Page 113 of Seven of Hearts

He settled into a rhythm of quick, short thrusts up into me as he smoothed the pads of his thumbs over my nipples.

I tossed my head back and swore at the ceiling, pleading for a release.

“Beg a little louder and I might let you come, sweetheart.”

“Logan,” I growled in frustration.

He chuckled as he grabbed my hips and stopped when he was fully sheathed inside of me. “Just breathe and let me hear those little sounds you make. The sweet ones where it almost sounds like you’re crying because you’re so desperate to come.” He pressed his hips to mine and ground his pelvis against my clit, jettisoning me toward a release.

I couldn’t help it. I granted him every desperate, depraved plea he was craving.

“That’s it,” he soothed as my breathing quickened, matching the pulsing flutters of my pussy clenching at his shaft.

I shattered around him, collapsing forward into his arms.

Logan caught me, whispering sweet nothings in my ear as I crashed from the high.

“That’s my girl,” he said softly. “As beautiful as the first time. Always beautiful, every time.”

31

LEAH

Logan left today.

I couldn’t help my teary-eyed goodbye at three in the morning as he kissed me on the porch, then hopped in his car to drive to Raleigh to catch a seven AM flight to Chicago.

The gray January sky matched my mood. It was Gio and Ellie’s first day back at school, and I had hoped that the distraction of the hustle and bustle would be enough.

It wasn’t.

I had grown so accustomed to the routine of Logan checking my blood sugar and stabbing me with the insulin pen that the sight of needles didn’t knock me out immediately.

That was good, considering I had to do it by myself today.

Logan had been indispensable, taking the last week to coach me through doing it myself. He was fast and efficient at it. I wasn’t.

We had talked about his trip endlessly. How he needed to take a few days to officially move out of his apartment, finalize the offer he had gotten for his car, and deal with some business at the Chicago offices. He claimed it wouldn’t take more than two or three days, but two days felt like an eternity.

Pregnancy had given me the house cat mentality, where I was convinced that my current circumstances would be my life forever.

We had spent the remainder of my Christmas break staycationing in Beaufort. We drove out to the beach to catch early winter sunsets. We stopped at touristy surf shops to peruse the packed aisles for trinkets with names engraved on them, hoping to stumble across the right name for our little one.

Twice, we had dinner with Steve and Erica. They were great neighbors, and I loved spending time with them and their kids. Logan and Steve were strikingly similar in personality; both the strong silent types.

Erica promised to drop in whenever I was home, while Logan was away. I had told her I’d be busy at work, but I had severely overestimated how much work the DeRossis and Lawsons would let me do.

I was on strict orders from my bosses to not do anything apart from driving the kids to and from their activities and sitting with my feet up. They treated me like family, which was why I kind of hated them right now. I would have given anything for a deep-cleaning home project or pulling down everyone’s Christmas decorations.

Unfortunately, Maddie and Hannah Jane had put their husbands to work, taking down the trees and garlands before my first day back.

It’s like they knew I would climb up a six-foot ladder while thirty-two weeks pregnant.

Maybe Logan had put them up to it. I wouldn’t put it past him.

I had just settled at the kitchen table with my testing kit when my phone rang.

Saved by the bell.

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