Logan was everything I had never been brave enough to dream about. I stared out the kitchen window while I finished washing the dishes. The front door opened, and the smile on my face I usually sported grew.
“Vi!” Logan called out. I knew from our short time living together that he was at the door taking his boots and his work belt off. “I’m home!” he called out.Home.Every day he returned from his shift and said those words, something inside of me melted. Causing me to fall harder and deeper in love with him.
Home. That’s exactly what Logan felt like. What he had given me for the first time in my life. Not just the place but the feelingof it. Of belonging. I wiped my hands on my jeans and walked over.
“I see that.” I grinned, walking right to him, loving the way that whenever I was within reach, his arms would immediately pull me in. Like he couldn’t stand being away from me a minute longer. “Hi, handsome.” I grinned up at him, my hand on the center of his uniformed chest.
“Hey, princess.” I loved when he called me that. I’d never been given nicknames. No one had cared enough to do more than shorten my name. No one but Logan. I was his princess, his love, his everything. My heart felt like it was close to exploding in my chest with love and how safe I felt with him.
His head dipped down, and my eyes fluttered shut just as his lips met mine. The kiss might have started sweet and tender, but before I knew it, I was up in his arms, my legs wrapped around his waist.
“Fucking love having you here when I get home,” he groaned. I pulled away and cupped his face, smiling at him.
“I like being here.” And I did.
I couldn’t lie. There were moments when I worried that maybe Logan would get sick of me or bored of having me around and kick me out, but I knew it was just old habits that died hard. He loved me.
We’d been together for the last two months. After the doctor cleared me, I started looking for a new job. Logan didn’t want me to. If it had been up to him, he would have been more than happy with me staying home while he supported me. But there was no way I would have ever felt comfortable with that. Thankfully, I had found a job at a cute bookstore that had just opened and was only ten minutes from Logan’s house.
“How was work?” he asked, nuzzling his nose against mine.
“It was good. Jill is going to have a book signing in two weeks with that author I was telling you about yesterday?” He nodded and set me down.
“She agreed?” he asked, and I nodded, loving that he had been paying attention to how Emmi, the romance author my boss had been trying to book, had been nervous about doing a signing. She wasn’t very extroverted.
“Yes!” I answered with excitement. I loved Emmi’s books. “It will be cool.”
“I’m glad, baby.” He kissed the tip of my nose.
“How was work for you?” I asked, and he sighed.
“Busy. Everyone was driving like they had a fire on their ass or something. A lot of speeding tickets today.”
“No high-speed pursuits?” He chuckled.
“No.”
“Good. I would hate for you to go falling in love with someone else,” I muttered. The words slipped out before I could stop them, and something in the air changed between us.
“Hey,” he called, grabbing my hand tangling our fingers. “What’s that about?” he asked, not missing a beat or putting off something he thought was important for later. Logan showed me time and time again just how committed he was to me, to us.
“Nothing. It was just a joke.” I shrugged. His gaze was intense, but I knew he didn’t believe it.Maybe old habits don’t go away as easily as I thought?“You want to shower before dinner? It’s all done and ready, but it will keep for a bit in the oven.” He didn’t answer immediately like he usually did.
Instead, he watched me for a long moment before he nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be fast,” he muttered, kissing my forehead before heading into our room and shutting the door. I swallowed hard as an ugly feeling settled in my belly.
Not once since he had brought me home had he closed the door to our room unless I was inside with him. I tried to shakethe thought away as I stepped into the kitchen, but it was easier said than done.
I loved our life together.
Why would I say that to him?Maybe because everyone you’ve ever cared about has left before?a little voice in my head quipped. It’d been two months to the day that I’d stepped foot into the place that had felt like home from the very beginning.
Two months of beauty and feeling loved and safe.
I shook the thought away and took out dinner, setting it on the table and pouring both of us ice water. I was so deep in my thoughts, worrying about what I’d said and how he had closed the door without offering to have me join him, that I didn’t hear him step behind me. His warm, strong arms wrapped around my waist, and I didn’t even jump. I simply leaned back into him, letting his freshly showered scent and body heat wrap around me.
“Ready to talk now?” he asked calmly and without an inkling of judgment in his voice. Something about that, about Logan’s infinite patience, made the tip of my nose sting and my eyes fill with unshed tears.
“I’m happy,” I shared quietly. His embrace tightened, making me feel safe enough to keep talking. “I’m scared that… that I’m too happy.”
