Chapter 14

MAGGIE

“Logan!” I shriek, but it’s too late. Logan has already punched Xavier in the face, and he looks furious. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Xavier seems stunned, but he’s too shocked to say anything.

Logan storms into the room, grabs my hand, and pulls me out of the apartment. The door shuts behind us.

“I’ve been looking all over for you. Everyone’s been worried, and you’re here enjoying yourself with your…your friend.”

I glare at him. “He’s my cousin, for god’s sake!”

“What?”

I feel like gouging his eyes out. “Yes. My cousin, Xavier. He attended the wedding, and even if he wasn’t related to me, you don’t have any right to just waltz in here and create drama.”

He sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“Apologize to him, not me. If it wasn’t for Xavier allowing Chase and me to stay with him, I don’t know where I would have gone.”

He runs his fingers through his hair and walks into the apartment again. I know how much he hates when he’s wrong, so this must suck for him.

***

Xavier is a sport. He takes it easy. If that were me, I probably would have punched Logan in return.

We’re all sitting together on the couch, staring at each other. Logan is not used to sitting with people and having conversations, so this must be very uncomfortable for him.

I can tell from his expressions that he’s looking for excuses to bolt, but finds none. He’s great when he’s left to his devices because he’s a king on his turf, which is his office.

But apart from that, he hates socializing. He would rather eat glass than actually try to talk to people.

I’m not going to “fix him,” because that’s not why I married Logan. I know love is off the table, but as long as I’m going to live under the same roof as him, I’m going to try my best to thaw the ice.

Xavier is the first to speak. “I’ll be in my room. If you guys need me, just holler.”

When Xavier leaves, the room fills with silence. I’m not going home unless Logan is sincere about having me back in his house.

He clears his throat. “I apologize for the things I said to you about Chase. I didn’t mean any of it.”

His azure eyes pierce right through me. They hold an intensity that always takes my breath away.

“I know you don’t mean it, Logan. Let’s just stop bullshitting each other. You’re tolerating us because that’s what John wants.”

“I married you because of my father, that’s true, but I want to make this work for Chase and our future kid.”

I have an urge to slap him so he would stop talking, but I don’t do it.

“I did a lot of thinking in the past few hours that you were missing, and I realized it wasn’t just Chase’s fault. I need to be a better parent if I’m going to help you raise him.”

I nod, because he’s right, and Logan doesn’t know the first thing about being a parent.

“I’ve acted immature, and I’m going to try my best to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“I want to apologize to you,” I say. “I should have done a better job telling Chase what is right and wrong, so part of this is my fault too. I’m extremely sorry he ruined your documents.”

“You’re a young mother, and I know it’s hard…knowing everything I screamed at you, which wasn’t okay.”

His gaze moves somewhere behind me, and he smiles. “Come here, buddy.”

It’s Chase. He’s standing behind the door, peeking at us and holding his favorite superhero figure to his chest. He walks into the room cautiously, like he expects Logan to yell at him again.

“I’m sorry about what I did,” Chase says. “Mommy said you won’t take us home again.”

Logan looks at me before continuing. “Mommy was just angry when she said that. You’re coming home tonight, buddy.”

“I haven’t really agreed to go with you yet,” I remind him.

“What can I do to convince you?” he asks.

Chase turns to me. “Let’s go, Mommy!”

“You ready to grovel?”

“If that’s what I have to do, I’ll do it.” He sounds sincere when he says that.

I hug Chase to me before continuing, “How did you know where to find me?”

Logan smiles. “Chase, you want to tell your mother something?”

Chase looks at me guiltily and shakes his head.

“He called me in the evening and told me the address.”

I can’t believe my own flesh and blood is a traitor. Chase doesn’t take a liking to anyone easily, but for some reason, he seems to like Logan.

I guess kids are far more forgiving than adults. He must like Logan’s house a lot to want to go back and live there.

I groan. “This is the last time I’m going to forgive you for doing this.”

“Chase, why don’t you pack your stuff?”

“Yay!” He hurries into the bedroom.

Logan looks at me. “I heard you talking to your friend on the phone, and I got a little insecure about what you were going to say.”

“What did you hear?”

“She said that it might not work between us because of the age gap, and it got me thinking about how right she was.”

Gosh, has this man looked at himself in the mirror? Does he not know how attractive he is? Does he not see how I check him out all the time? I guess he’s just the same old dumb Logan that he used to be.

“Honestly, I never thought of it that way, and I’m not saying this because I’m your wife now. I always thought that we could make it work regardless of the age difference,” I admitted.

“I’m going to change my perspective about it.”

“Good.”

“I’ll try to be better at this. I know nothing about being a husband or a father.”

I smile at him. “Baby steps.”

***

When we get home, I see the relief that crosses John’s features. I guess he was worried about me, including some of the house staff.

I put Chase to bed before I decide to take a long, hot bath. Logan doesn’t sleep with me, not after the dozen times Chase interrupted us because he was scared of the boogeyman.

I pour some bathing oil into the water and sink into it. It’s relaxing. I almost doze off when I hear the door of my bedroom open.

I’m back on alert. It must be Chase having trouble sleeping again.

“Honey, Mommy’s taking a bath. I’ll be there in a little while, okay?”

I realize a few seconds later that it’s not Chase. Logan’s at the door. He enters the room and walks in.

“Oh, hey…I thought it was Chase—”

The words get stuck in my throat when he enters the room, takes off his T-shirt and then pulls down his pants, showing off a semi-hard dick. He’s all hard muscles and steel abs.

“I know I said that we should take it slow, so I was just thinking it would be nice to take a bath together. Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Thank god the bathtub is big enough to accommodate us both.

I scoot forward as he dips his feet into the tub behind me and sits down. I’m left to sit between his legs, and I feel the hard nudge of his cock on my lower back.

“Just relax. I locked the bedroom door, so Chase can’t come into the room.” His fingers reach toward my neck as he massages me there.

“Ugh…you’re so good.”

“Relax,” he says again.

How did he expect me to relax with his hot body pressed against me?

“I thought we should talk about what happened all those years ago?”

That’s the last thing I want to talk about.