Chapter 68

CHAPTER 68

MIRA

A ugust had turned into September, and with how crazy work had been lately, it felt like summer had just whizzed by. Before we even knew it, cooler temperatures would be arriving, bringing winter right along with it.

I shivered just at the thought of it, wishing that Logan and I had made some more time to soak up the sunshine while we'd had it. Unfortunately, while we'd used every opportunity, we just hadn't had time.

Back in New York, both of us had been handling either calls or meetings with everyone who was anyone in the oil industry. Most were still planning on waiting for the results before they invested in the technology themselves, but the few who were already onboard were practically salivating over getting started.

Many of them were requesting me by name to help them get the process underway. Slate was happy to let me consult under my own name, and all things considered, I was much better off for having been fired from my first project after that darn article had been published.

Since the minute news of the technology had hit the airwaves, Logan, Slate, and I had all had our hands full, and my only complaint was that it hadn't left me with nearly enough alone time with my man. A fact we planned on remedying now with a little vacation upstate.

We would finally have time to enjoy the weather, lie in the sun, slow down, and take a breather. I grinned at him in the driver's seat, my stomach bursting out in hyperactive butterflies at the sight of him in a light blue, V-neck, and casual cargo shorts. It had been a while since I'd seen him looking so relaxed, and when he glanced at me with that know-it-all grin on his face, I had to squeeze my thighs together.

"Easy tiger," he joked, peering at me for a second above the rim of his glasses before he checked the screen on the navigation system in his car. "We'll be there in ten more minutes. Then you can jump my bones as often as you'd like. Just let me get us there safely, okay?"

I sighed like he was asking way too much, but then I shot him a flirtatious smile. "What happened to going on a hike this afternoon?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who was looking at you like I was about to eat you up, was I?" he teased. "All I meant is that I'm willing to just lie there once we get to the cottage. You can ravage me instead of going hiking if that's what you want."

I chuckled under my breath. "Really, you're willing to just lie there? How generous of you."

"Generous is my middle name." He winked, then blew out a frustrated breath. "Actually, that's not true. My middle name is Hunter."

"Hey, I knew that," I said happily, rolling my eyes when he gave me a perplexed look. "What? Does it bother you that you don't have secrets from me anymore?"

"Nope." He suddenly grinned. "I know your middle name, too. Mira Elizabeth Spiers. Guess we know everything there is to know about each other now."

"Yeah," I agreed, blinking in surprise when I realized he wasn't wrong. "Yeah, I guess we do. Weird, huh? How and when did that happen?"

"I'm not sure," he mused jokingly. "Probably sometime in the last two and a half months or so. Maybe a little bit before then, when we spent all that time talking in our will-they, won't-they stage."

Even as he said it, a strangely thoughtful expression overcame his features, like he'd just made a connection he hadn't made before. I knew him well enough by now to leave him to it, though. Logan told me everything these days, but he told me about it when he was ready.

While he thought about whatever he was thinking about, I shifted in my seat to take in the scenery around us. We were almost to the private, luxury cottage we were renting for our mini-vacation, and we hadn't seen another car for almost an hour.

All around us were towering trees, their leaves still green before they started turning for autumn. The branches formed a canopy above us when we finally turned off the road, taking a dirt path through the woods before we arrived at a clearing next to our own private lake.

The view of the cottage from the parking area looked exactly like it had online, which made me wonder if the interior had been accurately represented by the pictures as well. If so, then this was going to be a trip like I'd never experienced before.

"This is it," Logan said cheerfully as he killed the engine, whatever he'd been contemplating seemingly now gone from his mind. "What do you think?"

I opened my door, and the first thing I noticed was the complete and utter silence. It was so quiet out here that nature itself was loud and I freaking loved it. The cottage was surrounded by those same woods we'd driven through, the trees old and tall, stretching into the sky like they were trying to reach the heavens themselves.

A carpet of leaves lay beneath our feet, the scent of fresh earth, moss, and some unfamiliar woodsy fragrance in the air. I took a deep breath and literally felt some of the stress and tension leaving my muscles as I blew it out.

"I think this place is going to be great for us." I took in the large lake in front of the cottage, the water shimmering in the dappled sunlight shining through the trees.

A wooden dock had been built on the shore closest to the cottage with a quaint rowboat tied to the posts. Logan grabbed our bags from the trunk and slung them over his shoulder, then reached for me with his free hand. "Let's go check it out. "

"Let's," I agreed, my voice hushed as I tried not to disturb the peace of this place. It was exactly what we needed after these last couple months and it was only now that we were here that I realized how very much I was going to appreciate this break away with him.

As we approached the cottage itself, more of it came into view past the trees. It was larger than it'd seemed in the pictures, painted white with some natural growth on sections of the roof and on some of the exterior walls.

A carved wooden front door sat under a small roof with flower pots hanging from the ceiling, and paving stones had been laid into the ground from the parking area to make a path to it. If it hadn't been for the modern, electronic lockbox next to the door, I'd have thought this place had been suspended in time. Like it had been forgotten out here and had been given time to be reclaimed by nature.

It looked like the kind of place where one might be visited by fairies dancing through the woods.

Something about it was warm and friendly, even from out here, and when Logan and I stopped in front of the door, I found myself smiling at the prospect of the two of us being here alone together for a few days. It really was the kind of place where couples could reconnect and fall in love all over again—just like the website had described.

A unique romantic getaway with no distractions, a private plunge pool, a hot tub, a cozy fireplace, and no neighbors for miles around. Digital beeps rang out as Logan entered the code on the keypad next to the lockbox. When it dropped open, he plucked out the keys and unlocked the door.

He slung the bags off his shoulder and spun around to scoop me up, literally sweeping me off my feet. Then he grinned and carried me across the threshold. "Welcome to your home for the next few days, my love."

And there it is again, that little word that's been slipping out more and more often over the past two months. Like I'd promised myself I would back on that first night he'd said it, I'd been giving him time to come out and tell me that he loved me, but he hadn't done it yet.

More sure than ever that I loved him truly, madly, and deeply, I decided to use this moment and the romance of this place to segue into it. "I do, you know?"

"You do what ?" he asked, staring into my eyes as he held me to him like I weighed nothing. The grin faded from his lips as he searched my gaze, and something that resembled a firestorm sparked to life behind his eyes. "You love me?"

"Yes," I said simply.

That firestorm became an inferno before he set me down on my feet, wrapped an arm around my waist, and kissed me. I bent over backward under the force of his kiss, my heart racing as he consumed me with all that heat.

As he dipped me in the kiss, he suddenly tore his lips away from mine and gave me the most triumphant, radiant grin ever. "I love you, Mira Spiers. Thank God, I finally get to say it. I love you. I love you. I love you."

I stared back at him, stunned at the force behind not only his kisses but those words. It sounded like he'd been holding them back forever and like he just couldn't stop himself from repeating them now. As they carved out a space right in the center of my heart, tears pressed at the backs of my eyes and I smiled back at him. "I love you too, Logan Jones."

He kissed me again, his tongue dancing with mine. Then he finally straightened me back up and walked us further inside. My eyes blinked open at the exact moment that we crashed into a sofa we hadn't known was there and both of us burst out laughing.

"Damn it," he groaned and released me. "How's that for a rude awakening? It didn't ruin the moment though, did it?"

"Nah." I brushed my fingers through his hair, unable to stop smiling. I took a step back and then dragged in a deep breath to clear the fog of lust from my mind. There would be plenty of time for that later.

As much as I wanted to drag him straight to bed and make him prove how much he loved me while I did the same for him, I wanted to explore our surroundings just as much. The sun was going to start setting soon, taking the view with it until morning if we didn't get a look at it now.

"It didn't ruin the moment," I said when I'd finally collected myself enough to take his hand and squeeze it, glancing at him but not about to let him distract me again. "The moment was perfect. So is this place. How on earth did you find it?"

"It was recommended on some of the sites for people looking for romantics getaways outside the city." He let out a low whistle between his teeth when he finally started looking around. "This is really something, huh?"

I nodded my agreement, momentarily speechless as I got my first good look at the place. Two of the four walls were made completely out of glass. The only solid walls were those that faced the parking area. Those were built from stone and the contrast between that and the glass was spectacular.

As for the glass, the windows provided a stunning view of the lake and the nature all around it. I let out a dreamy sigh and leaned into Logan's side, letting my head drop against his shoulder as we looked around the inside together.

The roof was slightly higher than usual, almost double volume but not quite there. With all the windows, lots of natural light spilled into the place and gave it a warm, afternoon glow. Hardwood floors creaked slightly as we walked over them, our footsteps muted by the rugs we walked across every so often.

It had a modern, small kitchen, and when I opened the fridge, I found it already stocked with groceries. I gave Logan a knowing smile, grateful that he'd thought ahead since I had no idea where we'd have bought anything around here.

The living room was spacious and led onto the deck with the pool, hot tub, and barbecue facilities outside. Once we'd explored that part of the cottage, we moved into the bedroom with its adjacent bathroom.

With a four-poster bed in the center of the room that faced the lake and yet another wall of windows, it was the kind of place I could imagine going to for our honeymoon. A thrill raced through me at the thought.

Things between Logan and me were going so well that eventually we might just get to have a honeymoon together. If I was lucky, we could come back here for it. My heart leapt, and internally, I did a little dance for joy.

After we unpacked, we went for a hike around the lake, discovering lots of signs along the trail that other couples had been here before. Initials carved into tree trunks or scratched into boulders. Logan produced a pocket knife and grinned at me.

"Are you ready to make our own mark?" he asked as he inspected the bark of a tree with a base so wide, I wouldn't have been able to wrap my arms around it. "What do you think of this one? It looks old, right?"

"It's definitely stood the test of time," I remarked as my gaze followed it up, and up, and up, to the top that seemed to be buried in the clouds.

Logan winked at me. "Just like we will, so it's perfect."

Giggling like high-schoolers, we made our mark, then headed back to the cottage hand in hand to start cooking dinner. We'd only just arrived, but as I breathed in the fresh air with the man of my dreams by my side, I had a feeling this was going to be a vacation I would never forget.

Although I never would have been able to guess the reason why.