Chapter 18 Logan #2
We were side by side on the bed with our thighs pressed against one another, and Nina was looking up at me hopefully, her pretty lips pouted.
“Well, it sounds like I’m duty bound then to refresh your memory,” I said softly.
I leaned toward her slowly and slid my hand along her jaw, drawing her closer. I paused with our lips just inches apart to make sure I wasn’t misreading her signals.
“May I?” I murmured.
Her lips curled into a smile. “You’re my husband. Of course.”
And then we were kissing like it was something we did every day. Her hands slid up the back of my neck and threaded through my hair. I gently pushed her back onto the bed so I hovered over her.
I was flooded with sense memories as we kissed, of her naked beneath me and crying out my name. The briefest of kisses would have been enough to get me going all on their own, but this scenario—her beneath me, desperate and needy for more—had me rock-hard in an instant.
And then she started slipping her hand down my body to find my belt buckle.
“Nina,” I rasped. “Should we?”
She leaned up to recapture my mouth, which I took to mean that her answer was yes. We both lost ourselves in the kiss again, and she struggled with the buckle until we heard loud voices drifting up to us.
I pulled away and dropped my head onto her shoulder. “Shit. They’re here, and they’re going to come looking for us.”
“I don’t want to stop,” Nina whispered.
“Trust me, we don’t have a choice,” I grumbled my unhappiness against the side of her neck.
We untangled slowly, and I took a few minutes to think about oatmeal and balance sheets to try to calm my raging hard-on. Nina walked to the mirror to fix her hair.
“So much for wearing lipstick,” she laughed at her reflection.
We did our best to compose ourselves, took a deep breath, and headed back downstairs.
“The couple of the hour,” Drew crowed when we walked into the great room where everyone was gathered. “Nice to put a face to the voice, Nina!”
I’d forgotten about my emergency call to my brother the morning after our accidental marriage.
Once introductions were made and baby Sophia had been sufficiently cooed over, the ladies grabbed Nina and pulled her away to do what I could only assume was a friendly interrogation.
“We’re starting at the top,” Harrison said, with the authority of the oldest son. “The attic is a mess. Lots to get through.”
“You’re the boss,” Drew replied. His easy acceptance surprised me, but only for a second.
The dynamic between them had been touchy for most of our adult lives, but everything had changed in the last few years. I could see the shift happening in real time. The big life events we were all weathering—marriages, a baby, moving—mellowed their static.
Drew paused with his hand on the doorknob that led to the gigantic attic. “Keep in mind, you’re about to enter Harrison’s lair.”
Harrison punched him on the shoulder. “You’re never going to let that go, huh?”
We laughed at the memory of our oldest brother campaigning to turn the attic space into his private oasis because he said we were always pestering him and getting into his stuff.
I paused when I crested the stairs, surveying the stacks of boxes. “Damn. This is a lot.”
“We have our work cut out for us,” Drew agreed. He glanced over at me, then leaned closer to pluck at my shirt. “Hold on, what have you been up to?”
I followed his gaze and discovered a smear of pink on the edge of my collar. “Oh, uh, you know,” I mumbled.
Harrison walked over to join the examination wearing a smile. “I like her. Definitely an upgrade from…what was her name?”
“C’mon, let’s not,” I sighed and walked away from them.
“No, let’s,” Drew insisted. “And her name was Gretchen. Never liked her. Too demanding. She acted like she owned you. I can already tell Nina is a better fit.”
“And you seem, I don’t know, lighter,” Harrison added. “It’s about time.”
They moved on to start examining boxes, and I paused to consider what they’d said. If anyone was in a place to judge me, it was the two of them. Their relationships had changed them for the better, and for them to suggest that my fake marriage was doing the same for me meant something.
And yeah, Nina was worlds away from my ex, Gretchen.
She always found a way to exclude Noah, trying to make it sound like it was for his own good, whereas Nina orbited around my son.
Sure, part of it was because she dedicated her life to children, but I could tell that there was genuine affection at the root of her relationship with Noah. She always thought of him first.
It was one of the many parts of her that left me in awe.
I’d always looked at my parents’ relationship and assumed that I’d be equally lucky.
That I’d find a partner who’d mellow me and help me grow.
Now I knew the truth about relationships, at least when it came to me.
My father and brothers had managed to make it happen, but I knew that it wasn’t in the cards for me.
No matter how perfect things might seem with Nina now, a messy reality was right around the corner.
Better to keep the chains around my heart now to prevent the inevitable heartbreak.