When We Met

CH 38 Rosaline

The days seemed to flow by in a tranquil haze after our intimate dinner together. Logan and I fell into an easy, comfortable rhythm, chatting for hours about our goals and the steps to achieve them. With each encounter, our bond only seemed to strengthen as we peeled away more layers of mystery from one another.

On this particular evening, as we settled in for another of our familiar movie nights, I couldn't help but feel that closeness again. Logan had mentioned sharing more about our personal lives, and I aimed to take him up on that offer.

As the movie's opening scene played out, I turned to him with a slight smile. "So my dear friend, when did you first realise you wanted to pursue this... unconventional path?"

Logan returned my smile as he considered his response. "Ah, an excellent question. I suppose from a young age I understood the limitations, the constraints inherent in following tradition alone." He paused thoughtfully before continuing, "For our ideals to truly take root and flourish, we must sometimes shirk conventions and embrace a more progressive philosophy, don't you agree?"

I nodded, leaning in ever so slightly. "Indeed, though I didn't expect you to be so forward in your thinking from the outset."

He let out an amused chuckle. "You know me well enough by now to expect I rarely do anything by half-measures. Though I will admit, my ideals have...evolved over time as circumstances warranted."

"Is that so?" I murmured, genuinely intrigued. "Then do tell - what first drew you down this unorthodox path?"

Logan considered me for a long moment before responding. "You'll have to forgive me for preserving at least some element of mystery, my dear. A man must keep a few enticing secrets to himself."

His signature deftness with words should not have surprised me, yet I found his response both maddening and perfectly aligned with his general philosophies. Leaning in closer, my voice took on a gently probing tone.

"Very well, though I must insist you share something of importance on this unorthodox path of yours. Surely you don't expect me to follow you blindly?"

Logan's smile morphed into something more intriguing as our gazes locked. "Ah, but that's precisely what I'm hoping for, isn't it? For you to take a leap of faith and fully embrace the ideals - our ideals - which brought us to this pivotal moment."

I couldn't resist holding his smouldering stare, my intrigue and interest utterly ensnared. "Then by all means, enlighten me. I'm listening..."

Our banter quickly shifted into charged territory as Logan leaned fractionally closer. "Mateo and Alejandro aren't the only ones you've forged a bond with, are they? A...familial bond, if you will?"

My breath hitched at his implication, at the unmistakable heat and promise in his eyes as he referred to my brothers.

"Do you dare call them family when they risk compromising everything?" I countered softly.

Logan's answering smile made my stomach swoop with sudden possibility as he murmured, "I dare call them exactly what they are to you - the ones your loyalties truly lie with, no matter what fronts we must indulge..."

His gaze burned into me with such tantalising intensity, I very nearly confessed everything in that moment. But before I could answer, a sound rang out from just outside our quarters, instantly snapping us from our private moment.

We both froze at the unexpected disruption. Logan's expression hardened in an instant as another resounding bang echoed through the corridor beyond those doors.

Our quarters were meant to be a sanctuary, a place for us to indulge our deepest curiosities and plan without scrutiny. Yet in that moment, with the threat of discovery hanging between us, I felt more exhilarated - and perilously vulnerable - than I had in some time.

Slowly, my gaze returned to meet Logan's as we both remembered ourselves amid the tension. My heart thundered furiously in my chest as I awaited whatever revelations he would next bestow upon me. Though after that sudden, chilling interruption from the unknown, I wasn't entirely certain I wanted to know...

Before I could so much as draw a breath to question him, his mouth was crashing onto mine in a searing, needful kiss. All thoughts fled as I melted against the hard planes of his body, returning his passionate onslaught with equal fervour. His hands roamed my curves with blatant possession, igniting smouldering embers of desire that quickly flared into an inferno.

When at last we broke apart, gasping for air, Logan pinned me with a look of pure, undisguised hunger. "Whatever happens," he rasped in a gravelly tone, "you're mine, Roalsine. Never forget that."

My answering whimper was swallowed by another demanding kiss as he walked me backward toward the bedroom. Coherent thought became increasingly difficult to grasp, swept away on the tide of Logan's skilled caresses and the raging tempest of need building between us.

Somehow, my back met the luxurious mattress as Logan loomed over me, an intoxicating mix of coiled power and carnal intent. "Tell me you want this as desperately as I do," he growled against the heated skin of my neck. "Say the words, Roalsine."

"Yes..." The breathless admission tore past my lips in a ragged pant. "Gods, yes Logan, I burn for you."

That seemed to be all the encouragement he required. In one fluid motion, his skilled fingers divested me of my last stitch of clothing, leaving me utterly bared to his ravening gaze. A look of primal satisfaction flickered over his features as he drank in every inch of my exposed flesh with dark, smoldering appreciation...

A few hours pass, we lay utterly spent and sated amongst the tangled bedsheets. Logan's arm was a reassuring weight draped over my midsection as we gradually caught our breath, chests rising and falling in sync.

"Well then," he murmured at last, "I do believe that was more than worth the risk of potential interruption, wouldn't you agree?"

A breathless chuckle tumbled past my lips as I tilted my head to meet his heavy-lidded gaze. "More than worth it, though I shudder to think what disaster nearly befell us out there."

Logan's mouth curved into that insufferably self-satisfied smirk I'd become so familiar with. "Does it matter now, my darling? Our path is set, no matter what forces may attempt to divert us."

I hummed an acknowledgment, studying the sharp, regal planes of his face limned in the low candlelight. "I suppose you're right. We'll simply have to deal with any...obstacles as they come."

"Indeed." He nuzzled a path along my jawline, clearly in no hurry to leave our sinfully rumpled sanctuary. "And until then, we may as well make the most of our private indulgences..."

His fingertips blazed a scorching trail down my torso, eliciting a shudder of awakening desire once more. My breath caught in anticipation as Logan rolled atop me with dark promise glittering in his emerald gaze.

"Now then...where were we, my dear Roalsine?"