43. Logan

FORTY-THREE

LOGAN

Morning light slowly brought me to consciousness. I was face down on my stomach, one cheek buried in a plush pillow and the blankets pushed around my waist. Glittering rays streamed through the window and illuminated the room in dancing golds and sparkling gems.

Or maybe I just felt like a motherfucking king.

I flopped onto my back and listened to the sounds echoing through the walls. A smile stretched wide as I heard the clattering of pans and the subdued pat of her bare feet.

The girl was a song that whispered in my ear and lured me to standing.

I shuffled into the bathroom, took a piss, and brushed my teeth before I tugged on a pair of sweatpants.

The whole time, I could feel her moving through the apartment.

This girl my destiny.

I sensed her like a tie in my being that could never be undone.

Quietly, I edged out of the bedroom. I stopped outside the door to take in the sight.

Aster was there, in the kitchen. She was barefoot and wearing the same button up I’d worn last night. She had the sleeves rolled up, the fabric swallowing her frame in the most exquisite of ways, hitting her right above those lush, gorgeous thighs.

Dark brown hair was piled in a wild knot, and there was a fresh dusting of flour on her cheek.

So fucking pretty.

So fucking right.

I could see the etching of a smile tug at the corner of her mouth while she whipped something in a bowl. “Are you just going to stand there and stare all day?”

Her voice was light, full of wonder and a tease.

My chest panged, and I leaned a shoulder against the wall and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my sweats. “Seems like a pretty good way to spend New Year’s Day to me.”

“Why only look when you can touch?” She tossed it out with a slight shrug, pure seduction and ease.

A rough chuckle scraped up my throat, and I strode that way, every step tightening the muscles in my abdomen, my mouth watering for a taste.

I wound myself around her from behind, loving the way she felt, the way she sank back and let go of a satisfied breath.

“Happy New Years, baby,” I murmured as we began to slowly sway.

“I can’t believe I’m here with you, celebrating the New Year.”

I glanced at her ring that glinted in the rays of morning light. My chest expanded in a possessive beat. I pushed my nose into the hair behind her ear.

Hyacinth and magnolia leaves.

“A hundred more new years where this came from.”

Soft affection rolled from her mouth. “A hundred, huh?”

“A thousand.” A smile fumbled on my lips.

She giggled and sank deeper into my hold. “I’ll take as many as I’m given, just as long as I get to spend them with you.”

“Every day.” My hands splayed over her stomach.

“You’d better be careful, I might get used to this,” she whispered like this entire thing was a dream.

I kissed a path down the side of her neck.

Another giggle. “You’re distracting me.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Can’t you see I’m busy?” It was coy and sweet.

I lapped it up, wrapped myself tighter, and peered down from over her shoulder. “What are you making?”

“Cookies.”

I grunted. “You’re the one who’d better be careful, or else I’m going to be the one getting used to this.”

“What, me barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen?”

My breath caught in my throat. I forced it down. “Don’t tease me, Aster.”

And not about the kitchen thing. Fuck that misogynistic shit. The men who’d held her down. I was going to hold her up.

She stilled, her breaths going shallow as she set aside the bowl and whisk. She placed her hands over mine and pressed me closer to her, and her voice thinned out. “I’m not teasing, Logan. I think I might be pregnant.”

Everything stalled.

Time.

The staccato of my heart.

Before it all raced to catch up.

I rushed to spin her around, and I tipped up her chin so I could take in her sweet, gorgeous face that was held in worry and fear and something bigger than life.

Energy bound the air in a dense knot.

“What are you saying?” My hands trembled as I slipped my palms to either side of her neck. “What are you saying, baby?”

Her eyes were wild and intense. “I think I might be pregnant, Logan. I should have had my period last week, and I thought I was just off with the stress and the worry. I’ve been nauseous, but again, I thought it was just from everything that is happening. But this morning, I vomited, and in that moment, I think I just knew. My shot was due right before I came here, and I missed it, but I thought it would be fine?—”

“It’s more than fine.” I cut her off, my voice squeezing on the words. “More than fine. As far as I’m concerned, it’d be a fucking miracle.”

She inhaled a shattered breath.

“I’m scared, Logan. I’m scared that I’m making the same mistakes all over again. That it’s too close and feels too familiar. But if it’s true? I will do everything to protect this child. Everything, Logan.” A fiery oath lit in those agate eyes. The girl a warrior. One who would stand and fight.

“There is nothing I want more than to have a family with you.”

“Are you sure?” She blinked up at me.

“I promise you, Aster Rose. I promise.”

I lifted her hand and kissed her ring, and I leaned in to murmur in her ear, “And I’m going to make sure that becomes Aster Rose Lawson soon. Very soon.”

Aster laughed. She laughed this disbelieving, joyous sound that rang in the air and reverberated from the walls.

A thrill.

Euphoric.

“I can’t believe it,” I murmured.

It felt like I was suffering from a bolt of shock.

The best kind.

“I can’t believe it!” That time, I shouted it, and I picked her up and spun her around.

She squealed and laughed and clung to my shoulders as she flung her head back and let the peals of delight paint the walls of the apartment a new color.

Vibrant.

Beauty.

Light.

“We don’t even know for sure.” She giggled it.

I held her up high, and she looked down at me, smiled that smile that slayed.

Cut me wide open.

This girl my destiny.

“But you know,” I hedged.

Her expression softened, so tender that she melted through the middle of me. “Yes, Logan, I know.”

I took her mouth.

My kiss was fevered and hers was overjoyed.

Panted laughs and giggled whispers. “I love you, Logan. I love you.”

“I love you, baby, so much.”

I kept spinning her around while I kissed her, this girl the wildest, best ride I’d ever taken.

I set her down on the edge of the table.

She yelped then grinned while I palmed her on the outside of the thighs. “Look at you…a perfect present wrapped in my shirt.”

Another giggle, and redness was lighting on her cheeks.

“Are you going to unwrap me?” The tease slipped from her tongue.

“Oh, Little Star, you bet I am.”

I reached for the material and tore it open. Buttons pinged as they scattered across the floor.

Aster squealed then gave me the fakest pout. “Hey, I liked this shirt.”

“I like your tits better.”

Small and round and already pebbled up so tight as her chest heaved toward me, peeking through the shirt where it was split open.

The only thing she had on under it was a patch of black lace held together by three bands on each side.

Need fisted my guts.

“Is that so?” A seductive smile pulled over her mouth. Joy rushed beneath it.

“Oh, it’s so, Aster. You are a fucking dream, spread out on my table.”

My cock was stone. It pressed against the fabric of my sweats, and the muscles in my stomach flexed in anticipation of the best kind of relief.

Aster sank her teeth into her bottom lip as those eyes raked over me. “And you steal my breath, Logan. Look at you…my North Star.”

A growl rumbled in my chest, and I leaned over her so I could devour that mouth.

She bucked up, her lace-covered pussy rubbing against my abdomen.

I devoured her, and she laughed some more, close to delirious.

I understood the condition. The way my head was spinning and the only thing that mattered was getting inside this girl.

Wholly.

Fully.

Footsteps skidded to a stop just inside the living room.

I jerked back, still gripping deep into Aster’s thighs.

“Oh my,” Gretchen wheezed as she slapped a hand over her heart.

“You should probably head on out, G, because I am most definitely about to take it out.”

Aster covered her face with her arm, trying to hide her laugh of embarrassment.

Gretchen waved a hand in the air and started in the direction of the door, calling, “Don’t mind me. I’m half blind, anyway. Didn’t see a thing. Half deaf, too, so don’t worry yourselves a bit. I’ll clean up the mess later.”

When the front door banged shut behind Gretchen, I let out the chuckle I was holding.

Aster dragged her arm free. Her face was beet red.

“Logan,” she chastised. “You are horrible.”

“And you are mine.” I cracked a smirk. “Now where were we?”

“I think you were admiring my tits.”

I ran a knuckle over a peaked, hard nipple. “Oh, that’s right. I was admiring these tits.”

I palmed them both before I kissed down her stomach and edged back so I could drag her underwear down her legs. I dropped them to the floor, then I angled down while peering up at her when I murmured, “And now I’m getting ready to admire this perfect pussy.”

She bucked up. Completely bare. Drenched and swollen and throbbing.

Straightening, I freed my cock, lined myself up, and plunged into the hilt.

Aster bowed.

Body and soul.

“That’s right, Little Star. You and me.”

You and me and this little family.

It was all I was ever going to need.

I took her slow this morning.

My hips rocking in deep and measured strokes.

Early morning light poured in the window to shine over her entrancing body.

I touched her.

Loved her.

My girl came three times.

I came hard in her pussy in deep rutting thrusts.

Pure motherfucking ecstasy.

I heaved for a breath as I fell over her, my ear pressed to the hammer that raged in her chest. She searched for air, and she languidly ran her fingers through my hair as awestruck laughter rolled from her mouth.

“That was amazing.”

I lifted my head. “You’re amazing.”

We just stayed there for a minute, staring at the other, unable to believe we’d made it to this place.

“Why don’t I go grab a test and you finish the mess on the counter that Gretchen is going to have to clean?”

Aster giggled. “I don’t think that was the mess she was referring to. She’s never going to eat on this table again.”

I nuzzled my face in her neck. “I plan to eat on this table many, many times.”

She smacked at me playfully.

I helped her to standing, then I kissed her nose. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

I jogged to the small drugstore down the street where I bought ten tests.

I couldn’t help it.

I was excited.

Because Aster and me?

We were never looking back.

I paid, then rushed back up the sidewalk to my building. I entered through the main lobby and went directly to the elevator, my knee bouncing in anticipation as I rode it upstairs.

I all but ran to the door.

Only when I got to it, I skidded to a stop.

My heart hurtled into my throat that was covered in bile.

The hinges were busted.

Dread spiraled through my being, and I ran into the apartment, ready for any fight that awaited.

Only I froze when I was impaled by the energy that filled the space.

Dark and grim.

The paper bag slipped from my hand and all the tests spilled onto the floor.

Because I knew in an instant, my girl was gone.