop.

  Her web skills had come in handy, as did the fact Logan’s hometown was as small as they came. It had been easy enough to find. A few searches had yielded the store conveniently named after the family. The rental car’s GPS had led Emma to him.

  She’d thought she could drop in and see Logan, then come straight to Becca without anyone noticing. What Emma hadn’t counted on was she and Logan not being able to keep their hands off each other. Her attraction to him hadn’t changed or lessened over time. Not one bit.

  Since her heart had started pounding the moment she saw his truck parked outside the shop, Emma should have realized how strongly she’d react to the man himself. He acted like a drug on her system. She felt so good when she was with him, and so bad when she wasn’t.

  And it wasn’t just knowing she carried a piece of him inside her. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking of him even before she’d realized she was late and had taken the test.

  One more time, Emma found her hand covering her stomach. She moved it before her sister noticed and somehow guessed the secret Emma hid from her. She wouldn’t be able to hide it forever. Emma would have to figure everything out soon.

  Becca narrowed her gaze, acting a little too observant for Emma’s liking. “Emma, what’s going on?”

  Apparently, she’d taken too long answering Becca’s question.

  Emma used to be a champion liar. A trait she seemed to have lost thanks to her current situation. Just when she needed it most. Now what? She channeled her inner bad girl and remembered that the best deceptions contained a tiny bit of the truth.

  “All right, I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell your husband.” Emma kept her voice low to add to the illusion she was about to confide the complete truth.

  “Okay. I promise.” Becca’s eyes grew wide as she nodded.

  “I stopped by to see Logan at his father’s store on my way here.”

  Becca drew in a sharp breath. “Oh my God. You did? Was he there? How did you know where it was? Wait, have you two been talking this entire time? Are you dating? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  That had worked out nicely. Becca had hit her with a string of questions, but that was fine with Emma. Not one of them had anything to do with the real secret she wanted to hide.

  Emma distilled Becca’s inquisition down, choosing what to answer to best suit her purposes.

  “No, we’re not dating or talking. I googled the store because I think Logan’s cute and I wanted to see him again while I’m here visiting you, but I knew if I asked you about him, I’d get a hundred questions.” Emma delivered that last bit in hopes the guilt would keep any further questioning from Becca at bay.

  “We can definitely make sure you two get together while you’re here. It’s perfect timing. I mean, it’s terrible what happened to his dad, but with Logan right next door, and Tuck and I already planning on helping him out, we’ll see a lot of Logan.” Becca couldn’t have looked happier. Her matchmaking instincts had kicked in and for once, Emma wasn’t upset about that.

  “That’s what I thought, too. I’m glad you’re not angry. I missed you, but I also had an ulterior motive for visiting.”

  The confession had Becca throwing her arms around Emma one more time. “Of course, I’m not angry. I’m thrilled.” She pulled back. “Imagine if you and Logan got married? Tuck and Logan are like brothers to each other. We’d be almost like sisters-in-law.”

 
Emma laughed at Becca’s crazy logic. “Uh, we’re already sisters, but yeah, it would be cool.”

  From Becca’s mouth to God’s ears. The best-case scenario would be for Logan to fall in love with Emma without knowing about the baby. That was the only way she could accept a marriage proposal from him with confidence.

  “I’m even happier you’re into Logan than I was when I thought you liked Jace.” Becca truly did look happy.

  “And why is that?” Emma cocked a brow. “Because he and his ex-girlfriend disappeared for half your wedding?”

  “It wasn’t half—” At the look Emma shot her, Becca cut off her own remark. “Anyway, if you marry Logan, we could be army wives together.”

  “Will you stop taking about Logan and me being married, please? You’re going to jinx us. I’m not even sure Logan’s interested. I mean we get along well enough.” Envisioning herself half naked on the workbench beneath Logan made Emma realize what a vast understatement that was. “I’m just afraid he’s not the commitment type.”

  “Why would you say that?” Becca frowned. “He’s very responsible. He’s an officer in the army and the head of his department. He’s in charge of lots of soldiers and cadets.”

  “That doesn’t mean he wants a wife. Or even a serious girlfriend. He told me at your wedding that he’s married to the army.”

  “Hmm, I don’t know.” Becca pursed her lips together. “I wonder . . . what if something happened in his past that I don’t know about? Maybe an old girlfriend broke his heart. I could ask Tuck—”

  “No! You will not say a word to Tucker. Rebecca, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, fine. You don’t have to pull a Mom and use my full name. I won’t tell him.”

  The faraway look that appeared in Becca’s eyes put Emma on immediate alert. “Becca. Stop plotting.”

  “I’m not. But what if I could unearth some information about Logan’s romantic past on my own, without Tucker getting suspicious?”

  Knowing Becca and her inability to keep a secret, Emma drew in a breath in frustration. “See, this is why I don’t tell you anything.”