It also dawned on me that he must feel serious about me to bring me here. Clearly, he kept these two areas of his life separate without much crossover. The only constant was him. And now, me, if his family and I got along.
The dense trees below us gave way to a clearing with a small structure at the far end of it. I squinted at it as we descended toward the wide, open space to land. As we got closer, I saw that it was a house and people were coming out of it.
Logan's pilot landed the plane smoothly on the soft grass a few hundred feet from the house. The people who came out of it were already halfway across the field coming toward the plane.
The pilot and flight attendant took our luggage while Logan helped me down the small staircase to solid ground. I inhaled fresh, mountain air and relished in the warm sun on my skin, momentarily forgetting the messages on my phone that plagued me.
"Logan!" called the woman who approached us. She had Logan's eyes with crows feet at the corners and a warm smile.
"Hey Ma," he replied with a smirk.
Logan's parents greeted him with hugs and kisses before he turned to me.
"This is Aubrey," he said, placing a comforting hand on the small of my back.
"It's lovely to meet you, dear!" Logan's mom wrapped me in a warm hug. "I'm Linda, and this is my husband Jon."
"Pleasure." Logan's dad shook my hand briefly. Strong and silent couldn't be more accurate.
"Come inside, I'm just getting some dinner ready!" Linda ushered us toward the house, which I could now see was a charming ranch house. It was humble and simple, but modern and in fantastic shape.
"I missed you, son," she beamed at Logan as we crossed the clearing.
"I was here not even two weeks ago," he answered with a chuckle.
"Oh, but your old mother always misses you."
My heart both melted and ached at seeing Logan's mom gush over him. They were obviously proud of him and had a close relationship if he visited so often.
My own family couldn't be more opposite. I got that bartending job and moved out as soon as I could. They weren't awful and abusive or anything, just kind of cold and uncaring. My dad left when I was young and Mom didn't do much parenting after that. I essentially raised myself.
I always got jealous and confused when I saw close, healthy, happy families and wished I had that for myself. That's probably why I made the mistake of sticking with Andy for so long. He promised me a happily ever after but I got heartbreak and blackmail instead.
"How's the brewery business?" Logan's dad asked gruffly as we entered the house, our luggage following closely behind.
"Coming along well. Aubrey's a brewer there." His fingers rubbed in circles on the small of my back and my heart fluttered.
"A brewer? Well, that's unexpected." His dad eyed me curiously. I got the sense he didn't often encounter women in typically male jobs.
"Yes, I just love beer," I said with a smile.
"And she's great at making it. One of the most creative and intelligent ones in the industry," Logan said warmly.
I spied my suitcase near the front door, the one where I placed the carefully wrapped parcels just before we left. "In fact, I brought some gifts for you."
"What? Gifts? Oh no, that's not necessary!" Logan's dad immediately protested but I was already unzipping my bag and carefully removing the protected bottles.
"It's the least I could do for your hospitality," I said as I placed the bottles down on the table. "This is a barrel-aged vanilla porter. It's dark, roasty and a bit sweet. This one's our flagship pale ale. It's a bit hoppy but citrusy and refreshing. And this last one is a fruit sour aged in wine barrels."
Logan's mom said nothing but stared wide-eyed at the bottles, then at Logan, then at her husband who returned her look.
A heavy silence filled the room and I wondered in horror if I'd done something to offend them. My throat dried out and my heart pounded in fear. Maybe they didn't drink at all? Maybe they were deeply religious and thought alcohol was evil? If that was true, why didn’t Logan warn me?
Oh God, how badly did I fuck this up?
I looked to Logan for help, but he just kept looking at his parents with a neutral expression on his face while they continued to stare in open-mouthed shock.
Finally, his mom broke the silence.
"Logan, you must marry her immediately."
He laughed with a throaty chuckle and it was my turn to drop my jaw in shock. I didn't hear her correctly, did I?
"If I offended you, I'm so sorry," I blubbered. Ugh, why wasn't he helping me out of this?
"Darling, you haven't offended us," I realized his mom dabbed tears at the corners of her eyes. "We simply can't believe how kind and thoughtful you are!"
"Oh, it's nothing, really!" I exclaimed, still reeling with confusion. "I had these on hand and just thought it would be nice."
"Well, not many young folks these days seem to think about anyone but themselves." Logan's dad patted me on the arm. "We can tell you've got a heart of gold, kiddo. Well done, Logan."
Logan said nothing but displayed his wiley half-smirk and I wondered what went through his head.
"Let's eat, already!" his dad grumbled. "Aubrey, which one of these would you recommend with venison?"
I suggested the pale ale, and the four of us sat down around the modest dining table to a dinner of freshly roasted venison, mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted vegetables, and apple pie for dessert. It could not possibly get more home cooked, cozy and all-American.
"I took down this beautiful buck this morning," Logan's dad said proudly. He seemed more talkative after a glass of beer and a belly full of food. "Do you ever hunt, Aubrey?"
"I never have," I admitted. "I'd be open to trying it, though. It seems a lot more humane to hunt your own food than get it packaged at the store."
"Yes, exactly! Logan, we should take her on a deer hunt while you two are here."
Logan had been quiet for most of the dinner as if observing his parents and me from an outsider's perspective. He chewed his food thoughtfully and quipped, "We can probably do that before we leave. I was planning on taking the two of us camping to Westbrook Peak tomorrow."
"You have a mountain named after you?" I asked.
"It's not much of a mountain but it's got beautiful views," his mother chimed in. "We think Logan's great-great-great-grandfather named it. Our family's been in this area for several generations. Logan's the first one to really leave the Montana nest for the fast city life after college."
"And every time I come back, I wonder why I bothered," Logan said almost sadly.
"You're doing great things out there that you'd never have the opportunity to do here," his dad said. "Plus, you met Aubrey out there in California."
"That's true." Logan's hand squeezed my knee affectionately, this time without the raunchiness of the Napa dinner. "I think eventually, I'll wind up back here for good. I gotta take care of my family."
"Oh, don't worry about us!" his mother insisted. "Your old parents can take care of themselves. The past is in the past."
Logan's fork clattered noisily when he dropped it and he released my knee. At the drop of a hat, his whole demeanor suddenly changed. He seemed tense, aggravated. When I looked at his hand in his lap, his fist was clenched with white knuckles.
"Does she know?"
The question came from Logan's dad across the table, who seemed just as tense as Logan.
Logan shook his head. His jaw clenched tightly. It was obvious that “she” meant me.
"Well like I said, it's in the past," his mother repeated in an attempt to diffuse the tension. "No use worrying or dredging it up now."
One look at Logan told me how strongly he disagreed with his mother. And in that moment I realized the full weight of how truly little I knew about him.
CHAPTER 22
LOGAN
"So are you going to tell me what that was all about?"
Not a moment after we closed the guest bedroom do
or, finally alone, did Aubrey pounce on me with questions.
"There's a lot to tell," I sighed, touching my tongue to the scar on my lip. I wanted to tell her everything, I truly did. But caution held me back.
The last girl I brought home to meet my family threw a fit and stomped around like a child when she saw that we weren't staying at a resort. I told my pilot to take her ass home and never spoke to her again.
While still roomy, the house I had built for my parents wasn't nearly as big as my mansion back in California. I insisted on modern upgrades like bathrooms with heated tiles, walk-in showers, and separate tubs. The kitchen my mom cooked in was state of the art stainless steel. I knew she loved it, even though she insisted it was too much.
Aubrey not only met but exceeded all expectations. At first, I thought she packed those beers for us. Even my icy heart melted when she presented them as gifts to my family. The looks my parents gave me said it all: she was a rare gem worth keeping.
Deep down, I knew she wasn't superficial enough to be bothered by my humble beginnings. She absorbed the warmth and kindness from my parents like a sponge and delivered it back tenfold. But how would she react to how far I went to protect my family?
"Start at the beginning," she suggested and patted the space on the king-sized bed next to her.
I lowered myself onto the warm, flannel sheets as I tried to form cohesive thoughts in my head. Aubrey watched me patiently but I knew she wouldn't let me get away with not talking about it.
"I made my fortune in college," I began. "I played around with stocks and got one big, lucky break. I researched for months while hardly getting any sleep. Everything lined up just right and I sold my shares just in time. I had a business partner too."
My voice hitched as I thought of Charlie back then, in the good old days. Before he became some faceless entity haunting me.
"What happened to him?" Aubrey asked gently.
"I cut him off because he was useless as a business partner. An alright friend and roommate for our time in college, but I wanted to grow and he wanted to stay a frat boy. So I bought him out and he wasn't happy."
My jaw clenched and I felt my fists close around the sheets. No one but my parents and I knew what I was about to say next.
Aubrey curled up against me. Her soft hands glided across my rigid chest and stomach and I relaxed a little, pulling her in closer.
"Charlie dabbled in some illegal shit, like prostitution and drug dealing, which I wanted no part of. I didn't know how far he'd take it."
My heart began to race and my nostrils flared like a bull as I recalled that day that changed everything. Aubrey rubbed my shoulders and kissed my neck but nothing could erase the coiled up rage I felt in all of my limbs.
"About a year later, I was doing well and hadn't heard from Charlie except for his usual petty whining. And then I got a phone call from my parents' landline."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before uttering the next words.
"My parents were tied up and being held hostage. They would be tortured slowly until I paid them."
"Oh my God," Aubrey gasped.
"I don't even know how I got there. The next thing I remember, my arms were tied back and I was being punched in the face."
"Is that how you got these?" Aubrey touched the scars on my eyebrow and lip and I nodded.
“This one was from a big ol’ monkey wrench,” I said, touching my finger to my eyebrow. “They must have spent a good hour punching me and hitting me with objects.”
“Oh God.” Aubrey covered her mouth and her eyes welled with tears.
“I did everything I could to keep them focused on me so they wouldn’t hurt my parents,” I continued. “But one of them still put a gun to my mom’s head and that's when I snapped.”
“What did you do?”
"Somehow through all the caked blood in my eyes, I saw my mom tied to a chair and crying hysterically. And seeing her like that, I felt like I became the Hulk." I smiled wryly. "I got my arms free and just unleashed all my anger, all my desire to protect them, out on those assholes."
I closed my eyes and for a moment I was back there. My attacker’s bloody swollen face on the floor, several of his teeth scattered all around his head. My knuckles split open and adding to the lagoon of blood underneath me. The rage and adrenaline coursing through me like a river. My brain didn’t form a single coherent thought. I was an animal, running on the pure instinct to protect and to kill.
"Was it your partner?" Aubrey’s gentle voice brought me back.
I shook my head. "Definitely people who worked for him. But Charlie would never have balls to come do that himself."
"So what happened next?"
I sucked in another deep breath, bracing myself for her reaction to what I was about to say.” "A whole bunch of legal bullshit because I nearly killed one of the attackers."
"What?!"
"I left him with permanent brain damage.”
The weight of those words fell as heavily as boulders all around us.
“Even my lawyer thought I might do prison time and lose everything. But after a long, drawn-out trial, the charges were eventually dropped and it was ruled as self-defense."
"Well, of course it was!" she huffed. "They were hitting you first! They could have killed you! You were protecting your family!"
I looked at her in surprise. "A guy spent weeks in a coma and is permanently disfigured because of me. That doesn't bother you? That I almost took a person's life?"
She shook her head emphatically, making her flaming red hair shine like fire around her face.
"You're not afraid of me hurting you?"
"Not in the slightest."
I smiled despite retelling the worst horror of my life. I always told her never to doubt me, when it was me who should have put more trust in her.
"So Charlie hired them to come after your family because he wanted your money?" she asked.
"That's what I believe," I sighed. "Unfortunately the police found no connection between Charlie and the attackers. My feeling is he offered to pay them but couldn't afford it unless he stole from me. Once his goons came back empty handed and on a stretcher, he washed his hands of them and disappeared."
"I can't believe people do such awful things for stupid stacks of paper," Aubrey said as she nuzzled her head into the center of my chest.
"Well those stacks of paper allowed me to move my parents to safety," I replied as I trailed my fingers over her skin. "They never wanted anything from me but I'm their only son. I had to use my resources to make sure they were never targeted again. So I got them out of that house and had this place custom built for them. They're getting older and it'll accommodate all of their needs as they slow down. The security is top-notch, plus I'm here to visit at least once a month. I couldn't do any of that if I was broke."
"See, that's how you're different," Aubrey said softly. "You use your money for good. You take care of your loved ones and help businesses to thrive. It didn't corrupt you."
I felt a squeezing around my heart and would have held her tighter if I could. No woman had ever appreciated how I took care of my family before, they just complained that I didn't buy them enough.
"You've never been motivated by money, have you?" I asked her.
"No," she replied quickly like she didn't even have to think about it. "I enjoy brewing so much, I didn't care about taking a pay cut. Sure I made more while bartending but I hated every minute of it. Every day I dreamed about creating, not serving what someone else created."
She shifted her weight, throwing her legs over mine before nuzzling back into my chest where she belonged.
"I mean, yeah, sometimes I wish I could afford nicer things, but I'm happiest when I'm brewing," she continued. "There's not much else I really see myself doing."
"That's why you deserve the nicest things," I said softly into her hair. "You're so passionate, and put all of yourself into what you love. You exude that passion every time I
look at you. It's so rare to find someone like you."
She lifted her head and stared at me with those brilliant green eyes.
"What are you passionate about?" she asked.
"Family," I answered. "And providing for them. That's what I live for." I ran my thumb against her plump lower lip. "And redheads with hourglass figures named Aubrey."
"Hmm, I'll see where I can find you one of those," she answered sassily before I brought my lips down on hers and she submitted to my kiss.
She let out a contented sigh through the kiss, echoing my feelings exactly as we sank into the mattress together.
I found such contentment with her, such ease and understanding, and so much passion. She ignited a fire in me that I never knew existed. Sure I always had a domineering streak and some girls got really into it, but she'd come on my cock practically on command.
I saw how turned on she got when I took complete control of her and it only made me want more. To push her further, make her submit to me even more.
And above all, she knew I'd protect her. Provide for her while she pursued her passion and gave me saucy lip that deserved a spanking once in a while, just to keep me on my toes. She may not have been family yet but she was mine to protect.
As I sank into Aubrey's soft heat, melting away the icy edges of my heart, I thought back to when my mom said I needed to marry her immediately.
Once we're home, I might do just that.
CHAPTER 23
AUBREY
I planned on telling Logan about Andy's blackmailing messages that night when we were alone, but the tension at dinner and the intense story he told me in private made me forget all about it.
My silly ex-boyfriend troubles didn't hold a candle to what he went through, the burden he shouldered. Every time I thought of him getting hit over and over again, I wanted to cry. He was so strong, and not just physically.
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