Page 123 of Whenever You Call

“Imagine how good I’ll feel when you’re inside me.”

He moaned into the kiss, trying to get impossibly closer as his fingers curled into my ass cheeks, almost bruising before he pulled back and said, “I’m not fucking you in the driveway after you’ve just told me you love me. As much as I want to, I need you beneath me when I slip inside you tonight. I want to take my time. To devour you and see every reaction your body has to my touch.”

I wanted him above me, too, caging me in, holding me close, both of us naked with nothing but hot, damp skin between us. But I also didn’t want to make love to him in the same bed Cole and I had shared, either.

Things had changed now.

Logan deserved a place of his own. Not one tainted with the ghost of a husband that didn’t belong there, but one where we could allowourlove to grow freely, side by side.

“Let’s go to the spare room you stayed in that first night I crawled into bed with you,” I told him. “That’s our room now. Yours and mine. We can make as many memories in there as we like.”

I’d no sooner said it, and he turned and carried me the entire way there, not caring about his pants left in the driveway, mine left among the greenery, or the fact that this was risky. But the moment we made it inside the bedroom and Logan laid me on the bed to undress me, I knew every risk I’d ever take with him would be worth it. Every precious moment, every longing stare, reckless kiss, hard thrust, or declaration of love that happened in that room became lifechanging.

The old me died in his arms that night, only for the newer, better version to thrive under his merciless worship. I couldn’t imagine my days or nights without him now. I hoped I’d never have to again.

Chapter45

BELLA

Itiptoed my way to Mommy’s bedroom the next morning. She’d been the happiest I’d ever seen her with Aunt Kate and Logan around, and I wanted to know if she still felt the same way. Sometimes, if I was careful enough not to make a sound, I’d listen to Logan and her laughing together on the other side of the door, and I liked it.

Mommy was so much fun now.

But when I made it to her bedroom, I saw the door was already open, and a lot of light shone down onto the cream carpet inside it. The bed was still made, and the curtains open. I stepped inside and walked over to her private bathroom, but the door to that was open, too, and no one was in there.

Spinning around, I ran through the room and skipped down the stairs, hoping to see their faces in the kitchen or outside… but when I got there, the house was empty, the rooms too quiet. Nothing like they’d been last night.

I didn’t get scared a lot—Daddy always told me to be brave—but when I made my way back to the big foyer, something brushed against my skin, making it tingle, and then I got scared.

“Mommy,” I said quietly. “Mr. Logan?”

I don’t want to be alone.

“Livia?” I said, walking back into the big, tidy living room. It was empty. Everything was empty. “Aunt Kate?”

I ran around every room downstairs, my breathing getting heavier as I began to panic.

“Where are you, guys?”

Don’t get scared. Don’t be a baby. Don’t get scared. Don’t be a baby.

The tingling on my skin happened again, and I gasped, quickly rubbing at my arm where it felt like somebody had touched me, but there was nobody there, and I started to think this was one of those bad dreams I sometimes had.

Scrunching my eyes shut, I spun in circles and whispered to myself, “Wake up, wake up, wake up,” but when I opened my eyes again, I was still in the same place.

It frightened me.

I didn’t want to be alone.

I ran to the big main door, coming to a stop next to the little box where Mommy kept the keys. I’d seen her do this so many times before—Livia, too—so I knew that the biggest key with the big, black head was the one I needed, and I pushed it into the lock like I’d watched them do every time we left the house.

It clicked when I turned it, but when I tried to pull the handle down and open it, it was too heavy, and it clicked shut again before I could fit through the gap I’d created.

“Ugh,” I huffed, looking around me for something that could help. “Wait. The box!” I picked it up and put it down on the tiled floor, reading to nudge it into place with my foot when I got the door open just enough.

It took a few tries, but when I kicked it into the gap, and the door stayed open against it, I smiled to myself, feeling grown up as I pushed out a heavy breath.

I slipped through the crack in the door, squeezing myself into it likeJell-O,only to stumble out on the other side, accidentally kicking the box back into the house when I did, making the door close behind me.

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