Selena
When I woke up, Logan was on his stomach splayed out with very little mattress left for me. We were going to have to get used to sharing a bed if we were going to live with each other. I’d never lived with someone and by the looks of things, neither had he. He seemed very comfortable with his own space and how much of it he had.
I nudged him and he shifted over without waking up. I smiled. I could work with compromises. I lay on my back, sheets over my chest. I looked up at the ceiling. So much had happened in such a short time I was still trying to wrap my mind around it. Besides the drama and subsequent trauma with May, there was also the week at the lake, the proposal and how quickly our relationship had escalated.
And then there was the publishing contract I was going to sign.
I got out of bed, quietly, and tiptoed to the bathroom. My lips were puffy from Logan’s kissing and nibbling. My neck was red with beard burn. My eyes were bright and the smile was quick on my lips. I got in the shower and washed Logan off me.
When I was done I wrote a note for Logan and left the apartment. I caught a cab back home.
My door was fixed. When I unlocked, there was no sign of the scuffle or the murder. It was like it had never happened. Logan’s men must have come during the night and made sure my apartment was ready for me to live in again. I kneeled down just inside the door and put my hand on the carpet where Mitchell had died. It didn’t look like anything had happened here, but I would never forget what he’d done for me. It was something very big when someone sacrificed their life for you.
I went into the bedroom and picked up the phone I’d forgotten in the drama that had followed after that man had kicked down my door. I dialed Joanne’s number.
“Are you busy today?” I asked.
“I’m always ready for a coffee,” she answered and we set a time.
I got dressed in fresh clothes and put on some makeup to cover the worst of my sex evidence.
Joanne waited for me in front of the café and we walked in together.
“It feels like it’s been forever since I last saw you,” I said.
“It has been. You were away for a week.”
I nodded. It wasn’t just that, though. Everything felt like it was a lifetime away. I was a different person. My life was different now.
“So, tell me what’s your big news?”
I smiled, feeling anxious and excited, all at the same time. “Logan and I are engaged.”
Joanne looked at me, her face a blank mask. After a moment she blinked and then frowned. “Are you being serious?”
I nodded. “He asked me two nights ago.”
A waitress appeared and we both ordered coffee.
She waited until the waitress left before she carried on. “Are you being serious about this? You haven’t even known the guy a month and you’re already going to marry him?”
I shrugged. I knew it sounded crazy. “He’s my other half. He’s the person I know I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. You know how you meet The One and you just know?”
Joanne shook her head. “That only happens in books and movies, Selena. Not in real life. This isn’t the kind of thing you can just call off when you’re not in the mood anymore. This is marriage we’re talking about.”
I nodded. “I know that. But so much has happened.”
The coffee came and we stirred in sugar and milk before I started telling her about everything that had happened. About May, the threats at the club, the lake and the Fallen Thorns arriving with news and gifts. Saul’s kidnapping. The part where I nearly died.
When it was all over my coffee was cold and Joanne’s face was one of shock and surprise and emotion. “This is the craziest story I’ve ever heard. If I’d read it in a book I would have said the author was putting too much in the plot outline. This is insane.”
I looked down at my coffee. It really was insane. “I think it’s going to work, though. We just fit.”
Joanne sipped her second cup of coffee. “If you’re sure…”
“Tell me about the book contract,” I said, changing the topic.
Joanne phoned her publishing friend and we set a date to meet up.
“Logan wants to get married this weekend,” I said.
Joanne froze. “That’s in like, a week.”
I nodded. “It’s very soon.”
“You’ll have known him for just about a month, then.”
I laughed. It was absurd. It was true.
“How do you feel about it?”
I shrugged. “When he mentioned it I was reluctant but the more I think about it the more I can’t see a reason why not. Everything has been a whirlwind, since the moment we met, and the truth is I want to be with him. We don’t have to wait – what would we be waiting for?”
I knew what was on her mind. We would be waiting to get to know each other, to know we weren’t making a mistake. But I didn’t agree. I knew we were doing the right thing. I knew what I wanted. I wanted Logan.
When I got back to the apartment, he was up, making breakfast. I had packed a bag I’d taken with to stay another night. Logan smiled when he saw me.
“You look great.”
I walked up to him and kissed him. He smelled fresh and clean, like he’d showered. He was wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts. I’d never seen him in something that light I had to admit he was dashing no matter what he had on. Or didn’t have on.
“I have a surprise for you.”
I hopped onto the counter. Logan turned to me, forgetting about his breakfast for a moment.
“Oh?”
I nodded. “You’ll have to wait until Saturday, though.”
He pulled a face. “Why did you tell me now? I’m going to die of curiosity all week.”
I hopped off the counter and pressed my body against his, kissing his shoulder.
“I’ll just have to distract you, then.”
He glanced at the kitchen counter and then at me with eyes that were full of sex and I knew what was coming.