by Joanna Sims
“Jo, we aren’t going to get married until I propose. That’s my deal.” Logan grabbed the notebook off the podium and then he grabbed her hand. “I get to pick the time and the place for our official engagement.”
“But we’re engaged now, right? I asked and you answered.”
Logan opened the door for her.
“You’re a strong, determined woman, Jo...and I love that about you. But, sometimes, you’re just going to have to let me be the man.”
* * *
“Where do you think you left it?” Josephine asked her twin.
“I don’t know. But we can’t get in without that reservation card.”
It was their birthday and Jordan, who wasn’t into pampering, had, as a present to her, made them both reservations at a ritzy San Diego spa. But, when she met her sister in the lobby of their downtown penthouse, Jordan realized that she didn’t have the reservation card in her wallet.
“Let’s just go back up and look for it.” Jordan waved at the lobby attendant and they got into the elevator to go forty-four floors back up to the penthouse.
“We’re going to be late.” Josephine followed her sister into the elevator.
“No, it’s just right around the corner. We’ll be fine.”
Once inside the penthouse, they climbed up the stairs to the second story of the condo. Josephine was always struck by the views. The condo offered spectacular 180-degree views of the San Diego harbor.
“You check out on the balcony and I’ll check my other purse,” Jordan told her.
“Why would it be out on the balcony?”
“Oh, my God, Jo! You’re so argumentative! I was out there yesterday and I think I may have left it on the table. Just go!”
Josephine opened the balcony door, and the first thing she saw was Logan Wolf standing by an enormous wrapped box, holding a sunflower. The balcony was covered with sunflowers. Everywhere she looked, she saw sunflowers.
“Happy birthday, Jo,” Logan said.
Josephine took a step out onto the balcony, her eyes flitting from one huge sunflower arrangement to the next. “I thought you had to work...”
“I may have misled you a little there.” Logan walked over to her, handed her the single sunflower, then he kissed her.
“All right, you two. Have a good time.” Jordan appeared in the doorway.
“Where are you going?”
“Ian’s flying me to New York for the weekend. The place is all yours.” Jordan gave her sister a hug. “Happy birthday, Jo.”
“Happy birthday, Jordy.” She kissed her twin on the cheek. “You still owe me a spa day.”
Jordan laughed, waved, and then shut the balcony door behind her. When they were alone, Jo pointed to the box.
“Is that for me?”
“I wrapped it myself.”
Josephine laid the sunflower on the table and examined the box. “You’re not an accomplished wrapper, are you?”
Logan laughed with good nature. “Just open the box.”
Josephine pulled the giant white bow off the top of the box and stuck it on top of her head. She ripped the paper off the box and pried it open. Inside the giant box, was another, slightly smaller, wrapped box.
“Really?” she asked him. “That’s how you’re going to roll?”
Logan looked pleased with himself. “That’s how I’m going to roll. Start unwrapping.”
Box after wrapped box, Josephine ripped off the paper, only to discover a box within a box. Finally, she found what had to be the last box.
She raised her eyebrows playfully at Logan and shook the box. “This has to be the last one, right?”
“I don’t know. Open it and see.”
She quickly ripped the wrapping off the box and found a little black velvet jewelry box inside. She stared at the box for a second or two, her heart beating faster and faster with nervous anticipation of what might be inside of the box.
“Here, let me help you with that.” Logan took it from her hands, took the jewelry box out, and put the empty one on the table.
Logan opened the box and showed her the contents.
She had expected to see a ring. Instead, she saw a folded piece of paper. Confused and curious, Josephine unfolded the piece of paper and realized that she was unfolding the form that San Diego police officers used to write tickets. In Logan’s handwriting, in bold letters written across the ticket, there was a message for her: Will you marry me?
Logan bent down on one knee in front of her with a diamond ring in his hand. “Will you marry me, Jo?”
Josephine nodded her head quickly. “Of course I will.”
Logan slipped the ring on her finger. It was a brilliant cut stone set in platinum. It wasn’t a large stone, but it was nearly a hundred years old and in an antique setting. Just like Logan was the perfect man for her, the ring he had chosen was a perfect fit.
“I love you.” Josephine hugged him tightly, kissed him sweetly. She had been waiting for this day for such a long time. “We’re officially engaged!”
“I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I’m glad that you do love me.” He held her face in his hands and kissed her back. “I’m so glad that you do.”
He had planned for them to stay in the condo guest room, but Josephine had insisted that they spend the night at his modest, sparsely furnished condo in Chula Vista.
Logan unlocked the front door, turned on the light switch at the door, and then let Josephine enter in front of him. He always felt a little embarrassed when Josephine came over. He knew she was used to much fancier digs, but this was the best he could do on his salary.
“We’ll find a new place that works for both of us.” Logan shut the door behind him. “I’m not expecting you to live in this dump once we’re married.”
“I don’t think this is a dump.” Josephine slipped off her strappy heels. “I like your place.”
“Why?”
Josephine walked over to him, barefoot. She put her arms around her fiancé’s waist. “Because it’s yours...I love it here because I love you.”
“It might not get much better than this on a cop’s salary, Jo. Are you sure you can handle that?”
“Are you trying to back out of our engagement already?” she teased him.
He still had his hands in his pockets. His body posture was stiff and a little bit defensive. “I just want to make sure this is the life you really want.”
“I want a life with you, whatever that brings. Okay?” Josephine grabbed his hand and led him to the small efficiency kitchen to find something in which to put her sunflower. “I’m going to be graduating soon, so don’t forget, I’ll have an income, too. Of course, I want to be a public defender and do a lot of pro bono work, so if you were thinking you were getting a high-priced attorney, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Josephine filled a large plastic cup full of water and stuck her sunflower in it.
Logan came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed the back of her neck.
“Hmm...” She closed her eyes. “I’ve missed you.”
At the end of summer, they had flown back to California together on Ian’s private jet. Logan returned to San Diego and she went back to Berkeley to finish her degree. Their relationship had to be long-distance and sometimes they only saw each other a couple times a month. But they had spent hours getting to know each other by phone and Josephine believed that their forced distance had somehow made them stronger as a couple.
“I’ve missed you.”
Josephine turned in his arms so she could kiss him on the mouth. She loved to kiss this man; she had to believe that she always would. There was something about the firmness of his lips; there was something about the natural scent of his skin and his taste that drove her senses c
razy.
“Why don’t we close the curtains?” she asked him.
Logan smiled at her with his eyes. He knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted to skip dinner and dessert and head straight to bed. They both closed the curtains to shut out the world temporarily. Josephine grabbed two glasses and a bottle of wine from the fridge before she headed to Logan’s bedroom.
She pulled her short shift dress over her head and hung it up on one of the empty wire hangers in the closet. Next her bra and panties came off, her hair was let down, and the only thing she was wearing was her new engagement ring.
“You are too beautiful for words.” Logan was watching her from the bedroom door.
“Don’t you have too many clothes on?” she asked him, completely comfortable in her own skin before her future husband.
Logan undressed and tossed his clothing on the dresser. Then, he joined her, half-aroused, in his bed.
Josephine handed him a glass of wine and then held out her glass for a toast.
“Happy birthday, sweetheart,” Logan said.
“Thank you. Logan, this is the best birthday I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to be your wife.”
They touched glasses and then Josephine took a sip of the red wine. She immediately made a disgusted face and looked at the wine in her glass.
“Yuck! What is this?” She put down her glass and grabbed the bottle.
“I don’t know.” Logan took another large sip of the wine. “It’s not all that bad, is it?”
“No, don’t drink that.” Josephine took his glass out of his hand. “It’s rancid.”
“Hey, I wasn’t done with that yet.”
“Yes, you were,” she told him. “Besides, you have some work to do, Lieutenant.”
“Is that so?” Logan’s eyes traveled from her eyes to her lips to her small, perky breasts. He reached out and encircled one nipple with his finger and he smiled, pleased, when it hardened and puckered beneath his light touch.
“Yes...” Josephine lay down beside him, offering herself to the man she loved. “That’s so.”
Logan skipped the foreplay and gave her exactly what she had been craving, a body-to-body connection. He slipped inside of her, filling her so completely. She liked it when Logan took control in the bedroom; she liked it when he manhandled her. Everything he did, everything he showed her, was pure pleasure.
Logan hooked his arm under her long leg and bent it toward her chest so he could go deeper within her. Josephine gasped, her head tossed back at the new sensation.
“Do you like that?” He was watching every expression that passed over her face.
“Yes...” she said urgently, not wanting him to stop what he was doing. “That...feels...so good...”
He loved her like that, stroking her, massaging her, filling her deeper and deeper, harder and harder, until he felt her grow completely still beneath him. He opened his eyes, and saw a look of unadulterated joy on her face.
Then she cried out and he felt a rush of wetness on his shaft. Wave after wave, her orgasm didn’t stop. She was wild beneath him, drenching him with her love. Logan held her hands over her head and surged into her; the more she soaked him, the more excited he became.
“Josephine...Josephine...Josephine...”
She watched him, fascinated at the expression on his handsome face when he came. She arched her back and took him deeper inside of her. They were so close, so connected, that she felt his body pulse inside of her just before he cried out her name three times.
Logan collapsed on top of her and she hugged him close to her. After a minute, he lifted his head and looked at her in amazement. They both laughed.
“What was that?” he asked her.
Satiated, Josephine laughed. “You hit my G-spot.”
He looked at her in total amazement. That orgasm that they had experienced together, that they had created together, was beyond his experience.
He kissed her on the lips. “And here I always thought that was a mythical creature like a unicorn.”
She laughed again. “Me, too!”
Logan rolled onto his side, still holding her hand, and lay flat on his back, one hand behind his head, on top of the sheets. Josephine scooted closer to him, pulled the sheet over her hips, and rested her head on his shoulder. She placed her hand, her left hand with a new engagement ring on her fourth finger, over his heart.
“It’s still your birthday, Jo. What do you want to do? I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
Josephine flipped onto her stomach, rested her hand and chin on his chest so she could get a better look at his handsome face.
“I don’t need to go anywhere. I’m exactly where I want to be. With you.”
Logan’s smile started in his dark, enigmatic eyes and then reached his beautifully shaped lips. He rolled her over onto her back so he could look down into wide blue eyes.
“Every day I love you more deeply than the day before, Josephine. I don’t know how a guy like me managed to get a woman like you, but I’m the luckiest man I know.”
Josephine put her hands on either side of his handsome face and smiled up at him. She knew now what true love felt like. She knew now what it was to feel layers upon layers of happiness and joy. When she had least expected it, when she hadn’t even been looking, there he was, finally...her perfect match.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from NOT QUITE MARRIED by Christine Rimmer.
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Chapter One
At five fifteen on a sunny April afternoon, Dalton Ames sat on a bench in a park near his Denver corporate offices and told himself he was making a big mistake.
He should have gotten some answers before he agreed to meet with her. He should have made her tell him why, exactly, she had contacted him out of the blue and just had to speak with him in person. Because, honestly. What good could possibly come of seeing her now?
None. He knew that.
And yet here he was, briefcase at his feet, stomach in knots. Waiting. Irresponsibly, illogically, ridiculously eager just for the sight of her.
It could go nowhere. He knew that. And yet...
His racing thoughts trailed away to nothing as he spotted her approaching: Clara Bravo, more adorable than ever in a long white dress and a short jean jacket. Clara, with her shining sable hair, her tempting mouth so quick to smile. But she wasn’t smiling now. Her expression was somber, her head tipped down.
Clara.
So beautiful.
And so very, very pregnant.
Seeing her so huge shocked him, though it shouldn’t have. The detective he’d hired to find her back in early December, months after their summer romance, had reported that she was pregnant and engaged to marry the baby’s father.
She glanced up and spotted him, those big eyes locking on him. Her soft mouth dropped open—and then snapped resolutely shut. She hesitated on the path, but then stiffened her spine and kept on coming.
He stood.
“Hello, Dalton.” Her wonder
ful, slightly husky voice broke on his name.
He nodded. “Clara.” His voice sounded calm. Reserved. It gave nothing away, which was as he’d intended. He took care not to glance down, not to ogle that big, round belly of hers. “It’s good to see you,” he lied.
It wasn’t good. It hurt to see her. Even big as a house with some other guy’s baby, she was much too appealing. He still wanted her. It turned a brutal knife inside him to have to look at her and know that she belonged to another man.
She lifted her left hand and nervously tucked a shining strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. No wedding ring. Odd.
And come on, it was too ridiculous, to pretend he didn’t notice that giant belly. Stiffly, he said, “I see congratulations are in order...”
She kept her head up, those brown eyes unwavering. “Let’s sit down, shall we?” Turning, she lowered herself to the bench, bracing an arm on the back of it to ease her way down.
He sank to the space beside her.
And then she drew in a big breath and started talking. Fast. “Please believe me. I don’t want anything from you. I only think it’s right that you know.”
“Know?” He stared at her and wondered what in the world she could be babbling about.
She bobbed her head in a frantic little nod. “Yes. You have a right to know.”
“Know what?” It came out as a threatening growl. He really needed to dial it back, but she...roused things in him. She made him feel things he didn’t want to feel. Gruffness was his natural defense against such dangerous emotions.
And then she said, “I...got pregnant on the island, when we were together last year. This is your baby, Dalton.”
His brain flickered, then reeled. “What did you just say?” He didn’t mean to bark at her. But he must have.
Because she gasped and slid to the edge of the bench, as far from him as she could get without actually jumping up and racing away. He had to actively resist the imperative to grab her and drag her back closer to him. She repeated slowly, with care. “I said, it’s your baby.”