Chapter Twenty-Eight
LOGAN
Times Square's New Year's Eve celebration was arguably the most famous in the world. I'd never been, and I'd never found much enjoyment in watching it on TV.
Now, being in New York, it would have been easy to go. If not for the two young daughters who usually went to bed before ten. The event was relatively close to our apartment, so we watched it on the large living room TV.
On any other New Year's, that would have been boring: watching a packed crowd enjoy concerts by artists I barely knew. Ringing in the New Year during a hospital ER shift had always seemed more fun.
Until I discovered I was a father.
Now, I had to confess that program was more than perfect.
Anna sang along to practically every song, and with her sister, danced gracefully, clumsily, and utterly without coordination in the middle of the room. Evelyn and I laughed heartily, constantly telling them how beautiful they were and how amazing their choreography was.
Even without hearing, Aurora tried to imitate the steps of the dancers on screen.
In that moment, I desperately wanted to be face-to-face with the grandmother who had told her she couldn't dance because she was deaf.
As long as I was around, no one would ever again dare say my daughters were incapable of achieving their dreams.
Since it was New Year's, Evelyn and I decided the girls could stay up to watch the midnight fireworks—which we could probably see from our window. However, shortly before eleven, they had tired of dancing and settled on the couch between us. About fifteen minutes later, they were both asleep.
"The party power didn't last until midnight. Who would have thought?" Evelyn joked.
I couldn't help but notice the obvious affection in her eyes as she gazed at my sleeping daughters.
That look made my heart race for this woman.
I was three months from thirty, and in my entire life, I couldn't remember feeling this way about anyone.
Evelyn awakened something in me I'd never experienced.
I thought maybe it was complicity, the friendly relationship we'd built beyond the bedroom.
But I knew it wasn't just that. Eleanor and I had been friends with benefits, and it worked.
This wasn't the same. We had incredible chemistry in bed, something I'd never felt with anyone else.
And we were friends, too—at least now, after our rocky start.
But there was something more.
Something I couldn't explain that left me unable to take my eyes off her. I was thinking about how beautiful she was, how much I desired her, but also what an incredible woman she was. How charming she was in a peculiar way, without even trying.
"Logan?" she asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I realized she'd just asked me a question.
"Sorry, I was distracted. What did you say?"
She looked at me and smiled.
And she could be even more charming when she smiled.
"What were you distracted by? What were you thinking about?"
I shook my head. "Nothing much. What did you ask?"
"I said it would be nice to take them to bed and asked what you thought."
"You can leave that to me."
I scooped up Aurora with one arm, then bent and gathered Anna with the other. Evelyn moved to help, but I insisted, "You can barely handle one of them."
"In my defense, they are indeed heavy for me."
She accompanied me to their bedroom, where she helped tuck each girl tightly into her bed against the cold night. We kissed each of them on the head before leaving together and returning to the living room. We sat on the sofa, this time close together. I wrapped my arms around Evelyn.
Now, we paid no attention to the TV. A first kiss, intended to be brief, turned into another, and then another, until a veritable fire ignited between us.
She turned to face me, resting her knees on either side of my hips. Provocatively, she settled over my erection. With her wearing a dress, only the fabric of my clothes and her panties blocked our bodies from direct contact.
We kissed again. My hands slid up her thighs, under her dress, until I was crazy with desire. It became even more intense when she, without breaking the kiss, unbuttoned my pants and, without any ceremony, slipped her hand inside my underwear, freeing my cock.
Evelyn slid to the floor and knelt. She looked into my eyes as she took me into her mouth.
"Holy shit, Evelyn..." I grunted, surprised by her boldness.
I tangled my hands in her hair, watching in ecstasy as her mouth moved on me.
"That's it, sweetie..." I murmured, never taking my eyes off her. I saw a smile in her eyes when I used that nickname—one I'd once sworn I'd never use. "Just like that... don't stop..."
She continued, just as I’d asked. When I felt myself close, I gently guided her away and stood, grabbing a condom from my wallet on the coffee table. I turned to face Evelyn and, in one swift movement that elicited a gasp from her, lifted her and laid her back onto the couch.
Then it was my turn to kneel before her. I pulled her panties aside and spread her legs, sinking my mouth between her thighs, licking and sucking her the way I knew she loved. As I tasted her, I used my hands to sheath myself in the condom.
I pulled away, shifting my hips back from where my mouth had been moments before. I gripped my length, sliding it through her slick heat in a slow, torturous stroke that was as painful as it was pleasurable.
"Make a New Year's wish, Evy..." I teased, my voice rough with need.
"I want to start the new year with you inside me, Logan."
It was my own wish, echoed back at me.
I buried myself inside her in one long, claiming thrust. A choked moan escaped her lips, and I didn't stop.
Wrapping my arms around her thighs, I lifted her effortlessly and carried her to the vast living room window.
We were on a high floor, the city sprawling below us like a field of stars—visible, but nearly impossible to see into.
Still, the faint, thrilling possibility made everything more intense.
I pressed her back against the cool wall beside the window, still holding her weight, and began to move.
My thrusts were rough, rhythmic, and utterly consuming.
The world narrowed to the feel of her around me, the sound of her ragged moans mingling with my own, and the distant, growing chant of the countdown from the television.
"Three... two... one... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
As the crowd roared, the night sky erupted. Colorful fireworks blossomed overhead, their brilliant colors and sparkling light flashing through the window, illuminating our tangled bodies in bursts of gold and blue.
There was nowhere else in the world I wanted to be.
I drove into her, feeling the telltale tremors build within her until she cried out, her body clenching around me as she fell over the edge.
The sensation was too much, and I followed her an instant later, my own release crashing through me with a guttural groan.
Still buried deep within her, both of us breathing heavily, I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her damp forehead.
"Happy New Year, beautiful," I whispered.
"Happy New Year, Logan."