Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

26. Logan

TWENTY-SIX

LOGAN

Tuesday morning, I was in my closet getting ready so I could head into the office. I could hear Aster on the other side of the wall, moving around in the kitchen.

It brought a wistful smile to my mouth because I had to wonder if maybe I just felt her.

The energy that rippled through the air.

A soft, lulling whisper that tremored along the floors and climbed into my spirit.

I got the sense that I’d sank into who she was and had become a part of her being.

But it’d always been that way with us.

Held by an attraction that pulled and pressed and compelled.

A gravity that neither of us could resist.

Three days had passed since I’d dragged her into my room, and I hadn’t let her go since.

During that time, I’d reminded her again and again that she was precious. A fucking treasure, but she still hadn’t quite accepted what that meant.

Each night, I held her in her sleep. Held her through her fitful dreams that incited a fury inside me that I could barely keep restrained.

A fury that one day I would unleash on the monster who had the girl a prisoner to the type of nightmares I still didn’t understand.

Where she’d sweat and whimper and beg to be set free.

I’d whisper in her ear that it was going to be alright. That I’d die before I let anyone get to her.

I knew that was part of her dread, too.

She believed her being here put me in danger.

It did.

I wasn’t a fool.

It was a calculated risk.

And she was worth any cost.

I strode back through the bathroom and grabbed my suit jacket from where I had it draped on the back of a chair, and I headed out the door.

I slammed right into her presence.

Aster was barefoot by the island, slathering butter over a piece of toast. Her hair wild and pulled into a reckless knot on her head. A black sweatshirt draped off one delicious shoulder, and she wore these tight leggings that made her ass look juicy and ripe.

A growl got free.

I wanted to devour her.

Take her.

Hold her.

Keep her.

She felt me staring, the way she took a cautious peek my way and the sweet, bashful smile tweaked at the edge of her gorgeous mouth.

“Holy shit. I must have died and went to heaven because there’s an angel in my kitchen.”

I gave her the cheesiest line I could find because I wanted to see the blush rise to the surface of her skin. I ate up the way she fought the amusement as she stood there shifting on her cute little feet trying to act like I didn’t affect her.

“You think you’re some kind of charmer, huh?” Her teeth raked her bottom lip like she could hold in the giggle.

Fucking loved that sound.

Aster happy.

“The most charming there is. Have you even met me? I mean, I’m so charming, that’s Prince to you.” I let go of the same sort of tease I would have in a group of my favorite people. When I was playing outrageous because outrageous and carefree was the only way to keep myself from taking a swift trip to Los Angeles so I could go on a murder spree.

It was the one city Trent had made me swear an oath never to return to. An oath I’d broken because I’d promised this girl I would always find my way back to her.

I beat down any kind of bitterness that tried to sprout when I thought back to the devastation that return visit had spawned.

The hatred I’d held for years. The hurt. This agony that I’d thought would go on for the rest of my days.

I wondered when looking at her had stopped hurting quite so bad.

When a piece of me understood she’d had little choice, even when the woman was still keeping me protected from the details. But she was going to have to figure out I wanted to hold them all, no matter how ugly they might be.

Trust me, the way I needed to trust her.

Fully.

Wholly.

Without reservation or question.

Fuck, I wanted it. To look at her and never again think of what she’d done.

To never again feel the pain of the blade she’d driven into my back.

Right then, I shunned it all and edged up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her waist like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She leaned against me with a slight laugh, peering back at me from over her shoulder. “Prince, huh? Wow, someone sure thinks a lot of himself.”

I rocked my erection against her ass because if Aster Rose was around, that shit was going to be hard. “Give me a couple minutes, and you’ll be thinking a lot of me, too.”

She giggled again, and I held her, my face pressed to the side of her neck, her face tipped up to mine. I rocked her there for a second, just relishing in the feel of what was always supposed to be.

Her phone pinged on the counter.

She jumped a little before she reached for it and read her text.

“Who is it?”

I’d already seen it, but I held the chuckle that wanted to rumble out.

She lifted her phone, though there was a frown knitting her face.

Tessa

Coffee (okay, fine, mimosas) at O’Malley’s at noon! Half day shenanigans, baby. Your presence is required.

She pushed her phone aside like it might actually be a bomb.

“You don’t want to go?” I rumbled it at her ear. “You don’t need to worry…she’s only half insane.”

Aster almost caught onto the lightness, but I still felt the way she warred.

“What is it?” I asked, urging her closer to me.

I felt her eyes trace the message again, and her heart slugged a missing beat.

“You’re afraid you don’t belong?”

Her head shook. “No, Logan, I’m afraid to get attached.”

So yeah, my spirit soared.

I pressed my mouth to the sweet spot behind her ear, my words low when I told her, “Get attached.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I think it’s a fantastic idea.”

Stepping away from her, I slung into my jacket and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“I have to go. See you later, honey.” I sent her the biggest smirking grin I could conjure.

Choking out a laugh, she shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.”

I took her by the chin. “I’ll be whatever you want me to be, just as long as you know you are mine.”

Because it was time both of us found a way to move on from the chains that had bound us to our pasts. Time to move on from the separation. Time to move on together.

It was a little before two when I ducked out of my office and wound down the sidewalk in the direction of my favorite coffee shop that was half a block away. I inhaled a deep breath of the frozen, misty air, relaxing so I could let the jumble of numbers unwind where they were twisted in my brain as I strolled down the sidewalk.

I was fucking good at my job, but truth be told, it could be a bit of a drag, especially considering there were so many things I’d rather be doing right then.

Like exploring every inch of Aster’s body. Or hell, just looking at her would do.

Hedge funds and investments and fucking obnoxious clients freaking out if their stocks dipped even the slightest amount after I’d already made them filthy rich had started to grate.

I thrived on the high-risk.

Excelled at the hazardous.

Took chances that paid off big and had my roster stuffed with millionaires who held grandiose ambitions of becoming billionaires.

For years, I’d even delved into the shady, dipping my fingers into places I never should have let them go.

It seemed no matter how much money people had, it was never enough.

It was what had driven me for years because I didn’t see much sense in going after anything else.

Greed.

It was instinct.

It was justice.

It was taking for myself when the world had stolen what should have been mine.

And no, there wasn’t a thing wrong with being comfortable, but there was something about it now that left a bitter taste in my mouth. Or maybe it was the singe of Aster’s fingers when she’d tremble them over the word like it were inked in venom that had left me questioning everything.

The bell rang above me when I tossed open the café door, and the heavy aroma of fresh brew filled my nostrils.

My favorite times were bringing Gage here. We used to come often when I’d taken care of him in the evenings, the two of us a pair, the kid the one single pure thing I’d had in my life. It’d felt like something innocent to share. The one good thing I could give myself to, even if it’d stung.

It felt different today when I stepped inside, though, like so much had gone good, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. It was funny how I always wore a smile, but for the first time in a long-damned time, this one felt real.

I got in line, stepped forward when it was my turn, and tossed a casual hello at Sara whose smile lit up like seeing me was the highlight of her day. “Hey, there, stranger. Where have you been?” Her eyes narrowed in speculation as she took me in. “You look…different.”

That smile filled my face. I guessed it was joy. “I feel different.”

“Yeah?” Then she let go of a self-deprecating laugh as she punched in the same order I’d given her almost every day for the last three years. “Damn. Looks like I should have worked up the courage to ask you out sooner.”

She peeked at me when she said it.

I pressed my card to the reader, a low chuckle riding out. “It probably was best you didn’t.”

“That bad, huh?”

“It was just that good with her.”

She smiled this sweet, shy smile and nodded, like she completely got it. Which was exactly why I never would have touched her in the first place.

“There you go.” She slid the cup my way.

“Thanks, Sara.” I moved over to the counter so I could add some cream and sugar and a dose of that cocoa powder that Gage used to think was pixie dust.

I smiled some more as I sat at a small round table by the window and sipped at my coffee as I watched people meander by in the frosty day, loved that right now Aster was with some of the people who meant the most to me.

Eden, Salem, and Tessa were like sisters. A real kind of family that we’d been lucky to find. How desperately I wanted Aster to be a part of that, too.

I finished off my coffee and stood, tossed the cup into the recycle bin, and stepped out into the flurries that had started to fall. I headed back in the direction of my office, feeling so damned right that I didn’t believe a thing could go wrong.

I slid my key into the lock at the front door of my office. My office manager was off today since her son had a half day at school, so I let myself into the empty waiting area.

I walked through it to my office at the back, and I pushed open the door to the darkened room.

The second I did, I felt it. A foul presence that hovered like a sickness. My pulse spiked, and I was wishing I hadn’t left my gun in its locked case underneath the seat in my car.

I pushed my back up against the wall next to the door and inhaled a steeling breath, my brain calculating the best way to handle this. My hands twisted into fists as I prepared for a fight.

I reached in and flicked on the light, peeked into my office, then stumbled into the doorway as I took in the sight.

Rage crashed against the confines of my chest.

The place was trashed.

My desk was upturned, tossed on its side with all the drawers ripped open and dumped on the floor. Every chair in the room had been thrown in a heap on top of it.

The file cabinets had been ransacked. Papers strewn across the floor.

Three framed pictures had been torn from the walls and smashed on the ground.

My laptop was gone.

But none of that even mattered.

Only one thing did.

Aster.

Blood pounded through my veins. Sloshed and chugged and screamed for vengeance.

I swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise, and I dug my phone from my pocket and dialed Aster’s number, flying back through the front door and out to where I’d parked my car in my reserved spot at the curb.

The whole time, I made that same promise all over again.

I took good care of what was mine.

My precious, perfect star.

And I would never let someone hurt her.

Not ever again.