Page 29

Chapter 29

Logan

I'm still not fully back into my senses. I'm still inside of her, still pinning her down. I can feel her breathing under me, fast at first, slow and steady after a little while.

I open one eye. The other. She gazes at me, a degree of humor and something else in her eyes, but she's quiet.

I blink and study her face.

I frown. "Evie…"

Questions build on my tongue. Her calmness— there's something off about it. It brings me back to my body, with the knowledge I have to be careful at the coattails of my awareness.

"You okay?" I ask.

I pull away and search her eyes. Most of her hair came loose from her hairdo, and I caress a few tendrils away from her face.

"I'm okay." She gives me a small smile, but it looks sincere. "Just… surprised."

"In a good way, or…"

She sucks on her lip. "It was good, just… "

"Talk to me." I keep caressing her face, even if there's no more hair that needs tending.

She sighs and hesitates for a bit longer, but eventually relents.

Her eyes steady on mine. "Tell me again no part of this is a mistake."

I tell myself I need to accept her worries. That she has reasons to feel this way and I can be patient, I'll show her she can trust me. I crave her trust, and it needles me that she doesn't believe every word out of my mouth.

I'll give her the words again, as many times as I have to. It'll buy us time, if nothing else, to prove it to her.

"It's not a mistake." I make my voice assertive, yet gentle. "I meant it earlier— when this is out of our system, we'll still get to be friends. Just friends who had to fuck each other into it."

She laughs. The sound eases something inside of me.

She's still smiling when she speaks again. "So we'll do this until we're done and once that tension is gone, we'll be free to be friends?"

Her body softens under me. Her relief puts a small smile on my face.

"That's the idea," I say. "We'll do this until we're satisfied, the way we didn't get to years ago. Then we'll go for brunch like nothing happened."

"Brunch?" she laughs again.

I get up and, unashamed, take off the condom, make a knot on it.

I smirk. "Or dinner. I'm not picky."

She gets up next to me and stretches. The sight is very much like that first night at the dorm. It comes with a warm feeling that settles quietly into my chest. I slip over to the bathroom, before returning to her room to put on my boxers.

"Are you telling me you're hungry, Logan?"

"I could eat."

"It's getting late. I have work tomorrow, you have training… you have nothing to sleep in…"

I straighten. "Really? Evie. You escaped in the middle of the night years ago. Now you're implying I should go home? "

"You… want to stay?"

"Yeah. Let's do this right. It's going to feel good to sleep together."

"What would that entail, in your opinion? Doing it right."

"Drive us to my place. I'll tell you all about it."

I convince Evie to come stay with me, and to bring a change of clothes for the morning. She compliments my house, and we eat some of the food Ames sends me weekly.

Later, we get into my bed. It's past midnight and we have to go to the Thunderdome early in the morning. I expect her to want to go to sleep right away, but she doesn't.

She lays on her side and stares at me across the bed. "Is this weird?"

"It's only weird if we let it be weird." I reach across the mattress and caress her arm.

"Okay. It won't be weird."

"I'm happy to soothe your worries any time."

She chuckles. "Thank you so much. You're always so comforting."

"I've been told that's what friends are for."

"I'm starting to believe I can count on you."

She's joking, but there's something about the look on her face that tells me she means it, too.

I close the distance between us and give her a gentle kiss. "Wonderful. Now close your eyes and rest easy."

"A kiss goodnight?"

"Why not?"

"Just wondering. We'll do that until we're satisfied, too?"

"Sounds good to me." I tuck the sheets around me until I'm cozy .

"And we'll go to TD tomorrow and act natural," she adds. "I'll go for lunch with my parents on the 24th— it's a short day for me— you'll go to Damián's for Christmas dinner."

"And we'll find moments for sex, amidst everything else." I stretch an arm across the bed and pull up the blanket to her neck, tucking her in for the night.

She sighs. "Don't disappoint me, Logan."

I don't intend to.