Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
LOGAN
P iper texts me the next day as I sit opposite the rundown bar where I’m due to meet with Sal Mangano.
Piper: Please be careful.
The FBI has already wired me up. It’s dangerous, but it’s necessary. I need him gone. I don’t want my woman or my friend looking over their shoulder for the rest of their lives.
Logan: Soon, this will all be over.
As I wait, I think about last night, finally taking my woman to bed after weeks of waiting and dreaming. Even now, with all at stake, my body responds with hot carnal energy at the memory. Our lovemaking was more intimate this time, more of a two-way street as she confidently climbed into my lap and rode me, our hands clasped, our gazes locked together.
After, I lay with my cheek resting against her belly.
“Do you think our little bundle of joy will start kicking already?” she said, laughing.
“We move fast, Hardcover,” I said, chuckling.
“Yeah, but I’m not a freaking mutant.”
That had us in fits of laughter. We rolled around the bed together until our lips collided again, lust triggering even if we’d only recently made love. The third time was hunger and greediness on my part, as I bent her over and slid into her soaked tunnel, watching her ass bounce against my tense abs as I thrust harder, deeper.
My attention is forced into the present when I see the station wagon pull up outside the bar. As Agent Waller said, Sal is with his contact: a short man wearing a leather jacket. Sal is in the driver’s seat. He probably wants to leave before me in case this is a trap.
I climb from the car, swallowing nerves, adrenaline, and fear. I’m doing this for my woman, for my family. With this hanging over our heads, I refuse to move into our bright future.
The closer I get, the more dangerous this feels. Sal has been shunned by his family. No one agrees with his psychotic plan to infiltrate a business of my size. No one wants to go to war with the FBI.
He might get reckless, pull his gun, shoot me, and drive away. I’m not even wearing a bulletproof vest. I insisted on that.
Agent Waller explained that if I wore a vest, he might see it changing the shape of my clothes. It might spook him, and then he’d vanish, never to return. I can’t allow that to happen. I’m starting a new life with my woman, my child. There’s no damn way I’m letting some mafia grunt to ruin that.
Sal’s man nods to the driver’s seat, indicating I should walk to that side. With each step, my nerves grow, and ugly whispers of paranoia tell me this could be the end. But I’m so flooded with the need for my woman that I refuse to believe it. I could eat a bullet for her. Nothing can stop us from claiming the life we’ve wanted for over three years.
Nothing can stop us from doing it all.
Sal rolls down the window. He’s got a black eye and a cut underneath his other eye.
“Things are going well with the Family, then,” I mutter.
“Fuck you,” he grunts. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk about your offer.”
Sal sneers. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“Why don’t you kill the engine? We’ll go inside and talk about it.”
That’s for the benefit of the agents listening. They could swoop in here when the car’s still going, but that would mean risking him getting away, which nobody wants.
“We can talk fine here,” Sal says.
“I’ve had a bad couple of weeks,” I tell him. “A few investors have decided they no longer want to work with me, and I’m short on cash. I need some short-term help. But I’m not na?ve. I understand it will come with long-term interest on your part.”
“You could’ve done this before I kidnapped your bitch ass,” Sal snaps. “You could’ve saved me a lot of hassle, tough guy.”
“Could’a, would’a,” I grunt. “I’m telling you now. Are you interested or not? You said you wanted to launder money through Do It All. I’m assuming you still want that.”
“I never said that.”
“If you want to play it like that, fair enough. You hinted at it heavily enough.”
Sal’s eyes widen. “You’re speaking very goddamn specifically, Logan. A paranoid man might think you’re trying to get me on tape.”
I smirk. “It’s a good thing you’re not paranoid, then.”
“You expect me to believe you suddenly want to collaborate with me? You know, if it weren’t for Enzo, you and that fat fucking pig would’ve died in that basement.”
I remember what Agent Waller said about how Sal would try to rile me up. He told me I had to remain calm no matter what. I can’t let him get to me. I can’t let him trigger me, no matter what he says, but when he uses that word again, I can’t think.
There are words beginning with p that are appropriate for Piper. Princess . Or maybe precious . Or perfect . She’s principled, persistent, perceptive, passionate, playful, and profound. She’s poised and pretty. To call her a pig…
Sal must be able to see what I’m going to do. My face must show the fury coursing through me like lava. He reaches into his jacket, no doubt for a gun, but it’s too late.
I dart my good hand through the open window and grab his shirt, haul him out of the car, then throw him to the ground and headbutt him so hard his nose erupts in a shower of blood. Right away, sirens lace the air, tires screeching as cars pull out from hidden places.
I headbutt him again, roaring in his face, “You don’t talk about my woman like that, motherfucker. Nobody has that right.”
A third headbutt causes him to fall unconscious, his face a mess. I grab his gun and stand, aiming it at him, the urge to pull the trigger almost overwhelming. This man caused my best friend so much trouble. This man, by his own admission, would’ve killed my Piper.
Agent Waller rushes over. “Drop the gun, Logan. Don’t do this.”
Even when he says that I still want to, but then I think of my woman and me sitting beside a fire together, discussing literature and business, as we discussed before. Now, the fantasy is even more special and vivid. A crib is in the corner—our baby is sleeping, softly snorting.
I drop the gun, turning to Agent Waller and a wall of FBI agents, all with their weapons raised.
“He’s yours,” I growl, walking away.
“Another helicopter ride?” Piper says as I hug her in the elevator, breathing in her, her perfume, and her scent, more primal, deeper than any perfume.
“We need to get as much flying in as possible before a certain bump makes it impossible.”
She looks up at me, and her smile widens with a hint of disbelief. I’m sure mine is the same. Forever Love is progressing. We had a double breakfast date with Elliot and Ruby this morning. Sal will spend a long, long time in prison… and we’re together. Better than that, we’re free to be together and don’t have to look over our shoulders, sneak around, or doubt if we’ll make it.
We have made it.
“You seem more confident this time,” I comment as we walk across the roof to the helicopter.
She smiles. “After all we’ve been through, do you think I’m going to let an itty-bitty helicopter scare me?”
I curl my hand around her hip. “You’re an inspiration to me, you know that?”
She throws herself into my arms, standing on her tiptoes for a kiss. I press against her passionately, holding her tight, knowing I’m never going to release her. She’s mine. I’m hers.
“I love you,” she says. “I love how romantic you are these days. You talk like you text.”
“And you text like you talk…”
She giggles when I slide my hands to her hips. “Don’t get carried away. Haven’t we got a helicopter to catch?”
“We sure do…”
She laughs again when I pick her up, cradling her to my chest and carrying her to the chopper. Once we’re strapped in, the helicopter glides up into the sky and takes a familiar route.
My woman looks at me with her eyebrow raised. “I’m getting déjà vu…”
“It will make sense soon,” I reply.
“Why do you sound nervous suddenly?”
“It’s the headset distorting my voice,” I lie.
“Okay…”
She looks closely at me, searchingly. She knows there’s something else going on here. Soon, the helicopter descends, landing in the same field I took her to before the kidnapping, before Elliot found out, back during that getaway when we could pretend there wasn’t so much drama in our lives.
I lift her down from the helicopter.
“I feel underdressed for some reason,” she murmurs, brushing down her white shirt and black pencil skirt.
“You look perfect,” I tell her, and I mean it.
I’ll never tire of how she looks in her work clothes, her mounds highlighted by the white fabric of her shirt, her hips emphasized by the clutches of her skirt. Taking her hand, I lead her toward my childhood home, just like last time.
But it’s different now. The old structure has been demolished, and a work crew is clearing the ground, machines cranking, men calling to each other. I stop when we’re close enough to hear it but far enough so the noises don’t drown us out.
“Logan,” she whispers, the tears in her eyes making me think she knows why I brought her here.
I take her hands. “I know this isn’t the most romantic scene?—”
“Shh. It is romantic because it’s us ,” she says fervently. “We do things our way. We fall in love in a week.”
“In a kiss,” I say, squeezing her hands.
She laughs. “You’re right. My bad. What are they doing?”
“Building us a home away from the city,” I tell her. “A place we can always escape to. A place that symbolizes new beginnings. Bad things happened here: things that could’ve broken me. I thought they had broken me. But then I found you, my gorgeous Hardcover, and I knew nothing would ever be the same again. I love you. I’ll never stop loving you.” I bend down, kissing her belly. “And I love you , little one.”
Her laugh turns into a sob of joy halfway through.
“I love you too,” she whispers, her eyes glistening, tears sliding down her cheeks.
“I almost wanted to text you this question,” I tell her. “For us, I think it’d be fitting. But some things need to be said face to face.”
“Texting is easier,” she says.
I grin. “Loving you is easy. Being with you is easy. Dedicating my life, career, and future to you is easy. But even if it wasn’t, even if it gets hard or challenges get in our way, I’ll never stop fighting for us. Piper Blake…”
When I let go of her hands and take a small step back, she gasps, dabbing her cheeks. “Oh, Logan. Baby…”
I kneel, reaching into my jacket pocket and taking out the ring box.
“Will you marry me?”
I open the ring box, displaying a large diamond, as full and eye-catching as my woman. The white-gold band is custom. On one side, there’s a small engraving of a phone. On the other, a book.
She stares down at it, her lips trembling, not saying anything for a long time.
“What is it?” I ask. “Is it too corny? I can get something more traditiona?—”
“It’s the most,” she says, taking a shuddering breath, “beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. Yes, Logan. Yes . I’ll marry you. I want you forever. I can’t even imagine being with anybody else. Ever. Yes, yes, yes!”
I wrap my arms around her and spin her in a circle. She laughs, finding my lips. “You’re making me dizzy.”
“You make me dizzy,” I say, smiling like I never thought I’d be able to, loving like I never thought possible for a broken soul like mine. “Being here highlights it, Piper. This place tried to ruin me. You’re the love of my life, the only woman I’ll ever want and need.”
“I love you, Mr. Boss,” she says, kissing me again.