Trying to ignore the unsettling thoughts pervading his mind and focus instead on the incredibly soft skin of Claire’s neck, he kissed her below her ear, his tongue flicking out to taste her. This, he could handle.
“Logan?”
He kissed the point where her neck met her shoulder. “Hmm?”
“Thank you for this week.” Her voice was quiet and sexy as hell.
A smile curved his lips. “I think I should be thanking you, not the other way around. I had a hell of a time convincing you to come here with me.”
“I know.”
“You know I should be thanking you?” He paused and kissed the curve of her ear. “Or you know that I had a hell of a time convincing you?”
“Maybe a little of both.” Her fingers caressed delicate, tantalizing patterns on the tops of his hands. “But I’m glad you succeeded.”
“Me too,” he murmured, trying to keep his voice light. God, the word glad didn’t even begin to describe how he felt about it.
There was a silence between them for several minutes, but it was a comfortable one. Logan couldn’t recall when he had ever just held a woman like this, when holding a woman in his arms without it leading to sex had been enough. Not that he wouldn’t like to take Claire to bed right now, of course, but holding her felt just as incredible.
“I need to thank you for something else too,” she said, spinning in his arms to face him. Her lips glistened with his favorite lip gloss, and they distracted him for a moment.
He dipped his head and kissed her, parting her sweet lips with his tongue and delving inside the hot recesses of her mouth. Her tongue met his and he groaned. His hands went to her bottom, pressing her against his cock, but not as closely as he would have liked because of her belly. With a laugh, he pulled away, looking down at her, admiring her beauty.
“You were saying?” he asked, breathless.
Claire looked dazed for a moment, her gaze slightly unfocused as it settled on his. Her lips were satisfyingly swollen from their kiss. Logan grinned down at her.
“I was saying thank you,” she said at length, her voice husky. “For opening up to me this week. I know it’s not easy for you.”
Logan felt his grin slip a little and his body tense. She was right. Opening up to anyone, even Derek, was not necessarily easy for him. But it made him uncomfortable that she had noticed.
“Don’t,” Claire commanded gently, sliding her arms around his waist.
“Don’t what?” But he was being deliberately obtuse. He knew exactly what she meant, which brought him to the second thing that scared him shitless. That Claire seemed to know him better than he knew himself.
Damn it.
“Don’t get all distant with me. It’s too late for that and you know it.”
Again, she was right. “I’m just not good at this kind of thing,” he grumbled, feeling unaccountably embarrassed.
Claire gave him a soft smile that sent another shaft of heat directly to his already stiff dick. “I like that you’re trying it with me.”
Ah God, he was a goner. He leaned down to kiss her again but was stopped by her gasp of shock. Her hands flew to her belly, sending a sickening spear of alarm slicing through him.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” He gripped her wrists without realizing it, fear paralyzing him.
“Nothing.” A sudden, blinding smile lit up her face. “The baby moved.” She grabbed his hands and pressed them to her belly. “Feel.”
The fear subsided, replaced quickly by an incredible, gut-wrenching sense of awe. He looked down at his large hands splayed against the crisp white button-down shirt she wore, her small hands atop his. And then he felt it, their baby stirring against his fingertips.
He wanted to say something, but emotion choked him, rendering him completely speechless. His gaze flew to Claire’s and he knew she could see in his eyes the whirlwind of feelings sliding through him. Wonder. Love. Pride. He felt something wet slide down his cheek.
A tear, he realized. For the first time in his life, he was crying, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Claire leaned up to kiss him and his arms closed around her, crushing her against him. He felt like a drowning man being offered a life vest.
“Thank you for this,” he whispered hoarsely. “Thank you.”
When Logan pulled into Sophie’s driveway a few hours later and Claire spied the Volvo already parked there, the happy bubble surrounding her popped. Her parents.
