Page 35 of Candy Canes & Peppermint Kisses

I scrubbed my hands over my face and sat up straighter, staring at the wall ahead of me, knowing that’s what I had to do. He’d understand. He would. I knew it. The things he told me as he’d been inside me, the way he touched me, held me… told me that he’d been on the edge of the emotional cliff right along with me.

Although I didn’t have his personal phone number, which made me snort, because after what we’d done last night, we hadn’t done so much as exchange cell numbers. But I knew where he worked—Marsh Printing—which was right in town. I didn’t know if he’d be there this morning, but surely whoever was there would be able to direct me on how I could get a hold of him.

So as I came to the resolution that’s what I was going to do, and after I stood and went to grab my purse and keys, I froze at the sound of three hard knocks on my front door. I didn’t know who would be here. It wasn’t like I had friends who just dropped by, and I doubted it was Wellsie, as she never came unannounced, and was likely busy with the clean-up from the Santa event.

But my mind was churning with all the things I needed to do with Logan, so I paid it no more attention as I walked over and opened the door. A cold blast of winter air slammed into my face as the wind picked up, but that wasn’t what had my entire body freezing, chills racing up and down my arms, or my breath catching.

Logan stood on the other side, his big, imposing body this dark silhouette against the white backdrop of winter. I didn’t know what to say, my throat so dry, my tongue so thick as I stared into his face. It was as if we’d been on the same wavelength, of the same mind. He’d come to me just as I was going to him.

He had this harshness to his expression as he stared at me. After everything we’d done last night, how I should be good and sated for the rest of my natural life, I still couldn’t help how my body reacted to the sight of him. Wetness pooling from my still ultra-sensitive pussy. Nipples hardened even though they still ached from the erotic abuse he gave them with his mouth, teeth, and the scruff covering his cheeks.

I did hold in my moan, so there was that at least.

And as I stood there, I wasn’t even ashamed of the fact that I was checking him out. Dark boots encased his feet. Worn denim jeans wrapping around his massively masculine thighs. He wore a white T-shirt underneath a blue-and-green flannel. His jacket was dark, big enough to fit a frame such as his, and still I could see how muscular he was despite all those layers covering him.

And although he wore that unreadable expression, I could see the way his eyes softened as he looked at me.

I licked my lips and took a step back, saying nothing as I allowed him entrance. He’d clearly come here looking for answers. I knew that’s where I’d just been headed. And although I didn’t know if I could give him what he was after, those elusive answers that even I couldn’t find, I didn’t want to be away from him.

Fate. Destiny. Whatever this was between us, it was very clear that he and I were meant to cross paths again.

14

Logan

Blythe looked terrified, but not in the sense that she was afraid of me, but in the fact that she was nervous about whatever this was that was happening between us.

And I needed to ease her worry, make her feel comforted… wanted in every single fucking way imaginable.

It had been easy enough to find her address, as it was public information. I wasn’t even the least bit ashamed that I looked her up, that I found her phone number, where she lived, any other little piece of information I could find about her. And I’d do it all over again if it meant being in this moment with her now.

I sat in the recliner across from her, my big body barely fitting in the small confines of the chair. She sat on the couch cattycorner to me, her hands in her lap, her fingers twisted together. I hated that she was so nervous. The anxiety coming from her was like a living entity spearing out of her body and wrapping itself around me.

“How did you find me?” She glanced up at me, her blue eyes seeming so big and depthless.

“The internet.”

She nodded, obviously finding that a sufficient answer.

“I was about to go out and find you too,” she admitted, and I felt a flare of surprise at that. I also felt… approval and nearly hummed because of it.

“I’m sorry I ran off this morning without saying anything," she finally spoke again, her voice whisper-soft. She kept those baby-blue eyes trained on me, and my breath caught.

God, she was gorgeous.

I shifted on the chair, feeling arousal start to claim me. Now was not the time to pop a boner. This was a serious situation, one where I would bare myself to her and let Blythe know I couldn’t let her walk away. I wouldn’t.

“I—”

“Was afraid of what’s happening between us,” I finished for her and saw her eyes widen before she nodded slowly.

She licked her lips, and I looked down to watch the act, seeing her little pink tongue run across her full bottom lip. I nearly groaned at the sight, telling my body that right now I had to get my fucking self-control in check. But the arousal was a steady beat inside me. It was unavoidable, undeniable. There was this insane pull I felt toward her, the attraction too intense to be denied.

“It scares me, if I am being bluntly honest here,” she said so softly I almost didn’t hear.

Blythe looked down at her lap and started messing with the edge of her shirt, pulling out a loose thread. Every instinct in me wanted to go to her, pull her into an embrace, smooth my hand up and down her back, and comfort her, telling her everything was fine because I was here now and I’d never let her feel upset. I’d level cities to make that so.

“I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

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