Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
J ess lay on top of Logan, feeling his roughened hands moving slowly up and down her curved, damp back in the aftermath. His touch was incredibly tender, loving, and she never wanted to move again. Having him within her, feeling his inherent strength, her cheek against his sweaty shoulder, their breathing torn and jagged, made her feel a profound, soul-filling contentment, and she closed her eyes. Her heart swelled with such intense love for him. Her throat tightened from all the many beautiful emotions she held only for him. As he slid his fingers through her tangled hair, smoothing it, pulling it aside so he could lean over and press a kiss to her cheek, she sighed. How could she ever show Logan with words how much he meant to her? Moving her fingers up across his chest, outlining his collar bone, feeling his muscles leap beneath her exploring fingertips, Jess smiled.
“I don’t want this to ever end,” Logan whispered against her ear, tendrils of her hair tickling his nose and mouth.
“Me either,” she whispered unsteadily, moving her hand to his stubbled jaw, tracing his chiseled mouth, that mouth that gave her such incredible pleasure. “Can we just stay like this forever?” and Jess laughed softly. She heard and felt a matching chuckle rumble up through Logan’s chest.
“It sure as hell feels better without a condom,” he told her, easing thick black strands off her shoulder, laying them across her back.
“Mmmm, it’s the best dessert in the world, Logan…” and it was. She’d come so swiftly, so easily, that it had rocked her soul. They weren’t just good together, they were mind-blowingly good together. They suited, fitted, each other perfectly. Logan slowly arched his hips, drawing a moan out of her from how thick and powerful he still felt within her. And, when he enclosed her with his arms, kissing her temple, inhaling her fragrance, nothing had ever felt more right in Jess’s world.
“You’re not leaving this bed,” Logan warned, lifting his hips, feeling himself hardening once more, feeling her body constrict and grip him.
“Neither are you,” Jess laughed quietly. She eased herself up, from laying prone against his torso into a sitting position, closing her eyes, feeling him still deep within her, the fiery signals starting all over again. As he cupped her taut breasts, his thumbs brushing those ripe nipples, she sank into his open palms, a small cry of pleasure trapped in her exposed throat. And as she became limp in his hands, Jess felt him move slowly onto his side, easing out of her. She moaned his loss as he gently guided her down upon her back, rising above her, his knee nudging open her thighs. Jess saw that hunter look was back, burning in his gaze. Jess watched him settle between her thighs, his dark, sunburned hands coming to rest upon her white hips. This time, he laid across her, pressing against her wet entrance, his hands framing her head, staring deep into her eyes, watching her, watching how she reacted as he began to tease her, moving slowly in and out, languishing that knot of swollen nerves just by her entrance.
“Now,” he growled, “my turn to tease the hell out of you.” His smile turned predatory. “Not that you don’t have this coming, woman…”
Oh! Logan knew how to precisely pleasure her mercilessly, the fire licking and laving up through her.
Logan could feel Jess coming close to orgasm. He held her head and lay heavily against her, almost completely preventing her from moving with his superior weight. But the way he curved his mouth against hers, his tongue tangling, dancing with hers, emulating what she wanted so badly below with him, drove her into a mewling state of frustration. And then, he entered her again, teasing that hungry knot that throbbed and ached so badly.
“…Logan,” she gasped, her voice low, “…. please, I need you.”
He lay still within her, watching her, kissing her wet, warm mouth. “Like I did you? All’s fair in love and war, Babe,” and his smile went deep into her turbulent, aroused eyes. He finally saw the surrender in those eyes, saw the stark, raging hunger for him again. Yeah, they were sure as hell good for one another. In every possible way. Sex had never been more fulfilling, more powerful and satisfying, than with Jess. Logan twisted his hips just enough to feel her arch beneath him, her eyes shuttering close as he gave her the pleasure she was pleading for. He would never deny her. Not ever. Well… not for long, anyway. Logan set about giving her exactly what she wanted because it filled him with a happiness that nothing could ever buy. Because he loved Jess with a savageness that was so damned primal and animal-like, Logan would never be able to give it words.
But he could show her, play with her, tease her and love her with a necessity that did not need words. He felt her thrust her hips upward, seeking even more pleasure from him. Releasing Jess, he shifted a lot of his weight from her, sliding one hand beneath her hips to give her that favored angle that would send her into keening with ecstasy. Her entire body bowed against him, her fingers digging deeply into his shoulders, as Logan felt her grip him and that flush of wet, hot heat shatter through her. To hear Jess cry out his name, to feel her silky heat enclose him, her flesh damp, sliding against his, lost him in his five boiling senses, absorbing Jess into his body, his heart and his soul.
Jess made a muffled sound against Logan’s neck. It was dark as she drowsily awoke. She felt Logan’s arm around her shoulder tighten, as if to guard her, to keep her safe. It was an overwhelming sense of protection, and Jess smiled softly, stretching her hand across his powerful chest. Her body simmered with such satisfaction that she could barely move. She was a thirsty sponge, satiated in the pleasure still simmering through every cell in her glowing body.
Logan had awakened instantly when Jess made that soft sound in the back of her throat. The languor within his body made him relax when realized he was in a bedroom with her in his arms, her warm, soft curves against him. Her moist breath flowed across his upper chest, slow and deep. Logan had never felt such peace, such laziness, but a laziness he savored. Because it came from loving Jess. He moved his head just enough to press a kiss into her hair.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.
Jess smoothed her hand across Logan’s chest. “More than okay. Still floating… You are incredible, Logan…”
Her words made him feel good, feel worthy of her as a man. He slid his fingers across her upper arm, feeling the goosepimples it raised as he traced her velvet flesh. “We must have drifted off,” he mumbled, lifting his wrist, looking at his watch. “It’s 0300.”
“I want the world to go away,” Jess muttered. “I wish I could call in sick and just be with you all day today…”
Grimacing, Logan squeezed her shoulders. “It’s going to happen soon enough.”
Jess slowly eased away from him. She pushed her tangled hair off her face as she sat up. The light out in the hall spilled just enough into the bedroom that she could see his drowsy, satisfied expression. Even in repose, Logan reminded her of a lion who might look tame, but was not. She propped herself up on one elbow, lacing her fingers through the dark hair across his chest, absorbing his expression. Logan’s hair was mussed, his beard darkening his lower face, again reminding her of his primal side that was in such scalding, satisfying parallel with her own.
“When I go in this morning, I’m going to the Personnel Office, Logan.” Her voice lowered with emotion. “I’m going to tell them I’m not reenlisting.” Her hand settled over his heart, its beat slow and powerful beneath her palm. “When we drive down to Coronado, to your condo, I intend to stay there and live with you. Not just drop by for a visit.” She searched his shadowed blue eyes, so intense upon her. “Are you all right with that?”
“More than all right, Babe,” he rasped, cupping her cheek, drawing her down. He met her soft, warm lips and slid his mouth strongly against them. His heart did flipflops of unparalleled joy. Never had Logan wanted a woman more than Jess. She had just told him she was walking into his life, settling into it. He felt her smile softly beneath his mouth and he eased away, seeing the radiance in her gaze.
“You’re really okay with it? All of it?” Jess saw his mouth begin to curve up, and heat flooded her from her head to her toes. The look Logan gave her was of a man claiming his woman. Forever.
Logan eased himself up into a sitting position. He stood the pillows behind him and rested against them on the headboard, pulling Jess back into his arms. He saw the tension, the unsureness and worry, in her eyes. He’d heard it in her low, sultry voice. Sliding his hand against her cheek, guiding her gaze up to his, voice thick with feeling, he rasped, “Jess, I was committed to you the first afternoon I met you. Nothing’s changed. Nothing is ever going to change. I want you happy, Babe. I always want you to go where your heart tells you.”
His words were balm for her soul. Jess leaned upward, her lips brushing his. “My heart has always been in your hands, Logan.” She closed her eyes feeling the tenderness as his mouth took hers with such exquisite gentleness, as if she were some priceless, fragile being that could break at a moment’s notice. But it was more than that, as Logan drank deeply of her mouth, tasting Jess, sharing their breath. It was his loving of her in equal measure. It brought tears of joy to her eyes, warm tears, meeting and melding between their mouths. They were one, coming together, becoming whole. And together, they had unlimited strength and grace to give and share with one another.
As Jess slowly separated from Logan’s mouth, his breath ragged, his eyes glittering with need of her once more, she felt as if a heavy pressure had dissolved from her shoulders. Logan searched her face, memorizing it, embracing her silently with the love he held for her. Jess knew she’d made the right decision.
“I want to marry you, Jess, but there will be a lot of away time from you.”
“I want us together whenever it can happen,” she assured him. “Besides, I’ll have my job at my parent’s construction company. When you’re gone on training or deployment, Logan, I’ll be plenty occupied.”
Logan nodded, seeing the flush in her cheeks, the happiness shining in her green eyes. “You’ll worry a lot, Jess. I know you will.”
Shaking her head, she said wryly, “Not as much as you think, Logan. Remember? I was with you in the Hindu Kush? Running for our lives? I saw you in action. Any question I had about you being in over your head, has been answered. I know your work is always dangerous. And will I not worry? Nooo… But I’ll be worrying a lot less. Does that help?” and Jess smiled warmly into his eyes.
“That helps a lot,” he growled, thinking how fragile and beautiful Jess really was. Logan still found it impossible to comprehend where her hidden strength to gut through that escape with him had sprung from. Maybe it was because she was a woman of the earth; grounded and strong in ways hidden until they were needed. His great-grandmother Sarah, had been a tough frontier woman, helping carve their present-day ranch out of the earth, out of the very mountains, and Jess had been cast from the same mold.
“I want you happy, Babe.”
“I am. And I know my parents are going to breath a huge sigh of relief knowing I’m no longer in the Navy. They’re so fearful I’ll get ordered overseas into a dangerous area again.”
“I know,” Logan murmured, sliding his hand down her shoulder, watching her eyes go warm, then grow aroused. Jess was so easily moved. Willful. Fearless. His. “This means we’re going to have sixty days together. Think you can handle that?”
She grinned. “In a heartbeat, sailor.”
Yeah, she was a fierce warrior woman, no question. Logan met her smile with one of his own. “How about, at some point, we take a week, and we fly back to Wyoming? To meet my parents? I can teach you how to ride a horse even better. We have good saddles that don’t put nails in your butt.”
Laughter bubbled up out of her throat. “I NEVER want to be on another horse again, Logan Randall! I’ll watch YOU ride. I’ll bet your mother is great at canning, and I would love to trade recipes with her. Canning is something I love to do every Fall. I like eating organic.”
Nodding, he gathered Jess back into his arms and she gladly came, snuggling and nuzzling happily against him. “My mother is a canner. But she also rides horses, herds cattle, and is a wrangler.”
“I think I’ll stick to the canning.”
“Well,” Logan warned her with a grin, “be prepared. My mother has been ragging on me for years to get remarried. She wants grandkids .”
Smothering a laugh, Jess said, “Who knows? By then, I just might be pregnant?” and she gave him a wistful look.
Shock, but a good kind of shock, rolled through Logan. He saw the yearning in Jess’s eyes and heard it in her low voice. “You want a family?”
“Of course.”
“We had a discussion about it once.”
“I remember.”
“I’m okay with it, Jess. But you have to seriously think through it because, as a SEAL, I’m gone three-fourths of every year. I won’t be around much to change diapers or be a father.”
Nodding, Jess said, “I already figured that out. We can wait, Logan. I’m all right with that, too. A child needs a mother and a father.”
He took in a deep breath and his mouth became thinned. “That would be the sensible thing to do, but…the truth is, Jess…” Holding her tender gaze, he admitted, “I’ve got a lot of years in as a SEAL and honestly? My knees aren’t going to take it much more. I’ve had two operations. I’ve had a lot of injuries to them, off and on over the years. It’s rough, hard physical work, Jess.”
“So,” she said, sympathetic, “are you thinking of quitting at some time in the future?” She saw his eyes grow dark, knowing how much he loved being a SEAL. And he was the best at it, as far as she was concerned. For her to beg Logan to quit being a SEAL, she knew would not work in their favor, over the long run.
“Yeah, I was seriously thinking about it.” Logan gave her a tender look. “My enlistment is up in sixteen months. That means I could continue being Stateside forever if I quit being a SEAL.”
And out of danger. Jess kept the words to herself. Her heart beat a little harder. Excitement thrummed through her. Logan would be safe! She’d lied that she wouldn’t worry much, not wanting to stand in the way of his love of being a SEAL; their careers were always on the front lines and, deep within her, was the terror that a bullet would find him, snuff out his precious life. She cleared her throat, giving him a hopeful look. “Then? We could be married sooner? Your parents and mine could be present for it? Maybe, if all this happens, we could think about me getting pregnant sooner?”
Nodding, Logan moved his hand across her rounded belly. Jess had wide hips. She’d easily carry a baby. And he knew how good a mother she would be, just from seeing her with the Afghan village kids. “That’s kind of where I was going with all of this, but I needed to know how you felt about it, Jess. My parents have been wanting me to come home, to start taking over the ranch, getting married, having kids. You know how parents are?”
She raised an eyebrow, her lips curving. “Yes.” She saw him grow concerned. “What’s bothering you, Logan?”
Shrugging, “If I got out, I’d like to go home to Wyoming, Jess. But I don’t know how you’d feel about that. My skills are being a wrangler. I grew up on a ranch. It’s something I know well. I could start taking over the ranch duties from my parents so they could retire someday in the future. You and I, and our children, would then run it and own it. We could build my parents a retirement house on the property. I know they’d like that. My mother would love our children and babysit them if you had an outside job.”
It was her turn to shrug. “You know what? I could get a job in construction anywhere I wanted, Logan. My parents might be sad about me leaving San Diego for Wyoming, but I’m okay with it. We could invite them to come up for visits whenever they wanted.” She tilted her head, her voice low. “I love you. I want you happy, too.” Because she knew Logan would always be an outdoorsman. A man of nature. Like she was a woman of nature. And then she gave him a mischievous grin. “Just don’t you dare ask me to ride a horse.”
A huge weight dissolved from Logan’s shoulders. “I don’t care if you never throw a leg over a horse again, Babe. I just want you happy, too.”
“Logan, I would love to have your parents nearby. I’m sure, if we start having children at some point, they would love to play the doting grandparents. I like the idea of them being close.”
He groaned. “My mother would be in heaven if she heard you saying these things.”
She eased a hand across his chest. “Then, we sort of have a general roadmap we’ve made for ourselves. Something that makes us both happy?”
Logan couldn’t believe how easily his future dreams for their lives was unfolding. Above everything, he wanted Jess happy. And the glow he saw in her face when speaking about children gripped his heart as nothing ever would. “We’ll both be happy,” he promised her, caressing her cheek, drowning in her radiant expression. “I think we need each of us to call our parents and give them the news. You okay with that?”
“Absolutely,” she whispered. “More than okay with it. My parents wanted grandchildren, too. This is going to make them all happy.”
“Then? Let’s go take a shower together, get dressed, and go out to the living room and write down the plan, the dates when my enlistment is up, a date for when we’d like to get married. Since I’ll remain Stateside to finish out my enlistment? We can get married a lot sooner, and that’s what I want. Would you jump on board for that?”
She grinned. “In a heartbeat.”
“Because of my seniority,” Logan said, “there’s a good chance they’ll send me to San Diego, to Coronado to train recruits, or maybe to be an instructor there.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh! That would be wonderful!” she said, joy flooding her. “My parents would love that, Logan. I know they’ll love you from the moment they set eyes on you. You getting to know them is so important to me…,” and she reached out, caressing his stubbly jaw, lost in the love she saw shining in his eyes for her alone.
“And maybe? This coming Christmas? We could fly my parents out from Wyoming, to stay with us in San Diego, and they’d get to meet your parents? How do you feel about that plan?”
“A dream come true,” she whispered, kissing him on his mouth.
He slid his hand around her slender neck, holding her lips against his. “Then? Let’s make this a reality, shall we, Babe? Having a life with you is way more important to me than being a SEAL. Life has given us something we probably both thought was impossible. There aren’t many people who actually have their dreams come true.” He kissed her long and deep.
As he left her soft, willing lips, drowning in her loving gaze, he rasped, “YOU are my dream come true. And I’m looking forward to our lives together. Forever.”
THE END