by Quinn, Cari
Johnny came up with a rumbling rendition of the chorus. Cody howled and Zeke harmonized.
Logan rolled his eyes and picked up the bottle. “I don’t have Crown in the house.” It wasn’t exactly the high end stuff he usually bought. It was actually more suitable for the animals that were staying there for the weekend. He trained his eyes on Emerson. “You didn’t finish my Dalmore, did you?”
Emerson pressed his lips together and shook his head. “If I’d known it was in the house, I wouldn’t be drinking this swill.”
“Nah.” Zeke slapped Logan’s arm. “This beautiful man had a whole spread waiting for us.”
Logan frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Zeke turned around and pointed at the three tiers of bottles sitting in the middle of the kitchen island. “That.”
A plethora of wines and whiskies were stacked in a tree display on wooden shelves. Logan moved closer, then saw the two things that made the little hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
A bottle of ice wine and Johnny Walker Blue.
Aimee’s favorites.
Every ounce of pleasure in the day drained out of him. His shoulders tightened as he slowly lifted the envelope that lay discarded on the counter. Inside, a simple white piece of card stock with two words: love, me.
Logan picked up the bottle of ice wine, calmly uncorked it, and poured it down the drain before dropping the empty bottle into the recycle bin.
“What are you doing?”
Logan didn’t answer. The only thing he could focus on was ridding his house of her. He picked up the bottle of Blue and handed it to Zeke. “Make sure this is gone by morning. I don’t care if you drink it or you pour it down the sink.”
Zeke frowned. “You didn’t send this over?”
“No.”
“So, it was Charlie. You know how excited he was about the press for this shindig. He’s been drooling about this show since you called him Tuesday.”
“It wasn’t Charlie.”
Logan swiped the envelope off the counter, took out the card, and handed it to Zeke.
His face went gray under his perpetual tan. “Jesus. I didn’t—I wouldn’t have…”
“It’s fine.” Logan raked his fingers through his hair. “Just make sure it’s gone. I don’t want to take it away from the guys.”
He should have known. Things were going too smoothly, and he’d all but forgotten about Aimee for a few hours. His head had been full of jasmine and laughter and that ridiculously hot moan Izzy made when he touched her.
It took everything inside of him not to swipe his arm across the display of colorful bottles and destroy them all. She’d gotten in his house. The one place that she’d never managed to touch.
Was she here in Winchester Falls? Had this just been a delivery?
“Were you here when it came in?”
Zeke shrugged. “No, man. It was here when we got back from practice. I didn’t even notice the card.”
“You saw exactly what she wanted you to see. That’s how she works.”
“It’s just alcohol—”
“It’s never just alcohol, never just a gift.” Logan crossed to the liquor cabinet. He reached onto the top shelf and pulled his bottle of Dalmore down along with a tumbler and went out the back.
The spotlights glowed in the deep end of his pool, leaving everything a shimmering turquoise. He picked an Adirondack chair at the back of the property, dumped his glass on the matching table, uncapped the bottle, and filled it an inch from the top. He set the bottle down with a shaking hand.
She wasn’t going to get him riled up before another damn show. Not this one. Not here. He wasn’t going to ruin the first good thing he’d had in too many years to count. Between Izzy and this charity show, he was actually happy.
He clenched his fingers into a fist and waited out the panic. When his hand was steady, he lifted the glass and knocked back half of it. The high end whisky didn’t burn like the cheap kind. It bloomed with heat and the backlash of the smoky barrel it had been aged in.
He collapsed into the chair and stared up at the stars.
Not this fucking time.
Fifteen
“Hey Boss, I need—”
“No.”
Nic stopped in her tracks. “What do you mean no?”
Bella pushed her sweaty bangs out of her eyes and peered down at her best friend from the ladder. “I mean no. I have no answers. I am brain dead. Whatever it is, you don’t need my input.”
Nic licked the corner of her deep burgundy lips, then slapped her hands on her hips. “You’ve been out of sorts since we opened this morning. What’s going on?”
Bella turned back to the top shelf she was dusting.
“You’re cleaning.”
“We have a few thousand people taking over our quiet little town. I want the shop as perfect as possible.” She swiped the beeswax-laden towel into the back of the shelf.
“No. You’re cleaning with,” she leaned into Bella and sniffed, “with beeswax.”
Bella rushed down the steps and moved to the next set of bookcases. “I do this once a month.”
“I know. And you did it two weeks ago. So fess up, woman. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Sharon was here, and we went over the vendors. She’s down there right now directing traffic.”
“Isn’t that your job?”
Bella climbed up. “She’s taking the first shift.”
Nic leaned against the ladder and folded her arms over her black and white polka dot blouse. “And you’re not hovering…”
“Sharon’s a big girl.” Bella moved a stack of books and a charming elf book end so she could rub in the wax and wipe it off. The antique bookcases required special attention, dammit. Her arms ached and her thighs screamed from her dozens of trips up and down the ladder that day.
She’d been working since six that morning. That was when she’d given up on sleeping. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Logan’s eyes staring up at her as she sat astride him in the truck. Or she relived the look in his wild spring green eyes as he went down on her, driving her absolutely mad.
She couldn’t get him out of her head.
And even more horrifying, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. The last man she’d been with had been sweet and non-threatening. His idea of a wild night had been Chinese takeout in bed after very pleasant sex.
Pleasant and nice didn’t even belong in a sentence with Logan.
Nic slid under the ladder and peered up at her. “You had sex.”
“What?”
“You’ve got that manic cleaning thing going on.” She snapped her fingers. “You had sex. Or, you didn’t actually get to have the sex, but you’re thinking really hard about it.”
“Shut up.” Bella gave the top shelf one more hard scrub with the towel and came down to her level. “You’re not even close.”
Nic tipped her head to the side. “Oh, I’m close.”
Bella started taking things off the shelf in front of her.
Nic leaned in and sniffed. “You stink like sex.”
“I do not.”
“Like good sex. Like he rocked your world. Oh, yeah.” She gave a shimmy to her hips and pulled Bella away from the bookcase and hugged her, hopping them both in a circle. “That’s what happened.”
Bella couldn’t stop a laugh. “Why is my having sex making you so happy?”
“A-ha! I knew it! I wasn’t completely sure, but now I am.”
Bella covered her face. “Oh, Nic. What am I going to do?”
“Did it suck? He doesn’t seem the type. Kinda the overachiever if I had to guess.”
“No, it didn’t suck. It was…It was.” Mind-blowing. Earth-shattering. Soul-destroying. “Yeah, it was good.”
“Good? Is that all you have to say about sex with Mr. Rock God himself?”
“Shh. Say it a little louder.”
Nic turned to the room. “My best friend just had wild monkey sex with a
certain—”
Bella clamped her hand over Nic’s mouth. “Seriously!” Nic stabbed her palm with her tongue and Bella whipped her hand away and scrubbed it down her denim-clad thigh. “Eww.”
Nic returned her hands to her hips. “There’s no one here except Adam.”
“Well, he doesn’t need the details either.”
“Oh, honey. We’re so beyond that. We shared an apartment when you were trying to fuck your way through Chelsea.”
Bella stalked away from her. “See! See, right there. That’s what I’m afraid of. This man is fling material. He’s barely more than a one night stand.”
She laughed. “Yeah, right. If he was one night stand material you would have done it the first night you guys met and been over it already.”
Bella didn’t stomp her foot, but she came damn close. “I came here to start over. To not do those stupid things I did in my early twenties. For God’s sake, Logan moves past dumb into epic stupidity.”
“Why?”
Bella’s brows snapped down. “What?”
“Why is it stupid to be with him? He’s not an ax murderer, right?”
“I hope not.”
Nick grabbed her by the jaw and squished her lips together. “Repeat after me.”
“No.”
Nic nodded, her huge brown eyes imploring. “Repeat: I’m going to have a good time. I’m not going to overthink things.”
Bella tried to pull free, but Nic and her freakishly strong fingers held her still “I’m not going to over think things,” she mumbled.
“And?” Nic shook her head a little.
“I’m going to have a good time.” Bella slapped her hand away. “Having fun isn’t the hard part. It’s the fact that when one person figures out we’re…whatever this is, then the whole town will know.”
“So?”
Bella tipped her head to the side. “So? Then there’s no going back.”
“Ahh, there we go. That’s the problem. You don’t want to even take him out for a test drive. What? You think you’re going to like him too much?”
Bella whipped off her apron and pushed the ladder back into the corner where it belonged. Yes. That was exactly the problem. The more time she spent with Logan, the more she liked him. His humor, the way he listened, making her feel like everything coming out of her mouth was ultra-important, the sadness in his eyes, the music that was his oxygen.
The way he kissed her. And oh, God, the way he touched her.
She pressed her forehead to the ladder step. “Dammit.”
The bell over the door jangled. She didn’t even have to look up to know it was him. The air in the room became charged and her skin buzzed. She was a mess, and he was there. And the only part she seemed to care about was that he was there with her. She’d told him she would find him. Instead, she’d been hiding here in her shop.
Nic sauntered over to him, taking special care to throw an exaggerated sway in her hips. “Well, hello there, Mr. King.”
Logan smiled. “Nichole, right?”
She crossed her arms. “Good memory.”
“Always.”
Nic cocked out a hip. “So, tell me…what are your intentions?”
“Excuse me?”
Bella winced. Just what she needed, Nic playing the role of a judgy mother-type. She scrubbed her hands over her face. Grit, dust, and dirt coated her hands. She couldn’t see him like this. She rushed over to the sink near their small coffee area.
She lathered up, splashing water higher on her arms to get the streaks of sweat and dirt off.
“Did you sic your guard dog on me?”
Bella jumped when his hands landed on her hips.
“It’s just me.”
“Logan, I’m filthy.”
He drew her back against him and buried his nose into the back of her hair. “What is that smell. It’s like outdoors and…yet not really.”
She leaned on the basin. “Beeswax.” The single least sexy smell on the planet.
He nipped the skin at the nape of her neck. “Ah, that’s it. You smell like books. High end books. Like my library after Mrs. Nelson comes to attack it with her arsenal of supplies.”
She tipped her head forward as his thumbs drew little circles at the base of her spine. As if he knew just how tight her muscles were.
“Books have never given me a hard-on before.” He crowded in on her. “Is it wrong that I want to drag you into the stacks and slip inside you again? Maybe I shouldn’t tell you that my California King bed was incredibly empty without you there.”
“Logan.”
“I do love how you say my name. That voice—it’s going to follow me around all day while I’m doing interviews. And when they ask me why I’m grinning like an idiot, what do I tell them?”
She twisted in his arms. “You wouldn’t. We just started…whatever this is.”
He dragged the back of a knuckle up her neck, then along the curve of her chin until she was a breath away from his mouth. Instead of kissing her, he steered his mouth to just behind her ear. “So, I shouldn’t tell them that the head of the committee makes this little noise in her throat when I hit just the right spot?”
The wisp of tongue followed by a lazy nuzzle made her shiver and groan.
“There it is. I love that sound.”
She pushed him back. “You should be in rehearsal.”
“Security is doing their thing. We’re doing a final run-through in an hour.”
“So you thought you’d come down here for what? A quickie?”
The corner of his mouth lifted and a hint of a dimple flashed. “No, but if you’re offering.”
“No, I am not. I’m a sweaty mess.”
He drew a figure eight along the dip of her spine. “We can be a sweaty mess together. Then I can wash your back.”
“I have a million things to do before noon.”
“Take a break.” He flicked his tongue along her lower lip.
She peered over his shoulder where Adam and Nic were taking care of a trio of customers. More would be coming in. Nic caught her eye and widened hers. Then nodded toward the stairs.
Bella groaned. “I’m a responsible member of society.”
“I brought two condoms. Totally responsible.”
She laughed and pushed him into the hallway that led to her stairs. She totally shouldn’t be bringing him to her apartment. Then his scent would be there. There was no turning back once memories were locked into her space.
He was the first man in her bed since she’d moved to town.
God, she wasn’t sure she could do this. She turned to him at the threshold of her personal space and the store. When he smiled at her, the crinkles fanning around his green eyes and the wicked eyebrow were really hard to resist. She jammed the lever down for her door and the pulley system came alive. He backed her inside and hauled the door closed for her.
Too late.
It was done. He was there. Ripped to hell jeans with wear spots in all the right places. A simple washed out V-neck hugged his chest and shoulders.
He cupped her jaw and the thin leather strips that made up two inches of braided leather around his wrist, brushed her skin. She turned her face into his palm and the little metal charms clamped to the ends jangled at her ear.
Such a basic part of Logan King, the musician. She’d seen the cuff a million times in pictures, but to actually see it up close? It was a little slice of reality that made her heart pound.
He wasn’t just some guy. He was an incredibly wealthy, famous singer. The barn would be filled with screaming fans that came for him tonight.
“Where’d you go?”
She blinked up at him and forced a smile to bend her lips. “I’m here.”
“No, you were here a second ago.” He pushed the little pins from her hair and framed her face. “Come back to me.” He licked over her lips and sealed their mouths in a searching, overwhelming kiss.
She went up on her toes and matched him stroke for stro
ke, until they were gasping for breath.
He laughed down at her. “There. That’s my Izzy.” Sunlight turned his dark blond hair golden. Freckles glowed from his skin and she found the little trio of them that bled through the distracting full lower lip.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and sucked it into her mouth, as he hoisted her up into his arms. She heard the thud of his boots a second before her butt hit the bed.
She kicked her ballerina flats off as he dragged up her shirt and latched his mouth to her nipple, sucking her through the lace and silk of her bra. He flipped the cups up, pushing the heavy curve of each breast together. His eyes never left hers as he sucked each one into his mouth. The pressure was so close to pain until he let each one free with a pop.
Again, and again, he did it until she was writhing beneath him. He licked along the full undersides and then lower to her ribcage. His fingertips scraped down her belly, the tiny callouses abraded her skin. With open mouth kisses he swirled his tongue around her belly button and peeled open the snap and zipper of her pants.
She bowed under him. She’d been working in the store all morning. This was not the time to go down for a Logan foreplay special. She caught his chin and dragged him up to her mouth. “It’s been a long, hot morning.”
He laughed and made a return trip, dragging her panties and pants off together. He pushed her legs open and used the widest part of his tongue to lick her from slit to hood. “Perfection,” he said and repeated the slow, maddening strokes of his tongue.
She grabbed for the headboard, but her fingers just glanced off. For once, she wished for a slatted headboard. How else could she hold out against the sparklers going off behind her eyelids?
Every time she tried to hold back, to keep something for herself, Logan demanded just that little bit more. He jammed his shoulders against her thigh to gain complete access, then tasted every swollen fold. Between his tongue and fingers, he filled her until she could do nothing but hold on and experience him.
She gripped his hair and managed to temper a scream. His hands slid under her ass and she could feel each fingertip dent her flesh as he tipped her up into his mouth. With each thrust of his tongue, he teased her.
