Chapter 26
26
While Logan finished working on the helicopter, he watched as a couple climbed out of a small airplane and listened to them as they excitedly talked about the scenery they had viewed. They thanked the pilot, and he grinned, thinking of the number of trips he had flown with tourists. He recognized it wasn’t a bad gig, but he could now look back and see it was just a career stop-gap between being a SEAL and running LSIMT.
Turning the wrench, he tightened the last bolt and glanced at his watch, wondering how Vivian was doing. His thoughts turned to her often, and even with all his training, he seemed unable to call a halt to her entering his mind constantly.
Grinning, he thought of their new sleeping arrangement. They might have to contend with the dip where the two mattresses were pushed together, but they’d slept much more comfortably than when they were in the twin bed. Hell, the sex was better since they weren’t afraid of breaking the bed. So far, they had spent the past few nights curled in each other’s arms after making love long into the night. Sex with Vivian had surpassed anything he had ever encountered. Sweet sex. Fun sex. Adventurous sex. Wild sex paired with soft kisses. Damn.
“Hey, Preacher!”
Looking up, he saw Iggie walking toward him. Waving, he tossed his wrench and headed his way. Shaking hands, he asked, “What are you doing over here?”
“I promised Sally I’d take her on a trip for our anniversary and heard some folks in the bar talking about going up to a lodge in Nome that’s supposed to be fuckin’ gorgeous.”
“Sounds nice.”
Iggie dropped his chin and stared at his boots for a moment before adding, “We can’t be away from the bar too long. I was just going to take her for a night…but, uh…it’s kind of a long drive.”
He grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. “You looking to fly?”
“Well, I was hoping you could take us in your helicopter.”
“You don’t want a plane?—”
“Nah. Sally doesn’t care much for flying, but I hoped that maybe you and Vivian would come with us. You two being newlyweds and all… I figured you’d like a nice night out.”
“When are you thinking about going?”
“This weekend?—”
“Hell, man. You don’t plan too far ahead, do you?” He laughed, shaking his head. Dropping his chin for a moment, he stared at his boots, the guilt of mixing work with pleasure having never occurred in his career. The chance to give Vivian a night in a nice lodge, on a real bed that didn’t separate when they turned over. It would make a perfect way for Viv to have a real chance to get away for a break. It’s just one night.
He uncrossed his arms, placing his hands on his hips. Glancing at his boss, he caught the man’s nod and stuck out his hand toward Iggie. “Well, all right. It looks like we’re taking a trip this weekend.”
The relief on Iggie’s face was palpable as he shook his hand. “Oh, man, you’ve just made me and Sally so happy. I thought we’d leave early Sunday morning, get there, and get checked in. There are hot springs nearby, and we’d have most of that day and then that night. Sally’s brother can watch the bar on Sunday night since we close early, and then we’ll be back on Monday.”
Chuckling, he said, “Sounds like you’ve got it planned.”
Turning to walk away, Iggie said, “Uh, do you think Vivian will want to go?”
For a moment, he thought of her during the past week, each day bent over the laptop, observing the neighbors and taking meticulous notes. Nodding, he said, “Oh yeah. Viv’ll be up for the trip.”
“Are you crazy?”
Logan looked on as Vivian stood in the middle of the living room, her hands on her hips, her eyes wide, and her mouth definitely not in a smile. Not knowing how to answer her rhetorical questions, he said, “Uh…”
“Logan! Spending the weekend, in close contact, with another married couple who thinks we’re married? How the hell are we going to pull that off?”
His shoulders relaxed as his mouth quirked up. “Viv, we got this. It’s easy. Fly there, spend time by ourselves, have a great night in a lodge in a bed that isn’t on the floor with a dip in the middle, and fly back. Babe, it’s no problem.” Thinking his words would soothe, he stepped back a half foot when she rounded on him, her hands now waving in the air.
“No problem? Logan, this isn’t about sex! How can you even think about sex when most of the weekend we’ll be trying not to screw up our cover?”
Wisely deciding not to tell her how he could be thinking about sex, he remained quiet as she began to pace across the floor, her hands once more waving about.
“This isn’t about us having a wonderful weekend, Logan. We’ll be stuck in your helicopter for about four hours each way. What will we talk about? Huh? How do we sound like a married couple?”
Walking toward her, he reached out to place his hands on her shoulders to still her pacing, but she ducked away and continued her rant.
“I don’t know you! I don’t even know where you’re from. I don’t know your parents’ names, much less anything about them. Or if they’re even alive…” Swirling around suddenly, she scrunched her face as a frown settled on her features. “Oh…are they alive?”
“Yeah, babe. They’re alive?—”
Relief flooded her face as she said, “Thank God. But see? I didn’t even know that!”
“We can pull this off. We don’t leave for another two days. We’ve got time to learn about each other,” he cajoled. Grinning as he stepped forward, he added, “We’ve spent a lot of time together in the past two weeks.”
She stepped backward, the back of her knees hitting the coffee table and her body stiffening. “You’re kidding, right? Logan, I hate to break it to you, but a week of phenomenal sex hardly makes us a couple. It takes a helluva lot more than a lot of great sex to be able to be a couple.”
“What the fuck are you saying, Viv? That what we have isn’t real? That it doesn’t mean something?”
Letting out a shaky breath, she shook her head slightly. “I don’t know what we have. We haven’t exactly talked about what’s going on between us. We talk about the job. We talk about the neighbors. We talk about what we’re going to fix for dinner. And we have sex.” Wrapping her arms around her middle, she sucked in her lips.
Reaching out, Logan pulled her gently to him, feeling the tension in her body. Saying nothing, he hoped his body would offer her the solace she needed. After several minutes, he felt her relax slightly, her breath leaving her chest in a long sigh.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, her face buried in his T-shirt.
“I’m the one who’s sorry,” he admitted. “First, for leaving you here in the house for so long. And second, for not realizing you…well, we need more.”
“More what?”
“More understanding of what we are.”
She leaned her head back and asked, “When you’re typically on jobs, do you have to spend days or weeks cooped up, planning, analyzing, and being bored until the mission finally comes to fruition?”
Chuckling, he nodded. “You just described being a SEAL perfectly. Everyone thinks we ran around with special weapons all the time, raiding buildings, rescuing whoever the fuck needed it. Taking down the enemy, whoever the fuck it was at the time.”
His gaze moved from hers to someplace over her head. “But no one ever saw the endless days of planning, or sometimes just waiting…desert, jungle, mountains. Wherever. Just waiting until we could strike.”
“And what about now? Now that you have your own company?” she asked.
His brows knit as he pondered her questions. “It’s a bit new to tell. I’ll be more involved in the planning and take on missions that are right for me. The people who are like the SEAL support team are now working with those of us who will go out into the field. We’ll plan and then execute the assignments together.”
His answer seemed simple when, in truth, his business was complex. He could have sent any one of his Keepers to do this job. That thought hit him in the gut—the idea that one of the men under him could be here with Vivian. Would she have made the same decisions? Slept with one of them? Would they be falling for her?
“Sometimes I feel so out of my element here,” she confessed.
He jerked his attention back to her, knowing his thoughts would have no answers. I’m the one who came. I’m the one who’s here. “You and me both, Viv,” he said. “This isn’t like any mission I’ve been on before.”
A rueful snort slipped from her, and she offered a little smile. “I’m used to a desk job in the lab. Get samples, run tests, and analyze the results. Wash, rinse, repeat. I thought I’d like an assignment working in the field, but…” Uncertainty filled her words.
“But you didn’t count on us.” He supplied the words for her but they also were his words.
She nodded against his broad chest, and he loved the way her body fit so perfectly to his.
“Listen, we’ll work on getting to know each other better, which isn’t just for the trip. I want to know more about you. I’m interested in everything there is to know. We just have to focus on what we’re doing here so much that it doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything else.” He watched her eyes narrow and quickly amended, “Well, okay. We did have time for sex.” Breathing a sigh of relief as her lips curved slightly, he added, “But, Viv, I thought I’d made it clear that this wasn’t just a fling.”
Nodding, she said, “I know. You did. I guess I just can’t quite wrap my head around what it is.”
“Let’s not worry about labels right now. Let’s get to know each other. Kind of a crash course in Logan and Viv.”
Barking a laugh, she asked, “Crash course?” Sighing, she nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. That should do to get us through the weekend.”
“You know a day in a lodge with a hot spring isn’t the worst way to spend the weekend.”
Her smile was her only response, but as he squeezed her and walked back into the kitchen, he hoped his words were true.
Once they cleaned the kitchen, he reached for her hand and tugged her down the hall. Deciding to get comfortable while learning about each other, Logan lay sprawled on the bed, his back on the pillows piled against the wall. Vivian sat cross-legged, her feet tucked up underneath her, and, with her back against the other wall, she twisted to face him.
“Where do you want to start?”
She tilted her head as she tapped her forefinger on her chin. “I guess with basics.”
“Thirty-five.”
“What is thirty-five?”
Chuckling, he gently tapped his toes on her knees. “How old I am…thirty-five.”
“Oh. Right. Uh, I’m twenty-nine.”
Nodding, he watched her lips quirk as she stifled a grin. Pursing his lips, he narrowed his eyes. “Now what?”
“Sorry.” She chuckled again. “I’m living with an old man.”
Arching an eyebrow, he repeated, “Old man?”
“At least you’re not a dirty old man!”
Lifting his toes, he dug them into her waist, searching for a tickle spot. She grabbed his foot, then jerked it away while lifting it as high as she could.
“Hah, got you,” she declared proudly.
With a deft flip, he twisted his body so that his foot was no longer in her hand, and he straddled her body. Her legs were trapped by his much larger ones on either side, and her hand was held tight above her head.
“Who’s got who?” He grinned, leaning down to place a kiss on her nose.
Vivian struggled to knock him off but only managed to become more entrapped. His free hand snuck down toward her stomach, his fingers wiggling. “Who’s an old man?”
“I’m not ticklish, so you can’t make me talk!”
Moving his mouth to hers, Logan kissed her hard and fast, knowing anything more would have them getting to know each other naked with him inside her. And as much as he wanted that, he also knew they needed this time. Swinging one leg over, he helped her sit up, but this time, he settled her closer to him so that they were still facing each other, but her body was much nearer.
“I guess it wouldn’t take much torture to get me to talk, would it?”
“’Fraid you wouldn’t make it as a SEAL, babe, but I like you just the way you are.”
They sat silent for a moment before he asked, “Why don’t you tell me about your family?”
The immediate smile on her face let him know he had chosen wisely.
“You already know about my grandparents. My mom grew up in tiny Tanana and attended the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. There, she met my dad. He was a geologist working for an oil company. He firmly believed in preserving all of Alaska’s beauty, and his job was to find ways to mine it without damaging the landscape. Mom was an education major. It was her passion to teach. Once they met, they never dated anyone else. It was love for them…right away.”
Smiling at her recounting, he asked, “Did they stay in Alaska long?”
“For a while. I was actually born in Fairbanks about two years after they married. But, much to my grandparents’ sadness, Dad got transferred to the Redding office in California. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so it was just me and my parents. I finished school there and went to get my undergraduate degree in biochemistry close by at California State University, Chico. From there, I got hired by the Department of Homeland Security. That was fabulous because they paid for me to continue my education with Dr. Kendall Rhodes—the woman you rescued when her plane crashed.”
“Well, she was truly rescued by a friend, Marc Jenkins, who works for a security company in Virginia. When they got caught in a storm, I managed to get a helicopter in to rescue them both, along with some of the other men from the Saints.”
“Saints?”
“That’s the name of the company he worked for. Saints Protection and Investigations.”
“What’s your company's name, or is that still on a need-to-know basis?”
He spied the interest in her eyes, as well as the dare. She wanted more than his company's name—she wanted his trust.
“I’m a partner with the Lighthouse Security Investigations.” He started to tell her more but hesitated. He trusted her with the truth, but it was hard to explain LSIMT without giving her the whole story of him. And that could wait for another time.
She held his gaze. “Thank you,” she whispered. Shaking her head, she sighed. “I keep wondering why on earth I took this assignment since I don’t know how to do any of this kind of work.”
“I think you were right when you said you were chosen because you have the training for the substance analysis and the heritage that allows you to fit in easily.”
Vivian focused on his eyes, the color holding her captive once again. “You’ve got the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen on anyone.” She blushed, then moaned. “God, I can’t believe I just said that. I sounded more like fifteen than twenty-nine?—”
“No way, babe,” Logan said, leaning forward to take her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her delicate fingers. “That was…nice.” Wishing he could have come up with a better description, he realized how out of practice he was with dating…flirting…hell, just having a heart-to-heart with a beautiful woman. And he wanted it all with her.