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Logan slowly lowers his arms and steps across the living room until we’re nose to nose. “That’s just it. I’ll come home. I said I didn’t want those things because denying my desire for them was easier than simply hoping for them, but I was wrong.”
He removes my fingers from my mouth when I try to ease my anxiety, and when he cups my cheeks, he looks at me as if I’m precious to him. “You could paint our house in rainbows for all I care, as long as it’s you greeting me at the door with your freckled nose wrinkling and a smile for me to kiss from your lips.”
I blink, then swallow hard beneath his roving hands. They don’t stop until his thumbs easily trace the column of my neck in long, smooth motions.
“I’m not afraid of what you believe are flaws, because every one of them endears me to you. I like seeing you in high heels because your legs command attention with every step you take. I enjoy working with you, not only because your presence soothes me, but because, regardless of what you think, you’re such a natural with people, and they flock to you because you’re true and genuine. And yes, I’ve developed a habit of predictability, but it’s your spontaneity that gives me life.”
I take two steps backward, gasping when my back hits the wall, and Logan’s hands flatten on either side of my head. That stare makes me feel desired, revered, and protected.
“How can you be so sure?” I whisper.
“I asked you something similar once. How you made decisions without fear of the consequences, and you told me that you weren’t always sure… But you were sure about me.”
Goosebumps prickle up the sides of my legs at the memory. I was so eager to give him everything I had without knowing how much pain losing him would eventually bring.
“You think we’re incompatible, when really, we’re two halves of the same whole. It’s not a coincidence that we never truly moved on. There’s not a woman on this fucking planet who compares to you, Penelope, and I bet deep down, you felt it, too. Every man who ever touched you, kissed you…” He pauses, inhaling while closing his eyes for a moment. “Nope. Fuck that. If I think about it, I’m going to want to kill them.”
I let a weak laugh slip. “You’re too pretty for jail. Bet you wouldn’t last a week.”
His nails grind into the wall beside my head, his body practically vibrating with the need to touch me, but he bides his time, waiting until I’ve fully given in. “We’re yin and yang, Pen. We always have been, and nothing’s changed.”
Those words are a whisper away from my lips, but still I try to convince him of what I’ve known my whole life. That I don’t fit. That I’ll never quite meet his expectations, just like I’ve never met my parents’ or even Carrie’s before tonight. “But… I have nothing. If it weren’t for you, I’d be homeless and jobless.”
“No. You’d find a way without me, but I don’t want you to. I need you by my side, not as a woman to be looked after, but as a partner. The way it should have been, the way I wanted it to be, and the way it can be now.”
A shiver ripples through me when his mouth lowers beside my ear.
“I’m going to remodel Seaside, and whether Ricardo likes it or not, I’m going to gut the group home and remodel it, too.” I’m too shocked by his revelation to move, but a knot wedges in my throat at the promise and sincerity in his voice. “We’ll give back to the community however we can, and open new businesses along with affordable housing. It’ll be me and you, working together to provide for communities in need, and you’ll be so goddamn happy because this is our calling. I’ve never been more sure of something in my life.”
Ending his torment, I wind my arms around his neck, and my soul aches when he tucks his face into mine, releasing an involuntary, full body shudder.
“You’re really going to do that?” I ask, fighting through unshed tears.
“I really am.”
My thighs grip his waist after he bends to pick me up, and his warmth colliding with my core drags a needy whimper from my throat.
“You keep saying you don’t have a purpose–that you can’t find your way–but those kids are your compass, and you’re the sun that rises and sets for them.” Three steps to the left, then two forward, and we’re in the bedroom. “Do you know how beautiful that is? That I get to watch you be for them what you’ve always been for me?”
He flips on the lights, searching my face for rejection, but what he finds only makes him smile.
“You feel good,” I say, failing to hide my humming pleasure that he’s a perfect fit against me. As if he were created with my body in mind.
“I’m glad you think so.”
“I missed it,” I admit, releasing a thread of vulnerability like a balloon string. “The way we feel together.”
Logan’s voice is thick when he murmurs, “I’m glad for that, too.”
My bloodstream zips with excitement, raising the hair on my arms when he gradually lowers me to my feet.
I’m dizzy with his scent and the heat pulsing between our bodies, and he utterly devastates me when he says, “I don’t need your permission to love you, Penelope.”
Oh boy.
“And there’s one glaring issue with your little argument.” He brings his mouth daringly close to mine. “You claim you can’t love me, but you already do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
