Page 11 of Hot Pursuit (Love To The Rescue #1)

SEVEN

VIOLET

I’d tried to fight the urge to bite my nails, but I broke down and did just that when he didn’t stop.

After eating lunch, he asked me which bin held my clothes, and without thinking why he would want to know I told him.

Not twenty minutes later, I found myself sitting in the middle of his bed again, in the exact spot he put me down on, while I watched as he cleared half his dresser, then filled the empty drawers with my things.

“You know I’m leaving in a couple of days, two max. This is really not necessary,” I repeated, not that it made a difference to Logan. He shot me a look like he thought I was cute and got back to work. He’d repeated over and over how he wasn’t the kind of man who did things he didn’t want to do.

I just didn’t understand why he wanted my things in his dresser.

“When I leave, you’re going to have to put everything back,” I tried to reason, but I knew it was going in one ear and right through to the other.

“What if I don’t want you to leave?” He broke the silence that had fallen between us. The question made me freeze up and go warm all at the same time.

“Logan… you can’t mean that.” I shook my head. My gaze dropped to the top of my thighs. My entire body felt sore, but his words somehow soothed that ache.

Everything inside of me was yelling at me to believe in him and his beautiful words, but I was afraid. Afraid to hope and be let down. I’d been down that road time and time again. My nose stung at the reminder of how people didn’t stay in my life.

I’d kissed him. He’d washed my body and taken care of me, sleeping with me after a nightmare.

“Hey,” he gently called out, but I didn’t look up. I heard his body move through the room, and without looking up, I knew he was headed directly towards me. “Baby, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” I blinked away the tears that threatened to escape as I brushed imaginary lint off the hem of his hoodie. God, he’d even clothed me. Fed me. Done so much than most people in my life hadn’t.

So many people had promised things, but none of them had backed it up with any kind of action. Not like Logan had twenty-four hours since meeting.

“Vi,” he whispered softly. “Baby, look at me,” he requested tenderly. My eyes rose. Meeting his beautiful hazel gaze made my heart skip a beat. “There you are. That’s my girl.” He smiled gently as his big hand rose and stroked the side of my face. “What’s going on in your head?”

“Nothing.” I shook it off, but I could tell by the determined way his gaze was set that he wasn’t going to drop it. And maybe it was a little more than that? I wanted him to know me. “It’s just… I’m too much work and inconveniencing you and?—“

“Shh…” he soothed before picking me up as if I weighed nothing at all. And I couldn’t help but love the way he did it. “What did I say about the things I do?”

“That no one forces you into anything you don’t want to do,” I replied softly, unable to look away from his eyes. God, they were a beautiful light brown in that moment. Like light caramel.

“And you didn’t even ask me, beautiful.”

“Why me, though?” I needed to know, no matter how stupid or whiney it made me sound.

“Logan… I’m just me. No one has ever… I mean…

” I sighed with frustration. “I was a foster kid. After my parents passed away, I moved from foster home to foster home and a couple of group homes when I couldn’t be placed with a family.

” He stayed quiet while I spoke, but I could tell he was soaking in every word I shared.

“When I graduated high school, I aged out and… I didn’t really have a lot of choices. I worked in different places. Call centers, temp agencies… anywhere I could make a living.”

“Okay.”

“I, umm… I stripped, too.” I felt the need to share every detail, no matter how ugly.

His eyes widened and his jaw clenched, but he didn’t say a word.

“I did it to earn more money, enough for the car that was totaled. It wasn’t new, but it was mine.

” I shrugged. “And then for the deposit on a couple of places when I answered posts for roommates. Some were okay and some weren’t.

My life… my life is a mess, Logan. Right now especially.

I don’t have a job, I’m basically homeless, and you say all these things and it’s… ”

“Scary?” he guessed. I nodded slowly.

“It’s nothing against you. It isn’t. I want to believe you feel what I do when it comes to us. I looked up and out the window, and when I saw you, I thought you were an angel. A real one. Then you saved me.”

“Princess—“

“I’m not a princess, not even close—“ The words muffled when his fingertips pressed against my lips.

“You saved me, too,” he rasped roughly. “I know it sounds crazy, but I already know that meeting you yesterday was the best thing to happen to me so far.” My eyes felt like they were about bug out of their sockets.

“I want you here,” he stated confidently. His eyes never wavered from mine. “I want you here for as long as you think you can stand me. My place isn’t all that; a lot of work needs to be done still but?—“

“I love your home,” I cut in and meant it. I loved the space and everything he’d done.

“I want it to be our home.” If I had been standing, my knees would have given out under me. He wants his home to be our home. My mouth went dry. Time felt like it’d slowed down.

“How do you know that after a day?” I rasped. Everything felt too good to be true.

“I just do.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.

Like he wasn’t handing me everything I had been too afraid to even dream for.

His hands gently stroked the tops of my thighs.

“I know this is a lot. I’m not stupid or arrogant.

And if you don’t want to sleep together, it’s okay, too.

I’ll move into the guest room; you stay here.

We can go at whatever speed you want as long as you give me a chance. ”

“A chance,” I repeated. He nodded.

Logan pressed his forehead against mine, and my eyes fluttered shut. My body simply relaxed with his. Following the way he breathed. Inhale. Exhale. Slowly, calming down. It was silly. Right or wrong, I knew down to my soul what I was going to do.

“I want that, too,” I whispered, letting my heart take the reins for the first time in a very long time.

“But…” I opened my eyes and pulled away to get a better look at him.

If we were going to do this, I needed to be as honest with him as he had been with me.

“I don’t want to slow down,” I whispered honestly.

Squirming slightly on his lap, I licked my lips. “I liked kissing you last night.”

“Baby—“

“I’m just not sure why you haven’t kissed me again. Was I that bad at it or?—“

“You’re hurting,” he shared, his expression torn.

“I’m not,” I lied. He shot me a look that told me I was a terrible liar. “Okay, well, maybe l am.”

“You’re hurting, and I wanted to be a gentleman. I want you to know you can trust me. Not with just your well being but with your body and your heart.” Somehow, I already knew that. It was crazy. It was like my soul recognized his. Like we were destined to be.

I might have been in the wrong place yesterday at that stop sign when that post fell on my car, but I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, it had all happened for a reason. Like it was time for us to meet.

“I trust you,” I whispered, sharing honestly, letting myself be vulnerable for the first time in a very long time. “This is crazy.” A giggle bubbled up and out of me, making me cover my lips with my hand. His eyes softened.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. Not ever again. You’re mine, Vi. I protect what’s mine,” he vowed with a slight feral edge to his voice. I wanted that. I wanted to be that for him and vice versa.

Life was a series of choices. I knew right then and there, right or wrong, heartache or not, I was going to take a chance on Logan.

On us.

Something came over me. Feeling bold and beautiful in the moment, I leaned closer.

“Violeta.” My name rumbled perfectly past his lips.

“Shh,” I hushed him now, and before I could talk myself out of it, I kissed him.

Logan’s big hands stilled on top of my thighs the moment our lips touched. Mine dragged against his slowly and maybe a little clumsily. Not that he seemed to mind when a breath later, his hands gripped my thighs.

“Vi, princess,” he groaned, giving me access to his mouth.

Access I took advantage of as my tongue plunged between his lips.

That was all it took before his self-control snapped.

He took over the kiss and dominated it. Almost punishingly.

Every cell in my body felt warm while wet heat pooled between my thighs.

I wanted him so badly. Fast or slow, it didn’t matter.

All I knew was that I needed him right then and there.

I didn’t need to wait.

Not when I had been waiting for what felt like my entire life to find him.