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After one last swipe, she dropped the pad to the table and grabbed the bandage. “Right about the dawn of time.”
As she moved between his legs, his hands wrapped around her hips, his touch burning through her yoga pants. Her thoughts scattered, but the yearning for him in her core centered and grew. Hot and hungry, desire threaded its way through her body. So bad, yet so good. And there was more. A need for him that couldn’t be satisfied with only sex. Damn her greedy soul, she wanted more.
“All because your how-ever-many greats grandfather broke into the family homestead and stole my how-ever-many greats grandfather’s fiancée, Elizabeth, out of there on the night before the wedding?”
He pulled the bandage from her grasp and peeled away the waxed paper over the adhesive before handing it back. This time, he kept his hands to himself, making it easier for Miranda to form coherent thoughts and complete her nurse duties. Sort of.
Her fingers trembled as she centered the bandage above his wound. “That’s not how it happened. They’d planned her escape together. She chose to go with Matthew Sweet for love. “
With as soft a touch as possible, she sealed the bandage and took a step back, but Logan tugged her back between his legs. Unlike before, his touch wasn’t playful or teasing. It didn’t make her thighs quiver or her breath quicken. Instead, his fingers dug into her skin, skating the line between hard enough to bruise and exquisite pleasure. His flirtatious, easy smile slipped, replaced by pursed lips, clamped so tight a white line formed around them. “I’m sorry.”
Her entire body clenched. “For what?”
He dropped his gaze to the ground, and Miranda’s heart plunged along with it. Even though she shouldn’t give a damn, his answer mattered, really mattered. More than the fight over the brewery land. More than the past hurts. More than their families’ history. Finally, she admitted it to herself. Her heart hung in the balance. Fear blew a cold breeze across her skin.
Logan took a deep breath and looked up. “How we—how I—have treated you and your family. It was wrong. I’m sorry.”
Head swimming with the effort of understanding her tumbled emotions, she tried to tear free of his grasp, but he wouldn’t relent. “Why are you telling me this?” She pried his fingers from her hips, but he grabbed her wrist before she could escape his overwhelming closeness.
“Because I know how Elizabeth felt.” His voice broke with emotion, and he let go of her wrist, letting it fall limp to her side as if her closeness burned him. “It’s hell to be pushed into following a certain plan because of someone else’s expectations of you, especially when the one person you want so badly that your whole body hurts is the person you can’t ever have. I fucked up before. I wasn’t man enough to stand up for you then. I am now, and I’m hoping like hell that you’ll let me prove it.”
The world tilted under Miranda’s feet. She’d always thought they were so different, but sitting in this kitchen lit only by the single bulb above the sink, she saw that they were just opposite sides of the same coin. Both fighting against others’ perceptions.
But, together, they could just be themselves.
That’s how it had been that summer. It was how it could be again.
His five o’clock shadow scratched against her palm when she tipped his head up. “What if you’re wrong, Logan?”
Chapter Seventeen
The kiss started as a brush of her lips across his, meant to reassure and comfort. A soft exploration of something too new to name no matter how strongly she felt it. A tentative touch. A gentle skim.
But it wasn’t enough. Miranda needed more. Careful to avoid his bandage, she swept her fingers through his thick hair and deepened the kiss. She teased his lips apart and swept inside, tasting the coffee and chocolate that lingered on his tongue. He groaned into her mouth, and his strong fingers spanned her waist. He tugged her down to his lap and the hard bulge behind his zipper.
Her lips trailed across his stubble-covered jaw as her fingers squeezed between their bodies to tangle in his dusting of coarse chest hair. She rocked against him, the friction enough to tease as she undulated her hips against him. Logan’s groan vibrated his chest under her fingertips.
She nipped his earlobe. “I want you.”
“Sweetling, I need you so bad it makes me cross-eyed.” He fisted the back of her T-shirt, pulling it tight against her boobs.
Her nipples poked against the thin material, their dusky hue visible through the white shirt. His eyes dilated and he reached out with his free hand, tweaking her nipple. It hardened, begging for more attention.
“That’s a lot.” She arched her back, pushing her breasts out even more.
“It doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.” He released the shirt. “Take it off. The pants, too.”
She shivered in anticipation. “Aren’t you demanding?”
“When it comes to wanting you, there’s no other way I could be.”
“I don’t know, it’s a little chilly. I might want to add more layers.”
He growled, grabbing the hem of her shirt and yanking it over her head. He tossed it into a corner. “Pants.”
“These?” She hooked her thumbs in the low waistband, turned and lowered the pants an inch, showcasing the upper swell of her ass.
Enjoying the thrill of teasing him, she rolled her hips from side to side and lowered her yoga pants another few inches, revealing half her butt to him. Logan traced the crack of her ass with a finger, making her clench. He followed the move by licking up the base of her spine while pulling her pants to her ankles. Her heart raced as she stood with her back to him, naked, vulnerable, and nearly melting with need.
