Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Toban’s gun was drawn and pointed Logan’s direction.
Aster stepped between them. “Put your gun down.”
“What happened?” the man demanded instead.
“I fucking tripped.” Jarek spat it in Logan’s direction rather than at the guard.
He’d tripped, all right. Logan wished for a way to make sure he didn’t get back up.
Toban’s attention jumped between them. There was no missing the hostility that fizzed in the space.
Finally, he slowly lowered his gun while his eyes narrowed in concern. “Are you okay, Sir?”
“Just meet me at the car, Toban.” Jarek never looked at the man since he was glaring at Logan.
Chaos spun through Logan’s being. The urge to end it right there.
Do or die.
Except he could feel terror radiating from Aster. Her sweet spirit crying out in horrified desperation, at the truth they would never be together if Logan touched him again, the truth that it might already be too late.
Toban hesitated. “Are you sure, Sir?”
“Yes.”
Jarek stared Logan down while Toban retreated through the garden toward the front. A sneer curled his face while Logan stood there wanting to go back to tearing the asshole to shreds.
Aster spun and got in Jarek’s face. “I want you to leave.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you want.”
She pulled out her phone, all kinds of fierce bravery. “Fine. Then we’ll take this up with my papa.”
Jarek tried to bottle the fear that flashed through his expression, and his teeth gritted when he spat, “I’m leaving.”
He started to walk, only he grabbed her with his other hand, dragging her close by the upper arm. “But don’t think I’m finished with you.”
It curled through the air.
Logan almost went for him again.
Jarek lifted an arrogant chin like there wasn’t blood smeared down his face, stepped around Aster, and leaned in toward Logan as he passed, “Or you.”
Then he disappeared into the shrubs.
Logan sagged.
Aster rushed for him, taking him by the hand and hauling him into their secluded spot. “Oh my god, are you hurt? That asshole.”
“I’m fine.” It was pure frustration.
Aster touched the bruises that were undoubtedly forming on his face. Tenderness wept from her fingertips.
Logan’s raging heart slowed the barest fraction.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Logan met her eyes. “I would die for you, Aster Rose.”
She took his hand, and her voice shifted to a plea. “I know. And that’s why I’m asking you to live for me, Logan. There is no point in any of this if you’re dead. We have to be careful. We have to be smart about it.”
“I want to end him.” Logan gave voice to the violent impulse that still boiled in his blood.
“No, Logan, we have to do this together, or neither of us will ever be free.”
Logan exhaled a long, heavy breath, and he let his forehead drop to hers. “Is that what we’re doing, Aster? Setting ourselves free?”
She ran her fingertips over a swollen spot on his jaw. “Yes, together.”
“Whatever it takes.” He murmured that as he held her gaze.
The air shifted as the last of the daylight drained away. Darkness wisped over the heavens to take its place.
“Yes,” Aster whispered. Her lips were an inch from his, their noses touching, their spirits joined.
Logan’s hands slipped around both sides of her neck, and he exhaled his greatest confession near her mouth. “I love you, Aster Rose. I love you so much.”
He’d never said it before.
She gasped before her fingers curled in his shirt. “I thought I’d never get to experience it, Logan. The kind of love that makes you feel as if you’re soaring. As if you’re flying. But I do…I feel that love for you.”
Logan gave on a groan, and he jerked her toward him and kissed her like he’d never kissed her before.
Desperately.
Madly.
Wholly.
His hand spread over the back of her head while his other took her by the hip and dragged her close. So close he could feel her soft curves pressed against the straining muscles of his body.
The kiss was hungry and impatient.
As impatient as her hands that worked under his shirt and the words that whispered from her lips. “Please, Logan. Please.”
“What do you need, Little Star?”
“You. I need you. All of you. I need you with me. I need you standing beside me. I need you inside of me.”
Logan moaned as they toppled to the soft ground. Their kiss grew more frantic as Logan wound himself between her legs.
Aster’s hips rose to meet with him, rubbing, begging, her breaths shallow and her heart pounding so hard that he could feel it like a plea against his chest.
His hands rushed to feel her everywhere, her face, her breasts, riding up the outside of her bare leg and pushing up the skirt of her dress. In a frenzy, her hands fumbled with the button of his pants as he pulled her underwear aside.
She freed him, and they both were gasping for air when she had him poised at her center, the head of his cock pressed to the hot, needy flesh between her thighs.