A maelstrom of emotions roared through her all at once, causing black dots to flash before her eyes and her head to spin. She dropped her head into her hands and took several deep breaths, waiting for the storm to pass, but it only continued to grow.
Anger unlike anything she’d ever experienced before tore through her gut as she thought about all the years she and Logan lost because of a selfish scheme. How could someone do something like that to a person they supposedly loved? The anger quickly gave way to sadness—for herself, for him, for his children—and uncontrollable tears burst to the surface.
“Hey,” Logan said from directly in front of her. “Are you okay?”
She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t do anything but fall forward and press her forehead to his chest as he wrapped his arms around her and cooed soothing words into her ear. After several moments, when she finally had herself under control, she cleared her throat to make sure it would work and lowered her hands to search his face. “That’s why Maggie apologized.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah.”
“That poor, sweet child. She needs to understand there’s not a need for her to apologize for her mother’s actions. None of them need to do that.” She closed her eyes and drew in a shuddering breath. “Are you sure about this? I mean, how did you make this discovery without talking to Bobbi Jo? And why did she go the entire pregnancy and not tell you if that was her intent?”
“Brianna’s actually the one who figured it out. Bobbi Jo told her to never quit taking her pills to intentionally get pregnant. She said she knew someone who did it once and it didn’t turn out the way she planned. And I think she did try to tell me. Remember, she called me a hundred times after you and I started dating, but I wouldn’t take her calls. I eventually blocked her number, so I guess she finally gave up and decided to raise the kid on her own. But then I ran into her at the grocery store, and…” He shrugged. “I’m not sure. Hell, at this point, I’m not sure about anything.”
Lizbeth’s heart ached for Logan. For herself. For the pain and suffering they’d both experienced, and for all the years they’d lost. For the children they never had together. But he had three beautiful children—children who needed him more than ever—and he needed to focus on them.
“It sucks that we lost so much time because of her selfish cruelty, but you have three children because of her.”
He nodded and tried to smile but fell short of the mark. “That’s what I’ve been telling myself for the past hour.” He worked his head from side to side to loosen his neck muscles. “This is going to make things even more difficult for us.”
“Yeah, I know. But we’ll work it out. You said yourself there’s nothing we can’t handle if we stick together.”
*
The rest of the evening passed without any major life-altering events. Thank God. Lizbeth didn’t think any of them could handle so much as a crumb of additional grief. The kids swam for a while. Then everyone went back to her room and ordered pizza. Luke and Maggie watched a movie in the bedroom. Brianna did what all teenagers do—wore her thumbs out on her phone. And Logan and Lizbeth tried to watch a movie in the living room, but they were so preoccupied with their own thoughts, neither of them had any idea what the show was even about.
Around midnight, Logan packed up the kids and headed home. He invited Lizbeth to come with him but after brief discussion, grudgingly agreed it would be best to give the kids time to gradually adjust to her being around. She promised to be there bright and early, although they didn’t discuss a specific time.
Apparently, bright and early to Logan meant six o’clock, because that’s what time he called wanting to know how long it would take her to get there. She crawled out of bed, took a quick shower and dressed, then headed off to find a grocery store. After getting the necessary ingredients to prepare pancakes from scratch, along with bacon, she plugged his address into her GPS, and less than an hour after getting his wake-up call, she pulled up to his house.
The sight of him standing at the front door, wearing unbuttoned low-slung jeans and a faded gray T-shirt, shot a thrill through her system while also tugging at her heartstrings. How long would she have to wait to see him like this every day?
She grabbed the groceries from the backseat of her SUV and made her way to the front door. His mischievous grin as he held a finger to his mouth—the universal sign for shh—had her smiling and wondering what he was up to.
Without saying a word, he took the bags from her hand and turned to silently walk down the hallway toward his kitchen. She scanned his house, taking in as many details as possible as she tiptoed along behind. He didn’t speak, so neither did she as he put the cold items into the refrigerator, then grabbed her hand and practically dragged her down a short hallway to his bedroom. Once inside, he shut and locked the door behind them and pulled her into his arms to kiss her silly.
When he finally pulled back to look at her, she whispered, “Is it okay to speak now?”
His grin widened, and in a mostly normal voice, he said, “That depends on what you have to say.”
The sexy, teasing glint in his eyes had her laughing while also cutting her gaze to his bed. “What’s going on here?”
His eyes darkened as his expression heated. “It’s Saturday. That means the kids will sleep until noon. Maybe even later.”
“Mmm…” She leaned in and kissed the side of his neck and enjoyed the moan that rose from his chest as she moved up to nibble on his ear. “I assume you have plans for the next couple hours?”
“Absolutely.” He stepped behind her and helped her remove her coat, and after laying it over the back of a chair, he took her hand and pulled her to the bed.
“I’ve never had sex with a father while his children were asleep in the house.”
His eyebrows rose, and he seemed pleased at her confession. Then his face fell and the corners of his mouth turned down in a frown. “I hope that’s not a problem for you, because that’s your new norm.” She caught the flicker of fear in his eyes as he studied her and said, “Right?”
After toeing off her shoes, she crawled into the center of the bed and patted the mattress next to her. “Come. Sit next to me.” When his shoulders tensed and his fear escalated, she quickly added, “If you’re concerned I changed my mind about us overnight… I haven’t. But we do have a lot to talk about.”
He flopped onto the edge of the bed and ran his hand over his face, showing how tired he was—emotionally and physically.
She crawled over next to him, wrapped her hand around his cheek, and turned his head so he was forced to look at her. “I love you. I’m not going anywhere.”
At hearing his own words repeated back to him, a small smile touched his lips, but worry still filled his eyes.
“Our plan for this weekend was to figure out a definitive game plan, so let’s do that. Right now. And then…” She ran her finger down the side of his neck to his chest. “We can get on with your planned events.”
“I love you, Lizbeth. More than you’ll ever know.” After a moment, he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever hated anyone before, but I can say with absolute sincerity I hate Bobbi Jo.” He shook his head and sighed with disgust. “I still can’t believe she intentionally got pregnant and stole all those years from us. Not to mention burned down her house while our daughter was inside.”
“You can’t believe it because you’re a good, honest person who would never do something like that. Your idea of loving someone is to make sure they’re safe and protected. Her actions are truly beyond your realm of comprehension. But it appears that’s what happened, and either way, we lost those years. But… we have a second chance, so let’s figure out how to make the most of it while also dealing with the new circumstances of you being a full-time dad.”
He turned so his back was to the headboard, stretched out his legs, and reached for her hand. Stroking his thumb back and forth across her palm, he said, “That development is causing my brain to work over
time. I’m afraid it might burn up before I sort through everything that’s going to entail.”
She stroked her free hand down his leg in a soothing, non-sexual way. “Two heads are better than one, so let me help.”
His eyes filled with love and gratitude, and he swallowed a couple times but didn’t speak, simply nodded and kept up that rhythmic stroke of his thumb.
“Is there any way to modify your travel schedule, or do you need to be at all the races?”
He shook his head. “Someone from our company needs to be at all of them, but it doesn’t have to be me. I emailed the management staff overnight and told them we needed to meet first thing Monday morning. I didn’t go into details, but I did tell them we would need to restructure so someone else could take over as point person at the races. I also emailed Steve Vex and told him I needed to step away from the camp for a while and asked if we could meet Monday afternoon.”
“That’s great. It sounds like you’ve already gotten a big jump on things.” Narrowing her eyes, she took in the dark circles under his as well as the stress lines at the corners. “Did you sleep at all last night?”
He scratched his forehead. “Yeah, a little.” Smiling sheepishly, he added, “Just don’t ask how much.”
Going from part-time to full-time dad in less than twenty-four hours would cause anyone’s mind to melt down, but Logan was handling it like he did everything else in his life: head on and without hesitation.
Biting down on the corner of her lip, she took a deep breath and prepared to dive into the next issue. “It sounds like you don’t need help sorting through anything work related.”
“Work isn’t my biggest concern.” He shifted wary eyes to her. “I need to know this doesn’t change things with us.” The depth of the emotion shimmering in his eyes—fear, worry, love—nearly knocked the breath out of her.
“I told you last night I would move to Charlotte, and nothing has changed. Your life—your business, the kids, everything—is here. My family’s in Riverside, but I can go back and visit anytime, and they can come here. Mother and Miranda would love to come shopping in Charlotte, I’m sure. My business is there, but I can grow it more here than there. But most importantly, you’re here. That means my life is here too.”
His eyes slid closed and he drew in a deep, shuddering breath.
“It’ll take a while for the kids to warm up to having me around, but I can help with them as much as they’ll let me. And I can help you adjust to being a full-time dad.” She tilted her head to the side and studied him. “Do you know how to cook?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Not a lick.”
She grinned broadly and her chest puffed up with pride. “Well, guess what? I can.”
When his head came up and he turned wide eyes onto her, she laughed, then threw her hand over her mouth to quiet the sound. Leaning in close, she said, “Do you remember the time I tried to cook spaghetti for you?”
His head fell back against the headboard and he burst into laughter. “Yeah, that’s why I’m a little leery of your claim.”
She slapped him on the shoulder and crawled onto his lap to straddle his thighs. “Well, don’t be. I took cooking lessons in France, Italy, and Spain.” Excitement at being able to finally cook for Logan—and not have it turn to shit—filled her. “I hardly ever eat out, so I cook all the time.”
His laughter turned into a heated smile as his gaze traveled over her face, down her body to their joined legs, then back up to her face. “Thank you seems inadequate, but… thank you for being willing to give up everything to move here. For offering to help with the kids. But…” His voice cracked, and he swallowed a few times as he cupped her cheeks in his hands. “Thank you for loving me.”
“You say that like it’s a hardship. It’s not, Logan. You’re an amazing man, and I’m the luckiest woman in the world to be the one you chose to spend the rest of your life with.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners as he grinned broadly. “Did you just propose to me?”
As her heart expanded with the thought of finally being able to marry the man she’d loved forever, she grinned and dropped her forehead to his. “It kind of sounded that way, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, it did.” He dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her long and deep, then wrapped his arms around her and rolled to the side, taking her down to the mattress. Pulling back to draw in a breath, he settled his gaze—filled with more love than she would’ve ever believed possible—onto hers and said, “Just so we’re clear, the answer is yes.”
Epilogue
Six months later…
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Logan Steele.
Lizbeth waited sixteen years to hear those words, and over the past thirty minutes, she must’ve repeated them to herself a thousand times. Each time, a gigantic goof-face grin overtook her and her heart fluttered with wild excitement for the years that lay before them. Being Mrs. Logan Steele was kind of like a great orgasm… It was so worth the wait.
“What’s put that big smile on your face?” her husband asked as he stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
She linked her fingers with his, rested her head against his shoulder, and gazed at him from the corner of her eye. “Thinking of you. And orgasms.”
His chest vibrated against her back as he laughed, then nuzzled her neck and said, “I like the way you think. How long do we need to stay?”
She glanced around at the guests—their immediate family and closest friends—milling about Lucas’s living room and the outside deck, enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Their wedding day had been perfect, and she sighed with a heavy dose of contentment.
The summer had been crazy with events she’d previously scheduled, selling her house in Riverside and moving to Charlotte, as well as Logan restructuring his business and adapting to life as a full-time dad. Since they kept the wedding small, it was easy to plan in a few weeks, so at the beginning of August, they settled on Labor Day weekend. That gave the kids an extra day at the beach with their Uncle Lucas, and Lizbeth and Logan an extra day to honeymoon at Pandora’s.
The kids accepted Lizbeth much easier than she expected, which was a tremendous relief for Logan and her. He lightheartedly joked it was because she took the girls shopping, which Luke also loved because it got them out the house. But Lizbeth believed it was because they saw how much she loved their dad. She didn’t want anything from him, other than his love and to love him back—really love him, not like Bobbi Jo’s sick, twisted version.
Logan hadn’t talked to Bobbi Jo since the morning of her arrest. He would eventually need to make peace with her, if for no other reason than the sake of the children, but that time was still far into the future. The children hadn’t exactly forgiven her for burning down their house or for trapping Logan, but she was their mom, and they agreed to see her once a week, per the terms of the divorce agreement. The week following Bobbi Jo’s arrest, the paperwork was changed to grant Logan full custody, while Bobbi Jo received supervised visitation once a week.
Those kids had been through hell and suffered more disappointments than anyone should have to deal with in a lifetime. But Lizbeth was determined to show them what true love was all about.
“Now you’re frowning?” Logan asked, his voice laced with concern as he pulled to the side and studied her.
“I was thinking about the kids and all they’ve been through.”
He shifted his attention to the deck, then narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, trying to get a better view of something outside. “You mean the ones having a food fight?”
“What?” She snapped her head around and followed his line of sight just as Maggie reared back and zinged a grape at Luke. Direct hit, right in the middle of the forehead.
Lizbeth laughed as Logan growled, “Christ, it’s always something with those two. Now I know how my mother must’ve felt.” He released Lizbeth to go yell at the kids but stopped after a couple steps
and turned back to her. “You never told me how long we need to stay.”
“How about another thirty minutes?”
His eyes narrowed as his jaw tightened, and she knew he wanted to negotiate down to ten or fifteen, but he nodded and said, “Fine.” His grumpy demeanor softened as his gaze wandered over her champagne-colored, calf-length dress, then back up to her hair.
The air between them grew charged as he stared into her eyes and sauntered closer. She thought he was coming back to kiss her, but instead, he leaned in so his mouth was next to her ear and said, “You’re absolutely stunning in that dress with your hair up in that fancy twist. But when we get to Pandora’s, lose the dress, the pearly pins, let your hair down, and get ready to hold on tight.”
You’ve just finished reading Matter of Time (Heat Wave Novel #5). If you enjoyed this book, please help others discover it by leaving a review.
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Other books in the Heat Wave series are:
Saving Me (Heat Wave Novel #1)
Last Call (Heat Wave Novel #2)
Crossing Lines (Heat Wave Novel #3)
Going All In (Heat Wave Novel #4)
Each book in the Heat Wave series stands alone and can be read out of order.
Keep reading for a sneak peak preview of Coveted from the upcoming Pandora’s Playground series (releasing in fall 2015).
Author note: Even though Lucas Steele is featured in this excerpt, he’s simply a facilitator of romance for Muriel and Mathew, her hero. Lucas will, however, get his own happily-ever-after in Exposed (Pandora’s Playground #2)
Chapter One
As her car’s brake lights flashed on and off, then disappeared into the nearby parking garage, a spear of paralyzing fear shot down Muriel Stewart’s spine and into her legs, anchoring her four-inch Jimmy Choos to the sidewalk like lag bolts.
Matter of Time Page 14
