by Jennie Marts
It wasn’t enough. In seconds, he had her shirt pulled off and had tossed her bra across the floor. He looked down at her as she lay under him, her breasts bare and her skin glowing in the firelight. She was magnificent.
And she was his. For that moment, she belonged to him. And he planned to have her. Every inch of her.
His pulse quickened as he bent his head, teasing her swollen nipples with his tongue, his lips. She arched under him, bucking against his hips with her own need.
He loved the little sounds she made, the sighs, the gasps, the quick cries of pleasure she offered him when he discovered a new spot to taste.
His appetite for her was insatiable, yet she seemed just as hungry for him. He swore he could feel the blood pounding in his veins as she groped for his t-shirt and tugged it over his head. She wiggled out of the pajama pants and bikini panties, and his breath caught at the beauty of her naked body.
She was no longer a teenage girl with spindly arms and gangly legs. She was now a woman with lush curves and ripe, full breasts, her skin soft and supple. And she knew how to use her body to seduce and please, to lead him down a seductive path of pleasure and desire.
He paused, his pulse racing as he explored her body with his gaze. “You are stunning.”
She smiled up at him, not shying away, and he loved the brazen look she gave him. “I’m not a teenager anymore.”
He grinned. “I know. I like you much better as a woman.” His comment earned him another grin.
“Em, I have loved you since the day I laid eyes on you walking down that dock. Thoughts of you have filled my head, my dreams, my fantasies since I was sixteen years old. I don’t know what crazy twist of fate finally brought us back together, but I don’t want to waste another minute of my life being without you.”
A flicker of doubt crossed her face. “Logan, this is all happening so fast. We don’t have to talk about the future. I’m happy being with you right now. I’ve dreamed about this moment for years, wondering what you would be like as a man. Would your voice be lower? Would you be taller?”
“How does the real me measure up to that fantasy guy?” He asked the question with apprehension, a touch of worry in his tone.
He needn’t have worried. She ran her fingers along his bearded chin, sending an electric thrill down his spine. “The real you is better than I ever could have imagined.”
A low chuckle sounded in his throat. Thank goodness for that.
He took her face in his hand, cupping her cheek in his palm. “Emily, it doesn’t matter if we talk about it now or tomorrow or a month from now. I finally have you back in my life and I’m not letting you go again. I gave you my heart when we were sixteen, but now I’m prepared to offer you my body and soul. I belong to you. I always have.”
He sounded like a lovesick boy. He couldn’t believe the words tumbling from his mouth. But he meant them. Every syllable. He held his breath as he waited for Emily to either save his ego or destroy him altogether. With one word, she could wreck him, damage his already fragile heart, or she could restore him, mend the brokenness inside of him.
In the dim firelight, he watched her eyes fill with tears, watched her fight some kind of inner struggle, and he held his breath as he waited to see which side would win. She spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. “I’m scared.”
He smiled. “Scared? You’re scared? I’m terrified. I just told a girl that I haven’t seen in years that I’m still in love with her. Babe, I just handed you my heart, and now I’m waiting to see if you’ll take it or rip it from my chest and crush it to bits.”
Oh my gosh. He needed to stop talking. He sounded like such a dork.
“I’ll take it.” She smiled, and his heart soared. He felt like beating his chest in triumph. He really was a nerd.
Instead he kissed her. He stopped talking and showed her how he felt. This time, he kissed her slowly, ran his hands over her in tender caresses, drawing out the temptation, reveling in the smoldering tension lying just below the surface.
She responded with an urgent need, a desperate passion that spoke volumes to his wounded heart.
He answered her demands, quickening the pace, their bodies melding together in a dance as old as time. They knew the rhythm, had danced this same melody, in this same place, but in another time.
This time the music was just a little different, the harmony was sweeter, and the measure of the tempo a little slower, more deliberate as they moved in rhythm to a song only their hearts could hear.
Chapter Five
Emily woke to the sun streaming in the window. Her body ached from sleeping on the floor, her muscles tender and sore from the night spent in Logan’s embrace. She smiled, replaying exactly what had caused the soreness, and rolled toward him. His body was warm—and furry. Ugh. Not Logan.
She sat up, still naked and instantly cold. The fire smoldered, giving off little heat. Bear rolled toward her, hoping for a scratch, but Logan was nowhere in sight.
Great. He got what he wanted and ditched her. She should have known. Typical man behavior.
Wait. This wasn’t a regular one-night stand. She knew Logan. He had opened up to her last night.
Besides, he wouldn’t leave his dog.
The bathroom door opened and Logan emerged, already dressed in his ski clothes. He was whistling a happy tune and when he saw her, and a huge smile lit his face. “Good morning, sunshine.”
“Good morning.” She pulled the sleeping bag up around her chest and ran her hands through her hair. Things that looked beautiful by firelight tended to not look the same in the harsh light of day. “I must look a mess.”
He crossed the room, knelt beside her, and gave her a quick kiss. “You look amazing.”
She laughed, secretly loving the compliment. “You need glasses.” She gestured to his ski clothes. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yeah. It stopped snowing sometime last night, so I thought I’d try to hike up to my truck. If I can make it, I’ll drive it down here then help you uncover your car. If you can’t get out, at least I’ve got four-wheel drive in my truck and can get us back to town.”
The real world slammed into her, reminding her that this was her last day at the cabin, that she needed to finish packing up the last few things and say her final goodbyes.
Logan had already stood, and was putting on his coat. “I’ll take Bear with me and hopefully make it back in a couple of hours.” He crossed to the door and called the dog. “When I get back, I have something I want to show you.”
She gave him a sardonic grin. “Oh, really?”
He laughed. “Not that. Well, maybe that. Yeah, probably that. But something else too.” He shook his head and reached for the door. “I’m leaving before I get myself into any more trouble.”
Before closing the door, he leaned back in. “And Emily, I am coming back for you.”
She smiled and hugged herself as the door shut behind him.
Taking advantage of the time, she ate some cereal and brushed her teeth. She took a shower, combing out her hair and letting it air-dry.
It was good to have the time to herself to clean up and collect the final things that had belonged to her grandmother. As she finished packing the last box, the electricity came back on with a soft whir of sound and the restored steady hum of the refrigerator.
Her cell phone had died sometime in the night, and she dug the cord out of her bag and plugged in her phone to charge. Within a few seconds of charge, her phone beeped out the signal that she had texts waiting.
Picking up the phone, she saw two missed messages. The first was from her mom checking to see how she was doing with the final cabin farewell, and the second was from the realtor.
She opened the second text. It was a long message detailing the final instructions for the closing. She scrolled to the bottom, scanning the words. Her heart stopped as she read the name of the owner of Sunshine Investments.
Logan Chase.
It couldn’t be. Why wo
uldn’t he have told her?
She knew why. Because she was an idiot. He had used her. Taken advantage of her and their shared history to get in a night of easy sex before he claimed the cabin and tore it down. He’d said he was an architect. He probably planned to build a shopping mall or a tourist attraction here.
How could she have been so stupid? She’d let her guard down for one minute, and look what happened. He was probably laughing at her right now. Having a good old chuckle at her expense. How could she have believed that he still had feelings for her after all these years?
But she still had feelings for him.
Silencing the small voice inside her head that told her to wait for Logan, she crammed her feet into her boots and shoved her arms into her coat.
She grabbed one of the boxes and her tote, carried them to her car, and stuffed them into the back seat. Some of the snow had melted off her car, and she attacked the rest with the ice scraper, flinging snow and chunks of ice into the air.
She poured her rage into clearing the car, and her forehead was damp with sweat by the time she’d freed the car from its snowy prison.
The sound of an engine had her turning, and a large blue truck pulled into the driveway behind her car. Logan climbed out, and Bear jumped from the cabin and ran to her, wagging his tail in a joy-filled greeting.
Logan jogged through the snow, a happy grin on his face. “Hey, Em, I told you I’d be back.”
His smile fell as he registered the anger on her face. “Emily, I can explain.”
“Oh, can you?” she yelled. “You can explain how you have spent the last twenty-four hours with me and failed to mention the fact that you are the ass-hat that’s taking away my grandmother’s cabin? You didn’t fail to get me naked, but you were certainly unsuccessful at passing along that happy bit of news.”
“Emily, please.”
She held up her hand and stomped back into the cabin to get the rest of her things. She heard Logan slam the door of his truck and follow her in.
Turning on him, she let loose the anger that had been building since she’d read the text. “You seriously couldn’t find the time to tell me you were the buyer? How about when you first walked in and I told you why I was here? Or how about when I was crying on your shoulder?”
She shook her head, fighting the hot tears that threatened to spill out. “You must have thought I was a real idiot. You let me cry, patted my back, then thought you could get a quick lay before you kicked me out and tore the cabin down. I was such a fool to trust you again.”
“Emily, stop.” His voice held a hard edge to it. “Don’t ever say that to me again. I would never use you, and if you think that’s the kind of man I’ve become, then you never really knew me at all.”
A ring of truth sounded in his words, but it was too late. He’d betrayed her again, just like she knew he would. Just like he’d done before.
Except he hadn’t before. He’d kept his word. He’d come back for her. Just like he said he would.
Her shoulders fell and she slumped into the chair, exhausted and confused. She didn’t know what to believe anymore.
Logan set a black bag on the table and pulled his laptop from it. “I told you I wanted to show you something. I’d like to show you the plans I have for the cabin.” He opened the computer and fired it to life. After clicking a few keys, he turned the screen toward her.
She swiped at the errant tear that had escaped down her cheek, and turned to the screen. It wouldn’t hurt to look.
Logan pointed to the plans, explaining what she was seeing. “Emily, I’m not tearing down the cabin. I’m just renovating it, making it a little more modern. You said that this place was the only place that ever truly felt like home to you—well, that’s how I feel about it too. My mom moved us around so many times that I never knew if I was coming or going. But something about this place was special.”
He looked over at her. “Maybe because it was the first place I ever really felt loved. Plus, your grandparents were good to me. Your grandpa taught me to fish, and Nana was always slipping me cookies and sandwiches to take home. I love this cabin. I would never do anything to take away the charm or the personality.”
Pointing to the screen, he kept going, his words coming out in a rush, as if he were afraid she would leave if he stopped talking. “You can see here, all I’m doing is updating the wiring and adding a more updated furnace and hot-water heater. I planned to update the kitchen by bringing in some more modern appliances, but I want to keep the rustic feel.”
Emily tried to make sense of what he was showing her. “But the realtor said you were going to gut the place, tear down walls.”
Logan pointed to the wall that faced the lake. “I am going to tear out part of that wall. But just to replace it with windows. You once said you wished that whole wall was filled with windows so you could look out and see the lake.”
He’d remembered.
He clicked the keyboard, and a new picture flashed on the screen. “And see here, I planned to build a bedroom in the loft, just like you always wanted.”
Like she’d always wanted? She couldn’t believe that he’d remembered her wishes for the cabin. “But why? Why would you make this the way I wanted? You said you thought I was married, so I would probably never even see what you did.”
“It didn’t matter. I was happy here. Looking back on my childhood, this is the only place I truly felt happy. When I decided to branch out into my own company, I realized that I could work from anywhere, and the first place that I thought of was here. I started checking around, and when I heard the cabin had come up for sale, I knew I had to buy it. Then I started thinking about how to fix it up and how to make it the way we’d always dreamed it would be.”
He picked up her hand. “Emily, I always felt like I failed you. That I didn’t make it back in time. That I missed my shot at having a life with you. But this was my small way of making it up to you. Even if you never knew, I would know that I kept the cabin from going to strangers. To someone who really could tear it down.”
He shrugged. “And yeah, maybe I hoped that when you saw that I was the buyer, I would get a chance to see you again. But I love this cabin.” He looked up at her, pain evident in his eyes. “And I still love you. It kills me that you would even think that I would use you. Last night was amazing. One of the best nights of my life. I was so happy that I found you again and that you still cared about me.”
He still loved her. He still wanted to be with her. Even after she’d said those terrible things to him, flung those awful accusations. She shook her head. “But why didn’t you just tell me?”
He sighed. “Because I’m an idiot. I wanted to. But you were so happy to see me and so mad at the guy that bought it. I didn’t want that guy to be me. Then later, I was going to tell you, when we were in front of the fire, and I told you I’d become an architect.”
“So, why didn’t you?”
A sheepish grin covered his face. “I started to, but then you touched me there. And when you touch a guy there, they lose all cognitive ability to think or reason.”
She laughed. A big, shoulder-shaking laugh. “You are an idiot.” She stood up and slid her arms around his neck. “But you’re my idiot.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She looked at this man, and her heart flip-flopped in her chest. She still saw the boy that he was, but now she saw the man he’d become. The man who’d kept his promise. Who had purchased her family’s cabin because it had felt like his home, too. Who’d hugged her while she cried and told her he still loved her. Who had made love to her in the light of the fire and then held her as she’d slept.
She had spent so many years building a wall of defenses around herself, not letting anyone in. Now Logan was back, and like the sunshine on the snow outside, he was melting the frozen pieces of her wounded heart. Did she dare risk her fragile heart again? Could she trust Logan to guard it and protect it?
He kissed her then, a sweet, tender kiss, full of promise. Then he took her hands from around his neck and held them as he knelt on one knee, a look of love shining in his eyes.
Wait. What was he doing? Her heart stopped. A minute ago she was worried about her heart being too cold, but now it was frozen altogether.
She stared at him, afraid to even breathe.
“Listen, Em, I know this seems sudden, but I have loved you for over half of my life. I’ve already wasted too many years without you, and I don’t want to waste another day, another minute.”
He smiled at her, a gorgeous grin that shot straight to her heart. “I want to marry you. To build a life with you. I want you to quit that crappy job that you hate and move up here. Help me renovate the cabin. Help me make it into a home. Our home.” He squeezed her hand, rubbed his thumb along the gold band of Nana’s ring. “I want us to live a life like your grandparents had, have the kind of marriage that they showed us was possible. Emily Wells, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. Then the warmth of his words melted the last frozen pieces of her heart and her face broke into a grin. A small laugh bubbled out of her, almost like a hiccup. She nodded, willing her lips to move. “Yes.”
“Yes?” His face beamed with sheer happiness.
“Yes. I will marry you.”
He whooped with joy. Standing up, he wrapped her in a hug, lifting her off her feet, then planted a kiss on her laughing lips. “You have made me the happiest man on earth.”
He set her down, his face flushed and his words coming out in a rush. “Listen, I don’t want to pressure you, we don’t have to do it today or even tomorrow, but how about next week? Are you free on Thursday? Would you marry me next Thursday? We could do it here at the cabin.”
A Thursday wedding, in the middle of winter, at her grandparents’ cabin? Not exactly the dream wedding she’d always pictured. But then, nothing in her life had gone as she’d imagined.
She thought she would never find love again, never have a chance at the kind of marriage that her grandparents had shared. She’d thought she’d lost both Logan and the place she had always called home. But instead she got both. Happiness filled her as she looked into Logan’s eyes then leaned up to kiss him.
