Chapter 114

Logan pressed me against the side of the elevator. Trapped between the cool metal wall and the hard, hot line of his torso and chest, all I could do – and all I wanted to do – was surrender to the demanding mouth against mine and the insistent tongue trying to lick past my lips.

I raised by hands and placed them on his biceps. They flexed as he lifted his arms to fully box me in against the wall.

Closing my eyes, I felt lost to the feel and depth of his kiss. His mouth was so warm, his lips soft against mine.

When the elevator reached our floor, it dinged and the doors opened.

Logan lifted his face from mine. We were both panting. His eyes continued to bore into me, as if he could see down into the depths of my soul.

“Logan…”I breathed, unsure of what to say beyond that. Reason felt so distant from me. My thoughts were butterflies on the wind and I had a hole in my net.

“My office,” he said, voice rough. “Now.”

He stepped back, allowing me to step around him and off of the elevator. He stayed in my shadow down the length of the corridor. When I stepped past the threshold of his office, he snatched my arm and stopped me.

He entered too, closed the door behind him, and then pushed me up against it. Immediately, he sealed his lips over mine once more. I was lost all over again.

I didn’t know how long we stayed like that, his lips on mine, his hands on my hips, my fingers carding through his hair and then clawing at his shoulders.

But when we did finally separate, our lips were kiss-red and sore, and we were both out of breath.

For a moment, we looked at each other while we fought to catch our breaths. Then he began to lean in once more.

God, I wanted to keep kissing him. I wanted his mouth on mine for as long as two people could possibly kiss.

Yet there were many unanswered questions hanging between us right now. There were things happening here that we needed to talk about before we lost all of our senses and truly did something impulsive in this office that we might regret.

I placed both of my hands on his chest, stopping him from kissing me again.

He glanced down at my hands, as if confused by their presence. That same question remained as he lifted his gaze to look into my eyes.

Where to begin?

“What are we doing?” I asked. That seemed as good a place as any.

His confusion only deepened. “Kissing, Hazel,” he said, like it was obvious.

“That’s not what I meant.” I sucked in a deep breath, and used that time to try to organize my splintered thoughts. “An hour ago, you didn’t seem to care for me at all like this. You let me go on my date. You told me we had to be professional…”

Logan’s hands tightened on my hips. His thumb dipped into the space beside my hipbone. It was how he would have held me down if he was making love to me. I quickly dip my head, trying to shake away that tantalizing image.

Logan releases one of my hips to cup my face, and tilt it back upwards. Once I do, he leans forward and rests his forehead against mine.

“I tried to be professional…” he said. “I tried to sit here at my desk and not imagine his hands on you. Or you smiling at him. The two of you, together… It didn’t work. I couldn’t stay detached, not while I know with such certainty that you are mine.”

“Logan…” The name came out like a sigh.

“I can’t stand seeing you with other men, Hazel. I won’t tolerate it anymore. You are mine and mine alone, understand?” His eyes blazed with the fires of jealousy, and I burned in them happily, my heart racing out of my chest.

“Okay,” I said. “I understand.”

His mouth was back on mine in a flash. His arms came around my waist, holding me tightly against his hard body. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed up onto my toes to more easily reach his mouth and keep him where he was.

His tongue swept into my mouth and I moaned.

Ten minutes later, we broke apart, chests heaving. He traced his finger along my collarbone, slipping it under my shirt. He swallowed thickly. I stopped breathing.

“You should go home now,” he said. “Before we do something we will regret.”

“Who would regret it?” I asked, lust stoking within me.

He continued brushing my collarbone, pressing the collar of my shirt more and more open. His gaze lingered there, at the newly revealed skin.

“We have to do this right,” he said, then licked his lips. “There’s too much at stake.”

His job, for one. Or mine.

Reality slowly crept back into my thoughts. Here we were in his office, at work. Yes, it was after hours so no one else was here, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t just walk in at any moment.

We had to be smart about this.

“I won’t lose you,” Logan said. “Not to Dylan. Not to anyone. But…”

Finally, he looked away from me, glancing back at his desk and the paperwork sitting upon it.

I clutched his wandering hand with my own and pulled it out from under my shirt. I squeezed his fingers before I let him go.

“We don’t need to be in a rush,” I said.

Logan smiled a little. “That’s right. By moving slowly, we can make sure we keep everything that we want.”

“Okay,” I agreed. Yet my gaze still dropped from his eyes to his lips. They were extremely kissable lips. “Maybe just… one more kiss. For goodbye.”

“Thank God,” Logan said and quickly moved in to fulfill my request.

We kissed until my stomach ached, and Logan laughing lightly despite my embarrassment, ordered some takeout for me to pick up for myself on the way home. He ordered far too much but he paid for it all, so I was grateful.

I was couch surfing again, still not ready to face Natalie and my parents. Fortunately, the extra food I brought was enough to smooth things over with Megan and Maria’s other roommates, who weren’t thrilled I was still stuck on their couch.

Maria peeked in the takeout boxes over my shoulder as I was setting them up on the counter. “Dylan took you to a takeout place?”

I blushed a little. It was enough to give me away to the person who knew me arguably the best.

Maria’s eyes went wide, and her voice strained higher. “Hazel… what the heck happened on your date?”

I gave her the only answer I could… “Logan.”

After that, she and Megan made me sit them down so I could reveal the full story.

Maria was excited for me, having made out with Logan. Megan, however, seemed a little more reserved.

“So… you just left Dylan there in the lobby?”

“I said, I’m sorry,” I told her.

“As you were ditching him to be with some other guy,” Megan says.

“Not just some other guy,” Maria says. “Logan.”

“No,” I said, stopping Maria’s defense. “She’s right. I need to properly apologize to Dylan.”

As happy as my heart felt, for making strides with Logan, Dylan truly did deserve better. I needed to resolve things with him. Surely he would understand that the heart wants what it wants. He didn’t do anything wrong.

“If he’ll even hear you out,” Megan said.

Worry began to sink into me. Had I ruined a perfectly good friendship by playing with Dylan’s heart?