by J. M. Madden
Logan tugged on her hand, pulling her back down into his arms. “I don’t dream like that very often, but with everything that happened yesterday, I guess it kind of stirred everything up.”
They settled back down in the sheets, relaxing into each other. One of his hands settled on her hips, and that was when she noticed how aroused he was.
“Sorry,” he murmured, not sounding sorry at all. “You were just backlit by the light and I could see your breasts through the fabric.”
She snorted, nudging her hips back into his erection. “Even in the midst of the dream...”
“What can I say? You’re a completely different kind of dream, and I recognize how valuable you are.”
Aw...
Marigold rotated her hips, gratified when his hand tightened on her. “I want to take you this way.”
“Ok,” she agreed, losing her breath.
They fumbled beneath the covers, shucking clothes and flinging them away. Logan found a condom in her bedside table and within just a few seconds, he was pulling her tight back against him .
“Oh, damn... I think I like it this way,” she breathed, arching back into his rolling thrusts. She gripped the sheets in front of her, trying to get some leverage to push back more. And she hadn’t been kidding about the feel of his dick. Though the scarring muffled his pleasure, it enhanced hers.
The only problem with this position was that there was no kissing. It did put her in perfect position for him to grab her breasts. Oh, yes, that was damn good... then his hand crept over her hip to the apex of her thighs. Knowing what he was going to do, Marigold lifted her thigh a little, enough for him to run a finger between her wet, swollen folds to find her clit.
“Oh, Logan,” she sighed.
They weren’t moving fast or hard, but something about the attention he was paying her was absolutely perfect. Or maybe it was just that they were getting to know each other’s bodies better. She knew that if she arched her hips more sharply that he would gasp and plunge deeper, but that he would also tighten his hand on her mons, which was so damn sexy.
The hot, tingling edge of orgasm was building, cranking her body tighter and tighter. Suddenly he pulled his hand away, leaving her gasping and needy. He pushed her over onto her front, one of his long thighs going over her hips. Then he reseated himself inside her. “Oh, fuck,” she sighed. “I think I like this better.”
Now she had the leverage to push back into his thrusts, and it felt so good. Logan rocked into her, his breath gasping in her ear. One of his hands reached beneath her, searching for that magic spot that would send her over, but she could have told him he didn’t need to. The way he was grinding into her was enough, and her orgasm was cresting. “Logan, Logan,” she panted. “Yes....”
He must have felt her body tightening, because he began to surge harder. That was all she needed. Marigold cried out, not in control of her own body, as the pleasure rolled over her. It was sublime and went on for what seemed like minutes. And just as she began to blink back to awareness, his pleasure took him. It was perfection. She loved feeling him arch into her so hard, and she loved that he had found pleasure in her.
Logan literally collapsed on top of Marigold, but she would not protest. The feel of him on her, in her, was one of the most... amazing things. Besides, she could take his weight. And he seemed to have completely passed out. If she wasn’t afraid of waking him, she would have chuckled.
Letting her eyes drift shut, she breathed steadily. Her body had found its pleasure and it was reminding her that it was the depths of the night.
Logan suddenly drew in a heavy breath and shifted. “Oh, God, am I crushing you? I’m so sorry.”
He shifted away, moving to the side of the bed. “I kind of dozed off, because my bed,” he turned to grin at her, “you, was really soft and warm. I need to get rid of this condom,” he laughed.
Marigold stepped from the bed and circled it to hold her hand out to him. “I think we both need to visit the bathroom.”
Surprisingly he took her hand and let her pull him up. Immediately, he dropped a kiss to her lips. “Thank you for being my pillow. And my chair lift.”
“Anytime, baby.”
They walked to the bathroom and did what they needed to do, then headed back to bed. Logan pulled her up to rest against his chest, and they drifted off to sleep.
When Marigold opened her eyes, it was to find Logan staring at her in the light of dawn. She grinned and stretched, her bones cracking and joints popping. Then she tucked back under the covers, grinning at him. “It’s chilly out there,” she whispered.
Logan chuckled, popping his brows at her. “I know. Someone stole all the covers.”
Marigold lifted up enough to see that she had, indeed, stolen most of the covers. “I’m sorry,” she laughed, shifting some of the blankets over.
He shrugged as he pulled them into place. “Just gave me more reason to wrap around you.”
It was ridiculous how much she appreciated those whispered words. And it was scary hearing them, because things felt like they were getting serious.
“You’re screwing up my life plan,” she told him, deciding to be blunt.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you have. I planned on working my ass off for a while and stashing the money, going to school, getting my degree.... nowhere in there was start a relationship.”
“Same,” he agreed. “Starting a relationship was the furthest thing from my mind when I came out here. And I’ll be honest. I wasn’t in a good place when Shannon spotted me and dragged me along to LNF.”
“Were you really thinking about suicide?” she whispered, afraid to know the answer. “Or are you still?”
Logan blinked and turned onto his back, as if looking at her were too hard. Instead, he stared up at her bland ceiling. It took him a few seconds to get his words together. “Yes, and kind of.” He flicked a glance at her, his blue eyes crystalline in the light of the morning, then back to the ceiling. “I never considered myself to be the type of person to even consider suicide. I feel like I’m level-headed and methodical, deliberate. In spite of my father’s issues, I didn’t feel like I was deficient in any way.”
“Agreed,” she said when he paused.
“But when the world keeps telling you you don’t deserve shit, and continues to take away every glimmer of happiness and, and... groundedness, you start to listen. The world was telling me I didn’t need family, because it took away the only person I really needed, my sister. Then it told me I didn’t deserve friends, or the Army, because it took them away. Mobility? Meh, who needs it? I’m tired of fighting against the world. So, yeah, when I came out here, I had a job to do. I had a plan. I had spoken with my other teammates families and Miller’s family was the last. I was going to cruise by the old family home if I could find it, which I realize now that I never would have. But once I was done doing those two things, I thought I would be able to exit stage left.” He shrugged on the mattress. “No one would even know I’d done it. I had no family, no significant friends.”
Marigold tried to keep the tears in, but there was no way she could. The utter loneliness... She’d never been in that place herself, so she couldn’t say exactly what she’d do in his place. Logan continued to stare up at the ceiling, clear-eyed. There were no tears or emotion, just flat acceptance. It was chilling to see, because she knew he had the determination to do it. And she wondered if her mother had felt the same way.
“You have to realize things have changed, though,” she said, unable to stay quiet.
Slowly, finally, he turned his head to look at her, and he blinked. “Yes, I’m beginning to. And in turn, I’m not feeling as... directionless. If that makes sense. Before, I didn’t feel a need to stay here, but a lot of things have changed, and I don’t want to go anywhere.”
She swiped her tears away, nodding. “That makes me happy, because you are so worth having in the world. And I’m not just saying that because you’re a great
lay.”
He barked out a laugh and rolled toward her, going up on one elbow to look down at her. “Thank you, Marigold Lee. you’ve made me laugh more in the past week than I have in the past year, and I really appreciate that.”
She accepted his slow kiss, loving the tingle that went through her every time he touched her. Even when it wasn’t building up to sex, he took his time, and she appreciated that. When he drew back, she gave him a serious look. “I will make you laugh as much as I possibly can if it means you will stay with us.”
Eyes somber, he nodded. “I’m going to hold you to that, because I know these thoughts are something I can’t just wish away. It’s going to take work, and goals. Like John said. And distractions. Working toward something.”
“I have faith in you,” she told him softly, very aware that her heart was on the line. “And I will stand by you as long as you want me to. No commitment stated, inferred or requested, though.”
He smiled a little crookedly, recognizing the words. Then he looked at the bed rather pointedly. “I think we’ve kind of moved beyond that, now.”
“Yes,” she agreed softly.
“Plus, I’m going to take the LNF job.”
She blinked, then grinned. “Congratulations! That’s definitely commitment.”
“Yes,” he sighed. “I don’t know exactly what I’ll do there, but I think I could be an asset to the group.”
“Oh, I do too! Have you told John and Shannon?”
He shook his head against the pillow. “I thought you should know first.”
Marigold blinked, not sure exactly how to feel. Did the fact that he was telling her first mean that she had some significance to him? Or was he just voicing his thoughts to the only person in the room?
She must have seemed confused, because his face shut down and he seemed to retreat. “I apologize. I thought you’d want to know.”
Marigold sat up, in spite of the cold room. “I do want to know, but I guess I’m kind of at a loss. Why do you care what I think? I mean, physically we get along like gangbusters, but I thought you wanted to avoid anything emotional?”
“Yeah, fuck that,” Logan said, sitting up and leaning toward her. “I know that’s what I said before, but I don’t think it’s what I necessarily meant. If I had reliable people to commit to, I wouldn’t have an issue. My family failed me, my ex failed me.”
Marigold blinked. “What are you saying, Logan?” Her heart thudded. Emotions chased across his face. Anticipation built inside her as she watched him choose his words.
Finally, he looked at her, his brilliant eyes clear, and she had to admire the courage she could see building in his expression. “I’m waking up, literally and figuratively, and I love having you beside me, Marigold Lee. If you don’t have anything else going on, maybe you wouldn’t mind spending some time with me to see where this goes.”
Emotion tightened her throat, and she nodded. It was what she’d wanted when he first walked into the office. She hadn’t understood what she’d felt at the time, but she did now. When he leaned in for a kiss, she met him halfway. Slowly and leisurely, he worshipped her mouth, reaching out to cup her jaw and hold her to him. Marigold loved it when he took her in hand, reminding her that even damaged, he was still very much a man.
Logan loved the feel of Marigold in his arms. She was strong and solid, and completely competent. Her mind challenged him and her humor nudged him out of the hole he’d been in for so long. He was the happiest he’d been in a year.
That was a lot to put on another person, though, and Logan was very aware of that fact. When he would have told her that he wanted to live with her and wake up with her every morning, he clamped his jaw shut. It wasn’t fair to make her his savior, even if he did feel that way.
“Can I cook you some breakfast?”
Her dark brows arched in surprise. “Can you cook?”
“I used to be able to,” he admitted. “I would cook for the guys in the tent all the time. Just quick and easy stuff, but it was better than the MREs the Army handed out.”
“I would love for you to cook for me then. While you do that, I’ll hop in the shower.”
Good! No witness for what could be a serious mistake in judgement. “You do that.”
With a bemused smile, Marigold gave him a kiss and shuffled out of bed to the bathroom, the cheeks of her ass jiggling deliciously. Within just a few seconds he heard the shower start.
“Better get my ass in gear,” he muttered, bracing himself for the pain of moving.
She had eggs and ham in her fridge, and some really sharp cheddar. There was a bag of onions and green peppers in the freezer, and some jalepeño. Oh, that would be a good omelet.
And it turned out pretty well. It was a little darker brown than he would prefer, but when Marigold sat down at the little kitchenette table, her eyes widened appreciatively. “This looks damn good, Logan. I could get used to this.”
As he sat down at the table across from her, he decided he could as well.
“What’s on your agenda for the day?”
That made him pause, fork halfway to his lips. “Well, I guess I’d better contact Palmer and let him know I want the job and move on from there.”
“There’s more work than you would expect there,” she told him, tucking her dark hair behind her ears. “And I know Shannon loves to be the boss of everything, but she has more work than she can handle. I’ll be going in today.”
“We both will,” Logan told her.
What an odd change of fortune. He and his girlfriend? Lover? would be heading to work together.
Huh... The thought didn’t scare him as much as it should have.
20
Shannon bounced from one emergency to the next, and it just didn’t seem to let up. It was ridiculous for a Tuesday.
Flynn had a caller on the line from out of country that he’d been trying to get ahold of for weeks. Putting the man on hold Shannon did her best to find Flynn, but he had apparently decided not to answer his phone today. Instead she got Willow on their personal text chat, and she tracked the man down. The two lines were now connected and she hoped Flynn was getting the information he needed.
She moved onto the next issue. Harper had a significant medical bill that insurance was refusing to pay. After being on hold for almost an hour, Shannon managed to get it recategorized so that it would be paid, in full, the way it should have been in the first place.
Rachel had an issue with shorted overtime that she’d forgotten to get approved two weeks ago. The cleaning service responsible for doing the offices had a flu outbreak and they would have to reschedule for next week, assuming everyone was healthy enough to come back. Elizabeth Wilkes was waiting on the original report Jordyn had done when they’d retrieved the men from the jungle. Shannon just hadn’t had a chance to send it.
On top of everything, she was feeling off. In the back of her mind she was praying that she hadn’t picked up some kind of convention bug, because that would screw her whole schedule.
When Marigold rolled in later that morning, she was very happy to hand a few things off to the younger woman to take care of.
“Absolutely,” Marigold told her, grinning. “Why don’t you go get a cup of coffee? When you come back, we’ll talk.”
Shannon was curious. Logan had gone back to talk to John, and she had a feeling she knew what about. It would be a great time to teach Marigold the new-hire system.
She looked at the coffee maker in the break room. It did not appeal to her. Instead, she ran a cup of water through the microwave and dropped a tea bag in. If she was getting sick, she would need to hydrate.
Man, the boys were beasts when they didn’t feel good. And John was even worse, she thought with a snort.
She returned to the reception area and sank into her chair, her legs weak. What the hell...
Marigold gave her a look. “Are you okay? You seem pale.”
“Yeah, I’m okay, just...tired, I guess.”
&nb
sp; If she put into the ether that she was feeling sick, it would manifest that she was sick. Deny, deny, deny...
Shannon knew as soon as he walked out that Logan was their next investigator. John rolled out behind him, grinning. Circling the desk, she wrapped Logan in a hug. “Welcome to the group.”
His lips twisted into a smile. “Thank you. I really do appreciate it.”
Marigold was smiling as well, but it was obvious she had already known what Logan was going to tell John. Shannon sighed, saying a little prayer that their relationship would survive. It wouldn’t be any fun at work if two people were at odds after a breakup.
Shannon walked Marigold through the metric ton of paperwork that needed to be completed for a new hire. There was no way she would remember it all next time, but at least she would have a grasp on it. Then Shannon printed everything out for Logan to sign. John witnessed everything. Duncan came out of his office as Logan was finishing up, and shook his hand.
“Welcome to the group. We’ll try not to work you too hard at first.” Duncan grinned, obviously playing.
“I don’t mind hard work, sir. I’m curious what I’ll be doing for you, though.”
Duncan glanced at John, then back at Logan. “We’ll probably start you off watching surveillance tapes or going over case files. Believe me, we’ll find what you’re good at.”
Logan nodded, bracing against his crutches. “I have no doubt, and the Army will be more than happy to help out the Marines.”
A dark glitter lit Duncan’s eyes, and he barked out with laughter. “Oh, buddy, you’re going to fit in just right,” he laughed.
John grinned when Shannon stopped at his office a little while later.
“Another chick to mother over.”
Shannon laughed and sank down in the chair across from him. Then the color in her face faded, and she blinked in surprise. John wheeled around the desk to grip her hand. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, waving her free hand. “I’ve been feeling a little off, and I wonder if I haven’t picked up the conference crud or something. Or some germ from the planes.”