you can cook.”
Logan chuckles as I drop my fork into the pasta bowl and pick up my napkin, blotting away any lingering seafood linguine sauce from my lips.
The island is beautiful, the house, the beach… all of it. I took a walk by the water earlier while Logan showered. I needed air. Space. I called Chloe, but even listening to what she’s been up to couldn’t clear my head. It’s been full of the same one thing for days now.
Logan.
“I’m not just a pretty face, Mads.” He smirks.
I sigh. I gave up asking him to call me Maddy a long time ago. But now I know he calls me Mads because I always look angry when I see him, I kind of wish he’d listen. It reminds me every time he says it that he knows how deeply I’ve hated him over the years. How deeply I’ve blamed him for so much.
He stares up at the night sky, a glass of white wine balanced between his fingers. He’s wearing cream slacks and a white shirt with the top three buttons undone. It’s the most relaxed I’ve seen him since we left London. And I think I understand why. He had a video call meeting with the final investor earlier. It was a success. He has the funding now. Our trip’s over.
Back to London. Back to our lives.
Separately.
“Has your dad ever used money to manipulate a situation that you know of?” I ask suddenly.
Sourness creeps over my tongue. I don’t know how those words came out. But now they have, I can’t take them back. The thought has been plaguing me. I’m afraid to know the answer. Logan swears his dad didn’t interfere years ago. And I’m starting to believe him. Drew has always told me the same. It’s like they both know something. Yet, they won’t give me any evidence to prove it. They expect me to take their word for it.
Can I change everything I’ve based so many decisions on? What if I’ve been wrong all these years? I still would have wanted nothing to do with Logan after the way he scared people away from me and was an immature asshole. But would I have hated him so much? Would I have wasted so much energy?
Mum says hate is like drinking poison yourself and expecting the other person to die. It’s an emotion that only takes. Strips you of happiness, of peace.
I never realized that hating Logan Rich all these years meant that I was at war with myself.
“You want the truth, full disclosure?” Logan’s green eyes blaze into mine, the flames from the candles on the outdoor dining table sending shadows cascading over the planes of his freshly shaven face.
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t,” I say, less sure of my words than I sound.
“He’s never used money as far as I know. And I’m pretty damn certain.” Logan’s jaw tenses. “But recently, he’s… been pushing for certain things. He’s telling me it’s for the good of the business and the family. For our future. He’s implied we’ll be ruined if I don’t agree. But—”
“But?” I whisper, a sickness clawing up my windpipe at the guarded expression taking over his face.
“But I don’t believe him.” He groans, dropping his head back to stare at the sky again. “My family are multi-billionaires, Mads. You don’t lose that kind of money from one failed project. Even if I couldn’t secure the funding on this trip, we’d still have the other parts of the business running. All the cars, the yachts, the jets. Just one would still make us billions a year.”
“Wow.” I gulp a large mouthful of my wine, welcoming the warmth it brings to my chest and the lightness to my head. I can’t fathom that kind of money. My family do well, especially Drew. But this is billions.
“I know he’s not telling me something.” Logan drags his head back up and his eyes meet mine in a penetrating gaze. “He’s never not told me everything. That’s why when I tell you he didn’t bail me out years ago, I know he didn’t, because he’d have admitted it when I asked him.”
“But you think he’s hiding something now?”
He looks away as he drains his wine glass, then immediately refills it.
“What is it? What’s he pushing for?” I ask.
“A company merger.”
“Oh. Isn’t that a normal thing to consider? I thought you had lots of partnerships with different manufacturers and—”
“By marriage.”
I recoil instantly, my tongue seeming too big for my mouth and preventing me from speaking.
“He wants me to marry Gabrielle.”
I stare at him. I’ve met Gabrielle twice growing up at various parties the Riches have thrown. Her dad owns a large manufacturing company.
“I thought she was a doctor?” My voice comes out hoarse, and I frown at the wine in my glass like it’s the culprit before placing it down on the table.
“She is.” Logan swirls the remaining wine in his glass around in a circle, watching it. “She was working abroad, but now she’s back to stay.”
“What does she think about your dad’s idea?”
Logan’s still focused on his glass. “Same as me. She laughed. Then told her dad not to be ridiculous.”
“You don’t want to marry her, then?”
He shakes his head with a humorless laugh.
“Why are you laughing?” I knock back the rest of my wine, my skin prickling as irritation spikes in my core.
His laugh trails off. “I wouldn’t be fucking about with you if I wanted to marry someone else.”
“Fucking about with me? That’s what you call it?” There’s a sting in my tone as his darkened eyes meet mine.
“All right, what would you call this?” He lifts a finger from his wine glass and motions it between us.
“Fucking about?” I hiss. “God, you’re disgusting.”
“And she’s back to hating me.” He chuckles. It’s an empty sound that sends my stomach plummeting to my feet.
“Is that what this is? All a joke to you?” I jump to my feet, knocking the table. My wineglass topples over, smashing.
I hesitate, looking at the broken shards. I should clean them up.
Logan jumps to his feet and the table rattles, making the pieces of glass scatter.
“Why don’t you tell me what this is, Mads? Because I haven’t got a fucking clue!” His eyes rain green fire.
There are so many words on the tip of my tongue that I want to hurl at him.
But none answer his question.
I don’t know what this is.
But I know that I’m not going to stand here while he laughs at me.
I spin and storm into the house to escape his heated glare. The bottle of wine we’ve shared makes my head swim as I race through the kitchen and into the open-air hallway.
“Don’t run from me!” His voice bellows behind me, making me startle.
My heart races, adrenaline gripping me as I push forward, running toward the staircase.
“Leave me alone!” I kick my heels off so I can race barefoot over the cool marble tiles.
“Mads! We need to fucking talk about this!”
My hand curls around the staircase handrail as my foot hits the bottom step. Refuge calls to me in the form of a guest room, any room. One with a locked door where he can’t see me. Where I don’t have to look into his emerald eyes. And feel.
His chest slams into my back, startling me enough to cry out. His hand curls over mine on the handrail. And then his lips are at my ear, his deep, labored breaths warm against my skin as he presses our bodies together.
“You can’t keep running and ignoring this.”
The deep gravel of his voice has goosebumps peppering up my spine.
“There is no this,” I whisper. “I hate you.”
An arm slides around from behind me, encasing my waist and pulling me back against him with a gentle but controlling force.
His erection digs into my ass cheeks as his breath dusts the shell of my ear.
“No, you don’t.”
I struggle against him, but his grip around my waist is too tight and all I achieve is wriggling enough that I rub myself against his cock until a needy whimper springs from my throat.
“I do,” I croak.
“You don’t,” he growls.
He flexes his arm around my waist, and I still.
“You’re a liar,” he clips. “A fucking liar, Mads.”
“Stop,” I whisper. But it’s weak. I’m weak.
“You don’t fucking know what you are. But I bet if I put my hand inside your panties now, you’ll drip all over my fingers.”
“Lo—”
“Shall we find out?” He runs the tip of his nose down my neck to my shoulder and nips the skin there.
I draw in a sharp breath as he yanks my dress up around my waist and then slams his palm on top of my panties.
“See. Fucking soaking,” he tsks.
He bites my neck. “You love me fucking you. Admit it. You say you hate me, but you love my cock. You love the way I make you scream when you come. No one else has ever done that for you, have they?”
I whimper out a pathetic, strangled noise as he slowly drags my panties to one side and slides his fingers through my slick skin like it belongs to him. “Have they?”
He pushes two fingers inside me.
I fall forward, my body clenching around him as I almost come on the spot. He grunts and pulls me back up so my back is pressed against his chest and my breasts are forced forward.
“I’m going to fuck you right here on these stairs, Smiles. And you can scream that you hate me. But we both know it’ll be my cock that’s really making you scream.”
He leaves his fingers inside me, stroking in leisurely circles that have colors dancing behind my eyes as he takes his hand away from mine on the handrail. I could push his fingers between my legs away and run. There’s nothing stopping me. But I don’t. Instead, I give in to the tingles of anticipation skating over my skin as the sound of his zipper being pulled down vibrates through the air.
He draws his fingers back and reaches behind me, pulling his cock out. Precum smears across my ass cheeks as he shoves his pants down around his hips.
“You know what else?” he rasps.
“What?” I mumble, fighting the desire to grind back against him.
He lifts his arm, snaking it across my throat so he can lean over my shoulder and suck his fingers clean.
“My cock will make you scream…” he muses as he rips the front of my dress and bra down on one side so my breast is exposed to the night air.
I drag in a muffled cry as his hand closes around it possessively, tugging my nipple with the perfect amount of pressure to make more wetness flood between my legs.
“But it’ll be my cum inside you that has you clamping down on me as you come.”
“It won’t,” I cry as he spins me around and forces us both to the ground.
“Liar.”
“I’m not.” I glare up at him as he crawls over me, pinning me beneath his solid body.
“You are, Mads.” His eyes roam over my face as the heat of his body covers me. “We both know that you come the second your pussy gets the first taste. Every. Time.”
He drags my panties down my legs, throwing them to one side. Then forces my legs apart. The stairs dig into my back as he dips his head and sucks my exposed nipple into his mouth. I refuse to moan at how good it feels. I won’t give him the satisfaction.
“Face it.” He sucks harder until I buck. “You’re a little whore for my cum. One drop of it and you’re mewling all over me, desperate for that release.”
“No.” I fire back.
But I’m whimpering, and my pulse is throbbing between my legs as I try and fight him with words. My body wants him. Even if my head doesn’t.
“Yes,” he growls, teasing my nipple between his teeth until I moan.
“No.”
He moves up my body, bracing himself up on his arms either side of me as he looks down at me with an anger-fueled glare.
“In that case, tell me to stop.”
His eyes hold mine as he lowers his hips until the thick silky head of his cock drags over my skin.
“Tell me to stop.” He rotates his hips, pushing his cock through my lips to where my body is thrumming with arousal.
“Tell me to stop!” His eyes flash as he enters me with one hard thrust.
I cry out beneath him, my back forced into the step.
“I hate you,” I hiss as my body stretches around him, sucking him in like it needs him to survive.
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
“Then. Tell. Me. To. Fucking. Stop!” he shouts as he pounds into me, fucking me without apology.
His eyes hold mine, glittering dangerously. He pumps into me, repeatedly. And I no longer care that my back is screaming out and will probably bruise. All I can do is lie, pinned beneath his hot, muscular body, as he wrings it dry of all pleasure.
And takes what he wants.
I shove my hand between my legs, seeking my clit.
“Uh-uh.” Logan grabs my wrist, then pins both of my arms down on the step above my head. “You don’t need to rub that swollen clit to get off, Mads. You’ll come when I do.”
“I won’t,” I snap, fighting beneath him to free my arms.
He tips his chin in arrogance and drives into me harder. “Shall we see who’s right?”
I bare my teeth at him like a wild animal that’s been trapped as he thrusts deeper. My body covers him in a rush of fresh arousal and the wet slapping sound of our bodies meeting crashes through the air.
“You trying to drown me?” He smirks.
“If I could hit you right now, I would!” I buck beneath him trying to throw him off, but it only makes his smirk grow.
He thrusts into me extra hard.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Believe me, I would!”
“You.” Thrust. “Wouldn’t.” Thrust. “You.” Thrust. “Know.” Thrust. “Why?” Thrust.
He picks up the pace and fucks me even deeper. “Because…” He pauses, the muscles in his neck tensing, before he drives deeper with a curse. I’m thrown up the stairs. “My cum’s about to make you come.”
I scream with my mouth closed, filling my cheeks with rage. Logan’s body blocks out the starry night sky behind him as he envelops me, looking at me like he’s about to devour me.
“Open your mouth and scream my name.” His pupils dilate as I writhe in pleasure beneath him.
“Fuck you!”
A groan rumbles from deep in his chest as his cock thickens inside me. I squirm and resist what I know is coming.
But control is already slipping away from me.
If I ever had it to begin with.
“Let go,” he urges above me, his hips driving himself into me with perfect deep strokes.
“No!” My eyelids flutter as I fight the war raging in my core.
“Any second now and my cum will be deep inside you, Mads. Now, let the fuck go.”
I arch beneath him, trying desperately to hold it at bay. But the tightening in my core is already reaching the point of explosion, making my whole body tremble.
“Fuuuccckkk.” Logan’s curse is low and drawn out as his balls hit my skin and his cock swells more.
I blink rapidly as he holds my eyes, keeping himself still inside me.
We fall silent for a heartbeat.
One.
The air shifts.
Then he moves again.
“Mads.” His voice cracks like his chest is being torn in two.
Then I know he’s let go.
Because the moment the first drop hits me inside, it’s only a fraction of a second before I come apart beneath him. All fight deserts me.
And I scream as the most intense orgasm of my life wrecks me.
“There it is. Good girl.” His eyes gleam, and he juts his chin forward. “Give me more.”
I shake my head, gasping for air as moisture pricks at my eyes.
He pushes his forehead against mine.
“More,” he repeats, driving into me. “I’m coming here, Mads. I’m…” He chokes out a rough groan, screwing his face up. “I’m coming so fucking hard inside you right now. Give me another.”
I pant as I stare into his eyes, our lips inches from one another’s. Then a second one hits me, and I come hard around him. Again.
“Logan.”
His eyes pinch at the corners as he steers us both through our orgasms until I’m a whimpering, boneless mess beneath him, our clothes damp with sweat.
I turn to the side, blocking out vibrant green as the final pulses leave my body. I’m throbbing between my legs, heat and wetness coating my inner thighs where his body is still buried inside mine.
I draw in a shaky breath, the threat of tears clogging up my throat.
He lets go of my wrists, but I keep my hands where they are as he dusts the back of his knuckles down my cheek and along my jaw.
“You think saying it out loud protects you,” he whispers, his breath like a caress on my face. “But it doesn’t. No matter what you say you feel for me, we both know this is going to hurt like fuck when you step off my plane in London. So don’t even try to lie to me and tell me it won’t.”
He pauses as if he’s waiting for me to say something. But I screw my eyes shut and keep my face turned away.
He sighs and presses a kiss to my temple. Then he pulls out, straightening the top and bottom of my dress before fixing his pants.
I open my eyes and stare at the marble banister, tracing over the pink lines in the stone as he stands. I listen to his zipper being fastened. He’s going to leave me here. Alone.
The sound of his feet moving on the stairs makes my chest cave and I swallow my sob down so hard that I think I might be sick.
Then warm arms surround me, scooping me up.
I scrunch my eyes closed even tighter as his lips lower into my hair. His chest expands as he breathes me in and then kisses my curls. I drag in a shaky breath, sinking my face into his shirt and letting him carry me. His heart beats out a steady, grounding rhythm beneath my cheek, and I focus on it as he carries us to his room.
I hold onto it like it’s a lifeline stopping me from being dragged away.
Stopping me from being alone.
