by Mia Ford
I chuckle lightly, finally feeling like an adult who doesn’t need to be taken care of. “I’ve done all that, Logan. I have an apartment, I’ve paid the deposit on it. I even have a job lined up. Just a temporary thing until I work out what I really want to do… you’ve helped me well, Logan, but I know what I’m doing now.” I pull the check out of my bag that I was going to quietly and anonymously drop off on my way, but I might as well give it to him now since he’s here. “I even have the cash to pay you back. I picked up some extra shifts in a bar to save up a little so…”
“So, you really are doing it?” Logan takes the check off me and he stuffs it into his pocket. He needs the money more than me now since he’s out of work as far as I know. “You really are going?”
“I’ve had a wonderful time here in New York City, but I think I need to put my past behind me once and for all now. The center is here which will always remind me of my childhood, and well.. you know, getting my heart broken. Not that I blame you, of course. You didn’t have a choice.”
“But that’s the thing.” Logan steps closer to me and for some reason I allow him to take my hands, despite the fact that I know it’ll stir me up all over again. Mind you, this whole visit has done that all by itself. “I did have a choice and I chose wrong. I should have told the center where to go. I only didn’t because I was afraid I couldn’t do anything else with my life and I also thought the cops might come in the picture. Trust me, I got threatened with that on more than one occasion.”
“A threat that they carried out,” I tell him honestly. His eyes fill up with fear and shock, compelling me to dispel those emotions. “I got rid of them, there’s nothing to worry about, but yeah they did come. That’s something else I want to get away from. I want to be somewhere new where no one knows me so I don’t have to feel like I’m always looking over my shoulder.”
Now that he’s here, I realize that would be a better dream if I could have it with Logan. There we could just be two people who met and fell in love. I yearn for that, I would love that, much as I’m excited for the new adventure I would much rather do it with him than alone… but I can’t ask him to give up the life that he has here. His roots are dug much deeper than mine.
“I can’t lose you.” All of a sudden, Logan starts sobbing and he collapses to his knees as if in shock. “I can’t lose you, Pru, I can’t. I don’t want to do my life without you.” I remain silent because I don’t know what he expects me to say to that. “I can’t imagine going through the rest of my life without you. Pru, you are everything to me. I need you. Please…” He glances up at me, looking at me with wet, sad eyes. “Please, let me come with you. I want to start again too.”
My heart lifts and dances with excitement, but I know that I cannot agree. “No, Logan, you can’t come with me. I don’t have a life here and you do. I can’t ask you to leave that for me.”
“I don’t have anything!” he insists while flinging his arms in the air. “I have an apartment that I hate, no job, no friends, no nothing. If you go, I really won’t have anything. This won’t just be for you, it’ll be for myself too. Please, we could go and get my stuff, get into my car and drive there together. It’ll be wonderful, just me and you as it was always meant to be.”
His offer is so tempting it makes my mouth water. If I think about it, the only issue that me and Logan had was other people. If we can eliminate that then there’s no reason why we can’t make this work. I can go back to the girl who has it all, but it can be real, no longer a dream ready to be shredded apart at any given moment. He seems dead serious too, like he really does want this.
“How do I know that you’re serious?” I check. “How do I know that this isn’t just a spur of the moment thing because it isn’t for me. I’ve been working on this for ages, I know it’s what I want.”
Logan unexpectedly reaches into his pocket and he pulls out a small box as if that holds all the answers. “Pru, I brought this in secret a while ago, the moment that I knew I was falling in love with you. I might have told myself that I let go of you, but I haven’t and the proof is in the fact that I’ve been carrying this around with me ever since I first got it, I still want you to have it.”
“What is it?” I ask while leaning forward to get a better look. Nope, it just looks like a small little black box to me, nothing special. That is… until Logan opens it and I get a glimpse of the beautiful small, delicate diamond and silver ring that he has inside. “Logan, what…?”
“Prudence Evans, I’ve wanted to marry you for longer than you know. There’s something very special about you that hooks me in and keeps me there, falling deeper in love with you every single day. I haven’t built many connections in my life, and none as strong as the one that I feel with you.”
My breaths become ragged, I can hardly stand this, it’s all crazily too much. This day has been a roller coaster from start to finish, and it isn’t showing any signs of letting up just yet.
“I want to come to California with you, or wherever the hell I want to go because you are my home, and I want to spend the rest of my life making up for all the mistakes that I’ve made. I want to make you happy, to love you with everything that I’ve got, to really have a future with you. I never wanted to settle down with anyone before, but that’s just because I hadn’t met the right person. But you are that person, and I can’t see a future with anyone else.” He smiles thinly through the tears streaming down his face and I return the expression. My whole body is shaking with happiness, I don’t know what’s going on. “So, while this isn’t exactly the way that I imagined this moment happening, but it’s here now upon us. Will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”
“Of course I will,” I say without a moment of hesitation. This might be unexpected, but it’s what I want more than anything in the world. “Yes, yes, so many times yes.”
Logan leaps up to kiss me while sliding the ring onto my finger, and as he does I really feel like I’m his for the very first time. He’s claimed me now with this ring, which solidifies an actual, real life future for us together. All of a sudden, my life in California feels even brighter with the love of my life by my side. We can finally just be happy, which is all we’ve ever wanted.
I leap up and I wrap my legs around Logan’s waist as a powerful bolt of sexual desire hits me in the core. I’m engaged now, Logan’s fiancée and I want to have some fun with that. While I’m wrapped around him, I can feel Logan growing excited too, which only fires me up even more.
“Oh, Logan,” I moan into his mouth as I slide back down to the ground with a wicked idea playing through my mind. “I think that it’s my turn to be on my knees now.”
This isn’t something that I have any experience doing, but I’ve fantasized about it enough times – always with Logan, even when my heart was shattered – to be able to go with my instincts.
I look up at him with desire glazing over my eyes as I unbuckle his trousers and I pull them to the ground, then I pull that incredible erection of his free. I gasp, the wetness pooling in my panties as I look at him. Up this close and personal, he’s even bigger! Huge and hot as hell.
I wrap my lips around him while holding on to his base and slowly drag my head up and down. I keep looking up at him the entire time, wanting to check that I’m doing this right. What feels good to me might not to him and I want to be good for him, I want him to enjoy himself.
Logan tosses his head backwards and his thighs tremble which I assume is a good thing, and as I add my tongue into the mix, flickering it all over him, the groans and moans that fly past his lips seem to spell good news. I use my other hand to cling onto his butt so I can drive him further down my throat, really testing the boundaries of what I can do. I like this, it feels awesome.
“Stop,” Logan eventually gasps, shocking me. “Stop, that’s too good, it’s too much.”
“What do you mean?” I’m hurt, I was enjoying that new experience then.
“I need to be inside you,”
Logan gushes while joining me on the floor. “I need to feel you.”
I fall onto my back feeling like I might explode while Logan tugs my panties to one side and he slides into me. He’s so desperate to connect with me that he cannot wait for even a second. It turns me on so much that I can do that to him, my walls clamp around him and claim his as mine.
I wrap my legs around his back and drive him in deeper and deeper to hit every spot inside of me, my head spinning and the heat building inside of me. As we make love for the first time in what feels like forever, I glance down at my ring as the pleasure comes for me. I’m not alone, we’re together in this, and the future that we share together is going to be utterly incredible. We’ve already been through so much to know that we can survive it all now. We really can take on the world.
“Oh fuck, Logan!” Finally, the orgasm crashes over me like a tsunami of waves that won’t stop coming. My hips buck, my body shudders and trembles, I completely fall apart in Logan’s arms but there isn’t anywhere else in the world that I would rather be than with him right now.
“Oh, Pru,” he gushes as he comes with me. “I love you, I love you so much.”
I am never going to get tired of hearing those words, as long as we both shall live.
Chapter Twenty Nine – Logan
I never ever would have thought about moving to California had it not been for Pru, but it’s the best thing that I’ve ever done in my life. I absolutely love it. The sunshine, the more laid back lifestyle, the people… it’s simply amazing. I’m like a different, much happier and less stressed version of myself here. I never thought that I could be anyone except the therapist at the children’s center in New York city who sleeps around and drinks a lot… but the person that I am today is totally different and I adore who I’ve become. Who being with Pru has made it, it simply proves what I already know, that we are more than meant to be together.
“So, do you like this store?” she asks with a grin. “Do you think it’ll work for us?”
I also didn’t ever think that I would be the sort of man to run my own business, but with Pru by my side it feels easy. She has this unique way of viewing the world and it makes her a very creative person. Since we live near the ocean side she had this idea to create a company that sells creative projects from local artists – herself included in that, she’s extremely good with crafts – and also a place where we can run charitable events. It allows me to continue on with helping people in a different way. I’m very excited about it actually, I have a whole lot of enthusiasm for it.
“I love it. It’s in a really great position and it’s got a great window space.”
“Oh I know.” She claps her hands together with glee. “I can already picture it now.”
Pru looks very different from the young lady who left the center over a year ago. Now her pale skin is tanned and freckly, her eyes seem sparkly and happier, her hips are curvier, and her light wavy hair tumbles down her back. She carries a confidence with her too which wasn’t there before, she doesn’t ever get shy around anyone. She even tells people how she feels if she doesn’t like how they’re acting which is a massive turn around for her. I couldn’t be prouder. Now that Pru has actually dealt with the after effects of her parents’ deaths – in particular her fathers’ – she’s doing much better. I’m so glad that I’ve been through this journey with her.
“So, what are your plans for tonight?” I ask Pru, hoping that I sound innocent enough. “Are you headed out with Rosie and the girls or are you planning a quiet one in?”
The group of friends that Pru has now are incredible. I can tell that she doesn’t feel out of her depth with them the way that she did with the girls in New York. I know that she still keeps in touch with Alice now and again, but these ones are much more suitable for her. All supportive and kind, generous and sweet, always with her best interests at heart. And their social lives don’t revolve around drinking, which is always a positive. Pru needs that, it’s much better for her.
“No, I haven’t made any plans. Why has Freddie been on at you to go out?”
That’s one of the more significant changes, I think. I actually have a big group of friends of my own. I haven’t been the same closed off guy I once was and it’s paid off massively. I finally have people that I can confide in about anything, and I have to say it feels incredible.
“No, no, I just thought that maybe you and I could have a date night. A dinner, or something.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull Pru in for a kiss. I’m hoping that I can distract her from my real purpose by showering her in romance. This is something that I’ve managed to keep a secret for months, I don’t want to blow it now. If I can pull this off it’ll be best shock ever.
“Oh, that sounds nice. It’s been forever since we’ve had just a me and you night, hasn’t it? We’ve both simply been so busy… but good busy, right? Sorting out the business and things.”
“Yeah and doing the house renovations. That’s been pretty cool as well.”
Now that we’re more settled, we have a home of our own. A lovely little beach side cottage that’s near enough to civilization that we aren’t ostracized, but that also gives us the privacy that we sometimes need. I love it, which is why I’ve put so much effort in to rebuilding the kitchen.
“I might get changed,” Pru says while glancing down. She has a bright pink bikini top on under a sheer tee shirt, and some board shorts. Maybe it isn’t everyone’s idea of a fancy but she looks so much like herself that I can’t resist her. “What do you think? Should I wear a dress?”
“No.” I bring my lips back down to hers again gently. “Don’t. Stay just as you are.”
“But where are we going? What if I need to look fancy?” She giggles adorably. “They might not want me to show up in a posh place like this. Where are we going?”
I lace my fingers through hers and start walking. She comes with me easily, not putting up even an ounce of fuss. “You just let me worry about where we’re going, okay?”
“Fine, fine, whatever. But on your head be it if it isn’t acceptable.”
I don’t reply, I simply smile to myself. The fact that I’ve been sorting this out for so long and now it’s actually happening is really exciting. It hasn’t been easy to get to this point, which is why it’s good that we both have so many friends that could help me get it done. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them, they’ve saved my ass on more than one occasion. And now they should all be there, waiting expectantly for us to arrive. Hopefully. Fingers crossed this hasn’t gone wrong.
“Where are we going?” Pru asks me, sounding a bit more concerned now. “I don’t remember there being anywhere to eat around here. Are you sure we’re headed in the right direction…” Pru’s words fall apart as we finally get to the church which has been covered in purple flowers. She’s only ever mentioned it to me once, but I recall her saying to me that they were her favorite. It took a while to gather enough flowers to make it work, but it looks great now. “What is this?”
As Pru turns to look at me with a demanding expression on her face, I stifle a laugh. I’m getting used to that look now, especially when her hands go onto her hips which means I’m in real trouble… and there they go. Her eyebrows furrow, her eyes narrow, she purses out her lips.
“Do you remember how roughly a year ago I asked you in a very unromantic way to marry me?” I still cringe at the memory of how I just blurted it out. It’s so embarrassing. “Well, because that was such a failure, I wanted to do something to make it up to you. So, I’ve organized our wedding for us.”
“The whole thing?” She claps her hands to her mouth in shock. “Are you serious? That’s just… that’s too much, I don’t know what to say. It’s the sweetest thing ever.”
“You don’t mind?” I need to ask just in case. “You aren’t mad that you can’t do it.”
“Not at all. You know me, I’m not one for all the fussy details. I love that you did this.”
I drop down to one knee, determined to do it a little better this time. “Pru, I love you, more than anything in the world. Will you do me the honor of marrying me today in front of all the important people in our lives? Will you make me the happiest man alive and be my wife?”
“No.” She shakes her head with a very serious expression on her face, but then just as I think I might vomit she breaks out into a smile. “I’m just kidding, of course I will. You know that it’s all I’ve ever wanted in my life. To be your wife.” She pulls me up into a standing position. “Come on, let’s do this. I’m excited to see what it’s like inside since you’ve done such a good job out here.”
As she drags me along I can’t help bursting into laughter. “You know, it isn’t really traditional for the wife to drag the husband down the aisle. I’m supposed to already be there, waiting for you.”
She spins around and rises up onto her tiptoes to kiss me. “Nothing about me and you have been traditional, so why should this be? We might as well do this as unconventionally as we can.”
Once she pushes open the doors, all of our friends burst into cheers. They’ve probably been waiting here for ages for us to arrive, most of them got here early to make sure they didn’t miss out on the surprise part, but they are still really happy for us. Despite the fact that we came here to start again and to keep our identities hidden, a lot of them know how we met now, and they’ve been endlessly supportive. They don’t have a history of judgment to go with it, they just see how happy me and Pru make one another, how we improve each other and life our spirits. They appreciate that and love us for it. Enough to be here for the majority of the day.