One More Chance: A Small Town Love Story

by A. J. Wynter

“Okay, but I have to be back here by two to pick up Tabitha from her ski lesson.”

  Logan checked his watch. “We should have plenty of time,” he replied.

  “Is this appropriate?” She held out her arms and he took the invite to blatantly gaze up and down her body. She was perfect, managing to do casual, classy, and sexy all at the same time with skinny jeans and a cream sweater. The uncomfortable pressure on his jeans increased. He really did feel like a teenager again. “Yep. That should work,” he managed to croak.

  “A-ha.” She smirked.

  “A-ha, what?”

  “We’re not skiing, snowshoeing, or anything outdoorsy.”

  “Ah, no, we’re not doing any of that. I don’t think I could keep up with you on the ski hill,” he laughed.

  Shit. The plans he had weren’t sexy, cute, or fun. Logan helped her into her coat and without thinking, pulled her silky curtain of hair out from the collar and smoothed it down her back. She turned and smiled at him.

  “Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”

  Like you. “Shall we?” He gestured to the door and was careful not to check out her ass as she walked down the flagstone walkway in front of him, his zipper wouldn’t withstand any more pressure.

  AS THEY DROVE INTO town. Charlotte put her sunglasses on, tilted her head back, and basked in the sunlight that streamed in through the windshield. The fresh snow had given Chance Rapids a bright, albeit temporary, facelift from the muddy spring streets.

  “Oh, before I forget, I have something for you.”

  Logan raised his eyebrows, “For me?”

  “Well, not technically for you, for your team.” Charlotte reached into her handbag and pulled out an envelope.

  “What is it?” Logan asked.

  Charlotte placed the envelope in Logan’s hand. “It’s a donation to the league. Last night the announcer said that the league needed funding so that the team could participate in the playoffs.”

  “Charlotte, you don’t have to do this.” Logan tried to hand the envelope back to her.

  “I don’t have to. I want to,” she replied, shoving his hand away. “And don’t think I’m not getting a tax break – it’s a charitable donation, I need more of those. It’s actually helping me.”

  “Well, thank you, Charlotte. I know that every little bit helps.” Logan smiled and tucked the envelope into his coat pocket.

  “Do you have practice today?” she asked, studying his profile as he drove. His gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses glinted in the sunlight and highlighted the couple of grays she noticed yesterday in his stubble.

  “It’s my day off,” he smiled.

  God, his teeth were perfect.

  “I had a lot of fun last night,” he said.

  “Me too.” It was true. Charlotte went to networking events and dinner parties, but the exhilaration of being whisked around the skating rink by the best-looking man she’d ever known was by far one of the highlights of her life.

  “Tabitha is adorable,” Logan said, as he stopped at the only set of stoplights in town.

  “Yes, she’s a good kid. She’s a little taken with you actually.” Charlotte remembered the shy smile on her niece’s face as Logan skated her around the ice. “We’re leaving town?” she asked as they turned left at the light and headed towards the only highway that led into the small town.

  “We’re not going too far - Windswan.”

  “Windswan? Are we going to the tulip farm?” Charlotte couldn’t think of anything else that Windswan had to offer. Unlike Chance Rapids, Windswan was in an economic decline. Most of their main street shops had closed during the last recession and never recovered.

  Logan laughed. “No, although that would’ve saved me a half an hour visit to the G-Spot this morning. Muriel wouldn’t let me leave without a breakfast sandwich.” He pointed to the foil-wrapped package on the dashboard. “Hungry?”

  “I’m good thanks. I had a smoothie.”

  He turned down the blasting heat, he realized that they were both mildly shouting over the loud fan. “Is Tabitha’s dad involved in her life at all?” he asked.

  “Tabitha’s dad isn’t in the picture. At all.”

  “That’s too bad,” Logan frowned without taking his eyes off the road.

  “Truthfully, I don’t know who he is and it’s pretty unlikely that he knows she exists.”

  “What?” Logan practically spit out his coffee. “How does that happen?”

  “She had a one-night stand with a guy from one of the private lodges and never got his last name. You’re going to have to ask Lauren for any more details than that.” Charlotte rubbed her hands on her jeans. She didn’t like to talk about other people’s business, especially Lauren’s. “How’s your hockey team doing?” Charlotte asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Lauren and her illegitimate child.

  “We are fighting to get into the playoffs,” he replied. “When I first started, I didn’t think the boys had a fighting chance, but they’ve been working their asses off, hustling hard, and I think all of their hard work is going to pay off.”

  “Wow, I should’ve had a microphone in my hand for that canned sports star answer,” Charlotte said. “You guys always say the same thing, hustle hard, don’t give up, blah, blah, blah.”

  “It might sound cheesy to you, but I believe it. Don’t you?”

  Charlotte thought for a moment, and much to her chagrin, Logan had just personified her work ethic and mindset to a T. “I’ve just never said it out loud, but yes, I believe in hard work, and I also believe in believing in yourself. I’m sure having Logan Brush on the ice with them hasn’t hurt.”

  “They have it in them. They just need someone to help bring it out.”

  “Just like Dorothy,” she laughed. When Logan didn’t laugh, she looked over and saw his brow was furrowed. “The Wizard of Oz?” she clarified. “She had the power to go home in herself the whole time.”

  Logan smiled. “I haven’t seen that movie in a million years.”

  “It was one of my mom’s favorites,” Charlotte smiled. “Is that why you came home then? To rescue your former hockey team?”

  Logan signaled and took the Windswan exit. “That’s what I told everyone, but no, that’s not the reason I came home: this is.”

  Charlotte looked out the window and gasped, they were pulling into the parking lot of Hopeful Horizons, a rehab facility. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Logan, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t picture Logan seated in a semi-circle in a church basement, doing the whole, Hi My name is Logan. Hi Logan. And I’m an addict spiel. Her mind went into overdrive as struggled to fill in the blank. Could he be a sex addict? That’s what all the celebrities had these days, isn’t it?

  He looked and her, a sorrowful laugh escaping his lips. “It’s not what you think.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned so that he was fully facing her. “Charlotte, I missed the prom because I came home and found my mom passed out on the floor in a pool of her own vomit.”

  Charlotte’s eyes widened. Logan’s perfect mom? Charlotte hadn’t seen the cracks in the veneer when she was young, but now the pieces started to fall into place. She remembered the night when she heard dishes crashing and yelling from inside. Logan hadn’t let her come into his house that night.

  “Did she...” Charlotte almost said die but couldn’t bring herself to say the word. “Is she okay?”

  “She is now.” Logan took a sip of his coffee. His eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses, but his slumped shoulders gave away his sorrow. “I mean, for now. This isn’t her first trip to Hopeful Horizons. I hope that having me close to home will be what she needs to finally kick this thing, the booze.”

  Charlotte reached out to hold Logan’s hand with both of hers.

  “I should’ve called you that night, but my mom and dad swore me to secrecy. You know how small towns are. The rumors.”

  Charlotte shook her head, “I know better than anyone else how the Chance Rapids rum
or mill operates.”

  “That night we had to rush her to the hospital, and we weren’t sure if she was going to make it through the night. She was hospitalized for a week and then she came straight here. We lived at the motel down the street.” A fat tear escaped from behind his sunglasses. “I should’ve called you, but I didn’t know what to say. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”

  Charlotte had fantasized about an apology from Logan, but in her imagination, she rejected it in a dramatic fashion. One of her scenarios included throwing drinks in his face. She had bitchy rejections lined up ready to volley back to him in the face of an apology. But, sitting across from him now, hearing the quiver in his voice, all she wanted to do was make his pain go away.

  She clicked out of her seatbelt and knelt on the seat so she could cup his face with her hands. She pulled off his sunglasses and kissed at the tears on his face. “I forgive you, Logan,” she whispered. She saw his bottom lip start to tremble and couldn’t witness this formidable man cry, so she planted her lips on his. He inhaled audibly, sucking back the sorrow, and kissed her back slowly. He ran his hands down the sides of her body, sending a shiver down her spine. He pressed his hand into her lower back, drawing her closer to him. His kisses grew stronger and Charlotte’s body responded to his hunger with her own. She needed Logan Brush. She felt the desire growing in her belly and spreading between her legs. He lifted her up by her hips and pulled her onto his lap. She straddled his muscular thighs and arched her back against the steering wheel as he kissed down her neck and nipped at her collarbone. She could feel his hardness straining at the front of his jeans. She reached down and started to fumble with his belt buckle, but he grabbed her hands, pulled them behind her body, and rested his head on her shoulder.

  “Not here.”

  Charlotte nodded. He released her hands. She cupped his face and kissed his lips one more time. “I don’t know what came over me,” she whispered and pressed her forehead against his. She tried to wriggle out from between Logan and the steering wheel. As she struggled, her elbow pressed into the horn. She fell into the passenger seat and shot him a sheepish smile.

  “I think that fifteen years just came over both of us,” he smiled and squeezed her hand. “Trust me, stopping that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Would you go and visit my mom with me? You know, once this has calmed down? He nodded his head straight down at the huge bulge in the front of his pants that she had felt only seconds earlier.

  They chatted until Logan was presentable and then made a visit to his mom. Charlotte wouldn’t have recognized her as the woman from her past. She looked tired, worn, and old. But she smiled and gripped Charlotte’s hands when she sat down beside her chair.

  This was not the date that Charlotte had imagined. It wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t giggles and flirting. It was dark and it was somber, but despite all that, it was perfect.

  Charlotte watched how gentle Logan was with his mom, how she could see the love in his eyes when he hugged her goodbye. Charlotte reached out to shake Mrs. Brush’s hand, but she surprised her and pulled her in for a hug and made Charlotte promise to visit again.

  THEY RODE IN SILENCE, their fingers intertwined. Charlotte loved the way his thick fingers splayed her fingers apart. She watched the snow-covered fir trees as the truck whizzed along the road but couldn’t ignore the want in her body. She needed to be closer to him, so she unclicked her seatbelt and shimmied across the bench seat so that she was hip to hip with Logan. He glanced at her, smiled and wrapped his arm across her shoulder, squeezing her in tightly.

  “If you’re going to ride hillbilly, you should put your seatbelt on,” he grinned.

  Charlotte looked up at him, she wanted to feel the scruff than ran along his jawline on her lips; and if she was being honest, wanted to feel it chafe her inner thighs. She laughed; riding hillbilly meant sitting directly adjacent to the driver on a pickup truck’s bench seat - usually because a hound dog was occupying the passenger seat. A city girl wouldn’t have known what the hell he was talking about, but they came from the same place, and still spoke some of the same language, even if they had each gone off and refined it.

  “I have another idea,” Charlotte said and trailed her manicured finger along the stitching on the fly of his jeans. She felt a rush, a surge of desire as his cock responded to this light touch. She sucked in her breath and wondered if she would be able to fit him in her mouth, if his hands and the huge bulge in the front of his jeans were any indication, the man must be huge.

  “Do you now?” Logan said the sides of his mouth turned up as he shifted in his seat. “And what’s that, Miss O’Hare?”

  “Why don’t I just show you?” Charlotte leaned over and flicked Logan’s earlobe with her tongue.

  God, he smelled amazing.

  She clicked his seatbelt off and unbuttoned his jeans, but before she could sink her face to his lap, he grabbed her by the back of her neck and kissed her hard and fast, then returned his attention to the highway. He flicked the turn signal and pulled off onto a muddy logging road.

  Charlotte unzipped his pants, his cock assisted her as it strained against the metal teeth through his green boxer briefs. She heard his breath hitch as she freed him from the constraints of his clothing. His cock stood hard and stiff, a soldier, ready for action, inches from the steering wheel. Charlotte had expected him to be big but sucked in her breath as she gazed at the eight inches of girthy manhood as it stood, rigid and waiting. She gripped him in her hand, her fingertips unable to meet as they circled his cock, Logan groaned softly at her touch. Charlotte heard the tires crunch over the gravel and looked out the windshield. “Where are we going?”

  “I’m hoping that the road to the hot springs is clear.”

  “Quarter Pond?”

  “That’s the one. It’s pretty early in the season, but we should be able to get there. When was the last time you went there?”

  “I’ve never been,” Charlotte replied, absentmindedly stroking the impossibly soft skin of his rock-hard cock with her fingertips.

  “What? How is that even possible?” Logan reached to the dash and jabbed at the 4-wheel drive button. The duo swayed with the uneven road, Logan’s cock a weighty metronome.

  Charlotte shrugged. “Just never had the chance.” She looked out the window while stroking Logan with her thumb.

  Quarter Pond was a local secret hot spring, but back in high school, she didn’t have any friends with cars capable of making it up the rough logging road.

  “Well, Miss. I’m happy to be the one to take you. Just so you’re aware, it’s one of the prettiest places you will ever see, and one of the stinkiest.”

  “I spent a summer in Manhattan, so I’ll be the one to judge the stink level.”

  “Why were you in Manhattan?” Logan asked.

  “Training, but it’s a long story,” Charlotte replied.

  “I feel like you have a lot of those, Charlotte. I can’t wait to hear them all.” He stopped the truck and shut off the engine. He moved to zip up his pants, but Charlotte swatted his hand away. She drew up onto her knees so that she could look Logan in the eye. She wrapped her hands around his strong neck and nipped at his lips. He responded with gentle kisses, his hands rubbing at the small of her back.

  She slid down his body, gripped Logan in her hand and flicked the tip of his cock with her tongue. She didn’t think it was possible, but he grew even harder.

  “Charlotte. Wait,” Logan gasped as Charlotte started to press her lips down his shaft. “Oh God,” he said as she reached the base and she felt his thighs quiver. “Charlotte...” she looked up at him, his eyes were closed, and his head was pressed back against the headrest.

  “Our first time should be more than this. You deserve romance, flowers, expensive sheets. You’re not this girl.”

  “Logan.” Charlotte kissed his tip and sat up. “Look at this place.” Sparkling snow surrounded a steaming pool of water and river roc
ks separated the spring from the cold Chance Rapids river. “I’ve stayed at the most expensive hotels in the country, eaten in the best restaurants. Logan, here, with you in this place, I can’t think of anything more romantic, anything more perfect for...” She trailed off. She didn’t know how to say it, but Logan finished her sentence.

  “Our first time,” he smiled shyly.

  “Our first time,” she echoed and kissed his lips before the tears had a chance to form. “I know you’re a gentleman, but we’re not rushing into this.”

  “You’re right, Charlotte. I’ve been thinking about this day for the past fifteen years.”

  “Billie Jo,” she said.

  “What?” Logan looked at her, his huge palm cupping her cheek.

  “You can call me Billie Jo here. Now. But only here and now.”

  “Billie Jo,” Logan said quietly. The name she hated with such a passion sounded pretty coming from his lips. “Come with me.” Logan tucked himself back into his pants and helped her out of the truck. “Are those shoes going to be okay?”

  “I’ll get another pair.” She said as her heels sank into the mud.

  Logan opened the rear door to the cab, pulled out an Aztec print blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders and lifted her onto the seat. “Not on my watch.” He bent down to unzip her boots and pulled them off her feet. He tossed them into the back seat of the truck and swept her up into his arms. He kissed her as he made his way down the rocky pathway to the hot spring. She held onto his neck and rested her head on his chest, listening to the thump of his heart. The ground was slippery and uneven, but she knew that he wouldn’t drop her, resting in his arms felt like the safest place she had ever been.

  They were surrounded by the rotten egg smell of the natural hot springs, but it didn’t matter. Charlotte inhaled Logan’s scent and her heart started to pound even harder. The pheromones coming off Logan, his musky scent was the only thing Charlotte’s brain, and her panties noticed. She had never wanted a man so badly.

  He set her down, so she was sitting the edge of the spring. She shivered and pulled the blanket over her shoulders. He took a seat beside her and draped his heavy arm over her shoulders and the blanket.