“Please,” she whispered.
He dropped to his knees and carefully helped her step into the silk panties. He’d thought about teasing her, but knew he was too turned on to tease. His pants were shrinking by the minute with Emma being seductive. So he quickly pulled them up her thighs and tried to keep his eyes averted when he reached her groin. He really did try, but his eyes needed to see, just one peek.
His hands shook on her hips as he finally had the slip of silk in place, but he couldn’t move and tortured himself by putting his lips to her mound.
“Oh God, Logan.” Emma slid her hands through his hair. “I don’t think I should have teased us right now.”
“Mmm.” He inhaled, and wished he hadn’t as her sexiness was pulled into his senses. “You smell delicious.” He kissed her mound again and trailed kisses up to her belly. “Make me stop, Emma...we have to go...Emma…”
Emma tipped his head back and met his hooded eyes. “Later,” she cleared her throat, “I want you between my thighs.”
Logan got to his feet and felt light headed with the aroma of arousal between them. “Yes.” His brain didn’t have the right amount of blood to say anything else because it had all rushed south.
He’d never let anyone tease him like that before. He sure as hell never lived as a monk, but fuck, she had him ready to come while he was still fastened into his pants.
An hour into the dance, and he still had sex on the brain. It wasn’t difficult considering every time he danced with Emma, she’d constantly rub against him or nibble on his lobe, which was a trip wire straight to his cock. She knew how to arouse him, and she knew how to keep him in that state…she was killing him!
Any red-blooded guy would be permanently horny with his little nympho for a girlfriend.
Hmm, that word described her to a ‘T’ right then. Her horny little body twirled around the dance floor with her sister who was nowhere near as graceful as Emma since her belly was large and swollen. He would have thought Bree was ready to give birth at any moment, but everyone assured him that she still had a few weeks to go. Her husband watched her closely and Logan feared that he was watching Emma the same way.
“I so wish I wasn’t here tonight,” Travis grouched as he took the seat beside him. “My sisters are trying like hell to turn their guys on and I need bleach to unsee that.” Travis pointed to the dance floor.
Logan chuckled into his beer. “Well, in the interest of full disclosure, it’s working.”
“Shit,” he slammed his beer down, “you did not go there.”
“Sorry man, but your sister is hot.”
Travis shook his head and kept his back to the dance floor. “You’re a lot older than Emma, but I’m glad she followed her heart. As much as I liked Seth, he wasn’t good for her, but I actually believe that you are.”
Logan stayed silent, glad that he had her brother’s approval. He knew that he didn’t need it because Emma was his, but it was nice hearing that he had it.
“Nothing to say?” Travis watched him from the corner of his eye.
“Thank you.” Logan shrugged as he finished his beer. He watched the man beside him for a few minutes before he decided to ask. “How long have you known about her writing?”
Travis nodded his head. “I knew that’s why she’d been calling me, hence why I have yet to answer...I’ve known for a few months.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m proud of her, Logan. Really, damn proud of her. She went after what she wanted regardless of what Mom said about it. She did it without any support from us, and that makes me sad. She should have had our support from the start, and I wish I hadn’t forgotten all about it after she raised the subject one night over dinner. I saw how crushed she was, but I had my own problems and forgot about Emma’s dream. I hate myself for that.” Travis drained his beer, and added with a smile that did reach his eyes, “I have all her books and I’ve read them a couple of times. They’re good and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment, but don’t tell her that.”
“I don’t need to.” Logan indicated behind Travis.
While Travis had been talking, Emma had come up behind them and heard the last part of their conversation. Tears leaked from her eyes while she focused on her brother.
Travis groaned, but smiled as Emma threw herself into her brother’s arms. In her excitement, she nearly knocked Travis from the barstool.
They held each other close, and Emma finally kissed her brother on the cheek. “Thank you. Hearing what you said meant a lot to me.”
“Oh, sis. You are an amazing writer, and I’m proud of you...I just wish you’d tell the others because it’s been killing me having to keep it to myself and not being able to shout it out to the town.”
“I’m telling them Christmas day.” She kissed Travis on his other cheek.
Logan thought that Travis was secretly pleased at the affection his sister showed him, but he laughed when Travis nodded and gave Emma a shove into his arms.
“You can stop kissing me now and go and get it on with your guy.”
“I’m all for that,” Logan agreed, and laughed harder as Travis groaned in discomfort.
Chapter 21
Emma’s emotions were close to the surface while she danced with Logan. She’d been in a state of arousal since before they’d left their room, but when she’d overheard Travis talking to Logan that had all been forgotten. She loved her brother and knew that if she hadn’t overheard him that he wouldn’t have told her as much as he did Logan.
She smiled to herself and snuggled against Logan’s chest while he held her securely in his arms. She just hoped the rest of her family were as easy to talk to about her writing as Travis was.
While they danced, Emma hadn’t missed the looks and stares from everyone in the room, but she didn’t pay much attention. Where she lived was a small town and everyone needed to know everyone else’s business—it drove her crazy. And in her excitement, she’d wanted to give them something more to talk about. Which is why, she plastered herself against Logan to his utter delight if the blaze of heat in his eyes was anything to go by.
Her arms wrapped around his neck as his arms wrapped around her waist and held her tightly. She’d never felt more secure as she did with his warmth surrounding her.
“You feel so good against me,” she whispered into his ear, and felt a shudder wrack his body.
“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” He gently rubbed his erection against her belly. “Because you feel fucking fantastic against me.”
“Mmm,” she inhaled his musky scent, “I think we both need to cool down or the folk around us will be getting more of a show.”
Logan smiled and kissed her softly. “I think the sleigh ride is waiting for us then.”
“I think so too.”
Emma cupped the back of his head and held him steady while she sealed her lips to his in a too short kiss. “More of those to keep us warm outside...Let’s go and grab our jackets.”
“I’ll follow you anywhere, babe, so lead the way.”
Mac, who led the horse drawn sleigh through the snow covered forest, seemed oblivious to his two charges under the blanket in the back of the sleigh. Emma knew he’d started to lose his hearing, but had never known him to keep out of anyone’s business. He loved to gossip as much as the women in town. No one knew his age, but her mom and dad remember him as being old when they were children. If she had to guess, she’d say he was somewhere in his eighties…maybe even in his nineties.
The sleigh ride had been Mac’s business for as long as she could remember, and it wouldn’t be the same without him sitting up front.
The gentle rocking of the sleigh would have lulled her to sleep if her face hadn’t frozen. Logan held her in his arms while the thick sheepskin blanket kept their lower halves warm.
“Are you happy, Logan?” Emma asked, and lifted her head from his chest.
Logan met her gaze and traced along her forehead with a finger. “Before you, I was stuck in the same old,
same old. Then you wrote a letter to a soldier, a stranger, and my life started to mean more to me. I knew that back in the States someone cared about me, and really, wanted to talk to me, to hear what I had to say...so yes, I am happy, and that’s because you make me happy.” He leaned closer and gave her the sweetest kiss. “Don’t ever doubt me.” He kissed her again. He pulled away slightly and stared down at her. “I have a slight confession to make, though.”
Emma sat straighter and curled into him. “What?”
Logan cupped her face, and let his thumb trace along her lips. “I didn’t think far enough ahead about getting you a Christmas gift. I’m sorry…”
“Don’t.” She sealed her lips to his to keep him quiet. “I don’t have anything here for you, either. I’ve just been living in the moment. I did send you a care package a few weeks ago when I was in Boston, though.”
“I do have something for you that you may want to keep.”
“I’ll keep anything you want to give me.” She snuggled down into the blanket with Logan. “I love you, so anything you give me will be treasured.”
“I love you, too…which is why I was wondering if you’ll come with me to visit Matthew’s wife, Claire, and their daughter after Christmas.”
His words caused her heart to feel heavy with sadness. A reminder of what her mother had done. She had never been one for forgiving quickly, and with how badly they’d both hurt, she wasn’t ready to say ‘I forgive you’ to her mom.
“I’ll come with you. Will we be able to drive or will we have to fly?”
“It depends as to whether we’ll be heading back to my base or here afterwards.” Logan played with the strands of hair that escaped her fleece hat.
“Well, I think we need to load up the backseat of your truck with my essential possessions and head out after Christmas. We might get a chance to find somewhere to lease before you have to report in.”
Logan stayed silent, but Emma felt him gulp a few times and his heart beat wildly. “You silence me, Emma. You really do.”
She chuckled softly against him. “I’m so happy. In fact, I’m bursting with happiness and no matter how Christmas dinner with my family goes tomorrow, I’m happy and can’t wait to start my life with you because you’re never getting away from me now.”
“I’ve no wish to get away from you.”
Emma smiled into his chest as she snuggled closer. It was crazy how quickly everything was happening, but if he’d sent her a letter asking her to run away with him, she would have eighteen months ago. She was truly happy with Logan and she could see their future. She was excited to find them somewhere to live.
When she woke up a week ago, she’d had no clue that her life would be changing for the better.
Chapter 22
Waking up in bed with Emma on Christmas morning filled Logan with so much love for her that his chest ached. He had the woman he loved in his arms and he didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to share her with her family over Christmas dinner. He wanted it to just be the two of them. But that wasn’t how the day would play out, regardless of how selfish a bastard he was. But who would blame him after the evening spent getting hot and sweaty with the sexy woman. He was bound to become possessive over her.
Last night, he’d stripped her naked but left her thigh highs and boots on before he’d taken her up against the door. He’d been so worked up that he hadn’t even taken his own clothes off, and just opened his pants and shoved home. Such finesse, he grinned to himself. They’d both come quickly and it had taken the initial edge off. But he couldn’t get enough of her, and they made love four more times before they’d finally fallen into deep slumber wrapped up in each other.
The room smelled of sex, which caused a bigger grin to spread over his face as his hand caressed up from Emma’s leg, over her hip, and up to the curve of her breast. He loved her flesh and as he gently pushed her over onto her back, he sighed at the sight of both large globes. Her dark nipples were already hard as his mouth dipped to sample and taste with long drags of his tongue.
His sexy woman arched and moaned, her eyes still closed while she stretched and shoved a nipple deeper into his mouth. He cherished her body, and as his fingers caressed over her mound, he slipped his fingers between her thighs into her wetness. She was so wet and swollen that his dick jerked against her thigh.
“Mmm...keep going,” she said when he paused. She trembled under him. Her fingers trailed from his neck, over his shoulder and down his arm to cover his hand that massaged her swollen nub.
Logan let her hand and fingers replace his, and nearly came when she touched herself. His breath caught at the back of his throat and he couldn’t control the pounding of his blood as it roared through his body.
She always looked sweet and innocent, but there was nothing sweet and innocent about her right now while she strung herself higher.
He found he couldn’t watch anymore because he really was about to come all over her, and the bed. “No more,” he hissed, and grabbed her wrist.
As he lifted her hand to his mouth, he got comfortable between her spread thighs and met her gaze. One by one, he sucked her fingers into his mouth. She tasted delicious and he craved more.
His flesh was so hard that he throbbed. As he kissed down her belly to her mound and slipped his tongue through her arousal, he couldn’t control the rocking of his hips against the bed.
She always had him on a hair trigger and her taste on his tongue drove him insane. He glanced up, met Emma’s hooded gaze and, at that point, he knew he was lost.
“I need you,” he growled, and moved up her body, his dick sliding home as they both groaned with the pleasure of his entrance.
Logan panted above her. “I should have checked if you’re sore before I entered you.” He clenched his jaw with the effort it took for him to stay unmoving inside her tight sheath. She felt like silk. Her walls gripped him tightly. As he lowered his chest against her breasts and rubbed, her arousal eased his way deeper until he nudged against her cervix.
“Wrap your legs around me.”
Emma didn’t need telling twice. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and the friction she created around his cock had his balls pulled tight. His ecstasy reached new heights as he finally started to move.
He slid out and tightened his ass, his cock rock hard as it thrust back home. He couldn’t stop himself as he pounded her into the bed. His body surrounded her, and when he sealed his lips over hers and caressed her tongue, he felt her release flood his dick while she moaned and gasped into his mouth.
Her walls pulsed along the length of his dick, which caused him to swell even more, seconds before she sucked his release out of him.
He broke from the kiss and buried his face into the curve of her neck while he rode out his pleasure and prolonged it for them both with the slow slide of his cock inside her.
“Emma,” he cupped her face, and paused when she contracted around him, “I love you.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “Thank you.”
“What?”
“Shush,” he kissed her on the tip of her nose, “let me finish. I’ve never thanked you for everything you wrote to me. You let me see inside of you, which I know that no one else ever has and that meant a lot of me. It still does. But, babe, I love you so much that it terrifies me.” Logan slipped from her body, and rolled to his side, Emma still in his arms, their legs intertwined. “You really are going to leave with me after Christmas?” he asked, unsettled all of a sudden. He felt like his heart was exposed and she could crush it at any second with only one word.
“Oh, God! Don’t do that.” Emma reached up and cupped his face between her hands. “I love you and I am leaving with you. You’re mine, Logan. We’re going to live together near your base, and then we’re going to make a home where we choose without any influence from anyone. I promise—my heart is yours.”
“You know how to bring a guy to his knees.”
She snickered. “I like it when I’m on my knees.”
Logan froze then chuckled. “Hmm, we’ll practice that much later... but I do have something for you.”
“You do?”
Logan reluctantly climbed from the warmth of Emma and their bed to root through the pocket on the front of his bag before he climbed back on the bed and knelt beside her.
He felt nervous as he clutched his gift tightly in his hand. He got the gift made on a whim with hope that he’d one day be able to give them to her. But now that the time had come, he was nervous and unsure regardless of what they’ve previously shared.
Emma must have sensed his nervousness because she knelt in front of him, placed her hands on his thighs, and rubbed.
When she started to reach where his dick rested against his thigh, he caught her wrists and met her wicked gaze. “Not yet.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “I had something made for you a long time ago, but I didn’t have the guts to send them to you, and hoped that I’d one day get the opportunity to give them to you.”
He rubbed her brow with his thumb, and let the dog tags dangle from his fingers.
Her eyes widened and met his gaze before they flittered back to the tags. “I had mine duplicated, and I thought you might...um, want to wear them, sometime.”
Emma nodded. “Put them on me.”
She smiled through the tears that ran down her face and reached up to trail her fingers over the tags that were now around her neck. “I’ll wear them always.”
“Oh, babe, please don’t cry.” He kissed her softly. “I originally got them done so that you’d have me with you always.” He felt the blush creep onto his face.
“You’re so damn sweet.” She snuggled against his chest, and added while rubbing one of his nipples, “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, babe,” he whispered, overcome with raw emotion.
Chapter 23
Emma smiled to herself while she sipped a glass of red wine now that everyone had settled in the living room.
A Soldier's Christmas Page 10
