Page 51 of Embattled Return

Logan grinned and had to pick his head up to look down at her. Anxiety churned. “You enjoyed yourself?”

She tightened her brows. “Um, yeah... I have a feeling Nancy heard that scream downstairs. Maybe she didn’t hear it over The Price is Right. Do you realize you are ribbed for her pleasure?”

“What?” he asked incredulously, not sure he’d heard her correctly.

“Those scars seem to muffle your pleasure a little, but I’ll have you know they do just fine for me.”

She blinked her stunning green eyes up at him and grinned, and Logan couldn’t help but grin back at her. “Ribbed for her pleasure, huh?”

A wicked light entered her eyes. “Yeah, like the condom commercials, you know?”

Logan laughed, rolling to the side, but he kept eye contact. “Not sure what to make of that, exactly.”

“Take it for the compliment that it is,” she said, giving him a smacking kiss. “I’m going to go take a shower. You’re welcome to join me.”

She rolled out of bed with no modesty whatsoever and headed toward the bathroom. Marigold Lee had such a beautiful shape.

“What sports did you play in school?” he asked, following her.

Marigold glanced over her shoulder as she turned on the faucet, grinning. “How do you know I played anything?”

“You’re strong, solid. I’m thinking, softball.”

She laughed softly, turning back to test the water temp. “And you’d be right. My grandpa coached, actually, and I played my entire high school career. I have a small scholarship I’m using for school, even, for going to state for a couple of years.”

Logan nodded, gratified that he’d called it. “That’s awesome. You have a beautiful body.”

Brows lifted, she kissed him again before she stepped into the steaming shower. “Thank you. I think you do, too. Are you joining me?”

Logan stepped in behind her in the stall and slid the glass door shut. It was so strange to imagine anyone thinking of him as anything other than hideous or deformed, like he saw himself every day in the mirror. He’d gotten used to it, but it didn’t please him. The thought that anything about his body could please anyone was... intriguing? No, confounding. Because it was so opposite of how he had viewed himself for so long.

Marigold turned, tipping her head back into the water and wetting down her hair. Then she nudged at him to switch places with her. Logan moved under the hot water and reached for the bottle of shower gel. “Do you have anything that won’t make me smell like a damn fruit basket?”

Marigold was lathering shampoo into her hair. She grinned at him, and giggled. “Nope.”

Scowling, he squirted a dollop into his hand. When he got a whiff of the stuff, though, he wasn’t too upset. It smelled like Marigold. He could definitely tolerate that.

* * *

Marigold hada new appreciation for Logan. She’d felt the muscles beneath the clothing, but she hadn’t imagined, for some reason, that he would be this muscular. And that was her mistake. Maybe, because she knew he’d been burned, she’d expected him to look weak or something, but he really didn’t. The scars wound around his right side, but it wasn’t a sheet of scars. It was very patchwork, with some smooth skin interspersed with the damaged. She could only assume it was like that because of the way he was burnt.

He hadn’t moved like a man in pain this morning. “I’m glad I didn’t wear you out or hurt you too much last night.”

“Me too. Although I don’t think this morning could have gone any other way. I don’t think any amount of pain would have kept me from having you.”

Warmth flushed through her, and it wasn’t because of the hot water. It was suddenly very hard to breathe. She had promised him that there would be no commitment, but she’d known as soon as she’d uttered the words that she was lying, at the very least to herself. As soon as he’d walked in the door she’d felt something, some connection to him. And it was only getting stronger.

Logan gripped her arm and turned her back to him, pulling her flush against him. Then he began to rinse her hair. Marigold tipped her head back, loving the feel of his fingers against her scalp. “That’s really nice,” she murmured.

And when he was done with her hair, she turned him to wash his back and down his flanks. Then she turned him and lathered his chest. He watched her, his blue-green eyes narrowed as if he was trying to understand her. Then she went lower, lathering his cock and balls, and an entirely different light entered his eyes. He began to harden, and a smile eased across his lips, but Marigold turned away. “Later. You promised me lunch.”

And just that quickly the mood shifted. Logan’s smile faded and he leaned in to rinse again. “You’re right. We have things to do.”

Within just a little while they got out of the shower and dressed. “I need to run down and change my clothes, at least. Meet you in the kitchen in about twenty?”

“Sounds good,” she told him, pressing a kiss to his lips. Anxiety was already lining his lean face. “Hey, this is just lunch. More than likely you’re not even going to see any of your family. And if you do, I don’t think they’ll recognize you. It’s been more than twenty years.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said distractedly. “Meet you in a few.”

---