Choices (14 page)

“If we keep this up, we’re going to kill each other.” He said, running a hand up and down her arm. She placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, and rubbed her palm against the hair there.

“I thought I was already dead.” She replied, and yawned.

“Me too, but it seems we’re still alive. Did I live up to your dream?” he teased, reaching to pull her on top of him. She placed her hands on top of his chest and rested her chin on them, looking at him. He had surpassed every dream she had ever had. He was undoubtedly the best looking man she had ever seen. He looked unbearably sexy in the firelight, the changing patterns of light outlining his high cheekbones, catching the deep gray of his eyes.

“I’ve never dreamed of anything like this. My wildest imagination couldn’t have conjured up this night.”

He pushed her hair back behind her ears, ran the tip of a finger along the outer edge of one ear.

He gazed at her with all the love he felt for her in his eyes.

“Mine either.”

Chapter
Seven

Abby stretched her arms over her head, feeling completely content. The morning light filtered in to play on the sheets of the bed she and Logan had spent a long night in. Abby had heard the term “made love all night long”, but had never known it to be possible. They had maybe gotten three hours of sleep at the most. She spent almost an hour at dawn, watching him sleep, not wanting to go to sleep for fear it was all a dream.

She rolled over, thinking to find him asleep next to her, but he was gone. She sat up, panicking briefly, until she saw his shirt and jacket still on the floor. She caught a whiff of coffee, and smiled. She scrambled out of bed as fast as her protesting muscles would allow, and threw on her robe.

She walked downstairs to find him exactly as she had found him on another morning, but this time there would be no apologies. He was standing at the counter again, no shirt on, jeans zipped but not buttoned.

He smiled when he saw her, and turned to get her a cup of coffee. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek on his back.

“Good morning” he said, laying his arms on top of hers. She smiled, and he felt it on his back.

“Good morning to you.” she replied, “I could get used to seeing you down here in the kitchen, making coffee.”

He turned around to face her. When he had woken up, he had watched her sleep for an hour, wanting to wake her up to the feel of his mouth on her skin, but they had gotten so little sleep, he left her alone to sleep some more. As the sun had come up, he had watched it play across her features, the sunlight catching the myriad colors in her hair spread over the pillow. Her skin had glowed with a pearly incandescence, making her seem like an angel that had fallen from heaven, just for him.

She ignited so many emotions in him, emotions he had begun to think he didn’t possess. Not one woman who had come into his life made him feel as she did. He wanted to spend every waking moment with her and every night next to her in bed. He wanted to ma
ke her insanely happy and ease her pain. He wanted to protect her from whatever harshness the world could dish out.

Abby gazed up into his eyes, wondering what he was thinking. She prayed he didn’t regret anything, for that would kill her.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, running her fingers through the hair at his nape.

“How absolutely beautiful you look.” He smiled down at her. Abby beamed, and she felt her toes curl. He leaned down and kissed her, slow and easy, a gentle play of sensations so different from the heated kisses of the night before. Abby felt that she had died and gone to heaven. He raised his head and kissed her forehead, then led her over to a chair and held it out for her. She sat down and grinned up at him.

“I’m going to make you breakfast. I was going to serve you in bed, but you messed up those plans.” He said, moving to the refrigerator.

“Oh, I could always run back upstairs and pretend to be asleep. I would hate to spoil your plans.” She laughed, amazed. This was new territory for her. First there was last night and early morning hours, where he had spent hours caressing her body, driving her to the edge over and over, not letting her reciprocate in kind. It was as if he had been worshipping her, wanting to be sure she found pleasure. And boy had she. She hated comparing him to Steve, because it was obv
ious that they were like night and day, but Steve was her only benchmark, and he was nothing like Logan. Steve only cared about his pleasure, and never spent any time on hers.

Now this morning he wanted to make her breakfast, and if she hadn’t come downstairs, he would have brought it up to her. Was he for real?

‘So what’s for breakfast?” she asked, swiveling around in her chair to watch him. He was at the fridge, his back to her, and arm draped over the top of the open door. He had a beautiful back, with broad shoulders, well-muscled, tapering down to a slim waist.

He reached into the fridge and brought out eggs, vegetables, and left- over steak.

“An omelet. I was going to make eggs, bacon, and toast but you don’t have any bacon.” He moved over to the cutting board, and soon had green peppers, onions, and a tomato diced. He cut the steak into small cubes, then whisked the eggs in a bowl and soon had all the ingredients bubbling away on the stove in a skillet.

Abby was content to watch him work, not feeling the need to fill the silence with words. She had never thought she could be this happy, especially when she had what was probably going to be a lot of questions on the horizon. She didn’t care how many questions were asked, or who was asking them, as long as Logan was with her. She couldn’t wait to introduce him to her parents, but she figured that would have to wait. She was officially divorced, but they were still officially old-fashioned, and would probably not approve of their daughter jumping into bed with a man two weeks after her divorce was final, no matter what they thought of Steve.

“Are you hungry?” he asked as his flipped the omelet expertly in the pan.

“For you? Always.” She replied, he voice soft. He glanced back at her and felt the urge to take her back upstairs and spend the rest of the day in bed. He smiled and winked, then turned back to the stove, sliding the omelet onto a plate. He got out and extra plate and brought them over to the table and went back for silverware and coffee cups and the coffee carafe. He sat down across from her so he could watch her, and cut the omelet in half, sliding her half onto her plate.

He raised his coffee cup in a toast. “Here’s to healthy appetites.” She giggled and touched her cup to his lightly, then dug into her breakfast. Her eyes closed in rapture. “God Logan is there anything that you don’t do well?” she moaned. It had to be the best omelet she had ever eaten.

“I’m going to get a huge ego if you keep saying things like that to me.”

“It’s not called ego when you don’t act like an egotist, it’s called self-confidence.” She replied, chewing slowly.

“I was not confident yesterday. I thought I was going to lose you Abby.” He said, his voice rough with emotion. Abby looked up at the sound of his voice. It was the first time he had mentioned what had almost happened yesterday, and his voice shook with it.

“You didn’t. You saved me, and I knew you would. I was scared, more frightened than I have ever been in my life, but I knew you would come to my rescue.” She said, reaching across the table to grab his hand.

“I should’ve known better. I should never have left you unprotected. I left both of us unprotected. It won’t happen again.” he said, bringing her fingers to his mouth and kissing her fingertips.

“Logan, I always feel protected with you, whether you have a gun or not. It doesn’t matter. It’s over and we’re both here, alive and in one piece.” she replied. He seemed to consider what she said, then nodded.

“Okay, it’s over and done with.”

They ate in silence, but Abby could sense he had something else on his mind. She wondered if he was thinking about her announcement last night about moving out here. Maybe he thought she wanted to move in with him and it was scaring him. He had seemed relieved when she told him, but maybe he was still feeling some regrets.

“When did you make your decision?” he asked, as if he was reading her mind.

“I called my attorney the day before we went out to the pastures, and he got my townhouse sold in two days, and he sent the papers to me to sign. I got them the next day and I sent them back that day. I just have a few small things to tie up, then I’m officially severed from Boston.” She said, shrugging.

“Do you think your ex heard about it?” he asked, not even wanting to add the husband part to it.

“I’m not sure. He might have.”

“Do you think he’ll try to get you back? Knowing that you’re totally out of his reach might make him think twice.”

Abby thought about it for a moment but she doubted it; Steve might still think she was his to possess but he didn’t matter to her anymore

“He might have heard about it, but he won’t do anything. Apparently he’s already cheating on the woman that he cheated on me with, so I think women are just toys to him. He’s done with this toy.”

“Abby, I just wanted to tell you-“he stopped, trying to frame what he needed to say just right in his mind. He had never said the words to anyone not related to him before.

“Logan, please don’t tell me you regret last night, please. It would tear me apart.” She begged, her eyes pleading. He gazed at her, surprised she would think that. He got up from the table and came around the table, and crouched down in front of her when she turned to face him. She looked at him, and a tear slid down her cheek. He reached up to brush it away, and took her hands. “Abby, I don’t regret last night. I love you. That‘s what I was trying to say. Don’t ever think that I regret you.” He pulled her to him, wrapping her in a fierce embrace.

“I love you too.” She whispered, laying her head on his shoulder, smiling through her tears. She never would’ve thought this possible. How could two people fall in love in only two weeks? Hell, it was more like two days, but they were living proof.

He leaned back and cradled her face in his hands. “Don’t ever forget that. I love you, and will till my dying day.” He leaned forward and brought his mouth down to hers in a soul-searing kiss that Abby felt through her whole body. He stood, pulling her up with him, then led her back upstairs.

Abby came back downstairs after Logan left, but not before they had enjoyed a shower together. They had made plans to run into town together, Logan needed some things at the feed store, and Abby had to get to the grocery for more food. After that, they were going for a long ride, Logan wanting to show her more of the ranch.

She grabbed another cup of coffee, and thought about the dance tomorrow and smiled softly to herself. She didn’t have to worry now about how she would tell Logan about her move, so she could just enjoy the dance and meet some new people. She wondered how Logan would introduce her to people and chuckled to herself. Did people their age still refer to one another as boyfriend/girlfriend? Sounded kind of juvenile, but you didn’t walk up to someone and say “I’d like you to meet my lover.”

She walked over to her cell phone and saw the red light blinking, notifying her of a missed call. She flipped the phone open without bothering to look at the number and accessed her voicemail.

“Abby, it’s me. We need to talk.” Steve’s voice came out of the phone and Abby almost dropped it. That was all he said, but it was enough. He sounded so angry, and hurt. Abby started to shake. Should she call him back? The only thing they could possibly say to one another were angry recriminations, and Abby didn’t want that. But she owed him a call, didn’t she? She hadn’t even tried to reach him since she had been in Montana, and the thought never entered her head that he would want to speak to her ever again. What did he have to be angry about anyway?

She deleted his message and another played.

“Abby it’s Dad. Steve called us, looking for you. What’s going on, kid? Call us, your mother is worried to death.” Her father’s voice sounded in her ear, and Abby felt shame wash over her. She should’ve called them two weeks ago. God, what had gotten into her? She was never this self-absorbed, and her parents would not understand why she hadn’t called them. More, they would probably be hurt that she hadn’t come home to them.

She took a deep breath and dialed their number, bracing for the worst.