Chapter 26
Warmth
Penny’s living room was a crime board pretending to be décor. Files stacked on coffee tables. Newsprint spilling off armchairs. Red string webbed between photographs she swore she wouldn’t use this time. Until she did. The Creams empire stretched back decades. Generations.
Murders smoothed into accidents. Witnesses vanishing mid-sentence.
And then there was Logan.
Not the heir.
Not the golden boy.
The enforcer.
She flipped a file. Blurry CCTV still from ten years ago. Subject identified: Logan Creams. Fire confirmed. Body unrecovered.
Her eyes lingered.
And lingered.
Her thumb hovered over her phone before she realized she was holding it.
[To: Logan ??]
Your name keeps showing up in very interesting places.
Should I be scared… or turned on?
Send.
She didn’t expect an answer. She never did.
***
Seven thousand miles away, Logan sat outside a cliffside villa. Drink in hand. Sea screaming against the rocks below.
Lucas was upstairs with Maddison.
Logan was… alone .
When his phone buzzed, he nearly ignored it. Nearly.
He read Penny’s message. Once. Twice. A third time.
His thumb hovered.
“Fucking hell,” he muttered. Then tapped back.
[From: Logan ??]
Both. You should be both.
Also, what are you wearing, gossip girl?
***
Penny’s brows shot up.
Her lips curved slowly.
“Gotcha.”
She typed. Deleted. Typed again. Finally:
[To: Logan ??]
I’m not wearing anything.
Thought you’d like the visual.
Now go ahead. Picture it.
Then tell me how badly you want to come home and ruin me.
Like you’d ever beg.
She tossed the phone aside, stretching like a cat.
“Oh, Creams,” she whispered at her reflection, hands sliding down her thighs. “You’ll break first.”
***
Logan sat on the villa bed, fists clenched, chest heaving. The ocean outside howled like it knew.
He stared at Penny’s words. Wet. Waiting.
She had no idea.
He’d kill to be inside her right now.
To shut her up with his mouth.
To make her limp with it, ruined and wrecked.
He typed. Paused. Deleted.
Then, before he could stop himself:
[To: Penny ??]
I’d beg.
For you? I’d fucking beg.
Regret surged instantly.
“Fuck,”
His phone buzzed. Incoming call. Penny.
He answered too fast.
“Say it again,” she demanded. Velvet, slick.
“Say you’d beg.”
His throat worked. “Penny…”
“Say it.”
His eyes closed, head tipping back. “I’d beg.”
“How?”
“On my knees. Hands behind my back. Whatever you wanted.”
Silence cracked down the line. Then her breath hitched, soft and sharp.
“You’re mine, Creams,” she whispered. “You just don’t know it yet.”
Logan clutched the phone like it was keeping him alive.
“Hand in your pants yet, Creams?”
His throat bobbed. “Not yet.”
“Then fix that. Now.”
And he did. Slowly. Already hard. Already aching.
“Tell me what you’re doing.”
“Touching.”
“No.” Her tone cut like a knife. “You stroke when I tell you to. Not before.”
He froze, panting.
“Good boy,” she purred. “I want you leaking. Desperate. Whining for me.”
His jaw locked, body trembling.
“You like it when I use my dirty mouth to control you, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then beg.”
“Penny, please…”
“No. Beg like you mean it.”
His voice cracked. “Please. Please, let me touch. I need it. I need you.”
“Good.” Her voice was honey-dark. “Now stroke. Slow. Picture me under you. Nails in your back. My thighs around your face.”
He groaned, ruined, moving faster at her command.
“You gonna come for me, Logan?”
“Fuck, yeah…”
“You gonna make a mess thinking about how I’ll ride you when you get back?”
“Penny…Jesus…”
“Say my name.”
“Penny. Penny. I…fuck, I’m…”
He arched, body shuddering, release tearing through him.
***
Logan collapsed back, arm over his eyes, phone clutched tight. His chest burned with something he couldn’t name.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Why did I answer?”
Then her voice became softer. Real.
“Because you miss me.”
He groaned. Wounded. “Penny…”
“What?”
“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
“I miss you, Logan.”
He froze. Completely.
Every instinct screamed to hang up. To snarl. To remind her who he was.
But all he said was:
“I don’t know what to do with that.”
“You don’t have to do anything,” she murmured. “Just let me miss you. Let that be enough tonight.”
A shaky exhale left him.
“I’m a mess, Penny.”
“You’re my mess, Logan” she whispered.
He didn’t reply.
Didn’t hang up, either.
And for Logan Creams, that was the closest thing to surrender he’d ever given.