Flipping my phone back open, I punched in the number for Logan's home. It was half past four. Stevie would be home from school, presumably with Mrs. Jones. Logan would be on base for at least a few more hours.
No answer.
I punched in the number for Logan's cell phone.
No answer.
Accelerating once I was away from the residential area, I tried the house number once more and prayed for someone to pick up the damn phone.
Nothing, nothing, nothing!
"Fuck!" I slammed my palm against my steering wheel. Why would Stevie call my house crying and refuse to leave a message?
Messages!
I swore again, abusing my steering wheel once more as I checked my voicemail for messages. Driving like a mad woman, I listened to the first new message.
"Lily, are you there?" Stevie's voice shook, pulling mercilessly at my chest like fishhooks in my flesh. "I had to walk home…no one is here…"
Shit, the bus cut-off was two miles, any child living within two miles of the school had to walk. Only two crossing guards -- one when the kids left school, the second half a mile out where they had to cross a major road without a light. I didn't want to think about all the buildings he'd passed after that second guard, but there was at least one bar.
A second message from Stevie followed the first.
"I can't reach my dad. My mom--"
His voice broke and he hung up. I could guess well enough why -- Mrs. Jones would have been responsible for picking Stevie up. I'd already had to witness her doing so twice since her return on the only two days mom needed me to drop Rhea off at ballet.
"Bitch, bitch, bitch," I growled as my car screeched to a stop half an inch from Logan's garage door.
I jumped from the car, heard the thunk of my door shutting as I raced to unlock the house. My skirt coiled around my knees as I ran, threatening to send me face first onto the cement walkway. Reaching the door, I jammed my key into the lock and twisted the handle. I barged inside, calling Stevie's name.
Absolute silence greeted me.
My pulse pounding through my body, I kept calling for him as I rushed through the front room, popped my head into the kitchen then headed down the hall toward his bedroom. I opened the door, saw his book bag on the floor, its contents spilled around it.
"Stevie! It's Lily. Answer me, damnit!"
A hundred horrible scenarios ran through my head. Had someone seen him enter the house alone? Had he answered the door? Already insane with worry, another possibility wrapped its cold hand around my spine and squeezed.
Logan kept a handgun in the house. He also kept it secured in a lock box, with a trigger lock for extra measure. Only two people had the key -- or had once had the key. Logan was meticulous about keeping his key on him, but Mrs. Logan had proven herself irresponsible. When she had abandoned them eight months ago, she had left her key on the bedroom dresser.
What if she'd done something like that again and Stevie, scared to find himself home alone…
I couldn't finish the thought. I'd puke if I even tried to. Spinning on my heels, I took my first step toward Logan's bedroom when I heard a sniffle.
The sound came from behind me. I turned back to Stevie's bedroom, dropped to my knees and lifted his blanket up to look under the bed.
An empty space stared back at me.
Stepping to the closet, I threw the doors open to find my little bug with his face buried against his knees but appearing unharmed. Scooping him up, I wrapped Stevie in a tight hug that made the air come whooshing out of him.
"Why didn't you answer me, little man?"
He sniffled again, his slight frame shaking. I put him down on the bed, checking his exposed skin and the state of his clothing.
"Did you walk home alone?"
He shook his head. I half wanted to throttle him but sensed he was too scared to even talk.
Getting down on my knees in front of him, I gently grabbed his shoulders. "Tell me who walked with you."
"Tommy."
One word, two syllables, but it relaxed me. Tommy was two grades ahead but as gentle as a lamb. Better yet, he looked another grade older than he was, so the junior high students didn't give him any shit. He also lived half a block past Logan's place on the route home, so Stevie would have had company the entire trip.
I rubbed at Stevie's arm, hoping to calm him. "No one hurt you, did they?"
He shook his head.
"Would you tell me if they had?"
He hesitated then nodded. The hesitation hurt but I couldn't blame him. I had walked out of his life twice now, making me no different to him than his mother. I needed Logan home as soon as possible. He would get the full story from Stevie.
"I'm going to lock the front door, okay?"
Without a word, Stevie rolled over and stared at the wall.
"It'll just be a few seconds, little man." I knew Stevie had three contact numbers for Logan -- the major's cell phone, plus the main desk for both his unit and the battalion. Walking to the front of the house, I scrolled through the same contact numbers before I remembered the one from that long ago night with its misdirected text. Logan had said the building was something of a black hole for cell phone reception and I knew his battalion was military intelligence.
Dialing the number, I was almost to the front door when it exploded inward. Seeing me, Logan hesitated for a second. "Where is he?"
"In his room," I whispered and pressed my back against the wall as Logan brushed past in a hurry. I watched him continue down the hall then I stared at the open door.
My keys and phone were in my hand. My purse was in the car. Logan was home.
I could just walk through that open door and drive away. Considering the quiet fury I'd seen on Logan's face, I considered the option heavily.
Hand shaking, I shut the door and slowly made my way back to Stevie's room. I could hear them talking from where I waited in the hall. Logan kept his voice gentle, his words kind, even as he asked Stevie what had happened and why he had not gone inside to the school's office when no one was there to pick him up.
"Because everybody would know--" Stevie's whisper broke into a cry and then I heard muffled sobs.
Everybody would know…
Muscles knotted throughout my torso, making it impossible to breathe. Stevie had walked to an empty home in shame knowing that Mrs. Jones had abandoned him yet again. I couldn't imagine how lonely those two miles had felt, even with Tommy at his side.
I swiped at my eyes, losing the fight to contain my tears when I heard Stevie speak again.
"Is she gone?"
Logan's answer came out like jagged glass. "I don't know where your mom is, champ."
"I meant Lily," Stevie whispered.
"I'm right here, little man." I stayed in the hallway, too cowardly to even pop my head around the corner and reassure him. "Do you…" Afraid to say want or stay or go, I hesitated. "Do you need me to stay?"
The seconds that passed felt like an eternity. Stevie didn't respond. Logan offered a single word, tersely spoken.
"Yes."
**********
A quiet evening passed after the initial drama. With Stevie settled on the couch beside me, Logan stepped outside to make several rounds of calls. From his inspection of the house and a few words exchanged between us, I knew that Mrs. Logan's suitcase and all the clothing she had brought with her were gone.
At nine o'clock, we started getting Stevie ready for bed. At ten, we both tucked him in. I didn't promise Stevie I would be there when he woke up. With the stony looks Logan kept throwing my way, I wasn't sure I would be allowed to remain once Stevie fell asleep. Neither did Stevie ask me to stay, but I could see the question lingering in his gaze.
I kissed him goodnight, told him I loved him. Choking on unshed tears, I stopped short of saying anything else and left his room while Logan finished tucking him in.
Retreating to the kitchen, I put away the clean dishes. I had just finished when Lo
gan came into the room. His approach silent as a tomb, he stood there and said nothing, but I could feel him. My own emotions raw, I tried to outlast his silence.
I failed, of course, and turned to find him glaring at my back. A switch flipped inside my head, leaving me suddenly angry. "You're looking at me like this is my fault!"
I bit the words out, trying hard to keep my voice at the level of a whisper and not cause any more drama for Stevie.
Logan took three long strides across the room and then his hand locked around my wrist. Insistent, but not rough, he led me to his bedroom. My gaze nervously scanned the floor as if those lacy red panties of Mrs. Jones might jump out from under the bed and bite me.
Standing me in front of the dresser, Logan pointed at the top left drawer then placed its key in my hand. I knew it had a lock, but the contents had never warranted securing it.
My fingers clutching the key until its teeth dented my skin, I crossed my arms over my breasts. "What, you want me to fold your socks?"
"Open it, Lilliput."
I blinked.
Lilliput.
Logan hadn't addressed me directly all evening. I had been terrified that when he finally did, I would only hear Lillian.
Chewing my bottom lip, I complied in broken steps. I lowered my shaking hand to the drawer, metal bouncing against metal as I twice failed to properly insert the key into the lock. On the third time, I succeeded but my hand froze.
"Lily…"
I couldn't decide if his voice was sensual or cautionary as he spoke my name -- probably both. I pulled the drawer open, my torso leaning away as if the contents might be explosive. Nothing filled the inside except a small, white satin box.
I wrapped my hand around the drawer's lip, paralysis settling into my flesh. I felt the caress of Logan's fingers across the back of my hand and then the warm brush of his breath along my neck.
"Open it."
Acquiescing to the request, I lifted the box from the drawer. Pinching its bottom, I tugged the lid up. As if it sensed my anticipation, the hinge resisted then opened suddenly with a snap. Inside, a diamond solitaire rested atop another layer of white silk.
It looked like an engagement ring. But it couldn't be. Could it?
"I knew I couldn't get you back with Marie still in the house. I told her yesterday she had a week to find someplace to live."
Marie?
I stared at him dumbfounded for a few seconds before I remembered Mrs. Jones first name. Only slightly less confused, I continued to stare. He wrapped his hand around mine, stopping the tremble that threatened to send the ring and silk spilling onto the floor.
"I never thought she would pull something like this."
When I remained mute, he snorted in exasperation. "Baby, say something."
Hearing the endearment, I started to sway. I jiggled the box. "Why are you showing me this?"
"I want to marry you." No reproach shadowed his tone. Neither did he sound like he was talking to the stupidest person on the planet despite the distinct possibility that might be the case. "Lily?"
His voice carried a sharp, worried edge and I realized the room was spinning. His arms wrapped around me and he led me to the bed. Taking the box with its ring away, he sat next to me, his hand urging my head between my legs before I had the chance to faint.
Marriage?
Neither one of us had so much as said the word love yet. Did that mean he wanted to marry me but didn't love me?
"Breathe, baby."
Right, I'd forgotten to and the failure only made the room spin faster. I sucked a lungful of oxygen in. His hand stroked up and down my back, the gesture and my dizziness provoking a sense of déjà vu. Only a month ago we had been sitting in the front room, my body shaking and my mind in shock while he tried to calm me.
"I love you, Lily." His other hand cupped my knee and gently tugged to widen the spread of my legs so he could guide my head between them, encouraging the blood to flow back to my numb brain. "I wanted to go slower, but you have to know where I'm headed. For your sake and Stevie's."
It hit me then. Not only was Logan asking me to be his wife, he wanted me to be a mother to his son. Tilting my head, I looked across his lap to where the jewelry box rested atop the bedspread.
"When did you get that?"
"The same morning Marie showed up."
I let my head sink a little closer to the floor. "When the two of you were out, I brought some laundry in here."
He rubbed my back, waiting for me to continue. Was I really about to suggest he slept with Mrs. Logan on the same morning he bought my engagement ring?
"Her suitcases were in here."
"I didn't know that until after you left. She slept in the guest room the whole time."
"A pair of her panties…under the bed…" My eyes snapped shut, my mouth, too.
He stopped rubbing. I opened my eyes and turned my head just enough to look at him.
"I didn't fuck her, if that's what you think."
"I know." I studied his face, not looking for a lie but anger at the accusation. "At least I do now -- but I couldn't think straight that day."
I tried to sit up. A fuzzy gray void of nothing crept toward the center of my vision. Logan caught me as I started to fall to the side.
"Lie back, Lilliput." He moved me up the bed, taking the pillows from under my head and propping them under my feet. Resting on his side, he stroked my cheek. "You don't have to answer today or this week or this month."
He kissed my forehead, his other hand curling around the top of my head to caress my temple. He wiped a tear of mine, making me realize I had started crying again. "I just need to know there's a chance you'll say yes, love."
"It's only been a little while," I whispered, eyes closed while I tried to capture my thoughts.
"Less than a month of sex," Logan agreed. "A hell of a lot longer wanting you, plus five years of knowing you, seeing how funny and smart, caring and loving--"
He choked on the last word and stopped talking. His hands stopped moving and I felt the press of his head against the mattress. I knew he was done talking. He'd put himself out there, said he loved me, risked rejection and I had offered nothing in return.
Turning my head, I opened my eyes. His gaze lifted from my shoulders to my face.
"I love you, Logan." I wanted to turn onto my side, but another wave of dizziness washed over me.
Pressing gently against my shoulder, Logan pushed me onto my back and moved closer. He rested his arm across my chest, his lips against my cheeks. His thumb rubbed a soft line along my arm. "Just relax, love."
That sweet caress slowly extended to more of my body. Still refusing to let me turn or sit up, he drew my leg closer to him. When the skirt limited how wide he could spread my legs, he tugged it a little higher then draped his thigh across mine. His palm rested against the fabric of my panties as he kissed at my neck.
His hand slid beneath the underwear. "Lose the blouse, baby."
I undid the buttons, opening my top. He pulled the fabric of the bra back with his teeth then his mouth fastened around a nipple. I reached between us, my fingers searching for the hard bulge of his cock. I found it, thick and full. Logan groaned against my breast as I gave him an exploratory squeeze.
"I won't faint," I promised.
He pushed up onto his side, looked down at me and shook his head. Beneath my panties, his strong hands kneaded my plump labia. "Can't be too safe, baby."
He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, a sensual heat glazing his face. "And it makes me so hard to have you where I want you."
I gave another squeeze and sighed. Hard as steel and thick as a baseball bat from the feel of him.
He edged toward the end of the bed, his foot hitting the jewelry box. He caught it before it fell. He stood, sorrow flashing across his face, and then he turned toward the dresser.
"Don't put it away, Logan."
His gaze caught mine through the mirror. A question filled his eyes.
Sitting up, I kicked the pillows onto the floor and scooted down the bed. My feet touched the carpet and I proceeded to put my clothes back in order, starting with my exposed breast. Buttons redone, if slightly askew, I smoothed my fingers through my hair then folded them in my lap.
Looking up at him, I repeated the words. "Don't put it away."
The slightest nod from Logan then he sank to his knees. Removing the ring, he put the box aside and took my hand. "Marry me, Lily. Have my children. Be a mother to my son. Don't hide from me or doubt how deeply I want and care for you. Love me like I will always love you."
Voice choking, he slid the ring onto my finger. My tears landed atop his hand. Leaning closer, I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders and kissed him. "Yes. To everything. Always."
Logan kissed me back, more thoroughly as the soft smile on his face turned hungry. He forced me onto my back. His fingers danced down the front of my blouse to quickly charm the buttons open. A slide of his hand underneath me and the bra came unsnapped. Dragging the straps along my arms, he exposed my breasts.
Burying his face between my breasts, Logan undid my skirt and stripped my clothes from my lower body. Back on his knees, he sank closer to the floor, his head nestled between my thighs.
Eyes closed, he feasted. His hands roamed my hips and thighs, gripping my flesh, tugging at it. His soft groans vibrated through me as he tongued and fingered me to my first climax. I blushed at how quickly he could make me come.
Standing, Logan stripped as I made my way further up the bed. Naked, he crawled on top of me, his head pointed at my feet and our torsos pressed together. His face burrowed once more against my pussy and I sucked half his cock into my mouth.
Sliding beneath me, his hands separated the globes of my ass. A finger teased my anus as he tenderly nursed at my clit. Moaning, I swallowed more of his cock, the angle of our bodies allowing me to take him deeper than ever before.
The sucking and fingering between my thighs grew more ragged as I brought him close to the edge of release with me. A phantom flame flickered along my skin, my body contorting from its heat and the need to taste Logan. I licked, sucked, stroked, scratched as he did the same. I started to vibrate, hips rolling, the moans as thick in my throat as Logan's cock.
Sexting Curves (BBW Erotic Romance) Page 6
