Page 20 of Unmistakably Us

Speaking of rabbits…his voice might as well have been a battery operated one since it stroked her clit with precision. As much as it scared the fuck out of her, a thrill ran through her body at seeing him.

He was nose to nose with her but not touching her with any body part at all. She wanted to wrap her legs around his waist but the smell of alcohol wafting from him returned her to her previous royal level of pissed. Crossing her arms, she questioned him.

“So, where were you tonight and why do you reek of alcohol?” As soon as she realized she sounded like a jealous girlfriend, she changed her tone. “Cheating on all of us with another strip club? Cinnamon River perhaps?”

January added enough laughter to her question to lighten her earlier vibe.

Logan’s lips crushed hers and pissed fled, taking hurt, shame, and guilt with it. She felt only him.

* * *

She fucking cares.She cared he wasn’t there, she cared where he had been, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked hurt by his absence.

That was unexpected, considering she snuck out on him this morning. Today was an interesting day for him, to say the least. First, the whole thing with John and Michael, and now, January. This many people giving a shit about him in any way was a first for him. It terrified him, but it also gave him feelings he was unsure how to deal with.

That’s where the drinking came in. John and Michael took him to lunch, then to a local beach haunt for what they called Diesel Fuel. Of course, John stayed responsible and sober, but Michael tied one on with him.

It was almost surreal—drinking and joking with his brother like they were best friends. More than once, he wanted to spill his guts. When he first came here, he could barely look at Michael without a deep ache blooming in his heart, with a bit of hatred and jealousy following close behind, but tonight was different.

Tonight, he just looked at him as a friend, a brother. Somewhere along the way, he tried to quit blaming him. It was hard to let go of something that kept him going so long, but he was making the effort. For Logan, that was a huge deal. He wasn’t sure if he would succeed at it, but just trying spoke volumes. Even if he wasn’t fully open to listening yet.

And January, God he wanted to fuck her right up against the building, then ask her to make their naked fun time a regular thing. Not a relationship, he didn’t do those, but a regular bed partner wasn’t out of the question. He had kind of already decided that…after his sixth drink, or maybe it was his seventh. He hadn’t counted on her caring. This was a new wrench in his plan, but for tonight, he’d let the alcohol guide him and not question anything.

Not even why she tasted so fucking sweet.

January broke the kiss and left his lips grasping at the night air. “Man, you are lit. Please tell me you didn’t drive.”

“Nope. Michael and John dropped me off. They both say hi, by the way.”

They hadn’t actually said the words, we approve, but by dropping him here, they were giving their silent, non-objection, for whatever this was with January. Logan was positive they would damn sure feel differently if they knew it was just sex, but he never indicated as much to them.

That evil son of a bitch who lived in his head told him, you can keep telling yourself that, but it won’t make it true, and the other one told that one to shut the fuck up. Logan often imagined them as two shoulder devils. Yeah, um, no angels for him, but his devils were usually dressed up like rock gods from the eighties so he’d always guessed he could deal with it.

Right now, however, he pictured them as Gene Simmons, probably because of January, and Kip Winger. Again, because of January. Logan tried to justify that image. “First off, no one considers Kip here a rock god,” said tiny devil Gene. Devil Kip just grinned and made a lewd gesture.

Only in my fucking head would those two even be hanging out together, much less arguing. Trying to dislodge those beyond clinically insane thoughts disturbed his challenged balance.

January shook her head. “Oh, God. Can you balance for the ride or are you too drunk for that?”

“Babe, I am not too drunk for anything you have to offer, most especially a ride.” The lecherous grin he attempted fell short, or at least he assumed it did since she didn’t seem impressed

January led him back to her bike. “Wow, talking in cursive and everything. You must have really tied one on.”

Logan was sober enough to toss his leg over the bike, but he was starting to question his ability to stay upright. Obviously, so did January.

“Okay, big guy, this is a recipe for disaster. Let’s get you off of Demon before you both eat concrete.” After he was off the bike and holding up the side of the building, January typed furiously on her phone and was answered by a series of dings that seemed increasingly loud.

The words were forming on his lips to ask her to keep it down, when the big mutha who worked the door came out mumbling about drunken assholes and pint-sized dancers. Next thing Logan knew, Ruger was stuffing him into a car and being stern with January. That wouldn’t do.

“You don’t speak to her like that,” Logan ordered. Or at least he tried to. It came out more like he was speaking drunken Cajun. When he tried to rise to get in the big man’s face for speaking to his girl like that, one meaty hand to the shoulder held him in place.

Damn, his hands are big, almost as big as Dax’s.But no one’s were as big as Dax’s. That dude had freakishly large hands. Why am I sitting here thinking about people’s hands? His voice sounded perfectly sober in his head. He was still fascinated with hands, so he examined his own.

They were rough and weathered, like old dude hands. He had dirt and grease under his fingernails that would probably never come out.

January’s hand interrupted his field of vision, and he followed it with rapt interest. Her porcelain skin and elegant fingers grasped the plastic square, bringing it around and snapping his seat belt into place.

Compelled by what, he didn’t know, he dropped his old dude hand to her perfectly unblemished one sporting a tiny silver wave ring, and he got nauseous at the sight.

---