Just One Night (Black Alcove #2) (19 page)

Logan has never been
one to stay traditional in bed. Each time with him is always a
surprise, and I swear, it’s like having sex together for the first
time every time. He may have a gentle and warm heart, but in bed, he
is the perfect opposite.

The back of my legs hit
the bed and Logan pushes me onto my back. “Take your clothes off.”
His voice is demanding and a part of me should feel threatened, but I
don’t. The look in his eyes tells me nothing more than his desire
for me. They tell me that he missed me just as much as I missed him,
and right now, all the anger we built up from our weeks apart is
about to become one of the most mind-blowing experiences I’ll ever
have.

“You’re not moving
fast enough, I say as he crawls onto the bed and hovers over me. The
blouse I’m wearing is only halfway unbuttoned, and he desperately
rips the rest of it off. He tugs so hard that he flips my body over
to my stomach. He grinds his hips into my backside and runs his hand
down my sides, leaving pleasurable goose bumps in their wake. He
lifts my hips and jerks my panties down in one swift move. I hear the
rustle of his jeans behind me as he searches for a small foil packet,
but I don’t move. I want Logan, and I want him to have his way with
me. I’ll do anything he asks if it will take away the pain I saw in
his eyes when he walked through my door.

He presses light
feather kisses across my back as his warm body rests against mine. I
inhale deeply at the thought of what is going to happen.

“I’ve missed you so
much,” he whispers, bites my earlobe, and then enters me slowly.

“Logan, yes—”

Lifting my hips a
couple inches from the bed, he holds me there as his strokes grow
deeper and slower. “You feel so fucking good.” He presses into me
once again, only to pull out quickly and flip me over. I’m not even
able to miss his touch before he’s inside me again.

Whatever happens with
us, I’m never letting anyone or anything come between us again.

Logan

The feel of Sara’s
smooth legs wrapped around my waist will never get old. The way they
slide against my hips with every thrust. The way she digs her heels
in to the dip of my back, demanding that I go faster or harder. Every
moan that slides up her throat and slips past her lips is like
ecstasy. I’ll never get over it and I’ll never stop craving it.

“Logan, yes, keep
doing that, harder—”

I thrust again and
again until her breathing is fast and uncontrolled and I can feel her
body starting to shake against mine. My hips move faster and harder
until the words coming from her mouth no longer sound like words but
like a woman who is having an out-of-body experience.

“Ahhh…yes!”

Her cries hit just as
my release dashes though my body. Sara goes limp in my arms, and I
know I’ve made her feel exactly how she makes me feel. There isn’t
anywhere in this world I’d rather be than right here, with Sara.
Unless of course, if we were back home in Wyoming.

“I can’t believe I
was missing all that all because I was stubborn.”

“I knew you were
missing all that, but I also know I missed you more.” I pull out of
her and then pull her close to me. I press her back to my front and
trail kisses over her shoulder.

“I’m sorry I acted
like you were my property. You’re not, and I never intended for it
to come out that way. I wanted to be the one you turned to, not
Liam.”

“I know, and I should
have talked to you when things started to get stressful.”

Her hand squeezes mine.

“I also should have
called you to tell you about Abby the day she showed up,” I add.

“Yeah, how did she
end up there anyway?”

“That was all Conner.
She guilt tripped him.”

Even as I say it we
laugh. “Remind me again why we are still friends with her?” I
ask.

“I have no idea,
because she didn’t always act like this and we all secretly hoping
the old

Abby comes back.”

We lay in silence for a
while, and I’m almost asleep when I feel Sara’s body twist in my
arms until she is facing me. Her lips touch my cheek.

“Why didn’t you
want to tell me about your sister?” she asks, searching my eyes for
the answer I haven’t been able to give her.

“I didn’t want you
to see me fail at something else.”

“When have you
failed?”

I sigh, rolling onto my
back and tucking my hand under my head. Not looking at her will help
me get this out.

“I let you down when
we broke up in high school. I didn’t go to college right away, I
never got a fancy job—”

“Those things aren’t
failure, Logan. That’s life. Until coming here, I thought a career
was the best thing for me, but our split made me realize there’s
something I want in this world more than success. I want you.”

“Promise me, next
time we decide to fight, we talk it out and we don’t leave each
other.

And if I decide to
reach out to Alexis again, you’ll be the first person I tell.”

“I promise I won’t
keep anything from you again, ever. But if we are sharing everything
right now, then I should probably tell that I left last summer
because my feeling for you were too intense, and that before I left,
I thought I was pregnant.”

My heart pounds so hard
and fast I feel it my ears. If this is how I feel with her telling me
about a scare a year ago, I can’t imagine how she felt facing the
possibility on her own.

“Next time tell me. I
don’t want you going through anything alone ever again.”

She leans on her arm
and lightly presses her lips to mine. I squeeze her close as she
nuzzles her face into my shoulder.

“Now comes the part I
wish I could avoid,” she says.

“What’s that?” I
ask.

“Talking to my dad
and finding out what the hell he’s been thinking the last two
months. I just can’t believe he would play us against each other.
It makes no sense.”

I believe it, but no
sense in bringing it up now if she knows.

“When are you going
to talk to him? Do you want me to go with you?”

Her hair brushes my
chest as she shakes her head. “No, I’ll invite him to lunch
tomorrow since he’s coming to town anyway.”

I place a kiss to the
top of her head. “If you need anything, I’m your man.”

“I know.” She
giggles. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Sara

“So, how are things
going with Liam?” My father takes a seat across me, opening his
menu. He’s lucky that I decided to meet him for lunch. After
everything I’ve learned about what he’s been up to the past few
months, I want nothing more than space from him. I want to cut him
out because I still don’t understand why a father would try to hurt
his daughter this way. And that’s the only reason I’m sitting
here right now. He’s my father. My heart races at his words, ready
to get into it. He doesn’t even know that I know and that makes me
even angrier.

“They’re great.
He’s a great guy.”

“That’s good to
hear.”

“Yep.” I let the p
pop as I say it and intentionally pretend to be extremely into the
menu I’m holding.

I give him a side look
with my added glare and watch as he flips the pages of his menu. He
gazes over it and looks away when he catches me staring right back.
His left brow rises.

“Is there something
on your mind, Sara?”

“Nope.”
Yes,
this is it!
Here we go. I can’t want to hear him talk
his way out of this one. “What about you, Dad? Anything you want to
tell me? Maybe about your plans not working out.”

He closes the menu and
lays it on the table in front of him. “Unless something is going to
delay the opening at The Silver Tap, I’d say all my plans are going
perfectly.”

“Okay,” I say,
narrowing my eyes at him.

“Sara, what am I
missing?”

“Nothing, Father.”

“Father, huh? Clearly
I’m not following you and we’re not talking about the same thing.
What’s wrong?”

Our waiter comes up to
take our drink order. He isn’t there long enough for me to
carefully craft what I’m going to say, so instead, I blurt it all
out.

“What about your plan
to split up Logan and me and then hook me up with Liam? Huh, what
about that plan? It was a stupid plan. A horrible plan.” My arms
fly into the air. “Look at how well it worked out for you. Logan
and I are as happy as we have ever been, and we are so far from
splitting up that it’s never going to happen. And I sure hope the
reason you haven’t brought me The Silver Tap’s ownership papers
has nothing to do with this plan.” My chest is heaving as I rant at
him, and when I notice all the people who are staring at us, I cross
my arms over my chest. They can stare all they want. I don’t care.

A puzzled expression
crosses his face and his forehead wrinkles. “That was not a plan of
mine.”

“Don’t lie to me,
Dad. I’m not a little girl anymore. I can make decisions on my own,
and you’re not going to like all of them. But Dad, you know Logan
and I are the happiest when we are together. Why would you want
anything else for me?”

My father takes a deep
breath and then releases it slowly. He leans forward and closes his
hands together over his menu. A sad smile slowly appears.

“You’re right. I
don’t want anything else for you, but I never planned to split up
you and Logan. When I met Liam in one of the classes when I was
visiting the university, he was the most dedicated of the students,
and when he mentioned that he would love to assist in a bar, I knew
he would be a great fit. His goals in life are impressive, and yes, a
part of me wanted my daughter to end up with a man like him. I may
not have planned it, but the thought did cross my mind. When you
agreed to hire him, I thought you might have seen the same things I
saw in him. I didn’t know you were going to start a relationship
with Logan right before you left. And I sure didn’t think it would
last with you being in another state.”

“Well, it did and
just because it worked out doesn’t excuse what you did.”

“Can you really be
upset that I wanted a good man for you? A man who graduated college
at the top of his class, a man who comes from a family of good name
and standing. Liam knows about the business world. He knows what is
expected. Logan is too attached and it clouds his judgment.”

I narrow my eyes at him
and stand swiftly.

“Sara, sit down.”

I take a deep breath,
debating whether to storm out of here or finish this conversation
with him. The grown up in me wins and I sit back in my seat. “You
don’t even know Logan. How dare you judge him and act like he’s
lower than the rest of us. He doesn’t need to come from money or a
family name. He just needs to be himself, the person he taught
himself to be. If you looked at him, actually looked at him, Dad,
you’d see how amazing, driven, and strong he is. He’s the perfect
guy for me, and you’re a crazy to think otherwise.”

“I’m sorry, Sara. I
see all those things now, which is why I brought the papers you’ve
been waiting for.” He reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a
manila envelope. “I was waiting because when you moved your
relationship was at the infatuation stage, which in fact, does cloud
judgment. This bar wasn’t going to open if you were distracted, and
if it did open with your mind focused on something else, I wasn’t
going to just let you take over and drive it into a hole.”

He slides the yellow
folder toward me. “The progress I saw last time I was here proved
me wrong. With or without Logan, you will make a fine business
owner.”

“Dad, this is great,
and I thank you for your apology, but after everything you’ve
taught me, I still can’t believe you would do this. After you
apologize to Logan, too, that’s when you can come find me. But
until then, unless it’s about work, we have nothing to talk about.”

I hold my head high as
I remove the envelope from the table and walk away. My lips press
together as I hold in my tears. I’m still in shock that he admitted
to everything. I thought I was going to have to fight and pry until
my brain exploded. I was not expecting this at all. All my life my
father was the one man I could count on. I trusted him as much as I
trust Logan. He ruined it, and I’m not sure he’ll ever get our
relationship back. But an apology is good place to start.

I push through the door
and keep walking toward my apartment but stop to sit on the bench
outside. I glance down the block to The Silver Tap. A couple of girls
have their hands cupped against the window as they look inside.
Smiles fill their faces as they walk away in my direction.

“That place is going
to be so cool.”

“I know. I can’t
wait for it to open. Having all these bars downtown within walking
distance of each other is a great idea.”

I watch as they
continue past me and then disappear inside another business. My lips
tug slightly.
It is going to be
a cool bar.
If only they knew everything that went into
making it happen, they might appreciate it even more.

As if he heard my
thoughts, my phone begins to ring and Logan’s picture flashes
across the screen. I grin; just the thought of him naturally makes me
happy.

“Hey you,” I
answer.

“Hey, beautiful, I
miss you.”

Logan

The sound of Sara’s
voice will always have a calming effect on me. Leaving her after we
made up was hard. No, it was more than hard. It was completely
miserable. I didn’t want to go without her, but the summer is
almost over and The Silver Tap opens mid-August. Two weeks away to be
exact, and then Sara will be home. And I can’t wait to have her in
my arms again.

I’m still staring at
my phone when Conner walks into the apartment.