Page 7 of Hot Pursuit (Love To The Rescue #1)

FIVE

VIOLET

I was in that weird place between sleep and a dream.

An ugly one.

I was back in my car, and I kept seeing sparks flying outside. But even through the high voltage lights, I saw him. Logan. Standing just out of reach.

“I got you.” I felt the words before I heard them. And just like that, my heart that was ready to jump out of my rib cage started to calm down. It didn’t hurt that two warm muscular bands wrapped around me. Changing the direction of my dream.

I was no longer in my car but in a truck. A sturdy one. And a big hand covered the top of my bare thigh.

I’d dreamt this before.

Being in someone’s arms while an overwhelming feeling of safety flowed through me.

Almost like the man holding me would never let anything happen to me ever again.

Life had given me its fair shares of punches.

From losing my parents, who weren’t that great, but they were mine, to bouncing around foster homes and group homes, to aging out of the foster care system feeling lost and alone.

In my dream, I felt like I was a part of something. A sense of belonging I’d ached for longer than I would ever want to admit.

The strong arms clamped tighter around me, and my eyes grew heavier as I drifted back to sleep. Resting more soundly than I could ever remember sleeping.

When I woke up again, I turned to look into beautiful blue eyes staring back at me.

I was a never-been-kissed twenty-five-year-old virgin.

I had no experience past sharing a meal with a guy I’d been set up with that had been awkward to say the least. When he’d tried to kiss me after an evening of uncomfortable silence, I’d stuck my hand out to shake his and had shut the door in his face.

But this was different.

I wasn’t sure what it was about him. In the haze of everything that happened yesterday, I hadn’t really processed everything.

The accident and the electric wires. Passing out and waking up to beeping sounds and Logan’s beautiful eyes, thinking I wished I could wake up next to him for the rest of my days.

“Morning,” his deep voice rumbled close to my forehead. So close my skin tingled with awareness. Tingles that moved down my body all the way to my toes.

“Morning,” I whispered back, trying not to choke on my heart that was currently trying to beat like that of a hummingbird.

It started to race as the evening came rushing back.

I had no idea what kind of brave inner goddess I channeled that I’d not only let him take care of me but do it completely naked.

I’d never been naked in front of anyone other than a doctor.

The most beautiful man I had ever seen. It wasn’t only his looks that drew me in but the man himself. And he had seen me naked.

And I’d cried in his arms. That isn’t sexy.

“I wish I could hear everything going up in that pretty head of yours,” he rasped as his hand stroked my hair.

“You saw me naked,” I blurted, not smooth enough or experienced enough to even try to play it cool.

This was my first of a lot of things!

First time sleeping with a guy. We just slept, but it still counted as something I’d never done. And holy cow, what a guy to do that with for the first time.

“You’re fucking adorable,” he whispered, snapping me out of my crazy, delusional thoughts. My eyes widened, and I blinked.

“I was— I’ve never—“ I stuttered, and his eyes softened. I could see how easily it could be to get lost in the warm pools of his gaze.

“Shh,” he soothed, then slowly, with the most tender touch known to man, he flipped us over, shifting us up and settling me on his lap. My hands instinctively held on to his broad shoulders. Not to push him away but to anchor myself. “A lot happened last night.”

I hadn’t expected him to say that. Not even close.

“It did?” My voice sounded scratchy in my ears.

“Some stuff I’m not sure you caught on to, so I’m gonna catch you up.”

“You are?” I sounded like an idiot. I had thought I’d met all sorts of people through my lifetime. I wasn’t that old or young, but my path had crossed with all sorts. Really good people and some who truly weren’t, and all the types in between.

But Logan somehow didn’t fit anywhere on there.

He was better than anyone I had ever come in contact with.

“You have to know that in my field of work, I see a lot of shit. Help get people out of all sorts of situations,” he started to say, and something in my gut tightened.

“Okay,” I sounded slowly. Was this when he told me he did this more often than not? I hadn’t got that impression, but maybe he had a hero complex or something?

“I’ve never stayed by someone’s bedside. I’ve never brought someone home. Especially not to my home.”

“But you felt obligated with me?” I guessed. When the words tumbled past my lips, his brows bunched.

“Not in the least. I’m going to be honest, and it’s going to make me sound insane, but I was trying to figure out how the hell to bring you home.” His confession was too much for my poor brain.

“You were?” I squeaked, blinking up at him.

“I was.” He nodded. “Sucks, babe. I fucking hate that you didn’t know who to call, hate the situation you were in and whatever fucking messes you might have experienced before, but you have to know something.”

“What?” I was both afraid and excited to hear his answer.

“Nothing, not one bad thing is ever going to touch you ever again. I won’t let it.

” The sentiment was ridiculous. There was no way one person could do that for another.

Life was too unpredictable to try. “And if anything did, I would be right by your side.” He sounded so serious.

Like he really meant it. By god, I wanted to believe him.

“Logan,” I whispered.

“I know,” he interrupted, pressing his forehead against mine, forcing me to look into his eyes.

“It’s fast and really fucking crazy. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you.

But I know you’re supposed to be mine. I feel it here.

” His hand took mine and pressed it against his heart.

It was beating so fast I would have been worried had it not been for the fact I was pretty sure mine was matching his beat.

“Yours?” I whispered. We were so close I could feel every exhale against my lips. It made my mouth tingle and my body ache with need I’d never felt, not even close.

“Mine.” We’d just been sleeping, and I probably had horrible morning breath. He probably did, too. I shouldn’t want to kiss him, but that was the only thing running through my head.

“Would that mean you’d be mine?” I asked. A sliver of self-perseverance shined through. Even though I didn’t think he was the type to fool around or have women waiting around for him all over the place, I needed to hear it come from him.

“I already am, princess. Only yours. All yours.” I shivered at the deep tone of his voice. His nose flared as I sat up higher, bumping my center against his hardness. God, he was sexy. All hard and big compared to me.

“Logan?” I licked my lips, and he made a growl-like sound.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” he rasped. My body felt like it shimmered from the inside out.

I knew that when it came to the man in front of me, I had to take a chance.

Every molecule in my body was yelling at me to do so.

Even if whatever this was going to develop into turned into heartbreak and disaster, at least I’d carry all the beautiful memories that went with it.

“Would you kiss me?” I might have whispered it, and my voice might have shaken, but I felt brave in that moment. Brave and free, asking for what I really wanted.

“Vi—“

“I’ve never kissed anyone,” I shared a little louder and clearer now. Logan’s hands dropped from my hips and moved over the globes of my ass cheeks.

“Fucking hell, princess,” he growled. There was an intensity in his blue eyes that made me think he was trying to keep himself in control.

“I know. I’m probably way too inexperienced for you—“ I started to ramble, but he shook his head. There was something playing behind his eyes, something I couldn’t read.

“That’s not it, beautiful,” he rasped. My eyes fluttered shut, almost like everything I was feeling, every nerve ending standing at attention was too much.

“I want you, too. I think you can feel”—he shifted, pressing his hardness against me—“how much I don’t mind that.

It might make me sound like an asshole, but…

fuck, Violet, I like knowing I’ll be all your firsts.

” The intensity in his voice made me open my eyes.

“For now?” I asked, trying to safekeep my heart. He groaned.

“You’re killing me, beautiful girl.”

“Logan…” I started to say, but he cut me off.

“I’ll be all your firsts, and you’ll be all my lasts. For now and forever.” This was crazy. I wanted to believe his words. I wanted to belong to someone like him. Someone kind and generous who looked at me like his whole world could possibly revolve around me. But how was it possible?

“You sound like you mean that. Like you really, really believe what you’re saying.” I swallowed. My nerves were in tatters, because something else was happening.

Something that felt bigger than I could have ever imagined. Bigger than anything I would have ever dared wish or dream for.

“Look at me, gorgeous.” He tipped my head up, and my eyes connected with his intense gaze. My skin broke out into gooseflesh. “I never do anything I don’t want to, and I never say anything I don’t absolutely mean.”

“Logan.”

“I kiss you, beautiful, that’s it. Game over.” He said it like a warning, but to me, it sounded better than any promise I had ever heard.

“Game over?” It all sounded too good to be true. I was smarter than this, but I was still going to take a chance. I wanted to see where things went with him. There was something inside of me yelling to trust him.