“On the chair over there,” Logan said and pointed to where he’d set her clothes.
Elena rushed over to pull on her jeans before tugging her shirt over her head. She put her socks on and shoved her feet into her sneakers. When she finished dressing, she turned to face Logan. He lay on the bed with his head propped up on one elbow as he studied her with the familiar hunger that caused her skin to prickle and her heart to race.
She had to get out of here, but as her gaze roamed over his lean body with all its chiseled muscles, she started to forget why it was so important she leave. Unable to stop herself, she walked over and kissed his forehead.
When she stopped before him, her crisp, lemony scent filled his nostrils, but now her aroma was intermingled with his scent too. He caught her wrist and gave it a small squeeze as he savored their mingled aromas. Then, he tugged her onto the bed and rolled over to pin her beneath him.
Elena gasped when she found herself staring up at his handsome face while he leaned over her.
“Are you sure you’re not regretting anything?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she breathed as her body arched into his and her hands flattened against his chest.
He smiled before tenderly kissing her. Elena started to melt into him, but reality wouldn’t let her avoid it that easily today. She broke the kiss and pushed against him.
“I have to go,” she said.
Unable to take the fear in her eyes, Logan rolled swiftly off her and rose. “I’ll dress and walk you home.”
“No. As long as no one sees me leaving here, it will be okay. But if they see us walking together at this time of day, the rumors will start. I don’t care if they talk about me, I never have, but I can’t do that to my mother. I’m already the child who abandoned her family; I can’t be the compound slut on top of that.”
“You’re not a slut!” Logan snapped.
“We both know that’s how they’ll see me if they catch me here.”
Logan wanted to tell her that wasn’t true, but she was right; that’s how they would see it here. Things had progressed for hunter women over the years, but even in his compound—which was a little more progressive than this one—the hunters would still talk if they caught an unmarried woman leaving a man’s house in the morning.
They’d talk more if that man were a vampire. And he’d gladly kill anyone who called her a slut, consequences be damned.
“They’re probably already talking about us,” Elena said. “I can’t do this to my mom.”
Logan walked over and rested his hands on her arms. “I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand. Just know, you’re not a slut, and I’ll kill anyone who dares to call you that.”
His words didn’t exactly lessen her alarm—the last thing she wanted was for him to kill anyone—but she also thrilled at his protective nature. “No killing,” she told him.
“Hmm,” he grunted. “Go on, get going. I’ll bring you breakfast in a couple of hours.”
“That would be fantastic; I’m starving. Someone kept me up late last night, put me to work, and didn’t feed me.”
He grinned at her. “And I’ll put you to work again the first chance I get if you’ll let me.”
“Let you? I’m going tomakeyou.”
Logan willed away the growing erection her words created. If they got started now, she really would regret it, and so would he.
“Asher might have something to eat that you can take with you,” he offered.
“No, the sun is already rising. I have to go.”
She briefly kissed his cheek before stepping away. Logan led the way to the back door and opened it but rested his hand on her arm to keep her back as he stepped into it. Using his heightened senses, he searched the early dawn but didn’t smell, hear, or see anyone out there.
“I don’t sense anyone out there,” he assured her as he stepped away from the door.
Elena threw back her shoulders and prepared to saunter out of here and around the rest of the compound like she was taking a leisurely sunrise stroll. Before she could dart down the stairs, his words stopped her.
“I don’t regret anything either,” he told her.
“You better not.”
