Mirin, Christelle - Emma's Heart (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (4 page)

“Thanks.” Emma chuckled. “I’m much better now since I’ve had my transplant.”

Frowning, Logan placed his hands in his lap. “Can I ask what caused your heart problems? I mean, if we’re going to be friends, I’d really like to know. If you don’t mind, that is.”

“I don’t have a problem telling you.” Emma took another sip of wine, noticing she only had a few sips left before her glass would be empty. Too bad. The wine was really good, but she wasn’t going to chance having another glass. “Well, since I work in construction, I worked at quite a few messed-up sites. When a project is begun, the construction company has to clear the site. That’s where I come in, after it’s cleared. I have to inspect it. You sure you want this long explanation?”

Logan nodded, pure interest in his eyes. “Go on.”

“Well then, at least eat your dinner while I’m talking.”

Picking up his fork, Logan placed a bite in his mouth and waved his other hand to indicate Emma should continue.

“I don’t want to get too technical since I don’t really understand all of it,” Emma continued. “But here’s basically what happened. About a year and a half ago, I was inspecting a site that had been abandoned for quite some time. After the old building was torn down in preparation for the new one, I had to inspect the clean up at the site. It was horribly decayed and seagulls had crapped all over the place.” She took a bite of his food and quickly chewed it. “To make a long story a bit shorter, I ended up feeling like I had the flu. I hate doctors, so I just suffered through it while I worked, but when I started having chest pains, I figured it was time to go get checked out. I tell you, I wasn’t prepared for what they told me.” She chuckled.

“What was it? It obviously wasn’t the flu?” Logan took a sip of wine then refilled his glass. He held the bottle toward Emma and raised his eyebrows.

Emma held her hand over his glass. “No thanks. One glass only.”

“Would you like some water then?”

“That would be nice.”

Logan rose from his chair and got a bottle of water out of the fridge, placing it beside Emma’s glass, then sat back down. “Tell me more,” he said.

Emma took another bite and followed it with the last of her wine. This was so delicious she didn’t want to miss a smidgen of it. “So the doctor’s said I had caught something from the bird droppings. It wasn’t the flu. And whatever it was I caught, I can’t remember the name of it, had affected my heart. I was in heart failure, and I had let it go on long enough that I needed a transplant. They immediately put me on the transplant list.”

“That is pretty scary. How did you manage?”

“Scary isn’t the word for it.” Emma chuckled again, remembering just how scared she had been. After all, she was only thirty-two. Nowhere near old, not even middle-age. “I went home and waited. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long. After the transplant, I stayed in the hospital for a while and then went to a rehab facility. They said since I had been in such good shape before I got sick, it helped in my recovery.”

Logan slowly laid his fork on his plate. “Are you fully recovered? I mean, do you have to watch what you do and not strain yourself? I’m sorry for all these questions, but I really am interested.”

“I do have to be a little careful. For a while, whenever I went outside, I had to wear one of those little masks.” She waved a hand in front of his face. “Thankfully I don’t have to do that anymore. I just saw the doc today, and he gave me a clean bill of health. As long as I take my antirejection drugs, I can do just about anything I want, to a certain limit.”

A strange look came over Logan’s face. He raised his wineglass and drank almost half of it in one long drink.

Emma frowned. Now what was wrong? “You look like you’re concerned about something.”

Replacing his glass on the table, Logan looked her in the eye. “I like you. I really like you. And for some strange reason, you seem familiar to me, like we’ve known each other for a long time. The problem is, if your heart is so fragile, I’m wondering how far this relationship will go.”

“Meaning?”

“To put it bluntly—are you able to have sex?” Logan looked at her wide-eyed.

Emma smiled. “Yes. The doc said I’m ready as long as I don’t get ‘too wild,’ as he put it.”

“That’s wonderful news.”

“Do you think this”—Emma waved her hand over the table—“will lead to sex? Excuse me for being so blunt, but that seems to be where this conversation is leading.” Her body was already heating at the thought. Gosh, it had been so long…

Logan lifted his napkin from his lap and placed it on the table. “It very well may lead to sex. I think you and I have a certain rapport, and I’d like to see where it leads. Would you like some coffee?”

Emma couldn’t believe how well this day was going. There was the distinct possibility it was going to get even better. She placed his napkin on the table, her stomach full of good food and her interest piqued. She liked the fact that Logan was being so blunt about the whole thing. She never had been one to play games or be coy. “I would love some coffee.”

“Let’s have it in the living room.” Logan rose from the table and began to clear the dishes.

“Let me help you.” Emma began clearing dishes, moving around the kitchen with Logan as if they’d done this a hundred times. Once in a while, they would brush against each other as Emma rinsed the dishes in the sink and Logan prepared the coffee. Each time their bodies touched, whether it was an arm against arm bump or a hip brushing against an ass, Emma felt her temperature rise at least a degree. Her body was calling out to her that it needed to be touched and stroked. She needed some intimate attention, that was for sure.

Once the coffee was done, Logan reached for two mugs and filled them, handing one to Emma after she dried her hands on a dish towel. “Thanks,” Emma said, sniffing the aromatic brew.

“Come on. Let’s go sit in the living room and relax.” Logan led the way into the next room.

Emma followed, carrying her mug carefully so she didn’t spill it on the off-white area rug that covered the floor in front of the couch.

The apartment was nicely decorated with semimodern furniture. Though it was clean, Emma could tell someone lived here thanks to the photographs on the narrow bookshelf on the far wall. For some unknown reason, she had the urge to gravitate toward it and look at the pictures. Carefully placing her mug on the glass-topped coffee table, she pointed toward the photos. “Mind if I take a look?”

Logan gazed at her for the span of three heartbeats then nodded his permission. “Be my guest.”

“Thanks.” She crossed the room, stopping just in front of the bookcase. “I like looking at photos. It gives you a peek inside someone’s life,” she commented without turning around.
Especially ones that aren’t posed.
She reached for a framed photo and picked it up. Logan was in the photo, head thrown back laughing, a look of pure happiness on his face. Beside him was a woman somewhere close to Logan’s age, her hand on Logan’s thigh and laughing along with him while they sat on a park bench very much like the one where she had met him earlier today.

“That’s Christi and I,” Logan said from the couch. “It was taken in almost the same place I met you.”

Emma looked sharply toward him. “Really?”

“Yes.” Logan sat on the center couch cushion and leaned back, coffee mug in hand. “She died not long after that picture was taken.”

Fingers gripping the edge of the frame, Emma searched Logan’s eyes. There was an emptiness there, some sort of loss. “I assume you and she were—”

“Lovers, yes.” A smile flashed across his lips then was gone. “It doesn’t hurt as much now as it used to.”

Emma reverently placed the photo back in its position of honor on the top shelf of the bookcase, her gaze lingering on the face of the woman Logan had so obviously loved and still missed. There was something about the look in the woman’s eyes… She shook her head. It was probably nothing.

Moving to the couch, she sat beside Logan and placed her hand on Logan’s knee. “I’m sorry if I’ve dredged up some painful feelings.”

Placing his hand on top of Emma’s, he smiled, and this time it stayed on his lips. “I’ve got a sense those painful feelings will soon be replaced with another strong emotion.”

Emma liked the way this was going. The yearning for some steamy, hot sex infused her with confidence. She leaned closer to Logan, her hand moving further up toward his crotch. “And what emotion would that be?”

Logan leaned forward and placed his mug on the coffee table. When he turned back to Emma, his eyes had turned dusky. “Pleasure. An emotion I’m sure each of us will thoroughly enjoy.” With that, he claimed Emma’s mouth with a kiss that could light a match without striking it against anything.

Emma let him take the lead. She wasn’t sure if he was into the sexual sort of things she was, but it shouldn’t be long before she found out. She liked being the submissive half of a partnership, bondage included. She just wasn’t sure he was into that. Right now, this felt damn good. With a groan, Emma parted her lips and invited him in.

Tongues dueling, Emma’s fingers fumbled with the buttons of Logan’s shirt, but they kept eluding her grasp. Frustrated, she pushed against Logan’s chest.

Logan pulled back. “What?” His face was flushed, probably from their tongue wrestling.

“Clothes.” Emma sat up. “Off. Now.”

They both stood, gazes mating while they stripped. Their clothes landed where they may, flung through the air in their hurry to touch skin to skin.

Logan’s eyes were drawn to the pinkish long scar that ran between her breasts to her belly.

“It’s okay, Logan. I won’t break.”

He reached out with one hand, stopping just before he touched the scar. His eyes flicked to hers.

She nodded, giving him permission to touch.

Tenderly, he touched the top of her scar lightly then gently ran his fingertips the whole length of it, stopping just above her belly button.

She arched her back, his touch like awakening every fiber in her body. She met his gaze, her breasts swelling with the need to be touched, her nipples peaking to hard, little buttons.

“Bedroom?” Logan asked in a husky voice.

Emma shook her head. “No, let’s just stay right here for now.” Stepping forward and sliding her hand to the nape of Logan’s neck, she claimed the man’s mouth while she used the other hand to explore the smooth skin of his naked chest. Tongues tangling yet again, breath hot and mingling, Emma was aware of the solid thud of her heart beating just slightly faster in her chest. Dropping her hand from his chest, she slid her arm around his neck and pressed her breasts against him. Skin against hot skin. Lord, she wanted more. Her thoughts turned to her heart, wondering how much it could take.

So far so good, and it was a good thing, too, since there was nothing that was going to stop her from wrapping her fingers around the hot, hard cock that was currently poking her insistently in the belly. Logan was hard and ready, but Emma wanted something else to begin this tryst. “Will you go down on me?” Emma asked, coming up for air.

She didn’t have to ask twice.

Chapter Five

Logan knelt in front of her, placing his hands tenderly on her thighs.

Emma threaded her fingers into the soft blond curls on Logan’s head when he gingerly spread the cleft of her pussy, exposing the hot flesh to himself. She almost came as soon as his tongue flicked hotly over her swollen clit. Sucking a hissing breath through clenched teeth, Emma tightened her tummy muscles when Logan took her clit between his lips and began to suck. Her pussy creamed, coming to life again after all this time.

Sweat began to bead on her forehead, and she reached up with one hand to swipe her hair back. Emma felt warmth spreading through her, her heart thudding strong and hard in her chest.