by Ashlee Price
Chapter 3 – Mia
The email was about work, like most everything I did. Dana was asking questions about the promotion, but she had pretty much left everything to me. It was hard to concentrate with Logan on the loose in the house, but when I was finished and got back to him, he was staring at a mural that I had painted when I first moved in. It was of Rocy and the first week that I had started at the sanctuary. It had been a magical time, and I had never covered up that particular painting because it always brought back the excitement. Now it felt like I was baring too much of my soul with him looking at it. There was nothing I could do but remind him that I was ready to go.
“Sorry, I just didn’t know that you painted.”
“How did you know that it was mine?”
He shrugged and told me that he just knew. I didn’t know why or how, but I liked that he seemed to like it. I wasn’t very good at it, but it was something that I had started doing in the woods when I was younger. I never wanted to shoot animals, just watch them and sometimes draw them as well. I always felt like up close you could see all of the details that were hard to see any other time. It was when the animal was still that a good likeness could be made.
I wanted to get him out of there. I was already feeling a little different, knowing that I was all alone with him. Not only that, I felt like he could see too much of me there in my space. I needed fresh air. Everything was stifling.
“Why don’t we get out of here? I don’t want to be late for dinner.”
“They will wait for us.”
Logan said it with so much confidence it reminded me who I was talking to in the first place. I knew that he was used to getting what he wanted, and his eyes made it clear that I made the list. I was flattered, but overwhelmed and still very unsure of what was supposed to happen next. My mind was on leaving, and without waiting for an answer or indication that he was coming with me, I was going out the door and trying to catch my breath.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just such a pretty night tonight, and I don’t want to waste it inside.”
“I’m glad to hear it, because I have a little surprise in store for you, and it has a little outside traveling involved.”
I couldn’t say that I wasn’t intrigued. I had never been out with a rich man like him and I didn’t know what to expect. He was already so much more than I thought he was going to be that I wondered what else would be different. What did outside travelling mean anyways? I wasn’t sure, but it sound better than dinner and a movie.
“That sounds fun.”
Logan grinned, and the look disarmed me. He was usually so stoic; even if his eyes would show a passion, his face was almost always in the same look. When he smiled at me like that, my heart melted a little. There was a boyish appeal hidden inside that I hadn’t seen before. There was just something about Logan that made my insides tie into knots, and that look was not helping anything. He was going to think that I had lost my mind if I didn’t get it together.
***
I tried my best to keep myself together and not constantly ask where we were going. It was clear that Logan wanted to keep it a secret, but when we stopped at a small airstrip with a plane waiting, there was no way that I was going to be able to keep my mouth shut any longer. I had to know what was going on, and the last thing that I was feeling was patience. I didn’t even like to fly, so there was going to have to be a very good reason for me to get on the plane.
“I want to show you something that I thought you might like. Don’t you trust me, Mia?”
His at that moment was not a face to trust, but I couldn’t muster up the courage to say anything. Instead, I just kind of nodded my head. I wondered as I was making the gesture if I was going to regret it. I didn’t think that I would, but there was a part of me that was trembling inside, and nothing was going to make that stop. It was something that seemed to be attached to me being around him and it was something that I was just going to have to get used to if I was going to continue working with him.
“Yes, I just get nervous flying.”
“Don’t worry, Mia, I’ll hold your hand and keep your mind occupied.”
I just kind of nodded and followed him out to the waiting plane. He was not having any trouble keeping my mind occupied without so much as lifting a finger. My body shook, and I hoped that he couldn’t feel the way it felt to me. I didn’t want him to know that I was afraid, but I was, and it was mighty hard to hide that fact.
When we got in, I wanted to ask the where and when, but I knew that it wasn’t going to do me any good. He wanted to keep it all a secret, and I was just going to have to be okay with it. I knew that it was going to be a date to remember, no matter where we went. How many times would I be swept off to another country on a private jet?
“Champagne?”
I nodded and took the glass from the attendant in the cabin with us. I saw Logan on his phone and figured it was another work call. It gave me time to really get a good look at him, and that only made me want him more. He had such a demanding presence that I was sure that even the stars in the night sky would come down if he only asked the right way. There was something about him, and when our eyes met and the crystal blue of his flickered with need, I knew that I was lost to him. Maybe not right then, but soon. I wasn’t going to be able to hold off the feelings that I had for Logan for much longer, and that frightened me far more than the idea of being thousands of feet in the air.
Chapter 4 – Logan
I could tell that she was nervous, and I liked that she was. Mia was looking out the window, and I was admiring the lines of her neck. She wasn’t paying much attention to me, and it gave me a chance to watch her eyes scan the horizon.
We had been travelling for some time, hours really, and Mia had been a good sport about it all. The dinner that I had promised her was on the plane, and though it wasn’t one of the best dishes, it was far better than anything that I could find in the city of Chicago. I had the cook brought in every time I flew, for any meal, and tonight was no different. It impressed Mia in a way, but I knew that what was to come was going to impress her even more, and I couldn’t wait to see her face when she saw the surprise.
At touchdown I was about as anxious as she was about everything that was going on. I knew what was to come, and even though I knew that she didn’t know, I was still so afraid that I was going to spoil the surprise. I’d never felt this way, and while it was strange, I liked the surge of adrenaline that came with it. Nothing in the last few years had really gotten my heart pumping like Mia. It was better than all of the bottles of alcohol that I had imbibed trying to feel something. All I had to do the whole time was meet the right girl.
Taking her hand, I walked her to the car and told her that it wasn’t going to be long. We were in Russia, and she was far out of her comfort zone. I had brought along an extra coat for her and I put it over her shoulders. It was going to be cold where we were going.
“I have to ask, finally, Logan. I can’t keep it in anymore. Where are we and what are we doing?”
I told her where we were, and while I thought that would clue her in to the what, she wasn’t even thinking about it yet. Mia was still just surprised that I would take her that far away and she didn’t know what we were there for. I loved it, and I let her ask a few questions and drive herself crazy trying to figure out before I finally told her.
“Well, I told you that I was going to talk to Dana and get more information about what was really going on with the sanctuary.”
“Yeah.”
“She told me that you guys had to slow down and stop a lot of the projects that were going on. A few of them sounded very important, and there was one in particular that I knew was going to be special to you. So I secured some funding to bring your other cat home.”
Mia looked at me like I was just joking. I wasn’t, and I wanted her to know that I was serious, but she didn’t quite believe me until she recognized the sign of the sanc
tuary where the other animal was being kept. The cost of transportation had been too high for Dana to cover with the way things were going, so I had decided that we would bring the creature back that very night. It wasn’t much of a conventional date, but it had the effect that I was looking for. She was shocked, and I had impressed her.
“I can’t believe you would do this, Logan. This is so thoughtful. I don’t think anyone has ever done anything like that for me before in my life.”
“You deserve so much more, Mia, but I had a feeling that you would want to help your animals before doing something for yourself.”
She was the most selfless woman I knew, and my assumption had been right. I couldn’t have been more pleased. I was feeling far less out of my element and far more like it was all going to be okay. As long as I had her by my side, there was nothing that I couldn’t handle and achieve.
The whole way through the loading and unloading, Mia was alight with excitement. She had that same look that she had on her face when I had first seen her with Rocy at the sanctuary. There was something magical in her eyes, and it was worth it all just to see it and know that I was the cause of it. I knew then that this was going to be about more than getting her into bed.
I could have had her. I could have had her while we were on the plane on the way back. She was smiling and talkative, but after a long ride there and the longer ride back, Mia grew tired and lay down on my shoulder. I played with the long strands of strawberry blonde hair that fell into her face. I was smitten, and that scared the hell out of me.
“Come on, sleepy head. We’re here.”
Her blue eyes opened. They had more of a hint of green then they did before. The makeup under her eyes had slipped a little, but it became her. Everything about her was becoming, and I liked her better just as she was then, off guard.
I was caught up in the moment, and before I realized what I was doing, I found myself leaning down and pressing my lips against her. I saw the look on her face, and it was one of shock. But it didn’t take long for her to kiss me back. I heard the small sound that she made when I slipped my tongue between her lips. She was ready for me, ripe for the taking with her warm, pliable body next to mine.
God, I wanted to. It was the plan that I’d had from the beginning. I wanted her in my bed, underneath me, making the same sounds that she was making at that very moment, but I pulled back. That was how I knew that I was going to have to have her for longer. I knew that it wasn’t going to be enough to have her just once like I did all of the rest. I was going to have to take the time to savor her, and though her sleepy body was ripe for the taking, she was not quite ready to give me everything that I wanted, not just yet.
“Come on, Mia. It’s time to go. The cat is getting restless, and Dana has transport coming to meet us.”
Mia was thrown off and she was looking a little dazed. I sat her up and kissed her quickly one last time on her lips before getting up myself. I needed to put some distance between us before I went back on the decision to take my time with her.
I helped her get up, and it took everything in me not to do more. She was smiling at me in that way and her blue eyes were twinkling. I couldn’t help but pull her in around the waist and kiss her one last time. I poured all of my need into the kiss. I wanted her to feel how much I wanted her in that moment. I needed her badly, and until she was underneath me, I was never going to get enough of her.
“Thank you so much, Logan. I don’t know what to say. What you have done for the sanctuary, I’ll never forget.”
“I didn’t do it for the sanctuary, Mia. I did it for you. I just want you to be happy.”
Mia beamed at me. “I’ve never been happier that I can remember, Logan, ever. Tonight was something special, and I’ll never forget it.”
To be continued in Book 4…
Fully & Completely Book 4: His Capture
By: Ashlee Price
Prologue
Logan wants to see Mia again, but considering how he got the first date with her, he doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to. He basically blackmailed her for the first date, and though he thought at the time that she was going to be a quick score to keep him busy for a few hours, Logan is finding that he wants more.
Now he has started something with her in one of the worst ways possible. He can’t just keep blackmailing her into going out with him. Even if he had the heart to do it, that’s not what Logan wants now. He wants her to want him as much as he aches for her.
Mia is different, and he’s just going to have to learn to slow down. Everything that he wants is right there in front of him; all he has to do is take it and make it his. Logan just has to learn a little patience, even if everything in him is telling him to capture and conquer.
Chapter 1 – Mia
I was watching the two cats look at each other. They were sort of together, but there was still a pane of glass between them. That seemed to be a good thing, because Rocy was hit or miss on the new addition to the family. My hope, of course, was that they would mate and take their species that much closer to coming off of the endangered species list. Theirs was one of the most imperiled, and one of the ones that I was most eager to help.
To see two of them in the same spot, knowing that there were less than a hundred left in the whole world, was something to behold. I had Logan to thank for that, and I knew it. I knew that it was because of him that everything had gone through. I had just found out that my project was one that was on the chopping block. I hadn’t gotten it through my head yet, but I was worried about what it meant.
He had gotten a date out of me in a way that was kind of sneaky, so for him to do that, bring Rocy’s mate home, I had to wonder if there was more that he wanted for all of his help. He hadn’t said anything, but I had to wonder. And if he did want more, something told me that he wasn’t going to have to insist about it to me. I wanted him, and I knew that he wanted me.
It had been almost a week since our date, and like before when I was waiting for him to call, I wasn’t very patient about it. There was nothing that I wanted to do more than to call him, but there was something holding me back. Maybe it was my pride or something else. Was I afraid of what I would do if he was in front of me again? I knew that I wanted to thank him properly, and what came to mind was always so naughty it made me blush to even think about it.
I was looking over the promotional ad that was about to run in the paper, and I had to say I was impressed. Logan had set up for a short video to be taken as well, but it wasn’t ready yet so I hadn’t seen that bit of the campaign. But if it was anything like the rest of the work, I had confidence that it was going to be a good one.
There were already a couple of new donors that were pitching in money for extra projects that needed to be finished. I didn’t know if Logan was behind that directly, but I knew that it was all because of him one way or another. He was using his connections to help me, and beyond professionally – I knew of two donors he’d referred personally. Logan had done a lot for the sanctuary. It was starting to look like things might actually be looking up. For the short term, everything was getting brighter, but the future was still a little blurry.
“Mia, where have you been?”
I turned to see Casper standing there. He looked a little nervous, which was normal for him, and his beady eyes moved back and forth in the room behind his glasses. It was hard not to wonder what was in his head, but I was getting the same question a lot. Everyone seemed to notice that I was keeping to myself more, but it was because I wanted some time to think. There was only one thing, one person on my mind constantly, and I didn’t know how to get him off of it. Why hadn’t he called me? Had he really only wanted one date? Was it just something that rich guys did, just to see if they could do it?
Too many questions and not enough answers to go around for my liking. Even now, as Casper stood in front of me, looking at me as if I had lost my mind again, I was still thinking about Logan.
“I’ve just been
here making sure that they are getting along okay. There is a lot going on and enough to keep us busy.”
Casper agreed, but I knew that there was something else on his mind. He wasn’t the type to hold it in for long, so I just waited, knowing that it was coming very soon. All I had to do was wait for it.
“So, do you think that all of this is really going to help?”
I shrugged and went back to the report I was going through. The last thing that I wanted to do was talk to him at the moment. He was the type who would bring me down, and I was trying to stay positive. With each new change, it was like he was upset that everything wasn’t going downhill like he’d forecasted. I didn’t understand the sentiment, because I was more than willing to be wrong if that meant the sanctuary would stay open.
“I think it’s better than doing nothing. If it doesn’t work, then it will have ended the same way as if we hadn’t. Why wouldn’t we at least try to do something instead, Casper?”
He started to get defensive and I just kind of looked at him with a smile. I didn’t want to argue. I knew that it was me who was on edge, though. I knew how he was, and I should have just let him go on with his new theories. It wouldn’t have hurt anything and would have taken less time than this was going to.
“I was just saying, I don’t know if this is going to be enough.”
My face changed and I kind of nodded. “I don’t know if it will be either, Casper. Have you heard anything?”
His ears perked up and he seemed to be back in his zone, because he was ready to tell me all about what he had heard and what he believed to be true. It took about twenty minutes, and I will be honest: He almost had me believing that it was going to be what he said it was going to be. I kind of figured that it wasn’t that bad, but Casper had been right in the past.
