Chapter 29 – Nalia
Twenty-Nine
NALIA
Lying in Logan’s bed, I listen to the sound of him in the bathroom while I stare at the ceiling fan overhead.
Even knowing that all the kids were okay with Zuri and me sleeping over tonight, I feel awkward and unsure about being here.
It was odd tucking Zuri into bed upstairs in the guest room, odd that she seemed totally okay with it, and weirder that all the kids called out good night to Logan and me as we went downstairs, like they had done it night after night for years.
“In the morning, baby, I gotta run to the grocery store to get a couple of things. Is there anything you need?” The question pulls me from my thoughts and I watch him walk out of the bathroom in a pair of blue and grey plaid sleep pants and nothing else.
My eyes, of course, catch on the strip of hair that disappears into the elastic of his pants, and I know this was for sure a horrible idea.
There is no way I’ll be able to sleep with him in his bed without having inappropriate thoughts.
“Babe.”
“Hmmm?” I meet his gaze and find him grinning.
“I said I need to go to the store in the morning.”
“Oh, if you tell me what you need and if I’m up before you, I can go.”
“I just need to get some pancake mix since we ran out last weekend, do you need anything?” He flips off the bedside light plunging the room into darkness, then his big body slides under the covers.
When he pulls me against him, I curl into his side and rest my arm across his abs, feeling his muscles go taught before he lets me go and flips back on the lamp.
The sudden brightness catches me by surprise and so does him throwing the blanket off me.
“Baby, what the fuck?” He stares at me.
“What?” I frown.
“Why are you dressed like you’re going to bed in an igloo in the middle of winter?”
“I’m not.”
“You have on sweats and a sweatshirt.”
“Yeah, this is how I always go to bed.” It’s not exactly a lie.
One of the sleep sets I usually go to bed in is under the sweats and sweatshirt.
I got dressed like I normally would when I got ready for bed, but when I left him in the bathroom, I realized that my pajamas were a little too sexy for sleeping over at Logan’s with the kids in the house.
“No, you don’t.” He laughs. “Seriously, baby, that outfit is ridiculous.” He gets off the bed.
“You say that now, but what if one of your kids comes in here? I don’t want to be the reason they are traumatized for the rest of their lives.”
“Christ, you are a fucking nut.” He grabs the ankles of my sweats and rips them from my body.
“Logan.”
“Hush.” He puts a knee to the bed, then grabs my hand and tugs me to sit up.
“Logan, seriously,” I hiss trying to get him to let me go when he starts to take my sweatshirt off.
“You’re not sleeping in your clothes Nalia.” He gets my sweatshirt off and before I can get it back he tosses it across the room.
“Seriously?” I snap.
“Yep.” He crawls up the bed, then falls to his back and pulls the blanket back over us.
“Logan.” I wiggle when he reaches over shutting of the lamp while holding me to his side.
“Go to sleep, baby.”
“I was going to go to sleep before you started harassing me.”
“I’m going to harass you in a second,” he mumbles, and I snap my mouth shut while my eyes widen. Even not being able to see my face, he starts to laugh. “God, I fucking love you.”
“That’s because I’m awesome,” I mutter, sure that he meant it like god you’re so funny I love you, not I love you, I love you.
“I do, you know,” he says quietly after a long moment, and I hold my breath. “You’re probably not ready to hear it, but I am in love with you.”
“Logan,” I whisper with my throat tight.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he whispers, rolling towards me and curling me into his front. “I know you’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
“And if I tell you that I feel the same way?” I ask, and his chin comes to rest against the top of my head.
“Then I’d tell you how fucking lucky I feel.” He kisses my hair, and my nose stings.
“I still don’t understand how we got here?”
“I knew the moment that you gave me attitude about not charging you for your fan belt that this is exactly where you’d end up.”
“Did you now?”
“Look where you are.”
“You have a point,” I murmur, and he laughs. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that I still owe you for the second time you fixed my Bronco.”
“We’ll talk about that tomorrow.”
“Liar,” I sigh.
“I love you.” He uses his fingers on my jaw to lift my chin so he can touch his mouth to mine. “Go to sleep, baby.” He tucks my face against his chest, and I curl my arm around him.
As my eyes start to get heavy and my body relaxes against his, I feel completely content, like I’m exactly where I belong for maybe the first time in my life.
* * *
With the early morning sun peeking through the edge of the closed blinds the next morning, I try to fight the urge to moan, but it’s difficult.
“You really need to be quiet,” Logan groans with his palm over my mouth and his lips brushing my ear.
I’m trying, really trying to be quiet as he fucks me lazily, but each time he slides inside me, he hits something that makes my breath catch and my insides pull tight.
At first, I was biting my lip to hold the whimpers at bay, but when I couldn’t do that any longer, he slapped his hand over my mouth to shut me up himself.
“God dammit, baby, I swear you have the softest, tightest, hottest pussy.”
“Logan,” I moan against his hand, and he leans back to look at me.
“So gorgeous.” He stares into my eyes. “I know you don’t want biological kids, baby, but if you did, I’d get down on my knees and pray that they got your eyes.
” Involuntarily, my insides spasm around his cock, and he curses under his breath.
He’s right, I don’t want kids, not more of them anyway, but I would still love to see his and my child.
“I’m going to need you to come soon, otherwise I’m going to lose it. ”
I already came with his mouth between my legs, and I’m on the verge of coming again.
But with his lazy thrusts, the orgasm that’s building is hovering just outside of reach.
Lifting my legs higher around his waist, I tip my hips and he goes even deeper, his pelvis grinding against my clit.
Lifting my hands into his hair, I pull his head down and he moves his hand and covers my mouth with his own, swallowing my moan as the orgasm that had been building tidal waves through my body in a slow rush from my scalp to my toes.
With my core convulsing around his cock, he growls against my tongue and thrusts into me two more times before settling his hips against mine and coming deep inside me.
Breathing heavy, my eyes slide closed, then spring open when I hear the door bang.
Panicking, I try to push him off me, then hiss. “Logan, move.”
“It’s just Dozer.” He chuckles, leaning back to look at me. “I don’t know about Zur, but the kids sleep late on the weekends unless we have an early game.”
“Oh,” my head falls back to the pillow, my heartbeat still erratic. “Zuri usually sleeps late too, though I don’t know that she will today since she’s not in her bed.”
“It’s also just after six.”
“Six.” My brows drag together; the only time I get up before seven is on school days. “Why are you awake so early?”
“I wanted time to take advantage of you and get in a shower.” He kisses my neck then rolls over, taking me with him. Sitting up he gets out of bed and tosses the blanket over me before leaning in and placing his fist into the mattress. “I’ll start the shower.”
“Okay.” My eyes slide closed as he kisses me, then open to watch him walk across the room. A second after he disappears out of sight, I hear the shower turn on, and a minute later, I get out of bed and walk into the bathroom to join him in the shower.
“Morning.” I smile at Billie when she stumbles into the kitchen, where I’ve been sitting with a cup of coffee since Logan left to go to the store about twenty minutes ago.
“Morning,” she mumbles, then looks around. “Where’s Dad?”
“He had to run to the store to get stuff for breakfast. He should be back soon.”
“Cool.” She puts down her book and walks over to the coffee pot.
“You’re reading To Kill A Mockingbird?” I pick up the book and scan the back. It’s been years since I read it, but I can still feel the heartache I felt when I read it the first time, all the way back when I was in high school.
“This is my second time reading it.” She takes a sip of coffee. “I took a writing class last summer, and it was one of the books we had to read.”
“Do you like writing?” I ask, and her face lights up.
“Yeah, I love it, but my goal is to work as an editor for a publishing company one day.”
“Now that would be an awesome job. What kind of books do you enjoy reading?”
“Fantasy is my favorite, but I also like mysteries.”
“Me too.”
“Really?” She smiles.
“Well, as long as they are heavy on the romance,” I tell her honestly, and she grins and then whispers.
“Me too.”
“So, you’re reading it again for school?” I get up and walk into the kitchen.
“Yeah, we have a big report due at the end of the semester.”
“I don’t miss the days of book reports.”
“I still have my report from writing camp, so I’m going to use some of that, but our teacher always asks us specific questions each week, and I want to make sure I’m still following along with the class.”
“Smart girl.” I start to refill my cup and smile at Zuri when she comes into the kitchen looking half asleep with her iPad in her hand and Pippin on her shoulder.
“Hey, you.” I wrap her in a hug, being careful of Pippin, when she falls against my side and wraps her arm around me. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” I kiss the top of her head.
“I’m hungry.”
“Logan should be back soon, and he’s going to make breakfast.”
“Bacon.” Her eyes light up, making me laugh. I never make real bacon; I always buy the kind made with turkey, so anytime she gets the real stuff, it’s a treat.
“I’m not sure.”
“Dad always makes bacon with pancakes,” Billie tells her.
“Cool.” She lets me go and wanders over to sit next to Billie with her iPad and Billie takes Pippin from her placing him on her shoulder. A few minutes later, Cooper comes into the kitchen and plops down on a stool, lying his head on the counter.
“Rough night?” I ask him over the rim of my coffee cup, and he grunts. Both girls look at me and smile.
“Dad’s home,” Billie says when Dozer gets up off the kitchen floor where he’s been sprawled out, a minute later we hear the front door open and the shuffle of shopping bags.
When Logan walks into the kitchen, Cooper lifts his head off the counter.
“I’m hungry.”
“Morning, hungry, I’m Dad.” Logan grins when Cooper groans, and both the girls laugh. Walking around the counter, he kisses me and I inwardly sigh.
“What do you want me to help with?” I ask as he starts to unload the bags.
“I got it.”
“Are you sure?” I ask as Zuri’s iPad starts to ring.
“Yep, just sit here and keep me company,” he says but my attention is on Zuri who is smiling ear to ear and the sound of Samson’s voice filling the kitchen though her iPad.
“Hey Pinky, I was trying to call Nalia, but she’s not answering.”
“She’s here.” She turns the iPad around to face me and by default Logan standing behind me.
“Now I see why you’ve been so busy.” Samson smiles, making air quotes, and I inwardly groan while Logan chuckles.
“Samson, this is Logan, Logan, my brother Samson.” I introduce them.
“Nice to meet you.” Logan steps up next to me, placing his hand in the middle of my back.
“And this is Billie and Cooper,” Zuri tells him, turning the iPad back around.
“Nice to meet you guys,” he says softly, and Billie says something similar while Cooper asks.
“Where are you?”
“Japan.”
“Tokyo?” He asks with a hopeful lit in his tone.
“No, but my brother Javion is there.”
“Cool, do you watch Anime?”
“No, but Javion does.”
“Where is he?” Cooper asks and Samson laughs then says. “Hold on.” A second later I hear a phone ringing and a second after that Javion joins the call.
“What’s up? Oh, hey, kiddo.”
“Hey.” Zuri smiles, then introduces him to Billie and Cooper before turning the camera to me so I can introduce him to Logan.
Then, as I sip my coffee and Logan makes all of us breakfast, Javion and Samson chat with everyone, and Javion answers all of Cooper’s questions about Tokyo and Anime.
And before they hang up, the two of them give me smiles of approval, something I appreciate but don’t necessarily need.
I might have been unsure about Logan in the beginning, but I’m not anymore.
I know with every fiber of my being that this is right, that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.