“Race you upstairs.” I start to take off and Logan swoops me off my feet.
“Don’t you dare think I’m going to let you run wild with our baby nestled in your body.” He lands a smooth kiss over my lips, and the next thing I know the door to his bedroom slams shut and he lands me delicately onto the mattress. “Our bedroom,” Logan is quick to correct my internal dialogue.
“Our bedroom.” I meant to parrot it back to him, but it came out sounding like a question. “I guess this baby means things are about to change.”
“They’ve already changed, Skyla.” He brushes a gentle kiss to my cheek and I can feel his spastic breathing from the jaunt over warming me.
“I know. But I’m still—”
“Not ready to leave the Landons’. I realize that,” he whispers. “And I know that despite what we’ve been through you’re still healing from what that idiot nephew of mine did to you.” He pulls back and bears those citrine-colored eyes into mine. “But I love you. And you love me. Our time has come, and I don’t want to give him or anyone else a second of it. Marry me, Skyla. I don’t have a ring on me, but I have something stronger, far more costly than gold—I have my entire life to give you if you’ll have it. Make me the happiest man alive and be my bride once again.”
“Yes!” It bounces from me with a laugh. “We can do it this afternoon.”
Logan pulls back and winces. “No. I mean yes, that would be nice, but I don’t think we can pull it off properly. Skyla, I want to give you the world. I’m talking big puffy white dress, or short black dress, or whatever kind of dress you want to wear, but I want to give you a wedding, a real wedding with everyone we know watching as we finally make things right.”
I nod through tears. “Logan, you have the biggest heart. But I swear to you, I don’t need those things to make me happy.”
“Let’s make a memory, Skyla. Let’s outdo every wedding this island has ever seen. I want our day to shine like a diamond and for the glare to follow us right into eternity. I want to gift you everything good that life has to offer. Please, don’t deny me the opportunity to bless you in every single way. I live to love you. And I want to start our family off with a bang.”
A dull laugh creeps up my throat as I take his hand and gently place it over my belly. “That is exactly how we started our family, Logan Oliver.”
“And soon enough, we will be holding our baby girl back in our arms right where she belongs.”
“Angel is coming back to us.” I nod through a steady stream of tears. “I have no doubt our baby girl is on her way. Nev said I should start wearing the protective hedge regularly once again.”
“He’s right. She will be powerful. She was prophesied and manifested by your mother. As much as your mother loves us, she’s been gunning for this little girl to have a chance at life.”
“For a chance to rule Celestra. I can’t help but think I’ve just been warming her seat.”
“Not true,” Logan is quick to assure me. “You are a leader in your own right. And you will lead Celestra back to victory. On your own. I’m just your side guy. I have faith in you, Skyla. When the time is right, you will land yourself back where you belong and your people will live in safety.”
“You always know the right things to say, Logan.” I swallow hard as I pull him down over me closer. “Now show me that you have the right moves to match.”
He winces as he inches up on his elbows. “Skyla, I don’t want to hurt the baby.”
“Are you kidding? I don’t want to turn your stomach, but I didn’t exactly abstain with the boys. And that’s long after I lost Sage. That was not my doing.”
He lands a chaste kiss to my lips.
“You can’t hurt the baby by loving me as rough and dirty as you wish,” I say the words right over his mouth. “All right. Enough anatomy lessons for one day. Just know this. My hormones are going to be all over the place and my need for a Logan Oliver love injection will be off the charts.” I bite down on a nervous smile. “Please don’t make me beg for it.”
A dark laugh brews in his chest. “How about a little bit of begging?”
“Only because I know you think you’ll hurt the baby.” I press my hands over his back. “But let me assure you—you can be as gentle or as rough as you want because we both know my mother isn’t letting this sweet angel go anywhere.”
He winces. “You do have a convincing point.” Logan leashes his mouth to mine, hot, driven with desire, with relief, and with everything in between. We untangle ourselves from our clothes and indulge in loving one another thoroughly and to our fill. My affection for Logan has always been electric, our passion fueled with an explosive fervor that I have never felt before.
There has always been something that has felt eminent about Logan and me, our lives, our bodies always driving toward one another. No matter where we were on this planet, no matter who we were with, the compass of our souls always pointed in one another’s direction.
A part of me believes that it was our strong desire for one another that forced my mother’s hand to break through time continuums, resurrect the dead, restore and make whole our bodies, our circumstances until we were standing in front of one another. This universe and its bylaws were not potent enough to withhold us from where we needed to be.
I will forever contest the fact that Gage was some conciliatory prize, the Gage that I knew, that Logan knew. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was Logan who was my true destiny, the one that all of creation waited to come to fruition.
It is no surprise to me that it will be our child that will aid in healing this wound that has inflicted our people. Logan himself is a balm. Only he can satiate my body and soul and bring me the true healing that my own life requires. Yes, I vowed not to place another in charge of my emotions. And no, I am not doing that. What Logan and I share is something beyond the ecstasy our physical love for one another can offer. We share the promise of bringing justice to our people, and protecting the human race from the evil powers that be.
We will die for that cause.
One of us already has.
