“You're stubborn as a mule, and run off at the mouth to everyone but the people that need to hear it the most,” he countered frostily, unlocking his arm from around me.
There was some truth to his words, but I decided to live up to the first descriptor, sliding off his lap and walking over to my bundle of clothes. I put each item on slowly, piece by piece, not facing him until I was fully clothed.
“I'm getting better about number two,” I said quietly. “I gave my dad a piece of my mind finally.” I didn't share that I'd stormed out of the office with my tail between my legs. Or that I'd served up a cold dish of 'go to hell' to my ex, Jason. There was already too much tension in the air. The last time I'd dropped his name around Logan it was equivalent to a bomb going off.
I sunk my hands into my pockets. “We just met. How can I love you?”
His eyes held me in place, even from several feet away. He rose from his chair, his movements smooth and sure. He didn't stop until he was in front of me, a wall of sexual energy and power. Eyes that somehow saw right down to my soul.
He ensnared my chin, his grip soft and romantic. “You didn't let me finish.”
I made a face. “I'm not sure I can take much more than stubborn and spineless.”
His lips twitched into the devastating half smile that made me swoon. “This is more along the lines of the fight in you. The way you didn't back down from Delilah. The way you didn't back down from me.”
“What?” I said incredulously, shaking his hand from my chin. “I couldn't leave your house fast enough the last time we were together.”
He didn't take offense, his eyes releasing me for a moment as he rolled his sleeves up. “Would you believe me if I said that wasn't the first time someone blurted I love you to me?”
Rich, hot, and dominant in bed? “Yeah, I can believe it.”
He looked back down at me, his eyes serious. “Love is...complicated for me. So saying it isn't something I take lightly.”
“Neither do—”
He pressed his fingers against my lips, almost identical to my gesture earlier.
“You surprised me when you booked it out of there like a bat out of hell,” he continued. “I'm used to the woman begging, telling me she'll wait and be patient. As long as it takes.” His fingers slowly traced my lips, the sweetest caress. “But you've been surprising me from the moment we met. And you don't beg.”
I couldn't help but smile at the memory of that exchange. He told me he wouldn't sleep with me until I begged for it. Even though I ended up begging, just a little bit, I made him work for it.
“There's more to you than meets the eye, Melissa. For the past two weeks, every day I fought the urge to drive down to Sacramento and say the things that are hard as hell for me to put into words.”
He cradled both sides of my face and I knew this was about to be a moment. One of those instances in one's life where something magical was about to happen. Where your heart stops and up is down and everything in the world stops. Nothing matters except what's happening right in front of you.
“Before you, I thought I was living. I thought I was fulfilled and happy. And when you left, I thought I could carry on as usual. But I don’t eat. I don't sleep. I don't exist without you. You're the air that fills my lungs, the blood in my veins. All this weird, sappy shit that I haven't felt in a long time came rushing to the surface when you left, and I don't want to fight or run from it anymore. Sure, I don't know every scar on your body or what your dream job is or what TV shows you binge on, but I know that I can't wait to find out everything there is to know about you. I want to know every single quirk that makes up the most beautiful and beguiling woman I've ever met.” He smiled at me. A smile that came from his heart. A smile that said take a breath before he steals all the breath from my lungs. “I want you, Melissa. I love you.”
I was literally weak in the knees, swaying before I clutched him, melting in his arms as his words echoed through me.
He loved me. He really loved me.
Tears pooled in my eyes as I looked up at him, struggling to maintain my composure before I just said screw it and let them fall. “I love you too, Logan.”
He wiped them away and kissed me hard, like he was branding his lips on mine. Etching the words on my very bones. Searing his love on my heart.
I interlaced my fingers with his, squeezing tight. I wanted this moment to last forever, but it was slipping away as I remembered the world outside. My life in Sacramento. My ex. His life. Delilah James.
“So what does this mean, you and me?” I asked gingerly.
“We're a couple,” he answered without hesitation, then paused. “That is, if you'll have me.”
I stroked my chin, pretending I was mulling it over. “Hmm...”
He played it up on his end too. “I know that my life is pretty crazy. And once the paparazzi get wind of me and you—” The playfulness was sucked right out of the room.
The paparazzi. The press. Delilah's hardcore fans. Once they learned about me, my whole life would be turned upside down.
“I'm going to be the slut that stole the love of Delilah James' life, aren't I?”
He didn't lie to me. “Probably. I know you didn't sign up for all of this baggage—”
“I'm not going anywhere,” I interrupted. “We'll figure it out and face it all, together.”
I planted a smile firmly on my lips and pretended like I wasn't scared shitless.
Being Logan Mason's girlfriend was going to change my life.