Chapter Twenty-Seven
The twins happily went into the family room to watch cartoons for a few minutes while Ava talked to her husband. Logan had just pulled into the driveway and she was pacing back and forth in front of the door, half angry and half happy. It was a strange combination to feel all at once and it had her pulse racing and her heart pounding in her ears.
She didn’t know whether to kiss Logan or yell at him. Heck, she might do both. In fact, she was sure she was going to do both of those things and a few others as well.
The door swung open and Logan came inside, a grim expression on his face. He’d had a crappy day and it wasn’t her intention to make it worse but dammit, this couldn’t wait.
Stopping short when he saw that she was standing right in front of him, he leaned down to greet her with a kiss.
“Hey, honey. Is that cheeseburgers I smell?”
“It is.” She took his beat up brown leather briefcase out of his hands and placed it on the foyer table. “Is there anything you want to tell me, my darling husband?”
Like a deer in headlights, Logan froze. “Why do you ask?”
Ava walked toward the kitchen beckoning to her spouse. This wasn’t a discussion for the house entrance. “I had the most interesting discussion with Jason today. Jared was caught up in a meeting so he couldn’t call me back with the Timber Ridge details. Jason called instead. Do you know what he asked me?”
Her husband was beginning to relax, a smile playing on his lips. “Jason ratted me out, didn’t he?”
Logan thought this was funny. Funny.
He was going to be walking funny when she was done with him.
“Ratted you out? That’s all you have to say for yourself? Your business partner asked me if I was happy that you wouldn’t be traveling anymore. Imagine my surprise when I heard this.”
Leaning a hip against the kitchen counter, Logan was wearing his trademark grin. “I was saving it for a surprise but I guess it’s official. Kim hadn’t decided for sure to stick with the firm. She’s a city girl and let’s face it, most of the assignments are in little piss ant towns like this one. I didn’t want to raise your hopes only to have to tell you it wasn’t happening.”
Kim? What did she have to do with this?
“Wait…what? How does Kim fit into this equation?”
Crap, was she going to be working even more closely with Logan?
I cannot catch a break.
Logan was looking at her as if she was pretty but not very bright. “Kim is going to take my position in the firm, traveling as a hands-on consultant. I’m taking a different role in the firm providing computer and data expertise along with a managerial role for our support staff. Jared is going to specialize in some of the more…shall we say darker aspects of research, while I concentrate on the myriad of requests that come in every day. Jared desperately needs the help and the office in Seattle is growing by leaps and bounds. It needs someone to man the helm, so to speak. That’s why I’ve been spending so much time with Kim. I needed to first evaluate her level of skill and then get her trained up so she could take over.”
Falling back into a kitchen chair, Ava rested her head in her hands. “I want to kiss you and kick you in the balls. I’m going to do both but I’m not sure which I’m going to do first.”
Laughing, Logan playfully covered his crotch with his hands. “Baby, I think you like what I got going on here. Think before you do that.”
She looked up at her husband. So handsome. So sexy. So full of shit. He made her crazy and he ought to thank the good heavens that she was in love with him.
“I had no idea of what was going on, you idiot. I thought we were at the point in our marriage where you liked working more than being home. I thought…maybe…Kim was more interesting. I mean…she catches criminals better than I do.”
“Because that’s my criteria when it comes to choosing a mate for life? And you are stuck with me for life, good girl. Don’t think I’m ever going to let you go. And just so you know…I was beginning to think that maybe you preferred it when I was gone.”
He had to have lost his mind. She wasn’t planning to go anywhere nor was she planning to let him wander away either.
“You rarely call me good girl anymore.” She raised her hands up when he would have reached for her. “And I’m still pissed at you. If you’d have just told me this would have gone a lot smoother.”
He leaned down so his hands were resting on his knees and their noses were almost touching. “I am sorry about that. I just wanted it to be a sure thing before I told you. And as for not calling you good girl? That’s because it doesn’t fit so much. We’ve done some pretty naughty things in the bedroom, baby. While I can definitely say that you were good at it, I cannot say that you’re a good girl if that adjective means that you don’t get down and dirty with your man.”
Glancing over her shoulder, Ava wanted to make sure that the children were still glued to the television. They didn’t need to hear their father talking like this to their mother.
“You’re not so bad yourself, handsome.”
“But I am.” His lips pressed against hers and his tongue ran along her bottom lip. “A bad boy. Just ask your dad. He’ll tell you.”
Rolling her eyes, she pulled him back in for another kiss. “I don’t think my father has a leg to stand on when it comes to opinions about you. Are you really going to be home more?”
Logan’s answer was to wrap his arms around her waist and lift her out of the chair and onto the kitchen counter. Her legs were splayed so he could fit snugly between them. They couldn’t start anything, but it sure gave her ideas about things they could do after the kids were in bed.
“I’m going to be home so much you’re going to get thoroughly sick of me.” He cocked his head to one side. “Did you honestly think I found Kim more interesting than you? Baby, you are the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met, and you certainly keep me on my toes. Every day with you is more fun than the day before.”
Now he was just being silly. Every day couldn’t possibly be like that. But she might just be that fascinating. At least to him.
“You and she have a lot in common. She’s caught some nasty criminals.”
“So have you. Whether real or literary. You have to know that I love you.”
“I do know, and I know that you’re devoted to us. My jealousy didn’t make any sense and I knew that. I guess it was that she seemed to get all the best time with you. When you were home you were tired or distracted. She got…prime time…and I got what was left over. I think that’s why I was feeling down.” Ava didn’t know if she was doing a good job of explaining this. “As much as you’ve hated being here in Corville, I got to spend so much time with you. Work with you. I’ve missed that. Sometimes it feels like we’re on parallel paths that rarely cross.”
Rubbing his lips across hers, he whispered the words that always made her heart skip a beat.
“Baby, you’re the one. The only one. Forever.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. She could feel the emotion radiating off of him, that passion and fervor she’d never take for granted. “I’m going to do better. I don’t want you to have even one moment of doubt.”
She couldn’t let him take the rap for this. It was all her own insecurities. She’d known they were stupid but she’d let them worm their way into her brain, making her think things that made no sense.
“It’s not your fault. This is my issue.”
“We do things as a couple so it’s our issue. You know, I get a little insecure, too. I’ve often thought that you and the kids were such a tight unit. You go about your daily business and handle everything just fine without me. You don’t…really need me.”
How could this man possibly think that? She needed him all of the time.
“I must be a heck of an actress,” Ava declared with a smile. “Because I need and miss you all the time. Sure, I can take out the garbage and kill the spiders by myself but it’s after the kids are in bed and I’m all alone. That’s when I need you most of all.”
“I hope you mean that because I’m going to be home pretty much every night from now on.”
Ava couldn’t think of anything she wanted more. It sounded like heaven.
“I suppose you think you’re going to get lucky more often,” she teased. “But there won’t be any more going away sex or welcome home sex.”
She didn’t mention the stuff they did on the phone or Skype. That was the I-miss-you-sex.
His lips found that special spot right underneath her ear and she almost melted into a pool of goo on the granite countertop.
“I think I’m lucky just being your husband, but I guess you could say that I’m looking forward to a lot more…togetherness. In fact, let’s start right now.”
“The kids are watching cartoons in the other room,” she reminded him. “They only get a few hours a day of screen time and it’s not even dinner yet. Can you wait until we put them to bed?”
She moaned the last part of her sentence, her pulse thrumming in private places. He was far too good with that tongue and those fingers. She wasn’t sure she could wait to be honest.
“I can wait, good girl, but be prepared to be very bad tonight.”
It was good to have him home.