Page 93 of What It Means To Be Found

“When you did this at the engagement party,” I whispered, “I thought it was the hottest thing a man had ever done.”

Logan’s smirk pulled on the scars marring his cheek, his eyes lit up with mischievousness as he lowered my hands so he could sign, I know you like my lips better when they—

I gasped and slapped his hands down, making him huff his laughter as he pulled me against him to kiss me once again.

“Are you two just going to make out this whole flight?” I heard Courtney ask from her seat in front of us. She was peeking between the seats and wiggling her eyebrows when Logan lifted his middle finger at her and kissed me harder, messing up my hair as he pushed my head back against my seat.

When he pulled back, I was positive I had a dopey lovesick expression on my face, like in the cartoons I used to watch on Saturday mornings as a kid.

“Courtney?”

“Yeah?”

“Shush.”

27

LOGAN

It was comical that I was so nervous about this day, but the small hand that squeezed mine as we strolled through grass made me relax my shoulders a little bit more. Another small hand came up to grab onto my forearm, as if knowing that I would need all the contact right now.

I glanced down at Eloise, admiring her features as the morning sunlight started to shine through the various trees and gravestones.

“Is it silly that I’m nervous?” Eloise asked.

I squeezed her hand back in mine, leaning down to kiss her head as I tugged her along the path that I had only made a handful of times since laying Anna here to rest years ago. I could see Eloise glancing at all the names on the gravestones that we passed, curious interest lighting up those eyes that I would never, ever get tired of seeing.

It had been a month since Colorado. Since John fired our former agent and Eloise’s parents had met us at the airport at LAX. It was a weird weekend. Within twenty-four hours we had gone from John and I sprinting down the hotel hallway after hearing Eloise’s voice warning Connor to not come any closer, to Eloise telling me that she loved me on the plane home the next morning, to meeting her parents a couple of hours later when we landed.

A whirlwind of a weekend, but I didn’t mind. Not in the grand scheme of things.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous to meet her parents, considering I never had before. I didn’t think I would be the kind of guy who needed the approval of my girlfriend’s parents, and yet, when Eloise and I stepped out of LAX and she waved at a cream-colored Rolls Royce waiting to pick us up, I felt my palms start to sweat.

Immediately, a woman who had the same hair and eye color as Eloise stepped out of the passenger seat. The woman even had a petite build like my girlfriend, so I knew it was her. I was swallowing my fear, getting ready to hold a hand up to introduce myself to Eloise’s mother, when I was caught completely off guard by the woman.

The woman, who was dressed in a white blouse, khaki knee-length skirt, and heels to pick up her daughter from the airport, had left the passenger side door open and ran to meet the two of us.

And then she wrapped both her daughter and me in a hug, my hand left awkwardly out to the side of us. I heard Eloise giggle and returned the embrace her mother was giving the two of us. Each of her arms around the shoulders of Eloise and me.

Mrs. Bane leaned back, settling on her heels, and took her daughter’s face in her hands immediately. The look of a concerned mother scanning her daughter’s face made something stir in my chest, realizing how much Eloise’s mother truly loved her daughter.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mrs. Bane asked.

“I’m okay, mom.” Eloise’s eyes watered a little, reaching up to squeeze her mother’s hands in reassurance before Mrs. Bane turned to me and immediately grabbed my face. She pulled me down to her level so that she could wrap her arms around my shoulders again, and I gave Eloise a wide-eyed look at being aggressively hugged twice by her mother within the span of seconds.

“Thank you,” Mrs. Bane whispered to me. “Thank you for being there for my daughter.” I gulped nervously while awkwardly returning her hug once more and nodding my head when she pulled back.

“Let them breathe, Lydia.” Mr. Bane was stepping out of the driver’s seat, leaving his car running as he approached his family and me. He bent down to embrace Eloise in a one-arm hug, while also grabbing her bag and dragging it towards the trunk of his car.

Mrs. Bane looped her arms through both mine and Eloise’s and dragged us to the Rolls Royce as well.

“I’m going to kill him.” Eloise’s mother and I immediately had something in common.

“Mom,” Eloise sighed.

“Your father is already getting the paperwork for a restraining order set up—”

“I don’t want to talk about that right now,” Eloise interrupted, giving her mom a stern look. I knew Eloise had struggled to stand up to her parents before, and even though I desperately wanted to talk to her parents to see what all they were doing to ensure that my former agent never, ever caught a glimpse of Eloise again, I set my hand on the small of her back in support.

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