Chapter 25
“Oh, my head. Why does my head hurt so much?” I open one eye, but all I see is my hair.
My head feels like a brick fell on it. No, more like a thousand bricks fell on it. And my mouth is so dry I don’t know how I just spoke.
I drag my head off the hotel pillow and prop myself up on my left elbow. I use my right hand to clear my vision from my waves of dark, thick hair and look across the king-sized bed.
Logan’s still asleep. His long dark lashes cast a shadow over his cheeks, over the scar where his father’s crucifix necklace hit him when he was sixteen, the last time Mr. Wild ever touched him in anger.
Logan’s breathing is heavy and familiar, and I sigh. Thank God nothing happened between us last night.
I go to slip out of bed and get a glass of water, but when I pull back the covers, I stifle a scream.
I’m naked. Naked.
Holy shoot. What happened last night?
Logan’s eyes are open now. I pull the covers back over my body and stare at him. His lips are swollen and bruised like they were busy all night. I lick my own lips and realize they feel the same way.
“Did we—” I shut my mouth as memories begin to flood my senses.
A Vegas exemption, he’d whispered in the bar hallway.
Then there was more drinking.
And more flirting.
Logan kissed me in the taxicab on our way to the Little White Wedding Chapel for Ginny and Dave’s wedding.
I squeeze my eyes shut for a second. The next part of the evening is blurry. In fact, I can’t seem to remember Ginny and Dave’s wedding at all.
That’s odd.
“But I remember coming back here,” I say quietly.
Logan’s mouth landed on mine in the hotel room doorway before we even made it inside the room. I peeled off his t-shirt and ran my hands over his solid chest. He unbuttoned my little jean shorts with his strong hands callused from all that ranch work…
“Cutting cattle this spring has made your body even fitter,” I say with an awkward smile.
Logan’s lips curl into a grin but his whiskey eyes are piercing. “So you do remember? Or you don’t?”
“I do,” I say quickly. “I remember. It was just…fuzzy at first.”
He taps the little red notebook propped next to my pillow. “You wrote for quite a while last night.”
I grab my journal, the same worn notebook I’ve had since I was a kid. I usually write in it once a year, sometimes more, and always on Independence Day, which is also my birthday.
I tuck the diary close to me, as far away from Logan as possible. God, I’ll have to read that drunken entry later. But right now—
“So I pulled out my diary and just wrote?”
“Yeah. You wrote until you ran out of pages. You said now your lifelong diary was finally complete.”
The question is on my face.
“Not before. You didn’t write until after we…” He trails off, his face flushing with…something I can’t quite read.
I poke his arm. “Do you remember everything from last night? You were pretty drunk, too.”
He nods slowly.
“I begged you to have sex, didn’t I?” I bury my face in my hands. “Oh, God.”
“I said we should hold off until we were sober, but you kept bringing up the Vegas exemption. You said you’d never had sex outside of Texas, and this might be your only chance.” His eyes sparkle as I peek at him from between my fingers. “I don’t want to say you couldn’t bear to wait, but—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up.” I reach for my pillow and throw it at his head, and he laughs. “Like you didn’t want to.”
“Of course, I wanted to.” He leans over and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. “When could I ever resist you, Austen Macey Henwood?”
“We were…safe, right?” I can’t imagine I was sober enough to take my birth control pill.
“Of course.” His tone is gentle. “We used condoms. I’ll always make sure to protect you, Mace.”
I swallow. “I appreciate that.”
“You remember your other stipulation last night, right?”
I whip my head over to him.
Oh, Lord. Did I make some kinky request, something really out of left field? I need to lay off those romance novels Ginny’s lent me. They’re giving me too many sexy ideas.
“You suggested we keep one of our rules, even though we were in Vegas. We couldn’t have sex in the bed. Even this plush California king hotel bed was a no.”
My cheeks burn as our eyes fix on each other.
“I told you that was a brilliant idea,” he says.
No pillow talk, no cuddling. Not when you’re on the floor, and against the wall, and then back on the floor—oh, God. The details of last night are coming in big seismic waves, kind of like last night’s third orgasm when Logan slid inside me from behind and then used his fingers to touch me until—
Logan sits up, and I can’t look away from his bare skin, from his body that’s muscled and built in all the right places. He steps out of the bed, and now I’m looking at a fully naked Logan Wild as he heads for the shower.
Shit.
“Nothing else happened, right?” I call after him.
He turns back, and the look in his eyes…is that panic?
“Let’s talk later about everything. We have some things to work out.
” Before I can push him on what, he turns away.
“We better hurry. My dad needs my help rounding up cattle at dawn tomorrow, so we’re gonna have to drive straight home.
” He looks back at me. “Oh, and FYI—Gin and Dave didn’t get hitched. In case you were too drunk to recall.”
What?
Good Lord. This is why I never get drunk.