Page 147 of Snared Rider

“It’s just a bruise. It’ll heal.” It does not feel like just a bruise, but telling Logan that is a sure-fire way to get him pissed off—probably with Dean—and since Dean has enough to contend with as it is I don’t want to add fuel to that fire.

“It shouldn’t have happened.”

“No,” I agree, “it shouldn’t have. And it wouldn’t have if you and Dean hadn’t played at macho men.”

“Yeah, well, he should have kept his nose out of my shit.”

“He’s my friend, Logan. He’s also your friend. He did what he thought he had to. Was it misplaced? Maybe, but I’m not going to be mad at him for defending me.”

And I’m not.

Dean was right. I can’t change him; he is who he is and who he is, is the type of man who protects battered women from their husbands and defends best friends from their ex’s. I can’t blame him for reacting as he did.

Logan traces circles on the back of my hand. “I’m not mad at him. If the shoe was on the other foot I would have reacted the same.”

“Well, there’s no point worrying about it now. Dad knows about us, so does Jem, Clara and Wade. It’s only a matter of time before our dirty secret is out.”

He pulls back from me, and when he does he looks pissed.

Shit.

What did I do now?

“Dirty secret? Is that how you view us?”

I sit back in the chair, ignoring the pull on my ribs. It gives me some distance from his ire, although not nearly enough.

“That’s what we were, right? A big, dirty secret.”

“Beth, you were never a dirty secret.”

He says this, yet we never went public with our relationship. “Actions suggest otherwise.” I wave a hand. “It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s in the past. Time to look to the future.”

He closes his eyes as if seeking patience. When he opens them again he seems like he’s found control.

“You were never a dirty anything. I didn’t want to take our relationship public because I liked having you to myself. You know what those fuckers are like. We would never have got a minute’s peace from anyone. And it was so new and we were struggling to make that transition from friends to more. I didn’t want to rock that.” He shakes his head. “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, Beth, and if I’d known I would have done shit so much differently back then, but I just had what was in front of me. So, please, don’t pull away from me. Not this time. Not when I just got you back again.” The look he gives me is as serious as a heart attack. “If you pull away from me I’m just going to keep bringing you back anyway. I meant what I said: you’re mine.”

Is it wrong to hit someone lying injured in a hospital bed?

This time I close my eyes and ask for patience. Unlike Logan, I don’t find it, and when I open my eyes his face is inches from mine. I don’t get a chance to do or say anything because his mouth descends.

It’s a hot, wet, sensual kiss. And I feel it from my feet up. I’ve never been kissed by anyone the way Logan kisses me. It’s toe-curling, stomach-clenching, knee-shaking goodness, and I want to climb on top of him and take him here and now. The fact he has a hole in his back stops me, but I can sense he is just as frustrated as I am when he breaks the kiss.

“Logan?” I say his name as his fingers sift through my hair again.

“Quiet, baby. I’m showing you how sorry I am.”

“I know you’re sorry.”

“I meant what I said to you: I’ll spend the rest of my life making this up to you. I think my first gesture should show you how serious I am about that.”

His words confuse me.

“First gesture?”

“Baby, I took a bullet for you.”

I blink. He did not take a bullet for me, even if that had been his intention. No way in hell am I letting him play that card.

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