Burn (24 page)

“You’re gonna put a nail through your hand if you keep looking at the seniorita over there,” Raul, the project manager, grins at me as he nods towards Quinn. He chuckles; “Then you’ll be in some real trouble.”

I laugh as I find myself grinning back at him; “You have no fucking idea, Raul
.
”
 

Except Quinn Archer is the best kind of trouble I’ve ever been in; the kind of trouble that you can’t get enough of, the kind of trouble that keeps hooking you back in, and the kind of trouble that you could just find yourself falling in lo-

Woah
.

I let my hammer drop as I look up at her again, and this time she catches my eye and winks at me as she pushed a strand of hair out of her face. I can feel my whole heart get bigger inside, my pulse jumping in my veins as I meet those eyes of
 
hers and just let myself get sucked in.

Just what kind of “L” word am I prepared to use when it comes to Quinn?

“So, you think I did OK today?”

We’re sitting on the balcony of the
El
Presidente
suite of the luxury hotel back in Havana looking over the bay. Apparently, even doing humanitarian outreach comes with a little luxury when you’ve got Logan Dempsey-type money. The place is honestly a palace, occupying the entire top floor of the hotel and with full balcony terraces overlooking all of Havana Bay. Honestly, if we hadn’t spent the entire day giving immunization shots to kids at a hospital
he built
, I’d have put my foot down at first sight of this place.
 

“Yeah, Doc,” He grins at me and raises the glass of rum on ice in his hand to me; “You did OK.”

I fake pout at him; “Just OK, huh?”

I yelp as his other hand jerks out to grab my wrist and he pulls me giggling into his lap; “Ok darlin, you did
amazing
work back there, but quit pretending you don’t know that.”

I’m feeling wild, free, and more alive than I have since maybe even medical school, and for once, I push all those “what-ifs” and “maybes” and “but what abouts” out of my head as I lean in and kiss him. It’s not a hot and heavy make-out type kiss either, like it seems has been our style either. It’s just that; a kiss. And in that moment, I’m know suddenly and without a doubt that I’m kissing the
real
Logan. This is tender, and there’s something more behind it than just lust, and with a dawning realization, I suddenly know that this is Logan sans-armor. This is this man at his most open and unguarded, and in that moment, I know that whatever this crazy feeling is that I’m feeling for him is even bigger and wilder than I thought it was.

His lips tastes like sweet rum and there’s something even more intoxicating about that than even the drink in my own hand.

“So is that a ‘Hey thanks for bringing me to Cuba, Logan, and letting me get my hands dirty doing what I love to do’ kiss?” He’s grinning at me, and for a moment I’m terrified that the humor and cavalier attitude that he uses as his armor will come up, and I quickly kiss him again.

It’s deeper this time, moving from tender to something bolder; something more passionate. I’m kissing him with everything I have, because I
need him
to stay right here with me in this moment. I need to be in
his
arms; the
real
Logan.

“Mmm, now
that
was a thank-you kiss.” He murmurs into my mouth, his tongue darting out to run against my lips.

“Shh, hang on.” I whisper back, kissing him again.

“What?”

“Just- ” I hesitate, pulling back to look deeply into his green-gold eyes with my wide-eyed blues; “Just keep those walls down. I just want
you
, as is, without the armor.” His eyes flash at me, and yet he holds my gaze; “Just just
stay here
, right here with me.” I whisper.

“Darlin,” He says thickly, leaning into me as his lips brush mine; “There’s no where else in the whole world I’d rather be than right here, right now, with you.”

I kiss him again before pulling back once more; “You know what I mean though, right?” This is the moment of truth; this is the moment where he either lets me in or those walls come up again, and if it’s the latter, I’m not sure I’ll ever get in. Tthe thought has me suddenly terrified of him even answering.

He takes my chin in his hand and kisses me deep and slowly, like something out of a Hollywood movie; “This is just me, Quinn.” He says deeply and quietly; “No more walls, no more games; you have all of me.” And when our lips meet again, I know without a doubt he’s right.

“So,
Logan Dempsey,
” I pull back from the kiss and peer at him mischievously; “Is that a
family
name?”

He chuckles; “Anyone every tell you that subtlety isn’t really your bag, Quinn?”

I giggle into his neck as he pulls me against his chest and tickles me; “Oh comon! You’re always so
guarded
; cut a girl some slack when she sees a little chink in that armor of yours and wants to get to
know
the guy she’s running around with a little bit more!”

His eyes flash for just a second as he looks into mine; “Quinn, it’s-”

“Complicated; right, yeah I think we’ve covered that,” I say, rolling my eyes at him before cupping his chin and pecking him on the lips; “I mean it’s not like I don’t already have you totally figured out anyways. I
did
date a Psychiatry student in med school, you know.”

“Sounds
immensely
unfulfilling.” Logan’s body tenses and bristles under me at the mention of the ex-boyfriend in this possessively reactive way that I have to admit is kind of hot.

I grin at him again, seeing the flash in his eyes again; “It’s not like you have to tell me
everything
, I just want to know where a guy like you
comes
fro-”

“Texas.”

I blink, actually shocked that I didn’t hit another deflection or another wall of humor or sarcasm; “Oh.”

He laughs at the look on my face; “What were you expecting, Mars?” He chuckles; “And Logan was my dog’s name.”

“Your parents named you after the
dog
?” I raise my eyebrows at him.

Logan shakes his head; “Nah, I took Logan later, because I
loved
that dog. My mom named me after the guy that got her pregnant, even though he took off faster than she could say ‘I’m late.’“

“You mean your Dad?”

His jaw tightens; “Wherever that prick is, he’s not my father.”

I nod, biting my lip and just taking this all in. There’s something that’s just so
intimate
about sitting here with him letting him tell me these things, and it’s not because I’m basically straddling his lap, or that his hand is stroking the skin of my back under my shirt, it’s that this is finally an open, unguarded, and armor-less Logan that I’m seeing for the very first time.

“What about your Mom?”

“Dead.” He says without emotion. His eyes quickly lock with mine as he feels me tense at the coarseness in his words; “OK, I don’t actually know;
probably
dead. And that only sounds harsh if you don’t know her. My mom was a crazy, manipulative, parasitic drunk who liked violent, angry men. And she blamed
me
for that asshole running off on her.”

His face clouds darkly, and I find myself snuggling against him even more, as if the contact of our bodies can erase and heal whatever pain he’s obviously still feeling. He looks out over the bay, his eyes searching deep; “That where I first learned to put my fist up, actually.”

I look at him in shock; “Your
mother
?”

“Nah,” He grins at me; “The assholes she liked to bring home until they got bored of her. There was this one guy, Rich, who liked two things; drinking, and hitting kids half his size.”

“Jesus Christ,
Logan
…” I trail off, shaking my head and not even knowing how to respond except with sympathy.

“I had to find her a few years ago for-” He trails off and shakes his head; “I just had to go home for this thing. She hadn’t seen or talked to me since before I enlisted, and the only thing she said to me after asking for money was to stop wasting her long distance points while her soap was on.”

I bite my lip as I feel my heart break a little inside for this man who’s somehow ended up the man he is today despite what sounds like a complete lack of love growing up in the world. I mean, I understand loss, with my mother dying when we were little and my dad always being off traveling the world for business even before he passed. But I know there’s nothing there that compares to what it must have been like to grow up as Logan. I might not have had my parents physically around, but I knew I had their love.

He sips on his rum and then darts his eyes back down to mine, where the hard look softens as he shrugs and grins at me; “Actually this might sound weird given the nature of our relationship, but
your
father was the only real parent I ever knew.”

I smile; “Not weird; my dad had that effect on people.”

“He saved us, you know.”

“From?”

Logan leans up and kisses me softly; “From nothing you ever need to worry about it.” I start to pull away in protest, not wanting him to close me out again, but he holds me still as he kisses me; “What he saved us from is the worst parts of ourselves, darlin. He saved me from a part of myself I don’t need to go back to; not ever.”

I nod slowly, understanding as he holds my gaze; “You’re not shutting me out?”

He laughs; “Just so you know, Doc, not even Bryce and Hudson know about my Dad.”

“Wait, seriously?” The full weight of just
how
open Logan’s just been with me almost takes my breath away.

He shrugs; “I guess I’m not big on sharing the past, even with people I like.”

“I guess this mean you either
really
like me or can’t stand me, huh?” I stick my tongue out at him, grinning as he laughs and wraps his strong arms around me.

“Darlin, I’d say that means I really
, really
like you.”

He presses his lips hotly and forcefully against my own, searing me with the heat there as he pulls me tight against his body. I moan into his kiss, and I can feel him surge beneath me, the kiss quickly turning more and more passionate and fiery. Our mouths open as our tongues tease together, and his hands slide over my body as I moan into his kiss. He’s teasing over my breasts and making my nipples harden under my tank-top as his tongue slides against mine. His hands slide lower to my legs curled in his lap and then over my knees and thighs, moving higher. I’m already soaking wet for him as his fingers push my panties to the side and slide easily through my folds. I’m moaning into his mouth and rocking into him as my hands fumble for the button of his jeans, desperate to feel him.

I slip my panties quickly down my legs and pull my sundress over my head as he shoves his jeans down his muscled thighs and yanks his shirt off. I’m kissing him passionately, tasting his tongue with mine as I straddle him and feel his cock so hard and ready, pulsing against my thigh. He stiffens as I wrap my hand around him and bring him against my wetness; “I’ve got one,” he growls, sucking at my bottom lip with his teeth; “Back in my bag, in the room-”

But I’m pulling back and shaking my head slowly, stopping his words; “Leave it.” I whisper, feeling a pulsing heat shoot through my body while his eyes smolder with lust as he understand what I’m saying.

“Quinn, I-”