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CHAPTER20

SLOANE

Iwas barely aware of Logan getting up from the couch and moving me toward the door. I stayed in a daze as he led me through the lobby and down the sidewalk until he was helping me into his truck.

He didn’t try to talk to me as we drove.

I didn’t wake up, so to speak, until we were pulling into a parking garage, and I realized that Logan hadn’t taken me back to my condo—he’d brought me to his place.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, still not understanding why he wasn’t kicking me out of his truck in front of my apartment and shouting “good riddance” as loud as he could.

He glanced over at me with an unimpressed look. “Obviously I’m not leaving you alone tonight,” he told me matter-of-factly, like that was something I should have known.

Logan parked and came around to let me out of the truck and then grabbed my hand as he led me toward the elevator.

The door clicked shut behind us, the sound echoing in the quiet entryway of his apartment. Shadows stretched along the walls, the dim light catching the sharp angles of his jaw and the faint stubble that made him look rougher, hungrier. Logan stood there, still as stone, his eyes locked on me, and for a moment, it felt like the entire world had shrunk to just this hallway. Just him.

I should have been thinking about how to get out of this—how to disentangle myself from whatever this was. Instead, I found myself studying him. The way his blond hair fell slightly over his forehead, the way his broad shoulders filled the space, and the way he seemed so utterly untouchable for a girl as tainted as myself were all overwhelming to me.

He shifted, his hands clenching at his sides as though he was trying to keep himself in check. “Ishouldgive you a chance to leave,” he said finally, his voice low, the words almost hesitant.

There was a pause, and then his mouth twisted into something that might have been a smile if it weren’t so full of frustration. “But I can’t,” he admitted, his voice raw. “I won’t even pretend that I can.”

My chest tightened, and I dropped my gaze to the floor for a moment, as if that might shield me from the intensity of his confession.

I didn’t move.

Instead, I looked back up at him, my pulse racing as I searched his face, trying to find an answer that wasn’t there. His expression was raw, unguarded, and it unsettled me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. I tried to think of all the reasons I shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t stay. There were plenty of them, an endless list of warnings I should heed.

I should leave.

But…

My gaze traced the line of his collar. I could feel the weight of his stare pressing into me, grounding me and making me want to run all at once. But my feet stayed rooted to the polished floor.

I blinked, continuing to study him. “I think my life has shown that maybe I shouldn’t be given any big choices. I’ll always choose the wrong one.”

A faint flicker of a grin slid across his lips, but then it slipped away.

“I want you,” he said roughly. “I want you more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. I want you more than hockey, more than money…more than fucking air. Tell me I can finally have you, Sloane.” He took a deep breath. “Tell me that you’re mine.”

I stared at him, admiring his face for a moment as I told myself one last time all the reasons why this wouldn’t work.

And then I forgot them all.

I stepped back, keeping my eyes on his as I slowly slid the strap of my dress down my shoulder.

One side and then the other. His eyes sparked as he watched me, like his very life was tied to every move I made.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, his voice a sexy rasp, his dark green eyes glittering as he focused on me.

I’d had many men watch me as I undressed, but none of them had watched me like this, like a man dying of thirst.

I slid my dress down my body until it pooled at my heeled feet, and I was standing there in nothing but my lingerie and heels.

“Logan York,” I whispered. “I don’t know how any of this can last. I don’t know how anything you say can be true…but for however long it can…I’m yours.”

He stood there for a long moment, so long I started to wonder if he’d changed his mind…