Just One Night (Black Alcove #2)

by Jami Wagner

  “She has to go,” I tell Conner. He’s sitting in the living room and I’m standing in the kitchen. He looks away from the TV for this conversation. Having someone’s full attention is a good start to a tough topic.

  “I know, but I feel bad. The only reason she’s staying here in the first place is because she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. If we kick her out, too, she could be homeless.”

  “I don’t really care where she goes as long as it isn’t anywhere in my apartment.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Her living here is not working out.”

  “She didn’t cause you and Sara to split up, Logan. Sara trusts you.”

  “Yeah, then why aren’t we together right now?”

  “Trust me, neither of you have said ‘breakup,’ so you’re still together.”

  “Her not calling me, or texting me, or attempting any other form of contact is a close runner up.”

  “It’s only been a week since the reception. Calm down.”

  The front door slams and the scent of rotten coconut fills the air. I fucking hate that lotion. She wears it all the time.

  Abby strolls right past me, flipping through the mail.

  “Don’t tell me you changed your mailing address?” I ask harshly.

  She pauses, glaring at me. “No, dick, I didn’t. Conner asked me to grab it on the way up.” She slaps the stack on the table and falls onto the couch next to Conner. He stands and looks through the mail.

  “I’m waiting on that acceptance letter to the college here.”

  “You’re going back to school?” I ask.

  “Yeah, it’s part of my ‘I’m a fucking grown up’ plan for my son’s mother,” he says, using quotes and rolling his eyes.

  “You can just say his name.” I laugh. “Jake sounds way better than ‘my son.’”

  “And if you say that line to her, remove the work ‘fucking.’ That word doesn’t sound like you care enough to put in any effort,” Abby chimes in.

  I nod. “She has a point.”

  Conner chuckles and slouches onto one of the kitchen table chairs when he doesn’t find what he’s looking for.

  “Are you going to apologize to me, Logan?” Abby whines from across the room.

  “For what?”

  “Being rude.”

  “Fuck no, and you’re moving out.”

  Damn, this being a dick thing feels really weird. I stare at Abby while her eyes widen. Yeah, I can’t believe I just spit that out either.

  “Dude, seriously, you could have eased in to it.”

  I shrug. “No reason to beat around the bush.”

  “I’m not even going to argue right now. I have a new place to live—you guys were just easier to live with.”

  I roll my eyes.

  I’m about to say something that I’ll probably regret when my phone rings.

  “Hello?”

  “Logan?”

  His voice makes my skin crawl and anger overwhelms me. What the fuck does he want? Taking Sara from me and turning her against me wasn’t enough for him?

  “Wow, you really are stupid,” I snap at Liam and let out a small laugh.

  “Don’t hang up. I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear from, but I’m calling about Sara.” He pauses, waiting for my response.

  “If you’re calling to tell me she picked you, I need to hear it from her.”

  “Whoa, man, no, that’s not it all. Sara and I … we never … we aren’t like that, I swear. And even if I were into her, I was never an option for her, Logan. It was always you, and she and I both know it.”

  I grunt. Now he’s kissing my ass.

  “If you’re calling to remind me of your time together, you can call someone else,” I say.

  “Fuck. Okay, I’ll get right to it. She’s depressed, and I know she misses you. She is too proud to admit it, but I think she needs you, and I’m starting to worry about her. You should come here as soon as you can. I think it would be the best thing for her.”

  “If she is that upset, she’d call me. She said she would. Sorry, man, but you wasted a phone call.”

  “Logan, you know her better than anyone. Is she really going to call you and admit she was wrong? Or would she rather let it eat away at her until she sees you again?” He pauses. “The bar can’t afford for her to be a mess, and I’m just … I guess I just want you both to be happy. I’m serious, Logan. She needs you.”

  It should piss me off that he has spent enough time with her to know this information, but right now, he’s right. And I know exactly what I need to do.

  “I’m on my way.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Sara

  Just call him, Sara. Just pick up the phone, and dial his number. Tell him you were wrong and that you love him. He’ll answer; he always does.

  I grab my phone and stare at it, the same way I’ve been staring at it for the last six hours.

  Why can’t I call him?

  The knock at my door saves me from answering my own question. I jump from my sofa and rush to the door, welcoming the distraction. It isn’t until I’ve swung open the door and come face to face with Logan that I remember the fact I’d been crying all afternoon. And he thinks he’s into me.

  “Logan, what are you doing here?” My voice is breathy. I take a step back and my hand mindlessly begins to fix my hair and fidget with the thin shirt I’m wearing. The one from high school, the one I kept with the tear in the front and the missing buttons.

  He brushes past me and turns around. His hands land on his hips and he pins me with a stare. “Liam called me, said I needed to get her soon and … look at you. I can’t believe I waited this long. Fuck, I can’t believe I believed you when you said you would call. You should have called me. I should have called you. This isn’t us. We don’t torture each other like this.”

  I calmly close the door and watch him pace the room. Just knowing he is here, makes me feel like I’m right where I need to be. He’s right, we’re better than this. He starts to pace faster, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “I—”

  “Sara, I don’t know how many more times I have to say this, but I’ll say it every day if I have to until we grow old and can no longer form sentences.” He pauses and takes a step toward me. “You. Are. It. For. Me. You are the only person I want to be with. You are the only person I want to share my crazy unpredictable life with. You. It’s always been you, Sara. I love you.” He doesn’t even wait for a response before his lips crash down onto mine.

  “Tell me you love me, too,” he murmurs into my ear before peppering kisses against my neck. “Tell me you never stopped.”

  “I could never stop loving you, Logan. Never.” I swallow hard at my admission and at the fast work his hands are making. They touch the outside of my thighs and slowly move their way up. He stops at my hips and grips them right before he presses me into the wall. This time, there is no denying the hunger and desperation that comes from his kiss as his tongue tangles with mine intensely.

  “Say it,” he breathes, pulling away from my lips. His voice is deep as it sends a shiver down my spine. My body responds to his every touch. From the words, the way his eyes capture me, the way he touches me. There has never been another man for me.

  “I love you.”

  He rips open my shirt, tearing the remaining buttons to reveal my breasts. He steps back and I come close to crumbling under his fiery gaze. When his eyes reach mine, I smile. “That shirt always looked better on you, but it looks best on the floor.”

  He growls and then grabs my arms, pulling me to my room. He doesn’t bother closing the door and he doesn’t waste time stripping out of his clothes. Once he’s naked, I absorb his beautiful, bare body. My desire radiates, and he’s touching me again in two strides.

  Logan has never been one to stay traditional in bed. Each time with him is always a surprise, and I swear, it’s like having sex together for the first time every time. He may have a gentle and warm heart, but in bed
, he is the perfect opposite.

  The back of my legs hit the bed and Logan pushes me onto my back. “Take your clothes off.” His voice is demanding and a part of me should feel threatened, but I don’t. The look in his eyes tells me nothing more than his desire for me. They tell me that he missed me just as much as I missed him, and right now, all the anger we built up from our weeks apart is about to become one of the most mind-blowing experiences I’ll ever have.

  “You’re not moving fast enough, I say as he crawls onto the bed and hovers over me. The blouse I’m wearing is only halfway unbuttoned, and he desperately rips the rest of it off. He tugs so hard that he flips my body over to my stomach. He grinds his hips into my backside and runs his hand down my sides, leaving pleasurable goose bumps in their wake. He lifts my hips and jerks my panties down in one swift move. I hear the rustle of his jeans behind me as he searches for a small foil packet, but I don’t move. I want Logan, and I want him to have his way with me. I’ll do anything he asks if it will take away the pain I saw in his eyes when he walked through my door.

  He presses light feather kisses across my back as his warm body rests against mine. I inhale deeply at the thought of what is going to happen.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispers, bites my earlobe, and then enters me slowly.

  “Logan, yes—”

  Lifting my hips a couple inches from the bed, he holds me there as his strokes grow deeper and slower. “You feel so fucking good.” He presses into me once again, only to pull out quickly and flip me over. I’m not even able to miss his touch before he’s inside me again.

  Whatever happens with us, I’m never letting anyone or anything come between us again.

  Logan

  The feel of Sara’s smooth legs wrapped around my waist will never get old. The way they slide against my hips with every thrust. The way she digs her heels in to the dip of my back, demanding that I go faster or harder. Every moan that slides up her throat and slips past her lips is like ecstasy. I’ll never get over it and I’ll never stop craving it.

  “Logan, yes, keep doing that, harder—”

  I thrust again and again until her breathing is fast and uncontrolled and I can feel her body starting to shake against mine. My hips move faster and harder until the words coming from her mouth no longer sound like words but like a woman who is having an out-of-body experience.

  “Ahhh…yes!”

  Her cries hit just as my release dashes though my body. Sara goes limp in my arms, and I know I’ve made her feel exactly how she makes me feel. There isn’t anywhere in this world I’d rather be than right here, with Sara. Unless of course, if we were back home in Wyoming.

  “I can’t believe I was missing all that all because I was stubborn.”

  “I knew you were missing all that, but I also know I missed you more.” I pull out of her and then pull her close to me. I press her back to my front and trail kisses over her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry I acted like you were my property. You’re not, and I never intended for it to come out that way. I wanted to be the one you turned to, not Liam.”

  “I know, and I should have talked to you when things started to get stressful.”

  Her hand squeezes mine.

  “I also should have called you to tell you about Abby the day she showed up,” I add.

  “Yeah, how did she end up there anyway?”

  “That was all Conner. She guilt tripped him.”

  Even as I say it we laugh. “Remind me again why we are still friends with her?” I ask.

  “I have no idea, because she didn’t always act like this and we all secretly hoping the old

  Abby comes back.”

  We lay in silence for a while, and I’m almost asleep when I feel Sara’s body twist in my arms until she is facing me. Her lips touch my cheek.

  “Why didn’t you want to tell me about your sister?” she asks, searching my eyes for the answer I haven’t been able to give her.

  “I didn’t want you to see me fail at something else.”

  “When have you failed?”

  I sigh, rolling onto my back and tucking my hand under my head. Not looking at her will help me get this out.

  “I let you down when we broke up in high school. I didn’t go to college right away, I never got a fancy job—”

  “Those things aren’t failure, Logan. That’s life. Until coming here, I thought a career was the best thing for me, but our split made me realize there’s something I want in this world more than success. I want you.”

  “Promise me, next time we decide to fight, we talk it out and we don’t leave each other.

  And if I decide to reach out to Alexis again, you’ll be the first person I tell.”

  “I promise I won’t keep anything from you again, ever. But if we are sharing everything right now, then I should probably tell that I left last summer because my feeling for you were too intense, and that before I left, I thought I was pregnant.”

  My heart pounds so hard and fast I feel it my ears. If this is how I feel with her telling me about a scare a year ago, I can’t imagine how she felt facing the possibility on her own.

  “Next time tell me. I don’t want you going through anything alone ever again.”

  She leans on her arm and lightly presses her lips to mine. I squeeze her close as she nuzzles her face into my shoulder.

  “Now comes the part I wish I could avoid,” she says.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “Talking to my dad and finding out what the hell he’s been thinking the last two months. I just can’t believe he would play us against each other. It makes no sense.”

  I believe it, but no sense in bringing it up now if she knows.

  “When are you going to talk to him? Do you want me to go with you?”

  Her hair brushes my chest as she shakes her head. “No, I’ll invite him to lunch tomorrow since he’s coming to town anyway.”

  I place a kiss to the top of her head. “If you need anything, I’m your man.”

  “I know.” She giggles. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Sara

  “So, how are things going with Liam?” My father takes a seat across me, opening his menu. He’s lucky that I decided to meet him for lunch. After everything I’ve learned about what he’s been up to the past few months, I want nothing more than space from him. I want to cut him out because I still don’t understand why a father would try to hurt his daughter this way. And that’s the only reason I’m sitting here right now. He’s my father. My heart races at his words, ready to get into it. He doesn’t even know that I know and that makes me even angrier.

  “They’re great. He’s a great guy.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  “Yep.” I let the p pop as I say it and intentionally pretend to be extremely into the menu I’m holding.

  I give him a side look with my added glare and watch as he flips the pages of his menu. He gazes over it and looks away when he catches me staring right back. His left brow rises.

  “Is there something on your mind, Sara?”

  “Nope.” Yes, this is it! Here we go. I can’t want to hear him talk his way out of this one. “What about you, Dad? Anything you want to tell me? Maybe about your plans not working out.”

  He closes the menu and lays it on the table in front of him. “Unless something is going to delay the opening at The Silver Tap, I’d say all my plans are going perfectly.”

  “Okay,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.

  “Sara, what am I missing?”

  “Nothing, Father.”

  “Father, huh? Clearly I’m not following you and we’re not talking about the same thing. What’s wrong?”

  Our waiter comes up to take our drink order. He isn’t there long enough for me to carefully craft what I’m going to say, so instead, I blurt it all out.

  “What about your plan to split up Logan and me and then hook me up with Li
am? Huh, what about that plan? It was a stupid plan. A horrible plan.” My arms fly into the air. “Look at how well it worked out for you. Logan and I are as happy as we have ever been, and we are so far from splitting up that it’s never going to happen. And I sure hope the reason you haven’t brought me The Silver Tap’s ownership papers has nothing to do with this plan.” My chest is heaving as I rant at him, and when I notice all the people who are staring at us, I cross my arms over my chest. They can stare all they want. I don’t care.

  A puzzled expression crosses his face and his forehead wrinkles. “That was not a plan of mine.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Dad. I’m not a little girl anymore. I can make decisions on my own, and you’re not going to like all of them. But Dad, you know Logan and I are the happiest when we are together. Why would you want anything else for me?”

  My father takes a deep breath and then releases it slowly. He leans forward and closes his hands together over his menu. A sad smile slowly appears.

  “You’re right. I don’t want anything else for you, but I never planned to split up you and Logan. When I met Liam in one of the classes when I was visiting the university, he was the most dedicated of the students, and when he mentioned that he would love to assist in a bar, I knew he would be a great fit. His goals in life are impressive, and yes, a part of me wanted my daughter to end up with a man like him. I may not have planned it, but the thought did cross my mind. When you agreed to hire him, I thought you might have seen the same things I saw in him. I didn’t know you were going to start a relationship with Logan right before you left. And I sure didn’t think it would last with you being in another state.”

  “Well, it did and just because it worked out doesn’t excuse what you did.”

  “Can you really be upset that I wanted a good man for you? A man who graduated college at the top of his class, a man who comes from a family of good name and standing. Liam knows about the business world. He knows what is expected. Logan is too attached and it clouds his judgment.”