“I want to cherish you, adore you. I want to taste every inch of your silky skin,” he whispered as he studied the dips and curves of her body.
His appreciative gaze roved over her, followed by his mouth, his tongue, his talented fingers. He shifted, gently tucking her curves beneath his firm, muscular frame, and finally—God, finally—he slid inside her. Their bodies moved in perfect harmony, stoking the flames burning within her, deepening and intensifying their love. He filled her completely with every loving word, every passionate kiss, every thrust of his powerful hips, shattering her last shred of control and taking them into a sea of pure, explosive pleasure.
Chapter Nineteen
LOGAN HELPED STELLA from the car. She’d hardly said two words on the drive from the hotel to her mother’s house. A deep vee had formed between her brows when they left the hotel, and it had been there ever since. She had a death grip on his hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…” She turned worried eyes up to him. “Are you sure Kutcher isn’t going to get out?”
Logan knew this fear would be with her for a very long time. “Yes. He’ll have to go through the legal process to get a conviction, but this is a sealed deal. He’s going to be behind bars for a long time. You’ve given them a positive identification on Kutcher. They’re talking to the neighbor who interrupted the attack to get an ID from him, too. They have the physical evidence they need to convict him. They had the DNA samples from the hospital visit after he stabbed you. He’s done, darlin’, and I’ll be with you every step of the way.” They’d been over this a dozen times that morning, and Logan was ready to reassure her a dozen more. Whatever it took, he was in, one hundred percent.
Stella breathed deeply as they waited for her mother to answer the door. They heard shuffling, and a voice similar to Stella’s called through the closed door, “Who is it?”
Tears sprang from Stella’s eyes. “It’s me, Mom. It’s Stella.”
They listened to two bolts sliding free, and the door opened as far as the chain lock would allow. A set of tired green eyes peered out at them, instantly filling with tears as they darted between Stella and Logan.
“It’s really me, Mom. It’s okay. It’s safe.”
A moment later Stella was wrapped in her mother’s arms, both of them crying, and Logan’s heart felt as if it had doubled in size. He turned away to give them privacy. Still within her mother’s embrace, Stella snagged his shirt.
“Stay.”
He did.
He always would.
Her mother’s cancer was in remission. Her hair had begun growing back, and although she appeared thin and tired, by the time they left several hours later, both Stella and her mother looked as if new life had been breathed into them. Stella had a bounce to her step, and Logan swore her eyes looked brighter than ever.
Stella stood beside the car, looking at her mother’s house for a long while. When she was ready, Logan opened the car door so they could leave.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest.
“Thank you for everything, Logan. You’ve done too much for me already, but there’s something else I’d like you to do.”
“Anything, darlin’. You know that.”
“We can’t escape our pasts, but we can be free from them and put them behind us.”
“That’s what we’re doing.”
“No,” she said. “That’s what I’m doing. Now it’s your turn. I wish you would come clean to your mother, let her know what happened so that you can put that burden behind you.”
A chill ran through him at the prospect. Logan shook his head. “I don’t want my mother thinking of me as a cold-blooded killer. This is different.”
“What you did wasn’t cold-blooded, Logan. You saved that woman and her son. You probably saved many women that night. Your mother will be proud of you. She deserves to know as much as you deserve to be relieved of the guilt that you’ve been carrying around for so long. I love you, but I can’t see how we can move forward with that noose hanging around your neck.”
Logan had thought about telling his mother a million times, and the thought had nearly suffocated him. It was one thing to handle a mission for his country. He could disconnect from the emotions when he was carrying out a duty to protect his country, but this…This was his personal mission. No one hired him to do it. All he could imagine was his mother thinking about him killing that man with his bare hands.
“Please?” Stella stepped in closer. “For us? At least think about it?”
One look at her penetrating, love-filled gaze, and he fell under her spell, just as he’d been since the day he’d met her. He’d give his life for Stella if he had to. But this...This was the toughest thing he’d ever been asked to do.
Earning Stella’s trust and love had changed him. She’d become his last night, and he’d been hers since the moment he’d followed her into that alley and rescued her.