“Date for what?” Gaia asked, her concern growing.
Jennifer only chuckled as Zeke crossed his arms over his chest, a gesture so similar to one Logan repeatedly made that it caused Gaia to do a double take. She didn’t have long to figure out what was going on though because Logan was pulling her into the elevator.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, he pulled her into his arms. “Tell me you love me,” he commanded.
Gaia shook her head, but Logan didn’t give her a chance to argue with him. He simply pinned her against the wall of the elevator and kissed her until she was clinging to him once again.
“Logan, you can’t…”
She couldn’t finish that sentence because the elevator doors opened up and a surge of people entered the elevator. Logan looked down into her eyes, an expression in his own green ones that told her she was in trouble…but the good kind of trouble.
As soon as the elevator doors opened up on the parking level, they exited with the rest of the crowd, but instead of allowing her to walk to her own car, Logan pulled her over to his own and handed her into the passenger seat. “What’s going on?” she demanded. But he only closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.
Ten minutes later, they were pulling into the parking garage to his building and Gaia knew that she was in big trouble.
“Logan, we really shouldn’t…”
He simply stepped out of the vehicle and slammed the door, not listening to whatever she thought they “shouldn’t” do.
Sick of being ignored, Gaia stepped out of his car as well, ready to confront him. But he was faster.
“Tell me you love me, Gaia,” he repeated, pinning her against the car.
She shook her head. “Logan, this isn’t the time for this conversation.”
He laughed and kissed her once again. “I think it is the perfect time. We’ve been dancing around this issue for too long. You love me, but I want the words.”
“But my brother!”
“He’s in custody. What else do you want?”
They were in the elevator now and he pinned her against the wall. “Unless you are going to tell me that you love me, I don’t want to hear it.”
She tried one more time, but the hard muscles in his thigh were pressing her legs apart even as his hands stole up underneath her sweater. “Logan…!”
“Tell me you love me,” he coaxed as his mouth teased the sensitive skin on her neck, her ear, near her collarbone.
“I can’t….”
“You can,” he contradicted. “Just admit it. I know you do.”
Her hands reached for his wrists, trying to stop him, but his fingers against her skin just felt too wonderful. “Logan!”
“Yes?”
“We can’t do this!”
“And yet, here we are. It is happening.” The elevator doors opened up and he pulled her out, unlocking the door to his condo and tugging her gently inside. “You love me. You’re going to marry me. Every family has crazy members. Wait until you meet my great aunts! They’ll terrify anyone!”
Gaia would have laughed, but he was taking off those glasses, making her weak in the knees as he led her deeper into the room. Deeper under his spell.
When those glasses landed on the countertop, Gaia knew she was in trouble.
Oh yeah, she was right!
“Yes! I love you!” she finally admitted when she felt herself climaxing in his arms, his body doing things to her that should be illegal!
He pulled her back against his chest, his fingers sliding against her skin. “And you’re going to marry me.” It wasn’t a question.
She sighed. “If you say so.”
“Yes, I definitely say so.”
He felt her body soften and knew she was about to fall asleep on him. “I love you, Gaia,” he told her and kissed the top of her head.
Gaia shifted so she could see his face. “I love you too, Logan! I love you so much!”
He hugged her, pulling her against him even as he tugged the sheet over top of her. “Go to sleep.”
Epilogue
“No! You can’t take the saw!” Gaia commanded, trying to grab the milk as well as the bowl of blueberries that her two children were using as weapons. “And stop pinging each other with blueberries! Eat them. No throwing food at each other!”
“Why can’t I use the saw?” Bethany pleaded, her green eyes staring up at Gaia.
“Yeah, why can’t she use the saw?” Logan asked, grabbing a blueberry from mid-air and popping it into his mouth before bending lower and kissing his oldest son, then ruffling his daughter’s hair.
“Because they’re going to build another tree house! That’s why!”
Logan glanced down at both of his children, seeing the truth in their eyes. “Uh…honey…” he started off.
Gaia froze before she reached the fridge, her eyes traveling to both of her kids, then to her husband. “What have you done?” she demanded.
Logan laughed, looking just the tiniest bit sheepish. “We might have…sort of…”
Bethany stood up on her stool, her small arms automatically reaching for her father who lifted her into his arms. “We designed a new tree house last night!” she exclaimed. “All of the cousins are coming over this weekend along with Uncle Freddy to build it!”
Her son excitedly pulled a large piece of paper out of his pocket, smoothing it out over the granite countertop. “Look!” Jonathan said and pointed to the layers of the tree house. “We’ve figured out ways to connect the other two.”
“We don’t need another tree house!” Gaia exclaimed.
Jonathan smiled and Gaia’s heart flipped over as it always did whenever one of her children, or Logan, gave her that eager smile. “We’re not building another tree house,” he finally explained. “We’re just connecting all of the tree houses together!”
She was already shaking her head. “No! I’ve seen the tree house at your parents’ house, Logan. We don’t have the space here.”
Logan laughed and walked around the counter. “Honey, look at who you are talking to. Do you really think I would design something that we didn’t have the space to build?”
The front door opened and closed at that moment and Gaia almost groaned.
“Anyone home?” a deep voice called out.
Gaia headed to the foyer, hugging the elder Steeles, Bryce and Quinn. Since marrying Logan, his parents had become surrogate parents to her as well as Freddy. “Tell them they can’t do it!” she begged.
Quinn walked into the kitchen, immediately bending down to kiss Jonathan and take Bethany into her arms. “Don’t take on that fight, dear,” she advised, tickling Bethany who giggled. “You won’t win. Trust me.”
The front door opened and closed once more and Gaia wondered who else could have stopped by unannounced. Being a member of the Steele family was warm and wonderful, but also filled with invasive family members.
Freddy walked in at that moment, his face alight with an inner secret. “Did you get it?” Bethany asked, her face once again smiling as her uncle walked into the kitchen.
“Of course I got it!” he assured her, grabbing a glass of water so he could take his anti-depressant medicine. He went to meetings almost daily to help with his alcoholism, thanks to the good psychologist who had evaluated Freddy after his arrest. He’d been diagnosed and treated for depression and intermittent explosive disorder. With the medicine that balanced out the serotonin in his brain, he was a different person. He’d been working so well at a construction job that he was now the crew chief, he was going to school, and hadn’t touched alcohol in ten years.
Both of her kids clapped their hands together. “I knew you could find it,” Jonathan announced.
Freddy put the glass into the dishwasher and pulled the bag out of his backpack. “Here,” he said and handed it to Bethany.
Gaia’s eyes almost went cross-eyed when she saw the large pulley in her daughter’s hands.
“Excellent!” Bryce a
nnounced, clapping his hands together. “Now all we need is…”
“Wait a minute!” Gaia called out, lifting her hands into the air, forgetting that she was still holding the milk in one hand. “Why in the world do they need a pulley?!”
Logan tsked as he walked over to her, taking her into his arms. “How else are we going to pull up the drawbridge for the moat?” he asked, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.
Gaia felt her husband kiss her cheek, but was left alone as she hugged the milk jug in her arms while watching the rest of her precious family lean over the countertop, all of them intent on the designs that…well, why not have a moat in one’s back yard, she thought.
Looking around, she caught Quinn’s wink as the beautiful, older woman smiled. “You’ll get there,” she said. “It just takes time.”
Gaia knew exactly what the woman meant. It took time to understand all the insanity of this family. But she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
“Yeah. I’m getting there,” she said, feeling a surge of warmth surround her when Logan looked up from the plans to smile in her direction. And then he took those darn glasses off and that warmth seeped up higher along her neck.
She loved that man!
Excerpt from “Defying His Charm” Release date: November 13, 2017
Click here for details: http://amzn.to/2wXEcxq
His momma had been severely remiss in her responsibilities!
Naya shifted in the plush chair and glanced down at her notebook, refusing to look at the man who kept staring at her as if she might be his next dessert. Taking a deep breath, she forced her racing heart to stop dancing around in her chest. He was just a man. To another woman, a woman who wasn’t as strong as she was, the man might be attractive in a rugged, raw sort of way. But Naya wasn’t that kind of a woman. She wasn’t interested in a relationship and definitely not interested in a man who looked like he took arrogance to an art form. A very rude man who should know better than to stare at a woman. He was making Naya uncomfortable!
With another deep, slow breath, she lowered her eyes, wanting the information the speaker was delivering, but unwilling to deal with the other man’s rude, obnoxious, heated stares in her direction. It didn’t matter how gorgeous the man was, he still shouldn’t stare!
She’d been pretending to write something on her notebook for several minutes, but when she had her temper back under control, she looked up from her notebook, assuming he’d stopped his ill-mannered perusal of her being.
Darn it! He was still doing it!
Hadn’t someone told him that it was rude to stare?
Shifting again, she tried to look around, acting as if the other occupants of the seminar were fascinating. She had no idea what the speaker was saying. If the rude man would just stop looking her way, she might be able to concentrate. But with those sharp, green eyes looking in her direction, catching her gaze whenever she looked up, it was almost impossible.
She should just walk out. Naya glanced down the row of chairs but…darn it! She was trapped! Too many people on this row on both sides of her, leaving her no easy escape route. At least not one that wouldn’t make her the center of attention.
Looking up again, those sexy lips curled up into a wisp of a smile.
He knew, darn him! He’d guessed she was trying to figure out how to get out of here and was laughing at her!
Arrogant man!
She’d show him! She’d just sit here and be pleasant, listen to this stupid presentation and…well, that’s as far as her plan went at the moment. But she would think of something. In the meantime, she’d just sit here and fume!
Yeah, like that did any good. Her fuming mind rarely came up with a good plan. Her fuming mind more often came up with a really bad plan.
Like…well…she could….
Okay, so the man needed to move that sharp, green gaze to someone else before she could come up with even a bad plan! Darn him! He knew exactly what he was doing to her and she hated that!
Sighing, Naya forced her eyes to look downward again. If she just kept her head low, her eyes away from his green ones, she could survive this. The heat flooding her neck and cheeks, that was nothing. Nothing more than a stuffy room filled with stuffy people. She wasn’t blushing because she never blushed! Everyone in here was a real estate agent, just like herself. Everyone was listening to the presentation of the latest Steele Industries marketing plan.
Why in the world were they only releasing twenty of the one hundred and fifty units that would eventually fill the space in this particular high-rise building? Why not just release all of them and let the agents presell the units?
That’s what other building managers do. What made this building so different?
She thought about raising her hand to ask the question, but then she remembered those green eyes and….
Looking down at her notebook, she realized that she was drawing the man’s eyes!
Snapping her notebook shut, she folded her hands in her lap and…realized that the speaker had stopped talking and several people were looking directly at her after the loud snapping of her notebook. Including Mr. Rude-Green-Eyes! Again! So were several other people all around her.
“Sorry,” she whispered, sinking down slightly in her chair.
Good grief, had she been that loud? Obviously she had.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Green Eyes took over the presentation and ignored the annoyingly beautiful blonde woman in front of her who kept turning her head to smirk in Naya’s direction.
Naya knew that the woman wanted Mr. Green Eyes. That message had been revealed very early on in the presentation, right along with her thigh as her skirt “accidentally” slid higher each time the lovely lady re-crossed her legs. Go for it, she thought without a hint of jealousy. The dark-haired, green eyed man was too tall for her taste. And way to arrogant.
Besides, the blonde and the black-haired man would look perfect together. She pictured them walking down the sidewalk, her long legs and his long stride would make a perfect match.
Naya’s red hair and shorter legs would definitely not be able to keep up with him. Nope, she would be a complete mismatch to the tall, handsome man.
He was tan, the kind of color that a person gets when they like to be outside, doing things in the sunshine. Naya was as pale as any other red-head and had the irritating tendency to freckle whenever she went out into the sunshine without a thick layer of sunscreen. He had the rugged jawline and the sharp, green eyes that could slice a person to the bone. She had been described as a cupcake in the past; sweet and fluffy.
She almost growled at that memory. She wasn’t sweet and she definitely wasn’t fluffy. Okay, so she had a couple of extra pounds on her. Hmmm….well, maybe a good ten extra pounds. But hey, being a real estate agent was a stressful job! Ice cream and potato chips were friendly foods that helped her through the anxiety stages.
With a sigh, she knew that it was probably time for some broccoli, she thought as she shifted in her chair again. Yeah, her skirt had been a bit tight this morning. Salads for a week, she promised herself. Salads and the gym.
Blech! She hated the gym. She’d much rather just go for a walk and enjoy the sunshine – after slathering on sunscreen, smile at others who were out on the sidewalk, maybe stop and chat a bit…
But the gym was a better idea. She rarely worked up a sweat on her walks. Maybe it was because she was too busy talking with her neighbors, petting the dogs and waving to her friends. Hard to get all hot and sweaty when one was stopping every few minutes to catch with someone.
Nope. Gym. Broccoli. Salads. She could do this! She could be strong.
Her eyes glanced over at the leggy blond. That smug woman probably ate lots of salads. The woman most likely survived on roughage and tough workouts.
Naya shifted again. She could be tough, she told herself. She could be tough and mean and…
Sighing, her shoulders drooped. She wasn’t tough, but
she wasn’t a cupcake either.
Eh, who was she fooling? She was a cupcake. With extra frosting. She was too sweet and way too fluffy.
“Thanks everyone! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact anyone on my sales team,” the irritatingly handsome man was saying.
Everyone was smiling, standing up and….ho boy, she jumped out of her seat, wanting to leave the area as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, she was in the middle of the row with the other guests not in any hurry to exit the conference room. People were slowing her down! She had to get out of here!
The crowd shifted and…yep, he was staring at her, his hands on his belt, pulling back his charcoal suit jacket that looked absolutely magnificent on him.
She smoothed her black, wool skirt down, reminding herself that she was doing the broccoli and salad thing. Maybe not the gym. She wasn’t quite that desperate yet.
The blonde sashayed over to the tall man and Naya gritted her teeth. Okay, so maybe a couple of gym workouts, she promised herself. It certainly would be nice to sashay. Naya never sashayed. She bustled. She hurried from one place to the next.
Naya watched the irritating blonde, saw the irritating man’s green eyes smile down to her and…wow! The blonde was tall but the black-haired sex-god was taller! Yikes!
She hurried towards the doorway, wanting to make a beeline for her car. She had absolutely no idea about the merits of the condominiums here in this building but she would look the information up online. She had to…
“Ms. Jefferson!” a deep voice called out.
Her shoulders tightened. A part of her wanted to pretend like she hadn’t heard the man. She could just melt in with the departing crowd but…unfortunately, no one was leaving! They were all milling around, taking another round at the well-stocked buffet filled with pastries and cookies.
Naya thought she could use a few cookies right about now. Emotional stress eating had a lot of good points, she thought as she reluctantly turned around.
Sure enough, sex-god approaching at her two-o’clock.
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