Chapter40
Logan
“You’re eating your Skittles in order.”
She’s right, I am.
While I’m not organizing them by color, I have started eating them in order of my least favorite to favorite flavor.
“Guilty. It really does make sense. This way my last mouthful is all the best flavor: orange.”
She snorts. “Orange is so not the best flavor. They are from the weakest branch on the citrus tree.”
“What about grapefruit?”
“Oh, you’re right. Grapefruits are worse than oranges.”
“Did you just admit that I was right and you were wrong?” I lean into her neck and nip her ear playfully.
“Don’t get used to it.” She shifts her weight on the couch so she’s leaning into me. I tighten my arms around her and kiss the top of her head.
The last few weeks have taken their toll on her; how could they not? Even someone as fearless and formidable as my girl could buckle under the pressure she’s been under. But she hasn’t. She held her head high and met every challenge hurled her way.
The relief I felt when she’d told me about her meeting with Alyson had been immeasurable. I like my job and I didn’t particularly want to find a new one, but I’d been prepared to do just that if the company didn’t support Rilla and the other employees who came forward against Bryce.
I’d already typed my letter of resignation, but I’m glad I didn’t need it.
It turns out the people of Thompson And Daye weren’t the only ones fed up with Bryce’s actions. Ingrid, who apparently has eyes and ears everywhere, told us that not only will no other company go near him, his family is furious over his behavior and have threatened to cut him off. It’s safe to say that he will not be suing anyone.
Rilla snuggles in closer. I inhale her sweet scent, a mixture of the maple syrup she had with her pancakes and the colorful candy we’ve been sharing.
When I asked her how she wanted to celebrate surviving recent events, she had three requests: pancakes, candy, and couch.
“I have to say, this is not the movie I would have guessed you would pick.”
She shrugs. “Sometimes I want to escape into a fantasy world, and sometimes I want to watch Nic Cage steal the Declaration Of Independence.”
“I still don’t understand. I thought he wanted to protect it.”
“He has to steal it in order to protect it, Logan. Pay attention.”
“I’m trying,” I say, brushing my lips against her neck. She sighs at the contact and arches her back against me. “I guess I’m just distracted.”
“You should try to be more present.”
“That reminds me.” I push myself up and off of the couch and jog to my room. When I return with the gift bag, she sits up looking puzzled.
“What’s that?” She regards it like it might be a ticking bomb.
“Just something I picked up for you.” When she hesitates, I continue, “Open it.”
Pulling the white tissue paper from the shiny bag, she reaches in and pulls out her gift. She stares at the three-pack of hammers. They’re different weights and sizes, arranged together in hard plastic packaging.
“You mentioned you didn’t have a hammer. Now you do.”
“Thank you,” she says.
“You’re welcome,” I reply.
“No, I mean it - thank you.”
“For what?”
“For…everything? You really showed up for me through…all of this. I don’t want to be the mess that you always have to clean up.”
“Rilla, you’re not an obligation. You’re a choice. One that I will make again and again for as long as you give me the option.”
“I just think it might be easier for you to be with someone who doesn’t summon lightning wherever she goes.”
“I’ve been around those types of people my entire life. And you know what they’ve given me? Nothing. Because even though they look like a pretty package, they’re empty inside. You make me feel everything, Rilla. The good, the bad, the fucking fantastic. I’ve been going through the motions of living for more than thirty years, but you make me feel like I’m finally alive. Is life with you going to be difficult sometimes? Probably. But Kitten, I’ll take hard with you over easy with anyone else.”
“Stop,” she sniffs, wiping at her eyes. “You can’t keep saying nice things, it’s making me all sloppy.”
“I love you when you’re sloppy. I love you when you’re pissed off and when you’re scared. If you want to run, let me run with you. If you want to fight, I’ll be by your side. And if you want to burn the world down, I’ll bring the goddamn matches. I love you. You are it for me.”
“You’re it for me, too. I’ll always choose you, too. You see every bit of me. Every dent, every scratch, and instead of trying to fix me, you love me as I am. And now I have more hammers than Josh, and that makes me really happy. Are the hammers a metaphor? Like how we’ve broken down each other’s walls?”
“Sure. That and I’d really like to continue nailing you.”
She laughs through her tears and it’s everything. I watch her stand, grinning as she extends her hands to me. She pulls me off the couch and stands on her tiptoes to bring her lips to mine. We continue to kiss as we make our way to my bedroom, bumping into walls and doorways as we go.
My hands slip beneath her t-shirt and I feel her warm skin pebble at my touch. She sighs against my mouth.
“I love your hands.” She trails kisses along my jawline and when I stroke her breast over her bra, she inhales sharply. “How do you do that?”
“What?”
“Always know exactly where I want you to touch me?”
I grab the hem of her shirt and pull it over her head, biting back a curse at how utterly lovely she is. “Extensive research.” I kiss her collarbone, then the top of each breast. “But further studies are needed. I want to be very thorough.”
“I love when you’re thorough.”
Our clothes come off quickly, our hands and mouths only leaving each other briefly as we strip each other down, layer by layer. When there’s nothing left to remove, she lowers herself to her knees, taking me in her hands as I stand above her.
“Can you tell what I want now?” Her eyes stay on me as she teases the tip of my cock with her tongue before taking me between her lips. Her mouth is soft and warm as she moves on me, her rhythm slow and teasing. It’s heaven. She’s heaven.
I groan, gently gripping her dark curls. “Whatever it is, it’s yours. Name it. I will do anything for you, Rilla.”
“Just keep loving me?”
Her vulnerable expression has me sinking to my knees before her. I take her hand and press her palm down over where my heart is threatening to break out of my ribcage and lean down so our foreheads meet.
“That’s inevitable. I couldn’t stop if I tried. Ask me for something else.”
She gives me a long, drugging kiss. When she pulls away, there’s a wicked glint in her eyes. “I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to that angled hip thrust you’re so good at.”
“There’s my girl.”
She pulls me down to the floor on top of her and I go willingly. Eagerly. The way she cries my name so sweetly as I slide into her nearly makes me come, but I hold on. I won’t stop until I get her there.
“It’s so good…Logan, you’re so good…I love you so much.”
Until now, Rilla’s always shown me how she feels, and that was enough for me. But hearing her say the words, telling me what I do to her, hearing her profess her love for me again and again, is the greatest fucking high of my life.
I shift my hips and she cries out, her back arching off the floor and her legs wrapping around my waist as I go faster and harder. Part of me never wants this feeling to end, but I also know my own limits and I’m desperate to feel her clench around me.
She comes hard with my name on her lips and the sound alone is enough to send me careening over the edge after her. I collapse on top of her and she hugs me to her chest, holding me tightly as we both recover.
“Exactly what I wanted,” she murmurs to the top of my head. I lie there listening to her heart beat steadily in her chest. I’m not sure if I truly deserve this woman, but I do know I’ll never give her up and I’ll always be grateful to call her mine.