He dialed Claire’s number and set the phone on the coffee table. Melody bit her nails as the call went through.
When Claire answered, Melody closed her eyes. Logan took her hand and she squeezed his in return.
“Claire, have ye thought about what I said? About meeting at my lawyer’s office? If you’re wanting to meet, it’s the only way I’ll agree.”
There was a moment of hesitation, silence on the other end of the call, and then Claire’s lilting voice was there in the room. Melody winced. Hearing the Scottish accent, hearing it in a woman’s voice, the woman that Logan had wanted to marry, was almost unbearable. It drove home that Logan shared something with this woman that Melody had no part of.
“Aye. If it’s the only way, then we’ll do it. I’m not happy, Logan, with doing it this way, but if ye insist, I’ll agree.”
Melody opened her eyes.
“I insist. I’ll give you the address then and we’ll fix to meet tomorrow. At…” He glanced at Melody and she held up two fingers.
“At two o’clock.”
Logan finished the call and sat back. He passed a hand over his face, suddenly looking very tired. He was quiet for a few minutes, before turning to Melody.
“Ye remember what ye said, that what we have between us makes you whole?”
Melody nodded. Logan’s voice was rough with emotion.
“Well, I’d like it very much if you’d come to bed with me now.” He reached for her hand, pulling her up from the couch with him.
“I’m missing a few pieces of myself and I need you to help me…I need you, Melody…” His voice broke, his eyes full of pain.
“Shhh…” She held her finger to his lips before leading him down the hall to the bedroom.
In the soft dark of the room, Melody carefully undressing Logan, making quick work of the buttons on his shirt, the zipper on his jeans, as anxious as he was to feel the warmth of his skin beneath her hands, beneath her body.
In the dark her fingers traced the now-familiar lines of his arms and chest, trailing lower over his stomach, and then lower still, a tingle racing down her spine at the sound of his soft groan, as she found him ready for her.
She pushed him gently back on the bed and she knew he was watching as she removed her clothes, backlit by the light from the hall.
“Come here…” He held out his hand and she climbed on the bed, her body resting on his, his warmth against her skin. She cradled his face in her hands, brushing a thumb briefly across his lips. He took her hand, kissing her fingers gently.
“As long as you’re here, with me, Melody, it all goes away, all of it. It’s just you and me.”
“It’s the same for me, Logan, always. You’re what grounds me. Even if nothing else makes sense, it doesn’t matter. This makes sense…” She placed her hand over his heart. “And it makes me happy.”
Logan rolled over, taking Melody with him. She slowly ran her hands over his back, down his spine, feeling the muscular contours of his body beneath her fingers, the tension in his shoulders.
His lips found hers and she opened her mouth to him, the slowness, the gentleness of the kiss belying the hunger and need she knew was behind it, that was evident in every other part of his body.
She let him lead, let him take from her what he needed, as he needed it. The gentleness of his kiss was quickly replaced with urgency, his body pressing her into the bed, his hands on her back and beneath her head holding her tight against him.
For a long moment, at the end, she held him, arms and legs wrapped around his body, letting him spend himself inside her. As the trembling in his body slowed, as the tension finally left him, he relaxed against her, still holding her in a loose embrace.
Melody brushed a strand of hair from his forehead before softly kissing the place where it had been.
“I dinna crush ye, did I?” His words were muffled against her chest.
“No, I’m fine. I’m tougher than I look.”
She felt the warmth of his breath as he laughed softly. “I’ve no doubt you’re tough.” He caressed her breast, fingers drawing slow circles on her skin.
“But I’m more inclined to like the softer parts.” He lifted his head, looking at her. “And ye have many soft parts that I’m quite fond of.”
Melody could feel herself blushing in the dark. “You have a way with words, Logan. Just don’t put that into a song, okay?”
Logan rested his head on her shoulder, apparently reluctant to release his hold on Melody. “Aye. I promise.” He drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He was quiet for several minutes and his voice was dreamy when he spoke.
“This…being with you…is like playing out with the band, on a night when everything works, when everyone is playing from the heart. And the crowd is with us, hearing us, being a part of it. There’s a magic thing that happens…there’s no other way to say it.”
His fingers had stopped moving on her body and he placed his palm between her br**sts.
“The magic is here, in you.” His hand moved up to cup her cheek and she turned her face to his.
“I love you, Melody. More than I ever thought I could love a woman.”
“Does that scare you? How much…how fast this all happened?”
He shook his head, his thumb tracing over her cheek. “Never. Not for a second. It was right from the minute I saw you.” His lips brushed lazily against hers, the urgency gone, his touch sensual and teasing.
“It was different for you, Melody. Took you longer…” His lips moved across her cheek, down along her neck. She shivered at his touch, a soft moan escaping her lips. He lifted his head, his eyes gleaming in the half-dark.
“But I’m in the same place you are now, Logan.” She placed her hand on his chest. “The same magic is there, for me, inside you.”
“It took you longer to succumb to my charms, did it? I must have been off my game at the start. Ye should have fallen for me right away.”
Melody smiled. The teasing quality was back in his voice, and even without lights, she knew it would be in his eyes as well.
She’d missed that tone, the gentle teasing, the way he could laugh at himself. The stress of the lawsuit, her issues with Ryan, and now Claire, with the announcement she had Logan’s child, had taken that away from Logan’s voice.
They’d both grown so serious, the weight of all these issues dragging them down, wearing at them. Melody wondered what it would be like, just the two of them, away from all of this, with nothing tearing at them, worrying them.
“Logan, what’s Scotland like? The Highlands, I mean, where you said you’d take me.”
Logan lifted his head from her neck. “It’s like nothing else on earth. Wild and beautiful, rough places and lochs…lakes.”
“And a sea monster.”
“Aye. A sea monster…a loch monster, really. Loch Ness is a lake, ye ken…but you can call Nessie a sea monster. I don’t think she won’t mind.”
Logan slid down in the bed next to her. “There’s the cave…Dun Bonnet’s cave. I told you about that.” His hand was sliding down her stomach, his lips kissing a trail behind his fingers.
“Rivers and hidden lochs, places so green it’s hard to imagine. Rocks…valleys…” His hands moved lower and Melody arched her back, her legs relaxing beneath the touch of Logan’s hands, his lips caressing the curve of her hips, then the space between them.
“And…there’s more. But I’m finding I’m a bit distracted at the moment. Can we talk about Scotland later?”
“Yes…later is fine.” Melody sighed, lying back against the pillows. “Scotland’s not going anywhere, I suppose.”
His breath was warm against her skin, his laugh soft in the quiet room. “Aye. It’s been there for centuries. It’ll still be there when I’m done with you.”
* * *
She woke with a start, her mind fully engaged, Logan’s case the center of her focus. The thing that had been tugging at her brain, the one detail that had been overshadowed by Claire, by worrying about Logan, everything else in their lives finally became clear.
Ryan couldn’t represent Jack Ashton. Not unless Joe Hunter had accepted his resignation. And the last Joe had told her, he hadn’t. She wanted to shake Logan awake and tell him, but he was snoring softly beside her, his face calm and unlined for a change.
She brushed a strand of hair away from his cheek, marveling again how she’d ended up here, with this man. How she ended up in love with a stranger, who was now her best friend.
Getting quietly out of bed, she pulled on her robe. It was hours before she needed to be awake, but her mind was racing. She sat at the table in the living room, tearing a page out of Logan’s notebook, scribbling down what she needed to do when she got to work. After filling the page, she read over her notes, smiled to herself, and then padded back down the hall to the bedroom.
Logan stirred as she climbed back into bed, reaching for her in his sleep. Her heart swelled with love for him and she nestled closer, letting herself relax against him. Knowing she’d written everything down she wanted to do, she let her mind go and drifted back into sleep.
* * *
“Come to the office at one-thirty. Call me from the lobby and I’ll come down and get you. When Claire gets there, Victoria can bring her up.” Melody headed back down the hall to the bedroom, in the process of getting dressed for work.
Logan was sitting at the table, drinking coffee. “And then?”
“And then, she’s going to tell us what she wants. More specifically, what she wants from you. And why now,” she called back down the hall.
“As, why now…if she’s had my child, why wait until now? Not come forward before?”
“Exactly.” Melody reappeared in the living room, resting one hand on the back of Logan’s chair as she slipped on her heels.
Logan had her notes in his hand, frowning at the page. “What’s this? I’m glad you don’t leave me notes. Your handwriting leaves something to be desired.”
She snatched the paper out of his hand, laughing. “Well, it was the middle of the night and I wanted to get this down on paper. It has to do with your case.” She glanced at the page before folding it up and tucking it into her purse.
“What is it?” Logan turned in his chair, catching her wrist as she moved away.
“I don’t want to say yet, until I ask a few questions at work. I don’t want you…us…to get our collective hopes up until I check on a few things.” She let him pull her down onto his lap. He was dressed in the same sweat pants as yesterday, and the memory of him wearing them, and then what happened after he’d taken them off, made her heart flutter.
“Logan…I have to go…” Her protest was half-hearted. And they both knew it. The warmth from his skin made her arm tingle, the scent of him set alight a small fire inside her. His voice was low and seductive, adding one more layer of sensation to her arousal.